#i hated the pacing of his parts of that episode i thought they were rushed and incongruent

[grinchwrapsupreme]

thinking about how the captain would have become a ghost and had to watch the aftermath including both Havers' reaction and the reaction of all those other soldiers

#bbc ghosts #bbc ghosts spoilers #bbc ghosts captain #lieutenant havers #anthony havers #its just.... y'know...... #i can't imagine it was enjoyable to hear what they all had to say #and it's different from a lot of the other ghosts who died either alone #or were left by those they died near #thomas was left and humphrey was left #kitty had her family there but she didn't understand #but the captain was surrounded #and even havers was there... #i'll admit because i do have to say it at least once #i hated the pacing of his parts of that episode i thought they were rushed and incongruent #but they were heartfelt at least #and i hope ben got to tell the story he wanted to

[velvrei]

caught

pairing : sub!hawk moskowitz x reader

summary : you catch hawk in an interesting position and decide to help him out

warnings : nsfw, sub!hawk, oral (m receiving), masturbation, throat fucking, praise kink, begging

The house was empty. Well that's how it seemed, when you walked inside and kicked your shoes off. You through your coat onto the couch. Hawk hadn't been answering your texts.

Y/N: hey babeeee

10 minutes later...

Y/N: are you okay

Y/N: did i do something?

20 minutes later...

Y/N: pigeon? eli? hello?!?

2 minutes later...

Y/N: i'm coming over i stg if this is some kind of sick joke i will actually kill you

You texted Hawk that last message five minutes ago, that five minutes you spent rushing over to his house just to see that the front door was slightly open. Was he okay? He never intentionally left the door open or unlocked. You pushed the front door shut.

It calmed you a little when you noticed the television playing a random episode of Victorious, and the microwave read end meaning he was here.

"Eli?!"

No answer.

You called again, no answer. But if he was here, why was there no answer? You silently hoped for the best, noticing his bedroom door slightly open at the end of the hallway.

You always tried to give Eli his privacy, but the second you heard a faint moan leave his pretty mouth, you shuttered. That rule instantly became the least of your worries. Your curiosity got the best of you as you peeled through the open slit.

You almost came at the sight of Eli, both AirPods in, one hand wrapped around his dick, pumping, slowly improving his pace just as you did. His head thrown back onto his headboard while his skin glowed with sweat, his cheeks pink. You covered your mouth, holding in your gasp as his lips parted and he let out a low, sexy groan. "Oh, god, Y/N."

His muscles tightened with each stroke, you watched his thighs tremble slightly as your mind started to imagine mischievous scenarios.

You gulped, refraining from distracting him but it just became too hard. Your heat was basically dripping, and to make it worse, his moans were increasing, fast, you could tell he was close. Whenever he was close to releasing he would choke over his own moans, and he would repeat your name over and over, as he was doing just now.

You quickly decided to reveal yourself at the worst time, knowing how much it would effect him.

"Eli!" You yelled loudly, startling your man as he ripped both AirPods out and threw his phone across his bed. He covered himself, embarrassed.

His breathing was heavy as he just stared. Poor boy looked like a deer in headlights. "Y-Y/N! What are you doing here?" He stuttered, struggling to catch his breath.

"I'm sorry, my love, I didn't mean to startle you," You spoke, slowly but sensually walking over to him. "You weren't answering my texts, so I came to check up on you, but clearly, you're more than okay." You chimed with a cheeky grin and a tiny laugh.

He looked down, and you grabbed his chin, so he looked up at you, "I'm not laughing at you, baby, you looked like you were really enjoying yourself and I just want to join in on the fun. But you really worried me when you weren't answering my texts, I thought I did something. Maybe give your girl a warning next time."

He sighed with relief, "I will, I'm sorry, baby." He still looked startled, his eyes widened when you stopped at his bed, wrapped one leg around his waist so you straddled his body. "I could tell you were close though," He gulped, You thighs moved against his, the slight sensation made him throw his head back against the headboard.

"Please, Y/N. Help me out, please. I- I started thinking about you and I couldn't help myself," He grabbed his phone, unlocking it, awkwardly turning his phone to show you. "So I started looking at your Instagram photos, an- and- god, baby, you're just so gorgeous."

He clicked on one of the photos of you in a skimpy bikini, "You look so good in that swimsuit, baby. I hate saying things like this cause I feel like an asshole but your tits look so good, oh my god," He rambled, groaning and throwing his head back once again.

You smiled, your nails lightly grazing along his dick, he trembled, "Holy fuck, please!" His eyes squeezed shut. You decided to save him from torture. You winked up at him before running your tongue along his dick, before taking him fully into your mouth. His mouth dropped open, a loud sultry groan fell out.

"Baby, baby, please." He whimpered when your lips left him and began pressing soft kisses onto his balls. "Please what?" You smiled, stroking him as you pressed a gentle kiss to his tip, your left hand cupping his balls.

He whined, "Suck me, please, baby." His words made you throb, as you wrapped your lips around him. You swirled your tongue a couple times, he let out another moan and you smirked at the sexy sound. He mumbled a bunch of gibberish then repeatedly whispered your name. You remembered how close he was just from his hand, so you knew he wouldn't last long with your mouth.

His hand grabbed the back of your head, and instead of holding your hair back, he thrusted into your mouth, repeatedly. "Yes, baby, take my cock, fuck," He moaned, apparently he was feeling more dominant before he orgasmed, but you weren't complaining. He moaned over and over, his sounds only egging you on as you pumped the part your mouth couldn't take yet.

The sound of your face being fucked turned him on to the max, the sight of your lips around him and your eyes practically begging him to release sent him over the edge. You bobbed your head through his orgasm, his hot ropes of cum shot down your throat. The room was silent beside the sound of Eli's breath above you.

"Thank you, baby, I needed that." He said, his eyelids heavy as he smiled down at you, still catching his breath. "I am very tired, but I promise I will return the favor." He winked, then laid his head on your chest, and fell asleep.

#cobra kai #cobra kai smut #eli moskowitz #hawk moskowitz #hawk smut #hawk cobra kai #smut imagine #velvrei #hawk x you #hawk x y/n #ck s5

[justeclotilde]

Thoughts on LEGO Monkie Kid, pacing, and season 5

I’m taking this from Twitter, but basically this thread about “Say something BAD about the show Monkie Kid” came up and my biggest gripe so far has been :  The show has way too short episodes. Like, 11min30. And tries to do SO MUCH in those 11min30 that either somethings get scrapped (DBFamily but not just that) or big important elements get solved way too fast (Samadhi fire and broken scroll among other things). And it steams I think from the fact that the show went from episodic to serialised while keeping the same amount of time. 

I ramble :  I see a lot of newcomers say that they jumped s1 and 2 and really started with s3/4, and while everyone has their reasons I think that’s silly Because that format is what made me love the characters and settings in the first place. The episodes are short, so the show can only focus on a tiny thing, but sprinkled LBD being a menace throughout the season, with the spider gang being a menace. And now ? lBD is still reveared as one of the best villains, and Spidergang is still very appreciated. Same thing for DBF : Red Son was slowly developed through s1, and returned on s3 Granted he wasn’t in s2, but since he was a major part of s1, and the spider queen special, we grew to care about him and the family to an extent. Because that’s what the show is good at ! Characters interactions, character personalities, CHARACTERS !! And now, the show is going for serialised, which is great and maintains attention, but it wants to do too much with the same amount of time: - In s2 : LBD took 10 ep to build her mech. MK started slowly to grow, and his relationships were explored one ep at a time. Slowly. - In s4 : we lose SWK, MK meets Azure, we learn about Tang, Pigsy and Sandy through their ancestors, we start to question MK’s existence, Monkey MK, the scroll is a menace, Azure betrays the group, MK loses his mentor and morale, DBF is important but scrolled, the JE is defeated and BAM world explodes we have to kill God in 4 episodes now. 

Granted for the characters as well it feels rushed. We don’t have to see everything either. Of course. They have a life outside the show. And overall they did a good job in those 11 bloody minutes 30.

But

But

But.

Now that we have a bit of breathing room, maybe it’s time to have that character moment by episode we’ve been asking for instead of cramming feelings and heartfelt conversations in an episode while the world is teared apart outside. Especially since we’ve seen the characters go through hell for a whole season. MK needs to breath but he isn’t the only one. We could have an episode on Red Son and his time in the scroll, an episode on MK going monkey a whole episode, an episode on SWK and Macaque in coloc, an episode on Tang Pigsy and Sandy trying to get back to their lives since they’re the most normal of the bunch - technically (cuz apparently having episodes focused on them in s4 wasn’t enough to have conversations about it but that’s a gripe i have with the community for LATER). We could have SWK and DBF reminisce on their time together, since DBK is one of the last friend that doesn’t QUITE hate him anymore, or an episode on how Nezha starts rebuilding Heaven by himself while keeping the JE power safe, or an episode on Mei just being awesome honestly, like just Mei observing MK going insane and being the girlboss she is, especially since she went through the whole “excess power that could kill everyone you love” and is still living with that, in a way. That could answer where the Samadhi fire business went. Cuz like in real life some things are tamed but don’t disappear, she might still be struggling but has learned to live with it. And MK is going through a similar path. We could also have Red Son in this one since he’s honestly the most controlled in a way.

