Prue gets together with Mitch (reincarnated Micah) and lives. How does their relationship evolve over the rest of the series?

okay so fr because like i've been thinking about this I've Been Thinking About This. WHY give us that connection if we're not gonna do anything with it??? WHY make it worse my literally giving us the guy THE EXACT SAME GUY and then never mention him again What is the motive?????? okay okay okay so here's what i'd do: 2.6 undercut lmao

because prue has really only had two boyfriends in the series so far: andy & jack (bane doesn't count as he was more of a tryst and also he's in jail :'( could have been fun tho! he could have sacrificed himself for somebody else and become a whitelighter he already knows the ins and outs of the underworld like. could have been something there. but as they were only together twice, once when prue was posing as a hitwoman and then again when he kidnapped her, he, tragically, does not him boyfriend status.) so here me out andy is a cop he represents protection and familial ties / ties to the past (prue's childhood best friend, already friends with the sisters, he's also a third generation cop so like there's that too). he represents prue's early stage, where she feels like she has to be the protector of the whole family, of which she is basically the matriarch. she doesn't get to have fun, she has to protect her sisters and now the whole world, and her past is having some very real effects on her life right now. that's her andy era.

jack era is at buckland's, it's her breadwinning era. we even saw in morality bites (which, i am once again bringing up, is fake) that she goes on to be superbillionaire whatever. so jack kind represents professional ambitions, amplified by the fact that the fonet also served as a blatant metaphor for their relationship (prue, the world is made up of almost perfect. it's nothing but near misses and necessary compromises. in this case, i think we got a little bit of both. that's okay, i know how you feel. i'm just asking you not to look so close. nothing bears up under that kind of scrutiny. are you talking about the monet? yeah, that too.) and that their relationship ends when she decided to leave bucklands to pursue a career in photography.

so now we enter season three, which is prue's artist era, her passionate like zeal for life era she finally seems to have a weight lifted off her shoulder for the first time in a long time like you can tell she like. trusts her sisters more than she ever has before she sees them in a new light and knows that they are strong and smart and independent and she doesn't need to protect them every waking hour. this era's for prue. so i'm pitching that micah mirrors this by being an artist, too. i wouldn't say the same medium (photography) as prue because like. prue's definitely someone who would compare herself to him just like subconsciously constantly that's the type of woman she is, but maybe like a painter. not a writer because they're all insufferable. lmao 🤙🤙. but someone who lives in a hella nice studio type loft filled with art and just like life. passion. something prue hasn't really allowed herself in like. a hot minute. and i would make micah (mitch??) a witch. haha it rhymes. scratch that i'd make him a warlock. or a darklighter i'm cashing in my half-darklighter character. it's mitch now. idk how this would fit into phole narrative foils maybe or we scrap phole but they're really coming from two different perspectives where cole is entering the joint like i am evil and here to murder and then he catches feelings whereas mitch would be like yes i have some dark past but i'm not letting it define me bonus points is prue is able to piece together the clues of his origin just by looking at his paintings. this also adds to the rift between prue and phoebe on prue's cole stance like oh your evil boyfriend is fine but mine, for some reason, is still evil? yes. oh you know what we keep the source's heir in this au let me continue.

instead of introducing mitch in p3 because like WHAT WAS THAT, we instead, parallel their first meeting. mitch's origin story is

his mom was a future whitelighter knocked up by a darklighter this was not intentional on anyone's part mom wasn't trying to become mom dad wasn't trying to become dad Nor did dad know mom was a future whitelighter. because well he's not great at being a darklighter in spite of maybe being like the. head darklighter's son he's like the fucked up son who doesn't wanna run things. he doesn't know he has a kid!! until something something an oracle or something tells him he has a son But he can't find mom because she's cloaked by her whitelighter. mom dies doing something heroic idk (maybe mom was a firefighter??) and then cloaking on mitch is lifted when he's in his late teens his dad finds him his dad is now like proper leader of the darklighter clan and is trying to bring mitch into the fold which initially he is game for because mitch has all these powers black orbing touch of death that he doesn't understand and finally a community to explain that to him! he gets a crossbow (which is lit) but um. quickly catches on to how blatantly evil the whole thing is. he's secretly teamed up with some whitelighters (not his mom tho. friends of his mom, but he's not allowed to see her :'/ ) to help get other halflings like him out and cloaked.

leo's been taken hostage by the darklighter something something something a plot a plot a plot we do some solid pleo angst we maybe have cole drop some thinly veiled advice about the underworld without coming out as a demon, something that will help the sisters later. but what's really important here is they're sneaking through the underworld maybe they've been split up and they need to find leo so either they're looking for him Or they're looking for a darklighter to interrogate. and prue hears shifting behind a rock and goes over to look and it's mitch and some kid and the kid immediately summons his crossbow but mitch knocks it away just like prue did with piper in the past and piper's like prue u see anything and she's like no nothing here and then mitch and the kid blackorb away which just leaves prue with this sinking feeling like what the fuck?? because. what the fuck??? a) that was the same guy from puritan times and b) she still feels the same she felt back then and c) it's clear he does do but d) --and this is the crucial one-- D) he's fucking evil????? so blah blah blah we save leo but now prue is left with one crucial question what the fuck is going on?

