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jbuffyangel · 4 months

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Hot and Cold: Arrow 1x22 Review (Darkness of the Edge of Town)

There is no episode that exemplifies the disjointed nature of Season 1 more than “Darkness on the Edge of Town.” We have Exhibit A: an OTA field op and the smoaking hot chemistry of Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards igniting in an elevator shaft of all places.

And Exhibit B: the other show. A frigid black hole I feared we’d never escape from.

Let’s dig in…

Olicity and OTA

Let’s start with the positive since there is soooooo much freaking positive! It can take time for a television series to find its footing in the first season. Unfortunately, nowadays if the audience isn’t binging the entire season in 24 hours, the show gets canceled. But blessedly, this was 2013. Network TV was still the supreme ruler, and Arrow was pulling big enough numbers for the CW to allow for some leeway.

Twenty two episodes of leeway. Arrow finally found its groove and latched on to the mystical “it factor” that keeps an audience watching - Oliver, Felicity and Diggle. The chemistry and dynamic between these characters and the actors who play them is undeniable and it creates an action packed, laughing out loud, and sizzling hot episode. The writers are having FUN in “Darkness on the Edge of Town" and it shows, which means we get to have fun too.

Oliver decides to question his mother regarding the Undertaking, but she refuses to confess. So, Oliver and Diggle take a more brutal approach. The Hood kidnaps them both and beats the crap out of Oliver until she coughs up the information. It’s always hilarious when this show acts like David Ramsey can fit in Stephen Amell’s suit.

The burgeoning relationship between Oliver and Felicity is very much in its infancy. Oliver is fully in denial about feeling any type of way toward his IT girl. Never is that more apparent then when Oliver and Diggle return from the confrontation with Moira. Diggle gets a few solid whacks in, which I’m sure felt amazing given the absolute jackass Oliver was being the past few episodes.

Felicity has a much harder time concealing her feelings towards Oliver and it’s clear she worries about him. She is always the first to ask if he’s okay, offer a supportive ear to listen or shoulder to cry on. However, Oliver seems to draw a line in this episode when Felicity reaches to touch the bruise on his face. That small step was too much. He physically keeps her at arm’s length because the intimacy of Felicity’s concerned touch is not something Oliver is ready for. There is still a very big wall hiding all that pain, regret and unworthiness.

Source: @lyricalarrow

Admitting he remembers the exact day they met, however, is absolutely no problem. We shall come to discover just how much Oliver remembers about that day in later seasons. I have a lot of male friends and I guarantee you I don’t remember the day we met. However, the day I met my husband is burned into my memory.

The team determines the only way to stop Merlyn from leveling the Glades with a man-made earthquake machine is to find the location of the device. Unfortunately, Felicity is unable to hack Merlyn’s system so she needs direct access to his mainframe inside Merlyn Global Headquarters. LET'S DO CRIMES!

Oliver makes an appointment with Tommy (more on that later) while Felicity continues to up her adorability factor by dressing up as Big Belly Burger employee delivering lunch to a security guard otherwise known as John Diggle.

The burger is laced with benzodiazepine, so it knocks out the other security guard and gives John free reign to control the elevator & cameras. Do we know how Diggle is able to pose as a security guard? No. Do we care? Nope. Let the hijinks commence!

Oliver and Felicity make their way to the elevator, but not until Oliver unloads an unwelcomed dudebro hitting on Felicity.

Jealousy looks so good on him. The way Stephen Amell plays this scene, with his nails-on-a-chalkboard look at the word “sweetie” to robotically knocking the papers out of the elevator, is physical comedy at its best. Something Amell rarely gets to do, but he’s great at it.

The mainframe is on the twenty fifth floor, but the elevator only goes up to the nineteenth, so Oliver and Felicity have some climbing to do. It seems Felicity is thinking of a certain kind of climbing as well and really who can blame her?

Source: @lyricalarrow

Oliver lifts her WITH ONE ARM out of the elevator, which is so freaking hot I cannot.

Then, very gently, bends down to wrap his arm around Felicity’s waist and loop her arm around his neck. Oliver is moving with the precision of a jungle cat, but it also feels like an incredibly elaborate way to grab hold of someone. It has a very superhero sweep-her-into-my-arms sensuality to it. The mission is giving Oliver plenty of reasons to touch Felicity and he doesn’t seem unhappy about it, particularly when he softly tells her, "Hold onto me tight."

Is it warm in here? Holy Moses, Oliver Queen. Get control. This man is a god to women, so he clearly understands the connotations of, “Hold onto me tight.” There’s a thousand different ways to say that platonically, but nope! Oliver charges headlong into the blinking neon lights of SEXUAL INNNUENDO.

Felicity’s Freudian slip didn’t feel so Freudian either. She knew exactly what she was saying and leveled her full meaning in a single look. I thought the elevator was going to combust from all the heat. If you are looking for the text book definition of undressing someone with your eyes than look no further than these two. They way they hold the gaze. WOW. Can we have all the nakedness now?!!! It’s a sin against science for Oliver and Felicity not to bang regularly BECAUSE THE CHEMISTRY.

THIS IS NOT THE BEHAVIOR OF A MAN MADLY IN LOVE WITH LAUREL LANCE.

This scene has the classic Superman and Lois Lane feel to it.

Source: @olicitygifs

Oliver is doing his vigilante thing, but his partner in crime isn’t the leading lady of Arrow. It’s a supporting character who’s feeling less and less supporting with each episode.

Unfortunately, Felicity is about to be discovered while Oliver is held up by Malcolm Merlyn, Thea and Roy Harper. This is a very popular day to visit Merlyn Global. Oliver’s frustration under his cool and calm exterior builds the tension nicely and we do wonder how Felicity is getting out of this jam. Never fear! It’s John Diggle to the rescue. Top notch comedy from both Rickards and Ramsey.

Source: @olicitygifs

Their first official team mission outside of the bunker is a wild success. Felicity still has to search through all of Merlyn’s data to determine the location of the device. Despite all the heat, hilarity and hijinks on this side of the show, Oliver makes an abrupt decision regarding the other side of the show that makes absolutely no sense.

Lauriver and Merlance

Still feeling warm friends? Well don’t worry. I have a nice bucket of ice cold water to dump on you.

As predicted, Oliver’s love confession messes with Laurel’s mind and obliterates any clear path back to Tommy. He drops this bomb on her and they have not spoken for a WEEK. Of course, this is all Laurel has thought about and she makes a rather elaborate speech admitting she has feelings for Oliver too.

Yeah, none of this is a surprise. Tommy knew Laurel had feelings for Oliver. We knew Laurel had feelings for Oliver. Hell, even Oliver knew. The only one who wasn’t admitting it was Laurel, so at least she’s finally being honest about things. You don’t get a love triangle if the central figure in the love triangle doesn’t have feelings for two people. The issue is who does Laurel love MORE.

Laurel: Maybe Tommy was right. Maybe he and I weren’t meant to be.

She had a clear answer last week. It was Tommy. She absolutely wanted to get back together with him, but Oliver decided honesty was the best policy on this one subject only. This line enrages me because Oliver has distracted Laurel from the man she is truly meant to be with. I will die on this hill, friends. DIE. ON. THIS. MERLANCE. HILL.

Laurel: Tommy’s a good guy. Are you?

Oliver: I didn’t have an agenda. I didn’t mean to make it more difficult to fix things with Tommy.

Oh for fucks sake. Yes, you did Oliver. That’s exactly why you said it. This is just a straight up lie. Oliver absolutely wanted to confuse Laurel. He just doesn’t want to look like the bad guy for doing it. This is some A+ Ollie behavior.

After Laurel makes a wonderfully impassioned and heartfelt speech about her feelings for Oliver, after probably obsessing about it for seven days straight, Oliver dumps her. AGAIN.

Oliver: Nothing’s changed. My life hasn’t changed. I haven’t changed.

I am infuriated on Laurel’s behalf with this flip flopping back and forth. The time to make this speech was last week in the hospital hallway. That was the moment to let her go and put Laurel on the plane with the man she belongs with, but Oliver couldn’t do it because it was too damn hard. It was just cruel and horribly unfair to both Tommy and Laurel because Oliver has absolutely no intention of being with her. But now it’s too late. The information is out there. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, my dude.

Laurel pays her father a visit to basically get his permission to date Oliver again. Yeah, let’s make the man who lost his daughter to Oliver’s selfishness sign off on banging his other daughter again. This show.

Quentin’s speech is equally as empty as any speech Laurel’s made about seeing the change in Oliver because we, the audience, have not been privy to those moments. We’re just supposed to take their word for it even though the last time Quentin saw Oliver Queen he was trying to arrest him for drug trafficking. But sure, Quentin thinks he’s “changed.”

In order to make this storyline work, you have to give proper attention to the Lance family interacting with Oliver and the writers do not seem interested in doing that. All the important emotional growth takes place off screen and we’re supposed to accept it as fact because the characters tell us.

Meanwhile, they are organically growing the relationship Oliver has with Diggle, Felicity, hell even Roy! So we know the writers are capable of SHOWING these moments of character evolution. They just choose not to when it comes to the Lance family. It’s why the show feels so completely disjointed.

Oliver pays Tommy a visit and wants to have a chat.

Source: @queensarrow

So it's safe to say Tommy is still pissed.

Oliver encourages him to work things out with Laurel – kind of?

Oliver: Lord knows, I am guilty of a lot of things between us, but not you are her.

What’s infuriating about this conversation is that Oliver still refuses to accept any kind of responsibility in their break up. Oliver pretends to be a friend to the all feminists and touts Laurel’s independence and free will. She makes her own choices and she chose Tommy.

Tommy’s point is clear, even if it is self pitying; Laurel is not dealing with all the information. If she did have all the information then she would choose Oliver. From Oliver’s standpoint, it doesn’t matter because he can’t be with her.

That’s not reassuring to Tommy nor is it supposed to be. If the elements keeping Oliver and Laurel apart were removed (the Hood) then Oliver wouldn’t think twice about making a move on Laurel. And Tommy knows this. These are not the actions of a best friend, which is why he’s so pissed.

Now, Tommy’s big mistake was throwing in the towel too early. He should have NEVER given Oliver an opening with Laurel, but he did and it set them on this path. No we have to watch it play out.

Oliver: I promised myself that when I crossed all of these names off the list, I’d be done, but taking down these people, it doesn’t honor him. I was just treating the symptoms while the disease festered. I stop the Undertaking… I wipe out the disease.

Diggle: What are you saying Oliver? You would hang up the Hood?

Oliver: Merlyn’s plan is what I returned from the island to stop.

Does anyone else have whiplash? Oliver does a complete about face and determines he can be with Laurel since he only needs to cross one name off the list instead of dozens. He’s just missing one step, gee what could it be? Oh! I know. OLIVER STILL HAS TO CROSS MERLYN’S NAME OFF THE LIST AND STOP THE UNDERTAKING. Talk about counting your chickens before their hatched.

A hero’s journey is a very specific type of story. Joseph Campbell outline seventeen stages in 1949 and Christopher Vogler created an updated version in 2007 for screenwriting. I’m not going through all seventeen steps, but we can skip to the very last one regarding this storyline.

