#there are some scenes that look awesome but overall this season feels very off | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ingravinoveritas · 5 months

Note

The fact that in that scene in the doctor who special Donna’s about to go off with the doctor in the end and her husband is like yeah most husbands would be jealous of their wife hanging out with men in a small space alone but then he looks at the doctor and is like nah not him. Like he knows the doctor wouldn’t be interested in Donna in that way and that she was completely safe from cheating on her husband. Shaun took one look at the doctor and was like I know what you are . He was NOT worried about Donna being alone with him

So, I did watch the 60th special today, which I originally wasn't planning to do, since I'm not much of a Whovian. But curiosity got the better of me, and once your ask came in, I figured why not give it a watch.

After sitting through the whole episode, I still have no idea what the hell actually happened, or what a Metacrisis is, or why they were all fighting evil anthropomorphized dryer lint...but I was still thoroughly entertained. Haha. And there were moments I liked (disability rep with Shirley Bingham whose character actually wasn't about her disability but just her as a badass person!), moments I didn't like, and moments that made me unexpectedly emotional (the mention of Wilf, which given Bernard's passing last year was incredibly poignant and left me in tears).

But what I was really living for with this episode was how unbelievably and incredibly gay it was, in absolutely the most phenomenal way possible. Again, I want to emphasize that I am a very casual DW viewer, so I can't speak to previous seasons or incarnations, but this certainly felt like the queerest Doctor Who ep I have ever seen. The awesome Yasmin Finney as Rose. Describing the Doctor as "male...and female...and neither...and more." Having legend and lesbian extraordinaire Miriam fucking Margolyes as the voice of the Meep.

And of course, the moment you mentioned...

What's really interesting to me about this is so much of the writing in this episode was pretty on the nose (thinking in particular of the scene about the Meep's pronouns, which was very well meaning but felt a bit heavy-handed in both the writing and some of the delivery). But I wouldn't say Russell T. Daddy was really going for nuance in a lot of what ended up on screen, which is why this moment stands out and is so interesting and hilarious. You can almost feel Russell abruptly stop short of saying what this is clearly meant to be saying, and leaving it as subtext instead of, well...text. And I've mentioned on my blog previously about seeing the Doctor and Donna's (as well as David and Catherine's) chemistry as very "exasperated straight woman and her chaotic bisexual BFF," so this really seemed to validate the hell out of that. Haha.

So yes, overall, I enjoyed "The Star Beast" much more than I ever expected to, and I'm definitely intrigued to see what the other specials will entail (especially "The Giggle," since NPH is in that one, and the queer quotient will no doubt be off the charts, at least if the production stills/BTS I remember seeing last year are any indication). It will certainly be interesting to see if we get more moments like the one above with Fourteen (Ten? Ten-Four?), so I suppose we'll find out soon...

68 notes · View notes

vampirealpaca · 3 months

Text

My thoughts on the pjo show (now that the season is over) (this is going to run long) Overall Rating: 8/10 :

Ok first of all, I actually LOVED the show and the cast is literally awesome; I do have some thoughts and feelings tho.

The GOOD :D

The visuals were eating ngl

THE CAST!!!! they literally were amazing cannot stress this enough

I think a lot of the changes were handled super well, especially Medusa (although I don't love all of the changes...see below in the next section lol)

I LOVED the set design for pretty much all of the scenes!!! Like the set & costuming was literally so good; sometimes it looked a little Volume-y but I think it's ok since they also clearly did a bunch of on-location stuff

Driving scene was literally so funny like no notes on that + the acting was On Point pretty much All of the Time.

I actually think they slayed with the special effects

Pretty accurate! (overall a waaaaaay better adaptation than the movies)

BLUE FOOD!!!!

More Sally content was awesome!! And I cannot stress this enough the ACTORS WERE SO GOOD in their roles!! Like I think they were the perfect choices ngl and I hope to see more of them in season 2 (if we get one, idk if its greenlit yet)

I also liked how they focused on Grover's character more (lowkey my fav now)

Genuinely had a great time watching the scenes from the books I've loved since Forever come to life onscreen!

The character dynamics were GIVING

Loved getting more info about Percy's backstory

The way they showed the Mist was honestly so cool!! This might be filed under Visuals but still...it was so cool

Fight choreo fluctuated, but I liked the Percy vs Luke fight (altho the scorpion erasure ;-;)

Again the chemistry with the actors like adkjhfdkjdfkjhdfjkhk I think the acting may have been my fav part honestly lol

All of the easter eggs for the fans!!

Rick's subtle rewriting of the story was sometimes very cool! (Like with the water grabbing Percy etc) --- you can definitely tell that he's thinking about how he'd change the story if he were to write it today

...HOWEVER i have gripes :(

THE LIGHTING WAS TOO DARK IN NIGHT SCENES!!!! HATE THAT TROPE WHY CANT I SEEEEEEEE (looking at u medusa scene)

I feel like they should've fallen into like…at least one trap without Knowing Everything about it. Like, I get the Medusa change and am pretty on board with it, but I feel like a few of the other changes weren't really necessary & messed with the stakes. A lot of the time it felt like I was watching them explain "Oh you're THIS person so you will do THIS so I will do THIS" instead of like...showing me.

Not enough blood (this is prob a Disney problem, not the show creators fault but like...cmon Disney...they have swords, let the children get More Injured...they are Fighting for their Lives)

Felt kinda...dryer than the books? idk how to explain it...like it felt like there wasn't the same Vibes in some parts if that makes sense, like they switched out a lot of funny moments (esp with how they changed Charon and the Crusty scenes lowkey im bitter)

the tone was definitely sometimes waaay different from the books (like it was way more serious I think, which is good sometimes and less good other times)

Idk if this is 100% true bc my last reread was a few months ago, but I think they separated the main trio more than in the book (?), it felt like they were duo-ed with diff members for a lot rather than building off of their main dynamic -- they had some trio moments but ig i just wanted more (again, I could be wrong on this one tho)

Lotus Casino not really being as Fun (the pumping lotus flowers in the air was a cool detail tho!)

It generally felt like they took a lot of the funny parts in favor of talking more about how messed up the gods are (which I liked sometimes!! but the kids are 12 let them have more funny moments too yaknow) (Rip the Died in the Bathtub line...gone but not forgotten)

I really didn't love the changes that made the story feel more Cliche and Basic (the ones that annoyed me were changing the entire DOA to just Some Standard Death Eater Looking Fellow & Annabeth's interactions with Cerebus being completely changed)

Mixed feelings on Gabe...I wanted him to be more evil at the beginning but I get why they changed it ig. Plus he was literally so funny when he (spoilers?) got murdered by opening someone else's mail. That's what happens when you commit a federal crime ig.

General Character Thoughts:

PERCY: Walker Scobell was such a good casting call... like you can tell he really cares about the books & getting the character right. Acting was on point, sass was on point (but I do wish he got to be sassy a bit More); Really gives off the energy of Percy Jackson and definitely was AMAZING in this role!

ANNABETH: She was spectacular in this role!! Leah got literally all of Annabeth down to a T --- her kindness, her pride, her wisdom, etc etc without resorting to any kind of "stock smart girl" vibe. She was literally SO GOOD! I loved seeing her talk about her dad, and the detail about her not having seen a movie is such a mood and so in-character lowkey. Leah really nailed Annabeth's dry humor and general vibe like dfajkhfdjhkfdhjk

GROVER: He was my favorite! Like, his acting was AMAZING fr!!! They brought a lot of newer things into his character that I think worked really well & it definitely strengthened his characterization --- he was also really funny & so sincere I just loved his portrayal of Grover!

HOWEVER I think some of the arcs are shakier since the characters didn't struggle as much, since they were figuring out a Lot of things

Overall, I took 2 points from the rating because the Spirit and Humor weren't fully there and I felt some of the changes made it feel less like the OG and more cliche (looking at u Charon). However, the great acting, pretty slay writing (except for the tone stuff), Vibes, and all the other stuff I think they did right pulled through to get it ranked a little higher lol. Plus, I liked it, even if I didn't like all of it.

No hate if u loved the show adaptation tho!! Feel free to disagree, these are just my thoughts lol. I really genuinely hope there's going to be a season 2, although I would like if they fix a few of these problems in that potential season (please...let me see what's happening in the dark scenes...please...)

#pjo tv show #pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #review #percy jackson and the olympians tv show #pjo series

20 notes · View notes

thewheelweevils · 7 months

Text

My hottest of WoT finale takes

*spoilers through S2E8*

This has been a very solid season. The direction the story went was unexpected and yet fits the overall books’ direction, and lots of little changes and retroactive adjustments made a big difference for me—like giving gleemen back their colorful patched cloaks, letting us see more weave colors, etc. While I appreciated S1, one of my issues was it not fully feeling like the WoT setting I had grown to love in the books, and this season very much did.

Where does the take get hot?

I, um … I thought the writing and pacing of the second half of the finale was kind of … bad?

Okay, let me explain.

Example: We have Lord Ingtar and Loial and Masema (the “and Peggy” of the trio) just … they have the Horn now, and they mention in one line that “A Carhein woman helped us sneak it out” … and that all happened off screen, and while I could infer we’re talking about Lanfear, it really felt like we had skipped a scene, especially since I’m pretty sure that was these characters’ first appearance in this episode and we had no notion that they were trying to escape or what their plan was, etc.

And from that point in the episode to the end, it just felt like everything had been clipped down to bullet points. The dialogue felt super abbreviated, and in other places felt like a line was added in a super awkward way to make sure the audience understood something that I think they could’ve inferred.

I think it would’ve been more powerful, for instance, if when Rand sees Elayne, he doesn’t say anything—just stares and then we cut to the awesome shot of Elayne’s head haloed by the sun

Likewise if we had just cut to Aviendha, Bain, and Chiad just looking up in awe at Rand and the fire weave dragon in silence, I think it’d have been more powerful than Aviendha saying “Car’a’carn”

It’s like they just ran out of runtime and had to condense the finale down to its barest bones. Which is almost certainly what happened.