so what she's gonna do is research the town the colony whatever that melinda warren was born in she astral projects to salem or whatever and steals. maybe the mask mitch wore at the party she recognizes it from all hallows eve. and she brings that home and scrys with it. and she finds him!! and um bonus points looking at his place she sees he's an alum of the college she went to because backstory!! when prue was in college back when she was still pursuing photography before grams got sick, they had met before! once before, at a party, and it was this instant spark, this instant connection, but then something pulled them apart be it one of them was already in a relationship or their ride was leaving something but like. again! this connection has always been there. so like blah blah blah prue has broken into mitch's place she sees their college connection she sees his art and starts to pull together a life story he sees maybe some paperwork that just says like in bold letters like saving kids: good person activities something real obvious you know and that's Right Next To his crossbow. ~juxtaposition~ so like. what the fuck is this. but whatever that'll be dealt with later she has to get to work! but!! at the magazine her boss is like hey prue some guy came by here earlier asking for you you know [description of mitch], [description of mitch], [description of mitch], you know him? and prue's like ummmmmmmm. no. ?. and her boss is like ?? i don't really care. photography! but now she knows that while she's been digging up on him, he's been doing the same with her. so that night at p3 prue's like okay i've got to come clean with u guys remember micah and phoebe's like oh yeah that hottie from the past who was like . spiritually in love with you? and prue's like yeah i found him. and piper and phoebe are like 🤗🥳😃 and prue's like. and he's a darklighter. and piper and phoebe are like 😳😶👎 and prue's like yeah remember when like we were trying to save leo and you asked me if i saw something? well i did. it was him and and this kid and i think he was trying to save him and phoebe's like wait you think? and prue's like well i mean yeah phoebe like. it was like the same thing when he saved us in the 1700s. and phoebe's like well no because we're good witches and he saved us you saved a darklighter? and prue's like he's more than that phoebe and phoebe's like but how can you know (flash forward to her sparing cole in about three episodes and being like hmm 😐 those words are gonna bite me in the ass).

the point is they're hashing it out phoebe's devil on the left and piper's trying to be angel on the right But he is in the clan that kidnapped her husband so like..... but prue is explaining the good person papers she found on his desk, the fact that she went to college with him, she's like. she thinks he's only half darklighter and he's helping others like him and piper phoebe are like ....................do you just want him to be half darklighter and helping others like him but prue's not even listening but look who's coming down the stairs!! so she beelines over and phoebe's about to follow but piper holds her back bc wait let this play out they'll watch from afar and piper will freeze the room if she has to.

and something something something blah blah blah they tal and there's this tense like. what now. because like. What Now? you're evil and i'm a charmed one but this invisible string pulling me here whether i want it too or not. and i think prue kinda shifts back into her earlier seasons self where. it's family above all else. like i need you to steer clear because if i see you again i will vanquish you. and mitch knows she's bluffing. because he know that if he tried, even if he really wanted to, he couldn't harm a hair on her head. and it's clear she's like. suffering from the same ailment so to speak.

something something something maybe they have a couple quick brushes but not actual meetings And Then we get another time travel/past life episode where!! as it turns out. prue and mitch r soulmates cursed by a spurned lover to always be on opposite sides. meanwhile we just got cole demon reveal/cole's still alive reveal so prue's like hi mitch you're. evil. evil-adjacent. what do you know about belthazor/cole turner. and mitch does his due diligence and like. the stuff on belthazor is appalling. genuinely terrifying. but then there's some stuff on cole turner that's like kinda okay. this is were mitch does is big tragic backstory reveal, kids born of dark magic falling in with the wrong crowd blah blah blah and this kind of. supports our theory moving forward it's not really a theory. our endgame moving forward of healthy!cole. also prue and mitch still have not gotten together through all of this in spite of the cosmic pull and the past evidence of like. soulmatism. because they're both a bit too pragmatic they both think it's kind of a lost cause. blah blah blah pining we give prue a mini love interest here someone to keep her mind off mitch and we do make him good. kind, attentive, caring, smart, hot, but like. it's so painfully obvious she's not all in. so he calls it off. heart to heart with piper because piper's like hi you're in love. and prue's like yeah with a doomed relationship i think i'd rather not and piper's like hello you're talking to the queen of doomed relationships you wanna know the secret? and prue's like yes :( and piper's like just go for it. the time you have together is. it's better than anything else you'll ever have. there's gonna be heartbreak, but hell there's always gonna be heartbreak in the halliwell family. wouldn't you rather spend your time with someone you love?

something something something leo/mitch/cole buddy episode b plot. leo/mitch/cole/DARRYL buddy episode b plot. :D. prue and micah get their big first kiss in a very tv show build up way my heart is saying new years and all the fireworks go off around them.

we're bringing in paige because i love her she's first introduced by some seer oracle whatever as your other sister and the girls are like respectfully, bullshit. but micah's like hey......... she's half whitelighter. because he can sense those kind of things, being a darklighter. and piper and leo are like patty's affair....................... and all the pieces are falling together and in this one. paige either gets a witch love interest a cupid love interest or we keep henry because fwiw i do really like mortal love interests. if we do do the witch love interest it won't be richard i love him to piece i do but he sucks <3. source!cole time.