Freedom to Live/Return with the Elixir – meaning the hero has faced their internal and external struggles, has conquered the demons around them and earned the right to live as they choose. From a spiritual sense, the hero lives without fear of death.

It’s similar with Vogler’s elixir stage. From a community perspective, the hero has found the magical way to heal their wounded land. They are bringing hope, life and freedom back to their loved ones. In doing so, it gives the hero a personal victory. They’ve earned the right to experience peace and joy, which can be represented in a wide variety of narratives.

Oliver is hero. Arrow has made his endgame very clear - save Starling City. Has he saved the city? Has he stopped Malcolm Merlyn? NO. So why is his leather clad ass running all the way back to Laurel Lance to enjoy the fruits an elixir he has yet to procure? If Laurel is endgame, this makes absolutely no sense. This is too fast. It’s too abrupt. It doesn’t feel earned because it hasn’t been earned.

Clearly, the initial plan was to put Oliver (Green Arrow) and Laurel (Black Canary) on parallel, if not intersecting, paths. I’m not saying Oliver cannot be with Laurel as they evolve into superheroes together. But this is the first freaking season you guys! He hasn’t done a damn thing yet! Neither has she. And yet, here Oliver is, knocking on Laurel’s door, looking for some fruit.

Oliver: Ever since I’ve been back, we’ve been doing this dance. We come together and then I pull away. Something pulls me away, but I think finally that something might be over.

Laurel: What are you are trying saying?

Oliver: That you know me better than anyone. And that you are more important to me than anyone. I just hope I didn’t wait too long to say it.

If Laurel has no clue Oliver is the Hood then can he really claim she knows him best? It sounds good to say, and probably what Laurel is dying to hear, but it rings hollow because there’s no evidence of this anywhere on the show. Laurel was wrong about who Oliver is all season. We are just supposed to accept some verbal acknowledgment of change, that she knows him better than anyone, but without any television scenes to back it up. That’s not how storytelling works, Arrow writers.

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I warned you I wasn’t done with this topic - Oliver is still lying to Laurel. There should be more talking. What are those things pulling you away, Oliver? Why are they over? Are you a hooded, crime fighting, serial killer who has been mysteriously stalking me all year? Those are just some ideas off the top of my head. There is no person on this planet that Oliver needs an honest conversation with more than Laurel Lance, but nope. They jump straight to sex.

Let’s talk about the sex. This has been built up all season. These two characters belong together. They are bulldozing over Tommy Merlyn to be together because they are this passionate romance that time cannot quell. It should be like the fourth of July in Laurel’s apartment right now.

Source: laurelscanary

Instead, of heat we get frigid. Fish have hotter sex.

I’m willing to acknowledge "Radioactive" was the hit song of 2013 and every show on the CW was using it. It has a very sexy beat and big crescendo. It sounds like a good song to use during a sex scene.

Except for the fact that it’s called RADIOACTIVE with lyrics like, “This is it, the apocalypse.” This is not the romance your Plan A couple usually requires in a scene like this. They had Blake Neely for a composer. Where’s Oliver and Laurel’s love theme? We'll probably get it in the season finale but anything would be better than "Radioactive."

Source: laurelscanary

Next issue. Black socks and jean shorts? Wardrobe – what were you thinking? Nobody felt the need to tell Katie to take off the sox? Details matter!!

Source: laurelscanary

Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy kissing are like watching two pieces of flat cardboard trying to hump each other. Can they choose a direction? Are we biting or no biting? Are we using tongue or no tongue? Can Oliver unbutton his shirt or does Laurel need to help? Is Oliver going to drop Laurel while trying to get her sweatshirt off? It was just so awkward from start to finish. ZERO SPARKS.

Source: habibialkaysani

And for the coup de grace, they leave the curtains pulled wide open, so Tommy can see them screwing from the street. The look of utter devastation on his face is heartbreaking and that’s the final image they leave us with as their love scene fades to black. Oliver and Laurel reuniting are not framed as a good thing. It’s framed as a betrayal, because that’s exactly what it is.

Source: @queensarrow

Even worse, Felicity finds the device while Oliver and Laurel are asleep and HE LEAVES. No note. No, honey I have to run out and save the city real quick, but I’ll be back for round two later. Nothing. But please, tell me again how much Ollie has changed.

When I watched this episode live I was horribly disappointed the big reunion with Laurel and Oliver fell flat. This was really my last gasp trying to be a Lauriver shipper. And I use the term “trying” loosely. I was more or less looking for any redeeming qualities in this love story, but after this hypothermic love scene I was officially out. I could not ship these two. I could never forgive them for betraying Tommy. But I feared Arrow would never move on from Oliver and Laurel.

Of course, their real intention becomes all too clear later. Arrow was trying to blow them up to make way for something infinitely better.

Theroy

Speaking of flipping back and forth, these two break up every other week. Roy is clearly committed to finding the Vigilante, which leads them to Merlyn Global and a run in with Oliver, the disapproving older brother. Again, Stephen Amell’s acting is superb.

I loved the way he said “What” to Thea and the firm alpha male handshake he gives Roy, warning him to stay away.

Obviously, Roy accomplished his goal. He found the Vigilante. Roy just doesn’t know it. He thinks Oliver Queen is too much of a wimp to ever consider him as the man in the hood. Thea was good and ticked off with that “wimp” remark. Enough to dump Roy. She will not tolerate any slander of her brother. #QUEENSIBILINGSFOREVER

But this is like the fifth time these two broke up, so it’s losing the impact. This isn’t all about the Hood’s identity and thanking him for saving Roy’s life. He wants to BE the Hood, so Roy can protect the people he loves and never lose anyone again. The question is – who did Roy lose? Unfortunately, Thea storms out before we get an answer, but hopefully one is coming in the season finale. (No I do not remember who).

Long story short, yes I like these two, but the faster the Arrow writers move the characters into the Hood storyline the better. Otherwise they are just marooned on their own show like Laurel Lance Island.

Stray Thoughts

Yao Fei died! It’s so sad and traumatic. I forgot he’s shot in the head. Really didn’t need to see that twice.

Fyers is shooting down a commercial airliner to destabilize the Chinese economy. It’s always about money for these assholes.

Walter wants a divorce and I would say their differences are irreconcilable. Moira is getting what she deserves. You can’t kidnap your husband for six months and then offer him tea and crumpets when he comes home.

"Who the hell is Felicity Smoak?" Uh oh. Quentin has Felicity’s name. That ain’t good.

“Is the other archer working for Merlyn?” Please don’t make Diggle look this dumb again.

Merlyn versus Oliver battle was EPIC! The fight scenes this season are so stellar.

“Psychopaths are color coding themselves. That’s helpful.” HA!

Listen to the Watchover podcast reaction to 1x22!!!

If you’d like to support the blog, please buy me a cup of tea!

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me!

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justmenoworries · 1 year

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Lore Olympus Episode 247 Spoilers

Mfw Persie demands an appointment with Chiron "asap", only to then be just late enough for Demeter to get anxious.

Yeah, no, this was an obvious power-play on Persie's part to make sure Demeter didn't feel secure enough to actually defend herself. Don't tell me this isn't something current Persie would do, she 100% would.

Lmao, RS panicked because literally everybody was pointing out that hxp weren't doing any parenting, despite saying they'd be better parents than Zeus and just shoved Dionysus into the episode as a gotcha.

"I'd like to start by asking you both what you hope to achieve with this session today?"

Demeter doesn't want to achieve anything, this was literally forced on her. She had no idea Persephone was doing this until the last second.

Persephone just wants to dunk on her mom some more without consequences.

"You trapped Hades in a jar!"

Oh fuck off, Persie, your smurf-boytoy wasn't even hurt. Honestly, compared to what Hades put Demeter through, locking him in a jar was extremely minor and justified. Hades had no right to intrude on Demeter's home when she only wanted to see her daughter without her groomer present.

"We're not here to point fingers."

Yeah, but Persie's gonna do it anyway and the narrative will back her up like it always does.

The way Demeter just calls hxp's asses out on being capitalist jackasses who profit from death and the spirits who can't do anything to stand up for themselves.

"[...] You haven't even seen what I do in the Underworld."

Persie, you haven't done shit in the Underworld. You delegated work to someone else, that's not the same as working.

I really appreciate what we got to learn about Demeter and Metis' relationship. Honestly, I wasn't expecting Metis to just flat-out tell Demeter that she was created solely to help defeat Kronos. But since this is the same woman who slept with a much younger man despite knowing two of her daughters had a crush on him, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised she was a shitty parent in other ways too.

I'd enjoy all of this Demeter-lore more if the episode didn't immediately twist it to invalidate all of her concerns about Persephone's development and hxp's relationship through invoking generational trauma in a really manipulative way.

So.... Daphne did tell everybody about Apollo? Or just about the tree-part? Does that mean Apollo's political career is over? Because I think the fact that he violently assaulted a nymph should put a damper on his popularity with the populace.

Artemis finally asks a question she should have asked in season 1. Better late than never I guess. And of course we cut off before anything of substance is achieved.

We haven't gone anywhere with the therapy-session and the whole Artemis and Apollo conversation just served as another cliffhanger.

#anti lore olympus #lore olympus spoilers #lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lo

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nerdasaurus1200 · 2 years

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I saw Dragon Prince season 4 and hoo boy do I have thoughts (in no particular order)

First off, it's adorable how much of a magic nerd Callum is. He's grown so much and become so much stronger in two years

Stella is baby. She's living her best life with her cuddlemama and future cuddle papa. Speaking of, let Callum becalled a cuddlepapa by himself or Rayla next season

Zym and Ezran have grown up so much and it both breaks and warms my heart

Okay, so Rayla is a Dragonguard. Good to know.

Terry is my son now. I adopted him, he's mine.

I feel like Callum is just a little bit jealous of Stella getting love from Rayla

“The other elves saw me as a doe, but I knew. I always knew that I was a buck. I..chose the name Terrestrius.”....This line here. This line is gonna stick with me forever. I honestly didn't expect them to outright tell or show us Terry is trans but I'm so glad. That's gonna mean so much to trans kids watching this show. And the fact that Viren has no problems with it at all makes it even more special. Although Terry's wording makes me wonder if someone in his family didn't accept him.

Oh man I just read his wiki page and apparently Terry is still mid transition

I'm calling it now, that girl that figured out Araavos is Harrow and Ezran's descendant

Well, at least we know how loyal Terry is to Claudia.....someone get this poor boy a mug of hot cocoa, a blanket, a hug, and a therapist; he's earned it. He was 100% having a panic attack

"I'm gonna feel all the feelings!" THAT'S RIGHT YOU GO MY FUNKY BOY

I KNEW IT! I KNEW RAYLA'S PARENTS WERE IN THE COINS!GOD POOR RAYLA! ETHARI AND CALLUM ARE GONNA LOSE THEIR SHIT!

Hot damn, Ezran's speech combined with Ibis and Claudia fighting was powerful...that whole scene really encapsulates what the entire show is about, I think

Zubeia gets more and more badass with every episode

I wasn't expecting the chocolate tart to be brought back but it's nice that Rex Igneous liked it. Although how could he taste so much of such a little thing?

Ohhhhh wait, I just got that! Rex means king, he's KING Igneous!