And through all that… discretly… the world starts to break apart again ? Tears appear and with it new monsters and ghosts of the past maybe start seeping from the Underworld ? Maybe an unmasked man tries to prevent Mk’s attemps at coming back to some normal because as long as he’s confused and scared he stays the Harbinger of Chaos ? Idk ! TL:DR A lot of critics I see sum up as « They should show this more, why did THIS disappear out of nowhere, this is wasted potential », which seeps from the show not having time to show all that happens at once. Maybe it’s time to take a breather and tackle the problems one at a time again, ep by ep, like in season 2. And then go back to « We’re all gonna die in 4 episodes » to get the panic back on track.

Anyway Please come talk to me about the show and your theories, or headcanons about what the characters are doing now that the wreck of S4 has rolled past them. I wanna talk about my babies some more...

#monkie kid theories #monkie kid #lego monkie kid #monkie kid mk #monkie kid mei #monkie kid red son #monkie kid dbk #monkie kid wukong #monkie kid macaque #monkie kid tang #monkie kid pigsy #monkie kid sandy #monkie kid nezha #monkie kid season 4 #lmk s4 spoilers #lmk season 4 special spoilers #lmk season 5 #i'm putting maybe too many tags but i really just want to converse a bit

[the-awful-falafel]

Okay. I returned briefly to R&M just to watch the latest episode because I heard Evil Morty came back.

... unpopular opinion I guess, based on the excitement in the tag, but I... didn't like how they executed his return that much? Like it was promising on paper, but in execution I was constantly like "... :|"

From the moment Evil Morty showed up in front of Rick C-137 and Morty Prime, he just felt like he was there to stand around and quip constantly and to get counter-quipped about how much of an asshole he was being, as well as to pull off Rick-tech cyborg badassery to fight alongside Rick in a very overblown way (his more unique manipulative skills only getting to show with the fakeout near the end). There's no... gravitas, for a lack of a better word. He just shows up and oh, he's here, and he's helping, and he feels strangely superfluous to the plot in spite of all the little ways the episode has him progress the fight against Rick Prime. It felt fanservicey and not in the good or natural way.

It also felt like there were scenes missing between the moment he appears and the moment he starts giving backhanded technobabble advice to Rick about how to improve his tech. Like... shouldn't there be more tension, instead of this casual acceptance of "oh this guy again, this is happening"? Why does the episode not give time to explain why Evil Morty decided to help our Rick kill Prime to solve the curve-fracking disruption, instead of just killing him? Why is Evil Morty giving snarky advice and/or cooperating with Rick like they're a real team with minimal preamble? It didn't go enough into the thought process from A to B for most scenes in the episode, honestly. Things were just constantly being thrown at you with no time to digest what was going on, making it all feel rather shallow (until the end, I guess)

Also, aside from that moment where he shows interest in bringing Morty along, Evil Morty gets no meaningful interactions with Morty Prime at all (who, as an aside, does so little this episode it's uncanny, even though being faced with a competent alternate version of himself who loathes Rick is perfect character development fuel, and they just keep wasting it by giving him nothing to do and not following up on the confrontation in S5 meaningfully) and in addition he's randomly acting far more tolerant to the main duo + giving them more credit for reasons that feel very OOC and more just to justify the rushed team-up. They could have done a lot with his distaste for our R&M because they represent what he hates about the abusive dynamic he left, like they hinted at in the S5 finale, but that seems quietly dropped or at least ignored. All the interesting parts of his character aside from being a hypercompetent asshole Morty got kinda glossed over due to the insanely rushed pacing and him existing as a plot device, even though I conceptually like the idea of him being less of a straightforward antagonist and more of a wild card who wants to be left alone after his escape in Season 5. He did feel somewhat more natural at the end once it he was downloading the Omega weapon information from Rick Prime, but his parting words where he shows an interest in our Rick felt so forced I cringed.

... I did like his intro backstory somewhat, but there wasn't anything really surprising in it (aside from the Evil Rick attempted suicide scene, jesus that got dark real fast and reminded me of my old fanfic), so in practice it kinda just ruined the mystique and prior applicability of Evil Morty's character to every Morty's backstory + character trajectory. Ironically, showing too much led to his character feeling smaller, not larger, and muddied what made his parting speech in S5 work so well. I feel like they should have just kept him relaxing in his private resort and dropped the rest of the intro, honestly. That was the best part, seeing how pissed he got at his peace being interrupted.

All that being said, I think a lot of the ideas in this episode were decent on paper, but it should have been a two-parter. Nothing was given room to breathe as they just hit you with canon after canon to service Rick's greater arc, and as a result Evil Morty felt really wasted here. And I was surprised since I was going into this expecting to enjoy it as an Evil Morty fan.

#rick and morty #evil morty #rnm critical #sorry if this is incoherent it's late and I just watched and I'm unhappier than I expected #tw suicide mention

[a-fantasy-lover-surfing-the-net]

Till the end of the moon review

I recently rewatched the drama and felt like reviewing the first Cdrama I ever watched. After watching some cdramas in the past 7 months since I first watched the drama, I now trust myself to write a decent enough review after somewhat familiarizing myself with the genre and overall cdrama space.

Rating: 9.5/10 (1000 bonus points for searing itself in my mind and staying there even after 7 months)

Acting: 10/10

Story: 9/10

Chemistry: 100000000/10

OST: 10/10

Costumes: 10/10

Hair & Makeup: 9.5/10

Production/Set Design: 10/10

Visual Effects/CGI: 10/10

Rewatch Value: 10/10

Li Susu, an immortal time travels 500 years into the past to prevent the ascension of the Devil god, who goes on to destroy the world in the future. It's a story of love and hate, good and evil, redemption and damnation. The characters are very well conceptualized and depicted beautifully by talented actors, stunning costumes, really good hair and makeup, and great cinematography. The amazing production and set design along with impressive visual effects and CGI really immerse the audience in the world of TTEOTM. This was a high budget drama and it shows... each and every frame of the drama, it feels lavish. If you are even a little bit interested go watch the first episode and l promise you'll be hooked and end up finishing the drama.

Now unto my spoiler filled thoughts:

I find it interesting that the typical backstory themes and some character arcs of the male lead and the female lead have been swapped here. The FL usually has a dead parent or abusive household or terrible luck and so on. The ML usually comes to the FL's rescue or stands up for her and so on. We all know that Tantai Jin is Disney Princess coded given his dead mother, abusive and neglectful upbringing and his animal telepathy powers. LSS both as Ye Xiwu and LSS repeatedly saves TTJ and stands for him. While TTJ also saves her many times, he does not get a chance to stand up for her because she usually takes care of herself and she is not suspected or wrongfully accused where she would need someone to support her. Also, TTJ basically became a part of LSS's family as her uncle took him under his wing and he promised to stay in Hengyang Sect with her in ep 35 before all hell breaks loose. And who can forget that LSS marks TTJ with her Phoenix mark, typical ML behavior.

Their romance is my ultimate enemies to lovers pairing. It has just the right amount of fighting, messiness, animosity and angst for me. I feel that other pairings don't have enough of it for me to consider them as an enemies-to-lovers couple. Their visuals, their chemistry, their acting and the story everything was so great. Who else has three epic weddings in one drama? I am still not able to move on from this couple and drama.

While the misunderstandings were obviously supposed to lead to a turning point in the story, I feel like it was in character for them to jump to conclusions and assume the worst without fully thinking things through and which then led to them acting rashly. I mean both TTJ and LSS had bad history between them so in the early stages of their relationship where their trust in each other was shaky, it's understandable that they were prone to misunderstandings. Also, they're both not good at communicating with each other. In the mortal arc, LSS was never fully honest with TTJ and they never addressed their past misdeeds properly (like OG Ye Xiwu was very cruel to TTJ and he never talked to her about it and just brushed it off). In the immortal arc, TTJ deceived LSS when he became the Devil God.

For the most part the story was gripping, progressed at a good pace and conveyed many themes that become apparent on rewatches. Though it was obvious that the last 5 episodes and the ending were rushed because the censorship rules changed as they went into production. This was one of those dramas that needed at least 5-10 more episodes to properly flesh out the story. It was a missed opportunity that we didn't get to see LSS ruling the Demon realm and Ami's antics.

Another victim of the decreased episode count is the arc of the second leads. Tbh, I wish that Pian Ran and Ye Qingyu were the SLs but I think I would have enjoyed seeing the complete character arc of Xiao Lin/Gongye Jiwu and Ye Bingchang/Mo Nv and the resolution between them. That said it was appalling that they didn't bring back Pian Ran and Ye Qingyu in the immortal arc. I really missed their dynamic with each other and with the main leads. It is disappointing that they didn't even get an open/ambiguous ending to give us some closure and satisfaction.

The actress did a phenomenal job in making us hate her as Ye Bingchang and Tian Huan. Those characters as villians really worked as they were in a way the ones who had the markings of the female lead (these characters at the start of their stories could easily be heroines in any other story) but they turn into villians. Tantai Minglang was a good, serviceable villian and the actor did a lot with how little he was given. Di Mian was selfish and manipulative traitor who was almost scarily competent. I mean he did achieve what he wanted by becoming the Devil God and opening the Tongbei formation. The point of Devil God as a villian is not his character and his motivations but rather he represents our inner demons and how each of us has the power to overcome them.

