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watchingspnagain · 2 years

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Rewatching Bad Day at Black Rock

Welcome to “*pets everything*: A Supernatural Rewatch Blog” with Lor and Mace!

Up today, s3e3: Bad Day at Black Rock

The boys discover that John had a storage unit they didn't know anything about, and someone has broken into it. When they track down the someones, they find that the stolen object is a lucky rabbit's foot, but you're only lucky while you possess it; once you lose it, your luck turns very, very southerly. This episode is their first encounter with the thief, Bella, who tricks the boys so badly Dean feels the need to shout "SON OF A BITCH" very, very loudly. It's one of the best of the goofball episodes, and we get to see Jared stretch his funny acting muscles a bit more than usual. It's a real treat!

Below is a log of our real-time reactions as we watched. Remember that there may be spoilers for any part of SPN’s 15-season run here. Note also that the nature of our conversation is adult and thus it may contain adult language and themes.

[and we begin:]

Mace:

ugh gordon

Lor:

i was JUST gonna say just that

Mace:

Lor:

oh he will, Gordon. he has. that fixes nothing, honey

Mace:

YEP

Lor:

aw the fraught brothers

Mace:

YAS

Lor:

gosh Sam switches to smarty handling the cold call so QUICK

Mace:

HE DOES

Mace:

OMG IS THIS THE I’M BATMAN ONE?!?!

Lor:

um, excuse, Gordon is NOT the best. there's at LEAST four people in front of him

Lor:

it IS

Mace:

YAAAAS

Mace:

“don’t play with my Jesus” HAHAHA

Lor:

and these too chuckheads crack me up

Lor:

YES!

Mace:

YES

Lor:

they are TRACKERS I LOVE THEM

Lor:

(also, just for the record: fuck John)

Mace:

oh god the trophy

Mace:

(YAS)

Lor:

YES

Mace:

Sam got to play soccer, and Dean got to make a sawed off shotgun

Lor:

RIGHT?

Lor:

wraps Dean in blankets. tells him to hush when he fusses about it

Mace:

YEP

Mace:

EDITING

Lor:

"kinda like the pandora deal" yeah, sure, Dean, you don't read. pets him

Lor:

YES

Lor:

"Grossman."

Lor:

these two too

Mace:

he’s not reading the right things. IT’S A JAR NOT A BOX

Mace:

YES

Lor:

I have said it before and I will say it again: the guest stars on SPN are amazing

Mace:

YEP

Lor:

he read a bad translation

Lor:

"IT'S A RABBIT'S FOOT, GROSSMAN"

Mace:

HAHAHA

Lor:

"not to be a drag or nothing"

Mace:

Lor:

dean's little singsong on “security camera”

Mace:

YAS

Mace:

i LOVE the music in this one

Lor:

YES

Lor:

omg their faces

Mace:

YAS

Mace:

oh Sammy, don’t touch it

Lor:

silly boy

Mace:

yeah

Mace:

omg the way Sam looks at the gun

Lor:

the PRAT FALLS

Mace:

YAS

Lor:

YES

Lor:

"is that a rabbit's foot?" "I think it is"

Lor:

BIGGERSONS

Mace:

YAS

Lor:

"my gun don't jam"

Mace:

no it doesn’t

Lor:

not the way he takes care of it

Mace:

Dean, honey, you KNOW better of COURSE it’s cursed

Lor:

Dean's WHOOO

Lor:

RIGHT?

Lor:

pets optimistic Dean

Mace:

oh god, this really gross scene

Lor:

YEP

Lor:

one of the worst

Lor:

partly because it is SO TELEGRAPHED

Mace:

WHO PUTS THE FORK LIKE THAT

Mace:

YEP

Lor:

CHUCKLEHEADS, that's who

Mace:

UGHUGHUGH

Lor:

NOPENOPENOPE

Mace:

poor grossman

Lor:

and the squish

Mace:

“DAMMIT SAM”

Lor:

yeah

Mace:

oh yes ew

Lor:

lololol

Lor:

WAY TO TELL YOUR SONS SHIT, JOHN

Mace:

RIGHT?!

Mace:

“EVERYBODY LOSES IT”

Lor:

Dean counting and doing math in the air in the background

Lor:

pets Jensen

Mace:

Bobby is so done with them

Lor:

he IS

Mace:

“you can be rainman"

Lor:

LOL

Lor:

DEAN'S SMILE

Mace:

YES

Mace:

and Sam’s grimace

Lor:

YES

Lor:

"I got canned everything"

Mace:

that’s a different kind of ew

Lor:

he's having a banana split

Lor:

LOL

Mace:

HAHAHA

Mace:

omg the way they both lean over to watch her walk away

Mace:

and then Dean’s “DUDE.”

Lor:

YES

Lor:

YES

Lor:

"if you were ever going to get lucky"

Lor:

"how is that good?"

Lor:

oh Dean

Mace:

YEP

Mace:

HAHAHAHA SAMMY

Lor:

YES

Mace:

oh his KNEES

Mace:

I need to patch him up

Lor:

Dean's face when realizes Sam fell and stops running

Lor:

YEAH YOU DO

Mace:

YAS

Lor:

"I like that when they drop the whole onion in the fryer"

Mace:

HAHAHA

Mace:

OMG SAMMY

Lor:

this scene with Grossman is literally where I learned that when people say "pour one out for whoever" that people actually DO pour one out

Lor:

OMG SAM

Mace:

omg Lor that is ADORABLE

Lor:

"yeah I'm good"

Lor:

LOLOLOLOL

Lor:

look, Supernatural is educational

Mace:

oh, he said “goodbye, partner” because I’m learning the ESPANOL

Lor:

LOL

Lor:

SEE?

Mace:

nonono, I didn’t learn spanish from SPN, Lor

Lor:

it's reinforcing it for you

Lor:

pets SPN

Mace:

look, I already love the show. no need to get bananas

Mace:

omg THE SHOE SCENE

Lor:

SNORK

Lor:

omg the SHOE

Mace:

YAS

Lor:

"oh crap it's probably Bella"

Mace:

YES

Mace:

IDJIT HAHAHA

Lor:

YES

Lor:

"I lost my shoe"

Lor:

his TONE

Mace:

YAAASSS

Lor:

HIS FACE

Mace:

I NEED TO WRAP HIM IN BLANKETS NOW

Mace:

and he wouldn’t complain

Lor:

he would not

Lor:

omg the nose itch

Mace:

YAS

Mace:

adorable

Lor:

the post it note

Lor:

he's such a goof

Lor:

I luff him

Mace:

YESYESYES

Lor:

"aw come on... I didn't" SAM

Mace:

Sam does SUCH a good confused look

Lor:

YES

Mace:

YAS

Lor:

SAM that is made out something that makes fire worse, I guarantee it

Mace:

Lor:

the look on his face when his arm catches fire OMG

Mace:

YES I LOVE HIM

Lor:

and the dudes out the window!

Mace:

THE GOOF

Mace:

YES

Mace:

I love this whole guns pointed at each other scene

Lor:

aw lookit them circling each other

Lor:

YES!

Lor:

they are both so DANG pretty

Mace:

THEY ARE

Mace:

“no, a great thief” YAS I LOVE IT

Lor:

"yeah. a thief"

Lor:

YESYESYES

Lor:

their dynamic is great. I wish they got to do it longer

Mace:

“Gordon?! Aw c’mon.”

Mace:

I agree!

Lor:

YES

Lor:

and they should have had hot angry sex exactly once

Mace:

YES THEY SHOULD

Lor:

"look, Bella, my brother. he touched the foot"

Lor:

only on this show

Mace:

HAHAHA

Mace:

and they don’t know that they each made a similar deal I LOVE IT

Lor:

"aren't you a glass half full"

Lor:

YES

Lor:

so cool

Mace:

omg the “see ya!”