Oh man I had no idea Ezran's crown is made from Harrow's sword

That possesion scene was straight up creepy, I honestly thought Callum died for a second

Speaking of creepy, I never wanna see snake Claudia again, please and thank you

I know Callum is angry at Rayla but he needs to talk to her, really. I feel like he's using the possession thing as an excuse to not talk about their relationship. Like, I do think he's genuinely shaken up by it but he's choosing to focus on that because it's easier

Soren...god, Soren has changed so much. In just 3 years, this boy has gone from picking fights with dragons and being eager to kill them to not being able to turn away from a dragon in need. He even shed his armor for her. Season 1 Soren would NEVER have done that in a million years

Another thing S1 Soren would never do is that talk with Claudia. Man, that was deep.

Also I love Soren's new look, I feel like it suits him way better than his knight armor

I dunno why I expected an out of the gate dramatic conversation when Soren found Claudia. Although I am glad we still got them having that conversation

I will say though, I do wish we got more of a reaction to Terry from Soren

Can Squeaky return next season as Soren's dragon pal? Please? he's the only one that doesn't have an animal companion

"I wanna spend the last month traveling with my daughter, the most important person in the world to me" I....it's nice that you're finally learning to not be a jackass Viren, but did you forget that you have a son??? Is Soren just chopped liver to you?

That said, I do appreciate that Viren has changed. I feel like he's definitely not gonna become immortal.

Regarding Claudia's speech about human suffering....either she's been fed TONS of propaganda by Araavos or she's taking it way too personally after all this time. Like, girl, you have an elf boyfriend, calm down

Awww the return of big feelings time!

#tdp #the dragon prince #tdp spoilers #the dragon prince spoilers #nerd talks #claudia #terry #viren #rayla #callum #harrow #ezran #araavos #rex igneous #soren #zym

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jodjuya · 2 months

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Finished "Malcolm In The Middle".

I have so much love for this show, and so many thoughts and feelings about it.

I can't decide on a single favourite character. It's a tie between Dewey and Piama.

Pushing through the last two seasons really felt like a slog. Probably why it took me so many months, and this hospital stay, to finally get through it all.

The show's highlights were absolutely the episodes that showed Francis at his peak:

- at Marlin Academy, where he won zero achievement awards because he was too busy being in trouble for standing up for the other students

- when the family visited him at Otto's Grotto, and he got that Ranch Foreman Montage exemplifying him as the Pinnacle Of Masculine Competence, and the episode wrapped up with him EMBEDDED in dysfunctional chaos, unconsciously setting off fireworks like a hypnotized sleeper-agent. I think that's my favourite episode of television period.

But I feel bad for Francis. In, like, a meta way. His character got the worst treatment out of everyone in the ensemble.

They kept giving him amazing redemption arcs, which kept accidentally disconnecting him from the family's chaos and taking him out of the show, so then they'd have to reset him back to square one every other season. Very unsatisfying. The man had nearly as many careers as Homer Simpson!

And THEN! late in the sixth season it's suddenly his 21st birthday and that completely threw me for a loop!

Because when you're looking at Francis Nolastname, you really feel, deep in your soul, that you're looking at the most 26 year-old man to have ever been 26.

And that episode gives you such a record-scratch-doubletake. It's discombobulating AF.

It was a good series of twists to have him eager to be turning 21 because he's "been waiting for this day for YEARS" and you're like "alcohol?" But then it turns out he's Sober and big into Alcoholics Anonymous, and THEN it turns out he doesn't actually ever drink because half a glass of beer gets him tipsy, and so he's not even remotely close to alcoholism but that's just a narrative he latched onto to make himself feel better about his terrible life. It's very very funny.

Same narrative arc as when Reese got himself emancipated and got himself a kickass apartment and seemed to be superbly functional and mature, and then it was revealed that, no, he actually doesn't know shit from fuck and was just funding his whole lifestyle on credit cards like they were an unlimited free money hose.

Always very very funny to portray the boundless hubris of ignorant jackass teenagers. One of my top #1 all time favourite best television tropes.

Anyway, yeah, very weird to have that sudden reminder that Francis ran away to Alaska when he was only like 16 or something. That's fucking wild.

His wife was the best late addition to the show. I never didn't enjoy seeing Piama onscreen.

Pairing Francis up with Ida so often was a good writing decision. Kept him tethered to the rest of the family in a way that didn't feel too forced, and gave many opportunities for him to express Big Feelings with some hammy wallpaper-gnawing. Kept his character from getting too stale.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch "Breaking Bad". I really really really struggle with being able to watch "Bob's Burgers" for the same reason.

#malcom in the middle #blogging #Francis Nolastname #francis wilkerson

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galavant-song-tournament · 3 months

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Congrats to Off With His Shirt for winning the "Your personal favourite song from the whole show" tournament! Given I don't think everyone understood the assignment we can also sort of take the results as a "everyone's favourite songs per episode" tournament, which gives us these results:

Season 1:

e1: Galavant, 25 votes

e2: Maybe You're Not the Worst Thing Ever, 23 votes

e3: Jackass in a Can, 22 votes

e4: Lords of the Sea, 30 votes

e5: Hey, Hey, We're the Monks, 22 votes

e6: I Love You As Much As Someone Like Me Can Love Anyone, 40 votes

e7: A Happy Ending for Us, 24 votes

e8: Secret Mission, 46 votes

Season 2:

e1: Off With His Shirt, 48 votes

e2: Let's Agree to Disagree, 31 votes

e3: If I Were a Jolly Blacksmith, 27 votes

e4: What Am I Feeling, 21 votes

e5: My Dragon Pal and Me, 32 votes

e6: Today We Rise, 40 votes

e7: Goodbye, 12 votes

e8: I Don't Like You, 33 votes

e9: Galavant Recap, 33 votes

e10: Will My Day Ever Come, 19 votes

14 people voted correctly (for Finally). The top 22 songs by votes are:

Off With His Shirt, 48 votes

Secret Mission, 46 votes

I Love You As Much As Someone Like Me Can Love Anyone, 40 votes

Today We Rise, 40 votes (TIE /|\)

I Don't Like You, 33 votes

Galavant Recap, 33 votes (TIE /|\)

My Dragon Pal and Me, 32 votes

Let's Agree to Disagree, 31 votes

Lords of the Sea, 30 votes

If I Were a Jolly Blacksmith, 27 votes

Galavant, 25 votes

A Happy Ending for Us, 24 votes

Maybe You're Not the Worst Thing Ever, 23 votes

A New Season, 23 votes (TIE /|\) (also not in the above list because Off With His Shirt beat it in its episode poll)

Hey, Hey, We're the Monks, 22 votes

Jackass in a Can, 22 votes

What Am I Feeling, 21 votes

Will My Day Ever Come, 19 votes

Hero's Journey, 19 votes (TIE /|\) (also not in the above list because Maybe You're Not the Worst Thing Ever beat it in its episode poll)

No One But You, 18 votes (also not in the above list because Hey, Hey, We're the Monks beat it in its episode poll)

She'll Be Mine, 18 votes (TIE /|\) (also not in the above list because Galavant beat it in its episode poll)

As Good As It Gets, 18 votes (TIE /|\) (also not in the above list because What Am I Feeling beat it in its episode poll)

If anyone wants to figure out how many votes a particular song got, the way to do the math is (number of votes the poll got) times (percentage of votes the song got) times 100.

#top 22 because top 19 is weirder and i'd already done the math #Your personal favourite song from the whole show tournament #gonna go back and tag the other polls that #not a poll

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havin-fun-imagining-twd · 1 year

Text

A measure of reverence, Pt. 1

Please accept my genuine apologies for the month long delay again, slowpokes. I do have the next two stories after this typed out, which amazes even me :D

When - the morning of the season 2 Chupacabra episode whooo. For the Slowpoke Series, the morning after A mighty good team.

What - the group is gearing up for another day of searching. There’s caffeine, chattering about an iconic early 2000s TV show, Daryl cracking funnies (”What are you brayin’ at, jackass?”), and Shane’s gradual descent. And you finally primp your eyebrows

Relationships - slow burn Daryl x You at the friendship level growing stronger every day, platonic Glenn, and more.

Perspective - You 2nd, Him (Daryl POV) 3rd

Pronouns? - she/her for convenience

TWs? - some language

Is it super long? - nope, about 3,500 words

Is it boring? - at times, y’all, you know how it is. This one was kept lighter because the next two are a bit darker

Are there plot references to other stories? - aw yeah, here’s a link to the Masterlist, slowpoke

Are there lame screenshots from the episode? - naturally, and word-for-word dialogue!

(never wanted to do a bleach wash for a fictional character’s costume so badly)

................................

Early-morning

................................

your morning

“Your mama said yes?” you check with Jimmy again.

“Yeah.”

“I think it’s smart, he knows the area.” Glenn sounds unsure of himself when he next volunteers, “And hey, after we get back, I can help you with…stuff. What, um, what stuff around the farm needs doing? I grew up helping my parents in the garden?”

While those two talk about that, you see that Lori is up and dressed and already hanging laundry to dry. She didn’t really sleep in as much as she probably needed to, but you call “Good mornin’!” just the same and go over to help her.

Dude, you’ve been buzzing around since 6am. The migraine that hit you last night you were able to pretty much do away with after taking the prescription Glenn found—but you woke up early to desperately use the toilet (not even in the RV, you’d used a quickly dug hole by the treeline behind some brush and trees. Blame the magnesium and charcoal).

Anyhoo, you made the coffee today while still half-asleep, and dude, one cup of coffee usually doesn’t perk you up so much!

You’d set up a jar of sun tea for Carol, did laundry, spent some time with Carl, chatted with Maggie and Patricia, survived the lengthy discussion between Rick and Hershel about Carl’s transfusion this afternoon during which Rick still didn’t confront you about how Carl getting shot was your fault and you really wish someone would just out and say it and get it over with, then you opened up + fed + watered the chickens before collecting the eggs for the Greenes, sacrificed a t-shirt to be made into fabric strips for the search party today, primped your eyebrows (finally), made your hair look passable, and wiped down with baby wipes in your tent by way of showering, AND learned some shoulder/neck PT exercises from Jimmy, it was great! You’ve barely even fallen into an inner spiral about the Shane/Lori/Rick/baby situation and about poor Sophia all morning!

Trotting over to Lori, you place your mug (it’s Jacqui’s old mug, actually) on the ground and start to help hang the damp, cleaned clothes. “How’d you sleep?”

Something about the way she says it seems hint that she feels guilty for not waking up early. “Slept like a log, if you can believe it. I didn’t even feel Rick get up.”

“Good.” You shake out and flatten Dale’s cargo pants to get some of the wrinkles out before hanging them.

“Was that your doing, then?”

“Might could’ve told him to sleep in with you last night.”

She takes a slow breath, then pastes on a smile and is most likely trying to sound normal when she asks, “Next time, wake me, especially on laundry day. How are you, is your dizziness gone, honey?”

“All gone.” But ouch, you lift your injured shoulder a little too high while hanging the pants.

She notices and lightly tuts. “Let me hang them, you can hand me the clothespins.” While fixing the line, she makes sure, “Last night, Patricia mentioned checking your stitches. Did you see her?”