Out of all the dramas I've watched, only TTEOTM's entire OST is on my regular playlist to listen to. Every time I listen to "Let's be like this for 10,000 years", I feel the love and tragedy of Sang Jui and Ming Ye's story all over again. It's impressive that a song can make you relive those feelings and the story every time you listen to it. All the songs fit wonderfully in the scenes they're played over and also make us feel those emotions again when listening to them separately.

On my first watch, the dream arc felt a little out of place and jarring, which, in hindsight, was probably due to the fact that it was my first cdrama. Upon rewatch I've come to appreciate that it gives a look into the age of Gods and it shows that the Devil God was so powerful that to stop him the Gods had to sacrifice themselves and only Ming Ye was able to survive. The action sequences here are just magnificent to watch and they definitely seem movie level. It also serves as a warning to the audience, LSS and TTJ that they could also have a tragic end if they don't learn the lessons from it. Unfortunately, in the mortal arc they did have a tragic end. However, in the immortal arc, TTJ is able to learn from his experience as Ming Ye and succeeds in defeating the OG Devil God and becoming the Devil God himself with control over his own destiny.

One of the most prominent themes of the drama is redemption and that love and compassion are powerful enough to change a person's fate. The themes of Taoism and Buddhism are evoked throughout the drama. There are also many other minor themes like the food is used as a guesture kindness (when LSS first gives TTJ a proper meal), affection/care (when TTJ gave LSS the goose themed meal), love (when LSS gives badly cooked meals to TTJ), betrayal and trickery (the poisoned porridge) and comraderie, friendship, brotherhood and familial love (when TTJ shares meals with his sect brothers and master). Both TTJ and LSS have dead moms, terrible fathers and great adoptive dads (Zhao You and Qu Xuan Zi), these are just some observations I made.

I may not love the ending but I don't hate it either as it was obvious to me that they reunite once again and live happily as a family (the audio ending really makes it clear). Even though I'm irritated we don't get to see it, I'm still satisfied that we get a hopeful ending rather than a tragic one.

Until now I've mostly been lurking in fandom spaces by liking and very rarely commenting and reblogging but never posting my own original post. The fact that my first ever post is on TTEOTM shows how much I love it. I'll probably be posting more TTEOTM analysis stuff so be on the look out for that if you're interested. Also, I welcome your recommendations as I'm still a newbie to cdramas and kdramas.

You can also check out my costumed cdrama rankings here.

#till the end of the moon #tantai jin #ye xiwu #luo yunxi #bai lu #cdrama #cdrama review #tteotm

[dramasauce]

Cdramas I watched in 2023 List

(dramas with gifs are excellent/great and actually worth watching in my opinion. The others are not, watch at your own risk)

You are so sweet-A time passer if not anything else.

From Repair to Pair-Idk what the hell they wanted me to get from this.

My Fated Boy-he wins for best male lead I've watched this year. He was perfect.

The Trick of Life and Love-i tried.

Hi venus-I love this.

Romance with Blind Master-LOL i should've never watched this especially when I know the movie was no good. LOL

The Starry Love-ending was... but it was nice till then.

Warm on a Cold Night-I need them in another drama together. Hopefully Modern.

Taste of Love-this was so bad

My Little Happiness-rewatch

Definitely Not Today-so underrated. It's only 8 episodes but it's a very important story.

The Lady in the Butchers House- she was abusive

Delicious Romance-absolutely hated this

Royal Rumors-pretty but very boring

Nothing But You

Back From the Brink-hated that end

The Love You Give Me-meh

Rewriting Destiny- this deserves so much. I know it's low budget but I actually really enjoyed this drama so much. He needs bigger roles.

Destined

Here We Meet Again- boring most of the time and long winded but very pretty because that's the only roles this man does

Romance on the Farm-as yall know I have a love hate. I LOVE them so much. But that ending SUCKED. The romance was sprinkled so don't expect so much. It was a family drama with lots of redemption that wasn't deserved. I watched for these two.

Wrong Carriage Right Groom-kind of boring but at the same time I enjoyed them? Just wish they went a more mature route.

Forever Love- OKAY HEAR ME OUT. It's a mini drama. It's bad but it's good and I know yall know wtf I mean.

Hello I'm At Your Service-He picks "mature" romances and I appreciate that.

Promise in the Summer-HEAR ME OUT AGAIN, ya'll cannot expect perfection out of mini dramas. This was just fun and I admit that. Their height difference>>> the comfort scene>>> Just a good time.

Parallel Worlds-chem was there. A bit rushed in some aspects, but if they would have cut this drama DOWN some episodes it would have benefited the other points of the story. Good fantasy though like very interesting world.

You Are Desire-he is soooo good looking and she fits him well. But the career choice for him and the storyline following was such a snooooze.

Hidden Love-controversial drama but I SWEAR you watch episode 1 and then skip like 4 episodes and its smooth sailing. It's not creepy but they have a girl playing her younger self that looks way too young and she's not THAT much younger so it made it seem weird. This was a VERY well done drama.

A Date With the Future-Long and boring.

The Furthest Distance-very beautiful and I love Leo but the pacing is weird to me and the ex is annoying.

Dine with Love-a horrible Male lead. Like he's the worst. But you root for them. idk. Makes you hungry

My Everlasting Bride-mini drama with a mini budget as ya'll know. I had a good time for the two hours. Yes it was absolutely ridiculous. He was so fine.

My Decoy Bride-I mean. They were pretty. Another mini.

The Snow Moon-another mini. It's tragic. And I actually enjoyed for the most part and thought because it's mini that it would end differently. NOPE.

The inextricable Destiny- they do everything in THEIR POWER to make you hate this drama. There were so many points where they could've done better and didnt. I hate that. Don't waste your time.

Fireworks of my Heart-Unpop opinion but he makes incredibly boring dramas. Female lead has NO backbone. And he promises he wont go back but does.

#Cdramas #drama opinions #chinese dramas #Fireworks of My Heart #the inextricable destiny #The snow Moon #My decoy bride #My everlasting bride #Dine With Love #the furthest distance #A date with the future #hidden Love #You Are Desire #parallel world #Promise in the Summer #Hello I'm at Your Service #Forever Love #Wrong Carriage Right Groom #Romance on the Farm #Here We Meet Again #Destined #Rewriting Destiny #The Love You Give Me #Back From the Brink #Nothing But You #Royal Rumors #Delicious Romance #The Lady in the Butcher's House #Definitely Not today #Warm on A cold Night

[winterrain-11]

Our Flag Means Death 2.08 Spoilers Ahead

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Okay so. Let’s talk about Izzy’s death because as much as I’ve tried to give some of you the benefit of the doubt, some of you are projecting a bit too hard onto Izzy to understand how perfect this narrative was for him.

And before I get into it I’d like to preface that, yes, of course the season is rushed, the finale is rushed, the pacing is off. That is not the fault of David Jenkins or Taika or anyone else on set — it is budget cuts and it is HBO’s decision to provide them with a slot of only eight 30 minute episodes and little to no promise of a season 3. A lot of people’s issues with the finale and Izzy’s death are due to how rushed it was, the crew’s lack of mourning, Izzy’s character development not being fleshed out enough. Those are all valid things to be upset about, but we have to remember that production gave us all they could with what they had. Would you have rather had full fleshed out episodes but got the show canceled on a heart-breaking cliffhanger? Not like season one where there were less stakes and a good chance for season 2, but a full cancelation rather than, albeit very rushed, a happy ending in a world of sad queer endings??

Now that that’s out of the way, Izzy’s death narratively was so well done. As a writer, and from a writer’s perspective who, I remind you, created these characters and knows what they mean to the story and their place in said story, Izzy is there to represent part of our main protagonist (at least, for season 2), Ed. So is Stede in a way as well, but Izzy is a representation of piracy and the toxic parts of it. Izzy WAS, in a way, Blackbeard, they state this in the show. Stede, is the part of Edward that is Ed — the part of him that wants to be loved and live a fulfilling life.

A lot of people are mad about Izzy being “just a symbol”, and I don’t think that’s right at all. Yes, his character was a symbol for the toxicity of piracy and Ed’s abusive relationship with it and himself, because that’s how good writing works, but that’s not all Izzy is and season 2 showed us that. Izzy spent the entire season learning that he, even though he was a pirate and represented all of these bad things about piracy, doesn’t have to adhere to these toxic things anymore; he doesn’t have to be Blackbeard or need Blackbeard just as Ed doesn’t need to be Blackbeard. He spent this season learning now to love. And yes, of course we all wish he had more time to go on that journey, but with the time we had that journey was well spent and conveyed what it needed to.

Izzy is a beautifully fucked-up and complex character. Though it sucks to accept, he was written to die. He was written to be the part of Ed that kept him from loving himself and accept love and Izzy being gone allows him to do that. At the end of the day, Ed is the protagonist, the story is written in his favor for his hero’s journey, especially in season two. Izzy, thought deeply beloved, is a side character whose main hall narratively is to assist in the hero’s journey. And guys, he gave us SO MUCH! The fact that we all loved Izzy so much shows how well he was written, how so many people went from hating him to loving him in season 2 (myself included) because they gave him a character arc! They didn’t need to give him a redemption to fulfill his part in the story, but they DID!! Frankly, I think they could have done MUCH worse, but they gave Izzy a goodbye, closure, reconciliation with Ed, and let him die happy. He died happy, guys. All he wanted was for Ed to be happy, for them to both escape Blackbeard, and he dies happy knowing that he’s escaped Blackbeard and now Ed will too, because Stede has provided Ed that escape.

