#or what serves the plot

[alymccart]

Sorry for the silence, y'all! I have been so, so busy, and fighting with lack of inspiration and junk, particularly in regards to my writing. BUT. I maaaaay be obsessively working on a Hazbin/Chaggie AU fanfic.

A fanfic that miiiight have something to do with them meeting as humans (mostly) at college.

In the 90s.

Charlie has a beeper.

*cough*

I'm sorry it's nowhere near ready to start posting yet, but here's some doodles of the girls!

[fridgrave2-0]

honestly I must say it, no matter if IMF is fictional or not, we all must keep in mind and remember that all the government agencies are fucked up and bad, and simping for any of them is lowkey a glorified copaganda

especially since IMF is a part of the fucking CIA which is straight up evil and ignoring this in the fandom seems weird to me. I wish people were addressing it more bc it also has a very nice potential for angsty "moral dilemmas" fics and other fan content

idk it feels interesting and heartbreaking for me to think about someone like benji risking his life over and over to save the world while at the same time some other team in the neighboring CIA starts wars in third world countries and kills thousands of civilians

like what lane said in RN about his government making him do it. it IS real and it is what's happening all the time, but no one really touches this subject for some reason while it's important and heavy af (especially in a context of a chauvinistic america-superiority franchise)

sometimes it's just baffling how often ethan can just run away from his literal job to do what he sees best, only to return to his employer who puts him in these situations all the time, and every single time that employer is absolutely fine with ethan going rogue for whatever reasons he might have. in real world ethan would've been killed after the first time he disobeyed IMF and CIA like be real please it's fucking american government we're talking about 😭

[ironunderstands]

Double Indemnity, Spellbound and how a retroactive plot twist kicked the communities ass (which also has some VERY interesting implications for Aventio)

I had a very enlightening conversation on TikTok about the nature of these two romance/thrillers, and while unfortunately, I have no idea how to watch them, the plot synopses I’ve seen and analysis other people have made have caused me to come to this conclusion/interpretation of these references:

On the first viewing of the Double Indemnity questline, the reference to the DI movie is meant to be played straight, with Aventurine and Ratio being just as doomed to fail as they are in the movie, and their relationship as equally as toxic and fake.

On second viewing, it’s the complete opposite, and the track (and other movie reference) you receive at the end, Spellbound, proves it.

Let’s start with Double Indemnity.

Also disclaimer I’m gonna be over simplifying the plot/themes of these movies because a) both are singular references, DI is only referenced in the name of the quest itself and Spellbound is only referenced in a track you receive once you complete DI, and references this small probably aren’t meant to be anything more than a fun Easter egg for those who notice it b) this is hoyoverse they aren’t clever enough for that anyways c) the nature of references isn’t going to be having everything be the exact same anyways, so I’m just going to go with the overall interpretation of DI + Spellbound/their impact, picking the stuff which aligns with the actual plot of the DI quest, I don’t care what happens in one frame at 30:01.56 minutes in and neither do the writers

Anyways, how does the Double Indemnity reference on the first viewing seem?

On our first play through of the Double Indemnity quest, we are made to believe that Dr. Ratio and Aventurine do not trust each other, but they are begrudgingly working together for the sake of stealing Penacony for the IPC. Then, Aventurine makes it seem as if he wishes to use the singer Robin’s- also the sister of Sunday, the head of the Oak Family and the one they are negotiating with- death as a means to pressure Sunday into forking over some of the Family’s secrets, which Aventurine will then use against him in future negotiations.

With this setup, the Double Indemnity reference is a solemn warning- Aventurine and Ratio will fail.

You see, in the movie, Phyllis Dietrechson intends to kill her husband in order to earn the money from the Double Indemnity clause (which is a real legal thing btw!), roping in one Walter Neff when he falls for her. However, their relationship isn’t stable and in the end, Walter betrays Phyllis, ratting her out to the investigator Keyes, ultimately meaning they don’t earn the DI clause, also killing Phyllis in the process.

