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capitalisticveins · 1 year

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Shaw Pack Hcs Part 4 (i think?) (Ft. Sam)

These are 3 pages long on Google Docs wow um

- Tank has smoked once, but didn’t exactly get into it.

- Asher and Christian put things they KNOW Milo will need on the top shelf of whatever house they’re in.

- Baaabe has freckles. Whether they're faint, or there’s tons of them, it doesn’t matter. They HAVE freckles.

- Angel may not be able to cook, but for some reason they can really fucking good. Cake, cookies, macaroons, brownies, lava cake, hell, Creme Brulee. They just find baking and cleaning everything up tedious, so they don’t do it often.

- As kids, whenever Kelsey came over with her mom to visit Arden and Christian, Arden and Kelsey would do anything and everything to scare the shit out of Christian.

- The only game Sam and Tank can play on equal grounds with no advantages towards each other is Just Dance 2018.

- Ansel and Bailey work on their upper arm strength more

- David doesn’t shave often, but his face somehow remains slightly shaven? Which is weird because he grows facial hair like crazy.

- David sleeps like a fucking corpse, that man does NOT move.

- Angel likes to shave David’s face when he’s asleep and keeps the hair in a jar under the bed in a box.

- Asher eats Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese.

- Tank LOVES frosting on cake and cupcakes. They lick the frosting off of those mini-cupcakes and eat the frosting first off normal cake.

- Angel used to believe in Herobrine, but instead of being scared or not playing the game until he was “removed”, they’d actively seek him out.

- Sweetheart’s impulsive thoughts have once led them to go tangible while in between a wall. It was excruciatingly painful and they don’t know how they didn’t get split in half.

- Milo would sharpen his teeth if he could.

- Ansel eats Crumbl Cookies, much to Christian’s dismay (he believes they’re undercooked).

- Asher and Baaabe don’t get out of each other’s arms until both of them are awake. If one wakes up first, they just lay there until the other wakes up.

- Baaabe didn’t go into elevators for a week after they met Asher. Not because they didn’t want to see him again, but because they were deathly afraid of being stuck again.

- When he was a kid, Marie would aggressively pinch Milo’s cheek whenever he did something bad.

- Baaabe took it surprisingly well when Asher first admitted to being a werewolf. Not because they were shocked or in fear, but because it explained a LOT of weird shit he would do.

- Once, when they were a kid, Tank got into a frosting container their mom used to ice cakes she’d make, and ate all the frosting out of it. They would’ve been punished if they didn’t vomit an hour afterward, since it was “punishment enough” in their father’s words

- Madelyn and all of the older pack kids (only girls) would have sleepovers almost all the time. Kelsey, Bailey, and Arden were invited, but not so often since they were younger.

- Sweetheart likes to buy square pillows so it can support their neck better.

- Asher, David, Milo, and Christian would try to sneak in or see what the girls were talking about, much to Madelyn’s dismay.

- David has a vase full of honeysuckles in his bedroom.

- Sweetheart can NOT hopscotch. They’ve tried and they keep tripping by the time they reach 6.

- Angel has once laughed so hard they passed out.

- Bailey likes to blow bubblegum, but it’s hard to pop them. Meaning if they grow too big she has to use her fingers to pop them, but then sometimes it gets stuck to her hands.

- Brooke has seen Bailey get tangled up in gum during a pack meeting, and had to go over and help her, but then he started getting stuck in the gum, until Amanda saw him.

- Long story short half the pack got stuck in 5 pieces of gum until David had to use scissors to cut them out. That night he prayed for a normal pack.

- Sweetheart was once compared to Sherlock Holmes. That’s the best compliment they believe they’ve ever been given.

- Baaabe always has a stupid and goofy smile whenever Asher walks into the room.

- As a kid, Milo was often left out of fun activities with the other kids. Bailey was the only one that stuck around him when they forgot to invite him.

- I.E: Brooke forgot to invite him to his 10th birthday party, and when Bailey found out, she and her parents took him to Six Flags.

- Other than the literal stealth in the pack, Brooke is the most stealthy member of the Shaw Pack. He can stop breathing for up to 5 minutes and cloak his aura enough for any normal empowered person to not sense or notice him.

- Tank has put mentos in coke and shoved the bottle in their mouth, Milo had to snatch the bottle from their hands after soda started spraying from their nose. Asher gave them 20 bucks to do it.