In this season, Izzy was shown real love for the first time in his life. And he died surrounded by the people that he loved and those whom loved him so much back. He’s ‘their dick’, their unicorn. He said earlier this season, “we’re born alone and we die alone.” But he didn’t. Against all odds he didn’t. Izzy lived his life and he went out HAPPY. Buried and mourned by the people who loved him which is so rare for a pirate.

I love you guys, I love this fandom, but you aren’t Izzy Hands, David isn’t targeting you directly by killing Izzy — it isn’t bury your gays, it isn’t queerbaiting — it’s writing. We can’t punish writers and directors for writing what they saw what best for their characters, THEIR characters. Not yours. You can love and cherish a character without them having the perfect ending.

I know I’m going to get a lot of hate for this and called a lot of bad names, but it needed to be said. Oh, and by the way — I’m queer. I have abandonment and attachment issues and I DEEPLY relate to Izzy. I am SO devestated about his death but I understand it narratively and I am content. I was a destiel shipper, I’m obsessed with good omens. I’ve been queerbaited so many times before and Our Flag Means Death is not that. This show has given us so much, and just because your favorite guy died doesn’t mean the writers are evil and homophobic and burying their gays. Lets think critically, guys.

#our flag means death spoilers #our flag means death #ofmd 2.08 #ofmd 2 spoilers #ofmd 2 #ofmd #izzy hands #ofmd izzy #ofmd finale

[shannonallaround]

Knuckles Show Thoughts

This is just an overview but here we go. Spoilers ahead.

Parts were a fun experience. I cringed so much during this show though

Really liked all the ex-GUN bad guys 😈

Genuinely enjoyed the first two episodes for the most part—particularly the evil humans trying to get Knuckles, and Knuckles' interactions with the other Wachowskis.

We didn't get enough of the Wachowskis 🥲🥲🥲

Pachacamac—WHAT THE HECK. I mean it was funny in principle, but also so weird??? I didn't know how to feel about that. I'm just gonna say that Knuckles was meditating and that's what he experienced, and Wade's vision was a fever dream. Wades bowling alley vision was so cringe.

I loved Wade's mission-impossible vision of himself that was hilarious and awesome 😂 Honestly that whole episode was just fun and cool.

KNUCKLES GLIDING WAS COOL

The writing quality REALLY dropped in the third and fourth episodes. They felt like filler and much more amateur in terms of acting direction and pacing. It felt like the human actors were asked to improv, but they were given way too little direction within which to improv, and then their stuff wasn't cut or edited through enough afterwards. The pacing was very off as a result, especially in the third one.

Genuinely hated Wade's sister for the entirety of the 3rd episode. However, I think a lot of her character's despicableness was again a symptom of too much improv and not enough thinking through her character's behavior in advance by the writers.

I totally thought Wade's sister was gonna end up having lied about her position in the FBI, or was gonna end up being a janitor there or something, because she wanted to impress her family and suffers from the same self-doubt Wade does. I think that actually would have been way cooler for her character growth.

The one part I truly loved in the 3rd episode was the Jewish folk music during the epic fight around the candles! :D That was by far the best part of the episode.

Wade's mom really grew on me by the end. I like her a lot.

Overall I enjoyed the last two episodes. THE BAD GUY LORE WAS SO INTERESTING. It was really cool worldbuilding! I wish we could have gotten more of that. The bad guys talking to each other about their motivations relating to GUN was one of the neatest parts of the series and it lasted for about 5 minutes.

I really liked hating Wade's dad (as I was supposed to). I was very suspicious of him from the beginning and honestly did not want him to have a redemption arc, and I was not disappointed. Westley my beloved he was fantastic.

LOVED how Knuckles secretly knew about the bad guys' plan to have Wade betray him through using Wade having him use his earpods that was so genius and made me happy

The rings becoming an endless loop void thing was cool.

Knuckles' fire abilities were not nearly as cool to me as they probably were supposed to be. I get they were a reference, but it changes things a lot in this universe lore-wise and I'm not sure I like that.

The ending was kinda cool, but it felt very rushed. Wish we could have seen that cool battle mec for longer, and that guy could have been a direct opponent for longer. And Knuckles passing out was angsty and dramatic! But it felt like that moment deserved a lot more time.

KNUCKLES' ARC WAS NOT FINISHED. Whyyyyyy did we not get a scene at the end where Maddie, Sonic, and Tails are frantically looking for Knuckles and they're super worried about him?? Knuckles should have come back to them all freaking out that they can't find him anywhere and it's been like THREE DAYS, and he goes up to Maddie and humbly explains to her where he's been (helping Wade) and that he's sorry he's left, but that he realized that he had somewhere to return to. That he has a home. That the Wachowskis are his new home. And he is sorry; he will go back to being grounded. And there should have been a sweet sibling moment and momma moment between them all where they hug or something ahhhh. Again, WHY did we not get this??? I must write a scene to fix it.

More about the previous point because I'm not done. In the first Sonic film, the climax of Sonic's arc was when Tom said "he was my friend", but the actual completion of that arc was when Tom and Maddie invited him to live with them and be their kid. With Knuckles, we only got the climax of his arc (Wade saying he had a home) and not the conclusion (returning to his family and home). We were cheated!

WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THE GUY KICKED ONTO THE MUSHROOM PLANET IN EP. 1?

#overall verdict was that PARTS were fun… but I’m not gonna consider it canon because there was way too much weird and not enough resolution #knuckles tv show #knuckles show #knuckles series #knuckles tv show spoilers #spoilers #sonic movie #sonic wachowski #knuckles wachowski #sonic scu

[orionsangel86]

Welp. Okay I watched the last episode of ofmd.

To sum up my thoughts on this season I will say that whilst I enjoyed it and felt the love and passion and respect for its queer fanbase throughout, it didnt hit me the same way the first season did. It felt like maybe a little bit of that season 1 magic was missing and for that I very much blame Max's cutting off 2 episodes and slashing the budget. They had a lot of story they wanted to tell that would have worked so much better in 10 episodes.

I consider the last 3 episodes of season 1 some of the best TV I have seen in my life. From the use of The Chain in ep 8, through the dramatic highs and lows of eps 9 and 10 it was edge-of-your-seat drama and I was in awe at the creators that put it together. But one of the reasons why those 3 eps were so good is because the drama and the pivotal moments were given time to breath.

If those 3 eps were given the same lack of time and budget as season 2, no doubt they all would have been crammed into 1 episode and it would not have had the same impact.

If anything that last episode should have played out across two, with Izzy's death being the half way point and cliffhanger ending leading to a final battle and somewhat happy resolution.

I'm not mad at Izzy's death. If anyone was gonna die, it was gonna be him. His status as Blackbeards enabler and sometimes mentor is over. For Ed to truly be free, I think Izzy always had to go. From a storytelling perspective it makes perfect sense, even though I am sure a lot of fans are absolutely heartbroken about it.

Another casualty of the reduced screentime meant certain original cast members weren't given anywhere near the amount of screentime they should have had. I was expecting a lot more focus on Jim as they were basically the third lead of s1 due to them getting the same backstory as Ed and Stede. All of the crew appear to have had drastically reduced parts which does feel like a big loss to me.

Its funny actually, OFMD S2 suffered from the opposite problem to GOS2. OFMD had too much story to tell in a limited timeframe, GOS2 had very little story to tell outside of the flashbacks and probably too much time given to it. Both shows season 2s suffered from tremendously bad pacing issues.

Also, the one thing the final episode made so obvious to me, is the uncertainty of getting a s3 renewal. It is so clear in the way they tried to wrap things up in a happy bow as best they could, so that if they do get cancelled it leaves fans at least somewhat satisfied. I hate this though. I hate that studios are so fickle and ruthless that creators have to gamble with good quality writing and avoid cliffhangers because of asshole executives who dont actually care about the stories.

Because of the fast pacing, and the fear of cancellation, it felt more like a rush happy ending instead of a part way point in a bigger story, with important character development still to come. Perhaps I need more time to absorb the story in a full rewatch, but im not exactly itching for more at this point, whilst also not really being satisfied with what I got either. I wish we had left Ed and Stede in at least some minor peril, like have them captured and threatened with hanging but at least in a good place romantically, so that we can start speculating about what kind of escape plan they will come up with in season 3. Leaving them in a dilapidated old inn somewhere just felt wrong to me. Instead of ending the season with the stakes sky high (like season 1) it feels like they left season 2 with zero stakes at all, instead of at least a happy medium. At this point we should be turning to fanfiction and wondering what happens next, but instead I'm left thinking "okay then. That was good. What can I watch next?" I don't need to bury myself in fanfic and fanart to feed the hyperfixation this time around, and that is where I feel the most loss.

