#which frankly is kind of hilarious and really speaks to how dead my main fandom is

[cookidoodle]

Greetings!

I've stumbled upon your "OMORI'S Gameplay/Pacing" post while searching for critical OMORI opinions because damn these are nigh-impossible to find in this fandom lol. I couldn't tell you how relieved I felt when I saw that somebody actually noticed the flaws I noticed as well and realized there isn't anything wrong with me for seeing them!

[LARGE, ANGRY, INCOHERENT AND SPOILERY RANT AHEAD. IF I MISSED ANY CRUCIAL INFORMATION, PLEASE, LET ME KNOW.]

If I may add my two cents into the criticism pile, the biggest and most insurmountable issue I have with this entire game is the Truth itself. I genuinely find it impossible to reconcile the game's nearly* pitch-perfect portrayal of how trauma and grief affect people with how contrived and, frankly, out of left field the game's root cause of said trauma and grief is.

IIRC, there is one - and I cannot stress this enough - ONE piece of clear set-up to the big argument in the entire game, that being the "Saturday Morning Cartoons" memory from Lost Library. And even then, the memory doesn't seem to indicate that Sunny resented Mari herself for her perfectionism, so this sudden leap from "aw man this sucks I'll miss out on cartoon time :(" to "I'M SO TIRED FROM PRACTICING OVER AND OVER CAN'T MARI SEE THAT I'M JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH???" isn't really convincing to me.

That brings me to the primary reason I felt the reveal kinda falls flat - there wasn't any clearly established sibling tension between Sunny and Mari. We don't even get to see what Mari was actually like while she was alive - all that we know of her before the plot twist is filtered through the "don't speak ill of the dead" rule and Sunny's Headspace. In both instances, the game shills her as the Bestest Girl so hard that you'd be forgiven for thinking she's the second coming of Christ. And even when we see what is (allegedly) her spirit, she's shown to be nothing but kind to Sunny in addition to being rather non-plussed by her own death, which is hilarious.

In a fairly recent (and, unfortunately, deleted) interview, even Omocat themself claimed that Mari is a person who seems perfect on the outside but hides a lot on the inside, and it's such a huge shame that what she hid on the inside wasn't explored by the game itself at all.

I'm not even going to question where Sunny and Mari's parents were when the whole argument went down (although that's a very valid question too). What I am going to point out, however, is the fact that the entire plot of the game hinges on the right man being in the right place at the right time to witness the argument and get the idea to make the manslaughter look like a suicide. The sheer improbability of something like this happening destroyed my suspension of disbelief and, consequently, my immersion in the plot.

(also - and this is very minor, but incredibly funny nonetheless - the Truth sequence is happening entirely in Sunny's subconscious, but the photos you collect are from Basil's point of view. Sunny and Basil have a convenient telepathic link, ig)

The main aspect of what makes the plot twist come out of left field to me is the lack of clear foreshadowing/set-up to Basil being the one to string Mari's body up on the tree. Like, there's no flashback/photo/whatever showing... idk, Sunny and the gang helping Basil with his garden and one of Basil's friends noting his strength despite his outwardly frail frame? Maybe the game could've also shown plant pots held by hanging knots in Headspace!Basil's house (or in that hypothetical flashback/photo/whatever of Basil's garden I was talking about) to foreshadow Basil's ability to tie a noose? Sorry if this makes no sense, I'm making all of this up on the fly

(of course, that leaves the question of "Why was staging a suicide Basil's first idea?" and I have no answer to that. The game doesn't seem to have one either. Maybe it could've hinted at Basil being a true crime fan or something? lmao)

Honestly, the plot twist is a such a huge stain on the game for me that it's actually very painful. I want to like the game! I like the characters! I love the way the game handles the topics it handles! And yet the plot twist's ugly shadow just hangs over everything and it's so incredibly stupid that it prevents me from enjoying the game to the fullest. I like plots that make sense, y'know?