Hopefully you can already see where I’m going with this, but it’s time to draw some fun parallels.

Sunday is Keyes, Ratio is Walter, Aventurine is Phyliss and Robin is Phyliss’s husband.

Although Aventurine a) isn’t married to Robin and b) he didn’t actually kill her, he is the one who witnessed her “death” and in the first viewing of the Double Indemnity quest, we are made to believe he intends to profit off of it, although this time the payout isn’t money: it’s Penacony.

To do this, he enlists the help of Ratio- albeit not seducing him, but still convincing him to help nonetheless- and together they go to meet Sunday for negotiations.

However, Ratio “betrayed” Aventurine, ratting him out to Sunday behind his back and informing him of his plan, which mirrors how Walter confesses to Keyes. This results in Aventurine being sentenced to death, much like how Phyllis dies by Walter’s hand, Aventurine seems like he will die by Ratio’s, calling him a wretch before slinking off.

And there you go, their partnership is as doomed as the one in the movie, failing because their trust + love didn’t hold up till the end, a devious foreshadowing.

At least, that’s how it seems on the first playthrough.

Because Aventurine and Ratio’s plan SUCCEEDS.

And on the second viewing, knowing that the betrayal is fake, you realize they succeed because they do the one thing the people in DI (and I’ll get to Spellbound) DONT do- they actually TRUST each other.

Ratio and Aventurine’s plot is a success. And it’s because they deliberately made it seem like they were doing a Double Indemnity plot. Like they were going to make the same mistakes as the characters in the movie. Sunday falls for the false appearance hook, line and sinker, and that’s his downfall.

They win because they TRUST each other, you can even say because they actually LOVE each other, unlike the characters in the movie, where it’s more list than anything else. Walter and Phyllis don’t make it together to the end but Ratio and Aventurine DO, and they get to continue on with their lives because of it. The reference to Double Indemnity in this quest is genius because it works both before and after you learn the retroactive twist of Penacony. It makes you believe Aventurine + Ratio are doomed to fail, and it makes you realize they were always going to succeed, expertly dawning the false appearances Sunday expects from them, becoming literal actors playing out the roles of two people who will fall short due to their selfishness. Sunday believes he’s seen this film before which is why he BUYS IT, and god it’s just beautiful looking back on it. He thinks he’s Keyes about to uncover a dastardly plot to profit off his sisters death, and in turn he paints Ratio and Aventurine with the identities of those he believes would do such a thing, which they do their best to play into. Ugh it’s amazing.

And now, for Spellbound.

You receive this track after completing Double Indemnity, containing the description above.

Now, this is a reference to Spellbound, another one of Hitchcock’s films.

The main characters in this one are Dr. Anthony Edwards, a man suffering from amnesia, and Dr. Constance Peterson, a psychoanalyst who he was meant to replace, who discovers a dark secret about Edward’s while they fall for one another; he’s an imposter. He believes he killed the real Dr. Edward’s, but she thinks he’s just suffering from a guilt complex. Fake Edward’s goes missing, and the real Edward’s assistant arrived and informs them that he’s missing. She finds Fake Edward again, living under the pseudonym John Brown, and although he tries to leave, she convinces him to stay, telling him that with the help of her mentor, psychoanalysis can help recover his lost memories.

Through an incredibly complicated psychoanalysis of dream, Constance begins to uncover the truth- learning the person who believes himself to be Dr. Edward’s (and is using the pseudonym John Brown) is actually a man named John Ballantyne. Ballantyne accidentally caused the death of his younger brother in the past, resulting in his deep guilt, as well as recalling the location where the real Edwards died- skiing off a cliff to his death. With his memories, they find the body, but it has a bullet wound, so Ballantyne is taken into custody.

However, her boss, Dr. Murchison lets it slip that he actually used to know (and didn’t like) Dr. Edwards, and through another complicated sequence gets him to confess his guilt and ultimately kill himself, which frees Ballantyne, ending the movie with the two going on a honeymoon.