“Saw her this morning when I was talking with Maggie. My stitches are doing great, gonna have ’em for another week or so. Why did you have on that frowny face as I walked over here, Lore?” You glance down at her belly then back to her eyes.

With a subtle shake of her head, she hangs up another shirt. “It’s nothing, it was…” she peeks over at you. “Carol just called me our ‘unofficial first lady.’ At first I thought it was funny, but...” That pasted-on cheerful expression falls away to reveal a sort of nervous look. “I-I don’t know why—was that just her saying that, you think?” Her tone of voice suggests that she hopes it’s only Carol who thought so.

However, you shrug very unhelpfully. “Rick is kinda the group’s head, I guess. How’d it come up?”

“She wants to cook dinner for the Greene’s.” She pauses, frowns, and becomes visibly uncomfortable. “But she thought the offer would sound better coming from me. I should’ve told her that was just Ed’s voice in her head, but I was too…I-I didn’t know what to respond so I just kept hanging laundry.”

At least her brows smooth out when she adds, “Dale’s boxers, of all things.”

That got you giggling. “On that topic, I don’t know how y’all got all the bloodstains out of all these. You’d never know.”

The clothes T-Dog had been wearing when his arm got sliced open + the clothing you, Rick, and Carl had been wearing when Carl was shot = clean as if nothing at all happened. Even the clothes the Greene’s lent you that you wore for two and a half days straight (and got egg and blood stains on) look fresh.

You crouch down to grab your coffee and cannot help but remember the phrase Daryl used last night regarding your ‘mother-henning’ as you check, “Did you eat enough breakfast, Lore? That way your vitamins will absor—shoot, we have to get vitamins.”

“I had some water when I woke up.”

“Oh, that’ll keep you going.”

She bumps you with her hips, entertained enough to smile a little.

“Wanna use Jacqui’s mug after I’m finished?” you offer, holding it up. The handle had broken during the rush to leave the CDC, but Lori glued it after. “Have a sip, it’s nice and strong. A little bit is okay, right?”

Nodding, she takes it and her eyes turned glassy. “I miss her.”

Which is why you aren’t expecting the sudden grin after she drinks some. “Honey, this is espresso.”

...........................

his morning

He’d woken up early and taken out the original map to bring to his tent so he could fix all the grids. When his stomach started yelling at him for breakfast, he brought the map back to the campsite and downed a can of beans while working. He even put timeframes down, it was a productive-ass early morning. And that’s with his slight headache after getting slightly drunk last night.

It was Y/N who actually, um…she noticed he wasn’t feeling too hot and went and brought him some painkillers. After poking fun about his breakfast choice, obviously.

Speak of, she’s on her way over with a mug of coffee.

“Good morning, troublemaker,” Dale calls to her. He’s holding this real teeny mug (teacup? fancy shot glass?). “It’s nice to be using Irma’s demitasse this morning.”

Not knowing what that means, Daryl watches as Y/N twists her mouth playfully while chirping back, “G’morning, Dale.”

“You’re definitely feelin’ better,” Daryl muses when she reaches him.

“Miles better from last night. Good stuff is gonna happen today.” She holds out her mug for some reas—oh, the coffee is for him?

Again, he has to quickly pause and digest what it feels like for somebody to give a damn, then has to shove back the assumption that there’s some hidden angle behind it.

Except, when he goes to grab it, it’s barely full (?).

Carol’s voice pops in from his right, and he hasn’t ever heard her sound so teasing before. Never heard her make much noise at all. “Was the espresso accidental, pookie?”

Ha, ‘pookie.’

“Might could’ve been?” Y/N admits with a groan. “Yo, feel my pulse, it’s goin’ haywire.”

That explained why there wasn’t much coffee in the cup, he guesses. Intending to check over the map again, he’s next aware of Y/N snickering to Carol, “Ohh-ho, can that be his nickname?” with her thumb pointed at him.

What does she mean about a nickname? Best ignore that.

...wait, did she mean ‘pookie?’

His ears perk up again upon hearing Y/N happily announcing, “Nah, I slept off the migraine like almost completely!”

That makes him stop nit-picking the grid boundaries and look up at her. “Last night?” Is she even okay to go out today?

Y/N gives a little bow and takes a sip from her water bottle. “Like two hours after falling asleep I woke up ’cause I was getting one, so I took one of the pills Glenn found at the drug store and,” she pauses and turns around. “Glenn, air high-five!” she calls over, and he and she do a little clapping motion from a few yards away. And yeah, she winces because she used her bad shoulder.

Turning back with a shrug, she finishes, “But yeah, I simply went back to sleep, woke up feelin’ pretty good. I th-think having all those other painkillers already in my system helped,” she adds as Carol walks back to, uh, he didn’t know, someplace, wherever she came from. “How’s your hangover, any better? Stomach ain’t queasy?”

“I didn’t drink enough to get hungover, m’fine,” he grumbles. “You, uh, doing okay with what you got goin’ on?”

“Same as yesterday.” She starts concentrating on the new grid lines and appears to be silently mouthing directions while pointing out the path they’d taken yesterday. It’s like she’s studying for a test.

Then a dumb thing happens: when he goes to wipe his nose on his shirt, he smells tuna fish.

Cigarettes he knows he smells like, and BO, obviously, everyone’s sweaty as hell these days, but tuna? He’s gotta draw a damn line somewhere.

When he asks Y/N about it, she’s too absorbed in the grid to give a helpful answer. “I never really mind how you smell, to be honest. Ain’t there a thing to do with gene compatibility and that or some such?”

She doesn’t really mind how I…and what was that about jeans?

Lifting up his shirt again to sniff it then fast as he can, yanking it down where it rode up in the back so his scars won’t be on display, he asks more plainly, “I don’t smell like fish?”

“Oh, that, yeah.” She nods, taking another sip of water. “You had tuna with your breakfast again, right?”

He shakes his head and stands there dumbfounded, trying to figure out how it was possible that he smells like fish (and why he cares).

Rick comes over to study the grid, positioning himself next to Y/N with a “Good morning, weirdo. Daryl, how’s things?”

Then, Daryl remembers how he’d tossed that can of tuna he’d had for breakfast yesterday into his tent. When he took off his overshirt last night, he must’ve flung it right onto the can.

Maybe he should clean up in there…

…Either way, he’s jogging over to change.

.................................

You

“Colored strips to mark the boundaries and searched areas, that’s clever,” Rick mumbles. “Hey Dar—wait, where’d he g—” He looks up and all around. “Y/N, where’s Daryl? I was about to ask him a question.”

“Grabbin’ a fresh shirt.”

He nods and points to a spot on the map. “Do you know what this here is?”

“A high ridge. He wants to get to the top ’cause it’ll show a lot of the search area.”

“Then it looks like you and he are set to head this way after searching this stretch right here?”

“Mr. Greene said most of the houses there were cleared of any sick ones—um, walkers,” you share, massaging the side of your neck the migraine hit last night. “Our hope is Sophia found a safe place to hole up there, it’s right off the trail.”

On her way back to finish helping T-Dog cut the fabric strips for the search grids, Andrea briefly comes over and stands beside you to get a look at the new plans.

Rick’s doing The Squint at you. “Are you okay to join us today? How’s your head? I know Shane doesn’t…” he gestures at you leaves it at that.

Yeah, you know what Shane doesn’t want and what he thinks about the whole thing.

You assure Rick, “My head’s pretty good, all told,” and leave it at that.

“And the rest of you?” he presses, maintaining the squint.

Andrea raises her brows and has your back when she says, “She's able to decide for herself,” as she turns back to rejoin T-Dog, who, as you now see, is inclining his ear to listen in.

“Are your energy levels even any good after givin’ almost three pints two days ago?” you more remind Rick than ask.

He glances behind at the T-Dog and Andrea. Why’s he about to smile? “Well, after about a coffee mug’s worth of espresso,” he chuckles, “I’d say so.”

Ah, another accidental victim. You’re grateful no one in the group has heart issues (and that some of them recognized the mistake by the taste. You and Rick did not have that skill).

“Sorry, Ricky,” you say through an awkward smile.

But it’s cool, he’s still grinning about something. He looks at Andrea and T-Dog again. “When I mentioned how Shane doesn’t feel comfortable with her searching today, she licked the ridge of her teeth just like he does when he’s mad.”

“You’d think they was raised in the same house,” T-Dog dryly comments.

A dumb thing happens: the comment doesn’t hit you like you expect it to. You should have giggled and forgotten about it.

And you like being compared to your siblings, you love them. You loved it when your foster siblings started adopting mannerisms like you guys.

But hearing that silly, little, meaningless observation comparing you and Shane, it hit different…

Stop being an idiot about it. Stupid girl. Shane is a good man, you know that. Give him a damn break.

Rick looks more serious when he murmurs, “Speak of, let me go get him. Just need to go over a few things. Be ready in a few.”

.................................

Him

He had to take a dump first, so he’s only just now grabbing a different shirt. He figured he’d just yank his clean one from the clothesline.

“I can give you one of Shane’s ribbed tanks if you want,” he then hears Y/N offer.

He looks over to where she’s walking with two bundles of strips, one white, one yellow.

Then he looks down at his tank top. Is it that bad?

Whatever, he’s gonna put something on over it, anyway. “It’ll get just as mucked up as this one.” Speaking of, he grabs his shirt off the clothesline and starts to unbutton it.

This look passes over her face as she peeks at his tank top for a stretch longer than he would think was normal. “That was Merle’s,” she figures out.

How, he has no idea.

“You’ve always worn the ones with the thick straps that go up higher, your brother tended to wear the more wife-beater type—sorry! The kind with thinner straps. Ma hated the nickname for those types of tanks.” She follows this up with an apologetic mention of, “They called them ‘wife-beaters’ in The OC, so it’s on my mind,” as if whatever that was made sense to him.

“...That a movie?”

“A TV show. Oh, Glenn!” she suddenly calls over to him.

One of their little exchanges starts. Daryl forgets to put on his shirt because truth be told, it’s kinda easy to get kinda sucked in when those two start, even though those two can jabber on about literally damn nothing.

She stretches her arm carefully. “Your middle sister made you watch The OC with her, right?” she asks Glenn.

“She and I did, yeah. Appa, too, but it was more of a hate-watch thing. Kinda weird they only ever had one Asian on the show, dude, like, Orange County’s got a huge Asian population. We’re like 1 in 6.”

Y/N looks at Daryl in expectation of him being surprised, too, then back at Glenn. “For real?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s crazy.” She flops the bundle of fabric strips from one hand to another. Glenn starts to sword fight it or whatever with the other bundle of strips.

“Oh right, sorry—anyways,” Y/N starts up again, “Maggie and I got to talkin’ about the show over breakfast. We both decided it stopped existing five minutes before the third season ended but we both love that Kirsten and Sandy had another baby in the season four.”

“Oh, and the thing with Kirsten’s alcoholism? And the way Ryan—”

However Glenn was gonna end that sentence gets cut off by Rick as he and Shane stride over to the map laid out on the hood of Carol’s old Jeep station wagon.

“Good mornin’, guys. Let get going. We got a lot of ground to cover.”

Daryl jogs over with his shirt. It’s hot as hell outside, he’s already sweating like a pig in a bacon factory.