Okay, but that’s not too hot of a take.

Okay, here’s where the fire falls.

For all the above complaints

It was

And I really do mean this

In my humblest of opinions

A big improvement on the ending of The Great Hunt.

The Great Hunt’s ending was spectacular imho right up until the Horn of Valere is blown. And then it flies right off the rails. The Great Hunt spoilers below, but it’s not really all that different from the S2 finale in terms of outcomes.

A mist arises

Artur Hawkwing and the other Heroes of the Horn appear

They talk and have some playful banter that didn’t age great (“and women!” Brigitte Silverbow said. “And women,” agreed Hawkwing [audience gives a hearty chuckle])

Rand leads the heroes of the horn into … battle? And Perrin has to be Rand’s standard bearer and Mat is asked to just keep toot-tooting on the horn to … inspire the troops? And they spend the battle just … holding a banner and rooting on the Horn?

Ishamael is there in the mists

But it’s in the sky???

But it’s not because the Heroes of the Horn are on the ground

But they’re also in the sky?

And Ishamael and Rand don’t have a channeling battle; they have … a swordfight? Except Ishamael is using a staff? And I guess they’re like One Power proxy weapons because they have supernatural abilities if they make contact?

But the Heroes are definitely on the ground because when Rand has the upper hand, the battle goes well for them and when Ishamael has the upper hand it goes poorly for them?

And everyone can see Rand and Ishamael fighting in the sky like it’s friggin’ Fantasmic with no explanation as to why or how or what purpose it serves, just that that’s the prophecy and so they’re in the sky and everyone (especially the young women) gets to be super impressed with Rand?

Mat, presumably, is still just a-tooting on the horn of Valere the whole time

And then when Rand stabs Ishamael, he, they, it … no more in the sky?

Rand is found wounded on the ground and not in the sky?

And then things pick up again at the end of the book.

But it’s one of those moments that throughout the rest of the series is just like … what? Huh? What was THAT? Nothing like it ever happens again and nobody ever attempts to make it make sense. It’s just one of those things that just … we have to move on from.

Season 2 finale resolves most of that in ways I really like. Exception: the Dragon Banner that is just a fire weave illusion from Moiraine … that gave off the same vibe to me as that scene in Eragon 2006: “And are we together, Saphira? AS ONE????” (Dragon roar and fire.) I just imagine that Moiraine is sitting there channeling the weave and Lan is like, “Okay, Moiraine! Now make it roar!” But. Minor quibble.

BUT ANYWAY. The finale just kind of felt rushed, like it needed to be 30% longer. But the changes were imho big improvements on the Fight in the Sky of The Great Hunt.

By making the “sky” part just a tall tower made it all make so much more sense and less silly. And having our whole main cast together with Rand and DOING STUFF and not relegated to tooting merrily on the Horn of Valere and holding Rand’s stuff for him was a great improvement. Egwene taking on Ishamael and actually surviving against him for as long as she did, Perrin coming in, Elayne healing Rand, etc. Such an improvement imho. Taking one of the few WoT moments that I always cringed at and making it a solid, grounded moment.

That’s my super hot take. Don’t hate me.

And Uno as a hero of the horn was amazing. Could not have loved that more.

I am delighted to see that I appear to be in the minority on this. I’m so glad to see so many people loving the finale.

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #wheel of time prime #wheel of time season 2 #unreasonably attractive fandom #wheel of time show #egwene al'vere #nynaeve al'meara #perrin aybara #elayne trakand #rand al'thor

27 notes · View notes

hypaalicious · 6 months

Text

Arknights anime thoughts

(Very minor spoilers below, but it’s only if you are completely clueless to the Arknights storyline in general)

Pros:

Extremely faithful adaptation of the game story, down to lines directly pulled from the game itself; if you don’t have it in you to read the story then the anime will get you caught up to speed in no time

Beautiful animation style, especially for something entirely made in-house and is HG’s first big animation project

Drama? They know how to do it! Frfr, they will punch you right in the chest with feels moreso than the game managed to do

The Doctor is very NB and while I know that pissed off the fans who really wanted an unambiguously male protag, it fits with how the game wants everyone to be able to self-insert regardless of gender

Gives a much needed spotlight to Operators who are kinda glossed over in the game, like Franka and Meteorite

Amiya’s inner struggles as she tries to reconcile her power and her idealism are absolutely fleshed out in the series. That poor girl is going THROUGH IT 😭

Cons:

Action scenes need a LOT of work. 🤧They have dramatic set up with minimal return and I feel they don’t showcase the martial prowess of our Operators well enough. Ex: Ch’en is a master swordswoman. At most, we see her jump into the air at enemies while yelling, or cutting through gates with her sword. All the scenes where we coulda had some kickass fights kinda fall flat or awkwardly end to transition to another scene

This could be connected to the previous point, but due to Chinese censorship, HG isn’t allowed to show blood or anything really graphic in the animation. Which, if you know how brutal AK’s storyline gets, seems to be a big handicap. They’re doing alright despite it, but they get REALLY vague on some things. Ex: when Mephisto was burning his victims in that Chernobog building but the anime couldn’t show the bodies or mention what exactly it was he was doing… so it just looked like he was an arsonist to an abandoned high rise and then suddenly Meteorite was gagging at the smell

The intro song to season two is TERRIBLE. Like… I can’t remember the last time I skipped an anime intro because I couldn’t stand the song LOL! The ending song is much better, tho.

Overall:

Awesome anime if you’re already a fan of AK, but I can’t really recommend it to anyone who doesn’t already play the game. 🥲 AK’s lore and story is so fantastic but it can be a slog to read through at times, and ofc not everyone’s gonna be into tower defense/strategy games either. Kinda hoped the anime would put AK on the map to those who would never play it, but idk… I think people would be bored after awhile because it’s not flashy like JJK or Demon Slayer.

#I think if they got some good fight coordinators on the team to give the action more substance rather than suspense it would do wonders #they don’t really need to be graphic or gory… not yet anyway #but the anime itself is like 90% drama and 10% action despite the fact that we’re fighting a lil war rn #my ass still tunes in every week tho like clockwork!#I’m not ready for Frostnova’s… you know 🥲#I haven’t healed from that in the game and probably never will so the anime will leave me gutted AGAIN #arknights anime #arknights

20 notes · View notes

speedierthanasubmarine · 9 days

Text

Season 2

God, I’m vacillating between feeling ambivalent and downright antagonistic about this show rn

Before I begin, lemme explain two things about me and watching shows:

A) I don’t really care about the genre or type of a show; I enjoy any kind of show as long as it can commit to being itself. my issue is when there’s some sort of dissonance (or worse, gaslighting) between what the show thinks it is and what I’m being shown on screen: if something is a comedy then let it be a comedy. Have some serious scenes but keep the overall tone comedic or it’s not a comedy anymore. If you want me to take it seriously I will, but if you then don’t take it seriously and then try and twist it around that’s when I begin to get pissed off. (My biggest gripe with episode 3 of this season) Also please just be what you are. If you decide you want to be something else that’s fine, but then commit to it. If you say you are something and act like something else but then continue to reinforce that you are the initial thing you claimed to be it makes me want to clean out my ears with a chainsaw.

2) I can vibe and enjoy anything I watch as long as you don’t break my immersion. Ik this is a pretentious statement for commentators on YouTube to shout but hear me out; I will consume media as though it’s almost a documentary or an in person experience. I will pretty much accept anything the characters or setting gives me as long as the show can make me believe it is the characters and setting giving them to me. The issue begins when I stop wondering what’s going on with characters and their inner worlds and start wondering what’s going on with the production staff; IE instead of my brain going “Oh my God what is blitzo thinking, that was ridiculous” it goes “Oh my God what was Viv thinking that was ridiculous” this will occur when the plot stops feeling like an actual sequence of events and starts feeling like something my students tell me to justify why they didn’t do their homework

I understand these are more of me issues than Viv ones but this post will partially be explaining why this season didn’t work for me on a personal level and will be why I don’t think certain aspects worked on a critical, technical, and objective level. Sorry if I ramble

To start off with positives the voice work in this show is freakin stellar. I don’t know how or why but Stolas’s voice actor has stolen the season, the random cracks and squawks making him sound even more bird like than ever. Stella actually also has that quality and it’s really neat they also found a bird woman. Two of my favorite lines are when he screams for the divorce in E1 (that squawk sounded like an actual bird, are we sure this guy is not a bird?!) and when he exclaims “FUCK” when blitz bites him, my words cannot articulate all the emotions I can hear conveyed in that single word. Alex Brightman (shocker) also absolutely slays Fizz and his delivery kept a smile on my face throughout some of the most difficult times in the show. Additionally Stolas’s dad (AKA FRIGGING JAFAR) saying “stop your bitch crying” is my new favorite thing ever

The animation was just as vibrant and awesome as ever and I want to highlight episode 3’s fight sequence with Millie because it was crisp as a crisp and the 3D shot of Moxxie threatening his dad, I remember seeing that and whistling aloud, that was a fantastic sequence and the animation was by far the best part of the episode for me.

The songs this time just didn’t hit as hard as the first for me, but this is completely subjective. my favorite one this time around was Look at this; Alex Brightman made that song genuinely delightful and I lost it when he started just saying shit in Italian, that song is so funny

Ozzie and Fizz are very cute, I enjoyed bits of them. I also love how this is so not how I’m used to hearing either of their voices, it’s rather like watching the Rock and RDJ being in a loving relationship, it’s just so random and jarring I think it loops back around to working and I enjoy that.

Viv is a fantastic technical director with amazing ideas and concepts, my issues lie with her writing, execution, and lack of professionalism.

