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beepboop358 · 4 years ago

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A Prom in S4 Theory & Music Coding Predictions

Some leaked set pics indicate that there MAY BE a junior/senior prom at Hawkins High, which they are calling the "Lover's Ball". It's unclear if this prom will be included on screen, or if it will just be mentioned as an event coming up at Hawkins High because this flyer could just extra set decor. Regardless if the prom happens on screen or not, there will probably be some tension about 'who's asking who' to the prom that we will see in s4. Given that this picture was just leaked a few weeks ago, it probably falls closer to the end of the season sequentially.

Having a big school dance in s4 is suspiciously close to how they had the Snowball scene in s2. This would certainly follow the even/odd season patterns, (and actually add to the list of the patterns), which kind of makes me think we will see this prom on screen, or at the very least it will be mentioned in the course of the season.

The Duffer Brothers love Steven King and reference his work and especially 'IT' a lot in the show, but they haven't done anything with Carrie yet so maybe we will get a Carrie moment this season at the prom...

Carrie was on the video store fridays movie inspiration board for ST4.

At the "Lover's Ball", there will be definitely be some music coding relating to Byler. Since music coding is kind of a key thing in the show, I've been rifling through 80's songs to try and find some that may fit with s4's themes/character storylines (and I may do a seperate post about that later), but for this post I'm just gonna focus on what they might use at the prom for relating to Byler.

Since the season is most likely going to take place in 1986, I only selected songs that had a compatible release year so it would be historically accurate. (these songs would also be great for a byler playlist!)

Some strong contenders for the songs that might play at the prom to reference Mike and Will's relationship could be:

"True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper (1986)

This song is honestly too good of an option for them not to use. I'm reallllyyy crossing my fingers for this one.

It's hard to take courage In a world full of people You can lose sight of it all And the darkness inside you Can make you feel so small

"And I see your true colors Shining through I see your true colors And that's why I love you So don't be afraid (don't be afraid) To let them show your true colors True colors are beautiful (you're beautiful, oh) Like a rainbow Oh oh oh oh oh like a rainbow"

If this world makes you crazy And you've taken all you can bear You call me up Because you know I'll be there

"Heaven" by Bryan Adams (1984)

This first verse is literally just the story of Byler... 😭 The rest of the song applies but that verse verse is just sooooo accurate. (I'm crossing my fingers for this one too)

"Oh thinkin' about all our younger years There was only you and me We were young and wild and free Now nothing can take you away from me We've been down that road before But that's over now You keep me comin' back for more

Baby you're all that I want When you're lyin' here in my arms I'm findin' it hard to believe We're in heaven And love is all that I need And I found it there in your heart Isn't too hard to see We're in heaven

Oh once in your life you find someone Who will turn your world around Bring you up when you're feelin' down Yeah nothin' can change what you mean to me Oh there's lots that I could say But just hold me now 'Cause our love will light the way"

"Take My Breath Away" by Berlin (1986)

This song is on Will's Spotify playlist, and I thought it could also be used at the prom since it's a romantic song. I see it as an 'entrance to the prom' moment song, almost like a 'first look' - like the Mike and El moment at the snowball when she first walks in, but with Mike and Will this time. I think the lyrics clearly hint to this kind of 'first look' moment as well.

"Watchin' every motion in my foolish lover's game On this endless ocean, finally lovers know no shame Turning and returning to some secret place inside Watchin' in slow motion as you turn around and say...take my breath away"

Watchin' every motion in this foolish lover's game Haunted by the notion, somewhere there's a love in flames Turning and returning to some secret place inside Watchin' in slow motion as you turn my way and say...take my breath away"

"In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins (1981)

This song was originally meant to be included in the snowball scene from s2, but it ultimately was not used and "Every Breath You Take" was used for this scene instead. Since it was intended to be a part of the s2 dance, that's why I think it may be used at the prom this season. (you can read the scripts on 8flix)

——— I forgot to include this explanation originally BUT, I think this song might be used to show some anger/resentment between the two, and to show a decent amount of tension, depending on their development this season. Like maybe Mike is kind of leading Will on in private by continuing to initiate intimate scenes between them, but in public Mike is still trying to put on his “straight boy act” and kind of being a jackass about it, and this song could be used to show the tension between them that has caused.

"And I've been waiting for this moment, for all my life, (Oh lord)

Well, I was there and I saw what you did I saw it with my own two eyes So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you've been It's all been a pack of lies.

Well I remember, I remember don't worry How could I ever forget It's the first time, the last time we ever met But I know the reason why you keep this silence up

No you don't fool me The hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows It's no stranger to you and me"

"In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel (1986)

Some of the lyrics in this song just SCREAMS byler, just look at the 1st, 2nd and 4th paragraphs. I would be suprised if they didn't use this song in either s4/s5.

Love, I get so lost sometimes Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart When I want to run away I drive off in my car But whichever way I go I come back to the place you are

All my instincts, they return The grand facade, so soon will burn Without a noise, without my pride I reach out from the inside

In your eyes The light, the heat (in your eyes) I am complete (in your eyes) I see the doorway (in your eyes) To a thousand churches (in your eyes) The resolution (in your eyes) Of all the fruitless searches (in your eyes)

Love, I don't like to see so much pain So much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away I get so tired working so hard for our survival I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive

"Heroes" by David Bowie (1975)

David Bowie was bisexual. A cover of his song “Heroes” is used in the show twice already, sung by Peter Gabriel. The song plays when they pull Will's fake body out of the water in season one and Mike cries in his Mom's arms, with some very queer-coded lyrics in the background, and after Hopper's letter in s3 (which is very Byler-centric)

"I will be king. And you, you will be queen 'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact. Yes, we're lovers, and that is that. Though nothing will keep us together. We could steal time just for one day We can be heroes forever and ever. What d'you say? I, I wish I could swim, like dolphins, like dolphins could swim I, I can remember (I remember) Standing by the wall (By the wall) And the guns shot above our heads (Over our heads) And we kissed as though nothing could fall (Nothing could fall) And the shame was on the other side. Oh, we can beat them forever and ever. Then we could be heroes just for one day We're nothing, and nothing will help us Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay But we could be safer just for one day"

I just thought the above songs might be some highly likely possibilities given that they fit the year of the s4 and also make references to not only love, but the idea of hiding, pain, shame, longing, etc., and can make some (partially stretching here) references to other things in the show such as:

RAINBOWS and TRUE COLORS, SHINING THROUGH (rainbows imagery is always associated with Mike & Will in the show and a is symbol of lgbtq+ pride, True Colors shining through = who you really are on the inside finally coming out)

IF THIS WORLD MAKES YOU CRAZY ("crazy together", "only love makes you that crazy" and references the "world" motif in the show)

YOUNGER YEARS, ONLY YOU AND ME, YOUNG, WILD AND FREE (references "not wanting things to change" and wanting "to make things go how they were" part in Hopper's letter, and the "But we're not kids anymore" comment during the Byler fight)

ENDLESS OCEAN and SWIM, LIKE DOLPHINS (references water's significance in the show)

FLAMES (Will in front of the burning car in s4 teaser?)

LIES and LYING (Mike lying to El about how he feels)

INSTINCTS RETURNING, FACADES BURNING, WITHOUT MY PRIDE, I REACH OUT FROM THE INSIDE (Mike's feelings for Will are his instincts, the facade is the act he put on in s3 to seem straight, burning could reference Will & fire, and I think the last 2 lines of that 2nd verse reference vulnerability- perhaps in an apology/confession)

I GET SO LOST (confusion about his sexuality, feeling lost without the other) and SO MUCH WASTED TIME (known each other since kindergarten but were unaware the other felt the same way/was dealing with same things, they could have been even closer)

KINGS and QUEENS (the d&d game mike wrote where he has king Tristan give him a medal in s1)

STEALING TIME (references "turning back the clock, to make things go how they were" part in Hopper's letter and the time theme in s4 and time is central to the s4 plot)

AND WE KISS - AND THE SHAME (references the shame they both feel about being gay since it was so stigmatized in the 80's)

Byler @ Prom Possibilities:

If Mike and Will did dance together at the prom, they will probably get bullied because they live in a small conservative town. They will probably either run out, upset, or Eleven will step in to protect them which could lead to the Carrie moment.

Or Mike and Will will not dance together in the actual dance room, but instead sneak off to somewhere else in the school and have a private Byler dance moment where they can't be teased and it's just them together.

OR Mike and Will are still acting weird at this point in the season because neither of them is communicating what needs to be said out of fear, or one of them has confessed or done something to indicate how they feel, but the other hasn’t so everything is weird between them. There would be lots of tension from this and we would get lots of longing looks and adoring moments between the two of them from the sidelines. (I think this one is the most likely)

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alrightsnaps · 3 years ago

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Wait...If Eloise was supposed to debute last season but Violet allowed her to delay her debut by a year and Francesca is only a year younger than Eloise, shouldn't have Francesca also debuted this season?

Which already didn't make sense because in the show they had S1 be Daphne's debute when in the book she was on her second or third season and is four years older than Eloise so show vise Eloise's debute should have been in like season 4? Or 5? Unless Daphne and Eloise are only a year apart on the show? Which still doesn't make sense because they still wouldn't be debuting in the same season!?

Anyway I kind of wonder if Francesca was supposed to debute this season? CVD did say she was supposed to have a bigger role this season, idk what else they would have given her to do? But that was changed because the actress was not available so they had Francesca just in the background once again.

According to the script, at the beginning of season 1 Daphne is 18, Eloise is 17 and Francesca is 16. I guess we have to assume that the appropriate age for girls to make their debut is 17, since s01 was also Penelope's first season out and she is the same age as Eloise. So technically Frannie would have been able to debut in s02 (being 17 at the time), but since both Daphne and Eloise came out at 18 it's consistent for her to follow in their footsteps which would make s03 the right time for her debut (if the show remembers she's supposed to be a member of the Bridgerton family and not an extra that comes and goes).

I really hate how the show aged down Daphne tbh. I wish they'd kept her book age, just thiking that she was just 18 when she got married makes my skin crawl. Same with Edwina every time I saw her with Anthony. 💀💀 At least with Frannie and Eloise it kinda makes sense because there will probably be a time jump until their stories come up.. I guess having Daphne be in her third season wasn't convenient for the diamond plot so they just had her be a 30-year-old man's child bride instead??

Francesca wouldn't need to have a social season in order to get a proper arc so the "what else would they have given her to do" question doesn't make much sense. What did they have Eloise do last season? What did they have Colin and Benedict do this season? Just developing the relationships between the Bridgerton sisters (which obviously isn't the show's forte) could've made for great storytelling. They could've easily come up with a decent storyline if they wanted, both in s01 and s02. And if they hadn't treated her character as a joke from the beginning of the show, maybe the actress wouldn't be (rightfully) prioritising projects where she was actually taken seriously when they finally remembered her existence during the s02 filming.

#bridgerton asks #francesca bridgerton

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frecklesandstardust · 5 years ago

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Let’s Talk About Klaus

Hi, friends. The Umbrella Academy’s second season came out recently. I finished it about twelve hours after. And I have feelings. We need to talk about Klaus.

Now, here is my disclaimer. From the very first moment I saw him, Klaus was my favorite, but please read to the end before yelling about how Klaus-stans refuse to see his negative qualities. Thank you <3 (Also, this will involve spoilers for Season 2 and probably be an essay, so be prepared.)

Okay, first of all. Let’s look at Season 1 Klaus.

He’s an asshole. Just like all of his siblings. They were raised by a narcissistic egomaniac and given hero complexes from pretty much the second they were born. Obviously they all lack empathy and healthy coping mechanisms. We can all agree on that.

However, Klaus is also kind. So unbelievably kind. He makes crass jokes and looks out for himself first, but he is also so caring.

When we first see him, he is encouraging people in rehab. He has a rapport with the EMT who brings him back to life. He hugs Allison as soon as he sees her at the mansion and seems genuinely concerned about her and her life. When the giant portal opens, he grabs a fire extinguisher and runs to the front to try and protect his siblings. Siblings who essentially ignored and belittled him for years.

Fast forward and we see him helping Diego and Five and Luther. We see him caring, sincerely caring about his siblings. He breaks a snowglobe over his head to help Five get the answers he needs. He follows Luther to a rave and dies trying to save his life, even though he’s riddled with PTSD and freshly sober. We see him try so fucking hard to not give out any information about Five when he’s being literally tortured by assassins. He saves Diego from Hazel and Cha-Cha at the hotel, even though he could have stayed safe in the car. He risked his life to save a brother who didn’t even notice he had been kidnapped.

We watch him die. We watch him get locked in a museum by his father figure and tortured by his abilities. We watch him be traumatized over and over again by ghosts that look just as gruesome as the day they died. We watch him be hurt and kidnapped. We watch him get thrust into a literal war, where he lost his soulmate after staying and fighting for ten months because he was just that in love with Dave.

Out of every character, Klaus clearly has the most trauma. This isn't even including the fact that he was homeless for years and alluded to non-consensual sexual situations. Ergo, trading sex for a place to sleep and things like that. I am personally of the belief that Reggie was the reason Klaus broke his jaw, which Diego talks about in S1, but that’s my own opinion.