oh we introduce paige thru mitch trying to help one of his kids and that lands him at social services.

source!cole. idk what happens here but like. using our nifty-difty tool box the squad has been assembling over the years helping all of these wayward souls born from evil, things mostly work out fine. source's heir is born, a girl, but since prue isn't dead her name is either colette or victoria. depends if cole died or not.

prue moved out at some point and lives in a hella nice studio apartment with mitch they r both artists (who the fuck is paying for that?) phoebe moves back in the manor post-source fiasco paige moves in the manor but spends a lot of time with her sister prue and soon to be brother in law (??) mitch. (paige is like fr dude when are you gonna pop the question and mitch is like woahhhh pump the break because paige is new here and when she saw them she's like oh. married couple. but then they're not married. engaged? nope. no just loosely dating? okay. lame. bad idea. but as it turns out one of them always dies so they're just trying to avoid that for as long as possible) but paige spends a lot of time at pritch's place because not only is it The Art Zone it's also the rehabilitating kids zone, of which paige is a grand help. prue jokes about how much paige reminds her of phoebe as a kid, and since we're already muddying the timeline, we're having paige enter and solid advice columnist, married phoebe and paige is like haha what the fuck??

source's heir born twice blessed born magic school located under the charmed & co squad becomes integrated with children born of all magic and like our season 8 wrap up saccharine finale is like how magic has reached a new era of peace n understanding. <3

Glimmer’s Upcoming Villain Arc

So, I’m pretty sure Glimmer’s going to become one of the villains at some point in the final two arcs of SPOP. Not a Horde-aligned villain, obviously, but I think she’s going to have a villain arc and may even end up fighting against Adora. Sound crazy? Well, there’s actually precedent for all this in the Buffyverse, with the Dark Willow story arc. I will get more into those parallels below.

First, though, let’s look at Glimmer and her situation in isolation.

Glimmer is currently in a vulnerable position. She’s grieving the loss of her only remaining parent (so far as she knows) and she’s now going to be saddled with the responsibilities of ruling Bright Moon, all while lacking a parental/mentor figure to guide her. And who do we know who loves to guide and manipulate young people with magical powers? Shadow Weaver.

Some people saw Shadow Weaver allying with the Rebellion as the beginning of a redemption arc. However, it actually makes a hell of a lot more sense for the writers to have put her there to gain influence over Glimmer and kickstart her villain arc, starting with their unexpected connection in season 3. Though Glimmer clearly hadn’t forgiven Shadow Weaver for torturing her in season 1 or for emotionally abusing Adora throughout her childhood, she decided the Rebellion needed this evil woman’s help. It was a means to an end. But now that that mission to save Adora and disable the portal was a success, she probably won’t hesitate to ask for her help again.

Not only did Shadow Weaver gain a bit of Glimmer’s trust, Glimmer loved the boost in power she got from Shadow Weaver. She’s complained several times about how she thinks her powers aren’t that useful or strong, but Shadow Weaver fed her ego and gave her a chance to increase her powers. When she successfully teleported the Princess Alliance into the Fright Zone, she was ecstatic.

“We did it! I did it! That was amazing!”

Simply put, Glimmer is power hungry. Just look at her eyes when Shadow Weaver is talking about her potential to be a great sorcerer like her father.

This scene and the following scene in the tower gave me the creeps so bad, you could just feel Glimmer being pulled to the dark side by the promise of power. And now post-season 3, not only will she be craving that feeling of power again, there’s an inciting incident prompting her to use it.

With her mom trapped in an empty dimension forever, which is essentially hell (especially for an immortal person ffs), Glimmer will probably do everything she can to get her out. I’m guessing she’ll go to her Aunt Casta for help, but Casta will say there’s nothing to be done (at least not without resorting to dark magic), so Glimmer will go to Shadow Weaver out of desperation. Even if Shadow Weaver could come up with a way to bring Angella back, she’ll say she can’t, because she can use Glimmer’s grief for her own ends.

Shadow Weaver’s motive for defecting to the Rebellion was to take down Hordak and Catra, and at this point she could easily convince Glimmer to help her get revenge on Catra. In fact, there’s a chance Glimmer will go to Shadow Weaver herself looking to team up and get this revenge, though it’s more likely Shadow Weaver will plant the seed and manipulate her into thinking it was her own idea.

Inciting incidents aside, Glimmer has always been someone who had the potential to break bad. Like Catra, she’s power hungry and eager to prove herself, brash and impulsive, and quick to resort to violence. She’s easily blinded by emotion and can be quite heartless, both of which were illustrated in 1x01-02 by how she treated Adora because of what the Horde had done to her father.

She’s also morally gray, willing to go to extremes to achieve an outcome that she considers to be good or just. Her decision to free Shadow Weaver and use her to access the Fright Zone is a great example. Another notable instance was when she had Catra as a hostage in 2x02 and threatened to kill her to counter Catra’s threat against Entrapta. She was eventually talked down by Bow, but only while complaining about how having to take the moral high ground isn’t fair. She was clearly frustrated that entire episode by the constraints of being one of the good guys, and it culminated here.

