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desidarling123 · 3 years

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FATWS Episode 4: A Definitive* Rank Ordering of Most Interesting Character Arcs, from Yours Truly

(*And by definitive I mean completely subjective, but yanno.)

IF YOU HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT BY NOW: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR FATWS. SCROLL AWAY NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT EM.

Now let's get into it:

1. John Walker

Let me start by saying -- the near-universal John Walker hate from fandom has always been largely undeserved, and that's a hill I'll die on. It comes out of, I think, a visceral sort of need to slot him into an easily understood black-or-white binary when, truthfully, he is neither, and I think this episode was the BEST example of that. The sheer range he exhibits in such a short time -- a handful of character moments and action sequences in the larger fifty minute episode -- serve to humanize him in a way that's messy and intense and very, very real.

Because MAN. Whether you were already sympathetic to John's plight or not, the death of his partner, Lemar Hoskins, is viscerally disturbing. There's no other way to put it. FATWS has not shied away from some pretty crazy onscreen kills, but this one was arguably the worst in how brutally mundane it was. Lemar was in the wrong place at the wrong time -- a man fighting amongst a whole room of super soldiers. He never stood a chance -- and yet, he still jumped in harm's way to save his best friend, a man in whom he saw indisputable goodness, even when the man could not see it himself. There's an obvious Steve/Bucky parallel here, but with a much darker and more realistic twist -- not all of us, after all, can be lucky enough to receive super strength that could save our lives. Lemar was always a regular mortal -- and for that transgression, he pays the ultimate price.

And then. What happens after. Oh. My. God. I felt Walker's rage and hopelessness through the screen. The death of that Flag Smasher -- at the hands of Captain America, no less, a man he'd admitted to admiring as a child not ten minutes earlier -- was brilliantly executed.

With the final shot of the townspeople recording the brutal murder it becomes overwhelmingly clear -- we are witnessing the tragic fall of a man who was, for all his previous missteps, trying to be a hero. But John's moral compass just died a meaningless, horrible death -- and without him by his side, Walker has become a man unhinged.

2. Bucky Barnes and Ayo

I debated putting this one at number two because I'd argue there were some weird elements to the writing choices made (more on that in a sec), but, nevertheless. Bucky and Ayo get slot #2.

That flashback to Wakanda got me excited, but I didn't expect my heart to get shattered almost right away. Oh. My. God. His interactions with Ayo BROKE ME. There's so much nuance in a scene that’s incredibly well-acted by both Sebastian and Florence — you see both of them in a moment that is incredibly pivotal for the former’s character, and we see the latter reacting with sympathy, strength, and enormous grace. I had expected a scene like this to be with Shuri (given that we last saw her with Bucky in the post credits of Black Panther) but, given the context of what was being performed (a final test of the trigger words) having Ayo there made a lot of sense. She could take him down if need be — but as the scene so wonderfully shows, thankfully, she doesn’t have to. Instead, she’s there to let him know that for the first time in almost a century, he’s free again.

Now, let’s get into some of the unevenness. I had hoped, at the end of the last episode, that Bucky had at least informed the Dora Milaje of his liaison with Zemo — that, perhaps, it had been Bucky’s intent to hand him over all along. Alas, that was not the case — Bucky, it seems, had broken Zemo out with little thought to — or perhaps simply silent acceptance of — the consequences that would come with it.

This is the part, again, where the writing felt a bit weak. We know from the opening shots of the episode that Bucky cares enormously for Ayo — they’re not simply soldiers in arms, but they’ve shared a moment of immense vulnerability together. We ALSO know that he cares enormously for T’Challa, for Shuri, and for Wakanda as a country (see Infinity War, where he says “I love this place” in reference to his new home).

So that begs the question — why? Why did he betray them in that way, besides sheer desperation for a lead? And it’s not one, I’d argue, that we are given a satisfying answer to. Bucky has been reckless to an alarming degree in the last few episodes, but not informing Wakanda of his intention to liaise with the man who killed their king feels like a MAJOR tactical oversight. Is he willing to burn everything down to win this battle against the Flag Smashers? Are these his self destructive tendencies kicking in? OR, is he just truly so blinded by his emotions surrounding his past that he’s willing to throw away what could very well be his future? Only time will tell. But I hope he’ll do right by Ayo and Wakanda, as he clearly has a LOT to make up for.

3. Baron Helmut Zemo

God. I love Zemo’s psychotic, problematic ass. Say what you want, but the man is the most efficient of them all and he isn't a super soldier or an Avenger. Over and over, he shows that he's truly smarter than them and always has been.

He doesn't get personal. He doesn’t get distracted. He knows exactly what his goal is, and he executes on it. Mans didn’t hesitate to unload several bullets into Karli, and as soon as he figured out what the vials were, he destroyed all except one. Like I said, the most efficient person on the team. Has arguably done more to forward the cause against the Flag Smashers/continued existence of super soldiers than anyone else and it’s only been a few days. Between that, his god-awful dancing skills and him shooting the eugenicist scientist without so much as a blink of an eye, I think he's a man after my own heart. I’m almost sad to see him get what’s coming for him come next episode. (Because y’all, he did still kill King T’Chaka, and there’s no way the Dora leave here without taking him out on a silver platter and an apple stuffed in his mouth). But again, let’s see how that pans out.

