#need to do a rewatch of them before the new season drops

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

#this is gonna be so good #bridgerton #penelope x colin #colin x penelope #need to do a rewatch of them before the new season drops #love #season 3 #aww #the chemistry #nicola coughlan #colin bridgerton #luke newton #polin

[asukiess]

why the kuro neko salters were right

between boops today, I decided to rewatch relevant episodes for fic writing purposes, and I started off with a strong, principled Adrien episode: Kuro Neko.

I feel that I defended this episode for a long, long time, when in reality my rewatch illuminated a lot of its flaws: Marinette's continued mistreatment of Chat Noir for no reason (and frankly, her bitchy tone when snapping at him in the beginning); the unhealthy ardency for which Chat Noir goes crawling back to her, reenforcing a harmful message to young viewers about love and partnerships; and finally, with everything else that happened in Season 4, why did the writers waste a WHOLE episode on ???? a character who only shows up once ???? Adrien never even MENTIONS being Cat Walker again in Season 5????

I unfortunately feel like writing a s6 fic meant evaluating things in a new light, but I'll keep it under a read more so those who don't want to see this meta, especially from me, can easily scroll past.

(I still like Loveywalker, but to me it feels more like... two OCs rather than having to be bound by a canon that doesn't even respect its own story?)

Let's start with my first point, the mistreatment of Chat Noir.

"What was that?"

Ladybug's left hand retreated back, her right still lightly resting in his grasp. Her face was set with a small smile, more than he'd seen these days. His lips were still pouting, as his respectful kissing of her hand had been interrupted by something...familiar.

"I thought you said you liked cats, Velours," she teased, tilting her head. "You've never done that to a cat?"

Patte de Velours's nose still tingled. He dropped her hand and coughed behind his own, averting his gaze. "Cats are...fickle pets. I try not to disturb them too much."

Ladybug considered this with a hum, hiding her hands behind her back. "That might be right, but it's still fun to do that every now and again." Her eyes too fell on the roof below them. "I haven't done that in a long time."

Velours thought her words over carefully, rubbing the back of his neck. Maybe she'd had a pet cat that wasn't around anymore. He had never had a pet himself, never being allowed, but the thought of losing something without being able to properly express to them how much they'd meant to you felt like a punch to the gut.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said finally, with measure and compassion. A little uncouth, he scratched his nose.

She waved him off with an airy laugh. "No, don't be! It's not your fault." She rubbed one eye with her knuckle. "Allergies, actually---can't be around each other without issues!" She sighed. "Back to the shelter."

His heart fell. Somehow, that seemed even worse, having a pet and needing to give it up.

"Cats are really funny, though," she began again, and both of their heads raised, eyes catching. "Sometimes when you do that, they do it back."

Velours couldn't help but smile, and he wanted to see hers again, too. Reaching out with his index finger, he lightly tapped her nose, trying not to laugh at the way her eyes crossed when she followed the movement. "Like that?"

Her lips, pressed into a straight line, wobbled out into a grin. "You're close, but it's a little more like..." She repeated the action, tapping his harder than before, flicking her wrist for extra flair. "Like that?"

He nodded with all the feigned seriousness he could muster. Like he was truly taking notes on this. "I see. So maybe like---" he quickly tapped hers with precision, and she scrunched her nose in a giggle. "Did I do it right that time?"

She shook her head and his mouth dropped open in actual surprise. "Not even close." She booped his nose again, and before her hand was back in her lap he was already returning the gesture, and quickly the two of them devolved into a flurry of taps and laughter, the push and pull of their bodies swaying them as they weaved like boxers in a fight.

It only stopped when her hands accidentally smushed his nose so hard, his eyes immediately stung with tears.

"Oops!" Ladybug cringed behind the offending hand, head ducking between her shoulders. "I'm sorry!"

"It's all right," he said, rubbing his nose with a smile. "You obviously won with the finishing blow. I was no match for the Ladybug."

Her eyes softened as she studied him, and he smiled again to show her he was really okay.

"Still," she crooned, reaching out again. Her finger came to rest on his chin, tilting his face down, which he followed without question. "I'm sorry," she said, and leaned in close, placing a small kiss on his nose. "I hope you can forgive me."

"I already have," Velours managed through a renewed wave of tears and a hot blush.

[xerith-42]

What is, in your opinion, the best and the worst moments of the entire series and why? If you haven't already made a post about that

[cracks knuckles]

It's hard to put a finger on what I would say are best moments because through my rewatch I've actually discovered a lot of good moments early on that I think are overlooked because they don't play into the larger story later on. I talked about one of them in the context of a rewrite on my side blog, but I want to talk about a smaller moment that I actually don't think needs to be rewritten. (this isn't me saying this is the best moment in mcd, just that I think it deserves appreciation)

It's the entire opening sequence of episode 11. Like the whole thing is just really good. It opens with Aph finding out that Donna has gained sentience building that idea into the world, and she gets the story started right away by telling Aph about how Brendan got injured at the end of last episode. Aph instantly rushes in to help, finds out what she has to do from Garroth, and then takes off to do it. Earlier episodes have a problem of being kind of nothing a lot of the time, or Jess will get distracted and take way too long to get to the story, but that just isn't a problem here.

At this point Brendan has been established as a character with gripes, ambitions, wants, love for hamsters, and has an emotional connection to another character in the cast. So both the audience and Aph are invested in his safety, and it's great to see how seriously she can take these situations when circumstances demand it. Furthermore once she gets the medicine Garroth needs, it's Garroth who actually treats Brendan's wounds as this is before Zoey entered the series and became the resident healer.

I really like this aspect of Garroth's character and think it has a ton of potential! Garroth learning battle medicine during the year Phoenix Drop didn't have their lord because he failed to protect his lord before? Maybe he learned it even earlier, like in the guard academy shortly after the death of his brother to ensure that he doesn't lose someone again. As far as I'm aware this is never expanded on outside of this episode but I think it was a really solid piece of character work with Garroth.

And Zenix in this scene?? On point. He is playing up the whole scared guard who's a rookie and new to everything aspect so well, and the way he talks about the whole ordeal is just fantastic. He's so good at playing on Aph's trusting nature and when you learn that he knew the arrow was meant for him and put Brendan in the way? It makes the entire scene all the more heartbreaking. Overall a really great showing from one of the earlier episodes of the series.

And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we have one of the much later episodes in the series run that if you ask me, is one of the worst scenes in anything I have ever witnessed. Season 2 Episode 95 of Minecraft Diaries is perhaps the best example of character assassination happening in real time I have ever seen. The rot upon Laurance's character has been creeping in for some time during season 2, but this is when it hits it's crescendo.

I can and will do an entire post breaking down this entire episode minute by minute one of these days because it's failures are something I take personally. For those of you who aren't actually going insane over the block show, Season 2 Episode 95 is titled "Shadows of the Past", and this is the episode where everything with Laurance hits it's breaking point. In this episode while Aph is just having a fun day playing with Dante, Leona, and the other child who is there, she sees an imp in the forest disguised as Aaron. (Keep in mind Aaron died in episode 81 so the wound is still sort of fresh)

Aph is shaken by this and halfway through the episode she sits on the beaches of the Phoenix Alliance island holding Aaron's bandana and having a quiet moment. Laurance comes up behind her, before he sits next to her, and the two start talking. In theory, I like this conversation. Laurance has largely not been able to express his feelings on Aaron and what he did because he ran away right after it happened, and showed up only 5 episodes ago trying to kill Aph while she was in disguise. He hasn't had a moment to really process Aaron's sacrifice and what it means for him. The strange contradictory feelings he has over his jealousy, his desire to protect, the calling, and dare I say it, his respect for Aaron.

In theory, I really like this conversation. In practice this conversation manages to drag not one, not two, but all three of Minecraft Diaries main characters to their lowest points. In this scene Laurance proceeds to berate Aph for her feelings, invalidate previous lines he said about Aaron, completely betrays his own character and motivation, and forever ruins his character arc. And that's not including how much of a fucking asshole Garroth is in this scene, like Laurance was being bad, but Garroth saying "You were lucky to come back alive" after Laurance was forcibly raised into undeath??? Not cool dude.

The entire scene also reduced Aph into just a grieving widow. She's so grief stricken she can't even stand up to Laurance, which could be good in theory, but I just don't like it. It just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like the character I've been following. Aph has always been a proactive and reactive character, bad stuff happens and her response is to do something about it. This scene makes her far more passive and while I don't object to her grieving, this just isn't it. I can't explain it better than that, it just isn't it.

As stated before, Garroth may have had some good points but completely lost all merit he had in this argument when he hit Laurance with that line. That was just uncalled for.

And poor poor Laurance. Let's just give a quick rundown on things in Laurance's life that greatly impact the way he views death: His parents dying when he was a kid, his lord dying while under his watch, seeing someone he knew was dead walking around alive, literally actually dying and being forcibly raised into partial undeath with a great curse to bear and no control over any of this happening, his best friend sacrificing their life to save him, AND losing his OTHER parent after being thrown 15 years into the future. Laurance has been a victim of death and it's many ways of truly ruining someone's brain in ways we mortals aren't even able to comprehend.

He would never yell at someone for grieving. He would never get mad at someone for being sad that someone they care about is gone, no matter how jealous he can be. He would never see Aph with tears in her eyes and keep yelling. The only circumstances I could see him doing this under is if the calling is influencing him, but that isn't explicitly shown to the viewer or ever even implied to be the reason for this outburst. We are just expected to take this at face value. That his is who Laurance is, who he has become.