Looking at all of that, Klaus has PTSD out the whazoo. Like, he is filled to the brim with trauma and no one cares enough to ask or help him. Five sees him after Dave dies and only cares about the briefcase. Diego hears that he lost someone and has the absolute audacity to call Klaus “lucky” because at least he can see them whenever he wants. Not one of his siblings understands Klaus’s powers and that’s terrifying because he had to deal with screaming, tormented ghosts completely by himself. Imagine that. Powers that you can’t control eating you alive and the only thing that helps dim the noise is drugs.

And your family doesn’t care enough to ask. They just write you off as a useless junkie.

Now, like I mentioned earlier, Klaus is not an innocent quote unquote soft boi. He is inherently selfish. But, he had to be. He had to be selfish in order to survive. He was on the streets. Alone. If he wasn’t selfish, he would have been dead ten times over.

He stole things. He lied. He hurt people. He was an asshole. Just like they all were.

But he was never cruel.

His relationship with Ben in the first season was pretty awesome. We get to see the snark and the familiarity and the bond between them. And it makes sense, to some extent, why Ben is constantly trying to get Klaus to be better. If Klaus hasn’t seen his siblings for years, neither has Ben. I genuinely think Ben wanted to believe that they had changed. He wanted his siblings to be good, decent people.

That’s why he told Klaus to go after Luther. Why he told him that his family would notice he was missing when he get kidnapped by Cha-Cha and Hazel.

But it does not excuse the fact that Ben never apologized. He was wrong and he never said sorry for it. He inadvertently got Klaus killed and he never admitted that he made a mistake.

He was there for so much of Klaus’s trauma and he just brushed it off. We never see Ben try to be there for Klaus or try to help him come to terms with everything. Ben can see the other ghosts. He knows that they’re terrifying and that Klaus’s powers are completely haywire. Why doesn’t he acknowledge that?

Let’s move on to Season 2.

For some reason, all of Klaus’s character development has been tossed out the window. He is a wildcard with no plot line to follow. He says random things and seems to act as comedic relief for the most part, except it rarely works.

For starters, his powers are completely gone, for the most part. We see him in a brief opening scene absolutely kicking ass with his ghost army. But, after that, we don’t see any ghost except Ben. We don’t see him learning to control his powers or talking to ghosts. We don’t even hear about his powers. It’s like they’ve been erased.

That kind of trauma doesn’t go away. Especially when we find out he has been sober for three years.

I’ve seen some people argue that he traded addictions. Swapped the drugs for the cult and the adoration that came with it. I don’t agree to that for a few reasons.

First, he is very clearly uncomfortable with the cult touching him. And we see in the flashback that it happened completely by accident. Klaus was, again, trying to survive. Was it selfish? Yeah. Did he use that old woman to shamelessly find a place in a world he’s not supposed to exist in? Yeah! But, like I stated earlier, Klaus knows how to survive. He knows what to do to get by. All he is doing is trying to survive. Ben can scream all he wants about fairness, but he wasn’t offering up any options to get Klaus a place to sleep and a way to survive in the past.

Second, we don’t know how the cult came about exactly. We don’t know what started it. We don’t know how it spiraled from whatever it started as into a cult. And Klaus hates it. He spends the entire season trying to get away from everyone. He used it as a means to survive and then wanted space. His entire plan was to get to 1963 and save Dave--probably from the start of 1960, to be honest. But to get to Dave, he had to survive. He had to get to a place where saving Dave was possible. He can’t save him if he’s dead or homeless.

Third, Klaus very openly is touch-starved and desperate for attention. He spent his childhood being overlooked and his adulthood being treated like a disease. He just wants someone to take him seriously and care about him. The cult does. They love him for who he is, for his weird humor and mannerisms. They believe him when he talks. He’s never had that before, not since Dave.

He finally has a group of people that genuinely care about what he has to say. Even if it’s all bullshit! They still listen to him. So, of course he sticks around. Of course he lets it grow. He thinks everyone he loves is dead! He’s holding onto the only thing he can. It just happens to be a cult.

Next point: Ben.

Ooh boy, this is gonna be a long one.

Ben is also not a soft boi. One tender scene with Vanya does not undo an entire season of cruelty and callousness.

Before we get into that, let’s talk about the point everyone brings up: Klaus didn’t tell anyone Ben was there!

Why should he? They never believed him the first thousand times he tried to tell them. What makes it any different fifty years in the past?

But aside from that, I have two theories.

One, I’m curious as to if he was subconsciously trying to punish Ben. Ben essentially got him killed at the rave with Luther. He also never apologized, as I mentioned earlier. He blows Klaus off, just like the rest of his siblings, even though, out of anyone, Ben should know better. From the very beginning of S2, Ben is saying some pretty nasty stuff to Klaus. Low blows that shouldn’t be brought up. If that’s been happening for 3+ years, it’s possible that Klaus internally is punishing Ben for being just like the others.

Second, he’s scared of losing Ben. It’s been 17 years of only having Ben by his side. Constantly. And we know Klaus has watched the love of his life bleed out right in front of him. That’s PTSD. And PTSD doesn’t exactly involve healthy coping methods. So, it’s entirely possible that Klaus doesn’t saying anything about Ben being there because he is scared to lose him to his siblings. If Ben is corporeal, if they know Ben is there, what’s stopping Ben from leaving to go spend all his time with someone else? Someone that isn’t Klaus? Klaus could be trying to protect himself from losing another person.

Does that make it okay for Klaus to hide the fact that Ben is there? No. But does it kind of make sense? Yeah. Ben deserved to reconnect with his family, but Klaus is traumatized beyond belief and clearly isn’t in the right state to make sound and logical decisions all the time. If we can forgive Five for murdering the Commission Board in cold blood and Vanya for blowing up the world twice, we can forgive Klaus for keeping Ben’s existence to himself (especially since he tried to tell them in S1 and was immediately written off as an attention whore.)

Now, let’s talk about the possession, aka my least favorite thing about the entire season.

Ben possessing Klaus is assault. End of story. Non-negotiable. It’s not funny. It’s not cute. It’s not “payback.” It’s assault.

We know that Klaus is terrified by his powers. We know that he has trauma in his past, involving non-consensual experiences. So does Ben. Worse, Ben was there for a lot of it.

Ben flat out ignored Klaus’s discomfort for his own selfish gain. He was so hellbent on possessing Klaus that he ignored the fact that Klaus was terrified to go to sleep because he knew Ben would possess him without consent.

And let’s acknowledge the fact that Klaus doesn’t owe Ben anything. He has no obligation to let himself be possessed. Ben is dead. And that’s horrible. It’s unfair and Ben did not deserve to die. But he. is. dead. The dead do not get free access to the bodies of the living just because they want to feel things again.

Ben completely disregarded Klaus’s feelings because he had a crush on a girl who didn’t even know he existed. Klaus, who willingly accepted possession the second he realized it was important to Ben. Klaus, who laid out strict ground rules, showing he was clearly terrified of the idea, but still did it anyway because he loves his brother and harbors guilt for conjuring him the day of Ben’s funeral. Klaus, who had just been brushed off after failing to stop Dave from enlisting.

Ben possesses him and almost immediately starts to make out with a girl who thinks he is Klaus. That is sexual assault. If I have a twin sister and that twin sister sleeps with my husband, who believes she is me, then she has raped him. That is rape.

Ben doing anything physical with that girl, who clearly showed that she was interested in Klaus, is sexual assault. She did not consent to sleep with Ben. She consented to sleep with Klaus, who was trying his best to break the possession and stop the entire thing from happening.

And Ben fought him on it. We see them struggle in Klaus’s body for the next several minutes. Ben doesn’t care that Klaus is clearly uncomfortable, that Klaus wants him out. He selfishly wants to stay in control because of his own desires. He ignores Klaus’s rules and does what he wants without considering the consequences.

This is the third time that Ben has used possession to control Klaus. We see it when they are fighting earlier in the season at the cult mansion. We see it again at the dinner with Reginald. We see Klaus essentially have a seizure (and we see none of his family members ask if he is okay. They just roll their eyes.) We see Klaus literally vomit once he forces Ben out of him in that alley with Five and Luther. Still, no one asks if he is okay.

Worse than that, Ben says that he no regrets. And then reiterates the statement! Ben assaulted his brother and does not give a flying fuck. That’s crueler than anything Klaus has ever done. I would argue that it’s the cruelest thing any of the Hargreeves have done, to be honest.

It doesn’t matter how much of an asshole Klaus is or how selfish or how flamboyant. His consent still matters. His boundaries are just as important.

Overall, this season just gave Klaus more trauma while still leaving his PTSD and mental illness completely unaddressed. They essentially removed his powers and took away his bond with Ben. Like, in the first season, Ben is almost always with Klaus. That is Klaus’s power, after all. In the second season, Klaus’s entire arc is without Ben. All of his missions are without Ben present.

There is absolutely no fucking way that Klaus wouldn't bring Ben with him to get tacos with Vanya and Allison. He loves Ben, more than anyone. We see that constantly in the first season, outside of a few mishaps.

I love Ben. I genuinely love Ben and his story in the first season. But in S2, they took him and twisted him into a callous thing with no respect for consent or his brother. If those three years with Klaus in 1960 were anywhere near as bad as what we see in 1963, I can see why Klaus wouldn’t want Ben around his family.

I was supposed to love Ben and cry for him. And don’t get me wrong, I did. I cried a lot in the last episode. But that scene with Vanya? Where he tells her she’s not a monster and that they should have done better and that they could help her control her powers? That’s the exact same damn speech he should have told Klaus. Vanya’s destruction was always outward. It always cost millions of people their lives. Klaus’s was inward. So why does Vanya deserve the help and love and support while Klaus gets tossed aside?

They both needed a family and only one of them got it this season. Sure, Allison and Klaus had some great scenes together. But she didn’t ask if he was okay when Ben possessed him at dinner. She didn’t check on him.

Klaus deserved better. He deserved to work through is trauma and to have a family that takes care of him and supports him and helps him figure out how to deal with the ghosts. He deserved to control his own body and to say no when Ben wanted to possess him. He deserved a goddamn hug.

Klaus was inherently selfish. However, he also gave up everything. He sacrificed his entire relationship with Dave to try and save his life. If he had succeeded, if Dave had never enlisted, they never would have met. They never would have fallen in love. Dave would never remember being with him. He nearly gave that up to protect the love of his life.

Klaus is not perfect. He’s an asshole at best sometimes. But he’s also kind and compassionate and loves harder than every other character on that show. He deserved better.

This has turned into a massive essay, but the bottom line is that S2 let Klaus and Ben down. So many things were handled poorly--from consent to mental illness. It could have been great. It could have been an opportunity to fix a lot of the mistakes made in the first season. Ben and Klaus could have talked everything out and figured out the ghosts and the war and the trauma together. They were never given that chance.

There were so many good parts of this season, but the bad parts were so bad that it tainted the rest. I know the writers could have done better. They did it with Luther and Allison! They made their characters great this season and showcased some amazing relationships between the siblings. I’m confused as to how they let Klaus and Ben fall through the cracks so heavily.

#tua #The Umbrella Academy #klaus #klaus hargreeves #reginald hargreeves #s2 #tua spoilers #spoilers #dave #ben hargreeves

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johnaeryns · 4 years ago

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could you talk about why you don’t like s3 i agree and would like vindication

Why do you want me to be killed kldjfalskd. Honestly every time I bring it up people get really defensive but I do think it’s the weakest season of the show. I totally get the attitude because for a long time I thought of it as the Faith season so I liked it like ‘Oh yeah season 3 is great, it’s Faith’s season.’ But after rewatching it and really looking at it as a whole it feels incredibly disjointed. I’ll write more below but if it doesn’t make sense then oh well 😔.

Unlike the other seasons it lacks a central theme which ties everything together. I’ve said that before and people have argued that the theme is growing up but I don’t think that’s fair because that’s the theme of the entire show. It’s just as present in every other season as it is in s3, but the other seasons have a more specific idea which ties into that big overarching theme of growing up. The only other season which really lacks a theme like this is s1 but I’d argue it’s still more cohesive because the entire thing is in the monster of week format and it all works together really well to establish the characters, tone, and world, especially because it’s so short.

I think the biggest problem with s3 is it feels way too chaotic. I’m talking about how there’s no theme, really it’s more like Faith was meant to be the theme but they never put enough focus on her. Buffy’s struggle with identity and morality through Faith as her foil adds an immeasurable amount to the show. I think that what Faith brings to Buffy’s character and the slayer lore in general is invaluable, but she’s barely in the season at all? That is my primary issue. I love Faith, I love what she brings to the show, but I think that her arc was incredibly underdeveloped. I feel like a lot of the love I have for her and her arc are things that I’ve filled in and intuited because I can really relate to her in a lot of ways, but they weren’t textually present in the way they could have been. The concept of Faith is excellent but the execution is a little lacking, especially when you compare it to the way Spike was written into the same role in s6. It just makes me really aware of how they fumbled it. It’s not that I think Faith doesn’t work the way they did write her within the story, but I think they could have done so, so much more, and they didn’t and it’s big glaring problem with s3 that’s really hard to see around.