Ive seen a lot of people say that the relationships in this season frustrated them because there doesn’t seem to be any continuity from episode to episode and each one seems to return to the status quo by the end with no impact on the overall story, except I didn’t really have an issue with this. In season 1 there was no continuity! Moxxie went through the same character arc in 3 different episodes! There was a new antagonist introduced in almost each episode; Fizz, Verosica, CHERUB, Stryker, DHORKS, and Ozzie, and barring fizz none of them connected to each other, so I kinda assumed that there was just no continuity in this show and that it’s all just kinda go with the flow good old fashioned fun; in the same way Ever After High was a show where they just kept repeating the same stuff over and over but like who cares, it’s a fun show. This didn’t bother me at all. But then the show started contradicting itself… all of a sudden there was continuity. What? stuff was brought back from previous episodes, Moxxies dad, Stryker, Ozzie, events that transpired were referenced, but only certain ones, wtf?! Wait a minute… If there is continuity in the show, then my whole explanation is worthless! NEVER MIND (?!)

Whatever, that’s plot contrivances, and honestly more of a me issue, I’m not watching this show for the plot (even though yes I am but whatever) who the hell watches shows for plot, I can get past that, the vibes are still there, right? I can still enjoy the zany chill vibes? The comedic tone?! WRONG! I mean, some of them are still there, which imo made it worse,but then the show started to bring in very somber and serious moments, character building, then subsequent character assassination (honestly what tf was episode 5) and then out of nowhere some sort of backstory and themes while still maintaining that it’s an episodic comedy and ow, my neck hurts from all this whiplash. Dear Helluva Boss: Are you a comedy or not, are you episodic or not, are your characters real people or not? Pick a tone Show, make up your mind. To illustrate this I’m going to point to the (sigh) Dildos/“Im bisexual” scene in episode 3 and contrast it with the Angel’s dressing room scene in hazbin episode 4. Both scenes are in shows that are meant to be more lighthearted and comedic yet within them there is heavy subject matter being portrayed. but in the case of hazbin E4 it took its subject matter seriously, so in the scene with Val and Angel they played it completely straight and so subsequently it hit hard. To illustrate further, in S1 E6 moxxies tripping balls song (god I miss season 1) despite it being a more emotional scene than usual the entire show was committed to being played for laughs, no one is playing the scene seriously, including moxxie. Blitzes portion of the song is played completely straight by everyone involved, it being cartoonish isn’t comedic, it’s messy and hellish, the result makes it hit harder because both scenes are consistent with themselves which is the the key here. (I bring up this scene because some can point out that the Hazbin one had Amazon to help regulate whereas this is an indie project and therefore has more room for error, but in this hypothetical argument I follow up with this point I should have used initially. Will I go back and delete the Hazbin part of my argument? No.) The scene in E3S2 opts not to do that, with moxxie playing the scene completely seriously and everyone else around him acting like parodies. It was like he was in the wrong show. (I thought it felt weird and disjointed and I just hated that whole episode.) If it’s a joke, play it as a joke, and it could have been a funny joke! If it’s not a joke treat it with the same severity as Val and Angel in E4 of hazbin, because the subject you’re portraying is heavy. If she had picked a lane you could have had either a really strong scene as you had with Angel Dust or a very dark comedic scene as you had with the Imps trying to convince an old man to kill himself in season 1. The end product is the best of no worlds

womp womp

The whole season kinda suffers from this issue, which is what really brought it down for me. I guess this is subjective, but it feels like I have an objective point in here I’m not verbalizing well. If you want to help out, go for it in the comments.

Another thing that this season fell short on: PACING. The scene where Fizz signs to the little deaf kid (wait a minute why is this kid in hell WHAT DID YOU DO-) was adorable. I paused the show and texted my friend about how cute the scene was and the second I pressed play I am just SMASHED with the annoying troll guy and I got whiplash. My neck really hurts guys please stop doing that. This was the most egregious example of bad pacing, but the whole show suffers from it. Let your moments breathe, please, allow the audience to enjoy them, I promise we’re not going anywhere. And if someone wants to argue “they had no time, they had to get as much crammed in as possible” I’m going to point to the scene where Ozzie is in his dildo factory making dildos for 40 seconds. The scene did nothing and told us nothing, if you can have shit like that you can add 3 seconds for us to breathe after emotional scenes. The pacing is just generally shite throughout the season. A friend of mine pointed out that because this is a crowd funded indie project there’s no guarantee how many episodes Viv will have so in order to make the story work she has to cram as much as possible into each episode so she can have proper setup for her story. This argument doesn’t work on either side. If she doesn’t know how many episodes she’s going to have so she’s trying to cram as much as she can in as little time as possible than why don’t any of the episodes seem to be building any sort of connectivity or narrative? Why do new things keep being introduced on top of each other with no explanation or lasting effects? Why all the time meandering with stuff that means nothing if you’re pressed for time, every episode should be connected and concise. If this really were the case, every episode would be like E7S1, with not a moment spent on anything else. Maybe she thinks that’s what she’s doing, and she’s just doing it badly. If that’s the case then again, this is worthless and never mind. However If it is an episodic show with no plot… then why such a rush? Why the heavy content? Why the lack of comedy? Why the mini plots? why isn’t every episode just a chill time with filler arcs? Why all the world building and setups? Why the random stakes? On top of that, if it does have a plot, just not the one I was expecting or promised in season one, IE: the business and any of the related villains, then you’ve wasted my time and taken a shart on my shoes because that’s what you advertised! This show is about a boss! It’s in the title! You telling a story then switching to telling a worse story and then saying it doesn’t matter because you’re not telling any story regardless but then saying “stay tuned because the good story I was telling might matter soon in this new not story I’m currently bullshitting my way through” is JJ Abram’s storytelling IE fuckery. I don’t fuck around with fuckery. This is an objective criticism, this show fails as both a story and non story kind of show.

Additionally we have lost the plot in terms of a story engine here which tbh kinda frustrates me. I remember really liking the premise of the show; I cared about them building up a business, that was why i continued to watch it! But womp womp once again, there is no more of that in this show, barring one episode. Let that sink in. there was 1 episode in this whole ass season that actually was related to the effing premise and it wasn’t even very funny! Yes, the idea of them trying to find the murderer has potential but they didn’t execute it well. This is both subjective and objective, because objectively not giving the product you advertised is kinda shitty, and subjectively I don’t like what I received as a substitute.

My criticism is not boiling down to “She should have done it like this idea I had!” Because that’s not valid criticism, that’s just being butthurt that a creator didn’t read your mind when making her show. There are lots of people that are doing that, and that’s not how you critique media. “imagine how much stronger this could have been if my headcannon was cannon” is not a criticism, that’s a weak wishful statement, so please don’t take what I say as that. I’m giving actual constructive criticism, not “put me on your writing staff because I’m better at it than you” criticism. I think this was the point she was trying to make with the troll character in Episode 7. Shoddy execution, but a good point nonetheless.

In conclusion, I wrote this whole ass novel on this show because I loved it. I’m sad that season 2 turned out to be what it was. A friend of mine said I shouldn’t approach criticizing this show like an actual show because it’s not one, it’s an indie project, and I don’t think that’s fair. Every piece of art should be held to the same standard because everything had capacity to be great, whether made by a massive studio or an indie group. Every piece of art is a form of communication, and I think Viv has something to say, which is why I refuse to give her exemption. Her work deserves to be paid attention, and subsequently, her work deserves to be approached with the same amount of critical thinking and nuance that I apply to everything. She deserves to be taken seriously, which I did. I hope I got my point across well.

#ash #thoughts #helluva boss #review #essay #analysis #vivziepop critical #helluva boss critical #vivziepop #testing a theory

7 notes · View notes

chenfordspiral · 3 months

Note

What are your favourite episodes? One per season!

Oh, I had this coming and now I regret sending you that ask because this was bloody difficult. *sigh*

Let's give this a try (I'm sorry for the rambling that is to follow). Full disclosure, though, if you hadn't limited me to one episode per season, this list would look very different 😂 (and would definitely have broken my brain even more than this already has)

season 1 - Plain Clothes Day Good grief, we're off to a brilliant start (why did I do this?!?!) Honestly, I think I love specific scenes more than an entire episode. If I had to choose, though, I might go with 1x11. Or 1x14? 1x20? You see my problem? I cannot make a decision for the life of me. Ugh. I'm gonna go with 1x14 and live with it. Simply because, well, Tim in plain clothes? Yum. Tim refusing to let Lucy wash out and then even complimenting her?! Yum. Lucy being a badass even after she'd initially doubted herself? Yum, love to see it. And let's not forget Lucy's sass at the very end when she hands him her evaluation of him. God, I love them.

season 2 - Day of Death I think it's obvious that I'm going to go with 2x11 here. I adore everything about this episode. Acting, directing, cinematography, music (or lack thereof), all of it. It's simply spectacular, and even though it's a hard episode to watch, I could rewatch it all day. It's absolutely captivating, especially that whole sequence of them searching for Lucy, Tim finding the ring and digging her out of the fucking ground with his bare hands, to the almost absolute silence as we all wait for Lucy to come back. I mean, hands down one of my all time favorite episodes of the show. It can hardly be topped.

season 3 - Man of Honor Overall favorite episode this season is probably.. mh, 3x10. We get Lucy and Jackson riding together and saving that little girl (and then Jackson gives her that necklace?! Kill me, it's so damn sweet). We get some awesome Tim and Angela bestie content. There's just so much to love about this episode and I haven't rewatched it nearly enough.

season 4 - Life and Death You know, season 4 is hard (duh, all seasons are). I have my issues with it, even though I obviously love the Chenford content we got, but it also came with certain love interests that I'd like to give a firm kick in the butt and send to the moon. But I digress. I'm going to have to say 4x01. Aside from the Chenford hug (still not over it) and how Tim so willingly just invited Lucy to stay with him, it's the team spirit of the episode that I love. And I think we all do.

season 5 - Death Notice / Under Siege Season 5 is bloody difficult, okay? This is legitimately breaking my brain. I go back and forth between 5x12 and 5x22 at the moment, which I both love for different reasons. 5x12 because there's so much Chenford goodness, 5x22 because it's just an overall awesome episode that just screams "team" where everyone comes together. I think those kind of episodes will always be my favorite. But honestly, the answer to "what's your fave s5 ep" would probably change every other day. I mean, we all saw the season, right? I could list all 22 episodes with an exception here or there (hi 5x04, I'm looking at you; also not particularly fond of 5x20 - sorry).

