#Finished s4e6 and ……..

[brekkidot]

if someone told me mr robot would be this gut wrenching i would’ve spared myself the mental anguish and skipped itttjhrgewgsjdj

ELLIOT MY BABY 😭😭😭💔💔😭💔💔💔😭💔

[transfinan]

I find it so funny in the scene with eadith and the kids by the waterfall. They lie down and Uhtred is like "everyone get some sleep." and then Eadith and Uhtred IMMEDIATELY start talking. Like directly across little baby Aethelstan talking about how everyone in mercia thinks she's a whore. How tf are those kids supposed to get to sleep.

[winxwiki]

"Always the same little dance... how boring"

"I like it a lot Ogron, but I'll defeat them regardless"

[vanishintoyou]

princess mental illness and captain rat boy on the case boss

[worldsbiggestnerd101]

what the fuck. i just finished s4e6 and what the FUCK. you can’t just have an episode go so good and then DO THAT TO ME. fuck

[finding-the-secrets-of-xadia]

Discussion Questions for S4E6: The Drakewood

Both Janai and N’than free their prisoners when they had reasons not to. Why do you think they had a change of heart?

Janai and Karim feel differently about waiting centuries for the Sun Seed to mature into a new Orb that can replace the destroyed Sun Nexus. How would you feel if your life’s work was to begin a task you wouldn’t live to see finished?

If you and another being could share what you see and taste, would you?

Do you think Janai is doing a good job meeting the needs of both the humans and the elves? Why or why not?

When Ezran is helping Callum and Rayla settle their argument, is he acting like a friend or like a king? What do you think he might’ve said if he spoke from the other perspective?

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Thursday, August 8

Giles: Ah, weeping buddha, shoulders your spiritual burden. Makes a lovely paperweight too.

~~Shadow~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Vintage (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by veronyxk84

Vesuvius (Buffy, G) by heckate

Task Mistress (Buffy/Spike, R) by HappyWhenItRains

[Chaptered Fiction]

To Be Hers, Chapter 28 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by faefawn

Waiting for You, Chapter 16 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by honeygirl51885

Infiltre, Chapter 16 (Buffy/Spike, French language, PG) by Miss Kitty

SpikedChapter 17 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by Maxine Eden

To All We Guard, Chapter 26 (Buffy/Spike, ) by

What She Deserves, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by flootzavut

The Buffybot Falls In Love, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, PG) by Desicat

Itty Bitty Wiggy Piggy, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by ClowniestLivEver

[Images, Audio & Video]

Manip:Spike the bloody or William the bloody awful poet by gamerrat_13

Manip:Angel or Angelus by gamerrat_13

Manip:All my newest collages by gamerrat_13

Artwork:I needed poetry today by isevery0nehereverystoned

Gifset:BUFFY SUMMERS & DAWN SUMMERS ➤ Outfit Parallels by clarkgriffon

Gifset: S01:E09 - The Puppet Show (Part 5) by thecrazyknight

Gifset:The Scoobies carving pumpkins by 5bi5

Manip:I feel just fine by revello-drive-1630

Manip:having intrusive spuffy thoughts whenever i listen to "guess" by charli xcx by summersblood

Manip:caitlyn siehl, start here by dogmetaphors

Video: The Scooby Gang - Sanctuary (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) by TheOverLookedOne

Video: Ave Bondart - Effulgent (Lyric video) by Ave Bondart

[Reviews & Recaps]

Teacher's Pet by theoverlookedoneedits1997

How to Avoid Your Friends | Buffy the Vampire Slayer 7x3 "Same Time, Same Place" | Normies Reaction! by The Normies

Buffy Deserves Better in "Dead Man's Party" *REACTION* & First Time Watching 3x2 (Commentary) by Tyler Alexander

Sleeper: Buffy 7x08 Reaction by Dakara

Buffy The Vampire Slayer | 2x5 "Reptile Boy" | REACTION by Andres El Rey

Podcast: Angel S4E6: Spin the Bottle by Booze & Buffy

[Fandom Discussions]

me when i’m a traumatized teenage girl[...] by godsperfectprincess

Happy 100th Birthday Anyanka Bunny Slayer! by multiple authors

Which Buffy Summers 's season is the most iconic by multiple authors

Discuss this by multiple authors

So it's taken me more than 3 years but I've finally finished my Angel/Buffy rewatch! [Angel-focused] by multiple authors