This is all exacerbated by the fact that they just waste so much time in this season. There is so much filler and it drags so much. Obviously the other seasons have stand alone episodes as well but they feel much more cohesive, s3 is all over the place. It’s really mostly filler episodes. They only take a couple episodes to establish Faith (and she’s often only in a few inconsequential scenes which don’t establish much at all), and then a couple episodes to focus on the mayor and then the finale comes and there’s so little payoff. If you look at the other seasons the ratio of stand alone episodes to season plot episodes is much different. I’m sure this is going to annoy a lot of people as well but I also think that the Buffy and Angel scenes this season were so inconsequential. I’m sure that sounds really biased since I’m not the biggest fan of that relationship in general but I will fully admit that the B*ngel scenes in s1 and s2 served a purpose. They were there for a reason. They contributed to the show, they contributed to the season arc, and they contributed to Buffy’s arc. In s3 it really just feels like they had to find a way to write Angel into every episode because David Boreanaz was still on the payroll but they didn’t know how to fit him into the show now that they’re planning on having him leave for the spinoff. That really summarizes my biggest problem with this season though because it’s not just the Buffy and Angel scenes, there’s so much that feels like it was written with this attitude. There is so much dead weight and fluff which doesn’t add anything and eats up time they should have been spending developing the more important elements which are seriously suffering from lack of screen time.

I feel there are two different tones Buffy seasons will take. Too many people characterize each season by the main villain but the villain is not always the focal point of the season. The tend to either focus on an external conflict or they focus on an internal conflict. When they use external conflict they will use a focal character to externalize Buffy’s inter turmoil within that season (i.e. the Master in s1, Angelus in s2, Dawn in s5, the First in s7). That character is not always the villain or the only villain or the main villain but they still center the plot because they are directly connected to Buffy’s personal season arc. Season 4 and season 6 get what I feel is undeserved hate because their villains aren’t as strong but I think that’s by design. Both seasons are more centered on Buffy’s personal inner conflict. The villains still reflect that conflict but they are not the focus or the most important aspect of the season and the fact that they are defeated before the season finale proves that’s intentional. Season 3 should have been written as an external conflict season with Faith as the focal character but it wasn’t and so it just feels disjointed and confusing.

Now is it the worst season of tv I’ve ever seen? Obviously not. It’s not unwatchable and there are some great elements. Even if it wasn’t as good as it could have been I think the show really benefits from Faith’s existence and the episodes that do center on her are all pretty decent. I also think there are some great stand alone episodes (Anne, Homecoming, Lover’s Walk, The Wish, and Helpless all stand out to me). However, while I think those episodes fit and work well within the context of the entire show, they don’t necessarily contribute anything to the season theme, mostly because the season theme is never fully formed. It really just feels like they didn’t have a direction with that season like they did with the rest and it really suffers for it. The whole thing just drags in a way that the other seasons don’t for me. So I don’t think it’s an abomination to television but it certainly doesn’t live up to the standard I’ve set for the show. It’s just weak.

All that said do I fault people for liking the season? No. There’s definitely appeal to it, like I said there are some good elements. My personal favorite season is s4, but in terms of how objectively well written it is I’d probably rank it closer to 4th (it’s still over hated though, you guys leave s4 alone. just because you didn’t get it doesn’t mean it’s bad 😤). But yes, at the end of the day I really don’t understand how it’s widely considered to be one of, if not the best season, especially when s4 and s6 are constantly given constant shit and are infinitely better written imo.

#does this make any sense?#probably not kldfjalskd #it’s just that one of the things i love so most about this show is it’s written with SO much intention #which makes it so literary #and s3 doesn't feel like it has that intention it feels like any other teen show really #anonymous #answered

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caffeine-and-melatonin · 4 years ago

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✨Bad Batch E13 Spoilers✨

FYI this one is probably gonna be on the shorter side in comparison to my other episode posts, so let's take a look at my brain during E13...

- @fictional-men-ruin-lives WHEN I SAW THE TITLE OF THIS EPISODE!!! Omg I instantly thought of your post about the hive mind episodes

- Ok seriously though I know their armor protects them and all that jazz but for a group chaotic clone bros who are hiding from the government, they really do stick out like a sore thumb (like those guards(?) clocked them immediately)

-"And who are they?" Tech back at it again with the funky vocal inflections that I absolutely adore

- Ok it might just be me but my brain instantly went "Is that young Vizago?"... it was not but still

- WHY DO YOU HAVE CID'S NECKLACE? Is she dead? bro what’s going on?

- Tech, love, you can't just casually tell a child that a person they have kinda become friends with was possibly murdered

-Aye abrasive great aunt space lizard isn’t dead!

- Cid's soft spot for Omega is something I didn't know I needed

- "I believe she's threatening us." "You're quick." 💀

- Cid really said "I endorse Girlboss Omega" huh?

- TECH'S FACE WHEN CID COMPLIMENTED HIM!!!! AND WRECKER GIVING HIM A SUPPORTIVE SMILE!!!! AHHHH HE LOOKED SO PROUD OF HIMSELF I LOVE THAT DORK SO MUCH 🥺❤️

-"This is a stealth mission. You boys are good at that, right?" bitch have you met them?

- Aww Wrecker finally got a nickname from Cid...actually he got like four all in one episode (someone please talk to Echo...give him a nickname or something just please talk to the sweet boy)

- Love how Cid totally picked favorites and had Tech and Omega go with her

- Ew hive??? Please no bugs. Please.

-Wrecker'panicked whispering gives me life

- Tech lifting that whole ass trap door by himself 👀

- What is spice exactly? Is it honestly just ✨space drugs✨?

- Ew giant fairy looking bat things...lol wait why does this lowkey remind me of the whole flying keys thing in Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone??? Is that just me?

- If flashlights = torches...then what do they call actual torches with fire?

- Ruby. Love her. She is the moment.

- AHHHH PROTECTIVE BIG BROTHERS!!!

- WHEN I TELL YOU I LITERALLY MADE A FINGER GUN AT MY TV JUST BEFORE THE BOYS DID WHEN THE PYKES SAID THAT OMEGA HAD TO STAY BEHIND.....sis I need to go to sleep

- Awww Cid cares so much about Omega

- Wrecker's face after she said that she got Omega into this and she was gonna get her out is so interesting, but I can't quite place it. Facial expressions are one thing that I really like to focus on because they can say a lot about the characters.

- Wrecker and Cid are a chaotic duo and it's so funny to me

- Durand is a trust fund baby. Makes sense.

- Love how Omega can literally become friends wieveryoneone

- TECH IS BUILDING A THING! LOOK AT HIM GO! I'M SO PROUD OF HIM!

- WRECKER'S VOICE CRACK WHILE SCREAMING

- Lol why does Tech slouch so much when he runs? Like it’s adorable but also sir why? (giving me major “spencer reid running with a gun” vibes if you know what I mean)

- "INCOMING!"...sir how did you fit a whole ass star into a two liter container thing

- Bruh I thought they were gonna straight up decapitate Durand

- Cid: "First round's on me." Boys: *aggressive sprinting*

FINAL THOUGHTS:

- "So no Crosshair or Howzer?" *throws phone. breaks skateboard* (pls someone understand my vine references)

- Bro I totally called the whole thing with the “this episode is gonna be dark” tweet. So glad 4 years of stage crew really helped me translate lighting nerd humor

- So no one actually got infected by mind control worms.....weird (go see @fictional-men-ruin-lives post about that whole thing on Disney+)

- Ok y'all know me, I don't really like to be overly negative all the time, but I feel like this was a bit of a step back especially after the past two episodes. Like the episode was fine and all, but sis there's THREE EPISODES LEFT! Like wtf can we please stick to the central conflict/plot???

- While we are on the subject of us only having three episodes left, it's already not super great that they aren't getting into any character development with Tech or Echo (don't even get me started about Cross), but is it just me or did Echo barely talk. Like he's just kinda there and the only times he does say anything it's like a singular sentence and it only serves the purpose of trying to enforce the idea of him being "the grumpy one" (which I feel like is a waste of existing AND potential characterization from a writing standpoint)

- We better be getting another season. I'm so attached to all of them and there is so much potential for each of them as characters as well as a story as a whole. Looking back at S1 of TCW and Rebels, yeah they were a bit slow at some points, but that was because they were trying to establish a world with a decent amount of new characters. With this, we already got the baseline characterization of each of the members of TBB in S7 of TCW, but aside from Hunter and (to a lesser degree) Wrecker, we haven't seen a whole bunch of growth. Omega, who obviously wasn’t in TCW, is a pretty well rounded character who I personally find interesting and I love her dearly, so it's not a matter of "oh it's just the first season we don't have a lot of time to GROW THE PERSONALITIES OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS". Idk I just feel like there is so much potential and another season has to happen or I will go to the studio or office or wherever and write it myself.

P.S.I'm sorry if my final thoughts section was a little more negative than the stuff I normally post, I just have a lot of things I wanna talk about and y'all just happen to be the ones who have to hear it 😐

Overall, the episode itself wasn't bad, I just think it's placement in the season doesn't really help in the whole cohesive storyline department.

#the bad batch #the bad batch spoilers #tbb #tbb spoilers #bad batch #bad batch spoilers

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maybankiara · 5 years ago

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topper x kiara theory

wild thought: i think topper and kiara might end up being a thing. and an even wilder thought, i think that could be one of the best things.

ok so first off, let me just say that i’m not basing this off of any particular s1 interactions, so don’t come at me, this is more of a season 2 speculation, too.

i’ve just finished rewatching the first season and if i’m being honest, kiara doesn’t have much of a personality, or a personal character arc. i blame it on the writers for making her seem as if the only thing she does is boys, aside from an odd quirk here and there to show how not like other girls, bro she is. and making her have romantic feelings for two out of her three best friends is definitely not helping.

what we do know about kiara is that her freshman year was a kook year, when she ditched the pogues for the kooks. she’s also the one to form grudges and be bitter and petty about it (the whole sarah’s birthday situation). it wouldn’t surprise me if she hates the kooks for her bad experience, even though we never actually got anything on that.

having kiara be with one of the pogues doesn’t do much for her character. they already know each other incredibly well and while it would be cute, it wouldn’t contribute to either character’s personal growth, or have a proper influence on the plot.

now, i’m the last person to say that a character needs a romantic relationship to have decent character development. however, i’d say that pairing kiara with a non-pogue would add an incredibly interesting dynamic to the pogues (as they have all had feelings for her) and to the plot (the love interest would definitely cause some inconveniences). if done well, it could show her personality beyond the little quirks, show her be stubborn, dedicated, why she wants to do music and that kind of things. i’d love for her to explore who she is in a relationship and without it, as she seems quite driven by romantic feelings but is also trying to be tough - can she be both? can she be in love with a man and still be empowered and self-sustaining? i’d love to see that.

(i’d also like to see her with a gf. but this is a topper theory.)

and now, this is why topper would be perfect for this.

(below the cut bc this got long)

topper’s problem is that he’s overprotective, that he doesn’t know what he wants or who he is, and is just quite obsessed with the cameron siblings. he is completely under rafe’s influence, and that could be a post for another day, but then at the end of 1x09, we see him look at rafe right outside the church and it seems like he knows what rafe did - or at least, suspects it might be the truth.

this could mean nothing. it could be swept under the rug next season and rafe and topper could be best buddies. or, if they go with redemption for topper (please!), then we could see him detaching from rafe, and what he believed in. who is topper when he isn’t around the camerons?

and now, we get into topper x kiara.

i could see topper wanting to find out more about what happened with peterkin. he could be wanting answers from the pogues, but obviously he isn’t going to get any from jj and pope. that means he’d go to kiara, who wouldn’t be accepting of him, either, but kiara is the nicest one and she’s the one who used to be a kook, and maybe she knows topper better than the others, too.

i could see topper almost befriending kiara, by accident, as they try to figure out what’s happening with rafe. i’d love to see topper having to fight his loyalty to rafe vs knowing that his best friend is a murderer. kiara isn’t the kind of person who’d feed into his sadness, but would make him see the world for what it is, and she’d make him work for his loyalty.

now, with this being established, topper could see that there aren’t that many differences between the kooks and the pogues. the prejudice has been one of the main things about his character, as well as blind loyalty to rafe and inability to have his own opinion, and kiara wouldn’t be having any of that. she’d help him grow into himself, figure out who he is.

topper, on the other hand, could help kiara get over her potential tendency of confusing platonic love for non-platonic (john b? possibly sarah? possibly pope?). he could help her also get over her prejudice towards the kooks, because let’s be honest, all the characters generalise the opposite group a little too much. falling for topper would make kiara question why she likes the people she does. maybe she’d realise she likes being the “mama” kind of person, the one that helps people get through stuff. she seems like someone like that.

i’d love to see kiara detach herself from the pogue life, almost. not in a way where she stops being friends with the pogues, or ditches them - i want her to be kiara carrera, not kiara the pogue. being with a kook, especially someone as controversial as topper, would mean she’d need to do that. she’d need to learn what her own values are. she seems like one of those people who seek validation from specific groups (pogues, then kooks, then pogues again). it’s a normal, common thing, especially in teenagers, and i think it’s something she and topper share the most.

this is about their character arcs. in terms of narrative, i’ve mentioned already that topper could help out with dealing with rafe. this could either start rafe’s redemption arc or his descent into madness. topper’s also rich, and he’s the one who’s asking jj for retribution, and this could be revoked. topper could be the pogues’ inside man - he has the money, the resources, and probably enough bad parenting to be a kook. he could help out with the gold, and since he’s probably rich as hell already, i could see him doing this because he wants to be a better person.

and i see this being the main reason why kiara ends up truly falling for him. he grows, and he helps her grow, too, and it’s a mutually beneficial relationship that helps both of them become their own people, independent from their groups, not letting the pogues and the kooks determine who they are anymore.