He ends up next to T-Dog, Rick in the middle, Andrea beside him, Y/N, then Shane.

“All right, everyone’s getting new search grids today,” Rick starts. “If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might’ve gone further East than we’ve been so far.”

As Daryl finally puts on his shirt, the teenage boy appears from out of nowhere. “I’d like to help,” he pipes in. “I know the area pretty well and stuff…”

“Hershel’s okay with this?” Rick asks.

“Yeah. Yeah, um—he said I should ask you.”

Unless he was just nervous, what that Jimmy kid just said was either a lie or a white lie. But, Rick doesn’t argue.

For a cop, that guy’s a little too trusting. “All right, then. Thanks.”

Daryl catches Y/N’s frown as she looks at him, then at Jimmy, then at Rick with her brows all low, unconvinced. It looks like she’s about to wave Jimmy closer when her brother interrupts.

“Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me.”

Not even looking at her directly, Daryl sees his friend’s muscles tense up, he can tell even from his spot across from her.

“Give this a measure of reverence, Shane,” she hushes. She’s trying not to react too strong.

“I’m bein’ upfront about the situation, Y/N,” Shane insists. Then to everyone there, he goes on to declare, “Daryl brought her back there just yesterday, she wasn’t convinced. Anybody could’ve been holed up in that farmhouse.”

The way his friend hunched when her brother mouthed off made a big part of him want to mouth off right back. But Andrea, classy as hell, steps in without missing a damn beat. “Anybody includes Sophia, right?”

She was so casual about it that it pretty much made it seem like she was brushing off a bug from her shirt. That chick is good, shit.

..................................

You

Andrea must’ve been such a good attorney, good Moses. You’ve never seen her feathers ruffled, like, ever, she lets it all just roll off. How is she so calm? Because while you were fixing to pounce, probably very obviously, she slid a hand around your waist and smoothly (so smoothly!) pointed out to Shane, “Anybody includes Sophia, right?”

It’s either the jitters from the caffeine or your damned hot head, because you’re just—you’re ready to start clawing at the man who’s overtaking your brother, because why would he have said that out loud? To all them? You’re fucking mortified.

That wasn’t Shane, it wasn’t Shane! Why is he being like this? And why can’t he button his stupid shirt all the way, huh?

Dale is coming out of the RV and gives you a look as if asking ‘what happened?’ so, you imagine taking the stupid tea kettle off the stupid burner to calm down.

No one else seems to be as agitated as you, not even Daryl, which is a huge relief.

Echoing Andrea, he’s as nonchalant as they come when he scratches his nose and reminds everyone, “Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yea-high.”

To which Andrea is quick to reinforce, “Good lead,” along with Rick when he agrees, “Maybe we’ll pick up her trail again.”

“No ‘maybe’ about it,” he grunts. “We’re gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird’s eye view of the whole grid.” Except, Daryl hadn’t mentioned anything about a horse before, neither yesterday nor today.

First of all, he can ride a horse? Hot. Second…who did he ask for permission about borrowing one? He briefly catches your confused stare as he points to the spot on the map. “If she’s up there, we’ll spot her.”

T-Dog’s been nodding away at all of this, impressed. “Good idea,” he tells Daryl. But then his brows lift and his lips pout a little in the way that happens before he cracks a joke. Lo and behold: “Maybe you’ll see your chupacabra up there, too.”

The tension in your body from a few moments ago goes *poof* as you grin.

“Chupacabra?” Rick repeats, again sporting The Squint.

“You never heard this?” Dale, now next to Daryl and across from you, hoists the gun bag on the hood and begins handing them out while staring into space and narrating. “Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole things reminds him of a time he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra.”

Sweet little Jimmy finally relaxes and lets out a quiet giggle while Rick’s squint turns into a mild smirk.

Unfortunately for sweet little Jimmy, Daryl grates at him, “What are you brayin’ at, jackass?”

Okay, you’re sorry, but even though it wasn’t appropriate of him to react that way to an innocent giggle, that comeback was really quick and you’re snorting. Still, poor kid. You switch places with Andrea to be next to Jimmy and make a point to openly laugh at the conversation.

Rick is stuck in squint-mode, isn’t he? “You believe in a blood-sucking dog?”

And Daryl is quick on the draw. “You believe in dead people walkin’ around?”

Yet again, you’re somehow the only one who finds this funny (Glenn, dude. Where are you?).

Next thing you see is Jimmy casually reaching for a long gun.

Rick and you both stop his arm, and T-Dog cautions, “Hold on there, kid.”

“Hey, hey. You ever fire one before?” Rick challenges.

“If I’m going out, I want one.”

Daryl shoulders his crossbow and tosses out, “Yeah, and people in hell want slurpees.”

You’re the only one laughing, again. Rough crowd today.

“Jimmy, yesterday I got ‘quit cluckin’ like a mother hen’ from him, don’t even worry about it,” you share. “You mentioned you did skeet shooting with your dad before, right? So you’ve fired a shotgun, then?”

“Once or—I mean, yeah.”

That means he has no idea, never mind.

Shane speaks up and sounds much more like himself when he does. “Why don’t you come train tomorrow? If you’re serious, I’m a certified instructor.”

“Not to brag, but he’s a really good one, too,” you definitely brag.

Jimmy, overwhelmed at all the attention from grown-up strangers, nods slightly.

Andrea (so smoothyl!) tactfully and kindly solves the problem. “For now, he can come with us.”

“He’s yours to babysit then,” is Shane’s brusque surrender, and he waves Jimmy over with his hunting tomahawk.

Andrea, of course, doesn’t pay this any mind and goes to arm herself with her pistol. You try to follow suit by not staring daggers at your brother.

Instead, you finally let everyone know, “Glenn is going with him, y’all. I don’t know where he ran off to, but these are theirs.” You hold up the yellow fabric strips, then look at Jimmy. “Glenn’s smart and fast, you’ll be in great hands with him,” you say out loud, then whisper in his ear, “I know you asked your mama, but you gotta ask Mr. Greene, too, okay?” Back to a normal volume, you wish him and those around the station wagon, "Don’t die, don’t get bit.”

You’ve just started to jog off to join Daryl and start today’s search when Shane stops you and pulls you in for a hug. He kisses your head. “Don’t die, don’t get bit.”

.................................

the official teeny tiny taglist

@its-freaking-bats @spenciepoo338 @whistlesalot

109 notes · View notes

unseenacademic · 2 months

Text

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by my dear, talented friend @mihrsuri Thanks, friend! 💜💜💜💜 1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 13 at the moment 😅

2. What's your total Ao3 word count? 28,823

3. What fandoms do you write for? The West Wing.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? The First Lady - my ongoing fic where I answer the most important question in the world: what was Abbey Bartlet doing during the episodes she didn't appear in?

Josh and the Jackass - what happened right before Governor Bartlet decided to follow Josh to the airport in In the Shadow of Two Gunmen.

Breathe - a post-ep for Dead Irish Writers. Her birthday party is over, and Abbey Bartlet must face the New Hampshire Medical Board.

A Bit Desperate - part three of a series of three-sentence fics about Abbey and Jed in the aftermath of Zoey's kidnapping.

Anything Else I Need to Know - Five times the staff of Bartlet for America interrupted a barbecuing session and one time CJ interrupted a different kind of session. Takes place during the First Bartlet Campaign.

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes, I do. I do my best to respond to every comment I get, as fast as I can. It's a two-way street, we, as fic authors, often complain (and rightly so) about the lack of feedback, the lack of comments and kudos, but we don't respond to comments. As a reader, I am more likely to comment on a fic from an author who's replied to my comments earlier. But I guess I get so few comments that I can easily respond to all of them 🤷‍♀️ and since there are like 7 people who care about what I write, the least I can do is respond to their very kind comments 💜💜

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I guess it's Anything Else I Need to Know. The ending isn't too angsty by itself, but if you put it into context and you know the overarching plot of first few seasons of TWW, it's definitely angsty. Honorable mentions: With Pomp and Parade & And the Silence Haunts our Bedchamber - they both deal with the aftermath of Zoey's kidnapping.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? White Christmas. And Something for Us to Remember too also qualifies. You have to read them to know why 😊😉

8. Do you get hate on fics? Luckily, I'm not popular or interesting enough for that 😅

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes! Oh, all kinds! The worst thing I've ever written came before I started my fanfic writing career (I used to be involved in forum RP, I'm less active there now) and... nope, I'm not going to write about it here. Too cursed. 🙈🙈 If you want to see some sane smut I've written, check out Game On, Boyfriend! I hope I'll write another barbecuing fic soon, so stay tuned.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I don't. But I'd love to see a TWW/NCIS crossover.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I hope not.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but if anyone's interested, go ahead.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, I haven't. The closest thing to co-writing fics was RP-ing which is sort of similar, but not really lol. It might be fun, so if anyone's interested in writing with me, let me know.

14. What's your all time favorite ship? Abbey/Jed! There are many ships I love, but I have to go with my horny nerds.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? There was a WIP I started last year, the first fic I posted, but I ended up deleting it, so it's not very likely that I'll ever finish it.

16. What are your writing strengths? I'm really, really good at research lol! If I'm writing a fic set in the 1960s, I'll make sure that they're eating food, wearing clothes, listening to music etc. that was popular in that period. You won't catch any of my characters wearing historically inaccurate shoes. I'm also really good at digging up random canon details and writing thousands of words around them.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Plot lmao. I write fics about nothing, it's just banter and nerdiness, with the characters and/or the author showing off 🤣🤣

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Hmmm... I don't know, don't think I've ever needed to do it, but I guess it depends on what I want to achieve, I might write it in English and add a dialogue tag like "she said in French" or something.

19. First fandom you wrote for? The first fandom I published a fic for was The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, but the first fandom I wrote for was Harry Potter.

20. Favorite fic you've written? Can't choose only one, so have a few of them:

Breathe: Once again, Abbey is reminded how cruel the world can be towards women.

No one asked Jed what he was wearing when he took the censure.

Anything Else I Need to Know: Josh finally opens the door to his room and slumps on his unmade bed.

Next time, he’s going to pay attention. He’s going to pay attention to Mrs. Landingham’s notes on the Governor's schedule. And he’s going to pay attention to Mrs. Landingham’s instructions, so he’ll know what her notes on the Governor’s schedule actually mean. Next time, he’s going to pay attention.

Had Josh been paying attention, he would’ve noticed when the Governor dashed across the hall and up the stairs right after lunch. Had he been paying attention, he would’ve noticed Leo’s smirk that followed the Governor’s departure. Had he been paying attention, perhaps he would’ve noticed the soft, rhythmic squeaking of the bed and muffled gasps and groans coming from the Bartlets’ suite right before he opened the door.

Well, too bad that Josh wasn’t paying attention.

And Something for Us to Remember too: “I take it your conversation with Doug didn’t go well?”

“I spoke slowly and I didn’t use big words, but I couldn’t talk him out of marrying Liz. Maybe I should’ve taken him on a hike. A six-hour hike through Vermont wilderness in the dead of winter would’ve changed his mind.”

“It wasn’t a six-hour anything! I was there, Jed, you were only gone for two hours.”

“You weren’t there, Abigail, you were baking with your mother, while I was fighting for dear life, braving the cold and wolves and bears.” He sighs and adds, “Guess it’s too late to take Doug hiking now and leave him for the bears.”

