#i get using cliffhangers to get people to Tune In Next Week but there is a flip side to that!

[startrekandstarcrises]

i haaaate that trend so much. i've seen series where it was blatantly just a long movie with credits/title cards jammed in every hour or so. that's bad writing when it's a 10+ episode season but at least there's the logic of 'most people won't watch this in a single go, let's put in some breakpoints', but it's absolute nonsense when it's four or five episodes. You made a movie. It's a single movie. It's not 'four episodes of' anything. Cut the repeated credits out and stitch it all together and it's 3.5 hours with pacing very similar to other movies and very dissimilar from tv shows. It's on the long end but it is one movie. Just admit it is one movie and put it in the 'movie' category so people specifically looking for movies see it and people specifically looking for episodic shows do not, and take out the repetitive disruptive breaks so viewers can properly enjoy it. I'm sure view metrics are counted such that a movie artifically chopped into four "episodes" counts as four times as many views or something, or at least the extra intro/outro bits add to "minutes watched", but if your metrics encourage "miscategorizing media so severely customers can't actually use your filters/categories/etc to find what they want and disrupting the viewing experience for no reason beyond 'number go up'" then your metrics are bad and in the long run they'll backfire.

at this point if i'm looking for an episodic show to watch i will completely skip any '[streaming service] original' and half the time dig around for something made before streaming got popular. there's some good modern streaming 'shows' but if i save them for when i'd otherwise be watching a movie i'm less likely to be disappointed.

and the extra wild thing is stuff that's seemingly not even meant to be binged or frankly possible to binge is starting to get like this?? MCU probably being the worst example but we're starting to get movies or TV shows which go way beyond 'referencing existing lore and we don't tell you every detail here but you don't need every detail anyway, it's fine' and fully into 'oh, there is necessary backstory, and it's all in some other media. and this one is going to have some setup for something else, too. so if you want to understand this you need to go watch another movie and if you want to see the conclusion to these scenes you need to wait for yet another movie'. nOT EVERYTHING IS LORD OF THE RINGS AND ALSO EVEN LOTR SETTLED ON BEING A TRILOGY. it's such a turn-off even of movies which sound good because lol sure the main storyline sounds good but. is all of the main storyline even in that one fucking movie or am i ultimately going to have to watch three other movies, two tv shows, and a crossover episode with a series which got dropped from all streaming media and is now only available via torrents.

"binge-worthy show" man fuck that

i want my shows one episode followed by a whole ass week of going a little insane over it with the people on my phone, writing fics theorizing and going over every single scene through amazing gifs and meta, before the next ep drops and the cicle begins anew

[kisses4reid]

understand? pt. 1 | ·˚ ༘ spencer reid ,,

summary - you’re a polyglot translator assigned to work for the bau in a cross-national case, and there’s a doctor who wants to impress you.

genre - fem!reader, SHE/HER r, fluff, meet cute, you know more than spencer and he’s attracted to that

warnings - you're both awkward, mentions of gross case file photos, little research about polyglots actually done so there are inaccuracies, cliffhanger for part 2.

w/c - 1.4k

a/n - thank you for the req anon!! there was multiple parts to this but i really like the first idea so that’s what this fic is about, might keep the other idea for later hehe. i did change some aspects. love you, thank you for the support <33 there will be multiple parts!!! stay tuned!!!

req - hi pia 💞💝🩷💓 how r u? i hope you’re feeling wonderful! this is my first time requesting smthg i apologize if i get something wrong! i’ve been having 2 thoughts about spencer x fem!reader, where reader is a russian translator and idk they meet cute or she has to work with the bau helping them on a case. just wanted to give these ideas to you, obviously feel free to do anything with them! i really enjoy your work and your writing is incredible! i have your notifications on so i am always reading whatever you post! have a great day pia 💝 lots n lots of kisses for u!

This was not what you expected. 

You, a woman in your late twenties that spent most of her time in a room listening to voices and decoding foreign messages, didn’t know what you expected. But this: a scary boss, an italian old man, and a skinny college kid, was not it. 

“Y/n L/n? I’m Aaron Hotchner, the unit chief, and this is Agent Rossi and Doctor Agent Reid.” 

You nodded your head, thick hair covering your top eyelashes as you glanced at the men. Agent Rossi shook your hand, and Dr Reid simply stood and gawked at you. To be honest, it made you worried. You had been warned this was a close knit team, that they trusted each other more than anything and that you shouldn’t get attached to any of them as you’d only be assisting them for one case.

Maybe they just didn’t warm up to new people. 

“I’ll do your formal introduction to the rest of the team now, if you’re settled down.” He asks cooly. You like the way his voice rasps, it’s assertive yet comforting. 

“Yes, of course. I can’t wait.” You smiled reassuringly at the unit chief, not ignoring the raised eyebrow you received from the silent young man now behind you.

Aaron Hotchner, your new boss for the next week or so, lead you to a large room with a circular table sat in the middle. There were two other women, one blonde and one raven haired, and another bald man that glanced at you immediately after you entered. They smiled at you and trailed your steps to where you stood beside the unit chief in front of a large TV screen.

“Everyone, this is Agent Y/n L/n. She’ll be assisting us with the Becker case you’ve all been informed of. She’ll mainly be our translator and interpreter, but she’ll also be useful for cultural identifiers and anything that we wouldn’t notice otherwise.” 

You nodded along, never being a fan of introductions since you moved to America as a small child. 

“This is JJ, our liaison, Agent Emily Prentiss and Agent Derek Morgan.” 

The ladies smiled at you, in fact all of them did. They were surprisingly open to the fact you would be joining them, the fact made your shoulders loosen and a breath to be let out discreetly. 

Next, you were on a long plane flight to Maine with Agents you had known for little under two hours, conversing about victim profiles and motives. The table in front of the ladies and your boss was strewn with victim files and gruesome photos. And while you weren’t a stranger to the dangers and violence the job brought, you had gotten comfortable with only hearing about it and not seeing it. So you opted to hover around the table and stay silent, you weren’t a trained profiler after all, just a translator.  

There was a wave of cologne that disrupted your senses, causing you to angle your head back, only to be greeted by the tall doctor. 

You smiled softly, assuming the closeness was due to the aeroplane's arrangement. Also because you got the vibe that Spencer didn’t like you. 

“Are you okay? You seem uneasy,” he asked. It was the first time you heard his voice. And it was as adolescent as you imagined for someone so young, but it had a sophisticated edge to it, with a honey-like undertone. Finding things in voices as if they were perfumes was something you unconsciously started to do since working as a translator.

“I’m fine.” You grinned reassuringly, turning back to focus on the team’s findings. 

Spencer furrowed his eyebrows slightly and stepped away, sitting down beside Morgan who had taken a seat at the back. Morgan squinted at his friend, noticing the rare confusion splayed on his face as he stared in your direction. 

“What’s up? Pretty girl got your tongue?” Morgan removed his headphones with a cheeky smile displayed on his handsome face.

“For someone who specialises in languages she doesn’t talk much.” 

Morgan smirked, “Maybe not to you.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong though.” Spencer ripped his gaze off the back of your head.

“You’ve been staring at her since she walked through those doors. You were so distracted you didn’t even greet her this morning.” Morgan pointed out. Spencer tilted his head confused, a small blush creeping up his neck. “I watched the whole thing from the conference room, so did JJ and Emily.” 

The tall boy slumped in his chair and forced himself to look out of the plane’s window, avoiding a reply to Morgan as he knew it would only result in more teasing. You were physically attractive, everyone could see that, but the thing that caught Spencer’s attention was your intelligence. He was no stranger to being a polyglot, he learnt languages for fun, but you were simply next level. Morgan studied Spencer’s face for a second before raising his attention to your hovering state. “Agent Y/n L/n.” Morgan called, causing Spencer to widen his eyes and immediately adjust his slumped position in his plane seat. You turned your head in surprise, slightly confused why you would be needed anywhere else than the files you had been translating for the past two minutes. Your heels were silent against the carpeted floors, but Spencer could sense your presence anyways. 

“How many languages do you speak?” The stoic man asked, his eyes darting between you and the doctor below you. You were not short, your genes didn’t allow for it, but you had noticed you were only taller than JJ and Rossi in the team and it felt foreign to not tower over everyone. “Um, I speak 8 languages fluently, and 4 languages semi-fluently.” You stated, readying to turn back to assist the team before Morgan spoke up once again

“Did you know that pretty boy can speak Spanish and German?” 

Before Spencer could help himself, he corrected the man, “And Latin and Russian,” Spencer turned his head up to you, “But I can understand more.” 

You smiled, genuinely impressed and confused on how a man that young could learn that much. But to be fair, you were in the same boat. The nickname got your attention, locking it in the back of your mind to remind yourself that the people you were working with did in fact have senses of humour, and weren’t just heartless officers. There wasn’t any reason to think that though, as you had been cared for with respect and even Prentiss made a funny remark beforehand. It sort of felt like a family dinner you were intruding on. “That’s impressive, Doctor Reid.” You reply genuinely. 

“I mean it’s nothing compared to you though,” his voice was pitched slightly higher and his hands started motioning to nothing in particular, “your brain is constantly changing from high activity to low activity when you're translating from one language to another. Your language network, the lateral frontal lobe, is constantly lighting up and dimming down depending on what language you hear, ordinary people’s language networks only turn on and off.” 

Morgan smirked and glanced up at your intrigued and surprised expression. You nodded, a small blush coating the tips of your ears as you responded, “Thank you.” You didn’t really know what else to say, which is funny for someone who understands so many languages, so you simply smiled and turned back to the table. Spencer slumped again, watching you walk away and asking himself why he would inform a pretty girl about her own brain, when she most definitely already knows about it. 

“Don’t worry too much, Reid.” Morgan called, grabbing Spencer’s attention. The boy raised a brow, not understanding. “She digs it, I can tell. But she’s just like you, knows how to speak in a million ways and still doesn’t know how to small talk.” 

You landed without any more awkward interactions, and got introduced to some sheriffs in Maine, one of them giving you a tighter handshake than the rest and a stare that could only mean unpleasant things. It wasn't something sexist or creepy that lingered in his eyes, it was more like hatred. Spencer took the sheriff's attention away from you after noticing what the whole team did, and asked him to show him the records they kept at the precinct.

Emily Prentiss came up behind you and placed a hand on your upper arm, squeezing it like she understood what you had thought you'd seen. Out of everyone else in the team, she would understand the most.

taglist (open!!): @jeffswh0re @reap3erslov3 @candyd1es @0108s22m @aurorsworld

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s6 episode 22 "biogenesis" thoughts

season finale time!!! 

i haven’t watched an episode in a week to avoid having to finish the season, but i have started working on my favorite moments list so i would be better prepared. and here we are!

mulder thinks that life began somewhere that isn’t earth… because of some metallic stuff… well. let’s investigate!

i hope we get some answers on his crankiness. but i’m expecting a ton of plot and little character development in this and the next one. but i can hope to be proved wrong! even if i don’t think we’ll ever beat the s2 finale. sighs… how good we had it.

(post-episode thoughts: i need answers. i need krycek's head mounted on the wall the way people display their ten point bucks. i need justice for skinner and to place both of the agents in a big cozy bed where they can have a sleepover.

this episode was actually pretty good! i'm a bit cynical when it comes to mytharc stuff because it is usually just TOO MUCH going on at once, but this one gave me lots to ponder. i love mulder whump and angry protective scully, so!! i was pleased. but also mad af at Certain Characters. i almost went right ahead and watched the next episode despite my system of rules, but it is a THREE-PARTER, and that is going to take me at least a week to get through ON TOP of still having to post my s6 favorite moments😭so i will just be stuck Suffering over here in cliffhanger land for the foreseeable future!)

anyway. back to the beginning!

ah. we open on the earth. i expect a monologue. oh! it’s scully this time!! i’m so used to mulder monologues on the nature of reality, this took me by surprise

scully is gonna tell us about single-celled life. from the sea. maybe that’s why she feels a kinship with the ocean. and then multicellular life comes next.

for a split second there, i felt like i was watching a nature documentary narrated in scully’s soothing voice. to be honest, i didn’t hate the experience. 