Fighting for the rebellion, Glimmer is a force for good. But if she decides to chase her own agenda, her powers and personality could easily be used for evil. Especially when there’s someone there expertly guiding her down that slippery slope. 

Now, if the plot does indeed go this way, it will put Adora in a rather unfortunate position. If it comes down to a situation where Shadow Weaver and Glimmer have an opportunity to kill Catra, Adora will have to intervene on Catra’s behalf, for several reasons. 1) Catra is the most important person in her life, as we all know. 2) She cares for Glimmer’s soul. She knows that if Glimmer murders Catra it will haunt her and change her, and she doesn’t want that for her friend. 3) She feels the need to protect the helpless. Catra will probably be all alone in the world at this point, having pushed all her friends and allies away. So not only will she not have allies to fight with her, she’ll be in a poor state mentally, maybe even welcoming death. Even if she was in good shape, she wouldn’t stand a chance against Glimmer and Shadow Weaver’s combined magical powers. And since Adora can’t stand watching defenseless people get hurt, this will force her to step in and protect Catra despite all the negative feelings she has for her right now.

There are two people I could see pulling Glimmer out of this spiral, bringing her back to the light: Bow or Micah. Adora isn’t the best at sympathizing with someone’s dark impulses while fighting tham, as we’ve seen multiple times with Catra. Her job is to protect the world, and she will prioritize that over everything else, including her best friend (don’t we know it?). So that leaves Bow to talk Glimmer down, either by appealing to her morals (somewhat likely, but wouldn’t work at that point) or by reminding her of her innate good side, of the person she is deep down and the love he feels for her. The other way this could go down is Micah escaping from wherever he is trapped (he’s alive, yo) and convincing Glimmer to stand down with a dose of parental love and wisdom (and a big hug).

There are so many parallels to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this potential situation, and here’s where we get into the Willow comparisons. SPOILERS for BtVS under the cut!

The comparison between Catra and the rogue slayer Faith has been made many times before, along with the relationships these two characters have with the respective heroes of their shows. But if Catradora is Fuffy, that leaves Glimmer in the Willow role. And there are actually a lot of similarities between the two characters, both being fiercely protective but tempermental magical sidekicks to the hero (who hate being called sidekicks, btw). Both have had trouble making friends in the past, and both have a dude they were best friends with for years before the hero came along and turned them into an inseperable trio.

And now, there are notable and worrisome plot parallels between Glimmer and Willow in seasons 5 and 6 of BtVS.

Buffy sacrifices herself to save the world at the end of season 5, and the “Scooby Gang” believes she was sucked into hell in the process, so they decide to try to bring her back via magic. There is some dissent among the ranks, but ultimately they defer to Willow (who leads in Buffy’s absence like Glimmer will be leading the Rebellion in Angella’s absence), and Willow is not afraid of dark magic. In fact, we already saw her use it in season 5 against Glory (that season’s big bad) after Glory temporarily stole the sanity of Willow’s girlfriend, Tara.

Willow’s attack on Glory was emotionally motivated - she went off on her own after the others thought they had talked her down, thinking an attack was unwise. It was clearly motivated by revenge rather than strategy, which was made exceptionally clear by what she said to Glory.

(This scene actually reminds me a bit of the aforementioned incident with Catra in 2x02, only more extreme. The situations were obviously different, but the vengeful overtones and the mages’ frustration with allies trying to constrain their powers were similar. Both of them were struggling with impulsiveness, morality, and vengeful desires.)

Willow is ultimately successful in bringing Buffy back, though it turns out to not be entirely a good thing. If Glimmer fails to bring Angella back, as I theorized above, she could easily skip ahead to the end of Willow’s season 6 arc, the next time Willow suffers a great loss.

(The middle of Willow’s season 6 arc is her getting addicted to magic and using it in morally dubious ways on Tara and her other friends, which causes Tara to leave her until after she stops using magic and recovers from the addiction. SPOP’s writers could include something like this, but I don’t think they will, for time’s sake. More likely they will just continue to show Glimmer being tempted and corrupted by power as she gets closer to Shadow Weaver, rather than using her powers on her friends.)

The end of Willow’s season 6 arc starts with the notorious shooting death of Tara Maclay. When Tara is hit by a stray bullet and dies in Willow’s arms, Willow attempts to use magic to bring her back, but is denied. This sends her into a spiral of rage and grief, and she spends the next two episodes attempting to kill the shooter and his hapless allies. She catches up to Warren and flays him alive, but the others escape with Buffy’s help. (In the finale she tries to end the world because she believes it is for the best, as life is too full of pain. SPOP definitely won’t pull this same plot point twice, but the revenge quest up to that point is absolutely something that would work for Glimmer.)

Speaking of Buffy stepping in, let’s look at parallels to the situation Adora will find herself in, if my theory is correct. 