And it's not Laurance. I don't know who it is, but it's just not him. It's someone else who's using Laurance's likeness to prop up the story of two people falling in love and losing each other that takes longer than Romeo and Juliet and manages to somehow be worse than that. In a sick and twisted sense, Jess is how we've all been headcanoning the Shadow King, turning Laurance into her little puppet that she can control to do whatever she wants when the plot demands it, previously established character be damned. She didn't write this scene because she wanted to explore Laurance's character, she wrote this scene so fans would get off her back.

Laurance deserved better than this.

cutting myself off here because if I keep going I will just rewrite this entire episode in real time for the third time

#text post #minecraft diaries #laurance zvahl #minecraft diaries laurance #garroth ro'meave #mcd garroth #aphblr #answering asks #mcd zenix #mcd brendan #rant post #fuck season 2 episode 95 #laurance deserved better #everyone deserved better but especially Laurance

[sevensoulmates]

what do you think these interviews confirm for buddie, does this confirm buddie is coming?

I'll say what I said earlier to some friends:

Right now is Schrodinger's Buddie.

Which in layman's terms means: Right now in the two days before the season airs, two truths exist at once. That being: canon buddie and non-canon buddie. And we won't know the real truth until the show airs.

So, anon, my opinion is that I want and hope this spells good things for future canon romantic buddie. I think all of this is a step in a positive direction. ((I never put too much stock in articles or press or what the actors say, but I digress)) This is the most hope about canon buddie I've had in a while. I think it appears as if ABC and Tim & Co are trying really hard to get and KEEP (being the key word here) a new audience. I know a lot of people like to say that we (fandom) aren't their core audience, that the general public is, but I've seen this argument time and time again in the BTS fandom that disproves this strategy. So I will say it now:

A dedicated, long-lasting, ride-or-die, loyal fandom will ALWAYS be more important than the approval of the general audience.

The general audience will watch the episode once, form their opinion on it, and then go watch something else regardless. They *might* rewatch a couple episodes when a new season airs. They are not the ones out here streaming each episode over and over meticulously during off seasons earning the show and the networks all their money when the show isn't actively airing. They're not the ones supporting every little side-launch, or keeping the name trending, or keeping conversation relevant, the ones willing to buy merch, the ones willing to spread the word, the ones actively converting other people into die-hard fans. The general audience will not be the people in 10, 20, 30 years rewatching all the episodes for the love it, or keeping a dedicated fanbase active and alive and creating works decades later. Fandoms do. And what does this fandom want?

Overwhelmingly, the fandom wants buddie. In my opinion, going through with romantic buddie is the best thing ABC could do to get and keep a brand new audience and secure the forever-loyalty of their returning audience.

The network wants a return on their investment, but the truth of it, is that they won't get that return on investment unless they actually prove to their audience that they're not just investing in giving the show cooler effects, or larger emergencies, or nicer sets, or more expensive production, or flashy advertisement. The real investment needs to be in the characters. In getting these characters where they need to go. The only way to satisfy your audience and to get them to keep coming back for more is to satisfy the character arcs they've set up over the last six years, and create new arcs that will keep audiences invested for years to come (like ABC so obviously wants).

I've also heard the argument that most people only come to the show for the flashy emergencies. And I get it, but at the same time, any show could create fun/crazy/bombastic emergencies. The thrill-seekers will always chase the craziness that can be replicated in any other random show and for them it's easy to drop 911 and move on if they want thrills.

What keeps people so heavily invested in this show, in 911 in particular, is the characters and their relationships with each other. Character will always ALWAYS be the most important thing to any piece of fictional media. Not the plot, not the emergencies, not the setting, not the effects, etc. Characters are how we as humans create connection. If they lose that connection, that will reflect in viewership, numbers, money, etc.

In my humble opinion, and the opinion of a lot of people who watch this show (even the silent general audience or people who don't ship buddie romantically, or the people who like buddie but think it will never happen so they just shit on it) the person who Eddie and Buck belong with (in whatever way you define it) is with each other.

This isn't something the fandom came up with, this isn't built on the back of fanon. All of this stems 100% from the show itself, so why wouldn't they want to execute to the fullest the story they've so clearly been telling the whole time?

This is just a long-winded way of saying, I, a humble tumblr user with zero connection to the show or its decision makers, don't know if this means buddie canon or not. But I will always remain hopeful until the show airs its last episode, because buddie makes sense on literally every level.

#911 abc #speculation #analysis #buddie #ask #this would've been true for fox too #but they're fox aka the home of maga lovers so they were never gonna let us have this #but abc? #totally different story

[thegoldheartlocketandkey-blog]

911 Spoilers Season 3: You’ve been warned. 😅 Buddie Rewatch

Episode 4: Triggers

The 118 doing a fire drill, the 118 not preforming well. They are about 17 minutes behind on schedule.

Buck is the new Fire Marshal. This is his light duty. He is taking it serious in the hopes of eventually being a fire fighter again.

A bunch up of people fall down the stairs because a man has an epileptic seizure. This is apparently working against the 118s total score.

We meet the ambulance chaser attorney.

Chimney disclosing to Eddie his crisis with Maddie, while Eddie is super sleepy. He’s yawning because Christopher isn’t getting any proper sleep.

Buck shows up to the fire house to give them their training report. Light banter between him and Bobby about revenge for all the write up and Eddie making fun of Buck because he is “not good at math”

Buck mentions receiving a call from the ambulance chaser attorney about the fire code issues at the building the training was held at.

Lena interrupts and calls Eddie over to help spot her bench press. Eddie taps Buck on the shoulder and says, “Good to see ya Buck”, and runs towards Lena. Buck is confused and asks who Lena is. Which prompts side eyes and concerned faces from Chimney and Hen. They walk away awkwardly and leave Bobby alone to make the introduction.

Buck already feels replaced and out right states, “You’ve replaced me.” Bobby is quick to say no, but Buck is quicker to point out that his cubby that normally says Buckley is covered up with the name Bosko.

Bobby telling Buck to relax that his place at the fire house will be there when he is ready. Buck argues that he is ready now.  Their conversation is cut short because of an emergency call. Everyone else runs out of the firehouse. They pan to Eddie and Lena together and then back to Buck as he stands there in the middle and all these firefighters run past him.

Buck walks over to his locker and rips off Bosco’s tag off.

I always wondered what happened after the team came back from the emergency. Did they notice right away that Bosco’s name was ripped off. Did Bobby apologize on behalf of Buck. Did Eddie make an excuse for him?

Eddie is asleep and is awaken by Christopher's screams.

Christopher is obviously terrified and Eddie hugs him tight trying to comfort him.

Eddie is talking to Christopher’s therapist, where we learn that Chris is continuously drawing a drowning woman and trying to understand what he may be processing.

Eddie is the one to mention how hard Buck tried to shield Chris as best he could, but there was a long period where they were separated.

Buck is speaking with the attorney regarding the possible lawsuit against the building, but turns out it is a lawsuit against the city. Buck is not interested at being involved in a lawsuit against. Even gives a speech to the attorney about how those city employees are his family before walking out of his office.

Car off the Cliff: Chimney and Lena descend down the cliff to get towards the car.  Eddie and Hen remain above. Eddie is responsible for the rig. When the car than drops another 20 feet, Eddie’s leg is almost cut off by the rope.

Eddie and Lena are at the edge of the cliff, facing towards each other when the cliff starts to give out a little more. They runaway from the edge, Bobby radios Chim and tells him he needs to move now.

Chim and the little boy starts to ascend up, Eddie cuts the rope, allowing the car to fall to the bottom of the cliff.

Athena invited Buck over for dinner, without first telling Bobby. She wants to create an environment where Buck knows he is always welcome.

Buck is quick to disclose how the conversation with the attorney went and how he was quick to turn down signing an affidavit that would have gone against 118. Bobby is thankful, but at the same time reserved, we learn that he has not disclosed something to Buck yet.

Buck uses that conversation to further discuss going back to work full time and how maybe a petition is what they need to get past the “dumbasses” who is stopping him from going back to work.

Bobby announces that he is the dumbass. That he is the reason why Buck cannot go back to work. Bobby is using the fact that Buck is on blood thinners as the excuse. Buck becomes visibly upset and challenges Bobby. He reiterates that he is at 100% and very capable of being a firefighter again.

At this point there is too many emotions, Buck stands up from his seat and thanks Athena for the invite and storms off.  

Bobby and Athena attempt to get him to stay, but he ultimately leaves angry and slams the door.

I really feel for Buck in this scene. He was under the impression that his captain had his back, but turns out that Bobby was in the way of the one thing he wanted. I also understand Bobby’s point about wanting Buck to be safe and making sure the team will be safe, they can’t worry about Buck out in emergencies. This moment felt like a teenage boy fighting with his parents, both sides being misguided.

Buck is back in the attorney’s office. This time wanting to sue the city himself.

The attorney is very vocal about what opening this lawsuit could do to Buck and the possible consequences for his future. Buck is simply concerned with being a fire fighter again and he is willing to do anything to be that again.

The attorney than proceeds to lay out the rules and how he cannot be in contact with anyone in the firehouse. Buck admitting that he already believes that cannot talk to any one any way. He is fighting this battle alone.  

Eddie is punching a punching bag and talking to Lena about Chris’ therapy and the advice Eddie received about keep loving him.