#obx meta #outer banks meta #kiara carrera #topper thornton #i could probably write a longer essay on why these two should be together #and actually support it with proof from the series #but what's the point #when we know the writers could never #d.tag #outer banks #obx

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mikereads · 5 years ago

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I was going to originally post this after 5x12 but decided to wait and after tonight’s episode I think now is the perfect time to discuss it. If you are a part of the fandom/ like Supercorp you probably already know what this is about but I’ll recap. Basically Kara finally agreed to go on a date with William after several attempts because she feels bad because hes a “good guy”. Which that message aside is awful to your viewer but its bad story telling. They have now done this story three different times twice with Kara and once with Lena and its tiring. For the characters and the audience. I don’t know who’s more dumb at this point the writers/producers for continuing to recycle bad plots that haven’t worked/that the majority of viewers don’t like or that I still expect things to change/be different on this show. Many people have said this but are they really that out of touch with there audience or do they really not care and a part of me thinks they really just don’t care. A lot of people are also pointing out asking if they wanted Kara/William to be a thing why didn’t they develop it better and not introduce him as an asshole and there are many answers to that but I would like to bring up this interview once again that Queller did and I think her response speaks for itself.

These are words directly out of Quellers mouth talking about Kara/Mon-**. The question was why they decided for Kara to date Mon (a known slave owner) vs James (an African American man) whom which they built up there potential relationship from the start. Why side line him for a new character and this was there response and I say they because even though Queller said it not once did he disagree with her he went along and quite frankly means he is just as responsible. Like just think about that for a minute like #1 who thought that was a good idea and #2 how do you even come up with this shit like I would have loved to be in the meeting when this was pitched. She literally said healthy relationships aren’t important in t.v because they don’t create drama and that’s not true what so ever like WTF! At the end of the day it boils down to this not only does she not know how to write healthy romances she doesn’t want to because in her eyes it doesn’t make good television and doesn’t bring in viewers and that’s all she cares about not her characters or fans but her pockets. Even if she wanted to use the excuse like she did in the interview that she had her date him for character growth that isn’t true. That story line is shitty already but its not even what she did she actually took several steps backward and started to ruin her development/not progress it at all. The only person who grew was Mon. She only says its a feminist show to get viewers and sadly it partially works because on paper it seems like it is the main character is a woman her best friend is a woman who is a CEO. The main characters sister is a DEO agent/ lesbian with a woman of color who is a therapist. They have the first trans superhero on t.v who works with the main character/is her protegee. It seems like its very progressive but its not at least its not anymore. You would think they would have learned from there mistakes. In the 100th episode alone they even joked about Mon and saying “I don’t know what you ever saw in him” which they didn’t have to do but did. They are aware of what there doing and that there doing it exactly again because even though Mel and Staz will never have chemistry sorry its a fact “magic can’t be forced its made” they at least could have written him well/there story but they didn’t want to because its not dramatic. The relationship with James in S1 wasn’t perfect but at least he was a good guy and there was build up William literally came out of no where and isn’t actually really a good guy. Saying vs showing is two very different things and all they done is show not tell. Him getting Kara a drink or him going to game night /karaoke night once doesn’t mean there friends and just because hes decent doesn’t mean she should feel obliged to date him he should be nice just to be nice and not to expect anything in return. If he is only being nice to possibly get a chance with her then he actually isn’t a nice guy (shocker I know). From a story telling point of view they are setting up Lena to be the LI not William (yes even now with Lena’s ooc story line). Paralleling there “friendship” to Nia/Brainy, Alex/Kelly. Andrea staring at the photo of her lost love Kara staring at a photo of Lena. Kara comparing her relationship with Lena to the women Amy’s relationship with her dead husband. Having Kara mention Lena whenever the hint of dating comes into question. Of course Queller continues to push friendship down our throats not only in the show but in interviews. “female friendship”.

There are many friendships on this show but Kara/Lena isn’t one of them and if she truly were writing a story just about a female friendship she truly has done a poor job. If Kara and Lena were just friends then why make these choices. They haven’t only not learned from their mistakes but made them worse. We all know he will be gone by the end of the season but can we truly go through this a 4th time...who knows? No one wants it NO ONE!!!

#long post sorry #id appreciate if you actually read all of this #supercorp #kara x lena #kara danvers #lena luthor #anti william dey #supercorp endgame #melissa benoist #katie mcgrath

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fanfic-inator795 · 5 years ago

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So... Now that We Bare Bears is officially over, here’s a hot take for you:

Season One was the best season and the show just kinda plateaued/got blander after that point.

Season One had some of my favorite (and what I’d argue to be the best) episodes of the series. Episodes that even years later I still remember like Burrito, Jean Jacket, Food Truck, Occupy Bears, Charlie and the Snake, and the first two Baby Bears episodes (which were not only still a fresh concept at that point, but were also two of the best Baby Bear episodes).

This season had pretty decent jokes, but it also had some of the best emotional moments as well as the best character and character relationship moments between the three brothers. When I think of We Bare Bears, my mind always jumps to moments from s1. It was charming and grounded while still being entertaining and sweet, and there’s a clear season why it didn’t take me very long to get into this show.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of eps after s1 that I like. Episodes like Chicken and Waffles, Panda’s Art and Bubble are peak Panlie content, Baby Bear episodes like The Island are still enjoyable, we still get those emotional hits like with Captain Craboo (the only ep, imo, to rival Burrito in terms of emotional gut punches), Hurricane Hal and Googs. Also, eps like Grizz Helps, Go Fish, The Perfect Tree and ESPECIALLY I Am Ice Bear are just plain enjoyable.

But seasons 2, 3 and 4 also had more overall issues than s1 that kinda brought them down. Season 2 relied a lot more on vignette episodes that had each bear doing their own thing, as well as more episodes where they fought. Now, episodes like this do serve a purpose in developing each of their characters as individuals, but the main reason why I watched the show was because of the GROUP dynamic, so I’d always be a little disappointed when they’d separate for an episode, even if it made for an interesting set up or good jokes.

As for s3 and 4, as others have mentioned before, they rely wayyyyyyyyyy too much on the Baby Bears episodes. Other than seeing their origins, most of the BB eps followed the same formula, and there’s only so much cute you can do before it just gets dull :/

The humor and a lot of the stories also started to feel pretty flat by seasons 3 and 4. I remember during a week of premieres watching all the episodes, and only Go Fish and Googs got big reactions out of me. Granted, WBB was never a super hilarious show like Wander Over Yonder, nor was it the type of show to have big emotional moments every episode. But after such a strong first season, a lot of the time - especially during the last two seasons - I was just sitting there waiting for the next Burrito or the next Jean Jacket.

Granted, this all may be a personal bias from me since I haven’t rewatched any episodes in a while and I’ve even missed some episodes of s3 and 4. But that’s the thing: I didn’t feel bothered to watch them unless I heard from the fandom that they had some truly amazing moment (or Panlie fuel) in them because I had sat through so many meh episodes previously and I didn’t want to waste anymore time.

So yeah, while I agree that the WBB movie was a pretty disappointing ending to the series overall, given that the Icy Nights arc and the Grizznom and Panlie arcs are now without endings, I’m not sad that the show has ended since the writing was pretty much on the wall. Yeah, with a 5th season we could’ve gotten a couple more amazing episodes... but we also probably would’ve gotten half a dozen middle of the road vignette episodes and another half dozen Baby Bears episodes (which, why are they making those their own spinoff? Whyyyyyyyyyy)

In that sense, I guess it’s better to end with an alright grand adventure with a happy ending then on an otherwise meh episode like the Monsta X one. Still, looking back on the show as a whole, I wish it could have grown more. Now to be clear, I DON’T wish that it suddenly became a grand epic like SU or Adventure Time, because I love the show for it’s slice of life feel.

I just wish we could have gotten more of the eps like I named above - eps that either did something really interesting with the characters, had some really powerful moments, or were just really funny or really enjoyable and fun. But instead, it felt like 80% of the time we were getting super safe and familiar plots with jokes that made you sorta smile more than they made you laugh and character development that moved at a snail’s pace. Any one of these flaws on it’s own would have been fine and easy enough to deal with, but all three at once? It just made for a pretty boring show after a while...

So yeah, while I’m still sorta sad to see the Bears go, I firmly believe the show peaked early and has been on cruise control for quite a while now - and in terms of being a fun, chill slice of life while still growing their characters and stories, Craig of the Creek has overshadowed WBBs for quiiiiiite a while now, so go watch that show if you need your chill and charming slice of life fix.

#wbb #we bare bears #my opinion #long post #sorry but I got on a roll and I had a lot to say

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amillioninprizes · 6 years ago

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An entirely too long post on how to fix Veronica Mars

So, anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows: 1) What a massive Veronica Mars fan I was and 2) how distraught I’ve been over the most recent season that debuted on Hulu in July. I’ve been pretty angry about it since it dropped, but the first month after I was pretty occupied with real life stuff. Now that I’m more settled, I’ve found myself getting sadder and angrier over time with just how terrible S4 was and what an obvious fuck you to longtime fans it was. It feels dumb to be so upset over a tv show, but this show got me through a lot over the past 8 years, and I feel like it’s been taken away from me.

It’s anyone’s guess as to whether there will be a new season. Ideally it would end here with maybe an alternate ending filmed to avoid alienating fans further. On the one hand, the botched release, overwhelmingly negative response, and silence from the creators after initial interviews don’t look good for renewal chances. On the other hand, Hulu doesn’t have a lot of streaming hits, it probably did relatively decent numbers, and there are rumors floating around that its pickup chances look good. On a personal level, I hate the idea that this is where the legacy of Veronica Mars ends, while at the same time being extremely wary of what the creators have planned. I think a big part of the disappointment with S4 was that the movie and books set up what could have been some really interesting storylines and situations, all of which RT and co. squandered for cheap drama and to apparently turn the show into an entirely new vehicle; additionally I had hope that S4 would be a chance to rectify some problems the show has long had, but again, S4 exacerbated them. At this point I don’t expect anyone higher up in the creative process or at Hulu to give a fuck about the fans or making the show better as long as they hit streaming targets, but here are some suggestions:

Fire Rob Thomas

While he created the show, it’s become clear that not only has he lost touch with the audience and the original spirit of the character, he doesn’t seem too keen on putting much effort into writing the show (as I will discuss below). Then you have his clear misogyny: his views that women in relationships can’t be interesting, that what makes Veronica interesting as a character is her trauma and how much she can endure, and the fact that basically every female character in the history of the show has a history of sexual victimization. He thought that making the Mexican cartel hitmen “philosophical” was subverting expectations (which says a lot of what his expectations of Latinx characters are). Then this is the way he essentially exploited his long term fan base to earn a new season of the show, only to turn around and tell us that we don’t matter. From a business perspective alone keeping him doesn’t make sense; selling a streaming platform on your loyal fanbase and then proceeding to purposefully piss ~80% of them off would be pretty questionable to me as someone in charge. The sheer cruelty with which he treated not only the fans who have supported him for 15 years (I fucking used to liveblog iZombie y’all. iZombie!), as well as how he callously dismissed long time cast members in favor of celebrity guest stars should not be rewarded. He’s admitted in interviews that he would be ok with younger writers doing a reboot many years in the future; why not just let him have a producer credit and then hand the show over to someone who’s invested in making it good?

Put a woman in charge and diversify the writing staff

A big problem with a) Veronica’s characterization in S4 b) RT’s ideas about what makes female characters interesting c) the show’s long history of problematic treatment of sexual assault is that it comes from a man’s conception of the female experience. The Veronica showcased in S4 and that RT wants to write in the future is very much a male fantasy: hates marriage and children, traumatized, DTF, and is too cool for other women. RT stated in interviews that he wanted to show Veronica at a “crossroads” this season in a way he claimed had been shown for men but not women; many female viewers found this depiction to ring false (few women are spending their time fretting about how committing to marriage after five years in an established relationship will bar us from strange sex going forward). In addition to having RT at the helm, most of the show’s writing staff for the majority of its run has been white dudes, which doesn’t bode well for telling the story of a female PI in a diverse community in today’s political climate. Putting a woman in charge would hopefully help rectify these issues to make the character feel more true to life and put a damper on the misogynistic storytelling. The show has a natural candidate in RT’s second-in-command Diane Ruggiero-Wright (despite her problematic history, never forget #KeisterEggGate), who has admitted to not being able to watch the last episode. Jennifer Graham, who wrote both of the books, would also be a worthy addition to the writing staff; while the books had a mixed reception, most fans agree that she got Veronica’s character right. And with the show’s problematic historical treatment of minority characters, adding more POC writers going forward is also necessary.