So it's taken me more than 3 years but I've finally finished my Angel/Buffy rewatch! [Buffy-focused] by multiple authors

Angel was amazing by multiple authors

Small moments you love by multiple authors

Oz is the most pointless character. Change my mind by multiple authors

Kendra by multiple authors

"Faith, a word of advice. You're an idiot!" by multiple authors

Favorite comedic episode by multiple authors

This character to me has been so underwhelming in Angel. by multiple authors

Does anyone think the monsters started looking more cartoony/ridiculous in the later seasons? by multiple authors

I'll be mrs by multiple authors

Willow Always Gets... by multiple authors

Name a more iconic duo by multiple authors

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Publication: Buffy’s Most Sympathetic Monsters Aren’t Vampires via Giant Freakin Robot

Publication: The Buffy Casting Controversy That Still Puzzles Us via Giant Freakin Robot

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[alibrandi]

List 5 topics you can talk on for an hour without preparing any material.

a challenge from @ginevralinton

i um don’t have any topics that i consider myself an expert on (i have approximate knowledge of many things). anyway, here ya go!

oneirology: psychologists really spew a lot of shit about dream interpretation, fuck freud, dreams are cool, you shouldn’t rely on some quack (spiritualist or psychologist) for an interpretation, please listen to scientists and understand that your dreams are for your memory to process events & your imagination to go fuckin hogwild (if you’re lucky like me. sucks to be one of those people that has boring dreams or doesn’t remember them). but also damn isn’t it cool that there are some near universal symbols for hope (eg. birds) and fear (teeth falling out & other typical nightmare stuff). pls tell me about recurring symbols in your dreams. mine usually feature birds and travelling through a fantastical place.

disney’s frozen, and what a clusterfuck the entire production of it was: blame my 13 year old self for this but seriouslyyyy there was so much that got cut and rearranged and the concepts were way cooler and the world would be a better place if let it go had never been written, i’m not joking!!! there was gonna be a curse!!! the film was actually going to be about sisters!! AUGHHHHHH

frasier: hey did you know they made roz have a baby because executives thought she should “have a repercussion” (aka be punished) for sleeping around? isn’t that fucked up. did u know bulldog’s actor is gay? lilith is so hot & funny & human & im in love with her. did u know that one of the creators of the show died in 9/11, and that’s why they named the baby david? here’s my slideshow on why frasier’s should’ve ended up with lana. here’s why s4e6 “mixed doubles” is one of the finest pieces of sitcom television - i actually just deleted a whole paragraph bc i could talk about that episode alone, god i love it.

commedia dell’arte: harlequin <3 columbina <3 innamorata of various names <3 i’m not a big fan of pierrot but i understand the hype. more of an opinion piece on how the costumes & archetypes have been used throughout history (pre&post commedia) and why i think they remain semi popular.

making bread: less of a talking thing where i tell you what to do and more of a come into my kitchen, sit at the bench and let’s eat. i love you. use more water in the dough. yeah no we’ll put it in the fridge overnight. oh look at those bubbles. listen to that crack. maybe five more minutes in the oven. put some butter on that finished thing. and then we eat and sit quietly. this is something i like to do. usually lasts more than a single hour tho

tagging @cactus-bag @sleeeepy-demon @belladonnafey @retourne-toi-eurydice & anyone else that wants to.

P.S don’t reblog this from me pls i don’t like threads! i just like being tagged!

[lasting-through-the-feels]

Frankly. I just wanna stay in bed. Finish tasks I like on my to-do list, keep watching the Usher show with my friend Bri and finish rewatching Doom Patrol (currently s4e6) so I can watch the new seasln

Life has been too busy. I have been too busy. I need a break.

[homosexualmanslaughter]

But it was alright, everything was alright, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved big brother.