Lor:

Dean is great little pickpocket too love it

Lor:

YES

Lor:

"Lielielie"

Lor:

this DUDE

Lor:

he's hilarious

Lor:

but I am going to have to beat him with his own Henley for hitting Sammy like that

Mace:

CORRECT

Lor:

(he does wear the Henley nice though)

Mace:

he does

Lor:

omg he thinks it's god

Lor:

and in a weird way it is

Mace:

omg YAS

Lor:

"yeah that thing"

Mace:

“OMG DID YOU SEE THAT SHOT”

Mace:

i love him

Lor:

YES

Lor:

he's having so much FUN

Mace:

“I’M BATMAN” YAAAAASSSS

Mace:

HE IS

Lor:

"I"m BATMAN"

Lor:

YEEEEEES

Lor:

and Sam's face!

Mace:

it ties right into him not getting to have a childhood

Lor:

"yeah. you're batman"

Lor:

YESYESYES

Lor:

Dean frantically scratching tickets before they destroy it

Lor:

(which, honestly, smart. they do need money)

Lor:

omg Dean doing his speech and then she just shoots Sam

Mace:

YES

Lor:

"what the hell is wrong with you!"

Lor:

omg they're adorable

Mace:

oh he is SO SMART

Lor:

I really could have happily had like one episode a season where Bella shows up to hound them

Mace:

YES

Lor:

YES

Mace:

and I want her reaction to DeanCas

Lor:

YES

Lor:

she should absolutely be on team "clocked that within three seconds of seeing them together"

Mace:

YEP

Mace:

“SON OF A BITCH!!!”

Lor:

"SON OF A BITCH"

[after the episode ended:]

Mace:

and Jared’s little break

Lor:

LOL YES

Lor:

I don't think I'd noticed that before

Lor:

he's cracking up that's adorable

Lor:

I love that Gordon is like "yeah, Kubrick's nuts but that's fine he's a nuts that helps me"

Mace:

YEP

Lor:

sigh I love the fun ones

Mace:

didn’t we see somewhere that Jensen adlibbed the SONOFABITCH and that’s why Jared breaks?

Lor:

oh did we? i don't remember

Lor:

but it sounds completely plausible

Mace:

I think so, or at least I did

#watchingspnagain #watchingspnagain 3x03 #spn #supernatural #spn meta #spn spoilers #spn 3x03 #watchingspnagain acting #watchingspnagain comedy #watchingspnagain fraught #watchingspnagain music

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afieldinengland · 2 years

Note

judging by your reaction i really ought to watch the new inside no 9 episode, i used to watch those types of psas as a kid, kind of a morbid curiosity. are there any other episodes you really recommend?

oh, i absolutely understand that!!! yes, i had the same morbidity as a kid, too, haha. for the sort of “filmed” aspect that i suppose relates to the psa theme, i’d definitely recommend s3e1 ‘the devil of christmas’ most of all!! it’s styled like a 1970s horror movie, and it’s full of little period touches that really create that atmosphere. besides that, i’d just recommend my favourite episodes, though they don’t necessarily fit that theme: s3e3 ‘the riddle of the sphinx’, s7e2 ‘mr king’, s1e6 ‘the harrowing’, s4e6 ‘tempting fate’, s3e4 ‘diddle diddle dumpling’, s6e5 ‘how do you plead?’, s3e6 ‘private view’, s1e5 ‘the understudy’…. and one that adds onto “filmed” theme, s2e4 ‘cold comfort’, which uses cctv :) that’s a big list, but i hope it’s helpful!!

#answered #thank you!!!

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none-ofthisnonsense · 2 months

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Merlin S3E3, “Goblin’s Gold”

Merlin in the library? Going to see Geoffrey of Monmouth

C’est bien Merlin a autant de sens de l’orientation que moi

(I am fighting against comments about how the printing press hasn’t been invented yet in this universe and yet they have printed books)

Oh that’s a cool secret room though. Looks haunted.

…a djinn? (Well, probably a goblin, considering the title of the episode.)

Huh didn’t expect that goblin design

Oh this goblin isn’t nice is he

This feels like a comic relief episode.

The Looks Merlin and Geoffrey give each other are hilarious

Oh he’s going to get caught and it’s going to look bad for him

Gwen’s reaction is the BEST

BAHAHA BALD UTHER

This is going to backfire isn’t it

It’s okay Arthur we’ve all had that happen to us at least once

NO GAIUS

The things they make Richard Wilson do.

Ok but Gaius cheated though?

If not for the Morgana interaction this episode could happen in season 1

I’m sorry I can’t NOT laugh at bald Uther

THE HAT. UTHER’S HAT

Oh Merlin’s gooooooood

One thing that never changes is how Gaius says “sorcerer”

The one time Merlin did nothing and he gets arrested

YOU DON’T GET TO ATTACK LEON. LEON IS MY BLORBO YOU DON’T GET TO INSULT HIM LEON DESERVES NOTHING BUT THE BEST

This episode really does showcase just how much Merlin’s improved in his magic

Why is Merlin’s awkward “Come on, Gwen. It's not that bad. All girls do it, don't they?” never included in Merlin compilations? I love the way he says it.

…arthur?

WHAT THE FUCK?

Donkey!Arthur is not what I expected

“You want to kill Gaius?” “Just briefly.”

NO LEON NO YOU DON’T DESERVE THIS

Besties who spy together stay together (remember S1E2?)

Gaius better not die (I know he won’t because this is comic relief and they wouldn’t kill him off that way but still)

#Merlin #bbc Merlin #Merlin s3 #Merlin s3e3 #goblin’s gold #merlin liveblog

0 notes

smolboogara · 6 years

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Bedelia: If past behavior is an indicator of future behavior, there is only one way you will forgive Will Graham.

Hannibal: I have to eat him.

Me: What?? No..

#hannibal #tv shows #hannibal lecter #bedelia du maurier #will graham #quotes #s3e3 #03x03 #that literally was my reaction lmao #hannibal pls #eating ppl is not the solution to everything 😂#cannibalism //#tw: cannibalism

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starring-movies · 4 years

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Killing Eve: Episode Analysis

*SPOILERS*

Season 3, Episode 8 - Are You Leading or Am I? [Part 2]

We then see the switch from ‘Oksana’ to ‘Villanelle’, when Rhian comes to tell her that Hélène wants to see her. Villanelle watches longingly as Eve leaves, but when she turns around her expression suddenly changes and she puts her act back on. She tells Rhian that if she wanted to dance she would “just have to ask”, and then as a power play, she proceeds to dip her.

We continue to the next scene, where Villanelle’s in the Tube station and trying to provoke Rhian into fighting her - so that when she kills Rhian to protect herself and Eve, she has an excuse for killing her). Rhian tells Villanelle that “autonomy is overrated, sheep are happier than wolves”; which is exactly how Villanelle was when we first met her in Season 1, if someone had told Villanelle to “jump” she’d “just jump”. But we can see how far Villanelle has come since then, as now she recognises that she was a “sheep” and is trying to break out from that.

Villanelle then attacks Rhian, after annoying her enough to get a reaction out of her, and the scene is shot in the same way as the choking of the girl in the Amsterdam nightclub from S2E4. Just as in the scene in S2E4, Villanelle is fighting from pure emotion and vulnerability - more like Oksana than Villanelle - because she’s trying to protect herself and Eve. Both the Amsterdam club scene and this fight with Rhian are messy, hands on fights. This is unlike when she’s doing kills with the Villanelle persona fully up; where her kills are, like she says in S2E3, “nice and clean, just like you [Konstantin] taught me”.