All of this is why I firmly believe that Mari should've actually committed suicide instead. Have the game show (or at least hint at) Mari's stresses and the huge responsibilities her family places on her due to her being the eldest sibling and the "golden child". Establish the sibling tension. Drop clear hints that Sunny began to slowly resent Mari for being so overly uptight and critical of him (and probably because she's the golden child). Maybe have Sunny go on a bitter rant against her after breaking his violin and have this rant, in combination with the aforementioned stresses, be what ends up pushing Mari to kill herself. IMO, that'd also give Sunny a good reason to be silent - from his point of view, his sister took her life precisely because of his words. At least that'd be far more realistic than two 12-year-olds staging a suicide.

And even if the suicide isn't the preferred option, the game still should've actually set up some sort of tension between Sunny and Mari/fleshed out Mari's personality.

...Whew. I profusely apologize for writing this large rant out. (and for any grammatical mistakes there are)

TL;DR: These characters really deserved a better story.

*Inserting a jaunty banger pop song into a cutscene of a child throwing himself off a roof wasn't Omocat's brightest idea.

Oh dear oh my that's quite a lot! But I do agree with a lot of your sentiments!

Since you brought it up, there has been a lot of contention about what Sunny and Mari's relationship really was. We don't really get to see the ugly side of their relationship so there isn't any build up except that one line in the library about missing afternoon TV with friends.

One could argue that Sunny repressed literally everything that had to do with the unperfect side of his relationship with his sister but why wouldn't we as players get to see more of that slipping through the cracks. That argument only holds water if there's much substance to it but it just feels like a cop-out. Yeah we spend a lot of time in Sunny's mind and yes he's an unreliable narrator but this is a game and a story. Failing to tell that story or at least explain it is a failing on the game.

There's too much left vague and in the air about it. So much so that it had some people in the fandom arguing over whether Mari was abusive or not. The issue is we have no evidence either way. I guess it leans towards her being fine, just strict but there's literally nothing to show for any bad side of her anyways so it's all speculation.

The only glimpses we have are the Argument where Mari glowers over Sunny, towering over him with hair in her face. We also get a very hard to find line on the second day when everyone has left for the Last Resort. If you, with Mari in your party, decide to run around as Omori on the beach, Mari will tell you to slow down. Continuing to run will make her say something like "what did I just tell you?" or "don't make me raise my voice!" and then the run ability is disabled.

What the hell does that mean!?

You're right, aside from these points Mari is perfect and can do no wrong. It's implied she's a perfectionist who pressured Sunny to be perfect but we have no scale to assess that this means. Did she force him to play the violin until his fingers bled or did he do that on his own because he felt like he couldn't disappoint her. Was she being overly demanding? Was she being forceful? Was she abusive or was Sunny just so afraid to talk to her he just exploded?

I've seen some argue that Sunny's mental illnesses prevented him from raising these issues to his friends/family regardless. And I guess that would be fine but due to this inability to communicate he accidently commits manslaughter. Pretty big "oops" right?

I would argue that Kel and Hero would've been more likely to have a tense sibling relationship than Sunny and Mari. We literally see that Hero is the golden child in his family while Kel is the one who gets scolded. Their shared room is literally split down the middle.

Kel is the C student, canonically shown to hide his feelings behind a smile. Hero is the town's...Hero. I could see Kel eventually letting his feelings boil over and confronting his older bro over something like this, especially when he was younger and more immature. But I think I've gotten off track.

I kind of let this devolve into complaining, but I do see your points and agree with them. OMORI isn't a terrible game, I just wish there was more. More intentionality, more content (in terms of story explanation and context)—just more definitive evidence to go off of when evaluating character studies, relationships, and plot details. There's a lot there they could have shown and maybe in previous versions of the game it was there, but in our version of the game these things aren't present.