Bring back Logan (alive)

You don’t have to be a LoVe shipper to recognize just how integral Logan has been since the inception of the show, not just as Veronica’s partner but as a character is his own right. Logan’s journey in many ways parallels Veronica’s, and shows a contrast in how different characters respond to similar trauma. The most critical plot line in the show’s history, the mystery of who killed Lilly Kane, simply doesn’t work without Logan’s importance to Veronica. RT and his defenders like to claim that Logan was holding her back from true growth, which is frankly bizarre as he is the only character to consistently challenge her, like when he tells her that she obviously isn’t happy this season. Additionally, Logan’s scenes this season were the lone highlight of what was otherwise a painful slog of a season. Of the people who have said they would watch a potential S5, a good portion are only interested because they believe that the ambiguity of the last 10 minutes of the season means he’s not really dead (despite what RT has said in interviews). Then there’s what Logan’s death does to Veronica’s character, effectively cutting off what would have been an interesting character arc and stagnating her forever. No matter how much they try to shove Leo the pedo creep and other milquetoast RT self-insert love interests on us, no one else can possible measure up to Logan’s level in terms of being able to match Veronica as a character, intellectually or as a result of shared history.

Plus, the fact that we haven’t had a Weevil/Logan interaction since S3 is a goddamn travesty and should be rectified immediately.

Bring back Veronica

As sad as I am about Logan’s death, for me the most upsetting aspect of S4 was the assassination of Veronica’s character. For many viewers (including myself), the character we saw Kristen Bell portray in S4 wasn’t Veronica Mars but a different character with the same name. Between her abusive behavior towards Logan, her general indifference to her father’s medical condition, her dismissal of Wallace, and her racism towards Latinx characters (using a kid’s lawyer to threaten deportation: not a good look!), she was lacking the marshmallow-y center that always balanced out the pricklier aspects of her character and made her compelling. This change in characterization was especially jarring given that she was not this way when we last saw her in the books, where she mused about having children and sent her half-brother Hunter to summer camp (side note, but does he even exist anymore?). Many of us who had grown up with Veronica were hoping to see her grow with us as a character; instead we got an extreme regression lower than we’ve ever seen her. It would be one thing if they were trying to depict a PTSD storyline, which would make sense given her background, but since her change in behavior is never addressed by the narrative, it just makes her look like a cruel asshole and makes it impossible to root for her. This is exacerbated by the fact that RT has made it clear he has no interest in portraying her inner life, as shown by his wanting to avoid showing her grief over Logan’s death because it would be a real downer compared to the entertaining but ultimately hollow banter and quips he wants to focus on. Veronica this season was also just plain dumb: you mean to tell me that the girl who nearly got killed by Aaron Echolls in her back seat wouldn’t think to check her backseat every time she gets in a car? (And let’s not even start with RT’s bizarre assertion in an interview that she apparently votes Republican). Not helping matters was Kristen Bell’s performance, which felt very flat for me this season compared to S1-3 and the movie; I don’t know if this was due to personal limitations or a reflection of the bad writing. Writers of future installments and KB herself would be wise to revisit S1, the movie, and the books to figure out what makes sense for Veronica’s character, leading me to my next point:

Get reacquainted with canon, develop a show bible, and hire a continuity director

This show has long had a problem with dropped plots, timelines, and continuity issues. Shelly Pomroy’s party has two happened either in the summer, or the fall. Then we have the movie paradox: Veronica graduated high school in 2006, which means her 10 year reunion should have taken place in 2016. The movie was released in 2014 and the books seem to keep to 2014 dates. Then S4 states that Keith’s movie accident took place in 2013, and mysteriously ages Veronica up to 35 when she should be 32 in 2019. Logan mentions an Aunt Naomi in S4--why didn’t she take care of him after Aaron was arrested (and what happened to Trina)? How the hell is Leo working as an FBI agent when he presided over the disappearance of the Lilly/Aaron tapes? Veronica is shown to be tentatively forgiving of Weevil taking the settlement from the sheriff’s department in Mr. Kiss and Tell, but is then shown to be extremely angry towards him for it in S4. This is just a small selection of the inconsistencies within the show. Plus there is the problem of repeated plot lines: Veronica rejects Leo in favor of Logan in S1, then rejects Leo in favor of Logan in Mr. Kiss and Tell, only for her to...reject Leo in favor of Logan in S4 (and RT says he wants to leave the high school plots behind). This sloppiness doesn’t bode well for a series that is supposed to be about mysteries, which require tight plotting. It would behove TPTB going forward to once and for all determine a timeline of Veronica’s life, keep a detailed record of past plot and character points, and have at least one person on staff who thinks to remember this stuff (RT notoriously has only a “solid, not spectacular” memory of the show, no matter what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says).

Make an effort (and do your fucking research)

Moving on from continuity issues to more general problems with the laziness of RT’s writing. He has basically admitted that he doesn’t care much about facts or characterization when writing plots--he shoehorns details to fit the plot rather than have it evolve organically from the characters and prior canon. I know that when writing it’s often impossible to make every story detail 100% accurate, but the extent of RT’s sloppiness is alarming. This excellent Reddit thread details a lot of the problems with S4 in particular, but this has been a problem since S2. Did anyone ever understand exactly why the Fitzpatricks were invested in framing Logan for Felix’s death? In the movie, it makes no sense that if Cobb and co. wanted Carrie silenced, they would add the complication of framing Logan for her murder--given her history, it would have been a lot easier just to make it look like she had accidentally overdosed. Given his previous patterns of villain writing fans were able to guess the identity of the S4 bomber based on casting alone. The mysteries in both Mr. Kiss and Tell and S4 are both ripped from the headlines, which indicates that RT wants to turn VM into the next Law and Order. Meanwhile, he complained about how hard including Logan in the story in S4 was, while Logan arguably had the best lines and most interesting scenes this season--apparently when you put an effort into things, they work out! This laziness extends past storyline issues and into factual problems that detract from the quality of the plot. Longtime fandom pals are probably tired about hearing me go on and on about how there’s no way Aaron’s lawyers could have gotten Veronica’s medical records due to HIPAA laws. Logan’s career change from naval aviator to intelligence is highly unlikely (and unnecessary, given that they changed it only to fridge him at the end of the season). Meanwhile, I know fanfic writers who have spent hours on the phone with strangers in order to research what type of firearm would cause a specific type of bullet injury. It’s very puzzling to me that RT wants to take the show in the direction of being mystery-only when apart from that one time he is piss poor at writing mysteries and puts no effort into them. I shouldn’t have to tell television writers to, you know, do their job but this is what we’ve come to in 2019.

Know your audience

A majorly annoying thing about the promo for this season is how in every single interview Rob Thomas did he was always talking about how he wanted VM to be like other shows and movies: Fargo, True Detective, Game of Thrones, Chinatown (which is apparently the only noir movie he’s ever seen). The thing is, if I wanted to watch those shows, I would; I watched Veronica Mars specifically because I enjoyed its unique qualities, and I would say most fans agree. The general perception within the fandom is that with this season Rob Thomas seems to have been aiming to dump the old, majority female, CW fanbase in order to achieve what he perceives as a cooler prestigious male fanbase; the issue is, new people aren’t going to take up a show in its fourth season if they didn’t watch or didn’t like earlier seasons. Also, trying to write a prestigious show doesn’t make your show prestigious. Considering that based on anecdotal evidence most of the people who like S4 seem to be male, he may have succeeded in the first part of his aim. However, this majority female fanbase he was so willing to cast aside are the ones who have run fansites and rewatches during fallow times (i.e. between S3 and the movie and then between the books and S4), so drumming up interest among fans (and therefore streaming views) in the future may be a challenge. Plus, women are a better advertising demographic since they are more likely to be in charge of household purchasing decisions, so maintaining us as a fanbase makes business sense as well. He may have tricked enough people into watching S4 that S5 is given a go, but I wouldn’t be surprised if streams are weak beyond that. If the show is to succeed as a commercial endeavor, better to go with appealing to a known quantity than trying to make a generic show that very few people have expressed interest in watching.

Bring back the mystery of the week

This is a more minor thing I felt was missing from S4. I think after the criticism of S3 not having a season-long arc RT overcorrected in focusing on one mystery. However, the mystery of the week had the following benefits: 1) giving chances for the characters to interact and telling us more about them 2) helping to modulate the pace of the season-long arc. With better writing a season-long standalone mystery could maybe work, but in the case of S4 specifically the mystery was kind of dull and repetitive and could have stood to include a couple of diversions in the form of a smaller case here and there.

Re-evaluate the creators’ interpretation of the word “adult”

Much of the promo and reviews for this season noted the more “adult” content to be expected this season now that Veronica’s grown. Many fans hoped that meant seeing Veronica act like, you know, an adult with adult problems rather than a teenager less mature than the actual teenager she was. Unfortunately, the show’s interpretation of the word seems to be more in keeping with a television rating sense of the word--meaning sex, drugs, and gratuitous violence (But apparently not the word “fuck.”). Look, it was expected that as the show moved to a streaming service and given the overall dramatic scope that there would be an upgrade in some of this sort of content (and I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t looking forward to steamier LoVe moments, which were sorely overpromised), but the way it was included this season felt like RT and co. included this stuff just because they could and not to serve the storyline. For me, personally, the biggest example of this was Veronica’s drug use, which I know didn’t necessarily bother everyone. Given her history as the daughter of an alcoholic as well as someone who had been the victim of two roofie attacks, not to mention the fact that her character never seemed to be into partying, I found it very out of character (and book writer Jennifer Graham agrees). It felt like RT included this just bc they thought it would be funny to see Veronica on drugs without considering whether it made sense for her character. Also, were the beheadings strictly necessary? Plus there’s RT’s little temper tantrum over not being able to use curse words this season--they weren’t present in the original show, no one was going to miss them now, and the “cuss” thing was just annoying and reminiscent of The Good Place.

Dealing with a parent who maybe has dementia--that’s an adult storyline. Too bad RT ended it with a dumb excuse about “mixing meds” (another factual error! Pharmacy software would have caught it!) rather than actually exploring what it would mean for Veronica to see her father in decline and take over the family business (and give Rico Colantoni the exit he appears to want). This is the kind of adult content I would hope to see in future seasons.

Adult is not a synonym for “unrelentingly bleak” either. The original show, while dark, always had an element of hope that was completely removed from S4 (no matter what KB might claim). And would it have killed the writers to show Veronica wearing disguises and going undercover like she used to? There was nothing fun about this season (and no, I don’t count the multiple partying scenes as fun, more like sad).

Kill your darlings

It’s cliche, but it’s true. Another issue the show has long had is the writers keeping around characters or inserting jokes and references for their own personal amusement rather than for the story. The most notable example of this is the continued presence of Dick, a highly problematic character considering he pushed Beaver into the room with Veronica the night of Shelly Pomroy’s party, among a whole host of other racist, sexist, and generally obnoxious actions over the years. But because Ryan Hansen is so widely beloved among the cast and crew, so he stays. Then there’s the matter of the infamous Keister egg in 3x08, which the writers and KB have all expressed love for, despite the fact that said Keister egg is an example of sexual assault--which, even if the victim is a douchey fraternity president, is never funny.

Also the constant Big Lebowski references are tiring. Watch a new movie.

Improve Neptune’s gender ratio

Veronica Mars, despite having a female lead, has always been a male-dominated show; other than Veronica herself, the only consistent female character over the original show was Mac (and she didn’t even come back this season). This is unacceptable in 2019, for any show. The books introduced promising female characters in the form of Marcia Langdon and Petra Landros, but Marcia’s character was was watered down for S4 and Petra was nowhere to be found. Additionally, Veronica and Mac have always been written as “cool girls” who looked down on other women for their femininity, which isn’t a great message. Almost every other female character, even the innocuous Parker, is portrayed as somehow bad or incompetent. I would love nothing more than a season centered on the women of Neptune and their interactions with each other. While we’re at it, stop giving every woman on this show a background of sexual victimization.

Treat VM as an ensemble show, not a Kristen Bell vanity project

A major complaint from Burnt Marshmallows and S4 defenders alike was how little time was given over to the original core cast this season. While Veronica may be the protagonist, a large part of how the show became so beloved was her relationships with the other characters. Yet RT has decided that going forward VM will be a KB solo project, with her traveling town to town quipping and sleeping with strangers. This seems strange, given Kristen’s recent interviews talking about how difficult it is to shoot VM and how she never wants to be first on a call sheet ever again, not to mention how she asked for less screen time all the way back in S2, which resulted in the Weevil-Logan storyline, which was way more interesting than Veronica’s storylines during the first half of that season. (The traveling detective thing also seems weird considering that KB is pretty insistent on shooting in LA to be near her family.) Additionally, if this is truly the last season of VM with all the original characters, then no one got a proper sendoff.