As Villanelle is leaving the Tube station, a song last called ‘Get out of Town’ by Fireflies is used in S3E5 is played over the scene. The lyrics are:

“Nothing matters if you bury it deep,

Take away the worry,

What’s left, you keep,

Never say you’re sorry,

If what you mean is,

Do what you do,

And I won’t hate you somehow”

In the same way as the lyrics of the song suggest, Villanelle is visibly distraught at having to kill Rhian, but has to “bury it deep” in order to protect herself and Eve from Hélène and The Twelve.

A funny but subtle moment that’s what makes Killing Eve special - Carolyn’s unmatched pettiness of doing the unnecessary action of putting her glasses on to then read a blank page, after Geraldine has read her letter to her.

In the next scene, we continue as we see Eve go into the betting shop, ‘Bridgeway Bets’, to cash-in the betting slip which was given to to her by Villanelle, at the dance hall. Amusingly, Eve clearly needs to work on her fieldwork skills of bribery and persuasion. She uses the same technique, as she did with The Ghost in S2E4, of pretending to drop some money on the floor and offering it. However, now the monetary value of the note which she ‘drops’, has gone up from a £10 (The Ghost) to a £20 (now) - the increase of the value of the money Eve offers, shows how Villanelle is more important to Eve than The Ghost; and also how the stakes are much higher in this situation than they were with The Ghost.

It turns out that Konstantin’s betting slip gave access to a package, containing a set of Matryoshka dolls (aka Russian dolls), which has a barcode giving access to another safety box containing emergency supplies. Matryoshka dolls are traditionally used as a symbol of family and, more specifically, of mother and child. Although Villanelle didn’t know that Konstantin’s betting slip accessed a package with Matryoshka dolls in it, her decision to pass on to Eve the task of retrieving it, is a symbolic one for their relationship - representing how, through the exchange of the betting slip, Villanelle is not only passing on the importance of her freedom to Eve, but also the mantle of becoming her only family. At Paul’s house, Villanelle lets Konstantin leave with the dolls, and without her, because she’s realised that he’s “not family”; but she stays to be with Eve, because Eve is now her ‘Matryoshka doll’.

When Villanelle goes to the Bitter Pill office, she has changed outfits and is now wearing a mustard yellow coat. Mustard yellow has been used throughout Season 3, as a colour to represent family. It was the colour of the ‘bin baby’s’ dress in S3E3, and seeing the reaction that people had to the baby was the catalyst for Villanelle wanting to find her family and people whom she would feel that same belonging and love, that she had never been able to experience; in S3E5 the colour was used for Villanelle’s mother’s cardigan, to represent the person who she thought would (and should have) shown her this love that she was searching for; and now Villanelle is able to wear the colour herself, because after her conversation with Eve at the tea dance, she realises that she has found the love, acceptance and everything that she was looking for in Eve.

When everyone is gathered at Paul’s house for the big ‘whodunit’-esque reveal of who killed Kenny, Villanelle asks Eve “what is going on?” and Eve says “I have no idea”. This exchange is mirroring the one they had earlier, at the tea dance, when Eve asked Villanelle “are you leading or am I?” and Villanelle replies in the same words, telling her “I have no idea”.

The switch from Eve asking the question and Villanelle answering, to Villanelle asking the question and Eve answering; is used to again show us how they’ve reached a middle ground where they’re now in synch with each other. Both Villanelle and Eve having “no idea” also emphasises their mutual confusion; and therefore how - just like the tea dance scene - neither of them is ‘leading’ or ‘being led’, but they are both equal to one another and their relationship can work when they’re balanced.

The fact that in two separate instances Villanelle and Eve both “have no idea” about what is happening, also demonstrates how neither of them are certain about their future, or what their next step even is; but what they do know, having tried to be apart, is that the other has to be a part of their future.

When Carolyn demands for Konstantin to explain what happened when he went to visit Kenny on the day he died, Villanelle says “tell her” to him, and after Eve says “you killed Kenny”, Villanelle adds that “he doesn’t kill people, he makes other people do it for them”. In S3E4, after finding Villanelle’s family for her, Konstantin says “but I need you to do something for me, something personal, off the record”, which Villanelle is able to repeat, at the same time as he’s saying it.

Just as she repeats when Konstantin tells her “no, I can’t, I’m sorry” after she asks him to stay and watch a movie in S1E1, and when she repeats the advice that Konstantin gave her and Irina that “information is everything” in S1E8; Villanelle being able to repeat these things, illustrates how these are all things that Konstantin has repetitively said, or asked of her. And so we can see from Villanelle’s reaction, that she’s realised what a coward Konstantin is. Konstantin “doesn’t kill people” himself, but she remembers that he has asked her numerous times to do kills “off the record” for him, to fix his messes for him.

Villanelle saying “tell her” to Konstantin, also parallels with Konstantin telling Nadia to “tell them” in S1E6. The parallel demonstrates to us the switch in the power dynamic and Konstantin’s fall from grace. At the beginning of the series, Konstantin was a powerful figure, who could control the assassins who worked for The Twelve with a simple stare. Where Konstantin was once the one commanding others to do as he asked; now Villanelle is the one with the power over him, commanding him to tell Carolyn what happened.

Konstantin’s actions are made even more detestable to Villanelle, when he tries to claim that he “wouldn’t do that to someone I once” and then Carolyn completes his sentence by saying “don’t say loved”. We can see from Villanelle’s shocked reaction that she wasn’t aware that Carolyn and Konstantin once loved each other, and so this makes his actions even worse. Through the whole of Season 3, Villanelle has gone through a journey of finding her family or someone who will provide the unconditional love that a family is supposed to, Konstantin killing the son of a woman he once loved will hit a very personal nerve for her - and in the moment, the situation that’s unfolding between Konstantin and Carolyn is probably prompting Villanelle to imagine herself and Eve in the same scenario, where one unforgivably betrays the other’s love, which they both once shared and held so dear.

Konstantin trying to claim that he “once loved” Carolyn is also the same thing that he did with Villanelle in S1E7. In an attempt to get out of being killed by Villanelle, Konstantin stroked her ego and told her “I love you more than my family” (throughout the series, Villanelle has been trying to get Konstantin to choose her over his family); and in the same way as in S1E7, Konstantin is again trying to manipulate the love that other people have for him to get out of a sticky situation.

It’s when Villanelle says that Konstantin “makes other people do it for him”, that Villanelle starts to realise that he is “not family” to her, as we can see from her reaction that she doesn’t approve of him killing Kenny. However, this is even further reaffirmed to Villanelle when Carolyn is pointing the gun to Konstantin’s head. Konstantin yells at her “Villanelle, do something”, confirming to Villanelle that he only values her as his personal ‘attack dog’ - able to be called upon to do his dirty work for him and to protect him whenever he pleases.

After Carolyn spares Konstantin, and shoots Paul instead, Eve angrily says “why kill him, he had everything we wanted to know about The Twelve... he was a source”. In S1E4, Carolyn tells Eve “we’re not out for blood, Eve, we’re after information”. The reversal between Eve and Carolyn’s main concern, emphasises how their characters have developed since Season 1 and how their priorities have changed - Carolyn was once most focused on gathering intelligence about The Twelve and scolded Eve for getting off track with her continual obsession with Villanelle, but now only cares about getting revenge for Kenny’s death; and Eve was once blinkered in her pursuit of Villanelle, but now seems to be more focused on finding out more about The Twelve.

In the next scene Eve proceeds to run off from Paul’s house, after Carolyn tells her that she should go “cold turkey” and quit her ‘addiction’ with The Twelve, and then we get the bridge scene on Tower Bridge. It’s notable that Villanelle and Eve have their honest conversation on a bridge, as bridges are symbolic of communication, union and the ending of one cycle to the beginning of another. The conversation that they have on the bridge, which is a continuation of the conversation they were having at the tea dance, is a liminal moment for their relationship - it’s not only the full acceptance of one another and of themselves, but more importantly, their mutual decision that they want the other to be in their life going forward.