Like Basil's grandmother who had so much content made of her in the game's demo and concept art who dies off screen where we never meet her. The wishy-washy Hooligans who either are Basil's tormentors and bullies or just harmless pizza eating teenagers. We barely get to see Sunny's true thoughts on ANYTHING despite playing from his POV the entire game due to him repressing it all.

I get that repression is very real and the brain tries to protect itself from trauma in very different ways, but from a game perspective a lot of this content existed in previous builds and concept art and stuff. Where did it goooo? :(

I think I lost the plot but dear readers get to read your frustrated rant as well as mine. I'm a bit too tired to say anymore, gnight.

#cooky speaks #cooky talks #OMORI #OMORI Spoilers #Spoilers #woodchipp #asks

[homielander]

Bestie I followed you for Outer Banks so that one for the ask game

you- you followed me for outer banks? i am so sorry

the first character i ever fell in love with: pretty sure i started liking all of the pogues at about the same time? but i believe it was pope since he was introduced as the Nerd and i was immediately in love

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not: i really liked ward in the beginning! it was fairly apparent from the get-go that he would be the villain (i think it clicked for me in his third scene or something) yet he was still charming enough for me to appreciate him. but it quickly became clear how awful he was to his children and that made me :/ i can excuse murder but i draw the line at child abuse

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not: can't think of any for this show

my ultimate favourite character™: jj maybank, light of my life and actual human disaster. but also pope, rafe, and kiara

prettiest character: i have thought ever since i first watched that both sarah and kiara look like the very two moxie girls dolls i had as a kid. they're so pretty

my most hated character: limbrey's brother. not relevant enough for me to remember his name. what an ass

my OTP: jjpope and jiara! 

my NOTP: i've seen a lot of people ship rafe and kie and like, aside from the fact that they've had a total of three scenes together... he’s also attempted to murder her in 2/3 scenes? what is wrong w y'all why do you hate her so much

favourite episode: oh my gosh. 2.10 was fantastic! it was so fun!! i loved all the boat shenanigans, i loved seeing cleo again, i loved that rafe and john b scene where rafe came off as a slasher film villain, i loved poor wheezie just wanting to play a game with her sister, so on and so forth. and i also adore 1.06 (where they go to the spooky mansion to extract the gold). it's scarier than so many horror movies and i love the moment of celebration that the pogues have at the end. it gives me... i think they call it serotonin?

saddest death: peterkin! listen i rewatched s1 after the second season came out and tbh, she was a little bit corrupt. but ultimately she had the best interests of the kids at heart and i was so sad when she died.

favourite season: definitely liked season 1 the most. god i honestly miss early quarantine so bad and obx1 was a huge part of that for me.

least favourite season: season 2. it was still a fun watch, don't get me wrong, but i think at times it prioritized high-thrill action sequences over authentic character moments. i read something about how obx is very unique in that it managed to capture a large male audience (around 50% of its viewers), and maybe that's why? however, i think the first season managed to be lowkey but also high stakes and i do believe they'll try to replicate a similar vibe for the third season. i just miss my kids chilling at the beach ya know?

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate: can't think of anyone. the main cast is very likable

my 'you're a piece of trash, but you're still a fav' fav: RAFE CAMERON! it took me so long to accept that i liked him because i was so upset about peterkin, but they gave him so much depth in the second season and drew starkey delivered such an excellent performance. and when i rewatched the first season i ended up just feeling awful for him :( he needs jail but also therapy

my 'you're a beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this' fav: jj. kiara. pope. sarah. john b. they all deserve better i will protect them with my life

my 'this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it' ship: not going to lie i kind of fw rose and ward. it was just so unexpected to me that she ended up being more cold and calculating than ward himself and helped him rein it in when he was freaking out about another murder he'd committed. power couple that needs to stay far away from their three kids <3

my 'they're kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i'm not too invested' ship: jarah! to be honest their buildup was SO GOOD but everything after that first kiss fell flat for me which is disappointing. i feel like both of them lost a lot of personality after getting together. i still want to see them be happy and in love, but i would also really like for them to spend some time apart in season 3 (not necessarily broken up, just not on screen together)