Buffy tries to dissuade Willow from murdering Warren because she believes it’s wrong and she doesn’t want Willow to have to live with it after. When she finds Warren’s body she decides Willow has gone too far and stands against her when she tries to go after Warren’s allies. Willow is tired of Buffy’s lectures on morality, of living by the good guys’ rules. She wants revenge, and Buffy is standing in her way. She’s also tired of being treated like a sidekick and is eager to show Buffy who is more powerful. They end up having an epic fight scene before she decides to end the world.

With the way she gives in to her dark impulses, fights against Buffy and their friends, and tries to end the world, Dark Willow actually ends up being the big bad of season 6. Her best friend Xander is the one who ends up saving the world - not by fighting her, but by blocking her magic with his body, reminding her of who she has been all these years, and telling her repetitively that he loves her. He literally saves her (and the world) with the power of love and friendship, a recurring phrase on SPOP.

The perfect parallel here would be Bow stepping in and reminding Glimmer of the goodness inside her. Perhaps he’d face off with her while Adora is fending off Shadow Weaver. But yeah, for the reasons I outlined above, Bow would be the perfect candidate to call Glimmer back from the brink of becoming a murderer. He’s known her longer than Adora and is more empathetic. Xander is often referred to as “the heart” of the Scooby Gang, the one who lacks magical powers but makes up for it with his empathy, courage, and enthusiasm. Bow fills that same role in the Best Friend Squad and Princess Alliance, and he wears a literal heart on his chest. (Yes, Xander is problematic in some ways but damn it that’s so off-topic and I’m not getting into it.)

I don’t think Glimmer will actually succeed in her quest for vengeance, or at least it won’t culminate in Catra’s murder. SPOP deals with some dark themes but it's meant for a younger audience than BtVS, plus Noelle surely knows better than to kill a fan fave wlw. But Glimmer will probably have an opportunity to kill Catra and be dissuaded at the last second, then have to embark on a redemption arc of her own.

Again, this is all just a crazy theory, but the idea of Glimmer going dark is both scary and exciting. She’s most interesting as a character when she’s struggling with her darker urges, and I think SPOP has been hinting at and slowly setting this up over the first two arcs. Now with an inciting incident at play, she could easily give in to those urges in the wake of her grief, letting her vengeful streak bubble to the surface like it did for Willow. I can’t wait to see where the story takes her in arc 3.

Terror in the Midnight Sun

Let’s see… aliens?  Check.  Sasquatch? Check.  Weird Scandinavian production trying to look like Hollywood? Check!  Bring on Terror in the Midnight Sun.

A glowing orb comes in for a landing in the arctic.  Word of this spreads quickly, and soon an expedition is dispatched to retrieve the unusual object.  One of the scientists on the trip is a Dr. Wilson, who is excited not just by the meteor but by the opportunity to visit his niece Diana, who is in the area training to be an Olympic figure skater.  Upon arrival, the scientists learn that some monster is going around killing people and reindeer, leaving gigantic footprints, and carrying off pretty girls.  When they follow its trail, they learn that what landed on the glacier is no meteor – it’s a spaceship, and the aliens’ pet Yeti has kidnapped Diana!

Yeah, that’s the movie all right.

Like a number of MST3K features, including The Touch of Satan and Blood Waters of Dr. Z, Terror in the Midnight Sun has several titles.  In its homeland of Sweden it is called Rymdinvasion i Lappland (Space Invasion in Lappland), while in English-speaking parts it is frequently Invasion of the Animal People.  Of these titles, not one of them is accurate. There is only one ‘animal person’ in the movie, and the single ship and crew really aren’t enough to constitute an ‘invasion’.  As for Terror in the Midnight Sun, that one may sound good, but there’s no midnight sun in the movie.  Rather, characters keep talking about ‘it’ll be dark soon’ and ‘we won’t make it by nightfall’.  Points for poetics, Title Guy, but none for relevance.

As well as alternative titles, there’s a whole alternative version of this movie available, produced by Jerry Warren of Wild Wild World of Batwoman fame.  It reportedly begins with John Carradine telling us why science is good, followed by a prologue in which Diana is abducted and then released by the aliens prior to the events of the original film.  I did not watch that version.  The one I did see was plenty weird enough.

Another random thing we have in common with multiple MST3K movies is the preponderance of padding.  Lost Continent was mostly Rock Climbing and Racket Girls contained far too much wrestling.  For Terror in the Midnight Sun, it’s skiing. Diana and hunky geologist Eric Engstrom spend a day on the slopes to show us that they’re falling in love. Later, the couple attempt to ski back to civilization to get help, after the yeti destroys the party’s small airplane. The nomadic reindeer-herders who live in the area ski everywhere, and we have to watch even when they’re not going anyplace plot-relevant.  And I sure never thought I’d see a movie with a torches-and-pitchforks mob chasing a monster on skis yet here we are.

Besides the skiing, Terror in the Midnight Sun also lingers on things like planes flying, couples dancing, and yetis blundering about.  There’s a gratuitous song sung by a gratuitous lounge singer.  People wander around in a blizzard in ways unpleasantly reminiscent of Hercules wandering around in a sandstorm.  All of these last just slightly longer than they should, and I imagine Joel and the ‘bots having a very hard time with them.