It seems like Eddie is a bit hesitant of this therapy approach. Lena is very playful with Eddie. She also becomes very vulnerable with him and tells him about the time she went to therapy when her father died. It did not work for her, but she also notes that different people need different solutions to process their trauma.

Lena mentions that she does not know Christopher, but that something that worked for her when she was younger was when her mother would process her emotions with her. When her mother was sad in front of her and that it was okay. She is suggesting Eddie takes this approach. That they approach this together. Eddie admits that it was good advice. Lena stares at Eddie with what I can describe as admiration.

I honestly do not know what the writers were planning with Lena and Eddie. They were playful and flirty with each other, but Eddie did always seem closed off to her. We got to learn about Lena being vulnerable, but Eddie not really, at least not with her. Maybe there was a one side crush.

 Eddie is putting Christopher to bed. Being playful. Eddie takes a moment to tell Chris that he can tell him anything. Chris says that he knows. Eddie starts to say I love you, and good night as he starts walking out the room.

Eddie pauses at the door and looks over to a drawing that is hung up on the bulletin. It’s a drawing of Shannon, Eddie, and Chis together as a family. The drawing of Shannon looks familiar.

Eddie walks over to the dinning room and pulls out Chris’ recent drawing of the drowning woman. He compares the two photos and understands Chris has been drawing his mother drowning.

Eddie confirms this with Chris and asks him why he didn’t tell him that. Chris responds with, “I don’t want to make you sad.”

They hug and Eddie reassures Chris that there is nothing wrong with being sad and they can always talk to each other

Buck shows up to Bobby and Athena’s late in the evening, apologizes for the previous night. Athena is quick to invite Buck in, but Buck refuses.

Buck lets them know that he is suing the city, the firehouse, and Bobby for wrongful termination. That they will no longer be able to talk and that Buck will not stop fighting until he gets his job back even if that means fighting Bobby.  

I was going to combine Episode 4 and 5 notes, but realized Episode 5 had a lot of notes. I may post Episode 5 today, but later in the day, because if I want to post most of my notes before the Season 7 premier, that may just be something I need to do. I really don't care if these post get alot of engagement, I had a lot of fun re-watching the series and really dissecting Buck and Eddie.

I will say, that between Season 2 and Season 3 there is already vast differences and nuances in Buck and Eddies relationship. I'll likely make a stand alone post about that after I finish transcribing all my notes for this season.

#buddie #911 abc #eddie diaz #evan buck buckely #buck x eddie #911 spoilers #911 fandom #911 show #evan buckley #9 1 1 #911 rewatch

[master-of-blogging]

Dragons Rising season 2 Spoilers under the cut!!!!!! Be warned!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I haven't been this excited about Ninjago in FOREVER.

The writing in season 1 was already great but this season really stepped it up even more!!!

Dont get me wrong, I LOVE Ninjago and I have for years, but this season really has me looking back like

It probably helps that I just finished a rewatch of the whole show and watching Crystallized and Dragons Rising back to back really highlights how much of an improvement we've gotten.

Ahem. Spoilers!

I feel like everyone got a chance to shine in this half of the season. Between last season and this one I FINALLY started caring about Kai again (I love him....he just hasn't been given much to do in ages). His and Wyldfyre's dynamic is adorable and wonderful and I need him to get out of the Netherworld AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (but not before he and Bonzle become besties).

Favorite parts of the season rapid-fire:

-ZANE CALLING COLE ADORABLE AND COLE SAYING HE'S ALWAYS ADORABLE HECK YEAH COLE YOU ARE🥰🥰🥰(he's been my number one for years)

-speaking of Cole! He and Geo are as close to canon as we're probably getting and while I am a lavashipper at heart, those two are so cute.

-Lloyd facing the consequences of his actions! (And there BEING consequences) and straight up saying that he has panic attacks because of his visions. I am such a sucker for Lloyd Angst and this season was full of it.

-NYA my girlfriend my fiancée my wife WOMAN THAT YOU ARE helping Kai achieve Rising Dragon and helping Lloyd with his vision trauma. Ninjago give her even more to do in Part 2 I'm not asking.

-Jay was there for 30 seconds and they missed him again!!!! I hope he gets a bigger role in Part 2. I really liked the crumbs they dropped though...he knows he doesn't belong where he is, he knows he has powers, he is scared to let anyone know.....excellent I just need MORE.

-I am So Worried about Arin but in a good way. Obviously in Part 2 he will find out about Sora using her powers to fake his object Spinjitzu and that will cause a rift in their friendship AND feed into his feelings of inadequacy AND I LOVE IT you can't have a Ninjago character without heaping piles of trauma and angst being piled onto them by the writers

-every time Kai acted like a dad is perfect. Every single time. I'm pretty sure he's like 30 now and it's about time he got a new kid to mentor (Lloyd's all grown up😭)

-Why is Cinder kinda fine??? I was not prepared for his English voice actor😭😭😭😭

-Cinder and Jordana's rivalry was hilarious and petty 10/10 no notes

I PROBABLY HAVE MORE THOUGHTS BUT IM BARELY COHERENT RN!!!!!!!!!

#dragons rising spoilers #ninjago dragons rising #Dr spoilers #ninjago spoilers #ninjago dr spoilers #Dr season 2 spoilers #Dragons rising season 2 spoilers #ninjago #Dr s2 spoilers #I think I used all the spoilers tags!

[follows-the-bees]

Okay, I know I'm probably late to the party on this, but after writing some threads today and talking to some amazing people, I think I finally realized why for some the ending and the show in season two "felt like a betrayal."

And most of that take, while it isn't everyone, is coming from Izzy-first fans — and I don't bring that up to dig on them but to contextualize the situation.

This show has many, many different perspectives. And of course, every piece of media is going to be read differently based on our own life experiences, but it's more than that. There are different prominent character perspectives. And the main two are of course Stede's and Ed's, (besides them being the main leads: S1 is from Stede's POV — the cinematography is at times almost overexposed to show the fantasy — and S2 is from Ed's — the cinematography is darker to reflect the reality.)

So the interesting thing is that Izzy's whole premise is that he is living in a different perspective than the rest of the characters. For instance, Ed and Izzy are operating on two completely different levels and perspectives when it comes to each other. And Izzy's whole season two journey is him realizing that: realizing the truth of why everything he kept doing in season one kept failing. Izzy realizes his real feelings for Ed and he realizes that Stede isn't a rival for Ed's feelings, and even that: while Izzy loves Ed, he isn't in love with him. Which gives him the freedom for the second half of the season to rework his perspective. He gets to drop the toxic ways of old and embrace the new softer side. Which ultimately the end of this part of his story is death. Of letting go of the toxicity. This is an old trope: the mentor/father figure dying as well as the person who is just experiencing happiness is killed. And it's safe to say most are tired of that trope. But I will say, I think OFMD did it a little differently by not having Izzy's death be just the moment of his change, but izzy was able to grow and start to make up for him mistakes before his death.

I also don't think Izzy necessarily needed to die. In fact, when it first happened, I was mad, I wanted the father-figure to live and keep growing, subvert the traditional trope, but I have softened on the decision now, especially after rewatching and seeing all the resurrection stuff. But once again, we all have different takes and opinions on the show.

So if you are coming into the show with Izzy-first, particularly the perspective of Izzy is the third lead protagonist (not the antagonist of the show, particularly of S1), not an abuser, etc,then just like Izzy, you are coming in with a perspective that is different than the rest of the show/characters, just like Izzy was. And if you don't realize it and grow like Izzy did, then his death would feel like a betrayal from the story you had in your head.

[dorizardthewizard]

Galactik Football season 3 rewatch, eps 1 - 3

Ok I'm finally rewatching s3, thought I'd put up some thoughts like I did for the previous seasons

Episode 1:

Oh boy here we go

Ok right off the bat you can tell the animation isn't motion captured anymore which... yeah it's not as good. But the drop in quality is more noticeable in the 2D animation which was already a bit rough in the earlier seasons

New Micro-Ice voice actor :( No wonder the VA's walked out, the budget for this season was 2 pennies, a shoelace and some gum.

Well since that robo cat was disguised as a real one, I'm guessing there actually are real ones running around?

Corso: This doesn't look good! Sonny: NOT. AT. AAAALL!!

What in the 2000's comedy dialogue

They look so goofy 😭

So like, why are the Snow Kids apparently so much more out of shape and uncoordinated than other teams? Everyone else would have had a break too? You don't HAVE to nerf them just to make them the underdogs again, you know

Why is Mice doing the door to door marketing of his drink himself, he's a rich football superstar now? Also very surprised Mark didn't just say that it sucks

Aaaand season 3 tries to tell us there's suddenly distance between Mei and D'jok with no buildup whatsoever. Mei's already chilling with Sinedd what is this pacing 😭😭😭

Mei joining the Shadows is one thing but skipping the training to chill with Sinedd on a beach... she would never. She cares about the team, not just D'jok. She wouldn't do it like this!

tbf D'jok kind of has a point here – disappearing with no good reason and arriving late to the match is irresponsible at that level of play, but it's played as if he's being controlling over her? And no one else is wondering where she went, they just compliment her fit??

Yeah it's not just the animation, the direction is lacking too in the matches but I don't know enough about cinematography and pacing to describe how exactly

Why are they watching this broadcast about Paradisia during half time, hellooo? Did he hijack their satellites or something??