Succession S4E6 ‘Living+’ / ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four��� (George Orwell, 1948)

[nadjasnandor]

me finishing s4e6 ‘the wedding’

[agni-ashes]

oh i forgot! update on me watching wwdits: finished s4e6 yesterday and *cue cackling* marwa is so cute i love her. go off, the djinn!! do whatever you want!! this is YOUR world, the rest of them are just living in it. you’re hot and desi and so you can do whatever the fuck you want!! jesus christ he’s hot. N E WAIS. moving on, the djinn making marwa like whatever nandor likes… i knew immediately he’d find a way to turn it to do smth will guillermo.. LMAOOO. marwa peppering guillermo’s face with kisses. this is what nandor feels about guillermo. “you’re my best… man” ok bro ok sure stop your denial my man Please. absolutely hilarious. najda and the baron. and then lazlo and the baron. good for them. good for them. going back to the beginning of the episode i’m NOT OVER guillermo losing his extremely tested patience and screaming!!! like. GOOD FOR YOU. GOOD FOR YOU. and then destroying a wholeass room. AS HE SHOULD!!! yeah i’m done now (no i’m not)

GUILLERMO’S OUTFIT AT THE WEDDING DEAR GODDDDD IM DOWN BAD GOOD FOR YOU MY MAN GOOD FOR YOU!! how tf if nandor so stupid

[panevanbuckley]

What are your top 10 9-1-1 episodes (in no particular order) and why? Feel free to tag other blogs in your answer and ask them the same question. I’d love to see everyone discussing this 😊

ahsjsk- this is simultaneously the best and worst thing anyone has ever asked me!!

gods, okay, definitely in no particular order because I can never order favourites but here we go....I had to really think about this too 😂

please keep in mind that I've watched s4 but haven't yet finished s3 (I caught up from s1 whilst watching new episodes as they came out because chronology who?!) 😅

s1e7 full moon - buck howling? adorable. the pure chaos of this episode? perfection. the whole scene of women giving birth needs an honourable mention too!

s1e8 karma's a bitch - man did I cry when I watched this episode but gods it was great

s2e4 stuck - my diaz boys!! basically the reason I adore this episode

s2e6 dosed - still not over the fact that, until I watched this episode, I didn't realise buck and eddie were high...I thought they were just being their normal selves 😂

s2e16 bobby begins again - bathena backstory!!! also just sassy bobby is life okay I love his first meeting with the 118

s3e2/e3 sink or swim/the searchers - I'm lumping these two together because they're basically one long episode. I love them both, the drama, the angst, the cuteness at the end 😭

s3e15 eddie begins - haven't properly watched the episode but I've skimmed it (way before I even started from s1) and umm...already sobbed?? I love it okay. the scene between eddie and christopher at his school melts me 💕

s4e3 future tense - eddie diaz conspiracy theorist extraordinaire!! love this episode, love the humor and the peak eddie content. we rarely get to see eddie's fun side

s4e6 jinx - hilarious. idc if people don't like this episode, it's one of my favourites. the pure chaos fills my heart with joy

s4e14 survivors - buddie content, bathena content, ryan dorsey, need I go on??!

I'll probably realise I missed out a great episode but these are the first 10 that came to mind and stayed. I honestly love them all and would rewatch them in an instant!

gonna tag: @ace-diaz @buckbuckley @perfectlynervousbeard @futures-tense @christopherismybuddie @on-maars because I would love to see more people's favourites!! 💜

[helpagirlout-lander]

With a resume spanning nearly thirty years, Graham’s got a REP!! This post got long REAL fast as you factor in he’s been spotted in (by my best count) 137 television episodes! He’s no stranger to film either and now a fan fave in more than one fandom. He’s the only actor to have worked with Sylvester Stallone in films as both Rocky AND Rambo. Take a peek!!