440 million years ago… mass extinction. no oceans. then plants. then bugs. WHAT? ANOTHER mass extinction after that? come on!! it was just getting good!

AND IT KEPT HAPPENING?? can you tell i’m not a science girly?reptiles showed up and then got killed off AGAIN? then birds and dinosaurs. and again. mass extinction.

okay, well i knew about the dinosaur one. give me some credit.

humans emerged 100,000 years ago. and this is the stuff i know. 

look at all of these very 90’s visuals. i feel like i’m in a bill nye episode.

“rising to a world population of over five billion people” well! it is still above five billion people. just… a lot more than that these days. 

ahh... i can just hear it. “you’re my one in eight billion, scully” (accompanied by a light forehead kiss)

she says we are all related to that one singular cell. which i don’t want to think about. but no one knows where that first cell came from. 

“is there a plan, a purpose, or a reason to our existence?” girl, you’re catholic! but i suppose even catholics who have a party line with all the answers to those big questions still muse on the nature of reality. especially if they are scientists and also named scully.

i don’t want to think about a 6th extinction… not of humans or all the birdies… and jaguars… no. we shall simply have to not die.

ah. now we have transitioned into the plot rather than musings on the meaning of life. men are shouting in swahili as something washes ashore. it is… a rock looking thingy.

intro time!!!!!! you can’t help but dance to such a spooky tune!! i still get nostalgic for watching season 1 last may sometimes! 

no special words on the intro this time… hmm! i thought we were due for some.

on the ivory coast, we see that krycek will be in this episode thanks to the opening credits. but other stuff is happening, too. the metal thing is here!!

it is taken to a university for studying. where a man (later revealed to be named dr. merkmallen) carefully unwraps another one!!! the two pieces look like they’ll fit together, but when he holds them next to each other, they merge into one and shoot across the room!

this guy’s office looks so cool. OH DAMN! the metal piece cut into his bible!!! a revelation indeed. and now it’s spinning???? and getting faster!!! he wraps it back up. 

ohhh, it cut into genesis as this fellow calls for an international operator… how… prophetic. 

three days later, the gentleman arrives at the american university in washington, which sounds like a fake name for a school, but it is a real place. he is looking for professor sandoz from the bio department. 

no! this other dude has monkeys!!! what is he doing with them??

sandoz is the monkey guy. and this other fellow is dr. merkmallen. sandoz welcomes him in and asks to see this mysterious object. merkmallen was almost detained for having it

ohhh, the monkeys do NOT like this mystery object. they are screaming terribly. i really do not like monkeys, bro. the pieces have merged together. 

oh shoot! when he asks merkmallen if he’s had any luck reading it, he realizes that is not dr. sandoz!! nooooo!!! leave him alone!!!!!!!

someone else hears the angry monkeys, and enters the room to find the metal piece missing. WHERE DID YOU TAKE MERKMALLEN? NOOOO!! he is dead on the floor!!!!!!!!!! come on, we just met the guy and you take him from us already?!

bow tie dude who found them dead seems freaked tf out

(we later learn that bow tie dude is the REAL dr. sandoz, and the other guy who dr. merkmallen was speaking to was named dr. barnes. i have to insert this note here because it makes sense when you're watching the show visually and can see the different characters, but typing this up can lead to some confusion. so. bow tie guy = sandoz. monkey guy = barnes. got it? okay)

hey! it’s skinner! polishing his glasses. saying he thought of someone, given the nature of merkmallen’s views. “i believe agent mulder is familiar with his work”

mulder is pondering. he looks good today. he usually does, but just thought i’d voice all the thoughts running through my head. scully reads his file- his body is missing. 

mulder says the word “panspermia”, which he says is a fringe theory.

OH! scully finishes his sentence. LMAO, yeah. she knows this concept: the idea that life began on another planet. mulder is watching her intently. 

skinner asks if it’s plausible, and she says it’s a theory. lots of scientific theories are plausible.

skinner hands her a rubbing of the mystery artifact that allegedly held the meaning of human existence. and dr. sandoz had made a similar claim in a SCIENCE (pointed mulder tone and look at scully) journal

but they can’t ask dr. sandoz anything… he’s missing!

scully thinks this is a police matter at best, but mulder says oh come on, skinner wants us on it!

this elevator is very crowded. yeah. force them into close proximity. hahaha!

oh… when he opens the paper, he can’t hear anything or anybody. scully thinks he didn’t want to listen to her say that she doesn’t understand his relentless pursuit of the truth, but he clarifies he couldn’t hear it!

OHHHH... scully with her arm up against the elevator….. yeah <3

“look, after all you’ve done, after all you’ve uncovered- a conspiracy of men doing human experiments, men who are all now dead- you exposed their secrets. i mean, you’ve won. what more could you possibly hope to do or to find?” “my sister”

oh, i GASPED! because at the end of the day, that’s really what it’s about. a boy looking for his little sister. sometimes we forget that with all the mothmen and slowburn stuff. but… man. my heart.

they head off to the university. where something is afoot, as shown by the shadow crossing the scene and someone snatching up crime scene evidence.

the police say they have a probable weapon with blood and prints, but no word of dr. sandoz.

dr. barnes, the head of the department, says there is plenty of speculation on what went down. “apart from his laughable ideas, my colleague was capable of almost anything to advance his rather questionable reputation” <- LMAO... so they did not like this guy or talk with him at faculty department meetings. got it.

he was speaking of a mystery artifact- scully shows him the picture and asks if he means this thing. and again, mulder hears a bunch of weird sounds!! scully watches as he leaves. and dr. barnes says that these men who claim life comes from elsewhere are embarrassments.

mulder’s trying to splash his face with water in a sad water fountain. aww. poor guy. scully asks him what it is. OH. she touches his forehead to look for a fever………… oh. see, that’s always gonna get me. he thinks it’s the thing making him feel terrible! 

she opens it and he hears it again. despite it just being a piece of paper.

scully is conducting some sort of meeting. “you’re late!” “i’m sorry, i thought this was my office” <- this is why you are being punished with evil ear noises

she called chuck to get an explanation. “you know me, this is right up my twisted little alley”, he says

chuck seems vaguely familiar to me, but not deeply. i'm sorry 💔 i guess i'm a fake fan

oh! the writing is a fake! it’s phonetic navajo, but it makes no sense in a literal interpretation. is it code?

maybe it’s a magic square? thankfully they explain what that means- it allegedly comes from god and is used for trapping and storing potential power. maybe that is what someone would want mulder to think it is.

change those projector slides. do not let the light hurt your eyes, scully! 

so barnes wrote an article exposing sandoz as a fraud. he made a career exposing science and religious fraud. but that was him at the beginning with the monkeys, right? and sandoz came in later with the bow tie? and then left?

why produce a fraud with navajo writing in africa? again! a great question! but when he puts the picture of the artifact on the projector, poor mulder's head hurts!!! 

OH!! she goes up to him and gently says “hey” and he groans….she leads him outside. so gently. could this pain have to do with what happened to him at the end of s2? where he was brought back from the dead with the navajo healing? and maybe somehow seeing the writing triggers something?

scully says she will schedule him imaging testing immediately- if nothing else, he should be home in bed! but he refuses, saying he knows what is causing this! he thinks barnes killed merkmallen! 

“well, i hope you’re not going to suggest that we arrest him on that rather baseless assumption” <- LMAO, she has time to be a little pain even when he is suffering

“no i’m not. not until after i show you what he did with the body” <-oooo, it’s getting juicy….

they go to visit sandoz’s place, where the landlord does not want to deal with them. DO NOT WAVE YOUR HANDS AT SCULLY, MR. LANDLORD! they’re searching about…. mulder finds some luggage from new mexico. 

OUR FRIEND ALBERT HOSTEEN!! pictured on the wall with sandoz!!! mulder says that maybe sandoz was using him to read the symbols… but scully says “or write them” <- now, albert is a good man!! do not accuse him of being involved in forgery!

i guess he could have asked albert to translate some stuff and then not explain what it was for... so he wouldn't have been in on the knowledge he was being used for forgery... but still. i think he would be deeply insulted at the thought of his culture being used to make forgeries of mysterious artifacts.

EUGH!! scully asks him to make good on his body prediction, and when mulder opens the trash, he does indeed find just this! it’s merkmallen!!! or just his head. NASTY!!!!!

the agents go to skinner, saying they think that sandoz is innocent and framed- just afraid for his life because of what he knows and has.

skinner asks him if it’s this (passes over the rubbing) and mulder is struggling….. “scully could you please tell…. what your medical exam found in the lab report?” he asks with his eyes closed. 

body parts were missing. all of which would show radiation. and they did find some radiation! cosmic galactic radiation! mulder insisted that they test for it!!!

OH SHOOT!!! he is getting worse… and says to skinner that he knows there’s someone else on the case that he’s not telling them about!!! “i hear it… in my head” “mulder, let’s go” 

ohhhh... she says he’s losing it!!! but he claims skinner is spying on them!! i do not think skinner would do this. scully banishes him home, saying she will look for the artifacts. and he doesn’t really put up a fight, which i know means he has something planned…

but shoot!! skinner closes his door…. and there was a camera in his closet!!! he pulls out the tape and hands it to KRYCEK!!!! NOOOO!!! because he has the kill switch!!!!!!! for his weird disease!!! nooo!!!

oh, skinner…. this is so sad. and how did mulder hear in his head that skinner had someone else on the case just from the rubbing of a piece of metal?!

krycek leaves after skinner and him stare at each other for a bit. 

scully heads down to a new mexico hospital, where she finds someone being rushed to another room. is that albert? there’s a translation of the writing on the artifact! IT’S A VERSE FROM GENESIS!! the same one that the artifact ran into at the start of the episode!!!

and it was mr. hosteen being wheeled out!! the nurse says she cannot tell her what is going on, but scully flashes the badge and says she knows him, and she confesses that he has cancer and is dying. :(

mulder is wearing casual clothes- one sleeve rolled to his elbow, one pulled down to his wrist, a bold fashion choice- in the university where barnes teaches. boy is doing some recon, i guess. he sneaks in somewhere he shouldn’t be…..

ah! he’s in his office!!! and barnes comes in…. realizes that his things have been touched…. and rushes back outside…. he goes to find the monkeys. where mulder was hiding!!! 

but mulder hears the stuff again!!!! and he keeps hearing it as he walks down the hall. bro is going to collapse in this hallway full of undergraduates. he tries to go up the stairs. but it isn’t working well. he’s crawling on his hands and knees and he falls!!!!! what is going on!!

meanwhile, scully is waiting for albert, who is rolled back into his room. but someone was watching him!!! and she chases after him!!! was that barnes?? where did he go??? the music is so creepy…..

she finds him!!!! it’s not barnes!!! it’s sandoz!!! she says she needs answers from him!!!

mulder is still on the ground, writhing in pain!! FUCKING KRYCEK FINDS HIM!!!! and just walks away!!!!! WHAT DOES HE KNOW?!?!

where is he going…….. he goes to barnes and says they are destined to be great friends, handing him the tape. why do they know each other....

back in new mexico, sandoz says that albert was the only translator that didn’t dismiss him- he recognized the importance of the artifact. but it was only one fragment. until merkmallen found two more. 

oh! he thinks the bible came from the aliens!! so would that make navajo the original language of the aliens??

scully is very skeptical. the newest section of writing on the artifact seemed to be just random letters, and albert was working on translating it when his health got bad. and it starts spinning in front of them!!!

phone call time. where is mulder??? he says he’s at home, resting. was he with marita? a woman answers...

scully is not pleased with his idea that aliens put us here. WHERE IS HE?? he says it explains everything. “mulder, i will not accept that. it’s just not possible” “well, then you go ahead and prove me wrong, scully” (cranky sick man hangs up)

HE’S WITH DIANA?!?!? I THOUGHT WE WERE DONE WITH THIS!!!! 

okay. so it is his apartment, which now has a bed. a very cozy looking bed, may i add. i'm happy for him in that regard. but in every other way, this situation is deeply unfortunate.

and diana is in his apartment. she’s calling someone, saying mulder is in distress, and she’s not leaving until she finds out. AND SHE TAKES HER SHIRT OFF???