Ngl the worldbuilding around Paradisia is pretty cool

Mei immediately just switches to the Smog skfsfdks BUT THE PACING IS SO BAD THAT IT'S HILARIOUS

Is that allowed? Wouldn't there be penalties for someone using another flux in the match?? I guess it's a friendly

Aarch: It's possible to experience the Smog, if a player is overwhelmed with extreme anger

OK so this kind of messes with the lore of the Smog... I just don't think it should be so easy to start using another flux where the key is just... the emotion you're feeling? I mean sure, it was implied the Smog feeds off negative emotions and/or strengthens them but... ach there just needed to be more buildup to this!

And you're telling me NO ONE accidentally used the Smog before? Not even Rocket, when he was about to punch Luur after Tia got injured, but Mei does over some love drama we don't even know the cause of???

The Shadows stadium is so cool btw, the crystal like shapes on the ceiling, the emo colours... chef's kiss

Yeah it's annoying that D'jok is just acting the same way he used to because the writers don't know what to do with him, but again we don't know how long Mei has been acting like this and I would get annoyed too, although blaming her for the loss of the game was too much. Then again she's probably distancing herself from the team because of how he's behaving with her but again, I'm left here trying to speculate how their relationship broke apart because it was all in a timeskip! I shouldn't have to do that!!

I'm not against them breaking up, I can see how their characters can clash but... give me some more buildup god damn it!

And Mei joins the Shadows... ngl she slays in the outfit but... OUGHGHHG ALL THIS JUST IN EPISODE ONE

Also ngl I think the new writers just skimmed the past episodes and thought that 'pretty girl would go for the bad boy' was enough justification for Mei and Sinedd to get together which like, ugh. They've had like one interaction! And it wasn't a nice one!! Hoooow did they start getting closer let alone start dating AAARGGGHH

Episode 2:

I just... don't think Mei would leave the team like that! As I said she cares about all of the Snow Kids, she'd at least tell Tia or something before running off like that and leaving them to find out from a freaking TV broadcast!

Aarch: If I had a nickel for every time one of my players ran off without telling me, I'd have- ah forget it it happened again

Hearing Sinedd sounding so pleasant is hilarious, it sounds so forced

Oh wait nevermind Mei did try to send them a message beforehand. It's actually really sweet how she addressed each and every one of them individually... Mei calling Ahito little brother and him burying his face in the pillow 😭😭😭

BUT IT'S STILL TOO SUDDEN AAAAGHHFG

TIME TO GET THE OLD MAN YAOI GOGGLES OUT

Okay I love the new dynamic between Aarch and Artegor now that Artegor's gone to rehab been cured from the Smog. Now Aarch is the one who needs a bit of guidance

Harvey and Sydney!! Robo buddies

Artegor just straight up taking up the practice sessions, who's running the Shadows then?

Also he slayed in this outfit

This drill is a little callback to Micro-Ice's test at the very start of the series, except more badly animated lol

Ahito: You're going to need an instruction manual D'jok! D'jok: Oh really? I know you by heart!

Hmm... foreshadowing for D'jok's "betrayal" later?

Love Artie and Bennett, hilarious how excited they are to “go on vacation”

Aw these kids are so excited to go to a beach, it's so rare for them

This soundtrack on Paradisia is quite pleasant actually, I wish they released the OSTs after season 1. There's this one Netherball soundtrack I love

Sinedd is still an ass so I wonder why Mei is even hanging out with him

Episode 3:

Yay the Wambas!

Mark's favourite hobby is cock-blocking Micro-Ice

The Mice delight joke is getting very old very quickly

Ain't the barman that robot announcer from Netherball??

Yuki's convo with the Elektras... something lgbt is happening here

God this is so funny, I love these goths

Enter Lun-Zia! She confuses me because we've never seen her on the Wambas team and there is like, zero mention of her ever having played with them, plus if she was Aarch would surely know of her already and she's wearing civvies from what I can see so... is she just some rando who happens to be good at football or not?? It seems kind of dumb to get someone like that when you could get a player who's actually used to playing in the big league. Why not just introduce her earlier as a new up-and-coming player in the Wambas team?

Every villain needs a creepy witch lady

Kind of funny that Micro-Ice didn't catch on that Yuki is going to the Elektras when they meet them at the bar, come on he's not dumb. Also why is he acting like Yuki is leaving the SK forever, it's just one tournament (at that point, anyway). Actually I'd say it's a good thing if some of their players get some experience on other teams!

But yeah I feel like they could have built this up more – had her talk to Mark or something beforehand discussing why she feels she should do this, idk just something so it doesn't feel like plot point B needs to happen sooo it's happening now.

Aarch: We're expecting you back after this tournament is over! Yuki: You can count on me!

I feel like this whole team member reshuffling should have been done beforehand with negotiations between teams so none of them get stiffed but whatever

Tia: I'm not so sure I want her in the team either! Rocket: Why? Tia: I have my reasons!

SHE WOULD NOT FUCKING SAY THAT. Why is she already salty that Lun-Zia is joining the team?

D'jok: Nice try, feet girl

IS THAT RACIST??? D'JOK!!

D'jok is mean to new person because they're replacing a former team member, we've already done this plot

Kind of wish we'd seen him develop into actually being a good captain as he only started to get to grips with it at the end of season 2, but here we go

Ok it's veeeery interesting to see Artegor's reaction to Aarch being harsh with D'jok and reminding him that he's going through a rough spot. Wonder how much of that comes from the experience of dealing with Sinedd... Artegor might have a soft spot for D'jok considering that “you'll always be a kid from Akillian” conversation in season 2, oouuughh the parallels between those two angry boys that Artegor probably sees himself in!

I also really wish we got to see more interactions between Artegor and Sinedd after Artegor got his mind cleared, would have been weird for Sinedd to have someone looking out for him all of a sudden

Aww Mice trying to make D'jok feel better, crashing a jet ski with your homie always raises the spirits

Aaaaand mood ruined. Mei moved on fast huh 😭 Damn vulture journalists. I actually kinda feel for him

DON'T GO INTO TINTED WINDOWS VEHICLES WITH WEIRD VILLAIN LOOKING DUDES D'JOK!! D'JOK HE HAS AN EVIL WITCH LADY!!!! D'JOK!!!

#galactik football #my posts #dori watches galactik football

[rainingfishandfrogs]

so i've been rewatching DW and i just finished the NYC-Dalek episodes in S3

and i think i finally understand what they were going for with martha jones and why it didn't work as well as it could've

i've been really paying attention to what the writing had for martha and a lot of it i think is really interesting and even necessary in terms of the overall RTD era story arc (stay with me)

more under the cut 'cause this got long

like...martha is supposed to be the opposite of rose and we're supposed to compare them:

both her parents are alive and in her life (even if they're divorced)

has siblings

no boyfriend when we meet her

not only finished high school but went to uni and is continuing her education even further as a medical student (rose dropped out and had to get a job)

doesn't feel stuck with her life

older than rose (i think martha's like 23? idk)

booksmart (rose is streetsmart)

dark complexion (rose is fair complexion)

a little more socially awkward compared to rose

*not as assertive and is more timid*

and i would argue sheltered bc her family is clearly on the wealthier side (one of the reasons i think she doesn't fight back physically very often and is so easy to kidnap)

and honestly i'm not mad at any of this - i think it feeds into ten's heartbreak and loneliness in interesting ways and S3 did not need a new rose we needed someone different for that heartbreak and loneliness to make the impact it did

it works well within the narrative and for ten's character arc (S3 helps make tentoo work imo)

HOWEVER

martha's character arc gets buried under her crush on ten and what he's going through

after the loss of rose for the audience the crush angle gets annoying fast - because we also miss rose and we miss how ten was with her! all the big smiles and laughing

S3 ten is so self-distructive but doesn't have a tyler woman to slap some sense into him and that's part of the point it just sucks that it's at the cost of the 1st black female companion and her character bc then her arc doesn't get as much focus as it should (mickey got better development in 2 episodes in a season with a bigger reoccuring cast than martha did in 12 with fewer main cast members)

martha's character journey i would argue is about learning to be brave and assertive in ways she's never had to be before (when we meet her she's the peacemaker of the family; she doesn't like confrontation) and i think making her a medical student is a great vehicle for that arc bc she'd have to learn how to do that anyway if she wanted to be a successful and effective doctor (compassion only gets you so far and martha jones is already quite compassionate)

BUT i think if the writing highlighted that more and gave her even more moments of learning to stand up for herself and taking charge without someone having to tell her to (aka ten) and leaned more into her booksmarts her character would've been even stronger than it got to be by the end of S3 (when she finally tells ten to f-off and let her do as she likes)

i love all the RTD era companions including the "side companions" (mickey, jack, wilfred) and yes rose is my favourite but i adore martha too and she deserved better than she got during S3 (thank god S4 and torchwood fixed some things)

i do think if the writers had just given her a little more in terms of influencing episodes and leaned more on her "traditional" intelligence (aka high education) and let her be less passive (oh my god is she passive!) then her arc wouldn't have been as buried as it feels when watching S3

because it's not a bad arc! not at all! it just needed more focus than her crush on ten

#martha jones #doctor who #tenth doctor #ten #meta #martha jones dw #dw rewatch #dw martha jones #character analysis #ten x rose #rose tyler #tenrose

[thevibraniumveterans]

《The Mandalorian》 『SEASON 3 : Episode 7 - Chapter 23』 - 「THE SPIES」 // Finale Part 1 of 2

SPOILERS!

Thoughts on rewatch…

Kane being an insider is not surprising. She was always suspicious.