Return to Treasure Island (TV Mini Series, 1986): Ned: S1E2 - Mutiny

Highlander (TV Series, 1996): Charlie Tarvise: S4E21 - Judgement Day

Casualty (TV, 1998): Gerry Talbot, 5eps: S13E10 Clip (Graham @ 7:01), Two / S13E18  Clip (Graham @ 8:34), Two (Graham scenes @ 5:01 & 6:12), Three (Graham AND Tobias Menzies @ 7:43), Four (Graham & Tobias @ 4:56, again @ 7:28), Five (Graham @ 8:14) / S14E1: Clip (Graham @ 7:44 & 8:23), Two (graham @ 4:35 & 5:57) / S14E3: Clip (Graham @ 7:42), Two (Graham @ 9:00), Three  / S14E6 : Clip (Graham @ 1:28 & 4:47, 5:43, 7:10), Two (Graham @ 2:54, 4:51, 7:19), Three (Graham @ 3:48, 6:15, 7:23, 8:16), Four (Graham @ Beginning, 0:36, 1:09, 1:48, 2:40 )

Red Dwarf (TV Series, 1999): Ackerman, 5eps: S8E3 - Back in the Red Pt3 / S8E5 - Krytie TV, Making of (Graham @ 7:46) / 30th Anniversary

Heartbeat (TV Series, 1999): Derek Flowers: S9E2 - Tricks of the Trade

Dinotopia (TV Series, 2002): Ajax: S1E3 - Handful of Dust

Rosemary & Thyme (TV Series, 2003): DI Taylor: S1E3 - Language of Flowers

Murder City (TV Series, 2004): Noel Fredericks, S1E4: Clip

Empire (TV Mini Series, 2005): General Rapax, 5eps: Episodes 1-3: Clip (Graham @ 1:58), Two (Graham @ 0:48), Three (Graham @ 3:19 & 4:28), Four (Graham @ 5:09), Five (Graham @ 2:38) // Episodes 5-6: One (Graham @ 4:39), Two (Graham @ 7:47), Three (Graham @ Beginning), Four, Death (Graham @ 3:27) // Watch Entire Series

Rome (TV Series, 2005): Urbo, 2 eps: S1E9 Clip 

The Bill (TV Series, 2005-6): Pete Larson, 6eps: S21E68 - The Boys Are Back in Town / S21E72 - The Scapegoat / S21E85 -  A Mean Game Pt1 / S21E86  - A Mean Game Pt2 / S22E8 - Spirits / S22E20 Connections Pt2

Jekyll (TV Mini Series, 2007): Gavin Hardcastle, S1E6:  FanVid

NCIS (TV Series, 2007): Aleksei, S5E6: Fanvid (Graham @ 2:05)

Lost (TV Series, 2008): Sergeant, S4E5: Clip (Graham @ 0:38), Two (First 20 Seconds)

CSI Miami (TV Series, 2008): Mitch Davis, S6E16: Clip (Graham @ 0:21)

Pushing Daisies (TV Series, 2008): Hansel Von Getz, S2E3: Clip

24 (TV Series, 2010) Mikhail Novakovich, 7eps: S8E16: Promo, Full Ep (ReDubbed in French) / S8E17: Promo, Full Ep in French / S8E18: Promo, Full Ep / S8E19: Promo, Full Ep / S8E20: Promo, Full Ep (In French) / S8E21: Promo, Full Ep (In French) / S8E22: Promo, Full Ep (in French)

The Good Guys (TV Series, 2010): Dolph: S1E7 - Hunches & Heists

Outlander (TV Series, 2014-2020): Dougal MacKenzie / Buck MacKenzie, 19eps: See Master Post

Colony (TV Series, 2018): Andrew MacGregor, 3 eps: S3E3: Clip (Graham @ 0:57), Two (Graham @ 0:15), Three / S3E4: Clip, Two (Graham @ 0:19) / S3E5: Clip, Two (Graham @ 0:31), Three (Graham @ 0:29)

Lucifer (TV Series, 2019): Father Kinley, 6eps: S4E1 - Everything’s Okay / S4E2: Clip / S4E3: Clip, Two, Three / S4E7: Clip, Two / S4E9: Clip / S4E10: Clip // Jibland2019, Two, Three