I’m not sure how willing much of the cast will be to return for future iterations, given how uncomfortable many of them seemed during promo as well RT and KB’s treatment of them (insensitive at best, deliberately mean at worst) this season (shout out to Tina Majorino for recognizing what a shit show this was going to be), but bringing back all the original characters into the fold and giving them significant storylines would go a long way to mending fences with fans, improving the show from a character arc perspective, and would also give KB the break she apparently wants.

Recourt the fanbase

What has VM always been renowned for above all else? It’s incredibly loyal fandom which not only got it renewed twice during its original run but also put up their own money to get the movie made--I know many people who donated when they really couldn’t afford to. RT basically owes the last 6 years of his career to VM fans--the success of the Kickstarter arguably got him the iZombie show running gig, and the fourth season likely wouldn’t have even happened if not for it. Thus, the blatant cruelty and disregard with which RT and KB have treated fans during the promotion of S4 has been incredibly insulting and hurtful; I still can’t fathom what in the world possessed RT to think that throwing away this 15-year relationship was a good idea. It’s not a good sign when the 2 fansites most active during the post-movie period (VMHQ and VM Confessions) cease operations in the wake of S4, and when at least 3 out of 8 board members of the oldest running fan group, Neptune Rising (who were dormant during the post-movie period but played a critical role during earlier fan campaigns and in the S4 promo) resign. A fandom this loyal that was betrayed will not stand idly by if the S5 RT wants to make goes ahead; given the number of tweets the official Hulu VM account has had to delete in the wake of S4 due to the overwhelmingly negative response as well as the controversy over editing out Logan from S4 promos, I imagine that S5 will be a PR nightmare. Even if future seasons are amazing the trust can probably never be fully repaired, but it would be helpful for RT (or fingers crossed, a new show runner) and KB (as star and EP) to go overboard in reaching out to fans and at least admitting they made a misstep with the entirety of S4. Back in the day, the old Mars Investigation fansite was invited to set to conduct interviews; maybe do that again. Also someone should get KB some sort of VM fandom-fluent media trainer because I don’t think she has conducted a single interview during her entire stint on the show that didn’t anger fans (it might help if she actually bothered to watch the show).

Map out an endgame

Look, this can’t go on forever. As long as RT keeps leaving every installment open ended with the hopes of maybe getting renewed again five years down the line, the story is going to keep running into the issues the movie and S4 faced with having to shoehorn the characters into nonsensical plot lines to reconcile those endings and deal with actor availability issues. Either plot another 2-3 seasons to wrap the show up with a satisfying conclusion, or map out a greater timeline of Veronica’s life with spots where a mini series or movie here and there could fit in.

#Veronica Mars #still angry #mainly written for personal catharsis #need to stop being angry about this and focus more on studying synaptic transmission #Burnt Marshmallow #we use to be fans

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mobu-time · 6 years ago

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Read the tag and out of curiosity, how would you pacing the broccoli arc for season 3?

lmao I'm sorry you probably weren’t asking me to go so hard on this but uhhh this is my favorite arc and I've got some opinions

Here’s how I’d love the arc to be paced

Episode 1: Youkai Hunting

-Chapter 93

-probably include and end with the Has It Begun? My Era? panels from Chapter 92

Episode 2: Future Prospects + Carried Away

-opening from chp 94 (the youkai getting pulled into the broccoli)

-Chapter 92

--skip right over has it begun bc it was in ep1 and go straight into next scene

-Chapter 94

-end with dimple leaving after the “eat shit, dimple” smackdown I guess

Episode 3: The Psycho Helmet Cult Part 1(things start to get weird)

-Chapter 95

-if they wanted to, this would be the episode to add in a new scene with Tsubomi or remind the audience that takenaka was a character at one point

--basically as just a bit of prep for the other two arcs

-either ends where vol13 ends (teru setting out for the broccoli) or ends where the teru fight cuts off (just after dimple reveal)

--I think ending with the dimple reveal is the way to go, plus this way there’s a fight scene in this episode and not two in the next one

Episode 4: The Psycho Helmet Cult Part 2 (things go wrong fast)

-Chapter 96 and 5-6 parts of Chapter 97

-The quest to destroy the broccoli

-The teru v mob fight

-probably end just before or after dimple actually shows up

Episode 5: Dimple and Mob

-The rest of it

--@bones pls do go ham with the dimple v psycho helmet fight

Here’s how the episodes fit into your mp100 season patterns, which are Very Correct btw

I big agree with you about having the youkai hunting as the first episode. It’s a super solid way to start the season. It’s also especially funny bc this chapter starts with a parody of the show’s usual introduction to psychics, replacing “psychics” with “youkai hunters”. It’s a good piece of mob growth+slice of life, at some point Amakusa wonders if the broccoli is attracting spirits that want to use its life energy or whatever (foreshadowing), plus inukawa (who plays a bigger role later in the season) is in it.

For the second episodes, I would def say it’s just fun stuff for most of the ep, but I think another thing the second episodes do is that they end with something that sets up the third episode and is usually the start of a big chain of events. S1: join BIC, S2: reigen puts up the website, S3: dimple leaves

Future Prospects is important to include here bc it’s an easy way to reintroduce mezato and the psycho helmet cult plot. It’s also some of Serizawa’s only screen time this arc and we can’t let it go to waste.

Ep3 is still mostly a mob character study, bc a lot of the chapter is mob dealing with being (or suddenly not being) recognized as the psycho helmet cult leader + reacting to the spread of the cult’s influence in general.

Ep4 is the beginning of mob’s concrete The Broccoli Must Be Removed quest, which continues into Ep5

Ep5 -Dimple was a friend r.i.p.

Side Note: I desperately want the omake adventures of Hoshino and Asahi to be referenced in some way. Maybe when the shiratori brothers show up they can have a “what are the other awakening kids up to rn?” 10 second bit.

And now here’s the reason WHY I organized things the way I did, but it’s under a read more bc this post is already too long

So full disclosure: the reason I paced the broccoli arc the way I did is entirely bc it’s my favorite arc and I want them to take their time with it. It’s also an arc that requires a LOT of setup before getting to the payoff, so I’d like the arc to be more like 4-ish episodes instead of the 3-ish episodes you predicted. This isn’t an arc you can just kind of start. Part of why the separation arc worked as well as it did was because they were subtly setting it up all season with little comments here and there between reigen and mob. It wasn’t something that just happened one day. They had to lay the groundwork and build off of it, and this arc isn’t much different.

Another thing is that the vibe of this arc is one that will take some effort to establish. The slow, creeping influence of the psycho helmet cult is unsettling, and then suddenly getting caught up in the effects of the widespread brainwashing is even worse, but in order for those feelings to really come across we have to spend time with them. Slowly realizing that something is very wrong and then being horrified by it is something that, unsurprisingly, has to develop slowly. And by ‘slowly’ I mean spreading it across two episodes (3-4) instead of shoving it all into one.

This arc, more so than most of the others, is driven by a complicated combination of emotions that can very easily be misunderstood if they aren’t displayed fully. I know this because when I was reading this arc for the first time I read through it too quickly, and had to start over because I didn’t pay enough attention to what was going on and confused myself. One of the only weaknesses, imo, that the anime has is that they have to cut stuff out. This is usually fine, but sometimes it can have a significant impact on the audience’s understanding of a character. It’s something that happened with ritsu’s arc. It wasn’t really That much different in the anime, but a few lines were cut here and a few shots were skipped there and the result is that ritsu’s fall is a bit harder to actually understand. At least for me, somehow the manga only has a few more lines and yet it makes ritsu’s character and his whole character Arc much clearer.

I feel like something similar happened in the anime with dimple. There isn’t much aside from a few cut omakes and punching Suzuki in the face that’s significantly different, but a decent amount of time his lines get cut or altered a tiny bit over the course of the series and ultimately the result is that manga dimple is a slightly different, and slightly fuller, character than anime dimple. Idk fam I just watch people’s reactions and I worry that the fact that dimple actually has feelings that can potentially be hurt isn’t something the anime-onlies are prepped for.

If the anime doesn’t take its time in this arc, and decides to cut some things here and there the way it has in the past, it runs the risk of 1. Being all around harder to follow, 2. Feeling out of character, and 3. Not hitting nearly as hard. Feeling out of character is the riskiest part of all this because mob and dimple ARE acting out of character. That’s the point! They both get carried away and they fight and they do and say things they shouldn’t and usually wouldn’t do, but if it isn’t clear that that’s what’s happening then their behavior can feel confusing or even disappointing.

One more thing. I love mob psycho fight scenes. I really do think they’re some of the best I’ve seen, and there are a lot of fights in this arc I can’t wait to see animated. It can kinda become a problem though if emotional content screen time is sacrificed for action content screen time. Not to beat a dead horse (or cat in this case), but, uh, *cough* mogami. I’d rather they go ham with the animation in the confession arc and spend more time in this one on the other stuff.

There’s just a fuck ton of shit that happens in this arc and fitting it all in before episode 6 without rushing anything is gonna be a process. It’s possible, but it’s really gonna take some planning.

#mob psycho 100 #mp100 manga spoilers #mp100 #broccoli arc

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saiangelo999 · 6 years ago

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2019 T.V. show Tracker part 2

Part 1

Animes

Aggretsuko

I am really enjoying this! Finished s1 and am on s2. I really enjoyed the show! I liked all the friendships that Retsuko develops throughout the season and how her relationship with her coworkers evolve. A really pleasant workplace anime.

Mob Psycho 100

Originally planned to read it before watching the anime but... will probably binge it. 2020 Update - So I did end up reading 3 volumes before watching the anime. And then I just binged it. My thoughts are here.

Dramas

He is Psychometric

DNF - I really was intrigued by the premise initially as it was quite unique. I also did really enjoy the main cast and was especially interested in the brother’s backstory. However, there was just a point in the drama where all the intrigue that they built up just stopped to interest me. It definitely had to do with the tonal switch to more romantic between the main two characters. Maybe I’ll come back to it... But I am wary as a I heard that the ending was not well received.

The Last Empress

It’s a HOT Mess. Would I recommend the show? No.

Did I enjoy it? Yes, most of it. There was a point where I knew the plot had no meaning as it was so badly cast into the back-burner by the writers that I began to enjoy the show on how utterly ridiculous it was. Kind of like how people enjoy bad movies like The Room. Don’t watch it if you expect a good plot, consistent characterizations (or even a coherent plot).

So here’s the thing, the show had potential. It started out super dark and focused on politics, manipulation and featured the emperor who is a sociopath. The show had decent-ish pacing and it seemed promising as it was initially like watching a political thriller show. But after a few episodes, the core aspect of the show began to shift as it focused more and more on the main female character (The Empress) and as her part in the story became more prominent. It became very inconsistent (plot-wise and character-wise), became more of a rom-com and really undermined the tone set by the first part of the show. Lots of interesting characters were unceremoniously shoved into arbitrary boxes, character motivations went to shit. Whenever I thought the show couldn’t get any worse - it did. But, as I gave up on the actual plot, I just found it all to be very funny. I laughed at how the writers dug themselves into a deeper and deeper hole with the characterizations of what was once interesting characters... it felt like they fired the only writer that gave a fuck and replaced them with a bad fanfiction writer. Especially when they decided to create a sort of love triangle out of NOWHERE. Warning: even I couldn’t enjoy the cop-out ending episodes (last 4 or so) that they gave to this show.

It’s absolutely no wonder why I haven’t heard about this show before.

Stay Tuned! aka Channel wa sono mama!

A Japanese mini-series based on a manga about a news station (HHTV) with how the news crew comedically deal with their new idiot hire. It was a really fun watch! Definitely recommend for people who want to watch something light! Loved it! :D

Such a good show! I already miss it!

Kingdom

It’s definitely interesting. A very bingeable show as each episode ends on a cliff-hanger. Man, Bae Doona is doing well after Sense8. Also I can’t believe the prince was the same actor as the prince from Goong/Princess Hours.

Avengers Social Club

DNF - Will hopefully finish it off.

I love the main female leads. They are each so adorable and I love their friendship with one another. Hee Soo and the step-son have a cute friendship which is lovely to see. I like that all the relationships are developing slowly. From the first episode this drama definitely had a different vibe than the typical kdrama as it was way more toned down in the melodrama aspect (in comparison) which was nice. I also like that the characters are far more grey and complex, and the writing team seems to be doing a great job so far. Excited to keep watching!

Psychopath Diary

I am enjoying it so far. I LOVED episode four, and I am looking forward to it. Yoon Shi Yoon is so adorable even when brainstorming his little murder plots. Hope that the show moves forward in a direction that keeps me interested. Fingers crossed.

Episode 14 though. Gave me high hopes for how they wrap the show up. Definitely the drama I enjoyed the most in 2019!