The mention of Grand Admiral Thrawn is by no means a mistake, in light of the Ahsoka trailer at Star Wars Celebration. He’s mentioned quite a few times in this conversation between the Imperials in the room via Hologram. And he is currently somewhere out there, wherever Ezra Bridger might be; which will perfectly lead up to the Ahsoka series.

The mention of Commandant Brendol Hux is no surprise either; he’s gotta be General Hux’s dad, which partially explains how Hux came to be in the First Order in the Sequel Trilogy.

Project Necromancer - no secret code name, it’s for bringing Palpatine back to life. Ian McDiarmid pointed out at Star Wars Celebration 2023 that Palpatine does not like to lose; he will do anything possible to win, even if that means coming back from the dead once again. The mention that Thrawn is “missing” and the Imperials needing “new leadership”obviously points to the inevitable reanimation of Palpatine. “Somehow, Palpatine returned”. Yes, somehow, because the rebels and the New Republic did not know. That was how secretive it was, but we know now how that’s coming along. It’s all falling into place.

The Watch’s light cruiser having the Mythosaur’s logo on the underside of their ship reminds me of how Thrawn also had/has the logo of a Chimaera on his ship. Because what else do you do with a ship that big and when you claim it as your own? You draw a big-ass symbol on the underside of it, that’s what.

It’s also a tad funnier that the Anzellan feels more like a puppet because of the way it looks and moves, as opposed to Grogu, who feels more realistic. But hey, puppets, so.

Grogu repeatedly hitting the yes and no buttons is hilarious! And the fact that he’s hitting it NONSTOP as they walk through the town center is extra funny. Also, Grogu picking up a Meiloorun fruit is by no means an accident; this is foreshadowing the Ahsoka series, since the fruit was first seen in Rebels and also the last time it was seen before this episode.

Bo-Katan speaks up and makes a plan. And it’s not surprising that at first nobody speaks up; but it isn’t until Din “I didn’t want to be here but here I am so I might as well” Djarin offers to join her, that Koska Reeves says she will go too. Only after she has spoken, Axe agrees to go, and so does Paz Vizsla. It’s something that reunites them. The music as they head off-planet is beautifully haunting and confident.

The drop hatch in Bo’s ship opens, and the volunteers look down on the planet they once called home. They shake their head in horror and dismay at what’s left. It’s… really something, to feel secondhand dread and sorrow.

Din spots something in the distance; Bo realizes it’s the Nite Owls, the group she once used to be a part of. But how did she know, and why? They have nothing but a weathered and worn ground transport.

The captain of the Nite Owls recognize Bo and refer to her full title as Lady Bo-Katan Kryze. They do not forget that she was and remains Mandalorian royalty.

During the dinner on the ground transport boat, the captain spoke of the refusal to give up, but Bo drops a verbal and historical bombshell on the entire party: she had to surrender under the choices given to her, in that if she did, her people would be spared. She surrendered, but as the Empire is wont to do, they didn’t care and bombed her world anyway. She did what she thought was the right thing to do, she did what she thought she had to do to save her people, but it still didn’t end right. Bo isn’t usually one for diplomacy and talks for peace - that was her sister Satine’s specialty. However, because Bo did what she thought was right, it still wasn’t right. And she knew this, even if if it was “the only chance” to save her people, according to her. It was her mistake and she owes up to it. She screwed over big time in trying to do what she thought best for her people. What would have happened had she not surrendered? Would she have died earlier?

The captain brings up Death Watch - the very same terrorist splinter group who opposed the peacekeepings of Duchess Satine Kryze. The Armorer notes how “Death Watch exists no longer.”

Bo states, “Our people have suffered time and time again. From division and squabbling factions.” I feel like she is in part referring to how differences between her and her sister Satine - war vs peace - have driven them apart, and now that Satine has long been murdered and gone, it’s caused Bo nothing but pain and loneliness. It’s driven the Mandalorians nowhere but apart. “It is always our own division that destroys us” is a very powerful and deeply regretful statement that Bo makes.

Bo admits her mistake. She is by no means perfect; she’s lost everything, and part of it by her own hubris. “I was selfish. And this is what it wrought,” she laments. When Din speaks to her, she admits to not knowing if she is able to keep the Mandalorians from splintering like they always did. It’s a very heavy duty, weighed down with much sorrow and regret.

Din speaks of the Darksaber: “I only know of this weapon what you taught me. To be honest, it means nothing to me or my people. Nor does station or bloodline. What means more to me is honor. And loyalty. And character. These are the reasons I serve you, Lady Kryze. Your song is not yet written. I will serve you until it is.” The thing about the Darksaber is that what we know of it from the Clone Wars and Rebels is that whosoever wields the blade gets to rule Mandalore, via bloodline and station. Seems like only the Mandalorian royals have held this blade for ages. However, Bo is a princess with a ravaged planet, unsure of leading a fractured people who have never once known peace. Din respects her not because she is a princess, but because of who she is as a person. He sees a loyal warrior who does not want to give up despite all signs pointing to how and why she should. She’s lost everything and deserves nothing yet here she stands on her own two feet, against the world and many more to come. Her story we know but little of, and the fact that Din knows her story is really only just beginning says a lot about her as a Mandalorian herself. Mandalorians do not quit, that much we know.

It feels bright and upbeat and deceptively confident when the series theme music plays as the crew set of in search of the Great Forge.

The fight between Paz and Axe is a foreshadow. And it’s funny that Grogu stops the fight before it gets worse, as he’s technically not a Mandalorian so he’s from “neither” side and so, he could step in. Hilarious how a child can stop two grown men from punching each other’s daylights out.

The Mythosaur emerges! And I like how it serves as an incentive for the Mandalorians to go further into their former civilization.

When the Imperials come in with their jetpacks, the first thing I thought of was that little mini-arc in Rebels where Sabine was revealed to have created some tech for the Empire that had something to do with the Mandalorian beskar armor, whereupon she was like “yeah I did that but I must destroy that tech because it’s bad even though I did it when was in the Academy”

I thought it was cool when the theme song played as Din brought up the back of the war party, and advanced to the front of it, charging headfirst into battle, with Paz and Bo right behind him.

Din is captured and disarmed, and Moff Gideon states, “Thanks to your planet’s rich resources, I have created the next-generation Dark Trooper suit forged from Beskar alloy.” The fact that he says “next-generation” implies that there was a previous generation to begin with. Aka, Sabine’s technology for the Empire that had something to do with Beskar. I don’t know if this is true or false.

Gideon also says, “By aggregating the best of each [cloners, Jedi], I will create an army that will bring order to the galaxy”. That is part of the groundwork for the beginnings of the First Order.

Bo creates a diversion, an escape route, and Paz leads the way out, firing his gatling gun-type blaster cannon like a man with nothing else to lose. He fires repeatedly, and ignores Bo’s orders. His final sacrifice is noble and is no less what is expected of a Mandalorian like him.

The appearance of the Praetorian Guards are no surprise. We last saw them in TLJ, very efficient warriors and guardsmen. Makes sense that they be brought out to bring down the last Mandalorian standing in the room. They waste little energy and leave as quickly as they enter.

========

Finishing thoughts:

I like how this episode went. With the multiple mentions of Thrawn and Hux, the intentional integration of a Meiloorun fruit, and the mention of “next-gen” beskar armor, I really would not be surprised if Thrawn and/or Ezra and/or Ahsoka and/or Sabine make an appearance toward the end of next week’s finale, given the trailer for Ahsoka from Celebration weekend.

Also not surprising that Pedro Pascal and Katie Sackhoff are top-billed this episode. The rest get “co-starring” credits.

One interesting feature is a concept art in the credits showing all the Mandalorians by the fire, and Din and Bo are speaking to each other, his hand on her shoulder. This scene was never in the show. But the overall concept art is amazing in terms of scale, lighting, and detail.

We still have one more episode to go. Emily Swallow, who portrays The Armorer, spoke with Collider during the Lucasfilm panel at Celebration. When asked what she thought fans would think of next week’s finale, she had this to say: “Well, I think there are gonna be some people who are like 'Woohoo! Yeah!'' and some people were like 'I hate this!' this because there always are.” I can’t wait until next week to find out what that is.

#star wars #the mandalorian season three spoilers #the mandolarian #grand admiral thrawn #ahsoka tano #ezra bridger #star wars rebels #somehow palpatine returned #palpatine #ian mcdiarmid #star wars grogu #paz vizsla #bo katan kryze #din djarin #the mythosaur #sabine wren #star wars sequel trilogy #pedro pascal #katee sackhoff #star wars meta #thoughts #long post #dave filoni #jon favreau #star wars the clone wars #sw tcw

[dankovskaya]

@gothham Sorry this is going to be so long cause I've been stewing on this for like 2 days Lmfao. Beware

I think most of the reasons people enjoy it so much are (on the surface at least) relatively divorced from the author's real world politics. The titans as an antagonistic force are just sort of existentially horrifying and cool. Giant insentient uncanny valley creatures with lifeless smiles that insatiably eat humans with no biological need to do so and move in very disarming and unpredictable ways and are almost impossible to face head-on. They're sort of a neutral and universally sympathetic enemy and the mystery of what the hell they even are and where they came from (as well as the many other interrelated mysteries) is the driving force of like 70% of the narrative. The 3d maneuver gear and boxcutter swords that are used to fight against them are very distinct and once again. Just cool. Everything follows very clearly defined rules and limitations and as a result the fights and military operations against titans feel very grounded and sometimes genuinely stressful? Pretty much everything they do suffers innumberable casualties due to the titans being so fundamentally overwhelming that no character ever really feels 100% safe so it can keep you on the edge of your seat, and the characters themselves are distinct and consistent and interesting for their differences I guess. Everything that I remembered being good and entertaining about it pretty much holds true.