4. Sam Wilson

WHAT are the writers doing to Sam, I swear to God? We didn't get too much introspection into where his head's at during this episode, and when we did the treatment felt uneven at best. I think, in trying to have him create a rapport with Karli, the writers have created some areas of commonality that didn’t always translate as they’d like. It was also weird to see Sam swinging from the well-earned cynicism of the previous two episodes to the sort of wide-eyed optimism Steve used to portray. Perhaps that was simply to try and show Karli an alternative, but as the episode showed, she clearly wasn't buying (though, in Sam’s defense, he came pretty close).

Something about Sam’s characterization in this episode didn’t really do it for me — I would argue episode one and two were both stronger in that regard. Nevertheless, I’m hopeful that they’ll correct it in the next one.

5. Karli Morgenthau

Her treatment is arguably the worst of them all. She is young, yeah, but she oscillates at an alarming rate between spouting class discourse that, by this episode, feels largely derivative (like someone scrolled on Twitter and put a bunch of keywords together in hopes of evoking an emotional audience response) and homicidal tendencies that show a brutal yet fundamentally messy underpinning. Unlike Zemo, she is still too easily confounded, and that will come to bite her in the ass sooner rather than later. (See: The Power Broker)

Perhaps I'm meant to be rooting for her on some degree but I really can't -- she's cruel and sloppy, which I cannot forgive.

Oh, and she killed Lemar Hoskins and threatened Sarah Wilson. Yikes.

Overall Episode Takeaway: A lot of shocking moments and great acting beats for everyone involved (arguably some of the best of the series thus far), but the weakness of the writing does crop up in parts. Whether they'll be corrected for going forward is to be determined...

UP NEXT: Meta pieces for Sam, Bucky, John, and Zemo all in the works!

#fatws #tfatws #sam wilson #bucky barnes #john walker #fatws spoilers #tfatws spoilers #tfatws meta #karli morgenthau

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frisbeep · 3 years

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WD*Steven New Episode Thoughts

** Warning, below the cut contains spoilers for the newest episode of @ask-whitepearl-and-steven's comic series, as well as my theories for the next episode with the title listed.

This is also a blind reaction, meaning I'm commentating on it as I am reading it for the first time!

(1-2)Starting off with Steven answering an ask! Looks like he's trying to find Garnet. I love how Steven comments on how Pearl and Amethyst's rooms are so closely connected, as it stays true to the canon, I also enjoy how Steven is unsure about how to find Garnet's room, because, just like in the canon, Steven found it by accident while trash diving with Ames.

(3)Third panel! Steven, my poor baby, mmm, lemme squish--anyways, I both love and hate his anxieties over asking Garnet about this, because, yea, it's a tough thing to have to talk about, especially after working so hard to gain their trust back after the reveal. Finding out that Coral was mostly Steven, with almost no (if any) Earl control would be a scary realization.

(4-7)AAAAAAAAaaa future vision :>

(8-9)I forgot for a moment that Jasper was poofed and was scared to see Garnet holding her bubbled gem. Maybe she didn't use future vision to see why he might think she would view him as a failure? Or maybe she's hiding it and trying to find the right words depending on what he says?

(10-11)I was sortof right? I am kinda glad that she couldn't see what he was going to ask, but, that begs the question, were there other things she saw revolving around questions Steven's going to ask? Also "ziplining across a void inside the temple" is 100% Steven XD

(12)Welp, nevermind, must have been thinking of the canon*Steven, oops ^^;;

(13-14)J a s p e r ! Bring her back! Maybe she'll get a redemption arc instead of Lapis and Peridot in this canon? That'd be so rad, and would honestly make so much sense, because basically everything is flipped on it's head in this AU, in the diamond crest, White was at the top, while Pink is at the bottom, so instead of the lowest Diamond giving birth, it was the highest. Instead of Steven learning his powers gradually, he was kinda sorta info dumped on once he realized he was still mind controlling Earl.

(15-16)O H M Y S T A R S did Garnet really just-*chokes* you're gonna make Steeb nervous qwq

(17-19)Steeb...I feel so bad for him, I really hope that Garnet can comfort him, help him, right now. Maybe she'll truly be the first Crystal Gem he really connects with (if my memory serves me correct, he's already kinda doing that with Amethyst, and Earl isn't technically a CG yet)

(20-21)Garnet help him! The look on her face though, she's confused, definitely. Maybe this was an unlikely path?

(22-24)MY FEELS!! I love how Garnet was trying to give advice, and Steven, being the anxious mess he is in this AU was all scared and is crying about turning out to be like his "past self" (because, you know, the reveal hasn't happened yet)

(25-26)Thank you Garnet, now help Steeb by telling him to talk to Earl! I know you're going to do it, I know you want to say it Garnet, just do it! Earl's the only one who can truly help in this situation, you can help with fusion, she can help comfort him!

(27-28)WHAT THE HECK! Garnet! Are you trying to help him, or crush his fragile little heart?!!

(29-30)Oh phew,,I thought this would be a lot darker, like, "your memories may be resurfacing in other ways" type shit, but, it's just talking about how powerful White was, and, yea, I get that it would be a confounding variable, and adding with the possibility that Steven may be unable to fuse with any gem makes a great story point, one that gives him the anxiety Lapis and Peridot have canon, Peridot is afraid of trying something new, or to lose herself in the fusion, while Lapis is afraid of hurting someone again.