#my one and only original obx post is also my most popular post #and it was so low effort too #which frankly is kind of hilarious and really speaks to how dead my main fandom is #but i appreciate you for continuing to follow me anon!! i still love my gold-hunting children i promise #even though i never post them #also thank you for the ask!! #outer banks #asks

[acesgroupchat]

So I've seen you discuss a lot about a lot of the characters in NIF and I was wondering what you thought about the magistrates? Primarily Shen Zhui and Cai Quan? I feel their really underated by the fandom bacuse they're neither pretty nor that engaged with the main cast besides Jingyan, but they're such good decent people and both honestly have some of the best quotes.

Hello Anon! oh man this is such a fun question. I agree, Shen Zhui and Cai Quan are super underrated in our fandom, but really just very fun dudes with a lot to recommend them. I wish we knew more about them honestly. I think you’re right that our fandom doesn’t produce a lot of content for them in part because we see so little of their lives and their connection to the other characters is so limited. They probably actually spend a lot more time with Jingyan than we see, because they fall under the “Jingyan, competent working prince” part of his life that tends to get montaged away in favor of MCSs schemes and various personal dramas.

Which is a shame because they are truly great!! What we do see of them speaks to two men who are genuinely kind, competent in their work, and actually quite good friends with Jingyan and friendly acquaintances with MCS.

They are also super interesting and dramatically functional characters, who provide important perspective on what it’s like to work in a corrupt system and keep your soul. I’ve written before about the way that the court under Xiao Xuan is kind of set up to make actual good work incredibly difficult, and one of the best things about NIF is the argument that it makes for rejecting the terms of abusive systems, and refusing to treat incompatibility with abusive systems as weakness. It doesn’t actually go full “abolish the imperial court,” which truthfully is what is called for but is just so wildly out of the genre and setting that it would break the frame (gosh that’s definitely not an argument I would have made two years ago).

We’ll start with Shen Zhui because he’s honestly my favorite dude: This is someone who has committed himself to doing the best possible work he can, as quietly as he can, and just accepts that he will pay the price for it. He’s not going to let that stop him from doing his job, which is courageous when it only means he’s going to remain a low-level bureaucrat in a vipers nest, but actually gets exponentially more brave once Jingyan taps him for #1 competent minister. This dude has a MASSIVE target on his back and accepts it with perfect equanimity. He literally has assassins after him and he’s still investigating corruption cases and interviewing witnesses with like four bodyguards max. His own people are like “please care more about your own well-being.”The only reason he survives act 1 is SHEER DUMB LUCK. If Jingrui hadn’t picked that day to get suspicious of his BIL he would have died in that alley.

Shen Zhui is not really a dramatic person, but he’s incredibly brave, and incredibly committed to his work. He’s the epitome of working within the system to change the system. It is SO CLEAR that of the three of them he was the only one actually in court for the Chiyan incident. Jingyan lost more, but he wasn’t actually THERE. He did not see. Shen Zhui knows that in order to do the most good he will have to compromise and be cautious and find workarounds and it does genuinely chafe at him (see: the moment when it looks like Prince Yu is going to get the disaster relief assignment and he wishes for lighting to strike him dead), but he does it anyway. Shen Zhui is in it for the long game, even when he must know that with his resources and his position there is no version of this where he “wins.” He will not be able to fix the system, but he’s completely committed to grinding out every bit of positive impact he can out of it anyway. There’s a definite nobility in that, and an endurance that is incredibly impressive.