But everything goes to shit essentially when the main cast finally achieves the long term goal of getting to Er*n's old house's basement, which holds his father's answers for most of the questions that have arisen over the course of the show in regards to the setting and the nature of the titans, and thus it stops being a story about the david and goliath survival and worth of humanity in the face of unknowable senselessly violent monsters and starts being about like, racial pride (in a universe where race is a biological reality) and protecting the motherland and the value of """freedom""" and other weird shit. Up until that point, I don't think it's that much better or worse than pretty much any other comparable shounen, and it's very easy to NOT see the warning signs for what's coming/be completely blindsided by where the story goes in the latter third, which is a big part of why I even wanted to rewatch the whole thing in the first place? Like, in my memories, the "twist" came basically out of nowhere and kind of ruined everything that was cool about the plot and the setting, but that was also when I was like 14 or 15, so maybe it's more obvious as an adult with more developed media literacy? But the crazy part is, while most of the like, ideological seeds are planted pretty early on and the overall themes/philosophy remain pretty consistent throughout, the fundamental change in what the story is about is so drastic and comprehensive that the entire fourth season almost feels like a completely different show all throughout. Like, characters that have been around from the beginning feel different, not because they are behaving much differently but because they've all been dropped into a brand new context that has very little to do with the one that most of the show takes place in. The world of a*t expands so suddenly and incomprehensibly that you can literally watch up until they get to that basement and consider that an open-ended conclusion of the narrative and it'll be both functionally correct and 100x more fulfilling than the actual end of the story ever could be. In my opinion.

What IS visible from before that point is kind of what you would expect, being military worship and like. Proto-nationalism. A lot of people seem to get kind of tricked into thinking the story is fundamentally anti-war anti-military and so on due to the constant senseless brutality and characters questioning the point of all the violence and the desire for it to End Forever and the way that some military personnel are portrayed but I think that's sort of silly. All the main sympathetic characters are in the military so it follows that a lot of the unsympathetic ones are too--the ones that are judged are lazy, self-serving, and lacking passion or any sense of duty, and the ones we root for are, to whatever degree, patriotic and honor-bound, which essentially excuses any actions they might deem necessary as, well, ultimately necessary. Up to and including a violent military coup, or knowingly sending child soldiers on suicide runs. This patriotism can come off as relatively innocuous or at least comprehensible when the only "enemy" are the literal senseless violence machines known as titans and thus what the military actually represents is The Fight for Freedom for the Remnants of Humanity. It poses an obvious problem when it turns out they aren't in fact the remnants of humanity, but in fact A Hated Racial Minority That Used To Rule The World For Thousands of Years.

The other thing that stands out to me is the overall pessimistic philosophy of the narrative which seems to be the real driving force and awareness of that is kind of the only thing that makes the direction that the story goes in and the way it ends remotely comprehensible. From the very beginning, violence and hatred are established as sort of the fundamental aspects of human nature. The removal of titans from the place of main antagonists is for the purpose of revealing that even without an obvious collective enemy, human beings will always blindly hate and murder each other. Even when sympathetic characters insist that there must be some way to solve things WITHOUT killing each other, the cycles of hatred and violence and revenge are always portrayed as inevitable. And even when there's uncertainty as to whether that is true, and even when there are examples of goodness and reconciliation and love and harmony and whatever, the violence always ultimately wins out, in spite of its pointlessness and ineffectiveness. When Er*n becomes a stupid ass doomer and genocidal martyr and is narratively elevated for doing so, none of his stupid bullshit accomplishes anything either? Even though there is love and beauty and friendship in the world, everything is ultimately pointless, and this is what everything devolves into and the insulting ass note that the story ends on. It is legitimately some edgy teenager humans are the real monsters we live in a society ass shit when it could have been. And all it ever needed to be was. An average and casually enjoyable post apocalyptic shounen with a relatively unique premise.

#This shit is still at the forefront of my mind so if anyone else has questions or an opinion abt it I am open for discussion 💀

[acromandus]

Finally getting around to doing this! Thank you @thelifeinmyshadesofgrey for tagging me ♥♥♥♥♥ I haven't done these in ages so it was fun to feel like we were back in the 'golden era' of tumblr xD

Tag someone you want to know AND/OR some of your besties: I don't wanna pressure anyone to have to do this, so consider this a warm suggestion rather than a I-will-judge-you-if-you-don't kind of situation @heyitszev :) (and if anyone else reading this feels like it, go ahead, the more the merrier lmao)

Favourite colour: This is a tough one because it all just depends on context so much. I'd say typically I veer more towards darker tones in general: really like a nice dark green, or a dark red or crimson. Purple is lovely too :D

Last song: Two Knights and Maidens by Crash Test Dummies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NS2EcHzdYY

Say what you want about the lyrics, but the chord progression in this song is *chefs kiss*

Last movie: 9. A bit of a strange one perhaps, but an interesting take on a post-apocalyptic world brought to life in a style that reminds me of Tim Burton a little bit. Basically, the world has been destroyed in a war between humans and machines, and we're introduced to a group of sentient dolls, each with a number on their backs from 1 to 9, who have had to survive in this strange new world while figuring out why they were made in the first place. I don't wanna spoil this for anyone who hasn't seen it, so I'll leave it at that :)

Currently watching: I'm in-between series atm haha. Waiting for season 4 of the Boys, and just finished watching season 2 of 30 Coins. Might just do a rewatch of Andor or the Punisher to fill this void.

Other stuff I watched this year: Err… from what I remember (and yes, since we're only in January, I'm counting 2023 into this as well) I'd say Moon Knight, Andor, 30 coins, a rewatch of Supernatural (up to season 12), and the One Piece live action series. Out of all these Andor was perhaps my favourite, but I enjoyed all of them, and was pleasantly surprised at how well the One Piece adaptation remained loyal to the original works :D they obviously had to adjust some things but it still felt true to form. With Andor, I was hesitant to watch it at first because the last SW series I had watched had been declining in quality (weird writing, etc), however… Andor completely blew me away. The way it builds up to the climax was just so well done, the writing is superb, music fantastic, and it's one of those series I wish I could forget about completely so I could experience it for the first time again.

Shows I dropped this year/didn’t finish: I haven't watched many series I've not finished since I usually watch them to the end anyway, but looks like that new Percy Jackson series may unfortunately fall into this category?

Currently reading: I've been powering through the Harry Potter books. Started during the Christams holidays and I'm now on book 6. So far so good, though I've had to slow down with holidays being over. Might need to reread the Robert Langdon series as well after this as it's still one of my personal favourites.

Currently listening to: This changes daily but I do find myself drifting back to Riot music very often. So, that's music made for League of Legends, Valorant, etc. Not the soundtracks, but songs like Worlds anthems like "GODS" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3GouGa0noM) and 2021's "Burn It All Down" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z6CHioIn3s). I also absolutely love "Breathe" from the official launch video for Legends of Runeterra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNhKAJwlj04). I also like this vid for it heavily featuring Darius, the only champ I ever played when I attempted to get into LoL before the toxicity got to me and I decided it's not for me :3 (didn't take long, but left me with a bit of a soft spot for him lmao)

I absolutely do not play any of these games but man… the music is on point imo. Something again about chord progression, don't ask what my obsession with that is lmao.

If I'm not listening to these and songs like them, I'm listening to heavy metal (industrial or symphonic), movie or game soundtacks, or oldies belonging to various genres from the 70s and 80s, occasionally 90s as well. Here's a couple examples:

Once You've Tasted Love by Take That

Take the Long Way Home by Supertramp

Evil Woman by Electric Light Orchestra

Misplaced by Sonata Arctica

And I will leave it at that as I've already included too many songs lmao

Currently working on: I'm currently making a backend for a gym app I'm working on. I somehow got the GraphQL elements working, now I need to get it saving to a database of somekind. I could do this locally or learn to save data to the cloud but I haven't yet decided which approach to take lmao. Overall, I'm just upskilling in the hopes of eventually landing a job as a full-stack developer. NO LUCK SO FAR aside a couple freelance frontend opportunities :/

Current obsession: Hmm….. good question. I'd say, despite me not playing it as much as I used to, I am slowly getting back to Elder Scrolls Online? Fire Emblem Fates is another, as well as Bleach.

#personal #i can't help that my tastes are very eclectic #i like so many things it might even be easier to point out things I don't like #but where's the fun in that :)

[aprillikesthings]

ugh my wired headphones are still hurting my head >:(

anyway

s3 ep2 huntara

ahahah I love this one

(if you're new here: i'm rewatching She-Ra for fic-writing purposes, and live-blogging my way through them making commentary and jokes and side notes about random shit. bc this is a REwatch there are many references to later plot points)

is that the Beta Kindergarten

(man I've been making a lot of Steven Universe references in these lately, but yeah I can't look at sandstone slot canyons without thinking "hrr hrr where's Jasper")

(wait has a Jasper cosplayer actually taken photos in one of these in like Utah? a quick image search says no. damn.)

how many times did I look at this establishing shot before I realized this part of the Fright Zone is the ruins of a ginormous spaceship

ALSO "day 135"? I noted yesterday that someone working on the show said sOMEWHERE that each season is about a year and I was like "ehhhh" but I guess that's not far off.