So, what does this mean in the context of the quest line?

Well, let’s say Ballantyne and Constance are representative of Ratio and Aventurine respectively.

“Every psychoanalyst must first have someone else diagnose them.”

If we read Aventurine as the psychoanalyst (Constance) and Ratio as the diagnoser/doctor (Ballantyne), it reveals an interesting interpretation.

That being that they knew the truth from the start/ they had already succeeded.

Or in other words, unlike in Double Indemnity, in Spellbound, they actually succeed.

In the film, Constance is the one doing the diagnosing, the one trying to figure out the truth, and you can see that in Aventurine pretending he’s trying to find out the truth behind Robin’s death. However, in the DI quest, it’s the opposite. Ratio’s as Ballantyne is the one doing the diagnosing for the psychoanalysist, Constance, or rather, Aventurine.

To diagnose someone, you must be very familiar with them, or at the very least the ailment plaguing them, and Ratio he knows Aventurine through and through at the start, and what plagues him (his own sense of meaninglessness) unlike the protagonists in Spellbound who despite falling for one another quickly, don’t begin being intimately familiar with one another.

In this way, they have already succeeded. Aventurine and Ratio already know one another, and while they might not know the reason behind Robin’s death, that was never what they were searching for in the beginning, meaning they effectively can skip through all the drama (aka the ups and downs of Spellbound, finding out the truth behind Robin’s/Edwards’ death), and reach their happy ending- a honeymoon; or in DI’s case, Aventurine attaining his cornerstone, and fulfilling his end of the plan.

Interestingly, Aventurine slots into the role of Ballantyne and Ratio as Constance equally well, with the phone call Constance makes to save Ballantyne being reminiscent of the note Ratio makes to save Aventurine, as well as Aventurine being the replacement, or in the sense, the one to find the truth about Robin.

Personally, I think Aventurine and Ratio are reminiscent of both the main leads in Spellbound, which is why it’s complicated to discern the meaning of the reference. Oh how I wish I knew what the original Chinese description for this was (if you do please tell me 🙏).

Is it just meant to signify them being in love? Is it meant to signify that they will succeed, due to how well they know each other? Is it both, which is what the inclusion of Double Indemnity (the movie) suggests?

Either way, it adds onto the already present idea that the trust between Aventurine and Ratio is what allowed them to succeed in Penacony, and that’s not just something expressed by these movie references.

Think Aventurines Eidolons: Stag Hunt Game and Prisoner’s Dilemma, both of which are game theories about trust. Or how Aventurine says that Ratio knows him best, or how Ratio entrusts Aventurine with close secrets of his, like him being the “Genius” of the council of Mundanites.

“Do you trust me?” “That depends on you.”

These are 2 lines in their 2.0 conversation that really stick out to me. Ratio will always offer his trust so long as Aventurine can prove himself worthy of it, and as we have seen, Aventurine always delivers, proving himself long before Penacony in the Final Victor lightcone, albeit in his weird homoerotic way.

Therefore Ratio will always trust him.

And because of that, they win.

Now whether you take the deep trust between them to be romantic or platonic, or infer the literal honeymoon at the end of Spellbound to mean something for Aventio, either way the feeling absolutely there, and it’s crucial for an understanding of their relationship.

Also damn, the retroactive plot twist fucking slaps.

[lord-squiggletits]

I think the key component to my personal reading of post-Delphi Pharma is that he's trying to be a horrible person on purpose. Not "on purpose" in the way that people have free will to exercise their own choices, but in that Pharma's "mad doctor" persona is a performance he puts on to deliberately embrace how much everyone else hates him. Basically, if people already think you're a "bad Autobot" and a horrible doctor who just kills his patients for fun, why try to prove otherwise to people who have already made up their minds about you? Just fully embrace the fact that people see you as an asshole. Don't try to change their minds. Don't plead for their forgiveness or understanding. Just stop caring. If you're going to be remembered as a monster, you might as well be a memorable monster, and eke as much pleasure and hedonism as you can out of it before karma catches up to you and you inevitably crash and burn.