And, look. Here's the thing: even when I like an episode for the Chenford content, there's often something that bugs me about it (*cough* Nolan *cough*), so it can't be my favorite episode overall. Like 4x22, for example. It would make my list for favorite Chenford episodes, but not the one for favorite episodes in general. Which is why making this list was so damn difficult.

Anyway. Why am I still rambling?

Anyone feel free to send more questions! My inbox is always open :)

#asked and answered #this was hardddd #Sarah why did you do this to meeee??!#chenford #the rookie #also the rookie has too many episodes with “death” in the title good lord #did I just spent the better part of the past two hours trying to figure this out?#why yes yes I did

19 notes · View notes

orionsangel86 · 9 months

Text

Good Omens Season 2 - Overall Review

You know every now and then its nice to step outside of the echo chamber and get a fresh perspective on things. I've been looking at some negative reviews for GOS2 this evening after some critical comments came across my dash which was a surprise at first because my dash has otherwise been filled with GOS2 love and adoration (if perhaps also some odd theories floating around).

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it made me really consider mine, so I decided to write it down. I know I still have episode reviews for eps 2-6 to write up, which I will get to, but I needed to get this off my chest first. This is generally just a reaction post outlining all the things I liked and didn't like about GOS2. Under a cut because looooong.

I hadn't read the Good Omens book before I watched Season 1. I watched that show completely blind and my main reason for watching at the time was because

a) I'm always going to be a little bit in love with David Tennant and so watch absolutely everything he is in always no matter how horrible (Des was a particularly hard watch)

b) I had heard that GO was partially some of the original inspiration for Supernatural and I'll be a Supernatural slut til the end of time.

c) I love all things fantasy and it genuinely looked like a great show.

Whilst I loved the first season, the thing I loved about it, was Aziraphale and Crowley. I also very much enjoyed the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Angels and Demons, and Anathama and Madam Tracey as characters.

I hated the kids. They were bloody awful and on every rewatch I have done in the past few years I have had to skip over their scenes. I find them completely unwatchable. I found Newt to be boring and Shadwell a pain in the ass. I don't find that particular brand of misogyny funny so his scenes are also just painful for me. I loathed the fact that he ended up with Madam Tracey in the end, AND that she changed who she was completely for him. What the FUCK was that all about?

Anyway, now that that is off my chest, the point I am making is that the only thing I really enjoyed about Good Omens was Crowley and Aziraphales love story plus a few of the awesome female characters they had helping them. I also enjoyed the quirky narration by God which I think had a distinctly Douglas Adam's feel to it (which I believe was the vibe Terry and Neil were going for at the time).

I have always been of the opinion that it was GOs faithfullness to the book which let it down. I read the book after watching the show and whilst it was a good book, it dragged on in parts, spent too long focusing on the kids, and Aziraphale and Crowley weren't quite as lovable in book format as they were brought to life by DT and MS. To me, the book was a 6/10, the show a 7/10. I was a fan of AziraCrow and their love story. I did not, and have not ever, believed they were "canon" in season 1 (though i was loathed to admit this due to the rabidity of the fandoms insistence that they were - which was spurred on by Gaiman much to his own detriment).

So when GOS2 came around I had no expectations that it would kick off with AziraCrow being all lovey dovey and shacked up - having confessed their love and living together as life partners - as I genuinely believe some GO fans expected to be the case - after all these are the fans that insisted it was canon in season 1! Surely that means they'll be together in season 2 right?

Well obviously that wasn't the case. First mistake for Neil Gaiman - maybe don't spend 4 years trying to convince your fanbase that these characters are already together and in love if you are going to write a whole second season revolving around the fact that they still aren't together.

I was also really worried when GOS2 was announced that they'd bring back the bloody kids, and Shadwell, and the other season 1 characters. I was very much relieved when I heard that wasn't the case. As much as I enjoyed Madam Tracey, she was ruined at the end of S1, and as much as I liked Anathama, I was very aware that her story was over the moment she burned the new prophecy book.

So going into Season 2, I was expecting and hoping for a few things:

The romantic development of AziraCrow from friends to lovers

More time with the angels and demons

A fun lesbian side story

Technically, I got all three things.

I am aware that GOS2 has its flaws. It's pacings a bit dodgy, and I do find some of the dialogue a bit jarring particularly in the Maggie and Nina scenes. The entire season has this slightly saccharine quality to it where I feel like if I watch it too many times too quickly I'll get sick from the sweetness. There needed to be a little bit more gruesomeness and angst to counteract all that sugar - Zombie Nazi's notwithstanding.

The Maggie and Nina mirrors to Aziraphale and Crowley were more heavy handed than in a season 8 MOTW episode of Supernatural. I've made that joke before, but it still stands. I wish that Neil had been a bit more subtle with it. As much as I like Maggie and Nina, they could have used a bit more development and a bit of distance from Zira and Crowley. I did find the scene where they sit down with Crowley at the end to basically tell him to get his shit together and tell Zira how he feels like something out of a fangirls dream. Does anyone remember that really OTT gay Hallmark style Christmas movie that came out last year? Single All The Way? Gods, when I first watched that movie I thought it was sweet, but it was so obviously taken from fanfiction that I couldn't take it seriously (I say this as someone who adores fanfiction and has huge respect for fanfiction writers - but we all start somewhere, and its usually as a teenager writing really sappy YAOI and that's what I feel inspired Single All The Way - side note: Trixie and Katya's review of Single All The Way is one of the funniest things I've ever watched, nothing like watching two drag queens absolutely destroy queer media that was absolutely NOT written with gay men in mind)). Anyway, I mention SATW because there is a scene towards the end of the movie where two teenage girls sit the protagonist down and tell him that he's an idiot who is clearly in love with his best friend and he should go confess his love before its too late.

Look I'm sure we've all had that fantasy. I know I did when it came to Destiel for years. Nothing better than picturing myself standing in the bunker shaking Dean Winchester by the shoulders yelling at him to go kiss Castiel because goddammit that angel needs to know he's loved!

It's a great fantasy. But I DO NOT want to EVER see it played out for real in ANY media. When I realised that this was exactly what was happening in GOS2 I curled up into a ball and screamed into my hands, and not in a good way. That was... bad. Someone slap Neil on the wrist for that terrible decision. There were a dozen better ways they could have explained the AziraCrow miscommunication issue.

Having said all this, everything else about GOS2 I adored. There is criticism about the minisodes. Sure, they are totally expansions on the popularity of Season 1's episode 3 opener, and are rather self indulgent and not really connected to the main Gabriel mystery, but they are each of them an absolute blast. They dig deeper into AziraCrow's relationship and help to understand a bit more of their dynamic and the underlying issues that they have been facing for their entire friendship.

I totally understand where people may criticise the Gabriel/Beelzebub romance coming out of left field as well. It was totally unexpected and yeah, sure, Gabriel was basically the villain of season 1, so I can understand the irritation and him getting to have a happy ever after love story when he has never even apologised to Zira. But I gotta be honest, I don't really care. I thought it was hilarious and a fun twist as well as well as a much more subtle narrative mirror to AziraCrow than Maggie and Nina were. You can accuse Neil of taking that idea from fans if you want, its totally possible that he came across some ineffable beurocracy fanart and thought huh, that could be fun. But I don't care if he did, or if it did come to him completely separately to the fans. I never shipped them, but I find it hilarious in the same way I find the Dean/Crowley ship in SPN hilarious. That went canon too, much to the horror of the entire SPN fandom. NO ONE ASKED FOR DROWLEY and yet they inflicted it on us anyway... I'll never quite get over that fact.

As for Aziraphale's characterisations. I disagree with everyone who says he was out of character. I love that he's still struggling with the idea of not being part of heaven. I love that he is still dealing with the millennia of abuse and brainwashing and manipulation. I love that he still hasn't quite grasped the tyranny and institutional corruption at Heaven's heart. I found the end of season 1 to be very satisfying in a lot of ways (other than the lack of handholding in the Ritz) but when I really think about it, Season 1 really doesn't resolve Zira's issues with Heaven. He get's discorporated, decides he doesn't want to fight, goes back to Earth and then he's dealing with the apocalypse and he never actually has any communication with Heaven again after that, because it's Crowley who goes to Heaven in his place and witnesses just how cruel they are (at least Hell gave Crowley a trial).

Nothing happens at the end of season 1 that could be enough to break him away from 6000 years of cult-like indoctrination. He still puts it down to a few bad angels. He never actually talks to God, and whilst the Metatron disappoints him, its very easy to believe that Zira would change his mind after receiving a few kind words, and the promise of restoring Crowley to full angelhood.

Crowley was perfect throughout the entire season. 10/10. No notes. Absolutely utter perfection. Outstanding performance from DT, I laughed, I cried, I wept, I desperately want to hug Crowley and let him cry on my shoulder for an entire night.

Other things I adored about the season include the entirety of episode 5 The Ball. My fave episode. It was so silly and adorable and funny. The entire "Seamstress" conversation had me rolling with laughter. Shout out to Donna Preston (Our girl Despair) who absolutely stole every scene she was in. Miranda Richardson shines as Shax (an excellent choice to recast her as a new character after the butchering of Madam Tracey's character at the end of S1). I think Muriel was a bit underutilised but still loved their wide eyed innocence and naivity.