That makes the whole catradora arc even more angsty tbh. For some reason I thought the whole show took place over like a single year or so. But FOUR OR FIVE YEARS?? they pined for each other while trying to murder each other for MULTIPLE YEARS????

awwwwww

Listen. I love this ship. I'm always weak for "complete asshole with tough act is soft for one (1) person"

(tho lemme tell you. do not actually date those dudes irl. *sigh*)

why did so many 80's cartoons have extremely unrealistic quicksand scenes tho

gdi adora

The Crimson Waste is actually just a western bar full of furries. But seriously designing the characters in the bar must've been hella fun

AAHAHAAHH Adora being so, so blatantly gay for Huntara is one of my fave things

Did they need to establish that Adora is into women? Pfft, no. Did they still decide to show us Adora being absolutely smitten on sight for an older, big, buff, badass, butchy lady? YES.

Doesn't hurt that she looks likes this lol

like it's the least subtle thing on EARTH i love it so much

oh no now I want to look up fics

18 of them are explicit. well. I'm just gonna. leave that tab open.

ADORA. YOU COCKBLOCKED HER. RUDE.

lol there's a moment where Glimmer and Bow are like "ha ha we need to talk amongst ourselves" and turns around and Adora is still just staring at Huntara with googly eyes without noticing what Bow even said and lemme tell you, I've been that fucking obvious and oblivious

Huntara literally is like "oh my god you kids are gonna end up DEAD without me. FINE." Meanwhile, Adora:

Plot plot Huntara leads them to a trap and they get hit with tranquilizer darts and dropped into a pit.

that's just a nice shot tbh

EAT SOME DAMN SOUP your girlfriend spent TIME on that

she just refuses to be afraid of him

Anyway yeah this is when we find out he's just a clone of Horde Prime the Big Baddy of the series, Hordak is a "defective" clone, he was sent to "the front lines" to die and fell through a portal into Etheria. "with nothing but a broken ship, I built an empire..." the whole point of the portal is to bring Horde Prime through, which means that's what he was doing when he tried before and ended up with A Magic Baby (Adora) instead.

The animation in the flashback is clearly inspired by Lotte Reiniger which is super cool??

Back to the Crimson Waste, they've gotten themselves out of the hole, and Adora's upset because the whole point of this mission is her getting more info about Mara with the hopes of understanding her own past better

she's RIGHT

"...at least to me..."

LISTEN TO YOUR CUTE NERDY GIRLFRIEND YOU EMO BASTARD

She makes him a nice techy exoskeleton armor thingie

that's a start but c'mon I know you can do better than that

lolol the recorder baby critter KICKS HIM in an obvious "dude really????"

look at him!!! AAHAHAH

i'm gonna go over the image limit and tumblr's gonna cut me off and make me reblog this any minute now but this episode is jUST TOO GOOD

"I like being friends with you, too" ;_;

Huntara's "friends" make fun of her for being a softie while she swings the She-Ra sword around and then Glimmer drops in wooo

yeah I know this is a fight scene but eheheheh

and then they banged

okay they kept fighting but like, c'mon

the "sword point under the chin" thing is just so good and I loved the way they did the angles here

OH SHIT I forgot Huntara had heard of She-Ra

OH HO HO HOW THE TURN TABLES

Anyway Huntara does her little speech about how she also used to be a Horde soldier but left because Hordak was such a dick to his soldiers. "you would know, you were one of us."

called THE FUCK OUT

Huntara does her little "you can't defeat the Horde alone even if you're She-Ra" and she responds with "yah I'm not alone tho"

but also that shot is unnecessarily hot

....i've hit the image limit with two minutes to spare so I went back and deleted one because

hggghh

(not gonna get into how Shadow Weaver's face-touching thing is what made Adora do it here but yeah)

Huntara tells her minions to get lost, admits that the war scared the shit out of her and that's why she ran, but she knows that's bullshit and she promises to help Adora stop the war :D and then leads them to the place they were originally looking for: the ruins of Mara's ship!

AND EPISODE OVER

(gonna...see if any of those fics are any good 👀)

#april rewatches spop #huntara

[gins-potter]

Are you all caught up on the OC finales? What did you think?

I caught up today! I thought they were fine to really good!!

Med was really solid. Surprising no one I'm absolutely heartbroken that Will is leaving but I'm glad he went out in typical Will fashion, had a really nice scene with Sharon at the end, and we got Manstead endgame. Liliana and Dr Charles are back together! They're so flipping cute, I love that for them. Dasher are doing Dasher things, I had to LOL when Hannah was like HARD NO about dating Archer and he was so offended. I think Med's gonna return to somewhat normal next season, probs the first half will be dealing with whoever buys the hospital and convincing them to turn it not-for-profit again. The only question marks for me are whether Maggie and Dr Song stay. I think if they continue to do O.R 2.0 things, Dr Song will, and I think they've left it a bit open for Maggie depending on Marlynne's health and what she decides. I was a little surprised they didn't address it more in the finale about the possibility of her leaving since the episode before made it feel like much more of a sure thing. A solid episode!

Fire was... kinda meh if I'm being honest. Like it's not unusual for me to multi-task while I'm watching tv, but I still pay attention to what's happening with the plot, but I was dicking around on my phone while watching Fire and kept realising that I was fully not paying attention to what was going on and kept having to go back and rewatch. Like, it just felt like lots of talking ha ha. I think where we go from here is super dependent on whether Taylor comes back next season or not. Feels like they're setting up Carver and Violet, which I'm not against, but haven't fully let go of Carver in his feels over Stella either, so if T.K doesn't come back and Stellaride break up (BIG IF NO ONE THROW TOMATOES) they might continue to pursue that as well. I'm more and more on the Stella/Carver train (NO ONE HATE ME) so I'm super fine with those angsty looks he's sending her lmao. Super here for the little friendship between Kylie and Ritter and very keen for Kylie to become the new candidate (that has to be where this is going). Sylvie's adopting the baby, yay for her I guess, I mean, like I said in another ask, I'm pretty sure I know this is heading for a Kara exit, which I'm not opposed to, so I'm just very.... okay? about this storyline. It feels rushed, but it's fine, and I get a Brettsey endgame (probably) so fine. And Mouch... maybe I'm stupidly optimistic but I don't think he's dying. I think Christian is leaving the show, but I don't think Mouch is dying. Idek why tbh. It's a bit anticlimatic if he does die tbh. Like he didn't even get shot, it was a random piece of shrapnel. Idk, I think he'll probs survive and then retire. Maybe I don't think they'll kill him because it would mean that PD also has to change Trudy's characterisation over on that show. Like imagine her husband dies and they never even mention it on PD 💀💀💀

PD was the best episode imo. The pacing and writing was great, even though I'd seen bits and pieces of it already online I still felt drawn in by it and I really felt the tension. I felt like Adam, Kim, and Kevin all got to shine. Hailey and Voight not so much, sad for Hailey, get fucked Voight. Absolute snaps for Kevin getting to shoot that racist mother fucker, and I know he's just a kid but lmao fuck Callum. Fuck his mum too and I hope she goes down for some of this shit. One of my only question marks is why Torres wasn't in the ep? I can't tell if it's a weird writing choice to keep leaving him out of episodes or if the actor has some sort of other commitment keeping him from being in every episode, but I feel like they either need to commit to his character being part of the team, or drop him and bring someone who will be around all the time. Burzek slayed as always, inject that moment of Kim on the phone and absolutely sprinting to get to Adam into his veins. Kim in the ambulance, and at the hospital, "Are you his partner", "You're with Adam" "I'm with Adam" yeah girl you tell that bitch. You ARE with Adam. I mean, as with every other Burzek shipper I'm annoyed that they clearly filmed a Burzek scene at the hospital and then cut it. I hope they release it as a deleted scene at some point bc I need it. I've seen the theory that they cut it because it shows Adam's alright and Paddy might leave the show.... I mean.... maybe? I doubt it. It's more likely they cut it bc the show has a hard on for Hank Voight and wanted to end on him. I think it would have been a better ending to end with Burzek because it would have been a really full circle, cyclical ending from where they started the season, and the episode, but, what can you do? I'm sure someone will write the fic. Still, despite all that, a really great episode and end to this arc.

Sorry, this got long but yeah, those are my thoughts. Med 6/10, Fire 4/10, PD 8/10.

#oc spoilers #one chicago #chicago med #chicago fire #chicago pd #answered

[gnomey22]

"Proud Protector"

I was rewatching Season 1 a few days ago (as you do), specifically S1E3 from Erica's introduction onwards, and one line hit me like it never had before, even if I noticed it on previous rewatches.

Simple Bob, when initiating his Proud Protector move, says "I will heal you, by killing the enemies before they can kill you." Which is exactly the same mentality Erica has in early S2, when she's starting out as a warrior. This is not new information to me, but I always passed it off as a cool parallel that ultimately doesn't mean much.

Now, I realise that this was one of the first things Simple Bob ever said to her. Bob, the only halfway decent warrior she's travelled with, due to being the only one who actually puts thought into the healing aspect of battling.

After just how many warriors failed her during the Three-Year Gap, just how many of them completely relied on her for healing rather than doing anything about their own injuries, I think Erica thought back to the only one who hadn't outright disappointed her, and realised that Bob was actually onto something with this quip of his.

She wants to keep the party going, but she doesn't want to be the backbone of the whole operation, and she has a whole lot of anger she needs to project. The violent tendencies of a warrior seem like exactly what she needs right now, and it isn't too far away from her old ways of healing. She's stopping people from getting hurt!