Preacher (TV Series, 2016-9): The Saint of Killers / The Cowboy, 42 eps: TVGuide / KTLA5 // S2 Saint Promo, Two, Three // Premiere: AP //  S1 Trailer / S3 Intro / S4 Teaser, S4 Featurette // SDCC 2016: IGN, MTV, IMDb Q&A, Panel Part One & Two, AMC, TVLine, Vulture // SDCC 2017: EW, MTV, Panel - Saint Clip, Full Panel,  IMDb, TVLine // Clips: Saint Shoots Thru Planet / Jesse & Saint in Australia // S1E9 Finish the Song - Clip // S2E1 On the Road - BTS, Clip  / S2E2 Mumbai Sky Tower - BTS, Two - Clip / S2E4 Viktor - Deals w/ Satan / S2E5 Dallas - Viktor / S2E6 Sokosha - BTS, Jesse & Saint, “Get On Your Knees” / S2E12 On Your Knees - Returns / S2E13 The End of the Road - BTS // S3E7 Hitler - Trailer, Visits Hitler (Graham @ 2:11) / S3E10 The Light Above - Saint vs Satan, Meets w/ Satan, Sydney // S4E3 Deviant - Turtle Pie / S4E6 The Lost Apostle - Preview / S4E7 Messiahs / S4E8 Fear of the Lord / S4E9 Overture - Trailer, Saint vs God / S4E10 End of the World - Jesse vs Saint, Saint vs God

Men In Kilts (TV Series, 2019-): See Master Post

For Queen & Country (Film, 1988): Lieutenant: Full Movie (w/ a young Denzel Washington!)

Freedom Fighter (TV Movie, 1988): Guard: Full Movie

Erik the Viking (Film, 1989): Thangbrand, Etc: Full Movie (Starring: Mickey Rooney, Eartha Kitt, John Cleese, and fellow S1 Outlander Alum Tim McInnerny (Father Bain))

Macbeth (Film 1997): Banquo: Full Movie

Dot the I (Film, 2003): Detective #1: Trailer (No Graham) / BTS with Tom Hardy & Charlie Cox, JUST BECAUSE (No Graham)

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (Film 2003): Submarine Captain: Deleted Scene

Good Girl, Bad Girl (Film, 2006): Gromek: Trailer (Graham @ 0:35)

Rambo (Film, 2008): Lewis: Mercenaries Clip / Die for Something Clip / Collider Interview / Wellington Con Interview

Sisterhood (Film 2008): Martin: Trailer (Graham @ 1:29)

Secretariat (Film, 2010): Earl Jansen: Trailer (No Graham)

The Wicker Tree (Film, 2011): Sir Lachlan Morrison: Trailer / Full Movie / BTS / Clip

The Hobbit: Unexpected Journey (Film, 2012): Dwalin: Announcement Trailer, Trailer #1, Trailer #2, Trailer #3 / Full Movie // BTS, Two, Three, Four, Dwalin’s Chair, Mr Baggins, Graham Does Metalica, “Middle Earth” (Graham @ 0:56), “Windybeard” (Graham @ 0:10), Archery Training, Beard Envy / Dwarf Bootcamp // Clip, Two, Three, Four, The Fish, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven // Premiere

Note: I tried my best to get the numbered clips in the right movie’s category. I haven’t seen the films, so I may have misattributed some...

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (Film, 2013): Dwalin: Sneak Peek, Teaser, Trailer #1, Trailer #2, Trailer #3 / Full Movie / Berlin Premiere /  Clip, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six / Costumes

Plastic (Film, 2014): Steve Dawson: Trailer (Back of Graham’s head @ 1:03) / Premiere (Graham @ 4:42) / Full Movie

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies (Film 2014): Dwalin: Teaser, Trailer #1, Trailer #2 // Full Film // Premiere, Two, Anglophile / Clip, Two, Three,  Four, Five, Six, /  Deleted Scene / SDCC 2014 Full Panel

Creed (Film 2015): Tommy Holiday: Interview / Trailer (No Graham) / Clip (Graham @ 1:36), Two (Graham @ 1:08), Three (Graham @ beginning & 1:15, 2:25)

The Finest Hours (Film, 2016): Frank Fauteaux: Trailer (Graham briefly in background @ 1:53), Trailer #2 (Graham @ 1:07), TV Spot (Graham @ 0:40) / Clip, Two / BTS (Graham @ 5:09 and on) / Full Movie