Cai Quan is so palpably younger that Shen Zhui, and he brings such a different but still wonderful energy. I’m genuinely not sure if he would have survived if not for MCS and Jingyan’s desire to reform the court, because he clearly has such a hard time standing by while injustice is done, even small injustice. They aren’t even off the palace steps before he’s criticizing the emperor’s poor treatment of Jingyan, and that continues to be the theme of his character throughout (side note: what is with both of these dudes committing light treason while standing around on the palace steps?? how are you not both dead?). He’s also hardworking but he has none of Shen Zhui’s patience. He’s ready to shake things up! There’s a very real sense that he’s going to push the needle as hard as he can as fast as he can with the resources available to him. He’s very like Jingyan that way, and it’s very clear at the end of the series that Jingyan is going to rely on that energy and that impatience to ensure that things get done quickly. It’s also very wonderful to see the sort of mutual needs that get filled when they join Jingyan’s secret faction. He needs allies in court and competent ministers when he finally takes the throne, but they need him just as much. For both of them he is the way forward, that will let them make the difference they so badly want to make. It’s no wonder that they jump at the chance to support him when it means they can do everything they were already doing, but now with more support and also a friend!

These two are great because they are a sort of matched set in terms of the things that are actually needed to reform the government. Between Cai Quan’s passion and Shen Zhui’s endurance they have a real shot at making things better, and they function as really excellent foils for each other.

Also they’re just such fun people??? They are so clearly friends and that’s incredibly charming. They’re also so protective of Jingyan and it’s adorable. In Episode 47, when Jingyan is like “I’m not sad, why would I be sad” and then wanders off sadly, the look that they share before they try to talk to him is DEEPLY hilarious and very cute. Particularly Shen Zhui has very dad energy in the way he looks out for Jingyan. And frankly Jingyan could use some people who are just straight up regular friends without the high-octane weirdness of MCS.

#nirvana in fire #langya bang #shen zhui #cai quan #meta #it's been a while since we've had one of these #why are they always so LONG?? #These three dudes really are just so great tho #man I need to do a rewatch #there are so many details I can re-appreciate #Anonymous

[agent-apocalypse]

RvB 15.01

New female character in the first five seconds? You know the way to my heart, Mr. Nicolosi. And yes, I know what happens a minute later, but the thing is, she’s not the only one and I always appreciate it when they remember that the background characters and extras shouldn’t be all dudes anymore than the main cast should be. So for me personally that was a great start and speaks well of later things.

Speaking of, well. That bombing shouldn’t have surprised me per se (I mean, they did set that up in about the first five seconds) but it was, imo, an effective plot point kill-off in that manner of Rogers and Cunningham from Season 12. It’s not like we were attached to these new characters exactly but I can say for myself that I was already finding them pretty endearing based on their dialogue and it certainly was a jolt to realize, welp. They’re all dead now.

Which brings us to dialogue, an area in which I think this episodes absolutely shone. I really didn’t feel like a single word was wasted--without fail, every line worked to set the scene, establish the new characters, and entertain besides. The dialogue was well-paced and well-delivered. It’s got me really looking forward to seeing how the writing plays out as the season goes on. We’ve yet to hear the established characters speak, of course, so we’ll see how that goes, but as far as the new ones, I have nothing but good to say about the writing.

We are ten months post-Chorus. I appreciate being given a concrete timeframe upfront rather than having to extrapolate later--that’s something later seasons of RvB have been much better about. I’m also very happy that this new arc is connected to Chorus and following up on the events of Chorus while still being a new story. There is so much affection for Chorus and its story and characters among the present fandom (myself included!) that I think that was a very good choice.

The people of Chorus (and possibly the Reds and Blues) are actual insurrectionists now. I could not be happier. (Regardless of what the Reds and Blues are actually doing, I think it’s safe to say they’ll be on the side of Chorus.)

I wasn’t necessarily on board with the Imposter Theory at first, but as of now it’s definitely looking plausible. Lots of people have pointed out since the trailer that the Reds and Blues’ weapons don’t seem right--Sarge not using his trusty shotgun, Tucker carrying a sniper rifle with no sword in sight. The fact that we don’t hear any of them speak, I think, only supports the idea that it’s not really the Reds and Blues we know.