White Christmas: “’She – New Hampshire – is one of the two best states in the Union. Vermont’s the other’, said Robert Frost, your favorite poet, who also happened to be the poet laureate of Vermont.” Abbey made a dramatic pause and gave Jed a pointed look.

“She’s one of the two best states in the Union. Vermont’s the other.” She continued her performance. “And the two… the two lie like wedges, thick end to thin end and thin end to thick end.”

Jed chuckled.

“Sweet Knees, we’ll lie like wedges, thick end to thin end and thin end to thick end any time you want,” he leered at her, “on our bed, in front of the fireplace, on the kitchen table…” his smirk grew when Abbey’s lips curved into a little smile and her cheeks flushed, “but Robert Frost named his poetry collection New Hampshire, not Vermont.”

“Well, I’m going to write the words ‘Freedom and Unity’ on the pie and you’re going to eat them!”

The First Lady: “Mrs. Landingham withholds food from me,” he complained.

“Because I asked her to.”

“Yeah, cause you don’t want me eating real food like steaks or hamburgers. She won’t let me have a banana.”

“I’m sure you did something to piss her off.” Abbey shrugged.

“Do you two enjoy torturing me?”

“Yes,” she said innocently.

Tagging (no pressure!): @claudiajcregg @onekisstotakewithme @hondagirll @miabicicletta @librarianmouse @holy-ships-x-red-lips

💜💜💜💜💜💜

#20 questions for fic writers #my fic #the west wing #abbey bartlet #mrs doctor abbey first lady doctor #abbey x jed

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milui3l · 1 year

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I need to make a post about this because I’m more upset than I thought I was. 😔 Spoilers for The Great season 3 ahead (and 2 and 1).

Orlo became a really important character to me at a very weird and rough time in my life, so I’m definitely a little biased, but the fact that his death happened so suddenly and accidentally and at the hands of Catherine feels so wrong. He was her first true supporter besides Marial (who only befriended and supported Catherine for her own gain, understandable in this society) and the only male supporter in her crew that followed her out of pure desire for the realization of a shared vision of what their country could be, and not because of any romantic inclinations.

Besides Catherine, I’d argue that Orlo had the most drastic and substantial development of character out of all the cast. Going from a cautious, almost cowardly, bureaucrat to a self-assured, sought after advisor and friend for Catherine who was ready and willing to remove anyone who stood in her way. He bonded with Catherine over a love of literature, philosophy, and justified hatred for Peter. More on that motherfucker.

The fact that Orlo was killed while Peter droned on about whatever he remembers eating on whatever given day… ughh. I really don’t understand the direction that this show is going in with the Catherine/Peter relationship. Am I missing something? Here’s where I say that I’ve only watched the first episode of this season so maybe there’s more to see. Still, correct me if I’m wrong, Peter doesn’t seem to have changed much except for the fact that he’s in love with Catherine and their baby now so he’s unwilling to kill her anymore. He still seems like an unintelligent, abusive jackass. The bits of season 2 where they tried to make it seem like Catherine has fallen for Peter because “he’s the only one who understands her” seemed so forced and unbelievable. You could try and tell me that the weight of the crown became an object of mutual understanding between the two of them, but I’d have to disagree. Whilst Peter used his power as emperor to be an ignorant, egomaniacal, oppressive dictator, Catherine used hers to establish progress for her country, usually to her own detriment (i.e., S1E7, S1E9, S2E6). The crown weighed differently on their heads since they fundamentally disagreed on what it should be used for. I know that a good portion of viewers seem to be into this relationship, so maybe I’m blinded by first impressions or something. But I digress.

Orlo seemed to have a lot more to offer narratively than what was shown. Being so intrinsically different from the rest of the court (lacking the salaciousness of his counterparts), the exploration of his sexuality in season 2 was surprising. I know it kind of seemed like the show was using his journey of self-discovery as a comedic device (not saying that’s bad) but I thought his relationship with Katya was so sweet. His attraction to her intellect was refreshing and their mutual bond over their love of philosophy was very cute. Mostly because their relationship implied that he doesn’t have to have the same sex drive as everyone else. I was really looking forward to seeing more of them this season. ☹️ On top of that, the subplot with Orlo’s uncle last season!!!! Was that not intriguing???? I understand that Orlo was just a supporting character that I latched onto at a bad time, but it still seems like an unfair end to him. Anyways, goodnight, everybody.

#the great #count orlo #catherine the great #katya velcra #the great season 3 #the great season 3 spoilers

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heyclickadee · 1 year

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Okay! I finally! Had a chance to sit down and watch a full episode of my favorite tv show! Bad Batch rewatch time, bay-bee!

So—rambling thoughts on “Aftermath”

1. I LOVE the way this show transitions from being The Clone Wars and into being The Bad Batch during the opening sequence. The logo burning away is great, as is Tom Kane’s narration and the little montage of moments from Revenge of the Sith, but the thing that really gets me is the way that the whole episode shifts the moment Order 66 happens. Up to the moment Depa senses that something is up with Commander Gray, that something is suddenly, deeply wrong, you could be forgiven for thinking that this is a Clone Wars episode and that The Bad Batch really is going to The Clone Wars season 8. But after that? The perspective changes. Up to that moment, the episode is told pretty squarely through a perspective people familiar with The Clone Wars are used to. It’s the fate of the battle, and maybe the galaxy, in the hands of a Jedi, her padawan, and a handful of clone soldiers, and it’s somewhat centered on the jedi perspective, even through Clone Force 99’s introduction sequence. We see their skills in battle, their specialties, and how effective they are as a unit of soldiers; but even though their combat specialties give us a little bit of insight into their personalities, we don’t start getting to really know them as people until Order 66 is given, the perspective shifts, and the story becomes theirs.

And it’s not just the perspective that shifts with Order 66. It’s the whole…everything. After that shot with Depa in the foreground, looking concerned as Gray walks away, the pacing slows way down, and the whole look and sound of the episode changes somehow. And I honestly don’t know what it is that changes or if I’m just picking up on something that’s not there, but I want to do a shot by shot analysis at some point and look at how shots look (framing, lighting, color) before Order 66, and how they look during and after. For now, all I can really say is that before Order 66 this episode looks like The Clone Wars, and that after, it looks like The Bad Batch, but I’m not one-hundred percent sure why.

2. The snow looks good in this episode, and it still looks good in retrospect, but man oh man does the snow in “The Outpost” look incredible.

3. Listen, I can’t tell you how much I love the setup of your prototypical 80’s/90’s action hero team with your very standard action hero team archetypes and how the show is slowly taking each one of them and turning them inside out. The dark, brooding leader with the knife and the skull tattoo? He’d rather avoid conflict and violence to the point that it’s actually a problem. The big guy who looks like he could rip your spine out with his bare hands? He’d be happy fishing and building homes far away from the war, and he’s so, so gentle. The one who’s a little grumpy and by the book? He’s the rebel. The nerd who initially comes across as the weedy exposition guy? He’s a stone cold badass, and I can’t describe the depths to which he loves the people around him. The jackass sniper? Will commit war crimes but will also commit acts of compassion and selflessness that you would not believe.

And there’s a lot more to all of them, of course, but I like the way it’s done and how low key it is. It’s been happening so slowly that it sometimes seems like it isn’t happening at all, but going back here, to this first episode, from the end of season two, with everything we’ve learned about them and how much they’ve developed as individuals and as a group? It’s kind of striking.

4. Hunter is one-hundred percent the frat boy and/or gifted kid with the perfect record that he was in The Clone Wars during the entire sequence leading up to Order 66, and no where is that more evident than when he says, “If you’re done hiding down there, I’d suggest launching a counter attack,” to Depa Billaba. Credit to Depa for not blowing her top (and deciding that he’s right about the tactics at least), because good lord is that disrespectful. (Worth noting that this attitude extends to Tarkin after the battle simulation scene. He’s not outright flippant, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s not happy about what his squad was just put through and doesn’t care if Tarkin knows it—or, maybe, knows that Tarkin isn’t paying attention enough to notice.)

5. Kind of branching off on that, it’s actually kind of interesting that this attitude of his doesn’t extend to Caleb, even before Order 66, and even though Caleb also outranks him. While Hunter’s tone with Depa firmly falls into, “You can tell me what to do, but that doesn’t mean my team and I will listen,” territory, his tone with Caleb is much softer. And given how protective Hunter is of kids in general, and how desperately he tries to keep Omega away from the horrors of war, I sort of wonder if part of Hunter’s attitude here has to do with him being kind of uneasy with Caleb and the other younger padawans being involved in the war at all, and that translating into a kind of blanket, barely contained disrespect towards jedi who do have padawans out in the field. And that’s not fair to Depa here, if that’s the case, since it wasn’t really her decision (and she’s a fantastic jedi and a very good master to Caleb) and she sort of disagrees with the idea of jedi taking military titles in the first place, but it does make it less of a personal disrespect towards Depa and more of a general disrespect towards a practice that Hunter can’t really openly criticize. This honestly might be reading way too much into a handful of lines, though.

6. Oh, Caleb. Oh, Freddie Prinze, jr. and your wonderful voice that doesn’t sound a day under forty.

7. More seriously, I actually like the way FP jr. is playing Caleb here. The cadence is actually good and comes across as youthful, and he plays the part well. But he really does sound at least twenty years too old and it’s just a thing of absurd beauty. It sends me every time.

8. “Run, Caleb!” I’m fine it’s fine everything’s fine.

9. I’ve written a post about this before, but the fact that Crosshair doesn’t try to kill Caleb after Order 66 is given until after he hears Tech say, “Execute Order 66,” out loud as they’re discussing what the hell just happened even though he could have, implying that his chip doesn’t really activate until he hears Tech say it, murders me. It murders me every time. He’s in the background when Tech says it, and he reacts. And the very next shot is the one of the other four discussing what to do next while Crosshair is slightly out of focus in the foreground, with his helmet on, staring away from the conversation and into the middle distance.

10. You know what else kills the man? The way Hunter keeps shouting at Crosshair to stand down, and the way he yells, “DON’T!” at Caleb when Caleb runs at Crosshair with his lightsaber drawn.

11. Man…I miss Crosshair’s original helmet. It’s such a cool helmet! He needs it back (please let it be in storage somewhere on the Marauder).

12. This episode really sets the stage for how they’re going to pitch various tones—the heavier, more fraught moments against the lighter and more warmly emotionally saturated ones—against each other through the series.

13. “Usually when someone falls you look down, not across.” Yes, that is a somewhat disturbing thing to say, but, also, Crosshair is weirdly perceptive and just as observant as Tech, if not more so, and I will die on this hill.

14. It’s been a while since I watched “Aftermath” or season one, so it really hit me this time that we’re never seeing Tipoca City like this again. It doesn’t mean we won’t every see Kamino again, but Tipoca City?

15. Pay attention to Echo’s face during the scene where a couple of clones wheel that unidentified Jedi out under the sheet. He’s disgusted.