Update: So I finished the show! I really enjoyed the show overall and it was definitely one of the kdramas I was more invested in 2019. I really enjoyed the show overall, I did think that that being said I was not completely blind to the faults. But, I think that the strong writing (for the most part), the characters and their respective actors were more than enough to make the drama enjoyable even if it did have a couple of plot-holes or things that didn’t make sense in it. I am really glad there was no huge emphasis on a romantic aspect between Bokyung and Dongshik given the pacing and the way the story was unfolding. I am slightly disappointed with Bokyung’s role in the end of epi15/beginning of epi 16 because I did hope that she would be given a more integral part but... alas it is a kdrama afterall. I do think that it was great her role had a lot to offer and personally I thought she could have carried the show a bit more if she was given the chance.

TV Shows

The Good Doctor s3

Trying to keep up with it as it airs.

Schitts Creek s2 & s3

Great casual viewing. So funny and love all the characters. I love John’s acceptance of Schitts Creek and Roland and Jocelyn during the anniversary dinner episode. So adorable! Also, I really love Ted the vet.

The Witcher

Started it in 2019 and finished it in 2020. Really enjoyed it. It was totally disorienting and confusing because I came in expecting a linear timeline, but I got used to the format quickly. The cinematography is just gorgeous. Not sure how to feel about it but I guess its cool that all the characters are pretty morally grey (Yennifer, Geralt etc.). I’m looking forward to more.

#2019 tracker #saiangelo tracker #the last empress #kingdom kdrama #stay tuned! jdrama #channel wa sono mama!#avengers social club #schitts creek #aggretsuko #mob psycho 100 #mp100 #psychopath diary #the witcher #he is psychometric #clean with passion for now

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kihocrystal · 6 years ago

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Winter 2019 - Final Impressions

So, uh, yeah... these are definitely late. ^^;

These were my thoughts on anime that I watched while they were airing that finished at the end of the Winter 2019 season. I had these done months ago, but just never got around to posting them... but hey, better late than never! Like my other final impressions I’ve done, these are written very casually, so don’t take them too seriously :P

Anyways, these are in alphabetical order and under the cut!

Ace Attorney S2 - 7.5 / 10 (C+ / B- )

better than S1, I think! But still kind of the same quality overall

this game covers the 3rd game (T&T), so the pacing is less rushed overall

there are some anime original stories here too (including an original case)! So for people who’ve only played the games, there’s some added worthwhile content for ya

I didn’t watch the dub, but this might be a show where the dub would be better than the sub (if only for hearing the localized names being spoken instead of just being subtitled in)

since I already knew the story, this was a good anime for me to do work while watching / listening too ^^;

the game is still the better way to experience this story (duh), but at least this season of the anime was decent enough that I’d recommend it to people who’ve already played the game

BanG Dream! S2 - 8.0 - 8.5 / 10 (B / B+)

This season is good like season 1! But it’s very different, too

I’ve played the EN version of the game since the beginning! But I watched S1 for the first time during a rewatch on r/anime this past December

S2 is almost entirely in CGI, and it’s good CGI for the most part (it’s best during the performances)

for anime-only people, this season introduces many things previously only in the game (most notably the other 3 bands), and their introduction can be a bit jarring

at least each band gets their own focus episode outside of the main narrative

I liked PoPiPa’s dramatic arc this season (centering around Tae this time); the bait-and-switch at the end of the school festival was effective too

the song created at the end “Returns” was a very effective song as well!

Raise A Suilen is definitely an interesting band, but (at least with ChuChu) are very antagonistic

Their story is definitely not over though, if the ending of the finale is any indication (so keep in mind this season doesn’t have a conclusive ending in that regard)

The not-as-conclusive ending hurts my score for this a little bit, but S3 is already confirmed, so just consider this an 8.0 until S3 comes out (then it’ll be an 8.5, I guess? Depends on how good S3 is)

Mob Psycho 100 II - 8.5 / 9.0 / 10 (A-)

IT TOOK ME WAY TOO LONG TO WATCH THE LAST 3 EPISODES >_<

but yeah, S2 is really good. Definitely one of this season’s best

this is probably my AOTS runner-up behind Promised Neverland, but it didn’t lose by much!

animation is great of course. sasuga Studio Bones (those fights, hot damn!)

also this is probably one of the most pacifist shounen series ever made, lol

everyone fights, but Mob is just motivated by being there for others & trying to stop the fight :’)

also accurate to say this is a very emotionally sincere shounen too ^^

Reigen had a very good dedicated character arc during this season… helped flesh him out more!

It took forever for Teruki to become relevant again though (considering his relevance in S1) ^^;

also that arc involving the evil spirit of the dead medium Mogami was pretty intense!

definitely had the best sakuga outside of the final arc

This season plot-wise kinda felt like a bunch of un-related plots strung together, but I think that works ok here

By the end of this season, the Claw plot seems to be done.

There’s probably more subplots to be wrapped up in a potential S3 though!

since this show’s so popular, you’re probably watching it anyways, but go watch it if you haven’t!

also tfw MP100’s S2 is gonna be better than OPM’s S2 😂

Run with the Wind - 8.5 - 9.0 / 10 (A-)

Great feel-good anime about running. Production IG does it again!

All the boys in the team had fun personalities! (& their character development!)

Their improvement in running is kinda unrealistic, but hey, it’s anime :’D

also GET FUCKED, NOT-SHINJI 8)

not tournament-based like Haikyuu, so it’s a more introspective-type sports anime!

animation was good of course, even though there was bad CGI runners sometimes

conclusive ending(!!!), plus a time skip at the end made for a real good ending~

btw, if you liked this, go watch Fune wo Amu! (same source material author!!!)

kinda wrestling between an 8.5 or a 9.0 for this one, but either way, go watch this show!

The Promised Neverland - 8.5 - 9.0 / 10 (A-)

VERY VERY GOOD THRILLER SHOUNEN JUMP ANIME

the first episode is very effective in getting a lot of people hooked! I knew about the premise going in (so I was spoiled in that regard), but it was still a very good premiere

All the main trio are good! Emma is my fav (I love how her intelligence is not the traditional smarts kind), but Norman and Ray are very good sneaky boys

Those two boys are masters in the art of Keikaku at this point

Isabella / Mother is a very effective villain too! It’s so interesting how she genuinely cares for all of them even while breaking their limbs and their spirits :’)

though that one scene in episode 11(?) could suggest that she could have doubts? Maybe???

it’s been pointed out that Sister Krone’s portrayal in this (as a black woman) is problematic to many people. Heck, even one of my (white) mutuals dropped the manga bc her portrayal bothered her too much to continue.

I wasn’t bothered by it personally, but I definitely understand why people would think this.

If it helps at all, she’s not in the show for a long time, so at least she comes and goes within this season? YMMV

Animation’s really good (CloverWorks did good for once???), and the OP song is a banger

finale was really good and was as conclusive as it could’ve been at this point, really

plus we got more Isabella backstory! that humanized her a whole lot.

And also THAT REVEAL o_o

so uh yeah, I definitely recommend this show to most people! Can’t wait for S2 in 2020 :’)

Sword Art Online: Alicization [1st Half] - 8.5 - 9.0 / 10 (A-)

HOLY DIRECTION BATMAN… did the direction / animation / music score elevate this show or what! A-1 Pictures and the rest of the squad did a phenomenal job here

visuals looked great all the time (had this glow to it) & fights were really good for TV!

Of course the story was good too! Albeit kinda basic when you get down to the nitty gritty, but there were some notable interesting nuggets

Eugeo turning evil (i.e. Integrity Knight) actually got me to dive into the Wiki, so I consider that a good accomplishment (plus those episodes / scenes got the doki-doki’s going ^^; )

also just thinking about how all the humans in this world are real, yet also not… it make me think a little harder about the world building and stuff

though you can’t have SAO w/o at least one problematic rape-like scene, apparently! 🙃

at least the author’s come out and said he regrets writing those plot points… still sucks that they’re here in the anime, though :(

and man, did the sad parts of the finale hit me HARD in the kokoro

WHY DID EUGEO HAVE TO DIE…….. (I was spoiled on this due to previously mentioned wiki-diving though, so R.I.P. me :’) )

Those death scenes were super well done though, Damn!!!

plus it ends on a cliffhanger……… really intriguing, but obviously doesn’t leave a sense of conclusion at the end (plus it kinda is a big mood whiplash after watching Eugeo and kid!Alice die)

so yeah, this show has 9-10/10 direction with like a 8/10 story (& -20/10 certain plot point(s))… so this gets an 8.5 overall, I guess

I enjoyed the good parts enough to outweigh the bad, for what it’s worth

in any case, definitely looking forward to the second half of this arc!

P.S. - This will likely be my last Final Impressions post. I didn’t watch anything that finished in Spring 2019, and for this current season, I’m only watching a couple anime plus I’ve gotten kinda burnt out on writing these posts anyway. I kept this series going for over 6 years tho, so that’s gotta count for something! Feel free to check out my Final Impressions tag if you wanna see my thoughts on anime’s past, I guess. To everyone who’s read these posts: Thank You!

#ace attorney anime #ace attorney #gyakuten saiban #bang dream #mob psycho season 2 #mob psycho 100 #run with the wind #kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru #the promised neverland #yakusoku no neverland #sword art online #alicization arc #final impressions

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lia-nikiforov · 7 years ago

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Spring 2018 Anime Final Review

So, uh, this is six months late. I’ve had half of this post in my drafts forever. To make it short, as I’ve mentioned previously, mom lost her job, which has not only been a heavy hit to my sense of stability for the last six months, but also means my time to watch anime was seriously reduced and even now a slight change of plans fucks up my whole schedule and sets me back for a full week. Anyway, nobody cares about any of these shows anymore so let’s get straight to it? I’m gonna ommit the two-cours that continued into the Summer - hopefully I’ll be able to make that post soonish? idk. Worst to best, same as usual

The crappy gender politics pit of shame

Darling in the FRANXX: I think everyone has ripped this show to threads at this point and there isn’t much I could add to that. It is quite funny to me to see how many people flipped out when the show went completely bananas in its last few episodes. Feels a bit like KADO, I’ve been telling y’all this was a ton of empty crap since episode 2, it just took the writing to completely self-destruct for everyone else to notice. A part of me feels tempted to do a long post breaking down just how badly the show collapsed in its final shebang, specifically how every single twist and turn completely nulled any remote kind of message or central thesis the show may have had, but at the same time it doesn’t seem worth the time. In the end, I may have given What is Internal Consistency, The anime way too much credit. It’s not hateful antigay propaganda, it’s just dumb as shits, with a writer and creators who didn’t think for half a second of the implications of what they were doing, and who were so incompetent they couldn’t even conserve the minimal plot and character coherency within a single episode, let alone 24. In other words, Darling isn’t saying “gays shouldn’t exist” but “I have no idea of anything regarding gay people”. What makes it egregious is that the show spent so much time acting like it was “meaningful” and “important” and yet it ended saying absolutely fucking nothing. Except mayb “have babies”. Down to oblivion you go, along with the likes of KADO, to the void of shows that couldn’t even be offensively bad and no one will remember a year from now. Bonus garbage points for the half-assed “bury your gays”.

Nil of Libra Admirari or whatever this show was called: I’m not trying to diss on the show, I just genuinely never remember the title because I have the JP and EN all mixed up. Not that it matters much, as far as I could tell, the show could call Shalabalabatuna and it would have the same significance in regard to the content. But the title isn’t important. In fact, it may be a bit unfair to have this show in this section. For the most part, Main Girl is very self-determined and has an active role in the story.... but then the last two episodes heavily featured a lot of rape threats or rape themes and forced pregnancy (real and threat) and I don’t really understand why they’d go there all of a sudden. One of them was treated relatively well, even empowering the victim in the process, but when the ikemen bad guy was rambling endlessly about how he wanted to impregnate the protagonist it really turned me off :/ I’m also not a fan of “main boy was her secret fiancé all along”, but at least they also handled that somewhat decently. It’s a very disposable series, but since I watched all of Amnesia, I think I owe every otoge adaptation at least the smallest chance to clear that very low bar, and Libra of Nil does it, more competently than most other stuff in the same genre.

Hisone to Masotan: I really, really wanted to love this show. Even now, as I put it in the pit of shame category, I’m pained. There was a good show in this, and a lot of it made it to the screen: an adorable, charming little story about a woman finding her place in the world, making new friends, finding her calling and bonding with an adorable dragon. Unfortunately, it got buried down under this opressing, horrendous gender politics that tried to do something with bringing attention to sexism in the military only to cancel it out making the one dude that embodied that sexism getting rewarded with the affections of a girl he explicitly tried to crush. It also called back on the virgin or whore fallacy and even managed to shove in a “bury your gays” trope. Even though Hisone challenges the ritual bullshit, it’s too little, too late, and she does end up carrying it out anyway, so the defiance to the status quo is of little importance in terms of problematizing the ritual itself. Sorry BONES, it wasn’t meant to be this time.

The ni fu ni fa section

Ni fu ni fa is a Mexican colloquialism for “It was okay but it didn’t change my life.”