After discovering that they each had a hand in killing Dasha, Villanelle says “isn’t that romantic?”, and Eve replies “you know the only people who would think that are?” Villanelle asks “who?” and Eve answers saying “us”. Eve saying this, is not only an outward acceptance of the romantic aspect of their relationship, but more importantly her recognition of the darkness and the abnormality within their relationship - which is everything that she’s been trying to reject and ignore up until now - yet by referring to them as one, with the collective pronoun of “us” (rather than saying something like “the only person who would think that is you”), it’s evident that she also agrees with Villanelle that it’s “romantic”.

Villanelle tells Eve “I don’t want to do it anymore, any of it”; which was repeated in S1E5 when Villanelle similarly tells Eve “I don’t want to do this anymore”, and in S3E6 when she says the same thing to Dasha, that “I don’t want to do this anymore”.

Looking at the passers by on the bridge, Eve continues to tell Villanelle that “I used to be like them” but Villanelle tells her “you were never like them, you only thought you were”. Throughout the whole series we have already seen that Villanelle, as well as others, could see that Eve was different and had this darkness; but this is the first time that Villanelle has told Eve this properly, and that Eve hasn’t tried to contest what she says.

Villanelle goes on to ask Eve “did I ruin your life? Do you think I’m a monster”. In the same way that Eve said “I know” when Villanelle said she’s “killed so many people”; Eve doesn’t reject or judge her, but instead says that everyone has a monster, not just Villanelle, and Eve even accepts the existence of her own monster by saying “I think I wanted it [Villanelle’s monster] to [encourage her own monster]”. This acceptance from Eve is what Villanelle has been searching for this whole time; Eve doesn’t reject her or judge her for being a monster, like everyone else in her life has, but she accepts her for who she is and accepts her own monster - which is what Villanelle’s mother couldn’t do.

Then Villanelle tells Eve that she has a way to “make it stop”, “if that’s really what you want”. She tells Eve to “stand up straight and look at me”, and then she takes a moment to look at Eve, before telling her to turn around and face the other way. Villanelle probably knows - especially from the tea dance earlier where she told Eve to “go” and she turned round to look at Villanelle in her reluctance to leaver her - that Eve will turn around, but she’ll still be aware that there’s a chance that Eve won’t turn round, but will continue walking; so her taking a moment to look at Eve, is her taking the moment to look at Eve so that she’ll be able to remember her, in-case this is the last time she will be able to do so.

The song “Tell Me” by Johnny Jewel feat. Saoirse Ronan, begins to play when Villanelle is getting Eve to make her choice between her or returning to a normal life. The lyrics that can be heard are:

“Tell me I'm your baby,

Be mine for always,

I'll be yours forever,

Tell me I’m you baby,

And you’ll never leave me,

Tell me,

That you’ll kiss me,

Forever”

The song is mirroring what Villanelle is thinking in this moment. She’s giving Eve the option to choose her own future, but she already knows that Eve is her family and that she wants Eve to be a part of her own future - so she wants Eve to decide for herself to turn around and therefore “tell” her that she’ll “never leave” her and “be [her’s] forever”.

Villanelle then tells Eve to walk away and never look back, to leave her behind and be able to pursue a normal life again. Unlike what happened in Rome, through giving Eve the opportunity to make a decision that is 100% her own choice, Villanelle wants to display to her that she truly loves her: by showing Eve that if it’s the future that she really wants, she’ll put her own wants aside and let her go.

We also see that this scene is mirroring the tea dance scene, where Villanelle was the one who was stood and watching Eve turn back to look at her; but in this scene, Eve is the one who is stood waiting for Villanelle to turn back and look at her. This switch stresses the balance between Villanelle and Eve, as well as how neither of them knew for certain if the other would turn round for them; but even so, they both made the blind decision to choose each other.

Just before Villanelle turns around, Eve has already turned around and is waiting in anticipation of Villanelle’s choice, but Villanelle is taking a moment to prepare herself for potentially seeing Eve walk away from her forever when she does turn. Villanelle was the one who proposed this exercise, only as a way for Eve to be able to decide what she really wants for herself, but Villanelle already knew what she wanted and so knew that she would turn - so we see Villanelle take that moment to prepare herself to lose yet another person in her life, because although she thinks Eve will choose her, she can’t be completely certain.

The imagery in the final shot of Villanelle and Eve looking at each other on the bridge, as well as the promotional pictures (of Villanelle, Carolyn and Eve) which were released for Season 3, also invokes imagery from the Lovers tarot card. The symbolism of the card, is “in its purest form, the Lovers card represents conscious connections and meaningful relationships. While the Lovers card typically refers to a romantic tie, it can also represent a close friendship or family relationship where love, respect and compassion flow”. This makes the chosen imagery very fitting for Villanelle and Eve’s relationship, and what it’s developed into, in this scene. Both of them have come to recognise and accept that they have a deep “connection” with one another which, although they’ve attempted to break free of, clearly cannot be ignored.

You can read my previous Killing Eve posts here:-

First Introduction to Villanelle

First Introduction to Eve

S1, E1 - Nice Face

S1, E2 - I’ll Deal With Him Later

S1, E3 - Don’t I Know You?

S1, E4 - Sorry Baby

S1, E5 - I Have a Thing about Bathrooms

S1, E6 - Take Me to the Hole!

S1, E7 - I Don’t Want to Be Free

S1, E8 - God, I’m Tired

S2, E1 - Do You Know How to Dispose of a Body?

S2, E2 - Nice and Neat

S2, E3 - The Hungry Caterpillar

S2, E4 - Desperate Times

S2, E5 - Smell Ya Later

S2, E6 - I Hope You Like Missionary!

S2, E7 - Wide Awake

S2, E8 - You’re Mine

S3, E1 - Slowly Slowly Catchy Monkey

S3, E2 - Management Sucks

S3, E3 - Meetings Have Biscuits

S3, E4 - Still Got It

S3, E5 - Are You From Pinner? [Part 1]

S3, E5 - Are You From Pinner? [Part 2]

S3, E6 - End of Game

S3, E7 - Beautiful Monster

S3, E8 - Are You Leading or Am I? [Part 1]

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all-souls-matinee · 3 years

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The Best of Inside No. 9

Inside No. 9 (2014-) has the best Halloween special of anything ever. It’s actually one of my favorite episodes of television ever and I want more people to see it, thus today’s primer on a random show that has nothing to do with Halloween or with movies. It’s a precursor to an episode I won’t spoil in any way but that you need to have seen at least a few other episodes to appreciate.

This list is broken down by series; I’ve gone through the arduous task of choosing my two favorite episodes from each season (though not necessarily the best) and compiling them into a helpful list. The premise of the show is that each can be watched as a stand-alone; all unique short stories with totally different characters across an array of genres. The things uniting them are:

Every episode stars creators/writers Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton to some capacity

Every episode’s setting has something to do with the number 9 (an homage to 1944′s Gaslight)

Every episode has some sort of a twist ending or revelation

It’s drawn a lot of comparisons to other things but there’s nothing quite like it. The Twilight Zone maybe comes closest in terms of plot structure/episode length, which is why these reviews are shorter than usual! No spoilers, but trigger warnings on request (for a dark comedy things can get downright nasty.)

S1E1- Sardines

This one has such a seamless transition from silly hijinks into a downright upsetting twist that it was difficult to believe they could ever top it. It’s a story about a simple party game of hide-and-go-seek, and as with any family gathering, buried secrets.

S1E2- A Quiet Night In

This one shows off the more technical side of the show and how far they were capable of taking things, as it’s done with no real dialogue to speak of (haha.) The audio we get is instead diegetic sounds and reactions, including the soundtrack, as we follow a very tense burglary that doesn’t go as planned.