(31)Damn straight! Sorry for the short comment, it's just, oh boy when she finds out Rose is Pink--

(32)>.> I literally just mentioned Rose, how, in, the, hell-

(Next Episode Title: Fountain of Confessions) I think this will be about Steven and Rose having a heart-to-heart at Rose's Fountain. Maybe Steven talks about Coral, how scared he feels, and how he doesn't feel like he belongs because he's the only Diamond. Maybe Rose also confesses to some things about not trusting him at first, but how he's growing on her, as well as some hints to there being more about her than just a Rose Quartz. Maybe we'll even see Greg again! Ooo! What if Greg hints at his affair with White before he met Rose :0

#corvin rambles #white steven #reaction #theories #blind reaction #accidental essay #steven universe #su #au

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obsidianarchives · 5 years

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Game of Thrones Recap: S8E5 - "The Bells"

Well, that was laughable. I try to avoid such sweeping declarations, but intellectually confounding or narratively unsatisfying don’t quite capture the forced climax and nonsensical storytelling at play in this week’s episode. I’m not here to yuck anyone’s yum so if you enjoyed this week’s episode, don’t worry we’re still going to have fun, but it’s important to be clear about what didn’t work for so many and explore why. Two locations this week, so let’s get into it!

Dragonstone

This week opens with Ned Stark Varys penning a note, revealing that Jon Snow is the true heir of the Targaryen bloodline, when one of his little birds comes in to reveal her poisoning attempts have been unsuccessful thus far as Daenerys, fearing a traitor, refuses to eat. Foiled on Option A, the Spider of Westeros throws caution to the wind and approaches Jon in the open with treason and his plans to supplant his Queen in favor of her nephew, who flatly rebuffs him as he has done all season.

Tyrion, who watched the entire exchange from the parapet, immediately goes to snitch to Dany, who initially suspects Jon as the traitor. She rightly surmises that the spymaster only learned from her Hand, who must have been told by Sansa, who in turn learned from Jon, so it appears doubtful she’s letting anyone off the hook. For the moment however she deals with Varys’s betrayal, and he is forced to burn his Maury DNA test results before the Unsullied take him away. In a moving farewell between longtime friends, feeling honor bound to let Varys know it was him, Tyrion and the Master of Mess share a final embrace. Varys admits he sincerely hopes to be wrong about Daenerys for his friend’s sake as much as the realm’s. With a stealthy Drogon waiting in the shadows for Momma Dee to say the word, his sentence is pronounced as Jon looks on, noticeably disturbed as the husk of Varys burns in the background.

From that fire, we transition to Daenerys sitting in the hearth next to the Painted Table as she presents Missandei’s sole possession brought across the Narrow Sea to Grey Worm, her slave collar. A real No-Limit Soldier, he throws that mess into the open flame because, WHAT KIND OF GIFT IS THAT?!?!?!? Why would he want the mark of her enslavement to remember her by? Let that burn just like the racist Westorosi, but we’re coming to that. And that was her only possession? So you didn’t give your girl nary a dress? I see you Dany. Besides, Grey Worm already has all of her hair products in his room, so he’s good.

Their grieving is interrupted by Jon, who she consents to see in private, and both parties are clearly conflicted between the affection they feel for each other and their call to duty. Dany admits she has never felt the love of the Seven Kingdoms that Jon or even Sansa engender, only the fear to keep them in line. Jon professes his love for her, but when Auntie tries to get a little freaky, Jon has to tell her he got on board with Alyssa Milano’s sex strike and is withholding the Valyrian Steel. Stung by his rejection, Daenerys declares “alright then, let it be fear.”

Tyrion again pleads with Dany not to raze the city of King’s Landing, claiming the people will ring the bells in surrender if they know the fight is lost. It struck me last episode how unusual it was that the show seemed to be telegraphing that it was a foregone conclusion that Daenerys’s army would win, even as it took pains to show us how much more even the odds were now, and that continued this week. The conversations were never about how they would win, or if they even still could, but begging her not to run up the score too much when she inevitably did. It was an odd choice barring one hell of an unforeseen swerve in their fortunes, but we’ll get to that when we hit the capital. In any event Dany acquiesces to Tyrion’s wishes if the city bends the knee, but gives him a final warning that Jaime was captured trying to get back to Cersei, and that his next mistake will be his last. The fact that Tyrion is still alive at this point speaks wonders for Daenerys’s patience (and his plot armor) but put a pin in that idea.

King’s Landing

Joining the armies of the North and the Vale with what remains of the Unsullied and Dothraki, Jon and Tyrion arrive on the outskirts of King’s Landing where the troops are setting camp for the battle. Also making their way downtown are Arya Stark and the Hound, who pass through the lines to enter the city on a mission to kill Cersei (and Clegane’s brother the Mountain) and end the war before it even starts. Tyrion, who we saw earlier calling in a favor from Davos, meets with his brother Jaime and repays his debt from season four by freeing the Kingslayer from captivity and near certain death. He again drives home the notion that Cersei will undoubtedly lose the war and die in the aftermath unless Jaime can convince her to flee King’s Landing (in a ship Davos has set for them) and sail to Essos to start a new life with their unborn child. It’s another evocative scene, as the acting in the show remains unparalleled, drawing on years of history between the brothers, who know they’ll likely both be dead soon, but are damned to try and fight for their family and their own idea of chivalry.