Then there’s the Church-colored soldier disembarking from the Pelican. Personally, I’m not hoping Church is somehow alive (I think it’s time to let him rest). That aside, Epsilon post-season 8 has been actively disinterested in having a physical body, even bragging about the advantages of his incorporeal state, so the appearance of a physical body I think supports the theory that it isn’t him or any Church derived from him.

And at last we come to Dylan Andrews, our intrepid reporter--don’t worry, I’d never forget about our new girl. :) Making her the reporter who ran the “Colorful Space Marines” headline after season 10 was such a good decision. Not only does she have a previous story connection, she has a connection to the Reds and Blues themselves--so much so that she says with some confidence, “I know them.” She’s motivated to find out what’s happening not only as an irresistible story, but as a huge question mark that is at least a little bit personal. She wants not just to know, but to understand. 

And thus far, she’s a delight. Her banter with her boss was fantastic, and one of the most entertaining bits of dialogue, though as I said above, I thought all of it was wonderful. I really enjoy the already-emerging relationship between Dylan and her boss Carlos--he’s grumpy, sure, and full of hilarious vinegar about her ambitious lead-hunting, but there’s a clear rapport between them, because Dylan doesn’t hesitate to respond with snark: “Thanks a million, honey bucket.”

Next episode seems highly likely to give us our intrepid journalist meeting everyone’s favorite party Grif down in Blood Gulch, and I can’t wait to see how that goes. (It also offers a not-unreasonable probability of this season passing the Bechdel test in episode 2, and when was the last time that happened?)

In short, I am frankly thrilled with this prologue. These days I try to come in without many expectations, preferring to see what comes and enjoy it for what it is, but this new episode is pretty much my bag in every single way, and I couldn’t be happier. I think we’ve got a fun season ahead of us, and I look forward to it.

If you reblog this post, please be kind to your non-FIRST followers and tag appropriately for spoilers, thank you!

#rvb15 #rvb first spoilers #episode post

[kinetic-elaboration]

March 8: Thoughts on 1x10 I Am Become Death

Friday tomorrow. Watching I Am Become Death tonight instead of sleeping.

I don’t think I ever noticed the random severed arm in the Exodus ship wreckage before. Or the random ribs.

I hate to say it but I semi-side with Finn re: the Grounders but he’s otherwise annoying. “Clarke shouldn’t be out here” blah blah whatever--you clearly don’t know her at all because obviously she’d be out there first. Raven gets her better and Raven/Clarke should have been a thing.

“Why they’re coming doesn’t matter anymore”--lol truer words were never spoken. Seriously. And it’s quite sad.

“We move in formation”--what an actual army.

This is one of Jasper’s more annoying scenes, telling the bridge story, but at least he’s acting 15, which I appreciate; also Octavia is semi-more annoying (that’s your friend lol, get over your grumpiness); and also it’s all worth it for the lines “Let us have this” and “my boy’s a folk hero.” (I’m hearing my and you can’t stop me, Netflix subtitles that say the.)

Why would these bozos shoot into the woods when they know they have people out there? I’m surprised they didn’t all friendly-fire themselves to death in season 1.

Remember when this show was creative enough to do stuff like bio warfare? Good times. What happened to that?

I don’t feel remotely bad for anyone who got sick in this episode either (other than Murphy) because banishing him was Grade A stupid and they deserved what they got.

Speaking of not-shining moments, Bellamy’s (completely unbelievable) desire to shoot Murphy dead in the middle of the dropship is ridiculous. I say unbelievable because he absolutely would not have done it and ridiculous because yet again, hate to say it, but Finn and Clarke are right and Bellamy’s position is silliness. Also really dogmatic in an Ark-like way: we said we’d kill in this circumstance so I guess we gotta do it! Not a rebel king moment for sure.