S2E1- La Couchette

This one is funny! And gross! And set in a train car (the world’s greatest setting!) Banter between so many characters we don’t know or have any reason to care about is extremely tricky to write, and they’d already pulled it off once with the first episode so this is just showing off. The twist is a lot of fun too.

S2E2- The Twelve Days of Christine

This one is heartbreaking, and in a change for In9 it’s not one of the more original twist endings they’ve had (maybe that was the real twist all along.) What matters here is some incredible acting from Sheridan Smith, as we follow a single mother through several off-kilter years of her life.

S3E3- The Riddle of the Sphinx

This one is batshit insane. Series three has the most consistently solid episodes of the whole collection so there were a lot of runners-up here, but I have to demur to the one that tried for way way WAY too many twists. It’s confusing and ridiculous and- at its most literal- an instruction in solving a crossword puzzle.

S3E5- Diddle Diddle Dumpling

This one is... odd, but in a way that I find so charming I can’t even describe it. It’s easily one of the more refined and down-to-earth episodes, but we’re also getting into how far the number 9 can take us. Here it applies it to a shoe size.

S4E3- Once Removed

This one is a screwball comedy, but evil. Nonlinear storytelling! A hit gone wrong! Poisoning! Concealed weapons! Grievous injuries! Literal games of telephone! Estate agents! Andrew Lloyd Webber! And a twist that will shock and delight you!!!!!

S4E6- Tempting Fate

This one is set up like a story in the horror collections I used to love so much as a kid, but the payoff is better than anything those had to offer. Three contractors are clearing out the house of a dead man when they find an object that may be able to grant wishes, and there’s just enough meta-ness to make them wary, but not quite enough to stop some terrible decision-making...

S5E4- Misdirection

This one is the magician episode! Unfortunately, as someone who was addicted to watching The Prestige 2005 all day every day when I was 17 I think it might be one of my ultimate favorites. I could watch it over and over again it’s so well-written and so satisfyingly horrid.

S5E6- The Stakeout

This one is what it says on the tin- opening in media res on a crime scene and taking the form of a police procedural through the lens of a nightly stakeout. It’s quieter, measured, and chock full of hints as to what’s in store.

I fully recommend watching all 30+ episodes as even the worst of them bring something to the table; if these plots don’t sound appealing but you’re hooked by the concept or by Reece and Steve’s other work there is at least one that’ll get to you (the s2 domestic drama episode! the s5 football episode! the s4 rhyming theater kid episode not to be confused with the s4 non-rhyming theater kid episode!)

Happy Halloween <:-)

#inside no 9 #me: i want these to be slightly relevant to other people's interests #also me: it's MY sleepover and I get to choose the episodes

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republictrooper · 3 years

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Thoughts on S3E3 of Discovery

There’s an argument that this episode tied up a lot of plot elements far, far too neatly, but you know what? I’m not going to be one of the people making that argument, because with how horrible life is right now, it is just way too damn nice to have a show that says, screw it, everything more or less turns out as ok as it can sometimes. Even in darkness, there is light, and life, and the possibility of forgiveness.

As far as more spoilery stuff goes... Listen, I still kinda ship Mylvia, but I can’t hate Book/Burnham even a little bit. That have a chemistry and a witty repartee that is just to DIE for. Michael lovingly mocking him (Sorry Michael, he’s right about Grudge tho) and having him wrapped around her little finger but also trusting him with her life and the life of her new family. Book trusting her implicitly in return and unable to deny her anything but still being just a hint of roguish all the same. Their whole thing on the ship where yes, technically they aren’t romantic YET but the vibe is still Michael bringing her boyfriend to meet the family for the first time and Mirror Georgiou being Mom-like and sizing up her daughter’s new beau and whew. I was a little disappointed when he left at the end of the episode. I mean yeah, obviously he’s coming back, but I was hoping he just decide to stick around on the ship, even if not as a member of Starfleet.

Honestly, the family themes were so lovely. Michael hugging everyone. Michael and Tilly talking in the ship Corridor. The final thing where Saru and Michael stood side by side on the bridge and Michael said she didnt need to go down and visit earth because her place was here with Saru I am so glad they’ve made up and become surrogate siblings it’s so wonderful ;_;

I do find the way Michael’s storyline is shaping to be intriguing. Georgiou becomes the Devil on her shoulder, trying to pry her away from Starfleet after that year apart caused her to drift, and Saru trying to bring her back home. Georgiou has more Charisma on that front, but I believe in Michael. The storyline would admittedly probably be landing a bit better if we got an episode or two detailing what she did in that year of waiting instead of a short montage,yes, but with only 12 episodes on deck, I can understand why they glossed over it and I trust the story team made the best choice they could under the circumstances.

I love Adira on a basic level. Smartass tech whiz kid is still a fun archetype, and I LOVE that they’re somehow bringing out Paul’s fatherly side??? When is he gonna break the news to Hugh that they’re dads now anyway? I wonder how the whole Trill thing worked out? Judging by Riker’s reaction, Humans can’t really carry Trills for a long period, IIRC? But I suppose either Adira’s young age or advanced medical technology might have helped that a bit, to be fair.

So on one hand, I am happy the NB person is an actual human and not the usual “Well, Aliens have a different concept of Gender” thing. On the other hand, weren’t they referred to as she pretty much every time it came up this episode? I suppose it’s possibly Adira is a she/they NB, or even just a she NB, but I feel like if you’re gonna hype up their status as NB, you should do a better job of explaining exactly what their deal is in the first episode, unless you get people confused and dismayed about the whole thing. Right now it’s unclear whether they’re flexible on their pronouns, or just getting casually misgendered.

Hopefully the next episode will clarify that a bit, since it does look Adira-centric, or at least dealing directly with their symbiont.

The whole Earth storyline was... pretty wonderful, actually. Not only do we get Expanse echos of Belters vs. Earthers, we get Starfleet actually getting 2 sides to sit down and discuss things. It got a little bothsidesy when it was clear Earth was pretty much completely in the wrong, but I appreciate that it let talking WORK for once. It’s nice to escape to a universe where just talking works and gets people help. Hopefully its the first step in getting an earth that can open back and maybe be ready to rejoin the Federation when Discovery gets it back in working order.

It was also really nice to see the bridge crew down on earth. We’ve seen them all in the background, and they’ve deserved to step out into the light for a long time now, and they’re all so wonderful.

I’m relieved that it looks pretty obvious now that we’re going for a PTSD/Trauma storyline for poor Keyla as opposed to a “Control in the implant” storyline, if only because the former has a much higher chance of her surviving. Let Joann and Keyla comfort each other and grow as people and kiss, Discovery. You owe them that. >:[

Anyway, other than the concerns about Adira’s exact gender identity vis-a-vis the advertisements trumpeting them as ST’s first NB Character, I loved the episode. Season 3 of Discovery, for whatever flaws it may have, continues to be the type of wonderful comfort food I was craving during this year.

Also: Captain Saru is my favorite Captain.

#star trek discovery #star trek discovery spoilers

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ganymedesclock · 5 years

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Clockie unpacks: Team Sincline

Well, okay, here it is, it’s time to talk about it.

So, I went through a lot of emotions with season 8. Some of them were disappointment. Some of them were anger. Some of them were happiness, and, some of them were a kind of relief.

The first is the realization that I’ve been kind of putting the show on an idealized pedestal. At first, that was easy- a lot of its issues were minor and easily overlooked in the face of what was overwhelmingly a lot of good. And even in its ending, it did a lot of good.

But it also did some not so good, and some genuinely frustrating.