I'm sure others will have hugely different reactions to me though. Perhaps my expectations were too high? Perhaps my GO obsession just isn't leaving room for OFMD this time? But then again, I think if GOS2 hadn't ended the way it did, I wouldn't still be so obsessed with that either.

Sigh. I dunno. It was a good fun show and will no doubt still be hugely popular with devoted fans, but for me I just can't say it cast the same spell over me as it did last year.

#ofmd #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #perhaps my feelings will change after a rewatch #i hope so #i just wish they could have had the extra two episodes to stretch out the story

[articulately-composed]

Thoughts on the ATLA live action

I may not post about it a ton, but ATLA was what brought me into fandom culture over a decade ago, so as you may assume, I have some Thoughts about the live action netflix series. Now, I'm gonna preface this by saying I didn't hate it. Surprisingly enough. I came into it thinking the whole series was gonna be a hate watch, but they actually did some interesting stuff with it.

Let's start with the positives.

Sokka - When I heard that they were removing Sokka's sexism, I thought his character was doomed. That's so much of his season 1 arc, I had no idea what was gonna be left. Turns out, they didn't take away his preoccupation with being a manly warrior, they just made it less overt, and honestly, that brand of "girls suck!" sexism that exists to get refuted in early 2000s kids tv probably would have sounded out of place and preachy in a 2024 show geared towards adults. In the end, Sokka felt like one of the most fleshed out characters. His original arc was left in tact, with the bonus of him being a simpy bottom for Suki in a way that kinda fits.

Zuko - I really liked that they added some extra backstory between Zuko and Iroh sooner. The bit with the funeral was honestly really nice. I saw some critiques saying that zuko was made out to be sympathetic far too soon, but honestly, I think it worked. The show is so well known that I don't know if gaining sympathy for zuko later on would have the same effect as it did 20 years ago. I thought the Zuko and Iroh moments really helped solidify their bond on Zuko's part, and tbh, that's gonna make his season 2 betrayal that much stronger (if they pull it off well). I also like the stuff they added with Zuko's journal. Of course he's a fuckin nerd who takes detailed notes with sketches about the stuff he's researching. If Zuko existed irl he'd have a bullet journal youtube channel.

The structure - I hate that no tv series gets more than 8 episodes anymore. it's ruined so much when it comes to pacing in literally everything. That being said, I like what they did when it comes to combining plots. It really made the show feel like it's own thing and not a 1-to-1 adaptation. They stuck Jet and the Mechanist in Omashu, and it worked. Roku's temple and The Blue Spirit were the same episode. Obviously, there was a lot of picking and choosing when it came to what plot points they kept and what they scrapped, and it did do a number on some of the characters' development, but the episodes they chose to keep were important ones, and they managed to weave them together surprisingly well.

And now, the negatives...

Episode 1 - The setup is dreadful. The show starts with a solid 20 minutes of backstory. Before you even meet Sokka and Katara, you know literally all the details about the air nomad genocide. And because they show you the entire genocide on screen before Aang is released from the iceberg, you don't get the experience of having it revealed to you as Aang is experiencing learning about it. His avatar state reaction to seeing Monk Gyatso's corpse just doesn't feel warranted when there's not that slow buildup to finding out about the war and Aang's denial of the whole thing. Episode 1 in general felt messy, rushed, and missing a whole lot of vital character growth.

Aang - Honestly, Aang's character in general felt flat. He gives me ipad kid vibes. He feels like a prodigy kid who just doesn't care, instead of a fun-loving goofball who 's scared of responsibility. He makes so many quips about not paying attention to the monks or falling asleep during meditations, and while it's not like he was super studious in the original, the thing he's doing to avoid studying is goofing around. Playing pranks with Monk Gyatso instead of paying attention to the monks. goofing off in a river with Sokka instead of learning waterbending. He's so un-silly in the live action and it's to his detriment. I guess this is just a part of the 8-episode curse, but because those filler moments have to be erased, you really lose out on all of Aang's stupid kid shenanigans.

Katara - Katara fell so damn flat, which is such a tragedy. I saw someone else on here talking about how the lack of Aang helping her be a kid again in episode 1 took away a lot from her, and they are totally right! Specifically, it took a ton away from the bond the two of them have. Really, there's no reason why Katara should have traveled with Aang in the first place. She didn't bond with him over riding animals, or help him understand what happened in the last hundred years (Gran Gran takes care of all that exposition...), and they don't even head towards the northern water tribe to find a waterbending master until after Kyoshi Island, so that's not why she chose to come either. Katara is also missing her whole "had to become the mom after her mom died" schtick. Not that she should be reduced to group mom, but that's still a part of her original character. She got plenty of backstory regarding her mom, but it was mostly grief. There was a little sprinkling of her sense of justice in there, but that's another one of those "victim of the 8-episode curse" things. So much of her character got lost when the filler was cut that there's not that much left over.

The spirit world - I know I just said I liked what they did combining episodes together, but honestly I think they tried to do too much with the spirit world episode. They use the Hei Bai episode to get into the spirit world, but the whole burned forest plot from the original is pretty much scrapped for a Koh plot, which combines the original Koh plot with the fog of lost souls from Korra, and the mother of faces from the sequel comics? The spirit world episode ties to Roku, like in the original, but Roku barely does anything outside of info only important to that episode. Out of all the avatars Aang contacts, Roku is the least relevant. Kuruk is more relevant than Roku. The bit with Monk Gyatso was sweet, but it did feel like one more thing on top of an already cluttered episode. Also, I don't love that Yue was a fox in the spirit world, it felt kinda out of left field. I didn't love what they did with Yue and Sokka in general, their whole vibe felt rushed.

Final thoughts, obviously it wasn't incredible. It's a show that doesn't really need or want to exist. They stuffed the first season of a cartoon with notoriously thorough writing into 8 episodes. But I didn't hate it. Honestly, I was pretty entertained. I fully intend on seeing season 2. I want to see what they're gonna do with Azula moving forward, how they're gonna handle Toph, and what the fuck they meant by "there actually is no war in ba sing se" bc clearly there was a fucking war in ba sing se, Iroh nearly gets crushed by a boulder by a vengeful soldier over it. I came into this with rock bottom expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised

#atla #live action atla #live action avatar #avatar the last airbender #inarticulate ramblings

[death-himself]

alright episode 7 thoughts, i don't know how to feel about this episode because it had both my favorite changes so far and my least favorite

procrustes' outfit was fucking VILE, it was godawful but so perfect, and honestly good casting too I think

I feel mean saying this, but does crusty's actor naturally look like that or was it makeup, because his wrinkles seem at least a bit exaggerated or maybe I'm just not used to old people looking old on tv

ok the waterbed looked cool, but I'm so mad they didn't kill him. It's probably another way to get around disney censorship but come on live a little

also the entrance to the underworld being in his mattress shop?? are you fucking serious

this is the first change that I've actually hated, like what the fuck

the entrance being in a record shop is funny and it makes sense because records/vinyl are sort of a dying fad, what's the reasoning behind the entrance being in a mattress shop???

I didn't really have many expectations for the crusty scene because it's not much of a thing in the books, but damn did that whole part annoy me

annabeth giving grover the stress ball was funny and made sense though, considering she couldn't have gotten it from waterland, and honestly her getting it from there doesn't really make sense in the first place

more about the earlier flashback, I have some thoughts about sally's characterization but I'll save it for later in this analysis

I get that all the dead lined up outside the wall makes more sense mythologically, but I'm too in love with the thought of having to sit in a record shop turned waiting room for eternity, it's just too funny to me

we didn't get charon's characterization :( I love charon in the books, I'm sad about that, justice for charon

the way cerberus just fuckin NOMMED grover, I don't think percy and annabeth freaked out enough about that, because I was freaking the fuck out

also I loved how they mentioned annabeth's dog as a kid, like that's how they should've been doing more of the exposition in previous episodes

having it be more of a background thing made it feel like a thing for the characters between the characters, instead of for the audience's sake

"it's in the dog" THAT HAD ME CACKLING he said it so dramatically with the dramatic music but it sounds so stupid I was dying repeating it to myself for so long

I LOVE what they did with the fields of asphodel, it was so creepy, and the implication that all the trees used to be people, it's so much creepier than just a bunch of people wandering around

I feel like it's a concept that's been done before somewhere, but I don't care, it's a cool concept

and then annabeth being rooted down by her regret, I feel like there should've been some beats between that and her explanation of the roots, but half hour episode, I've gotten used to the bad pacing by this point

also I'm assuming the regret has to do with running away from home? since her dad and their dog were mentioned and that's a whole thing in the book

maybe because athena's shown that she doesn't give a shit about annabeth, annabeth wants to give it another try with her dad? idk I'm just trying to think of what works logically tv series-wise

I didn't expect her using the pearl there, but honestly I think it works just fine, i have no complaints about that

percy and grover's interaction when they saw the bolt was so funny

and ok, I know they were gonna save percy's mom no matter what, but things have changed now that the solstice has passed. Zeus is already gathering an army so why aren't they rushing??

i think how they could've fixed that is have grover take the bag to bring it back to zeus, then have percy go on his own to save his mom. then maybe when he comes back to the beach ares is already there and attacking grover and annabeth or something

grover didn't do anything when talking to hades so I just think that could've worked better

OK NOW ABOUT THE FLASHBACK I...don't like how they handled sally being a mom

yes, being a mom is tough and I like that they're showing that, but when your kid asks you "why are you trying to get rid of me" you don't fuckin kiss them and walk away! that causes issues!!