Day breaks, and we’re treated to flawless cinematography and orchestral arrangements dripping in tension as the Iron Fleet and Lannister armies are joined by the Golden Company, preparing to defend the city. The peril of the common folk is made plain and they have no choice but to hide indoors and barricade themselves from the carnage as tightly as possible, which also serves to provide the context and spatial familiarity with the battlefield that was lacking in the Battle of Winterfell. Their best laid plans however are of no concern to a dragon as Daenerys knew what to expect this time and easily out maneuvers the Scorpions from Euron’s naval assault and those covering the walls, blasting through the main gate of King’s Landing and rendering the greatest sellsword army in the world entirely irrelevant. They really should have brought Cersei’s elephants.

Taking that as their cue, Dany’s army — fronted by a surprising number of surviving Dothraki — lay waste to Cersei’s defenders. It wasn’t as much a battle as a rout, with the ease of victory leading to the question of why she didn’t just do this as soon as she touched down in Westeros in season seven. Cersei, overlooking the city, is in full denial and tries to maintain the facade of being in control as Qyburn appraises her of the situation, repeating platitudes she knows are empty as her eyes can’t help but expose her fear. We get a great scene of Jon and Grey Worm (with Davos for some reason) side-by-side handing out the fade to anyone who steps up until the two armies have a stare down in a corridor of the city and the Lannister troops see no choice but to throw down their swords in defeat. The bells ring, and Daenerys has finally won the crown she has believed to be her birthright for her entire life. And then the episode goes off the rails.

Staring around at her new kingdom, Dany eyes the Red Keep, face quivering with rage instead of relief or joy, and she decides to fly off and burn stretches of the city and the smallfolk at random for funsies. Blame whoever decided to play “Sicko Mode” I guess because the beat flipped and she went off. Taking the cue from his Queen, Grey Worm restarts the attack, as it has now gone from a siege to a sacking. He looks back at Jon, who is trying to hold his forces back, in disgust and presses on with anyone who is here for violence. On the ground, the leader of the Unsullied is a broken man out for retribution and seeking to drown his pain in the blood of his enemies. It’s an understandable turn for a soldier, but what made Daenerys flip? Even Cersei, who burned the Sept of Baelor and everyone in it, was left looking at the scene more shook than she has ever been.

As I said in last week’s review, I don’t have a problem with Dany burning King’s Landing to the last ember if that’s what she had to do. It’s the how and why that was so perplexing, not the what. If she decided to come out of the gate bucking shots for payback and rage, I would have been with it. Instead she decided to be surgical and measured with her strikes, only taking out the Scorpions, and after breaching the city walls left the fighting to her troops. So why then, once the bells were rung and the city bent the knee to her, did she then decide to start roasting the citizens? That was the time to fly straight up to Cersei’s wine porch and burn the whole thing down if it was about her fury and loss. THAT’S revenge! Killing the smallfolk that Cersei doesn’t care about serves no purpose to either Dany’s ascent to the throne or a quest for vengeance and is wholly incongruent to who she has been shown to be.

Yes, the notion that Daenerys can be desensitized to violence and her knack for solving her problems with fire and blood is part of her character, but there’s a hop, skip, and a jump from that to wanton destruction of those who are not her enemies. If that descent is the story you want to tell, I’m on board, but tell that story! The arc could have been more believable if the series had shown eruptions of actual random cruelty instead of men baselessly whispering about it behind her back. Never has her wrath been shown to be directed at the truly innocent rather than those who she perceived to have wronged her, solely for the sake of sadism and fear. I could believe she’d willingly burn King’s Landing and accept incidental murder of the townsfolk if it meant pushing Cersei and her army off the throne. It is a complete paradigm shift to suggest she would instigate that wholesale slaughter for no other reason than a manufactured derangement. The unnatural progression and suddenness of her frenzy led to an immediate disconnect and incredulity that renders impotent what should have been a reveal full of that earned pathos. Failing to recontextualize the past seven seasons of her arc, viewers were instead thrust into a narrative that had been spoken into existence but never sufficiently shown.

Beyond that, her behavior in the episode flies in the face of her all-consuming motivation in taking the throne. Even if you accept that she would burn civilians for the sin of not loving her and embracing her as a savior, why would she wait until the very moment she had attained everything she’d ever dreamed of? For Daenerys, who we’ve seen be single-focused to the point of myopia and perhaps callousness, to suddenly veer wildly into ignoring the throne for the sake of indiscriminate violence just didn’t track. She didn’t fly straight to the Red Keep and claim her crown, nor did she seem concerned with killing Cersei, the pretender who was sitting on her place, blocking her destiny, and the woman who had her friend and advisor Missandei beheaded. So again, what was the point of it all? For all Dany knew, Cersei did sail to Pentos with a child no less driven to return to King's Landing and regain a throne after it's sacking than the Mother of Dragons had been for her entire life. But rather than a meditation of the cyclical nature of violence, or the corruption of power, the lesson seems to be don’t give a dragon to a pyromaniac.