The biggest thing I think was missing was Francis McDormand's narration as God. They brought her back for episode 2 for a very minor role, I don't understand why Neil couldn't have just had God narrate it again, with more Douglas Adams crossed with Monty Python style sequences of explanation (the angels dancing on the head of a pin is one of my absolute favourite moments in all of season 1). I presume that God's narration in S1 was to ensure the books more abstract explanations got faithfully adapted, but I wish Neil could have at least tried to recreate that for S2.

Finally, the AziraCrow romance was almost exactly what I hoped for. All the way through the season they built on it and built on it, whilst also shedding light on the fundamental issues at their core. They are still so opposite even though they want nothing more than to be together. It's heartbreaking, it's shippy AF, its all romance tropes and fanservice sure - but I don't consider fanservice to be a dirty word. The kiss is heartbreaking. You can feel the desperation oozing off of Crowley in that moment. The heartbreaking cliffhanger is exactly what's needed at the end of act 2 of a 3 act structure. If we had been given the episodes week by week, i fully believe by week 6 we would have been more prepared for it, because after rewatching a few times now, its built in rather seemlessly imo. It was always gonna end that way.

When I consider everything, I can honestly say hand on heart that I preferred this season to the first. Though that's only because season 1 doesn't have enough AziraCrow in it and I'm ultimately here for them. This season was made for the AziraCrow fans, so it makes sense that I'd prefer it, whereas I suppose for book lovers and people who prefer the story of book 1 to the relationship between Az and Crow then yeah, for sure I can see why perhaps you wouldn't be too happy with this season. Perhaps Season 3 will be a better blend for all GO fans.

It was a joy. Fanservice? Yes. A bit like fanfiction? Also yes. Are either of these things bad? Not at all. It was extremely queer, fun, silly, romantic, and heartbreaking. The lack of overarching domineering plot was a good thing tbh. Some of my favourite shows focus more on character development than plot, look at WWDITS, which has never had a proper plot in a single episode of its 5 season run. Yet it is hugely successful and critically acclaimed. Half the time in Supernatural the plot was the absolute worst thing about it. You ignored the plot as much as possible and instead focused on the subtext because that's where all the fun was! So yeah, the lack of overarching plot doesn't bother me in the slightest.

I will leave it there. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, though I do wish that anyone who is particularly critical of GOS2 would please tag it as such, because now I've done my dive into the critique of it, I'd like to avoid and blacklist all such critique going forward. I want to remain in my little GOS2 happy bubble for a while longer - before I inevitably revert back into deep meta analysis of the much darker, and sometimes depressing story of The Sandman.

#good omens #good omens season 2 #good omens season 2 review #GOS2 #good omens season 2 spoilers #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowley #neil gaiman #good omens meta #good omens meta review

24 notes · View notes

mothmans-wedding-photographer · 8 months

Text

Ok. So when this book was first announced, I was really excited. I loved Riverstar! And returning to DotC would be nice. But I'm disappointed with what we got with this.

My biggest problem was the way this book removed all the mystery surrounding River Ripple and replaced it with not only the most boring possible option but actively contradicting what was said in DotC. RR has actually not spent seasons longer in the forest territories than the mountain cats; he's there for a year-ish before they come, half of the time locked up in a twoleg nest. He also doesn't have a past relationship (not saying romantically, though that could've been really interesting) with One Eye like he says he does in Dawn of the Clans.

The worst part of this is the fact that River Ripple apparently DIDNT LEARN TO SWIM UNTIL BOOK 2 OF DAWN OF THE CLANS. This guy, with his supposed great connection to the river, had to be taught to swim by Night. What. Why. I would've preffered if, say, RR had always taken an interest in water, perhaps learning to swim at the park.

We also don't see any of how Park life was for the cats, since the book opens up with the park getting destroyed. I was really looking forward to learning more about that, but oh well I guess. We hear about the meditation but that's it, though I did like how that was a reoccurring ritual during the book.

Slash is the worst Warriors villain and I hate that he was in this book, much less the main problem for the last third. Kind of girlboss of Finch to kill him though.

Both of Riverstar's romances felt forced. Flutter is barely even a character and I think Finch would've been better off as his friend. Though I will give credit where credit is due, Night and RR's friendship is really sweet. And I'm glad they make it completely clear that it's entirely platonic. I'm so used to Warriors and literature in general not just letting a man and a woman just be friends.

I hate that Riverstar didn't have to give up anything to be with Finch, whereas she had to abandon her father, her previous children, and the life she enjoyed. There's also scenes where Riverstar orders her to do things or dismisses her worries? Which feels very uncomfortable.

I think that first half RR and last half RR feel like two different characters. First half feels so much more distinct and last half feels like just Some Guy.

I wish we had more of Riverstar being a reluctant leader, the book implied it was going that way but never commited. I wish he told cats to keep calling him River Ripple instead of Riverstar, eventually warming up to the name by the end of the book, and I wished he tried to skip gathering like it was said he did in an earlier book (I forget which one)

I LOVE DRIZZLE! She's super awesome, with such a prominent personality and funny lines. She's a new favourite for sure. And Night was awesome. I did wish some of the loners came back, I wanted to see more of Cleo and her children. I wanted her to leave her shitty husband who let her and the kids wander around in the wilderness because he didn't feel like loosing his soft bed. Also I liked Whistle.

What was up with Hawk? He feels like such a loose end. Why did they just not use him again. Riverstar could've turned him nice as part of his character arc and a show of his leadership style.

Justice for Flutter. She's the worst case of fridging in this whole series. She didn't even have a single line until after her death. And I loved seeing Skystar get his ass kicked.

Overall, a disappointment, but with some great moments.

#riverstar's home #mothman's liveread #riverstar's home spoilers #did i mention i love Drizzle #i love Night too

10 notes · View notes

shadowed-dancer · 2 years

Text

Thoughts on Episode 116 (S6 E3)

Festering feathers, haunting Hawks, and Toga and Twice. Let’s talk about it

Yeah I know I didn't do one of these last week but shhhh it's fine

Spoiler free for the manga. I technically quote one line that will be in the next episode, but it's not spoiling anything we don't already know

This episode man... I had 2 years to prepare and I still managed to get misty eyed

Also it's wild that Twice's death is no longer a manga-spoiler

I kind of liked that they focused on the hero stuff at the beginning. In the manga the scene of Hawks holding Twice at knife-point (feather-point?) is right after Kaminari's moment, but I really liked that they let the heroes do their thing without interruption. It made both the hero scene and the Twice-Hawks interaction flow really well. Great change, bravo to whoever made that decision

I know some people are calling this episode "a slideshow" and like... sure you're technically right. But I thought it all looked quite nice. Plus, some of the stiff moments felt justified to me (like how are you supposed to put action when the scene is "guy is on the ground not moving"?)

I also think they did enough intercutting of animation with "slideshow" to make it less offensive. It's not the Mirio battle, at the very least

Tokoyami. That's it, that's the thought

Dang, they really animated Hawks about to stab his feather sword down (right before Dabi bursts in). I was scared they were gonna strip Hawks of any darker moments and make the whole scene feel like a heroic thing, but that was great. It adds to the complexity of the scene and doesn't let him get off easy

Dabi pretty. Whoever animated him this episode, give them a raise. Like they even got the texture and details of his scars! Sometimes he looks so flat (ahem, preview for next week) but this looked great

They cut the scene of him going up there stairs, but I think it worked better this way. In the manga, that was a chapter's cliffhanger. But here? I like it so much better that Dabi bursts in all unexpected. And I LOVE that he says his line about not blaming Twice OUT LOUD TO TWICE. 10/10 change

The actual stabbing scene... ok let me tell you a bit of an embarrassing story. When I first read this chapter most of the war arc had already come out, so I was able to read the chapters back to back. And when I read this one... I hadn't realized Twice died. Seriously. I went to the next chapter, saw the "is that the face of a man who just watched his friend die?" line, and did a double take. I went through the chapter 5 times, scanning every single page, before I realized THAT was when the real Twice died. Please don't judge me

Anyways, I think the anime did a pretty good job clarifying that. The music cues help catch your attention, there's the moment of hesitation before we see Hawks posed to strike in the flames, all that good stuff. I do wish THAT scene hadn't been a still frame, but then again I can't say I'd want to watch Twice be actively stabbed in the back

I do like that they focus in on his body afterwards without having it be too graphic. Yes. Good. Show us. Give us clarification

The Toga scene broke me. Twice's clone "crying" but it's actually him melting? Beautiful

The ending. THE ENDING. They didn't have to change that, but they did and I loved it. The sound I made when I saw it was so funny too. Like a half sob-half choking sound

I'm curious to see if/how the ed changes throughout the season. I could definitely see them doing something new for the adaptation of chapter 290. I don't think I'd want it to change every time, but a couple times for the big moments would be awesome

Overall? Great episode despite the heartbreak

#bnha #bnha season 6 #bnha twice #jin bubaigawara #dabi #bnha hawks #keigo takami

38 notes · View notes

starlsssankt · 1 year

Text

// okay, I think I'm (semi) coherent on this, but far warning: it might get a bit rambly...

under a cut AND tagged because I will be spilling and spoiling things. (and it's bound to get a bit long)

Overall, I'd rate the season as very good. It had moments that I didn't feel invested in, but like, as long as you look at it as a separate entity from the books, it's actually entertaining. I know it felt rushed, (I had the same problem with it, myself) but I can see some of their reasons.

--Netflix might cancel (because they're stupid), and this way they at least got the main storyline in

--A lot of the last two books, if I remember correctly, was quiet contemplation, Alina's thoughts, things that can be shown on screen almost instantly, but take paragraphs and pages to do in a book.

Plus, there was almost no down time. Never a moment to breathe, which kept the pace going--even if it was a little too fast for me (and a lot of others, I see)

I've left different thoughts as I watched through the season over on my personal, so this is mostly dealing with "overall" and "last episode" thoughts.

She really did a shadow Cut at the end! That is a) interesting, b) foreboding, and c) a MUCH better ending for Alina (IMO) than the book one--losing powers and a quiet, contemplative life.