I know that she didn't want to cry in front of him, I understand why she was hurt by that, but you don't just leave after your kid asks that! especially with how young percy was, she needed to reassure him that she's not trying to get rid of him

am I not seeing something here?? is that just my own trauma ringing through or something?? that was such a horrible move like oh my god, I was waiting the whole episode after that for her to go back and apologize or explain or SOMETHING, but we didn't get that

now I understand that line from an earlier episode about loving each other so much when you can only ever hurt each other, but damn

also final thought about sally, the woman playing her has a gorgeous side profile, I'm gonna draw it someday

anyway, hades's palace looks nothing like how I imagined it, I don't hate it, I just prefer my version way more mostly because I like Nico being like an actual prince in there

I hated Hades's new characterization for the first like 5 minutes, then I realized that he acts kinda like a confident Nico and that's funny

also I feel like this characterization makes him stand out more, it's very different from any other interpretation of Hades in media

at the same time it reminded me a bit of Hades in class of the titans, and that interpretation pisses me off to no end so...

but yeah, I still prefer book!Hades, but tv show!Hades is interesting so I like him

it really feels like the production crew figured out how to 3D print statues and Rick was like "that's cool, let's use statues whenever possible," there are so many damn statues in this show lol

"it's all candy canes and rainbows down here, I'm doing just fine" with the gloomy-ass wide shot and thunder in the distance, that's funny

with hades seeming to be the only one of the gods who's actively recognized how toxic the godly family is, it makes me curious how they'll handle his relationship with Nico if we ever make it to seasons 3 or 4

because his relationship with Nico is one of the better ones among godly parents, but it's not really the best in terms of parents, so I think they'd end up having to change a few things

the way sally summoned poseidon felt like a reversal of giving an offering at camp. she gave the fire to the food instead of the food to the fire. there's a meaning behind that, but I don't know how to articulate it

I was so certain that was poseidon walking up to percy, and then it turned out to be annabeth and I felt so dumb lol

but that means poseidon might be making an appearance to help percy in the fight against ares! right, maybe? i think it'd be cool

with how little percy's actually fought in the tv show, and with the exclusion of his training at camp, him beating ares without A LOT of help isn't gonna be satisfying, so we'll see

that little teaser with percy and luke going into the forest under the fireworks has me so excited

i feel like a lot of people have already said this, but I think all of the actual issues with the show are disney's fault. the censorship is just a small part of that, but the amount of episodes and their length was probably decided by disney, and that's really hurting the show.

yes, i have issues with the writing and the direction rick's taken with the series. but I definitely wouldn't have as many issues if disney allowed them more time each episode to expand on what they're going with. i saw someone say that an 8 episode series used to be called a miniseries and honestly, a miniseries isn't enough for an entire book to make it feel complete

anyway, with that all out of the way, I'm still enjoying the series, I had much fewer complaints about this episode than last episode, and honestly, all of my real complaints from this episode aren't gonna play a part in later seasons if we get them, so I'm alright with that

#pjo #percy jackson #pjo disney+ #pjo tv show #pjo spoilers #percy jackson spoilers #pjo disney+ spoilers #pjo tv show spoilers #was a little late to this one bc I straight up forgot it was tuesday #someone please tell me they agree with my thoughts on sally #it feels wrong to say that i don't like something sally did

[benedictconsultingbatch]

I loved the first two episodes of PJO. There were changes, but it was still really good. The third episode was a little underwhelming/disappointing for me. They made a lot of changes to how the plot unfolds and I don't get why. More on that below

The oracle was great.

They didn’t include the monster attacking camp half blood. That was a big part of Chiron deciding the quest needed to happen even though Percy didn't have any training. Also, the attack is one of the things that led Percy to realize Luke had been working against them all along.

There was no fight on the bus. No explosion. No struggle. We didn't even see how they got away. There was no mention of them realizing their bags were left on the bus. (Not the biggest deal but I thought it was funny when Percy pointed it out) We don't hear the furies saying "where is it?" Which comes into play later on when Percy is putting together the pieces.

Annabeth immediately thinks the statues are petrified monsters right away and guesses that Aunty Em is for Medusa. Medusa doesn't try to hide her identity. In the book she tricks them and I thought that was more entertaining and more suspenseful when they put the pieces together and figure it out. And then they go in the basement instead of leaving the house? The reveal of the statues in the basement would have been better imo if the trio didn't already know it was Medusa. I don't get why Alecto followed them to Aunty Em's. In the book, (at least one of the reasons) Annabeth doesn't like Percy is because Athena and Poseidon don't like each other. But the episode made it seem more like a lack of trust between Percy and Annabeth. I don't know if that grounds the conflict more, but I like how in the book it seems like Annabeth doesn't like Percy mostly because of their parents not getting along. She doesn't even try to get to know him. She just decides she doesn't like him because their parents hate each other. To me, it's an example of how the Gods influence everything.

The pacing felt off to me. The kids figured things out fast and then there is no suspense as they start to piece together that something is off. The conversation in the basement after dealing with Medusa felt rushed. It felt like they were trying to cover a lot in one conversation. A lot of the dialogue this episode felt like that. Fitting too much information into one conversation.

There was no mention of why Percy couldn't wear the flying shoes. Yeah they already told him why they couldn't fly but telling him he couldn't wear the shoes would have been a call back to that. And after the bus, when they're walking towards Aunty Em's, Grover isn't wearing anything to hide his goat legs. I was surprised he was wearing shorts. And no fake shoes. Trying to keep the fake shoes on was a recurring thing throughout the book.

I liked that Annabeth positioned them next to the toilet on the bus to cover Percy's scent. But then Grover said it's not actually about the scent. It's different for each monster. It could be fear or greed. Which doesn't make sense with Sally staying with Smelly Gabe to cover Percy's scent. Or Sally using Percy's jacket to distract the minotaur. Or Annabeth having them sit right by the smelly bathroom. None of that makes sense with Grover saying that it's not actually the person's scent that attracts monsters. Am I missing something there?

I want to love it. I thought the first two episodes were great, despite the changes. But the third episode... they did hit all the plot points I guess. But they changed how everything happened and I don't see how all the changes benefited the story.

I'm nervous to see how the rest of the season will play out. The cast and the producers and Becky and Rick all said this is a faithful adaptation of the book. It did have all the plot points but I feel like everything unfolded differently than the book and they left out important parts and I don't get why.

#percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #sally jackson #pjo show #pjo tv show #pjo spoilers #minee

[rainparadefromhell]

My thoughts on season 3 of Never Have I Ever

SPOILERS AHEAD !

* author's note : it's long what can you do, i have an obsessive personality

• Things I disliked in no particular order

1. The pacing of this season.

The pacing of this season

The pacing-

I don't know what happened this season but it felt like someone pushed my head into a blender. Many things were so glossed over, I was actually baffled. People kept getting into relationships and breaking up like it was nothing and all sense of direction was lost. Everything felt like a fever dream. Ben and Aneesa break up. She cries one time, kisses Fabiola and now they are in a relationship only for that to not work out and Fabiola gets into another relationship (at this point i forgot Eve existed). No one reacts to anything, things just happen so there is no chance for the viewers to get attached to any new storylines/couples. Just borderline bad writing in terms of pacing.

2. What they've done to Aneesa's character

At the end of the show, the person I felt bad for the most was Aneesa. The writers just would not give her a chance. She wasn't a real character. She barely had any personality beyond being a plot device for multiple characters and getting into meaningless relationships every 5 minutes (the show does have a problem with doing this to all characters tbh). I wanted to know Aneesa better (I hoped for a pov episode) but all I've got was her getting left for another person in not one but TWO relationships? And they made her kinda not even care about it. It just wasn't realistic and I hated it.

3. Des.

Listen, I don't have anything against his character. Because his character doesn't exist. Des got, as well as all the new characters - Aneesa'd. His sole purpose was to give Devi an Indian boyfriend (which is fine). But he was just so.....unnecessary?? I'm sorry but while watching every scene him and Devi shared, I was begging for literally any other character to show up. Same with his two friends (extras) that had about two lines each. His and Devi's relationship, in my opinion would've been just fine as a fling not a real relationship. And it lasted SO. FUCKING. LONG. Why, just why were they wasting time (that could have been given to flesh out old characters) on something everyone and their mother KNEW wouldn't work out or have any meaningful addition to the show. Other things got sidelined, that's why I hated this storyline.

4. And save the worst for last. All of Devi's romantic relationships in s3

Oh God, here we go.

I understand that Devi is a teen girl that just wants to date boys, have fun, be in love. I really do. But as writers, it is the nhie showrunners' job to make this enjoyable for the viewers. And it worked, the past 2 seasons it really did. Team Paxton, team Ben, team Devi.... We've all had something to enjoy. So throwing in another boy - no, two actually (the guitar player she kissed isn't a big part of the show so I don't really care) made me so angry. They've disturbed a sort of a balance between silly/fun the show had with like 3 or 4 love interests all in your face at the same time so they all started to look kinda.... unimportant (except for Ben, but I am biased lol). It looked painfully unrealistic as well.