And that’s okay. I think ultimately, the verdict is I still like Legendary Defender. It’s been the kicking-off point to get me heavily into the other Voltron continuities and I think out of the continuities I’ve encountered it’s still by far leader of the pack. It did its job getting me to care heavily about all of these characters and a total clown show with no redeeming qualities would not have done that.

That said, it definitely has lobbed the ball right into that particular intense alley where with enough to make me love it, it also has enough to frustrate me and get my little rewriting goblin fingers trembling up a storm, which is about what I’ve been doing in private with my friends since s8 dropped- lots and lots and lots of AUs.

I’m going to be titling and tagging all of these “Clockie Unpacks S8″- specifically referring to me unpacking my thoughts and emotions on the show. This is obviously not meant to be taken as an unbiased judgment from on high, just a dude in his kitty pjs and at some point, other clothes, blogging about cartoons. Also, fair warning, this is gonna have some undertones of bitterness to it; again, I still love the show, but there’s quite a few things they did I am really not wild about.

With that introduction, let’s kick things off. The first topic I’m picking is really, really predictable, because it’s my favorite goshdang characters.

Team Sincline: Ezor, Axca, Lotor, Narti, and Zethrid. Admittedly, this is going to be looking at them from s3 to the end of the show, so, it’s gonna have a lot more than just s8 in it, but, with the show concluding, I want to talk about what I loved and what I didn’t.

The frustrating thing about Team Sincline is that I can go back all the way to s3 and tell that these guys were not intended to make it.

The Lack of Curiosity

Even when we were clearly given the screentime and focus to relate to them, to want them to win, to want them to do well, a certain amount of onscreen attention is not given to how they’re obviously struggling. We know they’re struggling. Their entire thing is they’re a group of disenfranchised minorities within the empire. They act like people who are all quietly used to being desperate, to making cutthroat decisions, from Acxa stonefaced gunning down Lotor (which, sorry, that, was not an act,) to Lotor ultimately getting frustrated at the paladins because he knows it was bad to hurt the colony Alteans, the morality of the action is besides the point, the point is if you didn’t want the cutthroat solution to the problem you shouldn’t have left him in charge, and don’t you show up passing judgment with all of your better resources and actual support after he’s already done the hard work the brutal way-

But as long as they’re Sincline, we just see them in sharp uniforms. We never see Lotor outside of his nice uniform, actually, except when he’s a child.

Lotor has a crew besides the generals, but, we never hear who they are. We just assume a significant part of the empire followed him into exile, even when in practice, we can assume the two fleets Acxa dismissively sets up to be bait for Voltron in s3e3 weren’t any of theirs. Are these more half-galra? Why would they wear standard imperial uniforms? There’s so many questions about how Lotor got half the resources he did, and where he got them, considering he was so obviously cut off from support and holding colonies. If he did obtain other territories for fiscal support, why didn’t he or the generals run to any of them when things went downhill?

The generals themselves have no backstory. Sure, there are implications- all the parallels drawn between Acxa and Keith-

(though Krolia’s comment in s6e2 that Keith was the most important thing to her would seem a bit condemning to the idea she had another child, unless she somehow assumes her daughter is dead, and is thus excluding her on those grounds, much like she would exclude her husband who she knows is dead- likewise, Keith never sees a second child, unless Acxa was born afterwards, meaning Krolia was pregnant when she left and was unaware, which might explain why she didn’t return to Earth to leave Acxa behind, if her pregnancy was only discovered once she was already undercover and there wasn’t an easy way to make the baby disappear back to Earth where she’d be safe)

-there’s Kythra which is brought up as a setting and Te-Osh openly shoved in our faces so we can see how obvious it is Zethrid is galra-kythran, a connection that never appears to go anywhere, not with Te-Osh, and not with Kythra as a planet. We don’t even seem to have any more Kythrans in the coalition even though they help Pidge in her search in s4e2.

There’s Ranveig’s superweapon, which, especially in the technopathy it manifests, strongly resembles Narti and makes it pretty likely where she came from.

And there’s one of the pirates in s7 and s8 who’s seemingly the same galra-unknown that Ezor is, possibly a relative of hers.

But these stories aren’t explored. I’m not saying we needed full backstory episodes from all of them- runtime is limited (although, frankly, why would you introduce these characters and never go into who they are)- but we needed something. Hell, if nothing else, it would’ve been nice to mention and acknowledge Narti’s existence sometime after s4. She became something to condemn Lotor over, and, then, everyone forgot about her, evidently; the paladins never ask about that one with no eyes that gave them so much trouble, they never even have to face or deal with her incredible power.

And especially when we discover Kova was basically Lotor’s only childhood friend, this should have massively recontextualized his relationship with Narti that he would give Kova to her as her attendant. It should’ve meant something serious and concerning that he would just leave Kova behind without a second thought even if we somehow have assumed that Lotor wouldn’t grieve Narti.

Frankly, it should have meant something serious that he’d cut Narti down in the first place, but we have so little answers on how Haggar was able to affect Narti. Yes, we can speculate, especially about the riftbugs and Ranveig’s superweapon, but the thing is, this plot hole shouldn’t be here where we as an audience need to fill it. Did Lotor assume Narti was a willing traitor? Has Haggar done this to him before? Could she have killed Narti on her own?

These questions aren’t answered. And, as a result, the dissolution of Team Sincline feels kind of contrived.

Why did they fall apart?

In s3, it’s clear the Generals are completely trusting of Lotor. Even when that’s called into question, they clearly miss him and want him back. Before s4e3, it seems like nothing’s taboo or uncomfortable for them; and four for four, these are cautious, smart, calculating people. They do not trust blindly. As far as VLD’s own rules about solidarity, trust, and open emotional exchange, Team Sincline does everything right in its first season.

Lotor is emotionally transparent to the generals. Not just in the sense of which plans he tells them about in detail and involves them in the formation of (the majority of them) but that he makes his entire thought process clear to them, to the point that in many ways, they’re comfortable and confident in their ability to read Lotor.

The times that they’re unable to read him, and are shocked by his behavior, frankly doesn’t even work as a contrast to this- because when Lotor surprises them, it’s because these sentiments genuinely are coming out of left field.

The Lotor that screams he’s going to get rid of all of the galra is not talking about a long-term plan, and this is pretty obvious given how earlier in the exact same season, he pulls this face when Allura talks about how they need to protect occupied galra planets. Keep in mind this is Allura- someone who Lotor unambiguously admires and adores.

Keep in mind Allura’s heroic and compassionate nature is pretty clearly one of the things Lotor admires about her.

This is a guilty reaction. This is someone who’s agreeing with Allura’s assessment that they morally have to respond to the Omega Shield- whose objection against it was not that he didn’t want to, but that he suspected it was a trap.

If Lotor’s endgame goal was to make the Alteans into an army and use them to kill the galra, none of his behavior makes any sense. However, if that was never Lotor’s endgame goal but something he landed on in a combination of desperation and power high because he’s been kicked so many times in his ability to trust that frankly the idea that just getting rid of everyone so he can finally, finally stop feeling personally betrayed by everything he gets close to starts to look like an appealing option- makes total sense to his behavior.

And I can’t fault Ezor for being scared of that side of him once it rears its head. Lotor’s breakdown at the end of s6 is not pretty at all, and after Narti’s fate, the generals are all unsure whether or not the Lotor they know is real (though we as an audience have all the evidence it is) or if he’s just been a very successful conman. They’re all, as much as he is, vulnerable people in a bad bargaining position. They’re all going to be anxiously hypervigilant that they weren’t just suckered by someone they felt like they could trust for years.

I can’t blame Acxa and Allura for talking about him the way they do.

I can blame the narrative, however, for giving them those words, for giving them those situations, that response, and never challenging it.

In s8, we do a lot of mooning over Lotor’s fate. In s8 we’re given the most sympathetic flashbacks to Lotor’s lifetime of abuse, neglect, and how many times his legs were basically cut out from under him, how many times he lost everything and had to start over from scratch at Zarkon’s whim, and all the scar tissue that built up psychologically for him.