“After we interrogate him we send him back out in the woods, repeating the exact same mistake we already made and that has led to our secrets being shared with our enemy.” LOL nevermind Clarke’s dumb as rocks too. Who wrote this and why do they hate all the characters?

I am not going to talk about the Harper scene because it’s past midnight and I’m trying to be less of a masochist but suffice it to say most people who talk about this scene could stand to, I don’t know, crazy, out there idea here, actually watch it before spouting off their big mouths. Not that I’m BITTER at all or anything.

Also: Monty’s a slut in the making and kind of sexist, he is bad at minding his own business, I want Jasper’s shoes. I may have Jasper’s shoes, just as low tops.

I lied I am talking about it. The way Monty’s expression changes when Jasper tells him to float himself and his sad “I’m just telling you the truth” IS Monty in a nutshell. You ever wondered what the definitive Monty line is? It’s that one. He has no tact and the emotional intelligence of a brick. It’s the truth so what’s wrong with telling it?? Right???

Also here we have an early example of Jasper (a child with emotional intelligence beyond his years) knowing just how to push buttons and show cruelty. Fuck this was quite possibly the best written character on the show and then they drove him into a ditch and I’m so angry. He simultaneously did a 180 in character, and also stayed IC. That’s like the writing dream.

I want a deleted scene where Bellamy gifts Jasper the tent (also btw to people who were simultaneously Bellamy stans and Jasper haters and who like to point to the bridge scene as a knock against my favorite awkward bisexual: Bellamy thought he did the right thing and actually rewarded him for it so...go float yourself as they say). Because I think Jasper, with his Obvious Bellamy Crush, probably almost fainted.

One minute of Clarke/Raven interaction and I get all on the edge of my seat. They get so little.

Few images more iconic than Clarke crying blood.

This Murphy + Clarke + Bellamy scene is Clarke at her finest, and a good example of Bellamy being all-emotion, no-logic tbqh. He’s sure looking fine though.

The Mountain Man in Lincoln’s notebook...

Clarke is so sneaky and gives no fucks. Telling Bellamy she’ll keep O on the third floor and then immediately sending her back out. I mean, again, smart, but one of those moments when I just sincerely wonder how anyone, even Bellamy, can ever REALLY trust her.

Lincoln wants to go “East, to the sea, then across it.” He’s not...really discussing crossing the Atlantic is he? He’s gotta be talking about a different sea. Does he mean like the Chesapeake Bay?? That’s gotta be it. Also Luna’s rig is most decidedly not in Europe or Africa lol.

Dude I think I might have just seen Manny Jacinto. Wild.

Clarke with her blood-eyes and humongous weaponry firing shots into the air is surprisingly hot; this distresses me.

It’s weird how I technically ship Bellarke and quite hard at that but these flirting scenes, or B knocking out the guy threatening Clarke, aren’t doing anything for me. Perhaps because I’m finding Bellamy rather obnoxious--IC but obnoxious--in this particular ep.

I think when Octavia starts helping the sick delinquents is when she decides not to leave with Lincoln but bounces back to feeling an affiliation with the 100.

This is such a deja vu moment for me but I always laugh at Finn’s “you don’t know me very well.” UH YOU THINK?

I’m sorry but Finn doesn’t get enough credit for the blowing up the bridge idea. I know it ended up being a lot more violent than he wanted it to be (tbh this would have been better if he’d been more staunchly pacifist from the get go and then upset when lives were lost to his plan but whatever)--but it was still a good plan.

I guess I can see how people can interpret Monty’s reaction to Jasper’s “flirting” with Harper as jealousy but IMO this is a stretch because if he WERE interested in her why was his main message to his best friend in the earlier scene “You should fuck that pussy”? The more obvious interpretation is that Jasper, who does not have an interest in Harper, is “flirting” with her to mess with Monty and that Monty realizes that or that Jasper isn’t flirting, just actually being nice (I KNOW! A boy! NICE?!?!?) and Monty is interpreting it as a jab at him because he’s in a sour mood and they’re fighting. Regardless, Harper--a character we have literally never seen before this episode--is literally just a pawn for their relationship growth let’s not forget that.