GIRL, HE’S DYING!!! LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!

she was talking to CSM?!?

holy hell... is diana going to assault him........? what tf is going on.

scully narrates again… the big bang. an act of violence. who did this?

no! albert is being taken to a funeral pyre!! she looks at the stars above. 

wait! he’s not dead. it’s the healing tent! sandoz asks if she wants to come, but scully doesn’t think it’s right for her to join, as she doesn’t share their faith. this is very respectful of her.

skinner calls!!! mulder is in serious condition!!! she has to get here now!!! but she told skinner that sandoz is in new mexico!!! will skinner have to tell krycek?? how quick can you get to DC from new mexico?!

somehow she gets back, but he's not telling her what is going on. skinner calls her dana and grabs her hand….. (omfg... has he ever called her dana before?!) and he says he doesn't know what is going on, but he knew she would want to be here.

mulder’s walking around in a padded room!!! mumbling!!! screaming!!!! and diana is here, too!! 

he’s too violent for them to run more tests!!! he should be in a coma!! scully says to let her try talking to him!! he wouldn't be a danger to her! OH........ oh.... :( she thinks he wouldn't hurt her.... oh. my heart.

“can we speak in the hall?” “about what?” <- OH! she does NOT have time for diana’s tricks… but skinner says her name… and opens the door. and mulder looks up at the camera watching him. 

OHHH what is going on here…??? skinner says that scully has evidence the case is a fraud, and she turns and says “i never sent you that report” <- OH!!!!!!

diana is asking if she can help him- she asks scully to tell her whatever she knows... she says she found him in the stairwell and he could barely speak.

OH!!!! she tells diana she’s a liar and goes to leave. skinner grabs her wrist and she says “you’re both liars”

OMFGGGGGGGGGG….. treacherous skinner CONFIRMED…. but it isn't his fault!!! she escapes from his grip. and he stares at diana.

back in new mexico, more chanting is taking place around albert. sandoz is there.

scully runs into the office, looking for bugs. and she finds a camera in the smoke alarm!!!! but just as she does so, the phone rings. is she going to answer….?

sandoz calls her from new mexico…. she says it’s not a secure line. why did he call right then?! he says the stuff on the artifact, when translated, reads as coordinates for the human genome!! 

but the horses are stirring out in new mexico by sandoz… and there is a gunshot…. and krycek picks up the phone!!! the rat bastard!!!! so did skinner tell him where sandoz was?? or was krycek listening in on the line?!

36 hours later. back on the ivory coast. scully is here!!! trying to find more pieces of the artifact!!! she is led to one….. and she reached in the sand…… and it’s huge!!!!!

it’s some sort of spaceship?? space cathedral?!? huh???? vaguely churchy music plays as the camera pans out...

to be continued?????

girl…. WHAT is going on!!!

skinner is being manipulated by krycek. sure. that’s fair enough. and diana is using mulder for CSM. but to what end!!! did she drug him?? why did she take off her shirt??? can they cure skinner and get him to stop doing all of this?? how long have they been getting spied on??? did the syndicate get to watch their whole baseball flirting session through that smoke alarm camera? is skinner attempting to plot his own resistance? it seems like he is just going along with the whole thing! and that is deeply unlike him!!

UGH!!! how will mulder get better??? was he okay in the time that scully was away??? she must have felt so horrible flying to another continent while he was so sick...

i might break my own rules and watch the next episode tomorrow, and THEN edit my notes. and i’m usually SO principled. i think i’ve only done it once or twice in the entire time i’ve run this blog. but i NEED to know. because like. this diana issue must resolve itself. and what about albert!!!! and fucking krycek!!!

ahhhh!!!!!

oh, FUCK ME!!! i clicked onto the next episode, and i saw that this is a THREE-PARTER, not a mere two-parter!!! so i basically cannot do this plan of watching them all at once!!! because i would get super backlogged when it comes to editing my notes!!! and i still have to do my favorite moments list from s6!! i simply cannot bite off more than i can chew!!! FUCK!

AHHHHH!!! well. i guess that means i’ll get these notes up tomorrow and then start on the favorite moments list. and not have answers. sadly kicks a rock….

so, i have many questions, and i anticipate that few of them will be answered. why is krycek working with dr. barnes? are they trying to expose the x files as fraud? because that is what dr. barnes does- exposes people for fraud? but then why would dr. barnes kill dr. merkmallen? unless dr. barnes is part of the syndicate... there's a pretty big difference between writing a scathing academic article calling bullshit on your coworker's alien theories and actually committing murder. so he must know of the importance of the artifact but is trying to conceal it... because that is the only explanation as to why he would kill somebody over it. and krycek said they were destined to be great friends... and i can't tell if that implies if they knew each other already...

so clearly dr. barnes is lying, because he knew dr. merkmallen was coming, and he asked if the writing had been translated yet. so he knows that the thing is powerful. okay. it's not super clear how his interests correspond with that of the syndicate, but maybe he's an alien?

so. the artifact. the bible MAYBE comes from space, and the aliens use the navajo language. sure. why not?

if it means we get to see our friend albert again, that makes me happy. but he isn't doing very well. it's almost like the writing on the artifact made him sick... because sandoz said that he fell ill when she started to translate it. maybe whatever is happening to him is also happening to mulder? and mulder is in the early stages of whatever it is? and so if scully can find a cure, maybe she can help them both?

or maybe it's something totally different, because mulder was screaming and having his brain go wild, whereas albert was said to have cancer. maybe one progresses into the other?

i am so troubled by skinner working with diana and krycek and CSM. obviously he doesn't want to be doing this! but is he just going along because he knows if he doesn't, he'll die? but he made that promise on his death bed to do better and help the agents more!! is he somehow sabotaging them? did he call her "dana" to tip her off to the treachery? he knows scully isn't stupid...

and scully knew right away that this wasn't a matter for the FBI, but once again mulder got taken in and fully believed the promises of investigating aliens with no real evidence to support it... only that it was coming from skinner, one of the few people he should be able to trust, and the terrible aching desire to find his sister that keeps him up at night and makes him so easy to manipulate...

fucking diana. i thought she was gone!! i should have known better. what is she doing with him? he goes from hearing things to having crazy brain activity when she conveniently finds him? did he really call her and ask for help? i don't buy the story for a second! and she calls CSM and says she won't leave until she knows what is going on... and then she takes her SHIRT off... is she trying to manipulate him? or did she straight up assault him? he's dying!! he doesn't want to see your boobs!!

scully immediately clocking that diana and skinner were lying to her face... yeah. this is immensely satisfying to me.

well. now i have to edit my other notes before i can watch what happens next. and as i type this up on a sunday, i imagine that it will be tuesday at the earliest before i get to watch part two. and then goodness only knows when i will be able to watch part three! this is deeply unfair! but alas. i stick by my routine.

diana and krycek... you freaks deserve each other... although i still think krycek/spender is far juicier. even if spender might be dead. sorry. i will speak my truth.

[kaliforniared]

The Lion's Mane Pt. 2 (SPOILERS)

Alright part 2 notes, let’s jump in!

Oooh, Fjara’s got a small-town myth! I like it when towns have local legends and history that they’re proud to talk about, like when certain towns are known for famous cryptids!

Same John, I too would react the same way about whiskey (I’ve never even had it)

Once again, I love hearing John go into the logistics of injuries the victims acquired before they died by just examining them. Always here for the Dr. Watson content!

Sherlock wants to go in a submersible! Great that he had a pamphlet ready to go 

3,000 POUNDS?! Sherlock, Mariana has every right to not find that ‘lovely’!

Sherlock: “What are you afraid of?”, John: “Death…sharks”; of course you’d say that John you Jaws fan

Maude’s family is quite a powerful empire on the island…interesting

Sherlock with his trousers rolled up walking around the rock pools holding a children’s bucket and shovel is fan art I need to see NOW (it’s like Sherlock in the swing all over again)

Sherlock: “Even a best friend isn’t immune from a physical assault”, oh shit John watch your back I guess

John and Mariana freaking out about making up a story on the fly is hilarious

Interesting how Mariana would, in some way, believe in the myths. Her and I both have the same fascination with how people in ancient history would use legends and myths to explain the unknown before they did their research and found their answers! 

And a VERY dramatic cliffhanger to finish off the episode!

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere with the case! Very much a full investigation episode, getting all the facts about the island and the people around it. Interesting how Maude’s family has a much bigger part in the whole case, yet you can tell that she genuinely wants answers for what happened to Harry. Speaking of answers, we won’t get those until the last part next week! Stay tuned

[adultswim2021]

Eagleheart #3: “Master of Da’Skies” | February 18, 2011 - 12:00AM | S01E03

One of the more memorable episodes of the show, with an easy-to-latch-onto concept that can be summed up into a pithy catch phrase: “sky crime”.

In this one, it’s told that crime occurring in the sky (or at the very least not on-the-ground) is akin to illegal goings-on in international waters and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Marshalls. When Chris decides to take matters into his own hands by chartering a jetpack and blowing away sky scum himself, he winds up making enemies with The Baron. The Baron is a despotic blimp captain who runs a huge crime ring called Cloudtopia circling the city. He gets revenge by capturing Brett and Susie, causing Chris to infiltrate Cloudtopia to get them back. 

Notable things: The Chief’s wildly inconsistent make-up. You can see they added jowls to Gladis in this one but didn’t age him as much. Susie’s shoe falls off as she’s being hoisted, and it stays off for the rest of the episode. I remember somebody on a message board pointing this out and it unintentionally creeping everyone out. Another television episode RUINED by forums. The Jetpack scene was used rather heavily in the promos for the show; visual jokes that read as “bad ass” were really the things that the network latched onto when it came to this show. 

Listened to the commentaries for this and I think it was Komen who said that image of two people in a drug deal using hot air balloons came to him in a dream. After this aired the crew realized this whole thing was very similar to a Michael Kupperman comic. The story had a lot of stuff to cut out, including some lofty goal The Baron had for taking over the city with something called "Operation: Groundless”. I often think about the deleted scene on the DVD, which had an alternate ending where our Marhsalls, after blowing up the blimp, cheerily deliver the phrase: “Oh the Humanity!” and leap into the air for a triumphant freeze frame.

I saw the guy who played The Baron in an episode of MacGyver playing–you guessed it!--Merlin, the mythical wizard from the King Arthur legend. In this TWO-PARTER (whaaaah?), MacGyver takes a blow to the head and wakes up in medieval times, where he has to use science to help Merlin get his groove back or something like that. I remember distinctly watching this with a friend of mine, and laughing at the fact that it ends on a cliffhanger and a “TO BE CONTINUED” at the end. Gosh, I hope MacGyver's coma dream shakes out okay, better tune in next week.

I remember my friend positing that the next episode would begin with MacGyver in the hospital, fully recovered, but he himself is so curious about the cliffhanger ending of his medieval fantasy that he grabs a potted plant (given to him as a get-well gift) and smashes it into his own head in order to get back to it, LOL.

There's a part in this where Chris inappropriately kisses Susie while in Cloudtopia. This SEXIST gag was suggested by Brett Gelman. I was told that Adult Swim was a boys club, and I know Gelman suffers from chronic dog bites, but this is inexcusable to me.

MAIL BAG:

Thoughts on Harland Williams?

(If he got in trouble for something recently I just wanna say I'm blissfully unaware of it).

Grew up with the guy's heyday, thought he was great, mostly. Grew a distaste for that wacky style of random humor but still gave him a bit of a pass. I saw one of his podcasts with Nick Mullen, and it was literally the first time I ever sought out something with Harland Williams in it since ironically watching Surf School with some friends (his worst work, bar none). Podcast with Nick Mullen: I don't think they gelled much but I liked when Nick was autistically listing all the actors who played James Bond and Harland just quietly added Corey Feldman to the list and it made Nick genuinely laugh. I'm comforted by the fact that he still seems like the same guy. I'm too scared to watch the Sam Hyde interview. I heard Hyde did bad behavior stuff to him.

One of the funniest pranks in history involved a friend of mine (Friend A) convincing a mutual friend of ours (Friend B) that Harland Williams was going to portray Joe Strummer in a biopic, by quoting an article that was actually just forged by Friend A. When Friend B asked for a link to the article so he could read the entire thing, Friend A posted a link that looked like a URL to an article (all http://www.slashfilm.com/articles/harland-williams-to-play-stru.html or whatever) but when you clicked the text it just took you to a mildly unflattering photo of Harland Williams looking hungover during a press junket interview.