Does the Shadow Cut mean he's still floating around somehow? There's still an essence in the air? Because they did the infection of Nikolai (and for a moment I swore they weren't going to do it, we were running out of time), which leaves things OPEN for plotlines of the KoS duology to be incorporated. -shrug-

I love that they gave her a purpose OTHER than "quiet life with Mal in the country". I can't stress that enough. I get the love story, I do (I'm not the biggest fan but I GET it, okay), but like-- Mal needed a purpose outside Alina and Alina needed one outside of Mal.

They actually IMPROVED parts of the book in that ending, I admit.

Baghra. Was. Awesome. Her death (while I'm not sure which version I like the most) was something that had the impact it needed to. You didn't have Alina quietly contemplating that she feels Aleksander's pain, but you SAW it in Ben's performance.

Loved the way the show showed merzost eating him up. Destroying him. That it was in his blood this entire time, and by the end, he couldn't even control it-- That it was too overpowering and I just-- I had some HCs about that, and the show just took it to a whole other level.

I DO think I preferred Aleksander's death scene in the books, though, overall speaking. It was a quieter moment with Alina, not an audience, and the whole "just a boy" contemplation she does... I liked that in the book.

Jack-as-Wylan (and Lewis Tan as Tolya, all of the new cast but those were my faves) literally walked off the page and onto the screen.

I still love how the show basically has the Crows saving the world. What would they have done without them?!

And they didn't even give Genya & David ONE FREAKING MOMENT of happiness and peace? That's one thing the books did well--even if they killed David eventually, at least he and Genya got married and had some peaceful happy times before he died.

Ten is a nice number to stop at yeah? hah. I could probably ramble on more, and there's bound to be things I forgot, but like... that's where I'm at.

#ooc chatter / shut up megan #sab spoilers #spoilers #// this has not been proofread so read at your own risk

6 notes · View notes

moiloru · 2 years

Text

😶Komi Can't Communicate Review!😶

Hello again, everyone! Welcome to a new anime review! Today, I'll be talking about Komi Can't Communicate, one very wholesome anime!

Before anything, I'd like to gift this review to my friend @meekymia, who recommends pretty much every anime I watch, and to whom this anime means a lot.

So, Komi Can't Communicate is a (sort of) romcom, even if the comedy aspects are way more obvious than the romance ones. So far, this Netflix exclusive has two seasons of twelve episodes each, with S1 having aired in 2021, so very recently.

When I first read the summary of this anime's plot, I thought this was going to be a lot like the movie A Silent Voice, given the focus on the main character's communication struggles. However, and to my surprise, this anime is much more lighthearted and funny.

Anime, much like TV, movies, newspapers, or social media, is a great medium to raise awareness about a specific cause. Here, Komi Can't Communicate shows the struggle of someone suffering from sociophobia, AKA extreme social anxiety.

What this anime does extremely well is raising awareness without being difficult to watch. It won't make you feel bad, but rather make you sympathize by showing you how you can help someone who's struggling with sociophobia, which I think is awesome!

Now, this anime barely has any plot, let's be honest. Komi, the title character, has one goal, and the anime is a succession of slice-of-life scenes showing her working towards accomplishing said goal. It's not much in terms of plot, but it's still good.

Still, it has a few powerful moments, and I was caught off-guard by the very first episode which had me tear up! I do slightly regret that there were not many more emotional scenes, but maybe that's for the future.

I personally preferred the first season because I thought it had more moments that actually made the plot progress. Season Two has a few more filler scenes, which are good, but not great. Still, these are still few and far between.

The cast of characters is really good in this anime. The main trio is a joy to watch, and the side characters all bring something that will make you smile. They're not good characters on their own, but they just fit into the story.

Character development only concerns the main character in this anime, but it's done well. This anime's main strength, though, is the dynamics between the characters, which are purely wholesome and hilarious. It'll, without a doubt, put a smile on your face.

This anime also has nice music, and a very homey ambiance, if that makes sense. You just feel comfortable watching it and it will put you at ease. Both openings are great, too.

Visually, this anime has a stunning style. It fits perfectly with the story, and it's gorgeous to look at. In particular, the character design is beautiful and super cute.

Overall... this anime, even if it has flaws, means a lot to me, too. I recommend you watch it, if only to understand a little more what some people might be struggling with in their lives. It's wholesome, and I cannot wait for a third season.

Down below is the tierlist for the characters in this anime! Thank you for reading this review!

#komi can't communicate #komi san wa komyushou desu #shouko komi #tadano hitohito #osana najimi #anime #anime review #tierlist #tier list

11 notes · View notes

emotionalsupporthandle · 3 months

Text

After finishing the Percy Jackson series last night I had a lot of thoughts. And idk if they're hot takes or not. But I need to get my feelings out or I'll combust. So, here it goes.

I had A LOT of hope for this show, and a lot of faith in it. PJO is something that, to me, had all the elements needed for a good adaptation and just hadn't been handled with care previously. So when it was announced that Rick would be working on this, I was sold. I knew he would never let it be anything but a dream come true. But I've got to be honest, it wasn't a dream come true - at least not for me. And some of that might be because it was my first favorite series and has such a special place in my heart, and some of that might be because I'm not a kid anymore. I think it's more than that, though.

I thought the casting was EXCELLENT. I want to say that now. The cast was so so so so perfect, i couldn't have hoped for anything better! The trio are so perfect for their characters I could squeal. Sally? Amazing. Mr. D? I wish we had more, but he killed it with every appearance. Chiron - awesome. Poseidon - 10/10. I was so happy with casting.

I was also really pleased with the characterization. There were some changes, but I thought they were good updates. I really appreciate that Grover felt more fleshed out than he did in the first book. I loved all the extra seasoning we got between Percy and his mom. I could watch a show that's just the 2 of them navigating his childhood. I even really liked the way they did Hades for the series. He feels very dark and serious in the books, and I liked the way they played it a little lighter while keeping the same sentiment of "fuck off kid. I look out for no one especially not you." So all the characters kicked ass.

What I didn't like was the pacing. The show was episode length/number of episodes. The episodes either needed to be longer, or there needed to be more of them. They should have all been an even 45min-1hr, or there should have been like 10 eps. It felt rushed on a timeline that's already tight to begin with. It felt too fast, and I feel like a lot of great scenes and moments had to be cut or trimmed down to be able to make things finish on their puny 35min 8 ep timeline. And that made me so frustrated. Which brings me to my biggest beef.

The show was not very fun/funny. And that hurt me the most. These books have so much heart, and they are so fun to read and they're so funny. And the show was very much written for drama. Everything was just so gd dramatic and I feel like a lot of the fun was taken out and that really hurt me deeply. I've noticed this with a lot of adaptations recently, where they want something that makes "good tv" but they end up just making it feel one note. What makes the books so engaging, and I think would have made the show more engaging, is the silliness. The stupid jokes, the little scenes of them just being kids through it all. There were still some jokes, sure, but it felt like it was lacking a lot of its original goofiness. And I think part of that comes from not hearing Percy's POV, but that could have been made up for in more little jokes or silly bits. And if we're maintaining that the target audience for the show is the same as the books were, then it shouldn't have been as serious and dramatic as they made it. These 12 year old kids don't care if it's dramatic - they want to have fun watching it. And that's where I may just be an old lady disconnected from the youths now, but it didn't feel right for that audience. But maybe it didn't feel right in that respect because I'm not that audience.

I understand that 1:1 book to screen adaptations don't work. I'm not an adaptation hater at all. I've seen some excellent adaptations. I even enjoyed some of the changes made in this show! But overall this one fell flat for me. It was just entirely too serious the whole time. It was really frustrating. I went into with such an open heart and mind, and I had full faith in Rick. I wanted to love it so so so bad. It really hurt that I didn't. I felt so guilty that I didn't enjoy it.

Anyway, that's all. Thanks for listening to me ramble.