“That’s cute.”

Finn won’t pick up a gun--probably the best evidence that he’s actively a pacifist. Shame an actively pacifistic character hasn’t really existed on this show after S1.

“The men who built the A-bomb thought they were peacemakers too. How’d that work out for them?” Oh how I miss the idea that this show would consider humanity’s rush to its own self-destruction! Or just frankly the framing of the universe as the after-effect of the real choices we really made and are making in the real world, drawn out to their ultimate conclusions. The ALIE story line is, in this sense, even worse than the atrocity of S4 because the retcon just all but elided humanity’s responsibility for its destruction and that just...boils my blood tbqh.

This scene, where Bellamy tells Jasper to take the shot at the bridge, is a great example of Devon Bostick’s Face. Kid has great bones. (He’s actually real life younger than me so I’m allowed to call him a Kid indefinitely that’s the rule.)

Bellamy falling into the tent = me in law school. Also p. sure Jasper’s immune but Bellamy’s concern is nevertheless touching.

Bellamy and O are no Elliot and Darlene but they have their moments.

The Dramatic Zoom In on Finn’s face when Monty tells him that Raven took the bomb is Grade A Hilarious.

Jasper breaks first in the Jonty fight, as I’m sure he always does. No one holds a grudge like Monty. Or is vicious like Monty. “Why don’t you ask your new friends?” is a touch catty and probably the gayest thing he’s ever done (sorry but the boy is canonically straight and always has been...queer him as you wish, I certainly do, but let’s not pretend it’s an interpretation grounded in the text lol.) (What a tangent.)

This is a good Bellarke scene, though. I especially like Clarke’s “Trust? No. I do believe in second chances though”--a good line to remember when trying to keep her IC. (Though I maintain that the idea of second chances and being less judgmental is something she learned in S1, not a pre-pilot trait; see: Wells); and Bellamy’s “Maybe if we close all the doors the Grounders will think we’re not home” like I love that sense of humor.

They’re so rude about Finn and Jasper. Jasper’s a good shot asshats--he saw those Grounders in the last ep. before Bellamy did so suck on that.

Raven with the hydrazine on the bridge is also me in law school.

Jasper and Monty could have been an iconic couple if only this fandom (and this show) were not so dumb.

While I love this Oppenheimer exchange (Bellamy’s voice lol), it bugs me a little that, first, Clarke didn’t build that bomb, shoot it, come up with the idea, or involve herself in the plan at all so cool your jets sick lady you’re not destroying any worlds, and second, it’s not Oppenheimer, it’s Oppenheimer quoting the Bhagavad Gita and I don’t know why that’s so important to me to remember but it really really is. Bugs me every time.

The Mountain Men reference. I guess they saw the mushroom cloud and learn of the delinquents through it...but they already shot down the Exodus Ship. How’d they know about that but not the Dropship? And why didn’t they notice the flares? Why is Lincoln so sure that the cloud will do it?

Lincoln’s got some books in there.

Raven’s comparison of Finn rushing to help Clarke versus hesitating about the bomb isn’t really fair tbqh. I mean it doesn’t matter because their relationship is obviously a farce and she needs to cut him loose, and if that’s what it took, that’s fine. But catching someone who’s falling is an instinct and I don’t think it necessarily has much to do with love or devotion. Whereas Bellamy’s question was about the future and there was no immediate someone-will-crack-their-head-open-on-the-ground-in-a-second danger about it. It wasn’t really an instinctual moment in the same way. Still, drop that dead weight my closet lesbian.

“It’s hard running things” is obviously a call back “It’s not easy being in charge.”

WHY AM I STILL AWAKE IT’S SO LATE.

#the year 2018 #2018: the 100 s1 #2018: fandom thoughts #the 100