- David would stay up until 2am studying for ANY test they were given back in high school.

- Asher tried getting a tattoo in high school and told David, but David said if he ever finds a tattoo on him, he’d tell Asher’s parents immediately.

- Arden is the reason unempowered people in Dahlia believe wolves howl during a full moon. She makes sure that during ALL full moons, she’s at the highest peak possible in the town, shifted and howling as loud as she can. Only Christian knows she’s the one doing it.

- Tank has forgotten to put water in a cup of noodles once before microwaving it.

- Sweetheart has scared Baaabe before and this led to Baaabe cursing them out in a different language.

- Angel had braces from elementary school to high school, and keep unknowingly licking their teeth.

- David is NOT flexible, that man is as stiff as a floorboard.

- When Tank and their family first joined the pack, Tank was pissy and distant because they missed their old pack with their old friends.

-Milo has said “I’m walking ‘ere!” once, that’s the only reason Asher and Christian say it whenever he’s around.

- Bailey eats waffles with her hands.

- Kelsey and David fold their pizzas.

- Arden used a fork and knife to eat hers once to piss everyone off.

- Asher, David, Christian, Arden, Amanda, Brooke, Miguel, and Bailey have done the cliche “break a window with a baseball” in Amanda’s backyard once. Bailey broke it and was going to come clean, but Christian panicked and blamed it on Kelsey, who wasn’t there. He then tried to backtrack and blame it on Milo, who was in the corner playing with dandelions because they forgot to ask him to play. Bailey got away with it because Amanda’s mom believed it was him due to his lying, and no one backed him up.

- Asher tries to laugh more “cutely” or “manly” but whenever Baaabe says a joke he can’t help but laugh genuinely.

- When David was scolding Tank in “Confronted but your Pack Alpha”, Tank had a scowl on and kept looking at the ground. They didn’t make eye contact until the end.

- Sweetheart can throw it back

- David can be DEATHLY silent when he wants to be. This is why Sam didn’t hear David from behind him during the pack Solstice, despite his advanced hearing.

- Whenever the Sunbound Solstice comes around, and none of the wolves feel good or energized enough to do anything, the mates do everything in their power to pamper and take care of them until they feel better. The only exceptions are Tank, Sam, Milo, and Sweetheart since they’re all Moonbound. In this case, Baaabe and Angel wait until David and Asher fall asleep to help them out.

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lo-diehards · 29 days

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2024 TV Season Analysis – Organized Crime Tops the Franchise, Law & Order Better, SVU Needs an Overhaul

The 2023-24 TV season has been a truncated TV season of 13 episodes, due the ongoing WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes that happened last year. A lot of scripted TV was back burned until the strikes ended. TV writers struck their deal first and were back to work promptly, long before actors/actresses, this should have given time to plan out their already short season. Production crunched for 13 episodes to be shot between late November until this coming week, where SVU and mother ship reboot will be wrapping up shooting their finale episodes.

But where does this season grade in its entirety? I’m going to summarize – as much as I can - my views on where the franchise stands for this season from best to worst. Click below to read.

Organized Crime – The best in the franchise creatively, hands down!

New show runner/executive producer John Shiban (The X-Files) and his writing staff understood their assignment and have definitely delivered. Organized Crime is the most entertaining series in the franchise this season, week-over-week. The storylines are so fleshed out and they don’t drag on as they had since the series started. Shiban has shifted focus to the OC main characters and their backstories as well as expanding on the OC unit in its entirety. We’ve even seen 2 of SVU’s former stars show up (Tamara Tunie, Chief M.E. Melinda Warner / Dann Florek, Donald Cragen) as well as an appearance by Peter Scanavino (ADA Dominick Carisi). We have even been introduced to more of Stabler’s family, his brothers – portrayed by guest stars Dean Norris and Michael Trotter – and while they’ve come in and shook things up for Stabler, one thing I can point out, it’s the first season since OC premiered where I haven’t felt that Elliot Stabler is on a quest for vengeance or retribution of some kind.