The thing that made it absolutely amazing was that literally a week passed between Friend A posting the bogus quote and Friend B asking for the article. Seriously, I hope knowing that enhanced that story, which was very boring but I wanted to post it anyway. I like remembering funny stuff my funny funny friends did!

Rocketman is underrated.

[illogicalnordictales]

Ok so here’s another story for you.

The last week of school was odd. It was also last week.

Annnyway.

So I’m fixing to leave 3rd period (in Mod 4, what a “mod” is will be explained shortly) on Wednesday, and we’re stopped before going into the hall. I ask the teacher what was up, wondering if it was a lockdown or medical emergency. It was the latter, but I had to check because we had a lockdown back when I was a junior, so it was within the realm of possibilities.

So we’re finally released, and I go head to the office, because the student council was giving out free ice cream cones. And ya crackhead storyteller can’t say no to free ice cream.

So I start asking around, seeing if people knew what happened. One girl said that a kid in the math mod (it’s a trailer park school, each trailer is called a “mod”), got super high.

Another girl said a kid overdosed.

And yet another said the kid got high.

So I kinda give up asking around, get my ice cream, and leave. When I get into my next class, where I’m the chaotic leader of a bunch of freshmen (shoutout to totally-average-kid for getting my stories more widespread, and for snorting the Kool-Aid powder and Smarties). I see one of my schoolmates, talking to the teacher. I think they’re ere talking about the kid in Mod 5. So I ask him what happened. And evidently, the kid really did overdose. My understanding (and this could be wrong), was that he got a weed pen that was laced with fentanyl, and one thing led to another, and he wound himself in the back of a wee-woo wagon.

But as a result of the kid overdosing, the police searched the other people in the classroom, and for those who could drive, they searched cars.

And this one kid I used to go to elementary and middle school with, got arrested. He had a gun in his car.

I dunno why he had a gun, he didn’t really seem like the kind of guy that would have any ill will, but I dunno.

He always used to say hi to me when I passed him in he hall, and I would always say hi back, but then would wonder why he would greet me.

OH and the day afterwards, I was at work, and the kid who broke his arm came in. He was like “Hey, Illogical.” And I look at him, and just go “I thought I recognized you. Hey, Ethan.”

And we start chatting a bit, and finally ask him “Hey do you still keep in touch with Brian? (Not his real name, but it was the guy who got arrested).”

And he just goes “Nah, not really. I hear he got arrested for drugs though.”

To which I reply “Nah, it was a gun in his car. Byeee.” And basically sent him on his way.

(I did not actually say “Byeee” like that, I added that for the cliffhanger effect.) Evidently he’s got his own little business about antique clothes and shoes and stuff. Which fails to surprise me. He seems like the kinda guy to cry if you crease Nike Air Force Ones. And I would crease them, if I had them. Just to mess with people like him.

So yea, that’s your daily dose of “Bruh what.” from the good old Trailer Park HighTM. Thanks for joining us, we’ll be back later for another story, about the following day, where a fight broke out.

Stay tuned, everyone.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Why I am Predicting a Beth Appearance by the End Episode 3:

@bookqueenrules:

OFC, this is TOTAL speculation based on TWDU and non-TWDU clues.  I am NOT saying that Daryl will necessarily see/know that she is alive by the end of ep. 3(or in a post credits scene), but I believe it will be revealed to the audience by then that she, or someone who looks like her, is alive. 

I’ve seen symbolic clues in “Diverged” in Season 10 and Dead City. 

DD was in the writing/development stage FAR longer than Dead City. So, Dead City writers already had access to the outlines for DD before production began. So, when Maggie showed a family picture with a person we can infer to be Beth having eyes gouged out in the shape of the surprised emoji, that was a major red flag for me.  That happened in episode THREE of Dead City.

 In Diverged, a wholly symbolic episode, Daryl takes off on his own and his motorcycle breaks down. It is in the THIRD place he looks, that he finds the knife, symbolically representing a love interest. he needs to fix his bike and continue his journey. 

Some of my belief is based on storyline conjecture. So, back to Dead City.  It was considered a success by most, but why did it do well?

Some wanted to see NYC zombies. Some wanted to see Maggie and Hershel. I would argue MOST wanted to see the development of the Negan/Maggie dynamic. How many would have watched just Maggie trying to get Herschel back?  Some, but it would not have had the same viewership, and the TWD fans actually care about Hershel as Maggie and Glenn’s son. 

So, why will people watch DD?

Some are looking forward to variant zombies, some want to see Daryl, but for how long will the average American TWD viewer tune in to see Daryl hanging out with new French characters with accents and subtitles to boot?  

Personally, I would enjoy it regardless, but I know many people that hate subtitles and won’t be particularly interested in how things went in France.  Sure, the scenery is beautiful, but it won’t hold the interest past a couple of episodes. The “cure” premise was JUST seen in The Last of Us.   TPTB should also have learned that the decline of the flagship was largely due to killing off “family” characters we cared about and bringing on lots of new characters that never became as important to the audience as the original characters of the first few seasons. Hopefully, TPTB learned this lesson. 

While I DO expect to see a Carol flashback in season 1, the show will need to bring something to the French story that will excite and surprise viewers. If MMB would have decided to be in season 1, it may have been a different story. The Daryl/Carol dynamic would have been there, and I would be predicting your typical “cliffhanger” style reveal towards the end of the first season.

That is why I think there will need to be SOME reconnection between Beth/Daryl in season 1 for the audience to care enough to tune in to Carol/Daryl finding her in season 2. I wouldn’t expect them to connect until late episode 4 or episode 5, but they will have to be separated again by the end of 6.  They will need that time to tell their story and have the audience care again about their connection. Nicotera said in a recent interview that the DD spin-off talk began 7 years ago.  It was supposed to be set in the American West where Daryl encounters different groups each week.  He referenced three OLD shows as examples.

 One was Kung Fu with David Caradine. 

I could go into detail, but each show he referenced is about a man who is searching for something/someone and encounters different people who they change and are changed by them before moving onto the next place on the search.  Yes, I had to research each one.  They were before my time!  This stretched out search for Beth would have made sense then because the audience still remembered her and their connection vividly. That will not work now. It’s been too long and these series are finite. Gimple, sort of, said as much on the red carpet at the finale of the flagship. He said he was already past the spin-offs in his planning and was now thinking about how to develop the next generation and new stories while integrating the “iconic” characters. So, I don’t think these spin-offs will go much past three seasons. Especially with only six episodes per season, it doesn’t give that much time to develop these stories. 

Some non-storyline clues are that the release of EK’s album is on the 22nd of September right before episode 3 airs.  She has been releasing singles all summer.  Why wait for the album release until then?  Norman said in interviews last year that he would, “run into some familiar faces” in the spin-off.  Who else is going to run into in season 1 in France?

Just a few days ago there has been even MORE weirdness. An extra-long first episode?  All of episodes 1 and 2 being screened in theaters in four major cities on Monday?  WHY? I almost wonder if they decided to reveal Beth is alive at the end of episode 2. The ONLY reason to prescreen is to increase buzz, but really what hasn’t already been teased about those first two episodes? I understand that they may need more publicity due to the writer/actor strikes leading up to the release, but why would “spoiling” the first episodes really increase the buzz if it is JUST about the Laurent story?

I’m excited to see how it plays out!

@twdmusicboxmystery​:

I absolutely LOVE everything you’ve said here. Love the symbolic clues you’re looking at. Love your points about Dead City. Love your research into early iterations of the DD spinoff. (I kinda wonder if all the New Mexico symbolism from 11x01 was a nod to that.) Love all your points about publicity and such.

And you’re right. I heartily agree. I don’t have much to add, but all of your conclusions are the only thing that make sense. The only other “faces” we could run into are people like Heath and Davon. And don’t get me wrong, it would be fun to see them again. But it’s not like any of those characters will do much to further Daryl’s story.

And let’s not forget that ep 1 starts with an echo of Judith’s line about Daryl deserving a happy ending, too. Which means that one way or the other, he’ll find his true love and soulmate in this spinoff.

Can’t wait! Thanks SO much for your thoughts! Xoxo!  🍁 🍂 😍

[thekimspoblog]

I don't think I'm done giving Severance shit for the bait-n-switch, but to be fair if I think "end an episode on a big cliffhanger, then spend the next episode doing something unrelated" is such an asshole writing move, I probably shouldn't do it myself.

Cus I totally am. (Assuming I ever write my damn screenplay) S1E5 of "Slippin Kimmy" is supposed to end with Kim finding the fugitive in the church, then episode seven is dedicated to the standoff where Kim has to decide whether to help her or turn her in. But S1E6 completely interrupts this plot by just switching to Skyler for a full episode.

But that's kind of the point, isn't it? If it's a trick I thought to use, I think that means using it makes you a hack. Because a hack is what I am. Although in my defense, I kinda envisioned all 8 episodes of S1 of SK being released for binging at once. So at least I'm not fucking around and wasting people's time.

Understand, it's not just Severance, why I'm a little annoyed. It's that Better Call Saul did something similar when we were all worried what was going to happen to Kim. It's Wicked being broken into two parts. I'm not getting any younger, pop culture is the only real highlight of my weeks right now, and waiting a prolonged period of time to hear an interesting story, only to arrive and be told "The princess is in another castle; stay tuned next week!" is a little fucking aggravating. I get that good television is like sex, and stuff being withheld is part of the fun, but for ffs sometimes I wanna yell just get on with it already.

[tigerandbunnyftw]

What's the general opinion of T&B2 in Japan? Did they like this season?

Hi anon, thanks your question! From what I can see the general consensus across both Japan and the Western side of the fandoms have been generally very positive about this first portion of TIGER & BUNNY 2, which is really great to see! I’m sure everyone has their own varying criticisms but the overall reception has been similar amongst most people. TIGER & BUNNY 2 was trending in various spots within the top 10 shows on Netflix Japan during its first week of release, which shows that a large portion of people in Japan did tune into its debut.

Most criticism seems to be directed towards the Netflix binge bulk release method, as the original season’s success relied on the episode cliffhangers, that were built up with anticipation and buzz because of the weekly wait for the resolution in the next episode. The original season was also broadcasted on the now debunked online streaming platform, U-Stream and national public televised broadcasting channels like Tokyo MX and NHK, so limiting the scope to needing a Netflix account to access the series is never a popular option. Even the main series’ scriptwriter Masafumi Nishida noted his preference of wanting the weekly releases based on his recent blog entry.

Luckily BN Pictures seems to have taken notice of the criticism and are streaming weekly watch parties with the cast over on their YouTube channel to try and unify Japanese fans to watch an episode together, encouraging weekly staggered conversation and utilising the Twitter hashtag #TB2同時視聴, so fans can express their reactions live. The Netflix Anime team seem to also be translating those for us with the release of the 1st episode in English, so would recommend checking it out!

But now I turn it to you all as I want to generate some feedback. What’s your opinion about the first part of TIGER & BUNNY 2? Did you enjoy it? Is there anything that could be improved? And what are you predicting/looking forward to in the next part?

Please feel free to post your thoughts and remember that everyone is entitled to their opinion. Also a warning that there will mostly likely be spoilers, so if you haven’t watched T&B2 yet (why not!?) then I’d recommend getting on that first before responding in the comments. Let’s keep all feedback constructive :)

[shadowed-dancer]

Thoughts on Episode 121 (S6 E8)

Backline bravery, terrific teamwork, and a crushing cliffhanger. Let’s talk about it

Spoilers for the episode, very light spoilers for the manga but they’re at the end and I label them (and I also keep them as vague as possible)

Wow this episode was cool

I was a little nervous the two halves of this episode wouldn’t work well together (like one would be so overwhelmingly better that it ruined the other half) but they managed to make both feel distinct and important!

Shout out to Dabi and his fire for making the entire confrontation look 10 billion times cooler. Blue fire lighting is so chilling, I love it

This is the first episode without that room full of people watching and narrating everything. They never bothered me that much (I think they were useful for clarifying certain things at the beginning), but I can’t say I miss them lol

The entire scene with the UA kids is great. It makes you feel kind of proud, like look how strong they’re becoming!