The Stolen (Film, 2017): Bully: Trailer (Graham @ 0:42)

Aquaman (Film 2018): King Atlan: Extended Trailer (Graham @ 2:09) / Clip, Two (Graham @ 0:39)

Stakeout (Film 2019): Ibrahim Kozlov: Trailer (Graham @ 1:20) / Full Film

Actors Talk About Themselves / TheCouchCast

iFit: New Zealand / Scotland

ComicCons:

2013: HobbitCon, Two, Singing, Closing Ceremony (Bonn, Germany) / DragonCon: “Dwalin”, Panel #1 Full, Panel #2 Full / SupernovaCon, Two, SeaFM Interview @ 2:39, Q&A // 2014: FantasyCon: Who’s Line Is It Anyway, Dwalin, Kickoff Panel, Dwarven BootCamp / Wales ComicCon // 2015: Cincinnati ComicExpo, Two / MTL ComicCon / LIGeek / RingCon (Outlander) One, Two // 2016: RingCon: “Dwalin, Gloin and Bombur - At Your Service”/ MegaCon Tampa Bay: Hobbit Panel / “Finding Your Inner Dwarf” / Welligeddon: “Dwarves Believe They’re Giants”, “That’s Not Creepy At All”, “Fish Scene”, “Dwalin”, “HobbitCon” / MotorCity ComicCon // 2017: SupernovaCon: Lightsaber Presentation / CollectiveCon // 2018: SideshowLIVE! / TheOneRing Interview  // 2019: GalaxyCon

Charities:

Breakfast for SickKids - FanExpo Canada 

Commercial

Ford Focus (2005): One & Two

Jaguar (2017)

Upcoming Projects:

This Guest of Summer (2021): Mallory: Welcome / Caitriona Balfe “Auditions” / Sideshow Live! / Twitter w/ Stephen Walters

[acephysicskarkat]

Redemption, Forgiveness and She-Ra S5

So just to spite the anon who told me to stop posting my opinions, I’m gonna post another opinion!

This will contain spoilers for SPOP, Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Good Place, and Steven Universe.

So the most common take that I’ve heard about S5 from Catra stans is that it’s a story about redemption and forgiveness and that if I’m in any way critical of it then I’m saying abusers can never redeem themselves.

To which I say: the second part is a strawman argument, and the first part doesn’t help because it’s a bad story about redemption and forgiveness.

Part 1: Redemption

The problem with S5′s stories about redemption is that they are, universally, undercooked.  For things that the fanbase had been wanting for months, they’re surprisingly lacking in meaningful impact.

Catra’s is the least bad, because Catra is at least on-screen long enough to tell us that it seems to be sticking, but it’s still not good.  It’s rushed, it’s weightless, and it feels like they didn’t even check what she’d done in the past three seasons that she would need to find redemption for.

At no point does she meaningfully confront her actions (which, in case you’ve forgotten, ranged from bringing about the death of Queen Angella (S3E6), to repeated attempts to murder or permanently harm Adora (S1E11, S1E13, S2E5, S3E4-6, S4E3), to bullying Scorpia (present throughout but most obvious in S4E6), to taking part in a war crime (S4E8)), nor does she really confront the jealousy and spite that drove them.  Indeed, the episodes that could have been spent showing us her character development are spent showing us that she still has a very unhealthy attitude towards Adora (S5E6) and telling us that she underwent her character development offscreen, while we were distracted by Double Trouble (S5E8).

Hordak’s is even worse, because Catra at least admits she wronged people, even if the focus is put almost entirely on Catra feeling bad about it.  Hordak realises, accurately, that being made into a cog in a machine of conquest is bad (S5E13)...but he never makes the leap onscreen to it still being bad when he did it to other people, as he did to Adora and the other Horde kids (S2E7).  It treats Hordak’s decision to break free of Horde Prime as if it in and of itself makes him good, overlooking that the life he’s trying to go back to was the one where he ruled over an empire of stolen children.

I don’t even want to get into Shadow Weaver.

AtLA gave a compelling redemption arc to Zuko by having him confront the consequences of his actions.  SU gave a compelling redemption arc to Peridot by showing us, in great detail, her evolution from antagonist to ally.  SPOP just kinda tells us that characters are good now and expects that to work out okay.