The cast has been firing on all cylinders this season, especially with the episode that just aired last week (“Crossroads”), where one of OC’s new team members went missing and was found to be killed, Stabler having the bury his body as he is undercover with the group that found Detective-in-Training Samir Bashir (guest star Abubakr Ali). This story is still playing out so as of now we don’t fully know who killed him but I’m sure we’re about to find out. Stabler’s younger brother, Joe Jr. may have some involvement as the investigation is about to come full circle. Meanwhile, the scene in question in this episode has Christopher Meloni and Danielle Mone Truitt deliver their most powerful scene together yet in the series and they have delivered quite a few, this one stands out though.

Excellent only begins to describe it, and Organized Crime this season. Organized Crime has yet to be renewed for the 2024-25 TV season.

Law & Order (reboot) – It’s improved, but we still have a ways to go.

There is a lot to be said of the mother ship series, both the original and this reboot. But this reboot has seen a lot in its short time on air, in this short season alone the cast has changed twice already. Jeffrey Donovan (Detective Frank Cosgrove) and the series parted ways weeks before production was set to start and veteran Sam Waterston (District Attorney Jack McCoy) chose to depart before mid-season. Sam Waterston is/will greatly be missed and he leaves behind a full legacy on the show, which he joined in 1994! Meanwhile newcomers Reid Scott (Detective Vincent Riley) and Tony Goldwyn (District Attorney Nicholas Baxter) have been welcomed by fans with open arms. The cast of the reboot no matter which season is very solid and they are all very talented, but their talents often seem crippled.

The reboot seems to have an issue fleshing out the characters. Det. Jalen Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) and ADA Sam Maroun (Odelya Halevi) – and add DA Nick Baxter (Goldwyn) to me, week-in and week-out are the unsung heroes as with them we can see depth, we can understand why they make the decisions they make or feel the way they do on certain topics. I’m still on the fence about Riley’s development but he’s definitely has a more solid partnership with Shaw than Cosgrove did, and he certainly is a better character. I think they’ve got a great detective duo here – reminiscent of that of Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) and Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto) in season 18. From about the third episode this season on up, there has been an improvement in the writing, I must say in comparison from where the season started. Most of the episodes this season seem to have one singular writer who stands out, Pamela Wechsler, who also serves as executive producer. Girl power!

What can help the reboot:

The writers need to get away from talking points and political affiliation when it comes to the characters and even the weekly storylines - looking at you show runner Rick Eid - it makes the characters come off as caricatures and stereotypes. And maybe not directly rip the episodes from the headlines near verbatim. It takes away from it if we already know how it plays out – where is “the Law & Order twist?” They need to deep dive into Vincent Reilly, Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) and Kate Dixon (Camryn Manheim); we have talented actors on here, give them something that makes us stand up and clap and relate to these characters and stop making them one-dimensional, especially ADA Price. I must say I’ve been enjoying the legal side a bit more with the addition of Goldwyn’s Baxter, his back-and-forth every week with Price has a feel of the original series run, where we see multiple points of views on cases and it doesn’t feel/sound like rhetoric. And speaking of that run, it wouldn’t hurt for them to find ways to invest those old characters in the reboot. Just because Sam has departed doesn’t mean we still don’t want to see old faces or even faces from the other L&O series show up. Elisabeth Rohm (ADA Serena Southerlyn) and Milena Govich (Det. Nina Cassady) have directed episodes! Raul Esparza and Hugh Dancy both starred in Hannibal, I could see former-ADA now Defense Attorney Rafael Barba sitting at the defense table and likely wiping the floor with Price! Tony Goldwyn even wants Mariska Hargitay to direct an episode. Let’s make the mother ship enjoyable to watch again!

It was renewed for a 24th season (4th for the reboot). The mother ship has a second chance at greatness and to continue its legacy on television, not a lot of shows get that. It would be wise that those in charge on mother ship remember that.

SVU – The 25th milestone season ranks as one of the worst.

I originally had a two-page long document on this season of SVU alone and I’ve had to shorten it down and it’s still not that short. But if I had to describe the 25th record-breaking season of SVU in 1 word, that word would be “bad.” There are calls on social media for show runner/executive producer David Graziano to be fired from the series. I’m not one to openly call for people to lose their jobs, but clearly there is something wrong and the downward spiral of the ratings mixed with bad press for SVU episodes this season is showing that. Nothing about season 25 jumps out as milestone season and there are only a handful of episodes as of now, that I would consider episodes worth going back to watch again: “Tunnel Blind”, “Duty to Report”, “Probability of Doom”, and “Children of Wolves” which was directed by Mariska Hargitay.