16. I love the argument in the barracks, because Crosshair and Echo both think that the mission on Kaller was a failure, but for entirely different reasons. Also, the way Tech looks up at Crosshair as he’s discussing clones being programmed and how they’re the exceptions and adds, “But I can’t be certain of it,” is so…. He’s so suspicious that that’s why Crosshair’s acting the way he is, but he’s not sure, he doesn’t say anything, and I think it takes him a little while to square the idea of Crosshair’s chip activating with the idea that the batch is different enough that they’re immune to the programming—because if Crosshair’s not immune, then maybe the rest of them aren’t either. And that’s a frightening thought. And, honestly? I kind of love that Tech gets it a little wrong here by not voicing his suspicions or working them out.

17. Omega is so tiny and innocent and so happy to see her brothers I just *cries* Also, she is such a little gremlin. Between the food fight scene and that scene where she sneaks into the batch’s barracks? Gosalyn. Mallard. Energy. Also, I somehow missed that the family photo she pulls out was sitting in Hunter’s trunk before.

18. I…may…have been paying a lot of attention to Tech this time around for, you know, reasons, so here’s one sort of adorable thing I noticed: After Omega replies to Hunter asking if she’s got anywhere else to be with, “No, I’ll stay,” and makes it clear that she wants to be around them, Tech just will not stop smiling at Omega almost every time he looks at her. He’s got those sibling adoption papers signed and notarized in triplicate within about two seconds. (Maybe starting to think him mentioning that, by the way, Omega’s a clone and she’s one of us it’s so obvious guys later in the episode was his way of convincing Hunter that they needed to go back for her.)

19. One more thing about Tech. So. Um. That moment where Tech gets thrown from the droid he’s piloting during the battle simulation. Um. Do—do I need to have a counter for “During the course of the season opener Tech is thrown and injured in a fall and needs—and luckily has—help getting back up and around,” because that’s a weirdly specific thing that’s happened in both season openers so far and is perfectly set up to happen again in the third and Jennifer I am in your wallllsss. I swear if we open season three following Tech’s pov of his fall, see him reach the ground alive but badly hurt, and see him get picked up by someone, but, before we see who, we cut to Omega to waking up from a (force induced (?)) nightmare/vision of seeing it all happen a la the the opening sequence of the PJ Two Towers movie I will riot but in a good way. The show’s already been going ham on the LOTR homages so what harm would one more do. I am eating your furniture.

20. That moment during the argument in the brig when Crosshair turns away from the rest of the batch but towards the camera and you can see him react to what the chip is telling him and shake his head before turning back to argue more is like a knife to the gut. Related: Omega’s little discussion with Crosshair. I want to see Omega’s relationship with Crosshair develop so badly, but I’m not ready. Crossdad will kill me. I ought to buy my plot and headstone now.

21. There’s a whole other post to be made about this, but I really enjoy how ambiguous the episode keeps Crosshair’s reasons for going with the shock troopers after the brig scene. Is it because of the chip and the argument he just had with everyone because of what the chip trying to force him to think, or is it because he knows that the shock troopers will take him by force anyway and hurt his family if he doesn’t go willingly? I honestly think there’s elements of both at play, but given the added context of season two and how much Crosshair loves his family in spite of everything, I think the desire to protect Hunter and the rest from what would happen if he didn’t just go with the shock troopers was the deciding factor. It’s another reason why I don’t think that Crosshair’s story is going to end in a self-sacrificial death. Because if he’s going with the shock troopers to protect his family, the self-sacrifice started right here, even though Crosshair had no way of knowing what that would mean for him or what it would entail, and reaches a fever pitch next season during “Tipping Point.” Death would be a bit of a step down at this point.

22. The chip amplification scene is hard to watch.

23. Speaking of Crosshair’s chip amplification, the way Nala Se talks about it to Lama Su kind of implies that it might be the first time she’s actually done that procedure, or done it successfully, and that it’s definitely the first time she’s done it at the request of a republic or imperial official. I don’t think the mindflayer technology we see in The Mandalorian is exactly the same as what we see in this episode, but I so think it’s definitely an evolution of this, and that Crosshair was Test Subject 0 for the Clone X assassins we’re going to see later in the series. Also? I don’t think Crosshair has any idea that this was done to him. I think there’s a part of him that’s just as confused about what he does in the hangar as Hunter and the rest are.

24. Speaking of what he does in the hangar—there’s a split second moment during the hangar scene where Crosshair walks in, sees the rest of the batch, and looks terrified for just a few frames before settling down into business mode, and I think there’s a couple things going on here. One, he sees the batch, they’ve found Omega, and it looks like they’re packing up to go. He has no idea that they’re planning on going back in to find him, so it’s possible that he sees this and thinks that they’re leaving him. Two, the part of him that’s still himself and aware of what he’s doing knows what he’s about to do and he’s horrified, but unable to stop, and probably unable to even think clearly about stopping.

25. I need to keep a closer eye on Hunter and his enhanced senses, because they were actually all over this episode.

26. There’s so much happening in the Onderon sequence, but this is getting really long and it probably needs its own post. Related bit: The way Crosshair says, “The war is over,” in this scene lives rent free in my head.

27. I also have a lot of thoughts about Hunter and Omega, but it’s honestly a lot of incoherent yelling because it’s! It’s them! Bandana dad and sunshine daughter! Before they really know each other! (Also, the way he notices her copying him is the most precious thing because you can tell he doesn’t know what to do with it.)

28. Omega looking out with literal stars in her eyes as the ship enters hyperspace is one of my favorite shots in the entire show.

#the bad batch #aftermath #hunter bad batch #omega bad batch #crosshair bad batch #tech bad batch #echo bad batch #wrecker bad batch #this got long and was longer but I ended up cutting it a little short

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comicbookhyperfixationtime · 4 months

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I gotta big question for you: what would be your pitch an animated series based on the Mighty Thor? Spare no details

Oh boy, this is a really tough one. I just have so many different ideas for how this could go!

But let's say we're looking at a typical 21 episode TV series, and lets say we're not 100% sure we'll be getting renewed for a second season. We've got two options.

Safe Option: The series is set entirely in the Nine Realms and based largely off the Journey Into Mystery/Tales of Asgard stories. Think of it as a sort of Journey to the West format, where the whole season is Thor and cast on a grand quest and each episode/two part episodes are one challenge/encounter along the way. This would give us a chance to really do some worldbuilding and show off Thor's Asgardian supporting cast, including more obscure characters. It would probably be more of a fun, lighthearted adventure, I don't mind a bit of violence or dark themes but I'd keep it on the campier sword-and-sorcerer side rather than gritty or dark.

Less Safe Option: We start from Journey into Mystery #83, when Donald Blake first acquires the hammer. The first few episodes are standard faire for superheroes, with Thor's more minor Earth antagonists (like Gargoyle and Zaniac and the like) showing up as villains of the week. All that changes when Loki makes his first appearance. After that the arcs get longer and more complex, climaxing in a battle against Loki and his forces on Asgard. There'd be a more psychological bent to this, maybe even psychological horror, as Thor goes from Dr Blakes' superhero persona to another personality with his own thought patterns dominant personality. We'd really dig into Dr Blake realizing that he doesn't actually remember any of his past before medical school, including his family and origin, and how frightening and discombobulating that is.

Regardless of which idea, there'd be some common elements. Art style would be very colorful, Asgard's aesthetics will be a solid mix of sci-fi, fantasy and a heaping dose of surrealism. There's a direct-to-video animated movie about Thor called "Tales of Asgard" and I actually really adore how clever they were with the trippy geography of Asgard, I'd draw a lot of inspo from there.

Odin will be portrayed as the abusive jackass he is. I'm not going to soften him up whatsoever, especially in his treatment of Thor. I don't think I'll kill him off regardless, but both options will show Thor slowly working towards recognizing the toxic behavior. In Option 1 it will be revealed that Thor's quest was some gambit by Odin that would seriously endanger him and/or his friends. In Option 2 it'll be Thor not only learning that Odin brainwashed him into believing he was Donald Blake, but the reason why he did it (just like in the OG comics it will be extremely petty and more about Thor asserting independence against Odin that actually needing to learn humility or whatever, although he certainly does grow as a person either way).

If the show is renewed for a second season, it will be adapting Roy Thomas' Celestial Arc, expanding worldbuilding with the introduction of the Eternals, the Celestials and the Elder Gods. It will also be the climax of Thor's arc about his relationship with Odin. When it's revealed that A) Odin had him for the express purpose of making an Ubermenschen weapon for him to use, and, B) he had in the past had Thor killed for disobeying him, then resurrected and wiped his memories.

If the show gets a third season, that season will be a loose adaptation of Len Wein's various space epics mixed with the 90s storyline Blood and Thunder (and when I say loose, I mean loose). Basically, Thor cuts himself off from Asgard after finally learning the truth and travels through space having space adventures with various Marvel Cosmic characters. Meanwhile, there'll be B plots with Thor's supporting cast on Asgard and/or Earth working out their own issues in his absence. By the end of this season, Beta Ray Bill will be introduced, and just like in Walt Simonson's run, it will be revealed that the threat to his people he was scientifically modified to face is the rapid approach of Surter and his army. The season will end on a sort of cliffhanger as Thor realizes that Ragnarok is coming for Asgard, and will have to make a choice about going back to save them. After that will be a season with less episodes but longer episodes showing the epic battle and neatly wrapping up any character arcs that haven't been wrapped up yet.

I think the show will end with Thor's "death" at the hands of Jormungand, but how exactly this goes will depend on Option 1 or 2. Option 1 will result in Thor fighting Hela similar to how Walt Simonson's run ends (the plot point about Hela cursing Thor to be easily hurt but unable to die will also be there). Option 2 will result in a death of personality for Thor, he becomes Dr Blake permanently and lives out a happy existence on Earth (depending on whether that feels like a satisfying ending or not, I'll just go with Option 1 then). Either way there's an opportunity for The Adventure Continues but a nice finale and really no need to.

If they force me to make another season I'll adapt the Evil Future Thor story from Dan Jurgens' run, but with some major changes.

#if you need clarification on anything lmk #this was fun #marvel comics #thor #thor odinson

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thiinka · 1 year

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Ok, I have seen TONS of posts about Josh Hutcherson complaining or observing that, “he didn’t do barely anything after Hunger Games! I wanted to see him in more stuff!” And with the new trailer for it, some want more Hutcherson content before the FNAF movie.

Well. I have a Hulu original (looks safe from the evil mouse merge)/yarr harr high seas (looks like at least 1337x has all 3 seasons) show recommendation for you. It’s taken up welcome space in my brain, for many good and funny reasons. I’m not a Hulu or executive producer Seth Rogan shill, this show is just surprisingly damn good.

Future Man, starring and produced by Josh Hutcherson.

Josh Hutcherson is Josh… Futturman, a janitor at a local biotech research lab which is doing work on curing all illnesses. He finishes a particular video game in his spare time, which turns out to be a scenario sent from the future to the past as a way to find someone to save humanity’s future. Future freedom fighters Tiger and Wolf, the other two main characters, time travel into his bedroom, and the story kicks off. Turns out the biotech research lab isn’t doing the good work it says it is.

Yes, there is time travel. Multiple forms of time travel are used in intelligent ways to the service of the story and the characters, not just to “be smarter than you.” Alternate timelines, doomed timeline individuals, altered main timelines, facilitated by multiple kinds of time travel devices with different capabilities. You’ve seen time cops done before, well here they are again but better and funnier. You’ve seen a time loop done before, well here it is again but with more horrifying implications.