And the really depressing thing is that both these characters actually could have sustained really compelling redemption arcs!  I would have loved to see Hordak meaningfully realise onscreen that the universe does not consist of him, Horde Prime, Imp, Entrapta, and a bunch of largely interchangeable pawns for him to treat as he sees fit.  I would have loved to see Catra wrestle with and overcome her resentment of Adora, maybe come to understand that being Shadow Weaver’s favourite fucking sucked actually.  The show just didn’t bother, and so what we got was on par with a bad fanfic or the backstory for a D&D character.

Part 2: Forgiveness

For my money, one of the best stories about forgiveness in modern media is in a third season episode of The Good Place called “A Fractured Inheritance”.

Explaining it with as few spoilers as possible, protagonist Eleanor Shellstrop discovers that her cartoonishly neglectful mother Donna faked her death and seems to have built a new life where she’s a good stepmother to a child.  Eleanor spends most of the episode convinced that her mother is running a scam, but eventually concludes that this does appear to be sticking and gives up her plan to reveal Donna’s secret, cautioning her not to go back to how she used to be.  At the end, she opens up to a friend about the trauma she sustained as a result of her upbringing.

SPOP could never.

"A Fractured Inheritance” tells a more compelling story about forgiveness in 15 minutes of screentime than she-Ra S5 managed in four and a half hours because The Good Place cares about Eleanor’s trauma.  It’s portrayed as pretty understandable that she has a grudge against her mother, and working through that takes time and sustained proof that Donna has changed.  More than that, forgiveness isn’t portrayed as a magical button that instantly solves Eleanor’s issues; just because she’s letting go of her anger towards Donna doesn’t mean that the harm she suffered as a result of Donna’s neglect goes away.  Her fear of opening up or being vulnerable, stemming from a childhood of constantly being shat on when she did, is still there, even after reconciling with her mother.

Contrast this to She-Ra S5.  The second Catra says she’s sorry, Adora is willing to forgive her and go across the universe to help her (S5E3), even though in their last interaction, back in S4E3, Adora actively tried to kill her for pretty darn compelling reasons (you may remember those reasons from S3E4-6).  Adora gets, like, a brief rant in S5E4 where she seems to be confused about this, but there’s never a point where she meaningfully seems to process the trauma she’s suffered as a result of Catra’s treatment of her, which we know has been toxic, controlling and unhealthy since they were kids (S5E3).

More than that, there’s never really a point where any of the people Catra victimised in the first four seasons gets to deal with that.  Glimmer seemingly never realises that Catra is why her mother is dead (S3E6), which is especially jarring given that the effects of Angella’s death on Glimmer drove the entire previous season; Entrapta barely remembers that Catra betrayed her and sent her to her presumed death (S5E6); Bow thinks someone who’s done nothing but attempt to hurt his friends for as long as he’s known her is adorable (S5E8); Scorpia forgives her before she even finishes saying sorry (S5E13); and both Frosta decking her in S5E9 and Perfuma’s understandable irritation with the woman who bullied her GF in S5E10 are portrayed almost as jokes, the latter never escalating beyond mild rudeness.

This also extends to Hordak, who, after his tissue-thin face turn in S5E13, gets a baffling montage that tries to portray his picking up an abandoned child and indifferently turning her over to an abusive sorceress (S2E7) as somehow heartwarming and a big bonding moment, and then the notion that Mermista might have some grudges against the guy who burned down her home and displaced her people (S5E7-8) is framed as comic.

I’m not even saying that neither of these characters should never be forgiven by anyone!  Just that the forgiveness they get in the show is lacking in dramatic weight, because the actions that are being forgiven don’t feel like they mean anything.  Catra has hurt Adora, Glimmer, Entrapta, Scorpia, Mermista and countless unnamed innocents, and it’s all treated like it has the same impact as borrowing Adora’s Xena DVDs and forgetting to give them back.  Hordak should be considered Etheria’s greatest monster given the number of people who’ve died as a result of his actions and maybe one person is slightly irritated at the prospect of having to send him a Christmas card this year.