If I see one person disrespecting Mina it’s on sight. In this house we love and respect my girl. There’s nothing wrong with needing help from/being saved by your friends

I also think this moment is a great conclusion to Kirishima’s initial struggle (being too scared to help Ashido and standing by vs rushing into danger to save her)

I love the way You Say Run was playing all triumphantly and then it stopped right before the climax (that tune that appears constantly in all the tracks. You know the one)

Endeavor you need to shut the hell your mouth

The way he doesn’t realize everything Shigaraki said applies to him… sir I have to laugh

The Nana crying panel was so beautiful. Love the way the music stopped and we just lingered on it

I never caught that Shigaraki punched THROUGH Ryukyu’s hand. Ew.

I think I speak for everyone when I say NONE OF US expected the bullet hitting Aizawa to be the way they ended the episode. That wasn’t the end of any chapter, it was actually near the beginning of one, so you can imagine how stunned I was when the ED started lol

I could see the time coming to an end and was mentally like “they wouldn’t. They wouldn’t end it with him getting hit and then not follow up on it, right?”

However, I love it as a cliffhanger. I always thought the manga kind of worked through it too fast, like “oh my gosh he’s hit! Let’s deal with it immediately and move on”. The anime really emphasizes how scary it is (especially after last week, when they hammered home how vital Aizawa is to this plan) so I feel like the dread of the situation can really settle over the viewers. Wonderful decision

Cant wait for next week! We’re supposedly getting another (temporary) change to the ED, plus the episode will cover a highly anticipated chapter!

Manga spoilers but I say it as spoiler-free as possible

There were two scenes in this episode that annoy me simply because I know the future of this series

The first is the scene with Mina, Kirishima, and Tetsutetsu running through Dabi’s fire. There’s a scene in the future where they are making teams and one of them is going to a place where there will be fire, and NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS get put on that team. Instead, the one person who actually is there makes a comment about overheating. It annoys me to this day that they didn’t put the fire-proof people on the fire-battlefield

The second scene is Gran Torino getting slammed into the Earth. Yeah. He’s fine. As far as we’re aware he’s alive and it bothers me so much that that massive injury meant NOTHING

[leekimdramas]

Taxi Driver 2 Review (Spoiler Free)

We did get the second season after all! And we’ll get the third one too!

The deluxe taxi squad tries to live a normal life after disbanding but after some time they realise that it’s hard to have a normal job.

So they decide to come back and kick some more asses!

My review of the first season: Taxi Driver 

The structure of the episodes did not really change much, first, we are introduced to the people that want revenge and they go and take it.

This is what I really enjoyed in the first season and I’m fine that they kept the structure... Maybe for the second season, I would’ve liked being more on the edge while watching.

In the first season, we had prosecutors who were chasing them, which gave us some kind of fear about how everything will end. If they will get caught or not.

And as much as I don’t miss the prosecution, I think, I needed that kind of chase in this season.

Don’t get me wrong though, it has some great cliffhangers but you can kind of guess what will happen in the end.

The characters don’t really change much from the first season. All actors from the squad are the same which is amazing.

But as characters, they don’t have any growth which I would have loved to see but it is hard to grow when they’re so perfect. (lolol, jk)

I think they should have shown that growth in the villain’s right hand. But instead, the screenwriter has made other choices...

Overall, I loved this drama, maybe even more than the first season. This was the drama that I wanted to tune in to every week even when I have a slump.

There are some things that they could improve on the next season (which is already confirmed) but I’m happy the first screenwriter (the person who wrote the first half of season 1) is back.

10/10

[lokiondisneyplus]

Most Marvel post-credit scenes hint at the future. Loki opted for a blunter approach: the God of Mischief would return in season 2.

Based on the final turn of events, there was really no other choice: Loki (Tom Hiddleston), having journeyed to the furthest point in spacetime with his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) to meet the founder of the TVA, a scientist-turned-survivor-of-multiversal-war known as He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), finds himself zapped into a new reality when his lady self slays the omnipresent being. The mind reels!

Creator Michael Waldron takes delight in the endless possibilities of Loki’s core premise. And as a veteran of Rick and Morty, he knows what anchors a mind-bending show, and what will keep Hiddleston’s character hurtling through his chaotic, rewritten future. Below, Polygon talks to Waldron about landing on the key choices of Loki season 1, what to expect from season 2, and a bit on his next project, the wrestling drama Heels, which is set to premiere on Aug. 15.

Did you know there’d be a second season of Loki from the beginning or was that choice made later in the process?

Michael Waldron: We always knew that it was a possibility. We always knew that we wanted to propel Loki and these characters out into the MCU after this, into further stories. But that didn’t really crystallize as a sure thing until we were in production and everything. And as we were really figuring out the finale.

So you were still cracking the ending as you shot the show?

There was a hiatus due to the pandemic. So things were constantly being retooled because of that. I think, by and large, everything with He Who Remains and the Sylvie-Loki conflict was always there. But that cliffhanger was the sort of thing that suddenly became a really appealing opportunity, a chance for that to lead into a second season.

What element of the series helped you crack the macro story of Loki, and made all the other pieces fall into place? Each episode almost feels like a standalone adventure, similar to Rick and Morty, but what helped it all click?

The first couple of weeks in the writers room was just laying out the individual episodes. It was very important to me that each episode stood on its own, and you could say “This is the Lamentis episode,” “This is the apocalypse moon episode,” “This is the Void episode.” I didn’t want it to just be cut up chapters and have one long continuous story. Obviously, we had to figure out the time travel for things to slot into place. I think a big idea for us was the way you get around the TVA by hiding in apocalypses. That felt like such a big, cool, exciting idea that it drove the action of episode 2, episode 3, and in a way it’s like Alioth is the ultimate apocalypse that He Who Remains is hiding behind. That sci-fi idea cracked a lot open for us. I know that after we had that I went home and I slept a little sounder.

Did adding the multiverse to the Marvel Cinematic Universe feel like blowing something up or expanding it, in terms of narrative possibilities?

In the same way that after the first couple Iron Man movies, and with the first Avengers, suddenly these movies were kind of going to space. Then we had Guardians. I think of the multiverse as another version of that. It’s new ground to cover, and particularly interesting because characters meeting other versions of themselves and other versions of people they know is... cool. That’s just a cool sci-fi concept! But I think with anything, as you expand outward, it only works if the humanity remains. It’s exciting to watch characters dealing with big crazy multiversal conflicts because we can see ourselves in them. I think you just have to hold on to the humanity that makes these stories work in the first place.

Did you go back to the Thor movies for Loki? Was there anything to find in the past of Marvel as you were paving the future?

Absolutely. I mean I watched them many times, contrary to what Twitter might think because I did some bits on there saying that I’ve never seen Avengers and I upset some people [laughs]. I have seen it many times. “Confirmed: Loki writer has seen Avengers and saw it before writing Loki show.”

In fact, I was watching all these movies on a loop in the writers’ room. I gleaned so much because you watch the evolution of the character. Avengers was particularly informative because our story picks up Loki right after that, but I also I found a lot of inspiration in Thor: The Dark World, a maybe sometimes maligned movie that I actually really enjoy. I just think there’s great stuff with Loki being tangentially responsible for the death of his mother, how he reacts to that. That is the start of his journey of that version of Loki’s redemption, so I was inspired by that.

What’s propelling the characters into season 2? Where are you headed in basic terms?

In season 1, you saw a lot of characters reckoning with and questioning their own glorious purpose, and that glorious purpose changing, [characters] realizing that that can change. Everybody except for Sylvie. I think she holds onto hers, which is vengeance, and to the detriment of us all, perhaps. And we’ve got a Loki who, at the top of our show, assessed himself as a villain and, I would argue, at the end of our show, has become a little bit of a hero. There’s nothing more heroic to me than fighting for the right thing and losing. You see that washing over him as he’s there back at the TVA, after Sylvie has knocked back there. And then he gets up because that is what heroes do — they keep going. So I think that you’re gonna see a Loki that looks at himself in a different way certainly that at the top of this.

Do you hope to explore more of Sylvie’s backstory in season 2?

I guess we’ll see. We certainly have our own rich backstory for her, stuff that didn’t get to make it into the show. Elissa Karasik, our episode 2 writer, wrote a lot of amazing backstory for Sylvia and everything. So those ideas exist out there.

And her version of Thor?

Tune in.

How did He Who Remains come about? Did you bring the character to Marvel or was that a character Marvel hoped to introduce?

I was pushing and our team was pushing early on in the writers’ room that it should be a version of Kang up in that Citadel, sort of fusing the mythology of He Who Remains with a little bit of the Immortus mythology. And that was a thing we were excited to do. And it became clear that it actually made sense for our story. The only way we were going to do it was if it made sense, but it was like, who had a better argument for creating the TVA to prevent other versions of themselves from existing then a guy as evil as Kang the Conqueror?

You wrote the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — did Marvel hire you for that after Loki? Does the movie feel like a continuation of the show?

Yeah, that opportunity came as we were getting ready to start production on Loki. It was a pleasure. I got to work with Sam Raimi, a hero of mine. I was in London for five months making that movie at the top of this year. We had a blast. I think that it’s a continuation in as much as ever every Marvel movie is to some extent a chapter in an ongoing story, but these things are meant to stand alone and the most important thing about Doctor Strange too is making the most kick ass Doctor Strange movie we could.

Is Loki a two-part show now or are you invested in telling a longer story with future seasons beyond season 2?

Time will tell, but I do my hope is that season 1 stands on its own. We always wanted to tell a complete story there. And in whatever the next chapter may be will stand on its own as well.

Your next show, Heels, is already on the way. We got a big preview out of Comic-Con this year, but I’m curious about the scope of this story. You’re starting with two brothers running an independent wrestling franchise, but you’ve dropped the name “Vince McMahon” a few times — is this about the building of an empire? Would you liken it to The Godfather or Breaking Bad?

I always thought about it a little bit of a Scorsese-sort-of rise, and we’ll see if there’s a fall. Starting from humble beginnings and trying to build some crazy. Wrestling was certainly not always the empire that it is and that’s what’s interesting, to watch the evolution of a family-run wrestling business from something you do in your small towns and perhaps a national, even global empire. That would be a really compelling arc for a show over the course of several seasons. I’d be excited to explore that.

What’s the most dramatically fulfilling wrestling moment you’ve witnessed? What’s the bar for the wrestling drama of Heels?

It’s gotta be Hulk Hogan turning heel in the WCW. There was an invasion storyline, these guys from WWF, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, came over and they were the bad guys. It was at a Pay-per-view and and they were beating up on the good guys that you love, and here comes Hulk Hogan in the yellow and red and he’s the hero. “The Hulk’s gonna get ‘em! The good guy’s here!” And then the Hulk just leg drops Randy Savage. That was the original Red Wedding. I just think about the boldness of turning him heel. To a little kid... I wasn’t even like a massive Hulk fan, but he was just such a mythological figure. What a chance that Hulk Hogan took as a performer, as a bankable kind of movie star at that point. That was bold, risky storytelling and it set off two years of amazing storytelling with Hogan just playing a craven, cowardly heel and just being so evil. I really respect the hell out of them for doing that. That was a great storyline.

[elliegoestodownton]

I just don't get one thing. Recently I've read lot of tweets and messages about how CF is getting old for setting up a cliffhanger and get rid of the danger within 5 minutes and everyone is ok. But last night they teased the drama ('Someone won't make it') and they exactly what they promised in trailer: someone did not make it. Suddenly it's also wrong move. So I'm confused: is it ok to tease drama just to tease or actually bring some? Because it can't be both ways...

Hey, anon!

The beauty (or ugliness, depends on POVs) of media is that everyone has their own take. Truth is, no showrunner will ever make everyone happy. There will be always a part of the fandom who is happy about something, while another part will think it's completely bad, and others will be left there feeling just meh.

Something to keep in mind, which I think the fandom often loses sight of, is that the fandom doesn't actually constitute the whole viewership of a show. Especially for more old-fashioned procedurals like OneChicago, I would say that there is a big chunk of viewers who don't engage with the fandom or might not even be on social media and to the studio/network they are equally as important (if not more important because they have more spending power than us penniless millennials/gen z/zoomers). Would they complain about something like this? Probably not even if they thought it's unsatisfying. But they would still tune in the next week.