In the streets of King’s Landing, Tyrion and Jon both got put into the Mr. Krabs blur and are confused as to why no one told them Dany might do something like this (Narrator: They all did). Jon in particular traded brooding on a cliff for brooding in the middle of a battlefield and killing anyone with the nerve to interrupt his smoldering in the distance. Meanwhile Jaime is forced to take the long way around and ends up in a disappointing and hilariously petty fight with Euron Greyjoy underneath the collapsing castle. There is some great cinematography here as the chaos above via Drogon falls down around the two tired men. Jaime is mortally wounded by Pirate Pacey, but still ends up killing the Crow’s Eye (with no Dragonbinder) who dies smiling, declaring himself the man who killed Jaime Lannister. Wrong!

Seeing the castle literally falling down around them, the Hound tells Arya to give up her need for revenge while she still can, before it consumes her wholly as it has him. It’s another affecting scene drawing on years of earned interactions, as the Hound has been the next best thing Arya has had for a father since she had to watch Ned lose his head in King’s Landing. The emotions swirl, as you remember this is the first time she’s been in the city since that day, probably the first time she’s been inside the Red Keep since Syrio sent her away to protect her, and now Clegane is doing the same. She thanks him, using his given name of Sandor, and for these two hardened warriors who have been sustained by hate and vengeance it’s the closest either of them can come to admitting they love each other. Arya reclaims her life, and the Hound goes to finally end his own suffering, but hopefully not before taking his brother out first.

Making their way to Maegor's Holdfast to try and survive the destruction, Cersei and Qyburn are escorted by the Queensguard when the roof caves in. While the Queen and her Hand are saved by the Mountain, three of her sworn swords are killed and the castle exposed. Meeting them at the foot of the stairs is the Hound, who easily dispatches the other three survivors and we’re finally ready for Cleaganebowl! Qyburn tries to reason with the Mountain, not realizing everyone has been waiting to see this for years, and gets yeeted into the fallen debris skull first, killing him. Seeing this, Cersei picks up her skirt and saunters right on out of the way of the blood feud because her name is Bennett and she CLEARLY ain’t in it.

In one of the most beautiful shots of the series, the Hound starts to summit the steps towards the brother that scarred and traumatized him, only having eyes for him as the world ends around them and Drogon flies overhead, lighting the skies ablaze. The burned man and his decaying inhuman tormenter hack at each other, each blow echoing back into eternity as for both of them this fight started a generation ago. Cersei, now completely alone, her ambitions falling around her as the very painted map of Westeros she commissioned to mark her new empire cracks and withers in the face of true power, her joy turning to ashes in her mouth, has retreated fully into despair, but who else is there in her lowest moment than her brother and lover Jaime? Shame on me for thinking last week that the writers were giving weight to his character arc and just hiding their hand, he went right back to exactly who he said he was as a simp for Cersei who can’t get right.

The Hound and Mountain continue their conflict as Sandor runs his brother through the gut with his sword, and Ser Gregor doesn’t even flinch. You should have gone for the head! Qyburn did his zombification job a little too well, a fact he’d likely lament if he weren’t already dead. The scene expertly cuts back to Arya, now trying to make her way all the way back out of the dying city, interlacing the pounding she’s taking on the streets dodging the carnage, with the blows the Hound is receiving from his brother as though they were one body. There are a few too many near-death fake outs for us to believe Arya is truly in danger, the way we might have if the POV character were, say, Ser Davos (who comes from Flea Bottom), but the connection between her and Sandor makes it worthwhile. As the Mountain presses his little brother against the wall strangling him, there’s a moment it feels like we might get another of his face smashing fatalities a la Prince Oberyn (RIP to a real one!), but the Hound pulls a page out of Lyanna Mormont (gone too soon) and stabs him in the eye. This still doesn’t kill him, because what is dead may never die, but Sandor Clegane masters his fear and rushes his brother, taking them both through the walls of the Red Keep and plunging into the raging fires of the burning castle where they both meet their end.

Finally having enough, as Dany’s path of destruction has now ignited the wildfire caches under the city left by her father, Jon puts away his sword and leads his troops out of the city. Arya meanwhile is forced to leap into action, trying to save as many people as she can, even if that’s only a mother and her daughter. Between the Dothraki, and nearly being burned alive by Drogon however, it takes a miracle for her to save herself.

Underneath the castle, Cersei and Jaime’s Pentoshi adventure is cut short as the falling rubble has sealed their only escape. Realizing she doesn’t want to die in a prison of her own making, her last facades fall apart and she crumbles in her brother’s arms under the weight of her folly. Both knowing these are their last moments, he comforts her, preparing to die as he’s always wanted, in the arms of the woman he loves. There would be no satisfying death for the longest running antagonist of the series, and many were disappointed as we had already seen Cersei “stripped of all her finery” as she took her walk of atonement through the streets of King’s Landing. With no cathartic payoff, or larger consequence to her oft-mentioned pregnancy, the lack of gratification is endemic of the problems many have with the writing this season, and one of the most deliciously evil, yet human characters of television history deserved a send off befitting of her stature.

As the path is now clear for Daenerys to take her throne covered in ash (not Snow) fulfilling the vision of her future from The House of the Undying in Qarth, Arya awakes to see the charred bodies of the innocent she was trying to save in a scene right out of Pompeii. She also finds a single, pale horse which she rides out of the city dripping in symbolism and riding out the end of the episode, closing with The Rains of Castamere.