(This is without getting into the fact that Glimmer and Entrapta are expected to deal with the consequences of their actions to some degree, with each getting an episode focused around that (S2E2, S2E4).  It’s kind of wild that Glimmer nearly destroying the world because she took a reckless risk in a desperate gamble to try and save the people she cares about from the Horde blitzkrieg, a gambit that she immediately tried to fix when she realised she’d fucked up (S4E10-13) is treated as something that causes a notable rift in her friendships, but Catra nearly destroying the world because she was just that jealous of Adora (S3E3-6) is breezed past with an “I’m sorry.”  Entrapta building the robots causes the Alliance to hold grudges; Hordak waging 25 years of warfare is [shrug] Just Horde Clone Things.)

3. Salvaging These Plot Points

Now, as I implied above, the notion that I think these characters are irredeemable is a bullshit strawman, a thought-terminating cliche that Catra stans use to dismiss criticism without processing with it.  So how would I go about it?

Catra

I would start by having Catra and Glimmer be in the same escape.  Having her attempt to sacrifice herself in S5E3 had some weird thematic issues given her previously established self-destructive streak (S2E5, most of S3).  If we have to keep the bad plot point where Adora recovers the friend who loves and cares for her and immediately goes “well, we gotta leave our friends back home to deal with a colonial invasion while we charge across the universe to save my abusive stalker ex who’s never respected my personhood or autonomy”, I’d probably look at the two biggest missed opportunities in the season: S5E6 and S5E8.

S5E6 is terrible, and should just be expunged mercilessly with fire for its baffling endorsement of the sentiment “yes i abused u but now u hate me so i’m the victim really”.  Its replacement should probably be focused around Adora genuinely processing the harm she’s sustained as a result of Catra’s treatment of her, probably deciding at the end that she’ll accept Catra’s help but is still understandably suspicious of her given the established mistrust (S1E8) and hostility (S4E3).

S5E8 is easy to fix, though; instead of it mostly being the characters bumbling around a haunted house, I’d make the setting actually do stuff for the characters’ arcs.  We already know that First One ruins can bring up memories, so I’d turn it into a reversal of S1E11 where Adora and Catra’s friendship can actually be rebuilt, probably culminating in Catra saving Adora from falling off a cliff as a symbolic rejection of the resentment she would have been struggling with throughout the episode.  This is probably where Adora starts to actually believe that Catra has become a better person.

Basically, the goal here is to show the audience that Catra is working to overcome her issues and become a better person, instead of telling us that it happened offscreen.

Hordak

The problem with Hordak’s face turn is that at no point in the show, including after we’re supposed to treat him as Good Now, does he seem to give a shit about anyone not on a list that contains maybe 4-5 names.  I’d probably put in some scenes earlier where his experiences seem to be actually changing him for the better: maybe his response to Entrapta asking him to spare Catra isn’t to commute her sentence to a suicide mission, or he feels a sudden sympathy with a captive Etherian after the fall of Salineas, as the shared feelings of loss line up, and orders their release.  Basically, the idea is to put in some groundwork so that it actually feels like he might be safe to have around, instead of him betraying his tyrannical overlord because he misses his life where he was, himself, a tyrannical overlord.

I also would not play the idea that people might be a little bit suspicious of a man with a 25-year history of ruthless oppression, colonial violence and unprovoked warmongering as a joke.  Just one of those personal quirks.

4. Summary

In conclusion:

S5 is a bad story about redemption because it doesn’t give the characters being redeemed engaging or compelling redemption arcs, favouring a blind rush to the ending, and it’s a bad story about forgiveness because it treats the actions that are being forgiven as though they don’t mean anything, even when episodes or entire seasons have been built on the effects of those actions.  It’s not that these ideas are bad in general, that these characters axiomatically couldn’t be redeemed or that forgiveness is problematic; it’s just that the execution is bad.

Anyway, thanks, jackass anon, for inspiring me to set down my thoughts in detail like this!

[hart-matters]

im watching CAoS for the first time and im already about to finish the last season

BUT THE SCENE IN S4E6 BETWEEN DORCAS AND AGATHA? 

Yo, the rest of my day is fucked up