This is to say, I would take everything with a pinch of salt. Ultimately, you do you. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and everyone will react in a different way. I'd say, dear anon, do or engage with the show in whatever way makes you happy. And if it becomes difficult, the mute button is always your friend (I have muted more people in the last month on Twitter than I ever have and I'm way happier, also because I don't have time to deal with petty drama at my age).

[annoyed-galaxy]

Post-Destroy Ending

I bring from the grave of the beyond a fix-it fic serving up fresh angst and some fluff. Mass Effect destroyed my heart and with that major fucking cliffhanger, I just had to write something. But since there's a lot, I decided to break this up into chapters. Well, who knows how many chapters there will be, but just stick around I'm sure you'll have a great time. My writing is still rusty as hell, but I needed to get SOMETHING out. Anyways enjoy this! It's also on AO3 if you want that link.

Go!

It was the last thing she had ordered when she ran off into the jaws of death. He hated watching her go. Hated seeing her run back towards the beam with Harbinger raining down death. Tali had to tear him away from watching her run, dragging him back into the Normandy.

Garrus was on his fourth bottle of alcohol. The other three bottles were littered across Shepard’s nameplate. He ran his fingers across each letter of her name. It had been a couple weeks and Garrus still refused to put her name on the memorial wall. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. And he sure as hell wasn’t letting someone else do it.

They were still grounded on the uncharted world they had crashed into after the blast from the Citadel. While the Normandy was relatively fine, there were still some repairs that had to be made. There was also the issue with EDI. When the blast caused the Normandy to crash, EDI had suddenly collapsed, no longer functioning. Whatever the blast was, it didn’t kill just the Reapers.

The mass relays were destroyed, comm buoys were in pieces, so communication was very limited. Whatever happened back on Earth, whether people had recovered or not, was not making it to the Normandy anytime soon. The Reapers were defeated, but at what cost?

The door to the lounge opened and Liara sat next to Garrus. She grabbed a bottle of wine and began to pour herself a glass. “How are you feeling?” she asked, taking a sip.

Garrus grumbled to himself. He was drunk, his mind fuzzy and numb. “I’m fine,” he mumbled.

Liara nodded, not buying his story, but knew he hadn’t been okay in a while. “Tali has been working on EDI. She also brought Glyph back. In return, Glyph has been helping Tali with bringing EDI back,” Liara explained, hoping some good news would brighten his mood.

He looked at her, his face plates shifting. Part of him was annoyed that she would bring that up, knowing the possibility of Shepard truly being gone was most likely. But he was happy for Joker at the very least. “That’s good,” he mumbled, returning to his drink.

Liara frowned, worry crossing her face. “Garrus...I know you’re hurting, but...” Liara stopped herself. She didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry, Garrus. I know Joker has been talking about trying to make it back to Earth. But with the mass relays out, who knows how long it’ll be until we get there. Communications have been scrambled too.” Liara put a hand on his back. “It’s going to be okay Garrus. I promise.”

He stayed silent. He had nothing to say. He wanted to go back to Earth, back to the Citadel. He wouldn’t put Shepard’s name on the memorial wall until he had seen her cold corpse himself.

After a few minutes of silence, Liara finally decided it would be best to leave the turian to his sulking. She left with comforting parting words.

༻✧༺

“There’s a body over here!”

Her head was pounding. There were noises. Faint. Distant. Her body burned, stung, felt battered and bruised. She was breathing, but it stung. The voices came closer. She could no longer make out words, but she saw blinding lights come into view. She felt a weight lift from her, probably some rubble, and she couldn’t make out any faces. There were just blurred shapes and bright lights.

“Holy shit, it’s Commander Shepard!”

More shapes rushed over to her. Rubble was being dragged off of her. The light began to fade, her breathing slowing. She felt something cover her nose and mouth. Air filled her easily now. Her eyes fluttered shut and the noise faded away.

༻✧༺

“EDI!” Joker cried out as the robot sat up, blinking. He hugged her, tears forming in his eyes.

“Hello, Jeff,” EDI replied, slightly confused. She returned the hug, tentatively patting his back. He moved out of the way, allowing her to stand on her feet. “What happened?” she asked, looking around the room. She was in the AI core, Tali, Liara, and Glyph all stationed behind Joker, watching with held breaths as she was brought back to life.

“The blast from the Citadel took you out,” Joker explained, his arms on her shoulders. “But the Reapers were taken down too. Tali and Glyph have been working day in and day out to bring you back.”

EDI looked back at Tali and Glyph and smiled. “Thank you, you two. I did not realize I had...died.” EDI looked down at her hands, stretching her robotic fingers. “It felt like I had just stopped working. There was no afterlife.”

Joker put a finger under her chin, lifting her eyes to meet his. “It’s okay, you’re here now.” She smiled and took his hand.

“So what did I miss?” she asked, as they left the AI core. Awkward glances were shared between Tali and Liara.

Joker cleared his throat and took EDI to the bridge of the ship, letting her settle back into her usual co-pilot seat. The door to the cockpit closed as Tali and Liara stepped in. “Shepard activated the Crucible,” Joker began to explain. “Whatever it did, it destroyed the Reapers and other synthetic lives including you. But it also destroyed the mass relays and left comm buoys in scrambles. We’ve been stuck on an uncharted world for about a month now, trying to get you working again.”

“We didn’t feel safe, nor comfortable, taking off without you working again,” Liara added, offering a small smile to EDI. “That and the fact that the Normandy is currently offline.”

“You keep the Normandy in full function,” Tali tagged on.

Joker nodded. “Now that you’re back online, we’re hoping to make it back to Earth. The only issue with that is...”

“We don’t know how far away we are, nor how long would it take, or if we could even get there via FTL,” Liara explained, her voice low and sad.

“Is there a specific reason to going back to Earth?” EDI asked, pure innocence and naiveness in her robotic eyes.

Joker looked at Tali and Liara, asking for some backup with his eyes. Tali rubbed her hands together nervously. “We want to try and find Shepard.”

EDI tilted her head. “Is Shepard alive?”

The three of them exchanged looks once more. “We...we don’t know,” Liara sighed. “But Garrus seems determined to find out.”

EDI lowered her head. “Oh. Right. Garrus and Shepard were in a romantic relationship weren’t they?” Everyone nodded. “I will begin to run diagnostics on the ship then, to see what repairs will be required to get us off the ground once more,” EDI said, more optimistic and hopeful. It seemed to work as Joker, Tali, and Liara smiled a little more.

“I’ll let Garrus know,” Liara said before leaving the cockpit. She went to the crew deck, in the lounge looking for Garrus, but he wasn’t there. She went to the other side, the starboard observatory, but he wasn’t there either. She went to the main battery, wondering if he had gone back to calibrating to distract him, but he wasn’t there either. Liara could think of only one other place he would be grieving in.

As she suspected, the door to Shepard’s cabin was open, a somber tune of a piano playing through the speakers as she stepped out of the elevator. Laying on the bed was Garrus, a picture in his hand. Liara could tell it was the picture of the Normandy crew they had taken back on the Citadel. “Good news, Garrus,” Liara greeted, standing next to the fish tank. He looked up at her, his mandibles parting in curiosity. “EDI is back online. She is going to run a systems check and see what it will take to get us back to Earth.”

Garrus sat up, putting the picture on one of the bedside tables. “That’s what everyone wants to do?” he asked, not looking at her, still looking at the picture.

Liara moved closer, sitting on the end of the bed. “Garrus, you’re not the only one who wants to find Shepard. I, for one, do not want to see her name on that wall either. I want to at least see her body if she is...gone.”

Garrus snorted. “Weren’t you the one who recovered her body last time? After the Normandy’s first destruction?”

Liara nodded. “I was. Until I found her, I never lost hope. Even when I recovered her body, I still didn’t lose hope, especially since Cerberus planned to bring her back. I thought it was crazy, but they did it.” Liara smirked. “Death and Shepard are not good friends. She defies him at every turn.”

“I just...I don’t want to put her name on that damned wall. Because if I do, then it may be as well saying she’s gone. I...can’t accept that.” Garrus’s voice faltered, weak and strained. Liara couldn’t hear his sub-vocal very well, but she knew it was worse than his regular voice. She knew the pain of losing Shepard would be hard on him.

“Then let’s hope we can make it to Earth soon,” Liara comforted, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

He silently nodded as she left the cabin.

༻✧༺

Another month had passed by, the Normandy was still grounded, but basic functions were online. Power kept the basic necessities alive, powering Liara’s room where she spent most of her time, using her Shadow Broker resources trying to gauge the aftermath of the Reaper War. No matter how much she tried to get any information, with comm buoys out of commission and them being on an uncharted world, anything she received was scarce at best. She still had received no status about the Citadel, Earth, or what state the galactic civilization was in. The only information she could glean, was what everyone already knew; the Reapers were dead and the mass relays were broken.

Voices were raised in concern about food supplies. There was still plenty of food for everyone, including Tali and Garrus, but supplies would run out soon if they didn’t restock. James, Cortez, Tali, Garrus, and Javik all decided to explore the uncharted world in hopes to find some food. Tali had a scanner in her suit that could identify whether something was poisonous and dextro-friendly or not. The only thing they had managed to find was some berries for everyone except the quarian and turian.

“Great, we’re going to be living off berries,” James groaned, picking the bright red fruits from the bush Tali had just scanned.

“Be lucky we found anything at all,” Tali retorted. “Garrus and I still have to find food that we can eat.”

“To be fair, you guys are the only dextros on board so you’re not going through your supply as fast,” Cortez pointed out.

“Hopefully we won’t run out in general,” Garrus said, looking aimlessly at the horizon. The system’s sun was equal to the sun, Sol, providing the same warmth and light on this world’s surface.

“If we do run out of food, we can just eat one another,” Javik suggested. Everyone turned and looked at the Prothean.

“Of course the Prothean would say that,” James cackled. “Talking about salarian soup and shit.”

“Let’s try to avoid that outcome,” Cortez suggested.

The idle conversation continued as the group continued looking for more food.

“Liara.” EDI stepped into the Shadow Broker’s cabin, her arms behind her back as she waited patiently for the asari to notice her.

“What is it EDI?” Liara looked up from her computer screen, frustration painted on her face.

“I found something. Upon doing an internal scan of the Normandy, I discovered a signal that was sent about two months ago. A distress signal,” EDI explained.

Liara looked at EDI in curious surprise. “Oh?”

EDI motioned for Liara to follow back up to the bridge of the Normandy. Joker was sitting in his pilot’s seat, the seat turned to face the door of the cockpit. His hands were templed together and worry was bright across his face. “Jeff and I have already listened to the signal. I had to clear it up in order to understand it since the signal was so ruined.” EDI explained as she stood next to Joker.

“Keep in mind, it’s two months old,” Joker grumbled as EDI used her omni-tool to play the signal.

There was a lot of crackling in the beginning and then a cough. “Help...” Liara strained to listen to the static in the voice. “This is...Com...mander...Shep...ard. I’m...still alive...Please help...” The signal cut off then with one more cough from the sender.

Liara’s eyes widened as EDI and Joker looked up at her to gauge her reaction. “Don’t get your hopes up. The signal is two months old,” Joker repeated.

“Do you...do you know if this signal was received by anyone else?” Liara asked, her voice soft and quiet. It was hard to determine what her reaction was.

“No. As I said, I just received this signal when I was doing diagnostics on the Normandy,” EDI answered. “I cannot determine if the signal was sent to any available ships or if it was sent to the Normandy specifically.”

Liara crossed her arms, bringing a hand to her chin, stroking it thoughtfully. There was a reason Joker reiterated the fact that the signal was two months old. With no knowledge of whether or not the signal was received by anyone else, there was no guaranteeing Shepard was alive. Liara sighed. “There’s nothing we can do about it. But whatever you do, don’t show it to Garrus. Unless we can find out whether or not the signal was received by someone else, there is no reason to bank our hopes on this.”

Joker nodded. “I agree. And honestly, Liara? As much as I want to hope...I don’t think she made it.”

Liara smiled sadly. “We can only hope she did, Jeff.”