On the whole, I will say that the episode was wonderfully directed and beautifully shot. For my disappointment with the Battle of Winterfell, Miguel Sapochnik’s work on the Siege of King’s Landing excelled on a visual level. The shots of Drogon destroying the Scorpions and later laying waste to the city gave great respect to the depth and dimensionality of the terror and awe of dragons and their ability to dispense death from above at any moment. The chaos of both that flight from destruction, and the mores of human depravity as Daenerys’s army abandoned any pretense of rectitude and gave into their hedonism was laid bare, and as always, was accompanied by a masterful score. The acting also needs to be singled out, as each character sold with absolute conviction the moments they were stepping into. It’s truly a shame that so much genuinely wonderful work was overridden by slipshod writing and character decisions born out of an artificially imposed deadline and a strained sprint to the finish line.

Either way, we’re here. Get ready for the series finale next week! Look forward to capping it off with you then.

#Game of Thrones #Recap

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not-my-patton · 6 years

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Avoidance

“Breathe out, slowly, through your mouth. Feel the air, now stale, now used, rush from your lungs. Feel your body relax as it lets go of the air, freeing it from the temporary prison of your ribs.”

The voice of Janina Mathewson filled Logan’s head, the words washing over him through his headphones. He lay sprawled across the floor trying to focus on the melodious music and reassuring words but he just couldn’t. His mind was racing at speeds he didn’t want to comprehend because there was just so much he was thinking of that it was an insignificant detail in the grand scheme of things.

The latest encounter with Deceit left him more confounded that before. For one thing, how didn’t he see the snake before? Replaying the events over, the signs were clearly apparent that “Patton” was not who he was portrayed to be. And yet, it seems that Virgil had spotted the difference first. And speaking of Anxiety, what was the connection? Truly the two had some history that he’s yet to reveal. Virgil was, after all, one of the more negative faucets of Thomas’s personality that actually came much later then he, Roman, or Patton. And after all, Anxiety often fueled lies and instances of Deceit, so it is pos…

No, this was not the road he wanted to traverse. Virgil was not the villain; Deceit was. Deceit was not a side but rather a slippery parasite that was trying to manipulate his way back into being a major influence in Thomas’ life. He’s not in the closet, he hasn’t done anything majorly wrong, he has no need to be purposefully deceitful.

But what happens if Deceit tries to take over once more with another side? Roman is practically putty in his hands; it would make it easy for the Dark Side to take over even for a little. They would doomed if he tried to play Virgil, as he had the most knowledge on the subject. And what would happen if Deceit tried to portray him? What lies would usher out his mouth to break him and allow the devil to take over? What lies did he tell Patton?

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Continue breathing, and listen.

It was no use. Even the thought of him made Logan’s skin crawl. Even with the cassette playing in his ear, he could barely focus on words he felt he’s listen to twenty times over. It was like Deceit himself was whispering sweet nothings into his ear. Like if Logic turned around, there he would be feeding directly into his paranoia. The smirk, the alluring tone, the mocking mannerisms.

He arched his back and let the top of his head hit the floor to confirm. Nothing. But that means he could be in front of him now …

“What in Walt’s name are you doing?” Logan propped himself up on his elbows to see Roman standing above him, hands on his hips and a judging look on his face. He paused his podcast before responding.

“Did you just compare to the founder of Disney to …” Logan let the sentence hang on his tongue as Roman swiftly filled in the rest.

“But of course. Is he not? After all, he will eventually come back to once more rule all his company touches.” Logan was about to say something, before remembering who he was talking to. It was Roman: Thomas’ Creativity, Hopes, Dreams, and Fantasies piled into one man. Of course it would be him to believe in such myths.

“I’m just … going to … simply ignore your cryogenically frozen Walt Disney fallacy.” Logan muttered. “As to answer your earlier question, I was simply relaxing. I’m … oh where are my notecards when you need them.”

“You are not “good fam”, as your notecards would tell you.” Roman extended his hand, but the logical side shook his head. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, bringing his legs in as well so he sat with legs crossed Apple Sauce.

“I’m actually very comfortable where I am, thank you very much.” Logan said, pushing up his glasses as he did so.

“Ugh! Fine.” Roman, very carefully, made his was down onto the floor so that he was on the same level as Logan. “You know I dislike this kind of thing.”

“And you don’t have to. I’m …” The words were left unsaid. He didn’t want to feed into Deceit; he did not need more power than he currently wounded. So the sentence was left floating.

“You don’t have to be apathetic all the time, Logan. It’s okay to show some empathy sometimes.” Roman flashed his signature smile, which did not help Logan feel better about his non-predicament that the former insisted was there.

“Roman, I am Logic. I do not entertain myself with emotions that the rest of you so fondly embrace.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have them.” The sentence made Logan freeze like an antelope in headlights. “What I’m trying to say is, it’s counterproductive for you to keep all these feelings to yourself. There’s no prejudice against you simply because you are the most rational of us all. You’re … well, I was going to say human but that’s not true. We’re all a part of Thomas. And wether you like it or not, we still act like him. We all have emotions.”