However, all that s8 mooning is exclusively for Honerva’s benefit. Lotor’s long gone, and they went out of their way to show us, grotesquely, exactly how far gone and not coming back he is. The generals aren’t there. The main time Lotor talks is as a puppet for the riftbug playing on Allura’s lingering guilt and lost love.

This is pretty significant considering Sincline- the symbol of this team, the unity of what they could accomplish together- is stolen by Honerva, puppeted, and then assimilated into her machine.

The feeling is these people were conceived in s3 specifically to be disposed of. They were born to die. Their downfall was planned from the start, and that is the explanation for the lack of curiosity.

I’ve seen the argument raised that they’re supposed to contrast Voltron in terms of their dissolution but if you want to explore a failed team in contrast to our heroes... we already have that, perfectly tailored to the role in a way that Sincline is not remotely. A team whose failure is written in the stars from the moment we clap eyes on them, and whose downfall moves enormous pieces of the plot:

The paladins of old.

If we really wanted to write a drama about the dissolution of Team Voltron, they were right there. We know before we meet Gyrgan, Trigel, and Blaytz that all of these people are dead. We even get to see them in the finale. And they’re, of the three groups of paladins we see, the ones who aren’t underdogs. They were sovereigns of occupied planets. They were confident, bold, enthusiastic about the future and they had very little to fear.

There’s stories to tell there, but, ultimately, they’re the least compelling- what makes them interesting is that sense of a forgotten golden age, the way they were lost to time, and lost to Zarkon’s ambition.

Conversely, Team Sincline is basically a group of vulnerable minorities holding onto each other in the dark. Even when they’re introduced confidently and dramatically...

...We see them stealing around central command like thieves. When they move publicly, they move together; when they talk, it’s lurking around in darkened corners, privately discussing how their duplicity of the larger empire is going well.

These are vulnerable people. Even at the top of their game, they cannot afford making their sentiments open publicly. And even in public, Lotor’s speech to the empire is all about its maltreatment of minorities. It’s all about the underside of their boot, and the people ground into dust beneath it, because it’s a defining characteristic of Lotor, and of the generals, that they are the people who’ve been under the empire’s boot this entire time. They contrast the paladins and Allura as people who’ve been heavily affected by the empire’s cruelty, but largely, distantly, or in ways that did not define their life from the cradle. Even Shiro, who was actually brought into the empire’s hierarchy, only endured that hell for a single year before Ulaz rescued him and got him out of there, and he had a stable childhood and supportive environment to get him through it.

Team Sincline has nothing but each other. And then, starting with s4e3, we see them lose that. Peeled away, layer by layer by layer, as they get more miserable, more desperate, and continue stealing, continue bartering, losing more and more as they keep trying to find some way to make it work because these are people who’ve learned a long time ago their tears are meaningless and the only comfort they have is what they can find in the cracks.

There’s really nothing interesting about their downfall. It’s just sad. And frankly the reason why I was so sure this was going to turn around was the sense that they can’t just leave it like this. They wouldn’t just kill Narti with no saving grace and leave her body there in a way that doesn’t affect the plot at all, even to the end that they want it to- that she could easily have just been there with the other generals and parted ways with Lotor when they did. They wouldn’t just have Lotor lose all his friends one more time. They wouldn’t just take all of this amazing room to grow and explore these characters and flush it down the toilet to achieve basically nothing.

And? If I’m honest? They did.

3/5ths of a happy afterthought

I initially thought people were kidding when they said The Grudge looked like they planned for Ezor to have died in s7e3 and Zethrid perish in an attempt at revenge but oh boy howdy. Sure there could be innocent reasons they didn’t have Kimiko Glenn there in s8- it’s not like all the times they’ve changed Acxa’s VA mean they were planning to off her- but everything about that episode makes what I dismissed as a conspiracy theory sound a lot more plausible.

Zethrid is not a vengeful person. We see from as early as her first appearance that she has a soft spot for small animals and children. She can be talked down from killing people very easily, she likes to fight but talks up fighting worthy opponents- she’s happiest cutting her teeth against something big and strong like her that can hold its own.

Her motivation is also, overwhelmingly, that of a Yellow Paladin. There’s a reason she’s so clearly Hunk’s counterpart. “I will always protect you, Ezor.” We can actively see in s7e3 that when the blast goes off, Zethrid tries to shield Ezor with her own body.

The heartbroken Zethrid we see in The Grudge, not quite taking care of herself, full of anger and bitterness and down to just wanting to make someone else hurt as much as she is- really could only have happened logically if Ezor had died. If Zethrid had felt like she’d failed as a protector for the last time, and was hitting a similar wall to Lotor himself- where after so many people dying or otherwise being lost she just couldn’t take it any more and gave up on trying.

In her post- grudge negotiations with the team, Zethrid is levelheaded and calm. Before being reunited with Ezor, she just looks empty and tired.

The person who’s always been the vindictive one is Ezor, and I don’t say that to demonize Ezor and depict Zethrid as saintly.

Ezor has an obvious edge to her, and, out of Team Sincline, she’s also the one who voices the most doubts and fears. She talks about the fun in torturing someone, and, behind the scenes, she also talks about being personally terrified that they’re going to be hunted down. She’s the one basically panicking as soon as Narti’s body hits the floor, she’s the one who’s anxious at Acxa shooting Haggar (“did you kill her?”)

Ezor is a brittle person- a lot of broken edges and anxiety. This is why The Grudge seems like an odd reversal in roles. If anyone would get overly preoccupied with getting even to the point of losing sight of themselves, it’d be Ezor. If anyone would be the person willing to bargain with enemies because this has gone too far and they’re scared of something going wrong and happening to hurt the other person, it’d be Zethrid. Zethrid who’s always defined herself as Ezor’s protector.

Now, again, being fair, it really does seem like they were backing off from a version of The Grudge that featured a dead Ezor and Zethrid either going to die or simply give up and remain in custody afterwards. But again, it comes back to this sense that Team Sincline suffers a huge amount in a way that doesn’t seem to narratively accomplish much or be particularly meaningful.

When the timeskip happens, Acxa and Matt grow their hair out. Earth builds its way up to a superpower on the footing with other planets and fights Sendak for survival.

Zethrid loses an eye and Ezor an entire leg, which s8 chases with a disfiguring scar for Zethrid and a missing eye for Ezor, too.

Now, I’m all for disability representation. Thing is, if that’s the angle they were going for, they could have started Team Sincline out with these grievous injuries. Hell, you could argue there’s potential evidence Ezor’s had a prosthetic leg all along- after all, in s5e2, she’s able to parry Shiro’s laser prosthetic with her leg and it would contextualize a lot of her fearful attitude and that she’s both romantically and in other ways drawn to Zethrid, who’s probably the warmest and most protective person out of Team Sincline.

As far as an “afterthought”.... Acxa sort of fades into the background in many ways after she starts working with the paladins. Someone who has been incredibly driven, who most clearly seems to follow Lotor out of a sense of higher purpose and something to believe in became a drifter who shows up to help the paladins and then wanders off to the coalition. She doesn’t even accompany them to Earth to help with the journey.

And then there’s their scene in the aftermath. Ultimately, the three surviving members of Team Sincline take their scars and injuries and join the Blade. They become Keith’s subordinates. Is this satisfying for them? Unsatisfying? Hard to say, since we know very little about their past and motivations. Zethrid probably likes taking care of people, but, is this the way she’d want to do that?

Narti stays dead. Maybe she somehow picked herself up, made an Altean suit, cut her tail off and became Matt’s helmeted girlfriend, but, considering how much of a ridiculous speculative long shot that is, I’m not going to cite that to canon’s credit.