This way, they can't unexpectedly die on her, and even if they do, it can't be traced back to her failure. It's not her job to keep them alive, she's under no actual obligation, it's an idea she can drop and pick up however she wants to. Her party members will stay alive as long as she needs them to, and the enemies will die imminently. She finally has agency in the distribution of death in her life, and she cannot be taken off-guard. Probably.

My favourite thing about this is that Erica probably had a completely neutral opinion on Bob the whole way through. They never had a significant bond, but Erica doesn't grow to hate him like she does with basically everyone else other than Chi. I imagine that even after taking his advice like this, the most positive thought she has about him is respect for his "Shan't" in the S1 finale.

#failtopia #failboat miitopia #failtopia erica #failtopia simple bob #Erica #Simple Bob #why does my brain do this to me #the autism is why #but you get what I mean #If I ever told someone I made a brand #off of overanalysing some random YouTuber's Miitopia game #I don't even want to know how they'd react

[sometimesrosy]

The 100 2023 rewatch ep 1.4

Murphy's Law

Man I wish Wells had survived. I wish we could have seen who he became. :(

The wall has been built. Good for them. Clarke is outside it in the growing graveyard, mourning Wells. Finn sneaks up on her telling her what to do. (shouldn't be out here) says the guy who spent another night exploring out in the woods. Oh he got her something did he?

And she's charmed by the art supplies. It makes her remember Wells who was trading his own stuff to give her supplies. NOW she starts blaming her mother. I mean, fine it's her mother's fault, but oh she realizes what she can do to make her "feel it." Vengeful child. And feel it she does. The first terminated signal in over a week. She is freaking out over Clarke maybe dying.

Meanwhile, Monty needed a working wristband for the comm signals. "Well be talking to the Ark by nightfall." Monty's such a sweety and so competent.

Look at those delinquents working hard building walls. Look at Murphy being a dick to the kid who stumbles. Look at Bellamy being dad bellamy and teasing little Charlotte. OMG WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU MURPHY??

I forgot he peed on that poor kid who wanted a water break. WHAT A DICK. How in the world did they redeem him. But they did.

O is leading Jasper out into the woods. And she gets grabbed. By one of the Johns. Then he trips and sees Wells' severed fingers. Hello Trauma capital T.

Dick Kane is tracking Abby and wanting to know why he's going to Mecha. She lies and says someone has strep. "We don't want another outbreak." And he backs off. She lies again saying she'll keep him informed. Mecha has Raven fixing the tincan. No pressure regulator and they can't ride in the shuttle.

The metal knife from the drop ship. The grounders didn't kill Wells, it was one of us. Bellamy points out there's more than one murderer in the camp. Ooooh. Bellamy and Clarke conflict. he wants the news quiet. Keep people afraid and they'll work for him. Fear of the grounders is building the wall. Don't even know who's knife that is.

OH really? JM. John Murphy. The people have a right to know. SHe goes RIGHT to Murphy and blames her for killing him. He of course denies it because he didn't. AND BELLAMY believes her. "I don't have to answer to anyone!"

Come again? Asks bellamy. And he says the knife and fingers were found together. Poor murphy. He really didn't do it. The kid he peed on wants him floated. "It's justice." She says revenge isn't justice. WOW that's a lot of delinquents jumping Murphy. O wanted to stop it. She was a lot less blood thirsty in season 1. I wish we coulda stuck with that.

Clarke is saying they can't string him up

Oooh. this is graphic. Clarke says Bellamy can stop this and the peed boy says Bellamy should do it. They start chanting his name. And Clarke says she saw him in the woods and she knows he's not a killer.

OMG they actually drop him. THat is awful. Awful. WOW>

HOLY SHIT. I forgot how HORRIBLE that was in the immediate reveal that Charlotte did it.

Horror on top of horror on top of horror. That's how this show dragged us in. We never had a chance to recover or even process one horror before finding another.

Meanwhile Bellamy REALLY does not want to do this, but he's going with the crowd. He's NOT in control, but he's afraid that if he stands against them he'll lose control.

Nigel's "little bird" needs a pressure regulator. What for? Regulating pressure. She says she has her mother's sense of humor. And she doesn't move machine parts. How bout some moonshine and herb. She tries to pimp Raven out to the chief of electrical. Her mother would have taken that deal. In fact, she did, many times. We forgot about Raven's history, didn't we.

"I was just trying to slay my demons, like you told me."

Little girl never learned about metaphors and symbolism. What that little girl could have used was a good ENGLISH TEACHER!!! That's right, an english teacher could have saved Wells. lol

Bellamy blames Clarke. If she didn't tell then those idiots would still be building the wall. Meanwhile he wants to save Charlotte the actual murderer. "Giving the people what they wanted."

Now Murphy is trying to get the delinquents to string up Charlotte. "It's okay to string me up for nothing but when this little bitch confesses, you wanna let her walk." And Murphy slams Bellamy and tries to get the girl. This is jam packed.

Clarke and Finn run off with Charlotte into the woods.

UH OH. The arc medical unit. There's a lot of kids not doing so well. Oxygen deprivation. Raven can't get the part. Nygel has the part, and Abby is going to take care of it. I actually always wanted to see Nygel on earth. She would have been GREAT as a villain. Trading morphine for a pressure regulator.

Charlotte tries to hold Clarke's hand and Clarke is MAD. "Clarke she's just a kid." "She's a killer. Look at me, you can't just kill someone to make yourself feel better."

Finn found a bunker for hiding.Art supply store. "I can't believe you kept this place quiet." Clarke agrees with me. Repurposing and sharing with the group. He bribes her with colored pencils. Jerk. They're using a shit ton of candles. Wasteful.

She thinks if she hadn't told none of this would've happened. Finn says she couldn't have known. "Bellamy knew."

Kane's mom Vera. It's funny whose names i remember. The magic earth tree. It's just a bonsai. Nygel tells Kane about Abby. She sucks. Great villain. He calls her a plague on the ship.Oops theres the morphine.

Clarke fell asleep on Finn's shoulder and she grins, she's got a crush on the worthless jackass. And Charlotte's gone.

Bellamy has found her. It's Charlotte hunting season. Bellamy is trying to help her. "I'm not your sister." She's got your number B.

"Listen to me Charlotte. I. Won't. Leave. You."

She calls for Murphy.

Raven and Abby fixing the shuttle as we wait for Kane to come. She finds out that Kane knows the morphine is gone. They're gonna be here in five and Raven needs 20. "Only one of us needs to get to the ground. 300 people will die if you don't." "They'll float you." "Then they'll float me."

Bellamy is carrying Charlotte over her shoulder before running into the cliff. Here comes murphy. He's ready to take a few of them with her. Clarke arrives. "This has gone too far."

Murphy grabs her and holds a knife to Clarke's throat. A trade for Charlotte. She wants to trade herself. She's feeling guilt. So she jumps over the cliff.

Bellarke's first lost child.

Now Murphy is like, "bellamy..." and bellamy is going to bet him to death. "he deserves to die."

"NO! We don't decide who lives or dies, not down here."

This is when they become partners. "We need rules."

"And who makes those rules? YOu?"

"For now WE make the rules. We banish him."

Bellamy is with her. Threatens him if he ever sees him in camp again. And says the other four can be with him or die with Murphy. THey choose Bellamy.

Finn is all emotional. And useless I might add.

Raven racing against the clock to regulate pressure. And Nygel gave her a bum part. Great villain. She sees a space suit. oh that will work.

Abby tells Kane that she's trying to save "all of us." He arrests her and continues the search for Raven Reyes WHO has just taken off in a rusted tincan. She floated HERSELF bitch.

Clarke and Bellamy speaking to the collected Delinquents and nodding to each other. Partners.

Monty has gotten the wristband working. Morse code. OH no. It fried every last wristband. Fried them all? Then how did they use the wristband in season 3??? Oh it might have been one of the ones the took off before.

Meanwhile O is rewarding "brave" Jasper with a kiss. He picked the wrong girl to have a crush on, I tell yah.

Oh UGH. Finn is destroying the bunker because "we're dead to them." we're not alone. YOURE Not alone. No it was Finn who kissed her not Clarke who kissed finn. Now they have their love scene. Meh. Short.

With his girlfriend Raven coming down AS they're doing it.

Rude. Honestly what a soapy mess. Clarke and Raven shoulda gotten together and left Finn out completely. Damn right.

Anyway. That's a jam packed episode. Very dramatic. High stakes. Life and death on the small scale with the delinquents and the large scale with the Ark.

The hanging scene was BRUTAL. Like it was really violent. And the Charlotte reveal was a gut punch. The acting has stepped up big time. (I still don't love O and Jasper, I never really did, but everyone else.)

Murphy is absolutely despicable in all conceivable ways. Clarke is desperate. Bellamy is floundering. Finn is just standing around doing nothing while Bellarke does it all... sorry, he's judging. He does that. Raven is a super star. Abby is determined. Kane has a stick up his butt but he honestly does think he's doing the right thing, although he's still a dick. Monty is a genius. Jasper is terrified. O is a lot kinder in this episode. She loses that later, too bad. We got a lot of worldbuilding for the Ark in this episode with the politics and blackmarket and health crises and Raven's backstory.

I'm actually really enjoying watching this show for story OUTSIDE of Bellarke. There's a lot that I've forgotten.

#the 100 rewatch 2023 #murphy's law #sorry i'm late with this i had a busy week and didn't get the chance to watch. #hopefully i'll get to watch the next episode today too