For an old, cheap, black-and-white movie, the photography is surprisingly good.  We can always tell what’s going on and tell the characters apart, although don’t ask me to remember anyone’s name besides Dr. Wilson, Diane, and Eric.  Cinematography is just good enough to make you think that filming an arctic landscape in monochrome has untapped artistic potential – but not good enough to realize that.  Instead, I found myself noticing that the characters’ surroundings are not nearly as bleak as the miniature shots and the dialogue are probably trying to suggest.  There seem to be plenty of trees and rocks and cabins around, while we’re evidently supposed to believe they’re miles out on the tundra.

Again like many MST3K subjects, Terror in the Midnight Sun has a pretty girl in it for no better reason than that movies are supposed to have pretty girls.  Diana is otherwise entirely useless.  She invites herself along on her uncle’s expedition for no reason at all besides possibly that she’s bored, and she brings nothing to the party whatsoever.  The movie bothers to establish her as a skilled skater and skier and then never makes use of either talent – when she and Eric try to ski to the nearest settlement for help, she runs into the only tree for miles around and sprains her knee, so he has to leave her behind in a rescue cabin to be kidnapped by the Yeti.

I think this injury is what’s supposed to prevent Diana from escaping the Yeti… only it doesn’t keep her from running around for hours in the snow.

She’s also here to fall in love with Eric, because the reason movies need pretty girls, besides the audience’s opportunity to ogle, is so that the heroic male lead can get to touch some titties as his reward for saving the day.  The whole arc with the two of them is really weird.  They have a bit of a meet cute when Diana calls out “hello, darling!” to her uncle (who does that?) and Eric thinks she’s talking to him.  Dr. Wilson warns Diana that Eric is known as a heartbreaker who can’t stick to one woman, but this doesn’t seem to discourage her.  The lovebirds then have their skiing day, when Eric knocks Diana over and she retaliates by stealing his skis and leaving him to walk all the way back to the lodge!  He arrives tired, wet, and angry, and she asks him what took him so long… but twenty minutes later he still wants to dance with her.  What the hell do these two see in each other?

When she sees the Yeti, Diana screams and faints. It carries her off back to the crater where its extraterrestrial masters – pale coneheads in long robes – are waiting.  She wakes up and sees them, and screams and faints again.  Her entire purpose in the plot is to give the movie an excuse to show us the aliens, and the whole ‘alien’ thing itself is ultimately quite useless. In fact, the movie would probably have made more sense if the Yeti had been an Earthly monster.  At the climax, she remains an inanimate object in the Yeti’s arms.

By now we’re pretty convinced the creature isn’t going to hurt her on purpose, but the movie never says what it plans to do with her instead.  In the Creature from the Black Lagoon movies, the monster’s interest in the women was overtly sexual. In Giant of the Twentieth Century, the Yeti thought the two human children were young of its own species in need of protection. Here?  I dunno.  Diana’s in the movie because movies are supposed to have pretty girls, and the Yeti menaces her because that’s what happens to said pretty girls in movies.  Nobody’s meant to care about the reason.  The writers sure didn’t.

The Yeti itself is doubtless what you’ve been waiting to hear about.  It’s the real star of this movie.  While the aliens and their ship don’t look too bad, either, the Yeti suit is clearly what the film-makers are most proud of, and it gets plenty of screen time. It’s a pretty fun Yeti as crappy movie creatures go, around twenty feet tall (except when it’s carrying Diana, when it mysteriously shrinks to more like seven feet) and shaggy, with big tusks sticking up from its lower lip.  The script doesn’t give the guy in the suit much to work with, but he manages to convey that this is a creature capable of both violence and gentleness, even as its actual motivations remain a mystery.

The motivations of the aliens are equally murky.  The climax of the movie happens when the angry mob on skis chases the Yeti to the edge of a cliff, where they throw torches at it until its fur catches fire.  It is then kind enough to put Diana down, before toppling off the precipice to its death. And then, with their Yeti dead, the aliens just fucking leave!  Only minutes later, their glowing ship rises out of the snow where we’ve all been assuming it’s stuck, and flies away across the sky.  The movie treats this as a victory, never entertaining the idea that they’ve, say, gone to get reinforcements.  Dr. Wilson watches them go and muses, “I wonder if they found out what they wanted to know.”

Personally, I don’t think the aliens were here for any sort scientific or military purpose.  Instead, imagine you’re on a cross-country road trip with your buddies, and somebody brought their dog.  That’s fun, but it does mean that every so often you’re gonna have to stop somewhere to let the dog stretch its legs and pee on a few things.  With me so far?  Okay, imagine that on one of these stops, the dog digs up an anthill, and the ants retaliate by setting it on fire and pushing it off a cliff.  You’d leave pretty damn quick too, wouldn’t you? I don’t think we have to worry about these particular aliens ever coming back.

Hello friends! I’m Harley, 21 y/o, living in a mountain time zone going by she/her pronouns! Feel free to shoot me a message for plots or just wanting to chat! I promise I don’t bite!! <3 To be completely honest I haven’t roleplayed in a while so I’m a little shy but I’m also super excited!!