I mean, I guess you could just go the route of "Oh, Pharma was always a fucked up creepy guy and Delphi was just him taking the mask off," but I really don't like that interpretation because, for one, it feels really wrong to take a character like Pharma becoming evil under duress and going, "Oh well clearly he did the things he did because he was evil all along," as if somehow Pharma breaking under blackmail/torture/threat of horrible death was a sign of him having poor moral character. As opposed to, you know, suffering under the very real threat of horrible death for himself and everyone he cares about while being manipulated by a guy who specializes in psychological torture.

The second reason is that it just doesn't make sense to write Pharma as having been evil all along. I mean...

Occam's Razor says that the best argument is the one with the simplest explanation. Doesn't it make way more sense to take Pharma's appearances in flashbacks, his friendship with Ratchet, his stunning medical accomplishments, and the few we see of him speaking kindly/sympathetically (or in the least charitable interpretation, at least professionally) towards his patients and conclude "This guy was just a normal person, if exceptionally talented." Taking all of these flashback appearances at face value and assuming Pharma was being genuine/honest is a way simpler and more logical explanation than trying to argue that Pharma for the past 4 million years was just faking being a good doctor/person. I mean, it's possible within the realm of headcanon, but the fact is Pharma's appearances in the story are so brief that there simply wasn't room in the story for there to be some sort of secret conspiracy/hidden manipulation behind why Pharma acted the way he did in the past.

I just can't help but look at things like Pharma's friendship with Ratchet (himself a good person and usually a fine judge of character) and the fact that even post-Delphi, pretty much every single mention of Pharma comes with some mention of "He was a good doctor for most of his life" or "He was making major headways in research [before he started killing patients]" which implies that even the Autobots themselves see Pharma's villainy as a recent turn in his life compared to how for "most of his life" he "used to be" a good doctor.

And although Pharma doesn't know this, we as the readers (and even other characters like Rung) know about Aequitas technology and the fact that it actually works, so... if Pharma really was an unrepentant murderer, why couldn't he get through the forcefield too? The Aequitas forcefield doesn't require that a person be completely morally pure and free of wrongdoing or else how could Tyrest get through, just that they feel a sense of inner peace and lack feelings of guilt. Pharma has murdered and tortured people by this point, and put on quite a campy and theatrical show of how much he sees it as a fun game, so why then can he not get through?

It circles back to my headcanon at the start of this post that the "mad doctor" persona is just that-- a persona. Delphi/post-Delphi Pharma's laughing madman personality is just so far removed from every flashback we saw of him and everything we can infer based on how other people see/saw him before that, to me, the mad doctor act is (at least in large part, if not fully) a persona that Pharma puts on to put his villainy in the forefront.

To avoid an overly simplistic/ableist take, I don't think Tarn tortured Pharma into turning crazy. To me, it's more like the constant pressure of death by horrific torture, the feeling of martyrdom as Pharma kept secret that he was the only one standing between Delphi and annihilation, the physical isolation of Messatine as well as the emotional separation from Ratchet, being forced to violate his medical oaths (pretty much the only thing Pharma's entire life has been about), etc. All of that combined traumatized Pharma to the point that the only way he could avoid cracking was to just stop caring about all of it. Because at least then, even if he's still murdering patients to save Delphi from a group of sadistic freaks, Pharma doesn't have to feel guilty and sick about doing it. As opposed to the alternatives, which were probably either going off the deep end and killing himself to escape, or confessing to what he did and getting jailed for it.

In that light, Pharma becoming a mad doctor makes sense. It avoids the bad writing tropes of "oh this character who was good his entire life was actually just evil and really good at hiding it" as well as "oh he got tortured and went crazy that's why he's so random and silly and killing people, he's crazy" and instead frames Pharma's evil as something he was forced into, to the point where in order to avoid a full psychological breakdown and keep defending Delphi, he just had to stop caring about the sanctity of life or about what other people might think of him.