1 note · View note

themovieblogonline · 11 months

Text

Citadel Season Finale Wraps Up A Great New Spy Thriller Series

Citadel on Prime is one of the biggest shows of the year. In terms of budget, at least. The Russo Brothers produced new series is an action spy thriller that looked to be the next big thing. And while it didn’t exactly live up to those exact expectations, it’s still a pretty awesome show. The huge sprawling concept behind the series lends itself well to the action-packed blockbuster that it ultimately becomes. And the Citadel season finale sets up a lot more to come! Citadel Season Finale Concludes An Awesome New Show The Citadel TV series is all about an unprecedented spy organization working outside of national borders to safeguard the world. However, as with any spy organization, there’s an opposing group of just as skilled and dangerous spies who are their mortal enemies. The series begins with a mission on a train as our leads Mason Kane (Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) reunite to stop some eminent threat. After an action-packed encounter, the two realize that their entire organization is targeted and they were betrayed. After an explosion leaves Mason amnesiac, with no memory of his spy life, we see him living a suburban life with his new wife and kid years later. However, the past does not stay buried and his old life comes knocking, with disastrous results. The series sees Mason, now rechristened as Kyle after the explosion, having to try to remember his old skill set in order to protect his family. But the Citadel season finale reveals so much more that audiences never see coming. What Works In The Citadel TV Series Citadel in many ways is a brand new spy thriller in the vein of the James Bond and Mission Impossible movies. It takes the best part of all those franchises and creates something brand new. It’s like a mix of a spy thriller and a superhero show. The high-fi tech details of the show are something directly out of a Bond movie, while the outfits and action sequences are very much like an MCU film. The action is actually very good, with quick cuts and some close-quarters fighting along with some awesome chases and gunfights. Every episode of Citadel is almost like a video game, where the player has to complete a complicated mission with checkpoints and twists and turns as they go. The story itself is also quite interesting, with a lot of mystery and some unexpected plot twists. The Runtime Of The Citadel TV Series Is Its Saving Grace Despite all of this, Citadel on Prime still has some issues. Overall, some of the dialogues, and story elements require a bigger suspension of disbelief than usual. There are some lines that feel very cheesy and hammy. Some of the plot points are a little iffy and raise more questions than answers. But the saving grace comes in the form of its very impressive run-time. With only a 6-episode season, every episode of Citadel is roughly around 40 minutes, which is really what makes the show so engaging. The lean episode run time makes every scene pivotal and the pacing is incredibly tight and effective. Even if something doesn’t work, the story moves at breakneck speeds, forcing audiences to get over any criticism quite quickly. It also makes the series incredibly binge-able. Citadel Season Finale Sets Up A Lot More To Come Citadel also works because of its overall viewing experience. Despite some issues with story and execution, it's a very fun show with some incredible performances. While the story is from the point of view of Madden’s Kyle/Mason, the real star of the show is Chopra-Jonas’ Nadia. As Madden does a great job go being the chisel-jawed amnesiac, with a perpetual neutral expression, and some strong moments during flashbacks, Chopra steals the show! The Citadel season finale pays off a lot of plot points set up during the series. But what’s incredible is how good Chopra-Jonas is here. The story gives her a range of emotions to play with. Everything from sexy and capable super spy, to a betrayed and broken woman with nothing left to lose. The range she shows is pretty amazing. Not to mention the action sequences really showcase her ability to kick butt. And seeing how it’s a Russo Brothers’ production, the action sequences are actually done very well. A Fun An Entertaining Series That’s Worth The Watch Ultimately, Citadel is not going to be the polished and perfect spy franchise with tight storytelling and flawless executions. So far, at least. But it’s still highly enjoyable seeing good-looking stars kicking butt and taking names. And in the case of Chopra-Jonas, even flexing some acting chops to showcase emotional vulnerability along with physical strength. The action and storytelling are dizzyingly intriguing. The twists and turns will keep audiences guessing at every turn. And at the end of the day, it’s a 6 episode series that is insanely binge-able! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0JG6V-12ac Check out Citadel on Prime Video today! What did you think of the Citadel season finale and the series overall? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter at @theshahshahid. Read the full article

0 notes

spectral-kitkat · 3 years

Text

Miraculous Rant.

Where the hell do I begin…

Season 1:

The show was decent in season 1. Some episodes were just mindless filler and probably weren’t needed in the grand scheme of things but they helped us get introduced to the characters, we got to know the plot and the world our characters inhabit. It was good. The love story between Adrien and Marinette was cute and off to a touching and fluffy start.

Season 2:

This season was immediately better than season 1. It had character development, it went more into detail about the lore surrounding the Miraculous and we got to learn more about our characters and their families and the villian’s motives. (HM really went from “I wanna destroy the world” to “I wanna wake my wife from the coma she’s in”).

We got to see new heroes which was fun! We got new characters like Luka and Kagami.

The season finale was epic! The Miraculous team all taking down all the previous villains in the show was awesome. At the end we even got Mari kissing Adrien on the cheek. It was great! (Even though it clearly reset itself in season 3 cause it’s never mentioned again)

I really enjoyed season 2 and it’s probably my favourite out of the 4.

Season 3:

Season 3 was kinda good and kinda bad. We had some great episodes but this is where the show took the wrong turn.

Marinette lost some of her character in season 3. This was the start of her descent into being the Queen of Mary Sues. It’s also where she was crowned the Queen of Stalkers! Her character took a fucking nose dive in this season. We had so many moments that just creeped me the fuck out.

1. The ENTIRETY of Puppeteer 2 🤢🤢🤢 I could not stand that episode. When we reached the dreaded statue scene I physically had to pause it like 10 times. That scene takes about 3 minutes to watch… it took me about 20. I cringed so fucking hard because of the secondhand embarrassment I was feeling. That was not sweet, it wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t the least bit cute… it was a train wreck! It was creepy and stalkerish and it’s a wonder Adrien even spoke to her again after that atrocity!

2. LB delivering the present in Chat Blanc. Two words: STALKER BEHAVIOUR!!! I genuinely could not believe my eyes when I saw LB run her hand across everything in his room and then actually SNIFF Adrien’s pillow. Like WTF!!! 🤮 I’m pretty sure whoever was responsible for that scene clearly thought it was the equivalent of when someone gets their S/O’s jumper or something and it still smells like them. But this turned it up to the nth degree and way passed the line of sanity.

Adrien was extremely under-utilised in this season. He didn’t really do anything. The only episodes we got about him didn’t really focus on him. ‘Felix’ whilst focusing on Adrien’s family didn’t really feature him. ‘Party Crasher’ while a beautiful mess was more about Mari trying to get into the party than the party itself. ‘Chat Blanc’ again focused more on Mari trying to fix her mistake.

We got even more heroes in season 3, not in the right order but they were there. It was fun seeing everyone’s transformations.

Season 3 was also the season of destroying redemptions. The big one obviously being Chloe. Season 2 was setting up this amazing redemption for her and before it could go anywhere it was wiped off the face of the earth during the finale (and don’t worry we’ll get to that dumpster fire later). Gabriel also had any remaining sympathy ripped away from him. How did the guy who stopped Gorizilla from letting Adrien die when he only thought he was CN go from that to using his son like fucking baseball in Chat Blanc when he knew his son was CN. Like I knew you were a shit father but you still cared about Adrien in some way shape or form but after that episode I can see I was clearly mistaken!

Before we get to the finale I want to talk about probably my 2 least favourite episodes from this season: Desperada and Reflekdoll

Desperada:

I fucking hated this episode! The only good thing was Luka getting to be Viperion, other than that this episode was awful!

Marinette was a selfish cringey bitch. Completely ignoring Luka to gush about Adrien to Jagged. Brushing Luka off as soon as Adrien turns up. Immediately cuddling up to Aspik and flirting with him when she needed to focus on the akuma (something which she has told CN not to do many times before)

Adrien, I love you kid but Jesus Christ you were a dumbass in this episode! Aspik’s design was terrible! Aspik himself was awful. I know Adrien tried his best but dude you were given the Black Cat miraculous for a reason! He shouldn’t have tried to be Aspik but even when he did he should’ve called it quits after like 5 resets not 25,913 times.

The only person with a brain this episode was Luka. So well done guitar boy, gold star!

Reflekdoll:

This episode was annoying! It was basically the start of the Marinette can do no wrong streak! When they have to swap miraculous I was happy cause it meant we got to see new outfits and see how they each handle the different powers. It would also serve as a way to get LB and CN to see what their partners role is first hand. Until we actually get to it…

LadyNoire is of course amazing and needs no introduction to using this new miraculous that she’s never used before. She’s cocky and confident and basically just LB in Chat’s costume with his powers.

Mister Bug on the other hand is just useless. He struggles with this new miraculous (like anyone would!) and is stupid and goofy. He has to rely on LadyNoire to solve the lucky charm. They swapped miraculous so shouldn’t that mean that Mister Bug should get the lucky vision and the creative powers that the earrings give him.

Overall Reflekdoll is awful. It was shitty writing and the start of Adrien getting the short end of the stick.

And now the season 3 finale… Just what the fuck. That is my only reaction: what the fuck!

Chloe you poor fucking child! What did they do to you!!! So much potential SQUANDERED!!!!

What was the point in bringing in all these different superheros with unique skill sets, costumes and transformations if you were just going to immediately reveal them to the main villian so they can’t be used again. That’s stupid! If you wanted the shock value that is “Oh no HM knows some of the heroes identities!” Then keep it as only some. Have like Max, Kim and Kagami outside trying to find somewhere to hide but unfortunately they get hit. Or Nino and Alya are hiding but the windows open and they get hit. Have some of the heroes hide so they’re fine! Taking away every ally of LB and CN’s was a stupid move! (Even if they wanted Alya to become a spy have her as part of the like 4 that get revealed or something, it’s not that difficult)

Season 3 was 50/50 for me

Season 4:

So I know season 4 isn’t even halfway through yet but so much is wrong with this season already that I need to vent!

So my biggest problem with this season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybitch and Rena Rouge, I mean Rena Furtive… shit, Chat Noir! Is that CN is basically pointless! Adrien has been flung over a rainbow and is only remembered when he’s needed as

1. Marinette’s love interest

2. Someone for LB to shout at

3. A plot device

He has basically been sidelined. Partners my ASS!!!

Adrien is being blown off by pretty much EVERYONE! It’s coming to a point where this poor sweet summer child is going to crack! And it is not gonna be pretty… I definitely feel like the writers are leading up to a big fight between CN and LB which will probably end with Chat Blanc 2.0.

I REALLY HATE MARINETTE/LADYBUG!!!! In Season 3 I said it was the beginning of her descent, well in season 4 she’s done it. She’s descended, she has hit rock fucking bottom. She is so unlikable I don’t actually care about her as a person. She has entered full blown stalker territory it’s only a matter of time before she starts killing people for even looking at Adrien! Not to mention that Miss Mary Sue here can’t do anything wrong! She never has to suffer the consequences of her actions, she is always perfect no matter what she does… it pisses me off!)

She’s the Guardian now big whoop. I know what it feels like to be stressed and under pressure so I do understand why she needed to tell someone about it all. I just don’t see why that person had to Alya! Especially considering she has someone by her side every akuma attack going through pretty much the exact same thing. I know she’s worried about CB happening again but as I said before the more she leaves him out the more she is actually pushing that to become a possibility! Plus it makes sense for them to reveal their identities now since LB is now the guardian it’s probably a good idea to know who holds the cat miraculous, she knows everyone else’s identities!

Even if she didn’t want to tell CN her identity she could still explain the situation to him. If she didn’t want to tell him anything (which she doesn’t anyway) then instead of Alya she should’ve talked to Luka! Her boyfriend for all of half an episode (thanks writers…). He’s so sweet and caring and clearly loves her so much! If she wanted someone to confide in then why not choose the person you clearly wanted to date but couldn’t because of that very reason! (Yeah I know it’s kinda a moot point now since Luka knows both identities but still). He wanted to try and comfort her so it would’ve been the perfect moment for it. That way you could still date him and he’d know why you had to suddenly leave dates halfway through! But no break the boys heart instead!