༻✧༺

Not sure if turian heaven is the same as yours, but if this thing goes sideways and we both end up there...meet me at the bar.

She was standing in the forest. There was no child there this time. No copy of herself. She was alone. There were voices surrounding her. She looked around. Her body didn’t hurt. She couldn’t feel anything. There was a bar on the opposite end of the forest. She could have sworn she saw a turian sitting on one of the stools, a bottle in its hand.

Her legs began moving, but like all the other dreams, she moved slowly, felt weighed down by a crushing force of gravity, moving impossibly slow.

Shepard.

She heard his voice again. All around the forest. She reached out towards the turian sitting at the bar. She wanted to call out for him, but her throat tightened and no sound escaped. Fire started to form around the turian and the bar.

Not again. Please. Not again.

Come back alive. It’d be an awfully empty galaxy without you.

The flames consumed the bar and the turian, just as his head turned to look at her; the blue eyes, the blue colony marking across his face, his visor, his mandibles parting at the sight of her.

We’re in this until the end.

She tried crying out, but the flames consumed him and the noise of the Reapers echoed all around her. A bright flash of red came into her view. She felt sluggish as she brought her arms up in a futile attempt to block the beam from disintegrating her. But the pain never hit.

༻✧༺

Six months had passed since the Reaper War ended. Food supplies had started to run short, even for the dextros on the Normandy. Despite all the exploring the adventuring party had done, they still found nothing more except for berries for everyone else. However, progress on getting the Normandy back online was going well. EDI had predicted that the Normandy would be airborne within the week.

The mood on the ship was tense. Everyone was excited to be airborne again. Garrus still kept Shepard’s nameplate close to him. People stopped talking about the possibilities of Shepard’s fate, not wanting to further upset the turian and the rest of her close friends. Games of poker were used to distract crew members from the low running food supplies and the restlessness of being grounded for so long on an uncharted world.

“Man I can’t wait to get the hell off this planet,” James chattered, fixing himself a plate of berry flavored scrap food. “We’re pretty much out of food and have been surviving off of berries and MREs for six goddamn months. We haven’t been getting nearly enough proteins we need in a daily meal.” He sat down at the lunch table where the other crew members sat. Tali and Garrus looked at him pointedly. He lifted his shoulders. “What? You guys still have food.”

Tali scoffed. “Barely. There wasn’t that much dextro-food compared to your guys’ food. So we started running out around the same time you guys did.”

Cortez smiled, offering some hope around the table. “It’s okay guys. EDI said we should be taking off here soon.”

“Yes, but how long until we get to a known system?” James countered. “The mass relays are still screwed and we haven’t even received communications in forever.”

“Not to worry,” piped the synthetic voice of EDI who had just rounded the corner of the mess room. Liara stood next to her, a small smile on her face. “Communications have been reestablished.”

Liara sighed softly. “The only problem is that the communications we do receive are delayed. Say, if something was sent four months ago, we would just be receiving it now, or later. So any news we do get is going to be late.”

“Fantastic,” Garrus mumbled, looking down at his plate. He had barely touched his food and Tali was half-tempted to snag what he didn’t eat.

“Getting communications up at all is a start,” EDI admitted. “As I said, it shouldn’t be long before I can get the Normandy back into full motion.”

“Please hurry,” James begged, leaning back in his chair. “I’m sick and tired of this planet. If we had more resources, I wouldn’t mind living here. But I’m gonna lose it if I managed to survive the Reapers just to die to starvation six months later.”

Cortez raised a glass towards James. “Cheers to that.”

Liara rolled her eyes just as Specialist Traynor rushed around the corner. “Everyone! Come quick! I just received a message from Admiral Hackett!”

Everyone perked up a bit at that statement. Most of the communications they received were garbage or were so insignificant that Liara had immediately deleted them. But a message from Admiral Hackett? This had to be good.

Everyone rushed to the elevator, cramming inside of it before stepping out into the CIC. Traynor rushed over to her computer and pulled up the message. “I haven’t listened to it yet, I just saw who it was from and decided to call everyone up.” Joker was leaning on the opposite side of Traynor, by Shepard’s personal computer. There was a glint of hope in his eyes at the news of the message from Hackett.

Admiral Hackett played a huge part in the Reaper War, commanding the forces that brought the Crucible to the Citadel. If he was sending a message directly to the Normandy, then hopefully it was good news. Or news in general.

The message came up, but the frequency was all scrambled, too much static to even hear words. A few tweaks later and the old man’s voice finally came through.

“Normandy. This is Admiral Hackett. With the comm buoys in disarray and mass relays destroyed, I don’t know if and when this message will reach you, but you need to come back to Earth as soon as possible. Do whatever the hell you have to to make it back.” There was a pause in the message as everyone looked at each other. Then the voice spoke again and the words that came out struck everyone.

“We found Commander Shepard. She’s alive.”

[smolboiseavey]

“Hey, that’s my song!” // Daniel x Reader

word count: 1k

warnings: cheesy, kind of gross, wrote it in literally like 45 minutes, also inspired by tiktok

soulmate au where you can hear what your soulmate is listening to and vice versa. really fluffy and there's like no plot at all lol

hello I'm back from the dead

call me Taylor swift (Bri added this in)

Okay so 

Basically this doesn't make any sense logically but its a tiktok thing and i wanted to write about it

So

Here we go

One day, you’re just chillin

And all of a sudden, you hear quiet music in the back of your mind 

Like it wasn’t playing out loud like you originally thought, but rather playing inside your head

Confused, you turn to the internet for answers

A quick google search later, you find out its a type of soulmate link

The link allows you to hear what song they’re listening to

And whoever they were, definitely had good taste

It didn’t sound familiar, but it slapped

You couldn’t hear it well, but you did pick up a few lyrics

So you wrote them down immediately, determined to find said song

Because it slapped 

THAT hard

Like she was a banger

Bopping

You were jamming along, when it suddenly stopped

With a shrug, you decide to go along with the rest of your day

The song, beyond any doubt, has stuck in your head since then

Meanwhile over at Daniel’s…

He was working on a song in the studio, but what's new

Absolutely nothing

Nada

N e way

Humming along to the beat he was creating, you could say he was really in his divine state

Slowly but surely, he heard a melody in his noggin

A familiar tune filled his earsIt was a song by lauv, who happened to be his friend

He didn’t really remember the name of the song, but he was definitely familiar with it

“Good choice, soulmate.” he mumbled to himself

“What was that?” Jonah asked, “Did you say something?”

“Yeah,” he replied, “my soulmate is listening to a song right now.” 

“Oh cool, i didn’t know you had that link but it's very fitting for a very musical mans like you.”

“Yeah man.” Daniel says with a small smile, “she has nice flavor.” 

Okay back to you

A week has gone by, and youre on your way to a cafe

Fast, right? Well I'm lazy

We zoomin

Also pretend we aren't in a pandemic and they can actually go outside and go to cafes and interact with people without dying

After hearing the song, you tried looking it up

But to no prevail, you came out empty handed

Maybe the song wasn’t out yet?

Was your soulmate a musician???T

hat would be pretty sweet, if you ask me

Anyway

You know what’s super funny? 

Daniel is also there

Crazy!!! Its totally not like i’m writing this to make it work

You walk up to the cashier 

Humming the tune you originally heard

Because she do be stuck

Get some goo be gone

Because she's sticky

Daniel happens to be right in front of you, but since you happen to have no clue who they are for some reason

you don’t notice theres a lowkey famous person right under your nose

As you’re humming away, attention on the menu in front of you

Daniel NOTICES

He notices something…

Sus

He hears a melody, which sounds new but also very familiar

When suddenly it hits him

Its his song!!!! 

But the one that isn’t out yet

How would they know??? What is this?? What am I???? 

He turns

!!!!!

And he’s faced with you

You, who by now has spaced out, does not notice

Come on man, why 

I guess thats on me tho

He taps your shoulder

“Hey.” he says

“Hi.” you reply, “Can i help you?”

“Yeah, actually. What is that you’re humming?”

You look down at your feet with a sheepish smile. 

“I actually dont know.”

He gives you a weird look, but shrugs.“It’s a good melody, I like it.”

“Same here! I think my soulmate played it, thats the only reason why i know. Do you happen to know the song???”

He grins at you

And breaks out into a laugh

Haha

“Actually, that's my song you’re humming! Its not out yet tho.”

And then you go :000000

“No way! That’s crazy man.”

“Yeah,” he says, “i have no idea how you know it. Maybe your soulmate is like one of my producers or something.” 

“Yeah...crazy.” 

You frown a little to yourself

The man before was pretty good looking

A swell looking fellow if you do say so yourself

You definitely would not mind if HE was your soulmate

he probably isn't tho, he’s way too hot

“I can take who’s next!” the barista at the cashier yells.

“Oop, i guess that’s me.” mystery man says, before turning away.

After that you get your drink and sit down, and realize mystery mans is sitting across the room

Putting your headphones in, you decide to get to work and stop thinking about the boy

Humming along with the song playing, you type away at your assignment or whatever you’re working on

That's up to you, its your work not mine

Daniel, sitting there also happens to think the same thing as you

What if YOU were his soulmate? That would explain why you knew the melody to his song when it wasn't scheduled to come out for another like month

All of a sudden, a song cuts into his thoughts

He looks up at you, and sees that you are also listening to a song

And…

Happen to be humming along to the exact song he hears right now

Wow

Thats crazy

Totally didn’t see it coming

Right??? Sure

Immediately, he jumps up from his chair

I’m pretty sure it like fell and made a loud sound

But he’ll worry about that later

He BOLTS over to you

You, on the other hand, do not realize anything that’s going on because you have airpods in (or whatever headphone you use idk)

A song by your FAVORITE ALL TIME BAND who definitely is NOT why dont we…

Is blasting as you work away

So loud you don’t even realize daniel slide into the seat in front of you

When he gets there, he realizes it’s definitely you

Your music is so loud, he can hear it from where he’s sitting

He taps your laptop, and you pause your music, taking an earbud out

“WHy are you here? Can i help you?” you ask the stranger from before

“Hi, my name is daniel. Daniel seavey, to be exact. I think i’m your soulmate.”

That's it the end cliffhanger

And then kiss kiss fall in love 

Maybe 

[ikenbar]

Mr. Love: Ike's Choice CH5 PT6

Hehehe some Kiro angst is here!! And some fluff and resolution as well!! This'll be a good part so stay tuned!! :D

Warnings: One curse word but other then that its literally just angst, fluff, and resolution. Unless you got a problem with cliffhangers. Then you got another thing coming...

(Chapter Five (Kiro and Youran) Prologue and part one, two, three, four and five can be found here~)

((Please read the author’s note (and the beginning of the story) on chapter one part one if you’re new here :D))

Chapter Five:

Part six:

After that day, we had rescheduled the shooting for a couple days later that week. When the day came, I didn’t attend. Leaving Bart to take care of the field work as usual as I returned to behind my desk. Where I was meant to be.

It had taken some time but I was finally able to convince Victor to let me drive a car alone. Granted, It had GPS tracking so I was never really alone but it was nice to finally have control of my driving again. The drive to and from work where I was alone and lost in my thoughts that I dreaded being lost in. Being in control of the driving stopped me from going mad.

 I had sent my phone to be fixed and it returned to me as good as new. I was told that there had been a virus in it. Even though I didn’t believe them, it was nice to have my phone back. But with my newly fixed phone, I had gotten phone call after phone call from people. I only answered a select few, ignoring the ones from Gavin and Kiro. Youran would call too. No matter how badly I wanted to be left alone, I couldn’t just leave her hanging.

Youran was really understanding and, though she didn’t know what had happened, she was willing to help me feel better. Offering coffee dates in the morning just to talk or to even jog with me on the weekends. I tried telling her no. I tried pushing her away to be left alone. I wanted space to think… but the moment I saw her smiling eyes in my mind, I swayed into agreeing to anything she asked.

Youran had posted an interview with the Key. Clearing his name and posing the fact that he was really framed and someone else had been using his name. After it was posted, the hacking had stopped and our websites were back to normal. I had tried listening to the interview but couldn’t make it all the way through without the memories from under the studio sending me into a migraine. 