Then, of course, the actual Delphi episode happens, and Pharma's own lifelong best friend Ratchet basically spits in his face and sees him as nothing more than a crazy murderer who went rogue from being a good Autobot. Then Pharma gets his hands cut off and left to die on Messatine. At that point, Pharma has not only been mentally/emotionally broken into losing his feelings of compassion, he's received the message loud and clear: He is alone. Everyone hates him. Not even his own best friend likes him any more. No one even cared enough about him to check if he actually died or not. He will only ever be remembered as a doctor who went insane and killed his patients.

So in the light of 1. Having all of your redeeming qualities be squeezed out of you one by one for the sake of survival and 2. Having your reputation and all of your positive relationships be destroyed and 3. People only know/care about you as "that doctor who became evil and killed his patients" rather than the millions of years of good service that came before.

What else is there to do but internalize the fact that you'll forever be seen as a monster and a freak, and embrace it? People already see you as a murderer for that blackmail deal you did, so why not become an actual murderer and just start killing people on a whim? People already see you as an irredeemable monster who puts a stain on the Autobot name, so why beg for their forgiveness when you could just shun them back? You've already become a murderer, a traitor, and a horrible doctor, so what's a few more evil acts added to the pile? It's not like anyone will ever forgive you or love you ever again.

Why care? Why try to hold on to your principles of compassion, kindness, medical ethics, when an entire lifetime of being a good person did nothing to save you from blackmail and then abandonment? Why put yourself through the emotional agony of feeling lonely, guilty, miserable, when you could just... stop caring, and not hurt any more?

[lewyn-martell]

FAVORITE LINES FROM EVERY SONG I LIKE

Alexander Hamilton (Hamilton: An American Musical by Lin Manuel-Miranda)

[dorkhellbside]

concepts in my brain that i cannot even begin to explain

[hyakunana]

The Former Most Miserable Man That Ever Stepped in DGP is found saving the future with a shield and FIVE CHAINSAWS

[dunmeshistash]

Do you know if tieflings/other devilkin-like races or even if the hells itself exist in DunMeshi's world? I'm making an OC but it kinda feels weird to add that race if it wasn't mentioned at all in the series.

Even tho Dungeon Meshi is a fantasy world the element of Gods, Heaven, Hell, Devil etc isn't really there. Something I see often in that type of fantasy that isn't on Dungeon Meshi is exactly this type of "touched by evil" races like tieflings, nor "touched by the divine" tbf.

Everything is very grounded, not in the sense that's way too realistic but in the sense that everything follows nature rules for the most part.

That is all to say unfortunately no, there's no hell nor tieflings 😔 (sad because I love tieflings but also their existence would go against what the story is trying to tell)

The closest to tieflings are the Ogres but they only have the horns, and are super big.

There are several demi-humans and several monsters in the dungeon meshi world that don't explicitly show up in the story tho. You could probably make up a demi-human/beastkin that was fused to some sort of monster that gives you the characteristics you want, and demi-humans suffer prejudice which can be similar to how people treat tieflings if I'm remembering right?

The dungeon meshi race that canonically has the wildest skin tone variations is the elves, some of the elves who are related to the queen can have really dark grey skin called "obsidian" so I think other fantasy colors wouldn't be too wild.

The other thing that's canon is that orcs for example use bones as "horn implants" so that's also an option for a more devilish look if the fact it's a body modification doesn't affect your character.

Anyway with all this being said you should have fun making your oc! Don't worry too much about matching the canon :3

[torchickentacos]

I figured it out, you're the designated sitcom B plot character. Like that post about how the B plots are always stuff like "found $100 on the ground" and "a bird is very here"? That's you. You have fun escapades like "my favorite Chinese restaurant keeps sending me giant cups of sauce" and "I had to figure out where to buy a pig fetus" and "spent six hours getting a woodpecker out of my garage" that's sitcom B plot character shenanigans. Kudos honestly.