Adrien and Marinette were both such fucking idiots in the first 2 episodes. Like why would you start a relationship with someone when you know your heart isn’t in it! That’s called leading someone on and is a really shitty thing to do to someone! No wonder Kagami and Luka ended up akumatized!

Another aspect of season 4 I don’t like is Rena Furtive. Yes ok having a spy for your side is a good strategy but when said spy basically tells an important member of a duo that the 2 person job doesn’t involve them… it just really ticks me off! Alya you are the sidekick to LB and CN! Chat isn’t!

Miraculous specials:

The Miraculous World specials suck! Shanghai is better than NY but still has its problems. Both specials add nothing to the overall plot/lore of the show apart from trying to set up some weird cinematic universe…

NY special:

One of the worst things I’ve ever had to sit through! The plane scene alone I paused a few times. I want to say well done to Mari for trying to move on from Adrien (especially considering I’m pretty sure she’s dating Luka at this point) but I can’t help but think it’s just to give her character some pointless development that goes nowhere and doesn’t actually develop anything!

LB can pretty much fuck off at this point! I hate her! She put all this shit on CN (like she doesn’t know exactly how that feels). It’s like why does she get to go off on holiday but CN can’t. LB should’ve stayed in Paris for 3 reasons:

1. She’s recently become the guardian meaning it would probably be best that she stayed with the Mircle Box

2. She’s the only one who can purity the akumas

3. If she’s so sure about being the boss then she should take responsibility of Paris and the citizens.

What really pisses me off about her is what she says to CN during the big fight. “I can’t trust you”… surely you could have this conversation afterwards since you’re supposed to be focusing on taking down the villian! Plus everyone bashes Adrien for giving his miraculous up in this episode but look at it from his point of view: His partner and best friend just said she couldn’t trust him which in turn caused him to cataclysm someone and essentially kill them. That’s gonna take a toll on anyone, especially a 14 year old! He probably thought in that moment. “Ladybug needs a partner she can trust and someone who won’t mess up and kill someone. She needs a better partner.” It makes sense he renounces his miraculous! I’m just upset that in doing so he loses Plagg who is pretty much his only friend who actually understands what Adrien goes through at home.

When Uncanny gets CN to come back, LB acts like it’s not her fault in the first place that he feels inadequate! She didn’t even apologise for saying what she did! He apologised for lying about not being in Paris but nope LB wasn’t in the wrong at all and didn’t have anything to apologise for 🙄… (yes the LadyNoir hug was amazing but I just wish it was under different circumstances!)

Also are we not gonna mention Gabriel Agreste almost starting WW3??? He wanted to launch a fucking missile!!!

Shanghai:

As I said before, this special is way better for several reasons.

We got MariChat! (Best side to the love square imo). This special actually had some semblance on a plot. Fei, whilst a bit op, was a cool character. It was nice to see Wang Cheng again.

However once again there were many problems.

A big one being Marinette yet again! (What a shock! 😒 I’ll come back to this). Another was that once again HM’s motivation has changed. How is getting the Prodigious gonna help bring back Emilie??

Back to Marinette… The fact that the words “Huh?! There must be some kind of mistake! I always know what's up with Adrien! … His 5 first names and every corresponding name date, his yearly schedule, even his shoe size! If there were anything to know about him, I would know it!” come out of her mouth whilst she is flipping through his schedule that she keeps in her pocketbook is a hugh red flag!!! That is not cute or adorable! That’s messed up and Adrien needs to fucking run and maybe possibly go into witness protection… Marinette is a full blown stalker! Not to mention the GPS she has (that could just be the find my friends app on iphone but still).

It also is extremely rude of her to use not only her great uncle’s birthday but also a lie about wanting to know her Chinese heritage in order to go to Shanghai to stalk her obsession, I mean crush. This could’ve been avoided if the Dupain-Chengs were going to Shanghai for the purpose of celebrating Wang Cheng’s bday and then Adrien just so happened to be in Shanghai.

Also this means LB left Paris without telling CN! I know CN did the same but again he can’t purify the akumas. Plus he has a reason he couldn’t stay in Paris, Mari just went cause her crush did. Great guardianship there Marinette.

This was also the last time CN actually did something. Even if it was for a short while before LB and her female partner took over (the beginning of a theme…)

Other things:

There are 2 other things that I wanna say but felt they needed a separate bit.

In Furious Fu, Su-Han has a rule book that he uses to tell Marinette which rules she has broken. At the end of the episode he tells her that is she breaks 1 more rule that he will take the Miraculous and the Miracle Box off her, which fair enough but wouldn’t it be helpful to leave the rule book with her?! How can she be wary of not breaking anymore rules when she doesn’t even know what the rules are??

Now the big one: Master Fu…

Where do I even start with him. He is so fucking manipulative!! He is Asian Dumbledore!

He decides to leave these extremely powerful jewels in the hands of 13 year olds! Surely leaving the miraculous to someone in their 20s would’ve been better!

He clearly favours LB over CN even though the Ladybug and Black Cat are supposed to be partners! Wouldn’t it make sense for them both to be in contact with the guardian from the start?? He randomly started introducing rules such as if LB and CN find out each other’s identities they would lose their miraculous… what kind of bullshit rule is that? It also came out of fucking nowhere!

Final Thoughts:

But to summarise all of that: Miraculous is on quite a steep decline but I’m invested at this point and I am genuinely curious as to where the fuck this will go.

Marinette needs professional fucking help before the writers even consider canonising Adrienette cause at the moment she is not what Adrien needs!

Adrien needs to stand up for himself! He needs to pull LB to the side and tell her what he feels and what he’s going through cause he is on the precipice of a breakdown!

(Small point that’s more to do with the fandom: when searching for fanfics it’s really annoying that Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Bashing is a tag but Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug Bashing isn’t. Why does everyone think Marinette can do no wrong???)

#miraculous fandom #miraculous ladybug #miraculous salt #adrien agreste #marinette dupen chang #marinette salt #master fu salt #ladybug and chat noir #fandom salt #thomas astruc salt #adrien deserves better #miraculous season 4 #miraculous season 3 #miraculous rant

296 notes · View notes

ramblingguy54 · 2 years

Text

Reaching Out: Luz’s Inner Grief

The Owl House continues to impress me just when I presume to be ready for the next huge dramatic thing it’ll throw my way, but fucking hell this scene was an absolutely crushing moment. Reaching Out isn’t solely an excellent episode for Luz’s characterization, rather it’s what this seriously re-contextualizes for any involvement in episodes like Echoes of the Past & Yesterday’s Lie. Luz all this time has been hiding the pain of never knowing what it’s like to grow up and have a relationship with a parental father figure. She promised King they would find his father because in a sense this was her way of trying to give herself closure, if at all possible. If Luz could help a good friend, or little brother, get a chance to live some life she was robbed of before her’s really got going, then maybe that would be enough. However, seeing Amity determined to get a better understanding what her own respective father, Alador, is all about definitely struck a nerve somewhere underneath Luz’s happy-go-lucky facade.

On one hand, Luz wants to of course help her awesome sweet potato girlfriend in achieving this end goal. Although, once again, Luz is using this as a convenient excuse for bottling up her own issues, pretending to be fine when she’s far from anything but feeling good. Doesn’t help the last time she saw Camila they left on very downer terms too only fueling Luz’s distress further. Luz was always able to be by her mother’s side in their tradition of picking and sharing flowers because it was their way to cope with the unfortunate loss. To think, I already adored Yesterday’s Lie for what it accomplished in paying off that climatic moment of Luz confronting her mother about everything. As things stand now after watching Reaching Out, Yesterday’s Lie has even better emotional context that adds more heartbreak to one of my favorite scenes in it.

Vee expressing her conflicted resentment to Luz about running away from home. This new revelation of her father’s untimely passing adds yet another layer onto an already very in-depth conversation, regarding Luz’s choice to stay on The Boiling Isles. Luz was obviously concerned about getting home as fast as possible because she didn’t want to worry her mother sick. Knowing now the large impact Mr. Noceda passing away had on their family, this was another determining factor for why Luz wanted to be quick about it. To Luz, it’s an important annual reminder of being thankful for what and who she has, overall.

I resent you for running away, but I’m also thankful that you did. I dunno, it’s confusing.

Reaching Out & Yesterday’s Lie compliment each other splendidly in showing this different more subdued sadder nature to Luz’s personality. Sure, Luz acts high spirited and wants to embody this optimistic atmosphere from whatever fictional stories she has read before. Unfortunately, Luz Noceda’s mannerisms of this kind are rooted from loss, which could also be looked at why she tried to view herself at Season 1′s start as the chosen one, as well. Just another way for Luz to try rationalizing why she grew up without a father and didn’t fit in well at school, either. What honestly always struck me about Vee being blunt toward her is Luz’s golden silence in response back. Really speaks volumes about how hard Luz is kicking herself, even though there were circumstances out of her control when Belos got a hold of Eda. Luz deeply regrets leaving her mother alone, yet feels like she doesn’t deserve forgiveness in the long run, to boot.

Mr. Noceda being revealed to be deceased paints a better picture of who Luz is as a person. Why is she so helpful to other people, even the ones who haven’t extended that same kindness in return? Luz prides herself in having this moral compass, considering she believes it will in turn bring happiness to ease away her own pain. Look no further, than when she tried helping crazy ass Kikimora sneak back home to her own family, so Luz could have hope in making amends with Camila. If there is any serious praise to say about Owl House’s second season thus far, I feel it has yet to miss a single emotional beat when it counts.

#the owl house spoilers #the owl house season 2 #luz noceda #yesterday's lie #reaching out #camila noceda #toh season 2

47 notes · View notes