Logan didn’t respond. While he was impressed that Roman had decided to use his own tactic of rational thought against him, it was what he said that struck a chord. It’s what caused him to slide closer to Roman so that their legs were touching. What made his head fall onto his chest under his head and simply rest there. What encouraged him to cry and let loose all the pent up emotions he didn’t realize he had to release.

“I’m scared.” He choked out through sniffles. Roman handed him a tissue from a box he had conjured.

“I know you are, Logan. We all are.”

“It’s just … what if?” Two words. So much meaning and depth left unspoken. Because it’s a what if representing everything Logan was pondering: Deceit comes back, he takes over Virgil or Roman or Logan, we don’t know. “I don’t … don’t want this to happen again. I don’t want there to be what ifs.”

“It’s okay.” Roman muttered, rubbing his hands through Logan’s hair. “Now, I can’t promise that, but would Sherlock make you feel better?” Logan didn’t lift his head, but he simply nodded straight into Roman’s chest. “Okay, I’ll get the others. You make yourself comfy.”

Logan, with his support gone, fell headfirst into the beanbag Roman had left in his place. He wiped his cheeks of tears he didn’t even realize had began to stream. He situated himself into the beanbag, finally beginning to relax, when a newfound momentum on his back threw him forward onto the floor once more. Turns out it was simply Patton embracing him in a hug and a blanket.

“Logan! OMG Are you okay!?! Do you need a onesie?”

“Patton, I am perfectly capable of managing on my own. And no, I do not need …” There was a snap of fingers, and Logan was surrounded in a unicorn onesie. “… a onesie.”

“Alright, Patton. You can get off Logan now.” Roman said, practically pulling Morality off Logic. “Now, lets start Sherlock, shall we?”

“Of course. This is the BBC adaptation, correct?” Logan asked.

“But of course. What other one would there be in contention?” The opening scenes began, shots of war in Afghanistan beginning to play.

“Do we have to start at the beginning?” Virgil complained. “Can’t we skip to The Hounds of Baskerville or something?”

“You’ve actually watched Sherlock, Virgil?” Logan said. “I’m surprised.”

“Well, yeah. We only watch the first one and I kinda wanted to see the Moriarty story arc play out. Plus, the emotional manipulation in Hound is so well executed. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite, but only because I haven’t watched the new season.”

“Well too bad, My Chemical Spoilsport.” Roman shot back. “We are watching A Study In Pink.”

“But we’ve seen this episode twenty-two times already? What’s the harm in simply skipping to the finale? The second episode is not the strongest, but the end is …”

“JUST SHUT UP AND ENJOY THE BENEDICT CUMBERBUTT!!”

A/N: So I wanted to put this at the end to say a few things. One, the podcast Logan is listening to in the beginning is called Within the Wires. I highly encourage listening to it or anything else by the team at Night Vale Presents. They are all amazing and fantastic. Second, this is my new Sanders Sides Side Blog, where I will now throw everything related to Roman, Virgil, Patton, Logan, Thomas, Joan, Talyn, or any of the others. Feel free to add me to any tag lists, especially for fanfic. Let me know as well if you wanted to be added to my tag list as well. Just figured I let you guys know, since the other two parts of this series are up on my main blog.

Tag List: @patton-loves-coloring

Virgil - Patton - AO3 Link - Roman - ???

#sanders sides #logan sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #fanfic #mentions of Deceit #dopple work #post: Can Lying Be Good?#thomas sanders

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harrypussy · 4 years

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You'll Never Play This Town Again by Harry Pussy

Compilation of recordings from the final trio version of the band.

All high energy music tends towards the omega point that would see it escape form altogether, where the jam is the thing and the song a mere excuse for getting there. Even hardcore, the most doctrinaire of rebel musics, planted the seeds of its own overthrow in its urge-to-accelerate, with each successive wave of groups battling the last in terms of speed of execution, of hyper-exaggerated moves, in order to be the ones that even time couldn’t hold back. Where psychedelia was all about leaving your body behind, hardcore posited a muscular oblivion by way of a punishing physicality, one that went hand-in-hand with a puritanical aesthetic, a skinhead form of scourging to ecstasy. Harry Pussy were the most extreme hardcore group of the post-punk era. They were hyper everything, hyper-fast, hyper-crude, hyper-free, hyper-dexterous, hyper a-musical. They boasted a once-ina-lifetime line-up, straight out of Miami: Bill Orcutt on electric guitar, a weird film maker and prodigiously talented instrumentalist; Adris Hoyos, first-time drummer and vocalist, a goofy tough-attitude chick from Cuba with a feral performance style; and Mark Feehan and Dan Hosker, two separate second guitarists, the presence of one or the other serving to define the group’s two distinct eras.