— ✧ RICHARD HARMON?, NO, THAT’S JUST WARREN KASADY ! THEY’RE THE TWENTY SIX YEAR OLD SON/CHILD OF CARNAGE. THEY ARE ALSO A GRADUATE/ASSISTANT TEACHER AT PARAGON. I HEAR THEY’RE INTELLIGENT & SYMPATHETIC BUT TEND TO BE BLUNT & SARDONIC. HIS/THEIR FILE SAYS THAT HIS/THEIR POWER IS BEING THE CURRENT/FAVORED HOST OF THE CARNAGE SYMBIOTE { HARLEY, MOUNTAIN, 21, SHE/HER } 

Tw: Death, Violence, Pregnancy

After years of being both physically and mentally attached to a creature with no gender, Warren has come to identify himself as agender. He is okay with both he/him and they/them pronouns.

Warren keeps chocolate on him at all times. It contains the primary chemical the symbiote needs to survive, so he treats it as a reward system. If the symbiote is misbehaving or upset, he will eat chocolate or directly feed the symbiote to calm it down.

Warren treats the symbiote both like a pet and part of him. Because it is sentient, Warren is able to converse with/talk to it mentally, though he can be caught speaking to it out loud. The two are completely bonded, meaning any attempts to dislodge the two will end in disaster. Both are protective of each other, though Carnage is most likely to kill anyone that attempts to harm Warren.

Warren has VERY LIMITED empathy and is able to sense emotions of those around him. He has a very limited radius and this also helps him retain better control of Carnage as the symbiote is unable to hide secret motives from Warren.

The symbiote is incredibly protective of Warren, warning him of all dangers and acting of its own accord when Warren is in danger. Because of this, the symbiote is always visible and will often take the form of some piece of clothing to keep itself hidden from others.

Despite popular belief, the symbiote is NOT a bloodthirsty killer. After years of being attached to Cletus Kasady, a serial killer long before Carnage came into the picture, the two fed off of each other’s violent tendencies and became insane, TOGETHER. Warren is more controlled and calmer than his father, so after years of being attached to Warren, the symbiote has also become much calmer. Though it still has outbursts and violent urges.

Warren’s mother is Shriek, a mutant villain who was married to Cletus for a very short time. After Cletus almost killed her, she ran away and continued being a solo villain where she later found out she was pregnant. After Warren was born, Shriek used him to commit crimes, but later discovered that he was more of a liability because of his ‘weak’ powers. After getting caught, Shriek refused to break him out of jail, and left him there to rot.

Too young to stay in Juvenile Detention Center, he was given to an adoption agency where he remained for a few years before being adopted by a nice couple. Despite being jailed multiple times for multiple felonies, they always welcomed him home.

Warren was 14 years old when the Carnage Symbiote came to him. With the Symbiote’s substance already in his blood, bonding was not hard, in fact it was almost natural.

Once they were bonded, Carnage gave Warren all of Cletus’ memories, something that almost drove the boy to insanity. Almost. Warren was enraged by what his father had done, but he also felt bad for the man. He was also informed of his father’s death, which is why the symbiote sought him out.

Warren was approached by representatives of Paragon when he turned 18. They offered him a chance to turn his life around and control the symbiote.

While there, his need for violence became much more manageable, along with the symbiote itself. The two now have an ideal symbiotic relationship, both are content with their lives together.

He is not far from graduating, but to ensure that he has a job after graduation, Warren also works as an assistant teacher.  He is morally neutral, but wants everyone to know that they do not have to follow in their parents’ footsteps, no matter what is in their blood.

Sections VIII, IX

Hey y’all!

In these sections we get a slice of a potential romance, which leads Offred into a situation that is not uncommon for females to face in an imbalanced society. As well as that, we learn that Gilead’s view of feminists isn’t far off from the average right-winged social media troll.

Let’s dig in!

Summary

VIII- Birth Day (Chapters 19-23)

Present: One morning, when Offred awakes from a dream of holding her daughter, the Birthmobile comes to take Offred to Commander Warren’s house. Janine, Ofwarren, is about to have a baby.

A while after Offred arrives at Commander Warren’s house, another Birthmobile comes carrying the Wives. Ofwarren is in the master bedroom, where she is experiencing her contractions. The Wife of Warren sits above Ofwarren on the Birthing Stool, as if giving birth to the child herself. Once the child is born, the Handmaid’s and Wives are filled with glee. The baby is taken from Ofwarren and into the hands of the Wife.

Upon arriving back to the household, Ofwarren goes to the Commander’s office because of his summon from the day before. Expecting sexual advances, Offred is surprised he greets her casually and asks her to play Scrabble. She obliges with his request, as a failure to listen to the Commander is perhaps a greater wrong than if Serena finds out she is in his office illegally. Throughout the games of Scrabble, which is illegal as well since women are not allowed to read, Offred contemplates the motives of the Commander but does not reach a conclusion. At the end of the night, the Commander asks Offred to kiss him. When she obliges out of necessity, he asks her to do it again but this time like she means it.