Oh my god you're right 😭 and I've had several "A bird is very here" situations somehow, actually??? There was the woodpecker in my garage in mid-june and I spent hours trying to get it to leave, there's the neighbor's chicken that gets loose, like, every morning in the summer somehow (I have chased this chicken down the street several times, and she was being a chatty girlie this morning), and there's been numerous injured birds I've caught for the local wildlife center (my mom and I used to be on-call for animal transports, but we stopped for H5N1).

Bonus bird pictures for the birds that are Very Here :)

[finitevoid]

Ultimately what drives me insane about kh3 is that nobody engages with it on a meta level . and this makes me feel crazy, like I’m imagining it or I’m reading too much into things but it really colors and affects how I engage with the entire game as a piece of art. kh3 is a video game. kingdom hearts is a video game. And I will bet you actual, real life money that kingdom hearts is, in-universe, a video game. if verum rex is a video game in the realm of light— if yozora knows sora’s name, seems surprised that he’d use it, and then blatantly doubts his identity as “sora”— then I will bet real life actual money that in quadratum, kingdom hearts is a video game .

kh3 is a video game . Can anyone hear me?

why do the characters talk like that? It’s a video game. why do the characters always lose without sora there? the narrative demands they lose without sora there. why can literally nobody see that they’re hurting sora’s feelings when he’s being super obvious about his hurt feelings? the narrative demands them not see it, but the genre requires sora to project his emotions in such a way that the audience gets it. gigantic twist in a secret ending . fucking time travel. Kingdom hearts is a goddamn cartoon. A poorly plotted out anime . and kh3 leans into this. Palpably leans into this.

It feels less genuine, everyone says this. It feels forced. The disney charm is too obvious. the anime training arc is too deliberate. the separation of sora from the meaningful plot too frustrating .

kh is not unaware of its flaws. In fact it frequently goes out of its way to address whatever the biggest gripe with the latest game is, in whatever the newest installment is. And you can critique it for that, it’s insecurity in itself is absolutely something I’ll completely concede to lol BUT, my point is that it’s not unaware

So why then does kh3 palpably lean into the series’ criticisms? convoluted plot, stilted dialogue, sora being “stupid”, shoving the entire endgame into a 2 hr bossrush. Why does it do that? kh3 is about questioning Sora is a protagonist. It’s about Sora questioning Sora as a protagonist. sora seems to be aware, on some instinctive level, that he is the protagonist . He’s the one who saved the world, brought riku back from the brink. He seems to question why he is this way, when he only has the keyblade due to contrivance . “Without them I’m worthless.” so if it’s about questioning sora, why do we not also question it in and of itself?

Even if kh is not an in-universe video game and im insane, this interpretation still stands. because the point I’m trying to make is that kh3 is building itself up as cartoonish and unreal, relying heavily on contrivance and nonsense exposition, in order to draw a parallel to quadratum. if quadratum is a more grounded world, with people and cars and normal infrastructure! then what do you do except juxtapose it against if not the cartoonish and charming realm of light??

everything in kingdom hearts is thematic!! the setting is ALWAYS thematic!! the realm of light is cartoonish because the games that took place there were dreamlike, elevated, and for kids. quadratum is more grounded, more serious, though it maintains some of that elevated-feeling; it’s just more intense, because of that groundedness. if that’s what the setting is like, what does that tell you about what kh is setting up for its future installments thematically?

kingdom hearts wants to grow up. kh3 is the growing pains. Can anybody hear me

[yonemurishiroku]

“The fact that we got Nico and Bianca in ep 6 is crazy” My dear, it’s literally capitalism.

[deiaiko]

#22.8 Badge

Viole sat by the window, watching Mr. Shibisu rummage through the medbay cabinets. Mr. Rak and Khun went to the cafeteria to get food, so there were only the three of them in the room.

Mr. Isu had been doing that the moment Mr. Agni left. And Viole grew curious. "What are you looking for, Mr. Isu? Maybe I can help."