It’s the writing and direction of this season, period. There is no other reason or excuse that flies. There is clearly no investment from the management level behind the scenes at SVU in this milestone season being the best it could have been. The Maddie storyline overtook the season and its resolution didn’t exactly hit the mark either. Where is the retrospective? Why haven’t we gone over past cases? Seen former victims/survivors (other than 2 minutes worth of Maria from “911”)? Why did Olivia stop seeing Dr. Lindstrom (Bill Irwin)? Where is the ‘healing?’ The guest stars? We haven’t seen any former stars, other than Kelli Giddish (Detective Amanda Rollins), and that proves to me that it was a mistake to fire her in the first place. “Where is the energy? Where is the spatter? This is life-less dreck. A cheap knock-off…” (diehard SVU fans; if you know, you know). But seriously, nothing about this season overall screams “25 years!”

With the season opener, I was sure David Graziano and the writers turned the page on the mess that was most of the entire 24th season of SVU. Turns out I was wrong to think it. It seems to be doubled down. It’s proof that despite his behavior, he’s just not a good fit for SVU. He doesn’t seem to understand how to write for this show and be the voice of who women/people look up to and the voice that victims and survivors need. I honestly think he would serve better on a Criminal Intent reboot or something since he seems to like that aspect of the crimes more so than investigatory and the legal side – Peter Scanavino’s screen time has greatly decreased and well as legal scenes.

What can help SVU:

A lot of damage is done, but it’s not irreversible. The best call is to replace the person at the top if they aren’t going to change themselves, (sorry but not sorry David). The popular eras of SVU are seasons 3-7 and again 13-17 and for good reason; Neal Baer and Warren Leight remain the two people who have seen SVU at their peaks. Going into a record breaking season 26, someone who can understand the intricacies of SVU needs to take the helm and get this show turned around. Focus needs to be on steadying the storylines and fleshing them out in a meaningful way to where they connect and not have crucial bits just disappear into thin air. We need to get SVU’s focus back on uplifting the voices of victims and survivors and their journeys, as well as to delve deep again into the world of the NYPD SVU squad. It’s not just about “rape case of the week” the actual SVU deals with kidnappings, crimes against the children, the disabled/elderly, working in conjunction with the Hate Crimes unit/federal govt., trafficking and more, let’s get the variety back in the crimes – and let’s stop showing the crime taking place on screen and in graphic manner. The crime scene analysis, forensics, court scenes and legalese needs to be put back into this series, I’ve honestly felt it decrease even before S24 as far back as some S22.

We need to see Carisi navigate through these cases and the back-and-forth with the defense as well as in his own bureau. We’ve yet to see Carisi interact with the district attorney (Jack McCoy, Sam Waterston – now Nick Baxter, Tony Goldwyn) much like his preceding ADAs. Benson’s character needs to go back to therapy and deal with her issues head on (Lindstrom, Bill Irwin), she had done that up until EDMR in season 24 became her new way and it’s not working for her, since the writers seem to use it now as a crutch to say “she’s healing” but then turn around and have her do things to suggest otherwise. Benson also needs to be written as a leader and delegator more so than taking every case away from her “squad” and solving them personally. Actually from a story standpoint it would be great to see Benson face repercussions for continually doing this, in the real world that would have consequences as how can she personally investigate cases and run the unit?

And with the unit, their stories need to be dissected more. Velasco (Octavio Pisano) in particular, he had an edge in season 23 as the new guy that might be a snitch for the Chief of Detectives (McGrath, Terry Serpico) but in season 24 they pushed this character into a corner with liking Detective Grace Muncy (Molly Burnett, who departed last season) and the Chilly storyline last season and can’t seem to get him out of that corner. Velasco comes off as “just there” much in the way Fin (ICE T) is starting to. And where is Phoebe (Jennifer Esposito)? Detective Bruno and Captain (to-Detective or Chief?) Curry (Kevin Kane and Aime Donna Kelly) are pretty much holding down the squad and are actually the more I look to, to solve the cases and they are the only ones peaking my interest.

SVU is heading to record-breaking season 26, if they want to reach their goal of stopping at 30. Dick Wolf, NBC and those behind the scenes need to get serious about it if that is what they really want. Otherwise, you’re about to have long-time viewers and new viewers alike turning away. Despite what people believe about ever-lasting loyalty, it does have an end date.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Feel free to respond!

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