Past:  On the ride to the birth, Offred wonders if the baby will come out healthy. Offred remembers learning about deformities in the Red Centre: environmental toxins throughout the years have increased the rate of deformed babies. This, alongside the “Jezebels”, Aunt Lydia’s word for women who didn’t have children, is what caused the low birth rate. They learned about such women in the Red Centre through documentaries about ‘Unwomen’. In one of the documentaries, Offred spotted her mother who was active with the feminist movement. Offred’s mother had her in her thirties and chose to be a single mother. Although Offred and her mother used to fight a lot about whether or not Offred appreciated the sacrifices previous feminists had made, Offred wishes her mother was still with her.

On the drive back home from the birth, Offred remembers when Moira tried to escape the Red Centre for a second time. She took apart a toilet, and used one of its parts to threaten Aunt Elizabeth with it. She forced the Aunt into the furnace room, exchanged clothes with her, and walked out of the Centre using Aunt Elizabeth’s pass. No one saw or heard from Moira after the incident.

IX- Night (Chapter 24)

Present: Back in her room, Offred decides that she must leave her past behind in order to live carefully within the rules of the present. She realizes that the Commander’s illegal actions are a gateway for her to get something more out of the arrangement. She finds the events of the night incredibly ridiculous, still surprised that the Commander asked to play scrabble instead of sex.

Analysis

Character:

Offred is continuously dreaming of her family because her life is devoid of all love. She is barely allowed to speak, has little to know connections to those in her household, and recognizes herself as foreign. Therefore, she retreats into her mind to find a place where love exists. That explains her dream of hugging her daughter, as she craves intimacy in all ways it can present itself. That may also be why she chose to go see the Commander. Yes, he is the wrath of the household and holds more power than Serena. Yet the consequences of going to see him and being found out about are perhaps greater than not going at all. Maybe she goes to see him because she needs someone, anyone, to be close to in any way. When the Commander doesn’t induce any sexual favours upon her. Offred finds her situation hilarious. She’s been told that men are sex machines, but the Commander seems incredibly human.

Moira, again, embodies the active resistance to the patriarchy. In her second attempt to escape, she takes the clothes of the Aunt to disguise herself. Moira redefines her status in Gilead by doing so, which undermines Gilead’s principles once again. Although no one knows what happened to her, it’s likely she dealt with an unfortunate fate. If George Orwell wrote this book, he’d kill Moira off in the worst way possible to symbolize how the government is always stronger than a resistance. Or perhaps he’d reintroduce Moira in the later chapters as an ortho

The Commander is probably a player. The reason I think so is because it’s apparent that Nick wants to get with Offred, but he’s still doing the summoning for the Commander. Nick probably doesn’t even know they’re playing Scrabble in there and is expecting the worst. My hunches say him and the Commander have some sort of agreement, and the agreement might not be a new one. Nick is known to constantly be doing things he shouldn’t be doing. From talking to Offred to rolling up his sleeves instead of being in proper uniform, there are a hundred reasons why he should have been fired already. Yet, he’s still there. Nick has done something to be on the Commander’s good side, and I think it’s that he helped the Commander get it on with past Handmaid’s. Maybe that explains why the Commander and Serena Joy are on such bad terms: he gets freaky with the maidens. I still don’t know what the Commander’s intentions are, but for now I’ll say that he’s just lonely.

Plot:

In these sections, we don’t learn much about the overall plot or structure of Gilead. We do pick up on this idea of “Unwomen”. Janine’s baby will prevent her from ever being declared an “Unwoman” and being sent to the colonies. This raises question to what the colonies are. Where are the colonies? Are the colonies a place of torture, or an isolated area in which women are allowed to live freely since they cannot reproduce? An insight to how Gilead treats women it considers unimportant may give us an idea of what it extent it goes to in order to preserve its power.

Themes:

Women’s role in society: We’ve already established that Gilead sees women’s role in society simply to reproduce. In these sections, we gain new information about that role from the idea of “Unwomen”. Feminists are considered not to be women, perhaps not even people. This creates division in society, as those labeled lesser humans are susceptible to exploitation and abuse. Why are feminists not considered human? Feminists, using Offred’s mother as an example, are those who campaign for women’s right in order to create social equality. In other words, they think about the issues in the world and do something about them. The idea of thinking must be eliminated from women, as thinking is a man’s duty. Feminists are neither stereotypically men nor women, so they get the label of “Unwomen”. Perhaps those who commit “gender treachery” are regarded in a similar manner, as they question the rules regarding gender roles in Gilead’s society.

The balance of power: The Commander, a man with clear authority, is using that authority to get something out of Offred, someone with nothing. If the two were to fall in love, this book would just add to the trope of a powerful man finding a powerless woman to protect. I don’t think Margaret Atwood is a fan of that trope, so hopefully that doesn’t happen. The Commander is using his power to his advantage since he knows Offred cannot decline. This is notable in the real world. Stories of male employers taking advantage of male employees because of the imbalanced power dynamic are not uncommon. Take Kesha for example, a woman who was allegedly raped and manipulated by her manager, someone who has direct control over her. Hopefully Atwood provides a means for Offred to avoid a situation like that, providing an escape for women in danger.

Hopefully, we get to know more about the terribly romantic relationship between Commander Player and a powerless girl and broken girl. Don’t let us done, Maggie.

Until next time!