The show yet again suffered because of its format. you simply can't throw in a bunch of characters in a 30 minute, 10 episode long comedy show and just hope for the best. It felt messy, rushed and fleeting. Like there was no room to breathe, I felt so anxious watching the middle part of the show.

• Things I did like in no particular order

1. The adults' storylines

I found them much more tolerable and cohesive. I am a Nalini stan first and a human second. I just love her. I love watching Poorna be so brilliant in this role. I was thrilled they gave her a friend and quite sad that friend was taken away later on but oh well. Also, possibly my favorite moment in the show was this quote from Nalini : "You are never too much and always enough." This show was the first time I've truly seen my relationship with my own mother represented in a way that isn't black or white and just simple or complicated. For me this scene meant a lot - showing that no matter what may happen, Nalini will always love and support her daughter.

I also liked Kamala's storyline. Tbh I didn't like Prashant all that much. He felt like a more mature Paxton. I'm glad Kamala didn't rush into marriage, especially if it's something she does not want. I really liked the relationship between Kamala and Mr. Kulkarni, I just wish we saw more of them.

2. Trent and Eleanor ??

I totally predicted this!! I said they will be that odd couple that somehow works very well and I was right. They were really entertaining and I'm so glad we get to see more of them.

3. Trent and Paxton ??

I adored Paxton and Trent's friendship. You can tell they love each other in their weird ways. This totally made me like the characters more and I love love LOVE seeing healthy male friendships in media.

4. Paxton

And everybody gasped. (Hell, I gasped, too). Here it comes Paxton/Daxton stans....

I did really like Paxton this season. And he had his moments last season as well, I'll admit that. Is he my favorite character in the show? No. Do I still think he's kinda boring and overrated? Yes. But I did like him. My favorite Paxton moment this season was in the hospital with Ben (as well as his friendship with Ben as a whole). Not only was it very kind of him to stay with Ben and make him feel better, I also loved him admiting he doesn't really know who he is. How incredibly honest of him. I liked that he apologized to all the girls he hurt and that he was friends with Haley again. I also loved him telling Devi she can't love anyone until she loves herself (someone's been reading my posts 👀). He finally started to care about things (school) and even if his storyline is a simple one, it worked. I'm glad he grew as a person. For me, Paxton finally  became a full-fledged character with a unique storyline. It took only 3 seasons but we got there.

5. Benjamin Gross

I could write novels about Ben Gross. I could write about him until my hands hurt and then some more. He is easily one of my, if not my favorite fictional character of all time. He is one of the few characters that, in my opinion, isn't written in an episodic way. Jaren Lewison has this great ability to carry all of Ben's emotions in his pocket and whip out what he needs in a scene with such ease. The character doesn't forget his lessons, he remembers his past feelings and what they taught him which makes him develop and make progress so naturally within the show. Ben Gross isn't just a douche at the beginning of season 1 and a nice guy at the end of season 3. You can see all of his flaws as well as how caring and emotionally intelligent he is at the same time throughout the entire show. I'm so happy he learned to relax and not care as much about grades.

This kinda falls under Ben, but just 3x06 being the best episode (with the finale) for me. I don't know what kind of crack Mindy Kaling puts in the Ben episodes but she gets is right every damn time. Those 4 words being "I'm proud of you" from his dad made me so emotional. I wouldn't want them to be anything or for anyone else. Also I fucking loved Ben being into drawing?? We need more of that.

6. Devi Vishwakumar

My girl. I really liked Devi this season. I loved how they showed she's still grieving. Maitreyi's performance in the scene when Paxton tells her she doesn't love herself yet was so heartbreakingly beautiful. She knew he was right. Also can we talk about the best version of Devi aka post time jump Devi??? I love that girl! You can really tell she matured quite a bit. She's not as hot headed anymore. The only "bad" thing she did was throwing that book or whatever it was in the trash and honestly...? I didn't see how that was such a big deal at all. And the other team kinda cheated, too. Who cares? They're not in a courtroom. I really hope that in season 4 we see her growing even more.

7. The whole gang

One thing I also liked was that everyone was friends with everyone this season. We saw the Paxton-Trent-Eleanor group, Paxton and Ben's friendship, Paxton and Fabiola, Ben-Devi-Fabiola and so on.... I reallllly liked the different dynamics.

8. Ben & Devi

And finally - this is what (some of) you have been waiting for. As you can see the pacing and new characters really messed with how much I loved (or rather didn't) this season. But honestly, now that I had time to think about it, the character development and just the finale really saved the whole season for me. And yes, this includes Ben and Devi. This season we've seen Ben and Devi be mostly, friends. They didn't share many moments until the last few episodes which did frustrate me but that is exactly what made all of them feel so special later on. It was important for them to not spend as much time together then slowly be close friends for the finale we got. I really wasn't expecting it. For all my criticisms about the writing not being the best in some aspects of the show, the writers did such a good job with their storyline and it's safe to say that s3 is my favorite when it comes to them.

Last season we've only seen hints of them pining for each other. This season they were much more honest and comfortable with each other. I cannot stop thinking about how perfectly their little romance was sprinkled over the seasons, with season one's introduction and teasing of their feelings, season two's big conflict and hurt and finally season three's rekindling of feelings and big realizations. None of their storyline felt like sudden big explosions (like with Paxton), just a natural evolution of caring for each other. A sign that it wasn't just a crush (quick and overwhelming) but a first love kind of a situation. Realistic, messy, beautiful, simple. There isn't a doubt in my mind that these two will end up together in some way at the end of season 4. Truly one of my favorite on screen couples all thanks to the brilliant and talented Jaren and Maitreyi.

Overall, I still think the show's best season is season 1. It was almost perfectly set up. However, in terms of characters and our main couple, I have to say season 3 feels the most open, vulnerable and grown up. The last episode felt super special and teased season 4 in which we will see the gang prepare for college. I have huge expectations for season 4 and I really think it could be one of the best ones (best one?), but who knows...

Maybe I'm just a sucker for closures.

Also, I can't believe the finale??? Like they were evil evil for that one, not letting us see what happens! On the other hand I can't be mad bc as a writer that is such a me thing to do. Like, I can totally see myself be that much of an asshole and sadist so I kinda get it. Idk what I will do until s4.

#never have i ever season 3 #never have i ever #nhie #nhie spoilers #never have i ever netflix #devi vishwakumar #nalini vishwakumar #kamala nandiwadal #ben gross #fabiola torres #eleanor wong #paxton hall yoshida #trent harrison #aneesa qureshi #des nhie #benvi #can't believe i've been with this show for almost 3 years #i criticize it a lot but it really is very special to me and i do love it a lot #will be so sad when it's all over

[scorbleeo]

Drama Review: Stay with Me (哥哥你别跑)

Source: Google Images

Su Yu, a high school student who lives a simple life with his father, faces a major change when his mother remarries a wealthy man, introducing him to his step-brother Wu Bi. Despite their initial differences, Su Yu being a cold and arrogant top student, while Wu Bi is an unreasonable underachiever, their relationship takes an unexpected turn after an accident. As they gradually warm up to each other, their bond grows stronger. However, when a heated fight arises, their true identities are revealed…

Source: MyDramaList

A Swift And Fun Time

Before we begin, I did not read the novel nor did I watch the first tv adaption. And, I am not planning to do either of that any time soon.

So, regarding Stay with Me, I really appreciated how fast-paced this show was. Honestly speaking, I would have finished it earlier if not because I was not rushing to that last episode. For a drama like this, it's actually very dramatic and if not for the fast pace, I probably might not have enjoyed it as much as I did. Although (I know what I said), because of how much was happening in those 24 episodes, the drama did feel kind of rushed as well.

I understand the events in the last episode did happen in the novel too and in it, it was around the half way mark? However, this is probably an unpopular opinion but even if the events were actually the final chapter in the book, I don't hate it. Sure, I would like an ending where the two of them end up together living their lives happily but I've been hurt by sad BL drama endings before, at least the "state of Wu Bi" was ambiguous in this.

Moving on, Wu Bi's cousin. You know, I thought I would hate this character by the end of the show but I don't. Yes, his little bun is extremely infuriating (it plays no part in anything at all except annoy the hell out of me), and he needs serious help with his possessiveness if we have to label his issue. However, forgo those flaws, he really does love Wu Bi a lot and seriously, if you look at Wu Bi objectively, this boy makes it so hard for his family to love him. I don't know what will happen to the cousin if the second season gets made but I will not be mad if he has a redemption arc. I mean...if he doesn't have one, I am fine with that too.

Last but not the least, I am still very confused with how much I like Su Yu. I guess because I'm more of a Wu Bi person, Su Yu did piss me off a couple of times. Especially when being such a smart person, he's not very smart when it comes to Wu Bi. Like think about it, if he was smarter, he would have listened to Wu Bi's warnings about his family and never go for that appointment because come on, Wu Bi or his stepfather could very well help him find another doctor and make another appointment.

At the end of the day, as much as I have some issues with Stay with Me, ultimately, I still enjoyed watching the show. I've heard that a season 2 has been confirmed so now I guess we just need to pray nothing happens to stall and/or stop production.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5/5)

P.S.: If and when season 2 comes, we need more Han Bo Kuang scenes and because I do not know what's in the novel, I am just going to sit here and hope there's a Mao Chong-Bo Kuang pairing even if it's just bromance.