I had spent most of my time working but it was just to keep out of my mind. When I wasn’t working, I was working on the board I had put together in my apartment. It had all the information that I had about Montu and, now, Black Swan. Though there wasn’t much, it was something. Gavin often knocked at my door to check on me. But after a week of no answer, he stopped coming by.

Two weeks had passed and I was in my office working on my biweekly report for Victor when a soft knocking came from the door. I looked up and saw Minor standing there, smiling kindly and holding a mug in his hands. “Yes?” I asked, returning my attention to my computer.

“You’ve been working so hard this past week,” Minor walked into the room and placed the drink down in front of me, “I figured you could use a break! Stretch your legs, brighten the mind...” I glanced at the drink. Minor noticed and said, “It’s hot chocolate! It’s supposed to be comforting!”

“I’m fine.” I said impassively, returning my focus to the computer. Minor drummed his fingers on the mug.

“...You know,” He sighed, “Everyone is worried about you. No one can remember the last time you’ve eaten. Or… left the office in general. You’re here before anyone else is and are still here when everyone has left… Gavin even told me you’ve been ignoring him… Miss. Ike, you need to re-”

“I appreciate your concern,” I spoke impassively, “But I’m fine. It’s just work. And, with everything that happened a couple of weeks ago-” I stopped for a second as images flashed into my mind from that day, “... we are running behind schedule.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, steaming the pain that rose in my temples. Minor reached out to me but was cut off by the sound of an alarm going off on my phone. I picked it up and stood from my chair. “I’ve got to pick up my brother. I’ll be back in ten minutes. When I come back, I want this drink off my desk.”

Minor sighed, “Yes mam.”

>>>

I was sitting at the steering wheel reading my emails as I waited for Sam to come out of class. The passenger side door opened and Sam popped into the car excitedly. “Hey, Ike!” He sung, “How are you?”

“Fine.” The word had lost its meaning at this point, “How was school?”

“Not bad, but I heard something today!” Sam spoke quickly as I turned the car on, “Someone said the Carnival was in town! Can we go??” I froze.

>>>

“Did you hear!?” Kiro spoke excitedly over the phone, “The carnival is coming to town! We should go together!”

“Kiro, don’t you realize how dangerous this could be?” I sighed, “If word got out that you were at the carnival-”

“I’ll be safe! I promise!!” Kiro pleaded, “Come on, Super Stranger! I want to hang out with you!” My face grew hot as I stayed speechless. Superstar Kiro wanted to hangout with me! Of all people! “What? You don’t seriously think this my first time in public, do you?” Kiro teased, “I’ll wear a disguise! We’ll be fine! Trust me!”

>>>

I grimised and shook my head. “No.” I answered resoundly, shifting the car out of park.

“Aw come on!” Sam whined, “But it’s friday! And they’ll be gone by this weekend”

“No, Sam.”

“But I feel like I haven’t seen you all week!” Sam pouted, “You haven’t been over for dinner and we rarely talk when you pick me up... You’ve been so distant.” I paused, tapping on the steering wheel. Feeling Sam's eyes on me, I flashed a glance at him. His eyes were pleading. A pain shot through my chest.  “I… I know something happened to you last week.” Sam started playing with his backpack. “And even though you won’t tell me what happened exactly, I miss you… Please, Ike?” I tightened my grip on the wheel and glared at the road. Unable to help myself, I looked over to Sam. He was wearing the puppy eyes that he had used countless times before. I quickly looked back at the road.

Not again. I will not let those damn eyes get to me again…. No… no!... damn it.

I sighed deeply and, after stopping at a stop light, pulled out my phone. I dialed a number then held my phone up to my ear.

“Hello! This is Ikamara Bikira’s office!” Minor chimed, “She is currently out right now but I can leave a message!”

“Minor, it’s me.” I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose, “I’m not coming back to the office. I’m… taking that break.” Sam cheered from next to me.

“Really?!” Minor excitedly asked, “What made you change your mind? Was it my speech?!”

“No. It was my power hungry brother." I playfully glared at Sam, "Tell the office that if they need anything they should go to Bart before calling me… and not a word of this is to be repeated to Gavin, understand?!”

>>>

“Where should we go first!?” Asked a very all over the place Sam. We were standing at the front gate of the carnival. Screams and music played with our ears as the smell of fried goods and sweet treats did our noses. “We could go on the rides! Or play the games! I thought I saw a shooting game!! Ike, are you still a good shot?!”

“Of course I am.” I said as I looked around, “Just remember, we are only here for a little bit. I still have work I need to get back to”

“Don’t you always?” Sighed Sam, “Just enjoy the time spent with your favorite foster brother!! So, where do you want to go first??” 

“The ticket desk.” I arched an eyebrow, “Before we go anywhere, we need to pay for-” I was cut short as a bear approached us. Or more, a man in a bear costume.

“Ho ho ho!” He laughed, doing a little jig, “Welcome to the carnival! I’m Chuckles the Bear!” Chuckles chuckled, further extenuating his point, “Would you folks like to win some free tickets?!”

“Boy, would we!” Sam jumped excitedly. I hesitated. Something about this bear seemed familiar.

“Alright, little boy!” Chuckles patted Sam’s head, “All you gotta do is answer one question! Ready?” Sam nodded seriously, bracing himself.

“What color…” Chuckles paused for dramatic effect, “... is the sky?!” Sam threw his head up in the air.

“Well, today it’s looking pretty blue.” He said, pursing his lips slightly.

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner!!” Chuckles reached into his pocket and pulled out a large batch of tickets. He handed them out to Sam, “Here you go little boy!”

“Yay!!” Sam cheered and took the tickets. He held them out victoriously to me, “Now we don’t have to pay for tickets!” 

“Yeah...” I said slowly, looking up at the bear, “Thanks.”

“No problem!” Chuckles chuckled, “Just a little nice deed from your good ol friend Chuckles! I’ll see you folks around the park!” Chuckles turned and waved goodbye to us. Sam waved enthusiastically back.

“Bye!” He called, “And thank you!!” I narrowed my eyes. 

“Something about that bear was fishy.” I murmured.

“Who cares?!” Sam grabbed my hand again, “Let’s go!”

With that, Sam and I explored the park. We went on rides, played games, ate food. I was quick to notice that Chuckles was never too far from us. He was either selling balloons close by, playing a game a couple of stalls away, he even manned the cotton candy stand when we bought some. Though, the term 'bought' was used lightly as he wouldn’t let us pay for it.

Eventually, I had had enough.

I approached Chuckles from behind as he was handing a balloon to a little girl. “Here you are!” He said gleefully, “Thank you for the candy!!”

“What kind of employee trades a balloon for a piece of candy?” I asked, making Chuckles jump, “It’s a terrible way to run a carnival if you ask me.”

“Though, no one is complaining!” Sam spoke up from next to me, pulling his nearly full cart of prizes with him, “You can keep giving away free stuff if you feel like it! Especially to us!” I narrowed my eyes and folded my arms.

“What’s your deal?” I growled, “You’ve been following us all day.” 

“What are you talking about, Miss. Lady?!” Chuckles shrugged and rocked back and forth, feigning childlike innocence, “I’m just a kind and harmless bear!”

“I want answers, bear.” I snapped, startling the bear once again, “Don’t think I’m above beheading you in front of all these children.”

“Ok! Ok!” The bear’s voice had changed dramatically, “I’ll tell you just don’t take off my head! You’ll only end up making a scene.” I froze. I knew that voice all too well. Though it had been a long time since I had heard it.

“Kiro?” I asked in a harsh whisper. Chuckles looked around then lifted his head. A bright blue eyed Kiro smiled at me nervously.

“Hey, Super Stranger.” He laughed weakly, “Long time no see!” Sam gasped dramatically from next to me.

“KI-” He started. I threw my hand over his mouth.

“Shh!!” Kiro and I said quickly. Kiro dropped his bear head and looked around again.

“Can we talk somewhere a bit more private?” He asked through the mask.

>>>

“Coast is clear.” I let down the flap to the cleaning tent and walked back to the boys. Kiro took off his bear costume and sighed.

“Thank goodness.” He breathed, “That costume was so hot.”

“It’s Kiro!” Sam whispered excitedly as he jumped in place, “Ike! Ike, look! It’s Kiro!!”

“I know.” I scowled, folding my arms across my chest, “What are you doing here, Kiro?"

“I wanted to see the carnival!” Kiro smiled weakly at me. I deepened my glare, “And…. I also wanted to see you.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes. Sam stared at the both of us, awestruck.

“Ike!!” Said Sam, exasperatedly, “Kiro just said he wanted to see you?!?! What haven’t you been telling me!?”

“Remember when I got trapped under the studio and came out a mess?”

“Yeah?”

“He is the reason that happened.”

Sam gasped dramatically and scooted closer to me. Kiro sighed, “I thought I told you it wasn’t me! Didn’t you see Youran’s interview?”

“Yeah, I’m still not convinced.” I growled.

“Well, what can I do to convince you??" Kiro took a step closer to me, "Would you like more tickets? How bout a ride on the ferris wheel! I can get you the best seats! You can overlook all of Loveland from there!”

“Pass.” I turned around to the tent opening, “Goodbye, Key.”

“Ike, please.” Kiro grabbed my arm, “Please let me make this up to you. I hate the idea that you hate me. Just, let me do something! Or, better yet, you do something! Yell at me! Beat me if you want!” I stayed where I was, fighting with the anger in my chest. This man just treated me the same as everyone else did in my life, and he expects me just to let it go?! “W-wait!” Kiro turned me around and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a little white handkerchief. “Don’t you want this back?” He asked, handing it to me. I didn’t take it. I just stared at it as memories of all the times he got hurt poured into my mind. It was all because of me! Why was he fighting so hard to come back to me? It seemed wrong. What was he trying to prove?!

Kiro sighed and dropped his hand to his side. “i know I hurt you.” His voice cracked. , “I know there are things I need to make up for and I understand it can take some time… I-I just… want to be your sidekick again.” Kiro’s last words were enough to obliterate whatever anger had. I fought to bring it back. He lied to you! He broke your heart! I repeated that in my head as I finally looked up at  him. Kiro’s eyes were sparkling. But it wasn’t the regular sparkle that made fans weak. It was the kind of sparkle that came from the water that pooled under his eyes. 

My heart shattered. 

I made Kiro cry.

 I was probably the only person on earth to make Kiro cry. That was a badge I never wanted to bear. 

I relaxed my body as I looked at him. Time seemed to pass slowly as we held our breaths, struggling to keep the silence. Eventually, Sam tugged at my shirt. “I know I’m supposed to hate him right now,” Sam said with a strain in his voice, “but even I can’t be angry at that face.” Kiro shifted his eyes to Sam.

“Sorry.” He said, struggling to maintain his smile through a forced chuckle, “I-” I walked up to Kiro, cutting him off. I took the handkerchief and brushed it under his eye, stopping a tear from rolling down his cheek. Kiro’s eyes flashed a look of surprise. I examined his face a little longer. Then sighed and rested my head on his shoulder.

“... Why did you have to pull the sidekick card?” I said, punching him weakly on the arm. Kiro’s body tensed. I shook my head and pulled him into an hug. Kiro stalled a moment, but it didn’t take him long to reciprocate. He held me tightly as we stood together in silence. I tightened my grip on him. I was afraid that, if we separated, something would happen to make me lose him. To lose myself. He brought me so much light. How could I have just let that go?

After a long moment, I felt something hit my side. I looked down. Sam had invited himself in on the hug. I smiled and patted his head. Kiro looked down at Sam, wiping his face as he laughed. “Hey, kid.” Kiro rubbed Sam’s head, “If you wanted a hug, just say so!”

“Really?!” Sam beamed. 

“Why don’t we get out of this tent first?” I pushed away from the boys’ embrace and pocketed my handkerchief. Kiro looked at me hopefully. 

“Can... I join you?” He asked, anticipation dripping from his tongue.

“It’s to be expected.” I arched an eyebrow and folded my arms, “I do believe I promised a certain someone a day at the carnival.” I smirked. Kiro smiled brightly, sending the long missed feeling of butterflies in my stomach. That smile didn’t last long though as Kiro suddenly frowned.

“Wait, does this mean I have to put back on the bear suit?”

(Next)