Yes, the characters do start off fairly one-dimensional. You have a weak gamer, a strong woman, and a tough man. Then both the main characters and recurring side characters have arcs and development that make sense with their foundations and personalities, both individually and as a group. It’s consistent, they use skills they picked up in a time travel stint, plot lines that affected them come back. Same thing with the world setting. I really don't want to spoil it, it's so damn fun to see these guys pick up skills and traits.

Yes, the humor is ALSO very crude and sometimes fluid-based. A couple of the writers also worked on Sausage Party. I don’t have a lot of points here: if you’re ok with sex and nudity humor erring on the (well done!) practical effects gross-wise, go for it. If you’re not, I hope you can forgive me but this show might not be for you. However, some of these physical jokes come back for the sake of the story and character development, sometimes in surprising ways. For example, something that happens early season 1 comes back in mid season 2 to connect characters, and it's an incredibly touching payoff for how crude the setup was.

For having such crude humor, with such a tropey beginning to the story, with such basic characters, I was shocked by myself a couple episodes in: I was really invested in what these guys would do next and what would happen next. Wacky stuff happens every episode that still manages to logically follow what happened before. I know, it's the minimum for a fun show, but it was also emotionally engaging. I wanted to see these jackasses win and understand and work with each other! With the least amount of damage to themselves and the world! Their motivations change and shift and become more personal and come into conflict with the goals of others and their group! Holy shit, these are well written dynamic people who remember (or don't ;) ) things that happened to them!

Did I mention there are three complete seasons, each with its own different but logically connected arc, that it’s a finished story, and it was not cancelled midway through? Give it a shot!

#future man #josh hutcherson #hulu #there's only like... two pieces of wolf fanart on tumblr #so like. I think this show needs more attention #especially for y'all who like hutcherson :) he's a suuuuper sweaty pathetic guy in this and it's funny as hell #actually everyone has turns being sweaty and pathetic and also sexy #first big original post in a while lmao #josie muses #hope at least one person gives this show a try from this post

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thelastyetfabolousmidwestmadman · 4 months

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Everything We Know About Deadwood's Fourth and Fifth Season

The first episode would be the original season 3 finale. Bullock would refuse to resign and lock himself in his office in defiance until Al would come up and make a speech about how George Washington when asked to become king by the continental congress "Sheathed his sword" in response saying that this new nation would become a government of laws instead of man and so that's what Bullock must do as well. Ultimately Bullock is convinced and respects the electoral process.

The Series would end with Bullock, Charlie, and Jane leaving Deadwood, with Bullock leaving to become a US Marshall.

Al Swearengin would slowly lose power and influence over the camp over the course of the season, growing sicker and weaker from alcoholism.

At some point mid season the entire camp would burst in flame due to some "Jackass with fireworks", finally following through with build up throughout the series.

A flood would happen at some point to further destroy the town.

Manning would slowly be corrupted by Hearst.

Doc Holliday would appear

Jack Langrishe would encourage Alma to become a novelist.

The Love triangle between Bullock, Alma, and Martha would end in "status quo ante bellum" and be depressing.

The Earp brothers would return.

William Levingston the father of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller and notorious bigamist psychopath would be the main antagonist of season 4. He'd be a conman selling medicine with a "Indian" (Actually a black man named Johnson) which would actually be booze, resulting in a conflict with Doc Cochran. Eventually Yellow Journalists would swarm the camp due to bounties offered by newspapers for evidence of his fathers wereabouts.

Aunt Lou would be explored and would open a restaurant

The Chinatown would be important and the following seasons would examine the ugliness of race relations in America during this period

Jane and Joanie would enter in a relationship that ends bittersweet.

General Fields taking care of Steve the Drunk would be a plotline

The town would be booming and growing larger, with Bullock struggling being fire chief.

Doc Cochran would die of tuberculosis

Langrishe and Al would form a rivalry

Johnny would go against Al, forcing Silas and Dan to take sides

The Theater Group and Jack Langrishe in general would be seen as Hearst's foil as they are trying to bring civilization in a humane way. The girl Claudia is Langrishe's daughter.

Hearst would return at some point and a lot of what happened in the movie would take a entire season long. Hearst would also buy out Merrick's newspapers, break a strike, rig elections, and bribe judges in an attempt to get his way while the town fights back against him.

Cy would have a complete mental breakdown and redemption arc.

Al would become more unstable and back to his season 1 personality due to alcohol abuse.

Martha would open up a school and become a leading member of society

90% of what happened in real life during this period would be replicated in the show, the rest being creative liberties.

Charlie would ask Joanie to marry him.

Sol being a mayor would be a major season 4 plot point, he and Trixie would get married and have a child

Al would be broke due to the banning of prostitution

Wild Bill's murder would be reenacted at some point, this becoming a town tradition.

Keep in mind that according to Milch some of these ideas may be reworked or cut had the season been greenlit, and Deadwood was a collaborative set, so the actors would add their own ideas as well.

#deadwood #al swearengen #seth bullock #charlie utter #sol star #Welcome the fuck back #calamity jane #george heast #history #cowboy #old west #the gilded age #gold #whitney ellsworth #joanie stubbs #Cy Tollivar #mr wu #wild west #western

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mermaidsirennikita · 6 months

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i'm rewatching the crown s5 and god the charles propaganda is working over time. i didn't even realize how heavy handed it was at the time because i was too much in shock over how bad the season was but they really're pushing how modern and progressive he is! look at all the good work he has done! poor charles diana and the press are so mean to him :( the tampon gate episode literally ends with him breakdancing with some kids (???) with text saying how many people he has helped with his charity work. pray tell what brand of crack cocaine was peter morgan smoking?

I honestly have no idea, dude. Because if you were to ask me beforehand, I would've said:

Season 1--Great TV, if a little more conventional than other seasons; dominated by EXTREMELY good and character-setting performances across the board (I feel like Peter Townsend was the only semi-major player who didn't stand out, but in s2 it became very clear that Townsend being boring was The Point). Jared Harris wasn't even a true lead and he made me cry multiple times. Claire and Matt (and I say this as someone who generally doesn't care for Matt Smith) are superb. Lithgow? Knocked it out with a VERY well-known personality who's been played by other major actors. Vanessa Kirby? A definitive Margaret. Elizabeth gives Philip the ol' kneel and deliver. Amazing.

Season 2--Probably the best season of the show (even if the Kennedy episode was.... bad.... I feel like every one of the first four seasons has an episode that isn't great and is kind of totally out of step with the rest, and now I realize it was a harbinger of doom). Makes you root for a pair of objectively horrible people in an objectively miserable (if oddly loving...?) marriage. Matthew Goode shows up and does 60s excellence with Vanessa Kirby. No major standout PM performances on a Lithgow, but still, really good ones. (And I've come to realize ever since s5 and s6 dropped the ball--getting really good actors to play the PMs and seeing random glimpses of their lives was such a mainstay of the first four seasons, omg. HOW IS TONY BLAIR SO BORING???? WE KNOW THIS JACKASS.) Philip almost does a murder suicide with tiny Charles in that plane. It's GREAT.

Season 3--I wasn't as big a fan at first, but it's aged into a really solid season of TV. I think it took Olivia, who I think is one of the greatest actresses working right now so this isn't shade, a while to feel comfortable in the role. Tobias Menzies was immediately fab casting, though; I don't think I've ever seen a less than good performance from him, tbh. Helena Bonham-Carter isn't as good as Vanessa, but still entertaining and fun; and while Tony is not nearly as good in this season, he's barely there. BUT even if it's not the strongest season, you get Josh O'Connor and he is SO. AMAZINGLY. GOOD. He turns an awkward community theater performance by Charles into this intense monologue (was Charles that good an actor? No but who cares). He talks wistfully about how he'll only get a life after his mom like, dies in a helicopter crash or something. "mUMMY I HAVE A VOICE"/"NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR IT" hands down best Olivia line reading of the season if not her entire tenure on the show.

Season 4--Fabulous TV, dials up the soap opera drama, Emma Corrin is a perfect young Diana and Josh gets into his full bag as Charles. Olivia sets this tone between total unfeeling frost and a weird goofy humor that leads to the frankly hysterical "DO I have a favorite kid???" episode, where we don't know that it's Andrew but we kNOW. It's Andrew. The sense of doom builds up. Gillian Anderson devours as Margaret Thatcher. The ending with the cameras going off as we pull in on Emma Corrin's teary reflective eyes after Diana is lowkey??? Threatened???? By Philip???? Much more affecting than Diana's literal death in s6.

Yeah, man. I don't know. Peter has always very clearly been a royalist to me, but he seemed for a long time like a royalist more focused on Elizabeth and his fascination with and vast empathy for her. Charles... always got a sympathetic enough edit, sure, but in the sense that you got WHY he's such an emotionally deficient doorknob. Season 4 portrays him as outright emotionally abusive and? Tbh? Surprisingly predatory. That's something I think gets glossed over a lot. But Peter doesn't make Charles devoid of physical attraction to Diana, which I think a lot of takes on this story do. And he wasn't devoid of attraction to her. There were brief bright spots in their early marriage where Diana as much as said she couldn't keep him off her (and this was Charles so that was probs like thrice a week I dunno). There's been a lot of speculation that he and Diana DID sleep together before their wedding day; it wasn't this sterile thing it's often depicted as, at least not always.

And I think that the perceived sterility of the relationship has led some to overlook the fact that Diana got engaged to him before she was 20. She met him when she was underage and he was dating her sister. The Crown SHOWED that. Josh O'Connor PLAYED IT like Charles was checking out a 16 year old girl while he was all of 28 and about to go out with her sister within minutes. It's so deliberate? I don't know why anyone would ever be able to... not get it. So we go from that to "well yeah he had this awkward moment with his mistress, but everyone actually saw it as two people being in love" which just isn't historically accurate lmao. Charles and Camilla still get dogged out by that to this day. And look, I'm not judging what people are into--I more so judge the nature of the relationship in terms of how it pertained to, I don't know, his wife and kids, and this idea that people were NOT weirded out by it at the time lmao. Even people who aren't actively against Charles... the vast majority don't see him as this GREAT CHARISMATIC CHANGEMAKER lmao. Unless you're writing a biography of him in which he's feeding you sources.

I mean, I'll give credit where credit is due--he does seem genuinely into environmentalism, even if that's subsequently contradicted by his actions (though perhaps not as badly as is the case with Wills). He apparently dislikes Trump. Cool! But lol, this idea that Charles was really changing the world by like... doing charity work... that all royals do...................... Topped off by breakdancing......

It's SO cringe. I don't know if Peter got threats lmao. I don't know if he saw how much he made the audience hate the royals in s4 and went "oh no, that wasn't my intent" (and I will say--I do think that actors can affect things here; I don't get the sense from Josh's interviews that he is, ah, into Charles as a person, and maybe he went harder because of that) and tried to course correct...?

But he clearly made a huge change and it's such a bummer because the 90s are arguably some of the most interesting years for the Windsors and he just kind of flushed them down the drain. And he also got a perfect older Diana casting and wasted her.

#the crown

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