Lotor stays dead, and, much like Narti’s death- so much of what led up to Lotor’s demise is rather poorly explained. We don’t know why Lotor harvested the colony, or what his intentions were, or if he planned to heal the podded Alteans, or even how Bandor escaped. With so many unknowns on the table, and so many things left open, we’re left feeling unsatisfied- like, maybe this whole thing could have been avoided, maybe the response was reasonable, we just get the shock- either of Lotor killing Narti or the sight of the lab- and then we’re urgently bustled forwards without analyzing the situation.

Not only that, but his afterlife ghost passed up Allura- his love- and Alfor- his personal hero- to have a loving heart to heart with both of his abusers.

Here’s the thing. Honerva never apologized. She said ‘he deserved better’ after having spent centuries watching him suffer and not just sitting on her hands but actively making it worse. Honerva, the one who has so much to say about her own suffering, has no possible way she could’ve been unaware of Lotor’s misery and the effect she was having on it. No matter what Being Haggar did to her, which seems largely a factor of disorientation and amnesia, you shouldn’t need to remember that baby came out of your body before you care at all that the person it grew up into has just lost everything while you sit there and watch, having more than enough power to stop this.

Zarkon never apologized to Lotor.

Neither of them made amends. Neither of them did anything that warranted Lotor being kind to them.

Neither of them even needed him for their happy ending. He was frankly just a possession to them. Honerva only ever even seems to consider Lotor’s own feelings at a point when Allura forcibly shows them to her. If we wanted Honerva to be welcomed warmly when she steps into the light, you could easily have had Zarkon waiting for her- because Zarkon loved her, because it would give her life a cyclic sense of closure from how we see in s3e7, that Zarkon and Haggar began what happened to them hand in hand, together, and they could end the same way.

We know for a fact Zarkon would be happy to see her. This is even further vindicated in the “happy family” alternate reality- Zarkon’s the one who’s ready to take this woman in as his lost wife with open arms, while Lotor is the one holding back, wary, anxious, “that’s not my mother.”

The only reason that’s unacceptable to Honerva is because Honerva doesn’t want to respect Lotor’s feelings, she wants Lotor to flatter hers. She has major entitlement problems to Lotor, and the finale makes him a prop for her welfare.

That ‘walk into the light’ scene could have been a lot more palatable if they’d simply put Lotor on Alfor’s other side, and had Zarkon alone doing the sweet hand clasp with Haggar.

But that’s our last note on Lotor- the idea that he’s going to be spending whatever afterlife they have here with his abusers. Lotor didn’t get anything he wanted.

And Narti? We don’t even know what she wanted, just that she trusted Lotor, and that somehow, when Team Sincline does trust, it leads to their total dissolution. Sincline itself is gone, having never once actualized. Lotor’s dead, Narti’s dead, and Haggar went ahead and murdered Kova.

The three survivors firmly set that chapter of their life behind them, discarded the Sincline uniforms, became Blades, and, evidently, spent the rest of their lives handing out relief packages to war-torn planets.

I don’t want to take a dump on relief workers here. Humanitarian work is beautiful and important and heroic. But in practice, how they framed it in that show is an afterthought. They’re not suffering but what they’re doing doesn’t really have a sense it’s personally meaningful to them.

I might be unsatisfied with some of the endings VLD did for its main characters, but at least they’re recognized as heroes and get to stay together, or, in the one area that’s not the case, say goodbye and be remembered fondly. But I think Team Sincline absolutely got the rawest deal here, and that’s on a list that includes Alfor, Gyrgan, Trigel, and Blaytz being frozen as corrupted mindscape ghosts for ten thousand years.

Additional Notes: Sincline-Adjacent Figures

I mentioned Lotor’s crew earlier, and, the thing is, there’s a perfect answer within canon for who Lotor’s crew beneath the generals could have been.

What highly diverse group of people,

(because Lotor would put his money where his mouth is in more ways than just with the generals)

Would Lotor logically find at the edge of the universe,

(because he had to have built these forces in exile and without imperial support, since he has them at his disposal at the beginning of s3)

Who would be immediately ready and willing to double-cross and otherwise raise merry hell on the empire, to the point of building rift gates and comet ships behind their back,

(because a single person willing to barter what they knew for a pardon could have fucked up Lotor’s entire operation spectacularly)

Who would also be a pool of talent untapped by the empire so Lotor feasibly could get at least some of the best pickings,

(because you don’t want an uneducated clown putting your interreality gate together)

Who would be an interesting and colorful cast of characters to play off of, and loud and rambunctious because they’re not career soldiers, even if they are career fighters-

(thematically contrasting the regimented and heavily classist, stratified empire)

Who would also thematically lend themselves very well to Lotor’s hit-and-run, evasive, deceptive, adaptive underdog tactics?

A group of people who have traditionally been the enemies of the entrenched government and who have often been minorities?

Pirates.

Pirates exactly like the ones who without any explanation for where they came from, were working for Ezor and Zethrid after the timeskip. Pirates who had their own custom uniforms as if they had some reason to have a sense of decorum. Pirates who are already full of interesting and memorable characters like the nosering pirate, Blofar, the armored giant Coran faced, and the smart-aleck Olkari technician.

Lotor literally talks about desegregating the imperial fleet and recruiting people based on the merit of their skills and not how galra they are back in s3e1. And yes, as a half-galra himself employing four other half-galra, it’s not like he’s a hypocrite about that- but it feels like a serious oversight to just give him the standard imperial-armored subordinates and drones.

The pirates should have been Lotor’s crew. They should have been there from the start playing off the generals and off of Lotor, and that would have helped us flesh out Lotor and the generals so much more. Yes, you’d have to make some adjustments to scenes like s3e2′s fighter ship battle to make it clear they were drones and not imply the paladins just massacred a likable bunch of rag-tag pirate antiheroes but all that would take is some acknowledgement that Sincline, like the empire, uses drone-piloted fighter ships.

Hell, it’d give a sense in s3 besides Zethrid’s offhanded reference of pilots going into the rift in s3e4 (presumably also drones since Lotor has no reason to waste manpower and try loyalties making them throw themselves fatally at a rift) that Lotor and the Generals aren’t just doing what they do in an empty ship.

And you know who else could’ve been there?

Ven’tar.

Sure, her people were massacred and her planet burnt to pieces by Zarkon and that was significant to Lotor character-wise- it marked the decisive, keening death of his intention to appease his parents and try to work with them- but Ven’tar could’ve also have taken significance and motivation from that going forwards. it’s her planet, her people, and, it would make it feel a lot less dismissively killed off.

There was someone Lotor trusted leading the “secret team” constructing the inter reality gate. Someone who’d know things about Quintessence, who would again have a grudge on the empire.

I’m saying, rather than a lost lenore, you could make Ven’tar Lotor’s bitter chief engineer. Sure you’d need some explanation for how she’s still alive but this setting has been basically handing out immortality like candy to a bunch of its secondary cast but I feel like they could narratively find a reason for Ven’tar to be alive.

While we’re at it, you could also have had Dayak there (the one from s6, not the slightly inexplicable other one from s8 given the entire way Lotor introduces s6 Dayak never once implies that the word “Dayak” is not a name, which, the best explanation I’ve heard for that one is that “Dayak” is a surname and the s8 one is the s6 one’s sister) since she’s so obviously enthusiastic about Lotor taking the throne and standing by him, there’s not really a reason she’d hide out until it was safe and then fair-weather return to Lotor’s side when she’s such an aggressive and forwards person about her opinions and what she stands for.

There’s so much to work with, here. We could have explored so much of this. They put this tantalizing information on the table, and, then, just sort of pushed it to the floor without considering it.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #season 8 #Clockie Unpacks S8 #readmore #long post

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