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu HAPPY KISS: This soft reboot of the franchise had some really great episodes and did an actually good job of developping its characters. For the most part, it achieved what its predecessor did in terms of satirical comedy and I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, what bunked it down so low in the list was the final episode. At some point, the writers forgot they were doing a parody and made the show somewhat self-serious, way closer in tone to the magical girl anime it was supposed to be making fun of, rather than the satire its predecessor was. Whereas S1 ended with the whole Magical boy stuff being revealed as a crappy space reality TV show, this one ended with a real cheesy conflict about happiness and family and blablabla. Which is not bad by itself if this were a Precure show, but that kind of self-serious plot development just didn’t work for this series. I still enjoyed it, and the fanservice episode is one of the best of the whole franchise, but I’m a bit sad the finale missed the mark so badly.

Hinamatsuri: Hinamatsuri was very hit-or-miss for me. There were some truly brilliant episodes, a lot of funny vignettes and heart-warming stories, and then there was some stuff that made me uncomfortable -like every single Hitomi story- or felt unnecessary and dry. It also threw me off that the superpower dynamic completely disappeared in the second half of the show, especially in Anzu’s part of the story. It was okay but I feel like I needed something that felt like a closing, and choosing to end it with Mao who featured very minimally in the show overall didn’t cut it. It’s a fun show, I’d reccommend people check it out, but it felt a bit too disjointed for me

Persona 5: The Animation: This is a hard show to place because I love the looks of it and I think the concept is interesting and pretty cool, but there is something that’s keeping me from connecting emotionally to the story. The part where changing the villains’ heart makes them repent from their sins and become “good” feels very artificial and very tasteless when you’re dealing with rapists and abusers. I ended dropping it at episode 16, I just couldn’t find the motivation to catch up with the 6 episodes i’d fallen behind on because my schedule is a tragedy

Tokyo Ghoul: Re: I guess it’s fair to say I’ve kind of outgrown Tokyo Ghoul. There’s something messy and confusing about how this season panned out, and there comes a point in which misery porn just doesn’t cut it anymore. I still watch because Ishida has a way to make every single goddamn character extremely sympathetic, which makes for an emotionally engaging viewing even when you’re not sure of what the plot is supposed to be or who you should be rooting for. I tried picking up the new season that just started airing and immediately found I had no idea of what was going on, who was on who’s side and in general, who the fuck were 90% of the characters, so I dropped it.

Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu: I’ve mentioned it before, this second season had the opposite problem than the first one: the pace was too slow. It took more than half of it to get to Escanor, and then the season ends at a kind of random spot. I really thought we’d get further along on the story, since Gowther’s backstory was hinted at in the openings, but no such thing happened. They did manage to give us a variety of cool moments and fights, and I love Ban so his scenes with Zhivago and Elaine made me quite happy, though I really wish the romance between Elizabeth and Meliodas wasn’t su dubious and cringy. In light of some revelations that take place further along the manga, going out of their way to emphasize that Meliodas was a sort of mentor figure for Elizabeth when she was a toddler seems unncessary and just very squeamish. I do hope we get a third season though, and an OVA of the Vampires of whatever side story would be great too.

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori: I was pleasantly surprised by this show, and it’s closer to being one of my top of the season than it is to “meh”. It had some weaker, cheesier segments, but it also managed great whacky moments and a genuine soothing atmosphere. What surprised me most is that the vanilla looking cast of moderately handsome dudes managed to develop into interesting, funny individuals with a dynamic that made every episode enjoyable. A solid reccommendation for anyone wanting to see delicious looking food and moderately handsome dudes being ridiculous. Also, the cat episode is the best episode of anime ever produced.

The I’m probably the only person alive who enjoys these shows

Mahou Shoujo Ore: This is a difficult show to place because it wasn’t quite as great as I wanted it to be and its parodic nature took me by surprise, but somehow I was still seriously entertained more often than not. The twists in the final quarter and the absolutely bonkers finale was a total riot, but I definitely advise caution before going in, given that some of the jokes may seem insensitive or in poor taste in regards to gender presentation, sexuality and there are even some mild harrassment jokes that certainly made me roll my eyes.

Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line: I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but I think through half of the show’s 25 episode run, I was convinced the title was actually Glory Road. It’s kind of anticlimactic that it’s called Glory Line if they don’t actually reach the final Goal btw. Anyway, I feel I say this a lot, but really, if you didn’t like the previous Yowapeda seasons, there’s nothing here for you, and if you did, you’re probably not gonna hop off this late in the game. This season does suffer from the same dragging than its predecessors, with the added issue of being quite pessimistic for no reason in about half the episodes, and a diminished presence for Onoda. I really wish they hadn’t dragged the Day 2 goal so long, I really hoped we’d see the end of the race, but no such luck I guess. Still love most of it and hope we get one more season or a movie to complete the story.

The favorites of the season

Golden Kamuy: In spite of its pacing issues, terrible animation and general clunkiness, I can’t help but love this show. When season 1 ended my feelings for it had mellowed quite a bit, but as soon as I picked up season 2 this Fall I just fell in love all over again. It’s fun, unique, over-the-top in some ways, incredibly grounded in others, and the dynamics between the characters are incredibly charming.

Hozuki no Reitetsu: It’s hard to talk about this one because it feels repetitive, given how tonally the show remains just the same across its three seasons. It could’ve very well been a one-season, 36 episode show, for how little it changes in spite of the time that transpired between the first season and the second. But in short, the comedy continues to be as spot on as always, the Zashikiwarashi twins are the best addition to the cast. It’s definitely a show I could watch endless episodes off, and the rare case of an episodic series with no overarching plot that I can enjoy wholeheartedly.

Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card arc: Over the course of the series, I’ve expressed a few concerns and misgivings about how the story of this 20th anniversary sequel was playing out. The final episode was particularly troublesome in that it left the story unfinished in spite of deviating from the manga. In spite of this, more than anything I’m very happy that this continuation still retains what made the original so special, that they captured the magic behind Sakura’s “everything will be alright” spell and gave us the chance to spend more time with these beloved characters and see their stories continue. The slow but sweet development of Sakura and Syaoran’s puppy love is a definite highlight. Needs more Touya/Yukito and Yue in general.

Piano no Mori: This show got heavily overlooked because it was kidnapped by Netflix (pls stop immediately), and then when it was finally unceremoniously dumped a month or two ago, it came under fire for the wonky CGI during the piano scenes -and it is indeed very wonky-. But beyond that, I found the story very engaging, especially because Kai is such a fascinating protagonist, his intense rivalry-friendship with Megane-kun (sorry, it’s been six months, i can’t remember names) is exactly the type I can’t help but root for. Kai’s participation in the final episode gave me goosebumps. I’m very happy we’re getting a continuation, can’t wait to see how the Chopin competition develops.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii: Sweet, funny and absolutely delightful from start to finish, Wotakoi was easily one of the highlights of the season. Although there were some aspects about Cosplayer-senpai and Yuri Otaku-senpai’s (I’m really trying to remember the names, I’m sorry!! ;---;) that didn’t work for me -namely the izakaya segment- Narumi and Hirotaka more than made up for it with their clumsy yet adorable romance. I spent the entirety of the amusement park episode screeching. I really hope we get a continuation -and get a chance to see more of Hirotaka’s brother and his gamer friend too- and that in general we can get more anime about adult stories

Megalobox: Who would’ve thought that a show that wasn’t even in my radar before the season started would’ve end as one of my favorites, possibly of the year? Even as someone who’s only marginally acquainted with Ashita no Joe and has no interst in the sport of boxing, I was completely enthralled by the style and passion of this production. As I said a bit above, intense rivalries are very appealing to me, and the build up in the tension between Joe and Yuri was almost palpable, their mutual respect gave me chills. Definitely the surprise of the season, made even better by its optimistic happy ending to contrast with its predecessor’s tragedy. Megalobox is a unique anniversary project that is closer to an homage and it works perfectly. Definitely check it out.

That’s it for the Spring season! I hope i can do the summer season this weekend and maaaybe even my watchlist for the Fall season. Fingers crossed i won’t get swallowed up in other stuff :’D

#anime final impressions #spring anime #god i've forgotten 95% of my tags #darling in the franxx #megalobox #wotaku ni koi wa muzukashii #piano no mori #card captor sakura clear card arc #hozuki no reitetsu #golden kamuy #yowapeda #mahou shoujo ore #rokuhoudou yotsuiro biyori #nanatsu no taizai #persona 5 #tokyo ghoul: re #hinamatsuri #hisone to masotan #binan koukou chikyuu boueibu

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sol1056 · 7 years ago

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This is what my inbox looks like, now. One ask after another, and none of them happy. Are you paying attention, @dreamworksanimation, @voltron? Because this is what a dedicated and loyal fandom looks like when it gets tired of its loyalty being rewarded with nothing but contempt.

Do the EPs themselves even care about their story anymore? Because at this point it feels more like they just warped it into a personal vendetta against the higher ups after they were forced to change their original vision. Trying to reinforce that their ideas were right, instead of adapting like professionals.

And then re-litigating their position in every interview, too, along with being really noisy about their animosity for the character they were forced to keep.

More behind the cut.

If they had time to include pointless scenes with a space wolf they could have, idk, maybe used that screentime for some character development. But then again that requires basic writing skills and not copy-pasting your series together.

In twenty years of fandom, I have honestly never seen a hatch job of a season quite like S7. It’s one for the books, certainly.

I still find it sad how many groups from different sides of a fandom can actually give a damn about its characters, story, world, and pacing while the actual writers themselves couldn’t even give a shit.

The EPs should’ve stuck with storyboarding.

How could they disappoint so many fans? Every corner of the fandom is disappointed at VLD. When I started reading metas, I was certain the story was getting shitty just because of nostalgia, but now? After S7? To me sounds more like spite. "We can't do what we want so we'll make it shitty because we're children that don't want to listen to our bosses."

My own boss would string me up if I were to boast about a full do-over when the product was already in the can. She’d draw and quarter me on top of that, if I also publicly specified what the clients almost got, but didn’t.

The only way I would watch a VLD spinoff is if JDS & LM were not producing it. I know that there would probably be lots of logistical complications that would come with that, but personally I just cannot sit through another show where the plot development is as nonsensical as VLD's currently is. I don't see how new writers could do worse tbh. If Netflix does a spinoff I hope they keep the same art team and animation studio but get new EPs, writers, and directors.

Agreed, but at this point, DW’s lost a lot of good faith from me. She-Ra’s been knocked right off my to-watch list. If this is how DW execs manage their projects, I’m not willing to risk falling down this rabbit-hole again.

I felt uncomfortable when the season came out, and they started patting themselves on the back for choosing not to give Shiro a happy ending. I hope these EPs never get another show.

I’ll be keeping a careful eye on IMDB in the future. From other conversations, I know I’m not alone. I see those two names pop up, and it’s an immediate and flat no. Once was enough. More than enough.

Petition to fire the EPs and everyone responsible for changing the story 2/3 parts in and violating everything it stood for and disrespecting the characters and the audience, and hire a new capable and respectful staff to rewrite the series from the point where everything was changed. An (actual) apology from DW and the story rewritten to be what it was supposed to. They owe us that.

Or find whomever did S1/S2, and put them back in charge. I’d be willing to forgo a formal apology, if DW just made clear they were fixing things -- whether that’s the staff or the story. Just do something.

I wanna know the part DW played in this. That interview cleared up that DW didn't object and the EPs didn't have to fight. So did they go to DW with THIS specific storyline? 4 dead gays, 1 resurrected just to suffer, 2 evil ones? And that's what they were OK with & greenlighted? Or did the EPs go with 'just Shiro is gay & there's 3 more queer characters' and they got the OK and wrote and animated the rest themselves and showed that? Because "DW didn't find anything wrong morally" (as they said) is very different between these two cases.

That’s the statement I’d like to hear from DW: just where do they stand on that? Because you’re right, there’s a huge difference. Did the execs think they were okaying mild LGBT representation, or did they know and approve a double whammy of Bury Your Gays? Or did they know and figure controversy was better than silence? It’s a matter of degree.

Who's really to blame for how VLD is handled story-wise? The EP's or the higher ups at DW? Assuming that the DW execs get the final say, then they're the ones that okay'd the clone storyline and making Keith the BP for good while Shiro is turned into a side character.

I have no idea, but we’re three weeks out, now, and no one’s getting any happier. The longer it goes on, the more it’s all going to be associated not with this one production staff, but the entirety of DW’s TV brand.

If DW has their shit together (not allowing the EPs to kill Shiro which was smart), it looks like DW trusted the EPs but the EPs failed. If DW apologizes to us and fires the EPs for the many things they did wrong in VLD, and announces a sequel with competent and decent creators who will fix the series to respect the S1/S2 premise, I'd watch it.

I might, but I’d need to see the new staff’s IMDB credits, first. DW has lost the benefit of the doubt from me, after this utter destruction of a childhood favorite. And even then, the very first sign of a multiple-minority character being treated as the series’ punching bag? Outta there.

#vld #voltron #this is not sa1t this is truth #fandom

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