It’s the later Hosker-era that this new 42 track compilation of rare and unreleased recordings is drawn from. The main difference between the line-ups is that Harry Pussy actually got faster as they evolved, tracking the opposite trajectory of normal punk groups. When Feehan was playing with them they could still get strung out, still play more obviously ‘free’. But by the time of these recordings Harry Pussy were playing 60 second bursts of chaotic rock ’n’ roll that barbarise whole histories of freakout style, from free jazz through classic hardcore, boogie, blues, Black Flag, Germs, most explicitly through Beefheart, but all hyper-condensed into ultra-kranky riffs that Orcutt plays at hallucinatory speed, compressing Zoot Horn Rollo-style avant confusion into lighting runs and metallic two note knock-outs. Hoyos’s style is so primitive that it’s wildly avant garde, with an instinctive feel for time that confounds the most advanced improvisatory strategies with the most hysterical. And her vocals are post-Yoko in the truest sense, not directly informed by her but sharing the same spontaneous energy and a-musical appeal, sometimes breaking from songs completely to expand on barely articulated vocal rants and fever pitched bouts of screaming. During the Hosker period the whole group existed in a zone that was constantly beyond technique. You’ll Never Play This Town Again features some of the best Harry Pussy recordings, the Untitled/Tour/Fuck You LP, the live 10”, the split singles with Pelt and Frosty (what the hell happened to them?) and the Radiation Nation single on De Stijl alongside seven unreleased tracks, all expertly remastered. The May 1997 studio tracks are as formally staggering as anything on Trout Mask Replica. “Ice Cream Man” is “Dali’s Car” at four times the speed, just as “Smash The Mirror” is “Ella Guru”. The tracks are also cut in an extremely appealing audio-verite style. Hoyos is nasty, sarcastic, infectiously funny. Despite the improvised feel of most of the tracks, Harry Pussy were an ultra-tight performance unit and played actual songs, with out-takes and live versions sounding just as rigorously conceived as the originals. The live recordings are important both for successfully capturing the insane energy of the group and for including their legendary version of Kraftwerk’s “Showroom Dummies”, where Orcutt’s irresistible “Big Eyed Beans” groove and Hoyos’s mad vocals and drums create a reading that’s more pneumatic than motorik while spearing the very heart of the tune. It’s still one of the all-time great cover versions. Teenage Jesus And The Jerks are the group that Harry Pussy most often get compared to, but hearing them covering that group’s “Orphans” on a bonus live track (coincidentally the last track from their last live performance), it’s clear that Harry Pussy were of a much more rock/roll bent than any of the No Wave groups, making music that wasn’t so much a refusal of previous rock modes as an exaggerated celebration of all of its most outlaw attributes. Of the rest of the unreleased material the most interesting track is “Velvet Pussy”, a take on a Velvet Underground-style rocker that sounds uncannily like your dream VU bootleg. But it’s the officially released material that’s the real attraction, tracks like “Sex Problem”, “Smash The Mirror” and “Chuck!”, with Hoyos pulverising time and Orcutt out-stripping it completely. The closing extended take on “Smash The Mirror” is one of the great free jazz-inspired electric guitar freakouts, up there with The Byrds’ “Eight Miles High”, Television’s live reading of “Fire Engine”, The Blue Humans’ Clear To Higher Time and The Dead C’s Helen Said This. Harry Pussy formed in 1992 and imploded in 1997, played a bunch of legendarily riotous shows, got barred from a whole bunch more, released a string of amazing LPs and 7”s and then disappeared. Hoyos is currently married with two children, working in computers, living with musician and artist Graham Lambkin and seemingly retired from music. Rumours persist of Bill Orcutt making a return to the stage but outside of reports of a shady uncredited 7” nothing has been heard of him since. The arc of their career was perfect, the mission truly accomplished, and all that’s left is this amazing series of recordings, a body of work that has had a disproportionate effect on the minds, if rarely the actual sound of the underground.

David Keenan, the Wire

Dylan Nyoukis from a blindfold test in The Wire

Harry Pussy “Mandolin” From You’ll Never Play This Town Again (Load) 2008 Beefheart? No, it’s Harry Pussy, man. I should’ve known it straight away. This, to me, is what punk music should have been. I discovered punk music ten years after the fact and I think I was doubly disappointed. I imagine, if my life had been a different throw of the dice, I might have been a kid in 1980 or 1979 discovering punk and being so disappointed with how it sounded: so boring, so absolutely fucking objectionable pub rock. Terrible. I just leapfrogged that shit to Metal, which is in itself just goofball shit, and then into weirdo shit. And then I heard Harry Pussy. This is what I thought punk should sound like. It’s wild shit. It’s visceral. It’s about where you are at the moment. It’s about where your fucking stomach is, on the moment. Where is your belly positioned? Chocolate Monk released Harry Pussy quite early on. We released Vigilance, on a C120: two hours of jams, but I guess the recording mechanism was a bit goofed up so a gap keeps appearing. credits

Dan Hosker: guitar, Adris Hoyos: drums and vocals, Bill Orcutt: guitar and vocals. Blake Eden: drums on “New Song.” Robert Price: synthesizer on “Velvet Pussy” and “MS20.”

Everything by Hosker/Hoyos/Orcutt except “New Song” by Nip Drivers, “Showroom Dummies” by Kraftwerk and “Orphans” by Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.

Tracks 1-17 recorded January 1997 by the band at Anvil Rehearsal Studios, Miami, FL. Tracks 18-31 recorded 5/5/97 by Rat Bastard at Churchill’s Hideaway, Miami FL and mixed by Rat Bastard and Tom Smith. Track 32 recorded 4/16/97 at Salon Zwerge, Chicago IL by Emil Hagstrom. Tracks 33-42 recorded 5/4/97 and mixed by Tom Smith at Microgroove Studio, Atanta, GA.

Thanks to Rat, Tom, Emil, Graham Lambkin, Brently Pusser and Marc Weitz.

#release

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