"Oh, nothing. I'm just checking what they’ve got here. A good scout should use every opportunity well." Mr. Isu gave him a thumbs up. "Also, there's no need to be so formal to me, man. Just call me Isu."

Viole felt sheepish. Maybe he should grow out of this habit soon. "Okay, Isu."

Isu flicked his fingers. It seemed like he just remembered something. "Oh, right. Bam. I have something for you." Then proceeded to dig through his pocket. His face lit up when he found the thing.

Isu walked up to him, and handed him a badge. It looked like a feather, but shaped like an odd tree branch. "What is this?"

"That's a wing tree badge, a symbol of the organization called Wolhaiksong. Princess Yuri asked me to give it to you, back on the second floor."

"Miss Yuri…" He hadn't heard about her in a long time. He missed her. He hoped she was doing well. Did she know that he was still alive? Oh. He should apologize for losing the Black March, too. And retrieve it, so he could return it to her. Anaak should have it, right? He'd talk to her later.

"If I recall…she said, 'Urek Mazino is waiting for you on the seventy-seventh floor' when she handed that badge over."

"Seventy-seventh floor?" That'd be a high climb, maybe some years at best. Could he meet Miss Yuri there? "Who's Urek Mazino?"

"He's the co-founder of Wolhaiksong, an irregular, and also one of the top five strongest people in this tower! No joke."

Viole examined the badge. It was white and glossy, small enough that he could hide it between his hands. To think that this small item could hold so much value…It was pressuring. Just like when he was lended the Black March. But still, he was happy to be acknowledged and remembered by such important people. "Thank you, Isu."

"You're welcome." Isu replied cheerfully and sat back next to him, shoulders slouched like an invisible weight had just been lifted off him. "Man… it’s good to finally be able to give it to you."

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[legionofpotatoes]

everyone hates crunch and everyone wants the new dragon age to have 4x the scope with 8x the quantum content

[radioactive-yuri]

in tmagp who are we betting on having the first "ceaseless watcher, turn your gaze upon this wretched thing" moment. who do we think is gonna be the first to yell some ominous eldritch horror shit

[proodence]

I'm rewatching Alex Rider for like the 7th time but with my boyfriend and guys season 2 is so fucking good SEASON 2 IS SOOO GOOD

Alex being such a cheeky brat with the department and Alan Blunt losing his mind because Alex is being so clever and annoying

The slowly building mystery with all the pieces that gradually come together

Alex and Kyra being so cute with the washer and "survivors club" and "keeping score" of who has saved each other's life the most (and the end scene where he's looking up at her from the stage🥹😭)

Jack having her own storyline that actually serves the story and gives her character a purpose

Tom and Kyra both helping to progress the plot in ways that are genuinely required from them and makes sense for their characters

The subtle hints that Yassen is going to wind up helping Alex in the end, the way his character gradually becomes more complex with each episode

Alex just generally being so smart, so resourceful, so capable and just really encompassing his character, not to mention the genuine depth that comes from his trauma + him accidentally getting people killed over the course of the season (Blunt telling him he has blood on his hands)

The tension that builds within The Department as Smithers and Mrs. Jones start keeping secrets from Blunt about Alex

Damian Cray just getting absolutely dogpiled by Alex and the gang who just keep screwing over his plan again and again

Alex and Yassen FINALLY having a full conversation and it holds so much weight and hits so good

The part where Sabina cracks Anders over the head with her own laptop (honorable mention)

All the cheeky light hearted bits where the kids are just being shitheads with too much power, like cutting off the electricity to the whole postal code just to use the computer lab

And then on the flip the angst that comes from literally no one believing Alex about anything for like 60% of the season

It's just scene after scene of "oH THIS PARTS SO GOOD" and it doesn't stop until the very end

has it been long enough that I can say that season 3 just doesn't hit the same😭

[vaguely-concerned]

morning frost's '100% done with this shit' voice is everything to me. it's such a minute shift in his habitual monotone and yet. and yet