#drama review #stay with me #哥哥你别跑 #chinese drama #bl drama #chinese bl drama #wu bi #su yu #han bo kuang #mao chong #xu bin #zhang jiong min #wu cheng ze #xiao huan

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Top Anime of 2022

Considering that I didn't watch anime for at least 30% of the year, there is a significant amount of anime that I missed. As such, ONAs were counted as series (because they practically are). Certain sequels were also counted because I said so. It's my list, and I can do what I want! I will be putting some honourable mentions (but only the ones I plan on watching... eventually).

Honourable Mentions (PTW):

Sasaki to Miyano

Heike Monogatari

Summertime Render

Paripi Koumei

Lycoris Recoil

Kumichou Musume to Sewagakari

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

TOP 11:

There wasn't enough to make an "honourable mention" list for the ones I had completed. For one, some of the shows that I completed were not good. Vampire in the Garden was incredibly rushed with an ending that made less and less sense the more I thought about it (but A for effort as it felt like watching Vanitas but with more likable girlbosses). AkuLas (not gonna bother typing out the full name) just wasn't good, so I'm not even going to give it any more time besides saying it wasted mine, the pacing was wack, and the voice acting tried to carry a story that wasn't there. This ranking was very hard to make. It was incredibly difficult for me to weigh if I should put things higher based on my enjoyment or something else being objectively and critically better. Because of that, a lot of this ordering isn't set in stone, especially for the top places.

11. Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de

The first three slots are incredibly heavy on fanservice. Despite my aversion towards it (and the fact that it was distracting), I found myself still enjoying this show. It's very lighthearted, cute, and does exactly what it sets out to do and nothing more than that. Also, some things in this are better to just not think about. What the heck are those talking animals? Just don't think about it. It's all good.

10. Isekai Ojisan

Maybe it's because I caught up on this recently, but as it stands right now (with many of the episodes locked up by Netflix for whatever reason), this is going to take the #10 spot. This show was refreshing, funny, but a little bit too heavy on the fanservice (seriously, it turned into a h*ntai at some points). Regardless, I still found it very funny at the very least. It subverts many of the tired isekai tropes to make a very unique parody.

9. Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru

I personally don't like fanservice, but this show was still cute as heck. I really like both of the main characters even if Marin is a bit (very) pushy (accidentally). I'm not as attached to the other characters, but that doesn't really matter because I like the main two a lot. Of course, the art is good. I personally didn't like the OP or ED that much even if they were incredibly catchy. Overall, a solid romance that I would rewatch like chicken noodle soup for the soul, and I'm very much looking forward to the sequel.

8. Chainsaw Man

This was a good show, but I found the cast of characters to be the weakest part of the show. It's not that I hate nor dislike them. I just didn't grow attached to them. As refreshing as it is to have a protagonist who's very clear in his intentions and goals not being about the good of society and/or friendship, I was not entirely sold on liking him as the character. On the other hand, everything else about this anime and the production value was absolutely amazing. The voice acting? Perfect (I do like that casting). The animation? Spectacular. The music? Immaculate. This could easily critically knock out further entries on this list.

7. Kotaro Lives Alone

This is the anime that probably caught me the most off-guard. This anime's character design looks awful. I was going to skip it based off that, but after watching it, I can say that I came away shaken (in a good way). The way this show portrays child abuse, emotional abuse, domestic abuse, and other heavy topics is absolutely masterful. It left me kinda emotional. I think they made Kotaro the perfect balance of mature and childish at the same time (because watching a realistic child in his circumstances would be unwatchable).

6. Bocchi the Rock!

"She's just like me fr fr!" This show got the inner dialogue of my brain, and as someone who dropped out in high school and never got that "seishun youthful blue spring" time, I felt a lot of the sentiment that Bocchi feels. I even tried joining a band (but jazz). This show is incredibly funny and uses visual humour skillfully. The voice acting is some of the best I've seen from relatively newer voice actors. That scream lives in my mind rent-free. This is basically K-On mixed with my existential dread and sense of humour. Fantastic.

5. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen

Bro, this felt better to watch than it was reading the manga, and that's saying something! The manga was still good, but this really solidified Demon Slayer as an absolute powerhouse! I know people are saying that it lacks the depth of Chainsaw Man or Jujutsu Kaisen, but I don't think things need to be complex to be good. Maybe I just want to see someone slashing some demons.

4. Spy x Family

This is peak Shonen Jump slice-of-life. Honestly, the only episodes and arcs that were a bit of a bore were still necessary and just lacked Anya. Besides that, this show was magnificent (running out of good synonyms). Anya is one of my favourite characters of the year. She's stupid but extremely caring even if she's a bit off the walls.

3. Romantic Killer

Anyone with Netflix or a pulse should go watch this show. I wrote a whole thing about it.

2. Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic

I'm not sure what I can say about this show that hasn't been said already. It's a masterclass in romantic comedies, and it doesn't need fanservice (ignore the OVA) to succeed at making a ton of witty parody and comedy that transcends language in itself with an endearing romance that you can't help but root for. The openings are also iconic. Masayuki Suzuki is the king of love songs.

1. Mob Psycho 100 III

Just like Kotaro Lives Alone, this anime has a uniquely simplistic art style, but don't let that fool you, both of these anime are incredibly good at storytelling. Studio Bones cares about this series a lot, and you can see it through this anime. This is one of the best coming-of-age stories I've seen, and this season was a perfect finale to a story that we've been watching since the beginning. Everything about and from this anime range from great to exceptional.

#mob psycho 100 #mp100 #kaguya sama wa kokurasetai #kaguya sama love is war #romantic killer #spy x family #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #bocchi the rock #bocchi the rock! #chainsaw man #sono bisque doll wa koi wo suru #isekai ojisan #koi wa sekai seifuku no ato de #top anime of 2022 #anime of 2022

[cor-corbinian]

So I had time to sleep on the last episode of bsd and I have thoughts.

So far I've seen so many different oppinions about it - so many people are exited and so many are dissapointed. I easily fit into both categories.

But my first thought was that the episode felt off .... And I'm going to try, putting that feeling into words

PACING: As always the anime is going for an olympic medal in rushing. But unlike the previous ones this one felt even more rushed. For me, I believe that has one mainreasons. 1) Ususally I marinade in the manga chapter before I watch the Anime. This time I had nothing to go off, so my brain couldn't automatically fill the gaps. -> Missing Plot/Plot holes felt a lot more present

FUKUFUKU: Alright. This is propably the part I enjoyed the most. I think it was the best way that could have ended. 10/10 Somehow managed to not feel rushed to me. Teruko coming in was suprising but not entirely unexpected. I really liked it. You can see were the most effort went into :)

Aya&Bram: This one was good as well. But I barely felt scared for Aya. Another case of rushing - nothing to outragous though, although I felt it took the emotions out of the scenes.

All in all I really enjoyed the majority of the airport Part and can very much see why people are so exited and happy about this episode.

Now for the mixed bag that is Meursault...

SOUKOKU: Here the opinions are split. Not mine though, I liked it. Does it have implicateion that I most likely haven't thought about? Yes. But as long as Dazai wasn't aware of Chuuya not being a Vampire for the entire time, I'm fine with it. It is very much Soukoku shenanigans at the finest. Still rushed as fuck and with so many open questions that the manga has to adress. So I can see why people dislike it.

FYOLAI: Oh boy ... I really disliked Fyodors death. They have to have cut something important from the manga, because it just felt wrong. I fully believe Fyodor is coming back in some way. But the death just was so unsatisfying. What do you mean, every character got an impactfull fake-out death and Fyodor just got stabbed by some no name and blown to bits?! Doesn't feel like a fitting end for the mastermind. Nikolais part was amazing though - exactly the reaction I was hoping for. Absolutely heartbraking. 10/10 for that small part.

SIGMA: AAAAAHHHHH. I'm honestly upset and absolutely livid. What do you mean, the character who just wanted a home and to be seen as more than a disposable tool got his fate revealed in a single line and was forgotten and disposed of??? What the actual fuck! I get what bones is trying to do - keeping it a mystery on what exactly happened to him. Trying to reveal absolutely nothing. But we don't even get Dazai mentioning that he has to go back into the prision for some reason? Or saying that he has something still left to do? Anything at all that hints towards Dazai remembering that Sigma existed? Truly, it fells like Sigma was abandoned and I hate it. I will be writing Angst about it.

OTHER CHARACTERS: The Montage was kind of nice, even though important characters were forgotten about (where is Jouno!). With the lack of impact of most of the characters shown it just felt kind of hollow I guess.

EPILOGUE: Why does it feel off? I honestly wouldn't be at all suprised if it was the set-up for some anime only filler content - However horrible that would be. Akutagawa was looking fancy though. And it seemed about the only relevant thing that happened to poor Atsushi this episode. For a Protagonist he was sidelined hard.

TLDR: I feel like the rushing and lack of explaining/skipping over plot details of the anime is making me hate the progression of the plot more than I could ever with manga. I'll have to wait and see.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd spoilers #cor rants