#right on this rewatch. having the knowledge of the future episodes…

[nullians]

Do you ever think about how Gintoki had to watch Shouyou die thrice and wither inside just a little more

[sapphicscholar]

Hacks Episode 4.05 Thoughts

Okay sorry for the deluge of posting tonight, but I wanted to be all caught up so that I can just go episode by episode moving forward! So on to yesterday’s episode! Everything under the cut to hide spoilers! (Also this got loooong! Turns out I have a lot of thoughts!)

As with last episode, I found this episode better on rewatch (esp. on rewatch going straight through from ep. 1 to 5), though it’s still not my fave. But I do find this to be true of a lot of post-s1 Hacks where the middle episodes, which often feel comparatively weaker on first view (bc that’s almost always when we’re viewing them in isolation as stand-alone episodes), end up standing up better on a season-long rewatch because they’re not always made with the pacing, stakes, and/or plot and character development that feel appropriate to a single episode, but instead with an eye to the season-long narrative. And I don’t think Hacks is alone in this! It’s symptomatic of a lot of modern TV shows, even the ones that get released on a weekly basis instead of in a single, bingeable go. Anyway, onward to the specifics!

On my first watch, this felt like we were stepping back from where we left off at the end of the last episode in ways that didn’t exactly feel right. The hospital scene, while not a fix-all bandaid, felt like an important crack in the armor, a move toward a truce and eventual reconciliation. And by the end of this episode, we feel wrenched so much further back (more on that later). But on second watch, knowing where the episode was heading and therefore not perhaps having my post-ep reactions focused on the end as the most recent thing in my head and therefore the most important, I was able to better see the ways that their interactions in the earlier moments of the episode are a little more cordial (not friendly! But less overtly hostile) than they have been. And the ways the data would have thrown Deborah for a loop do feel realistic and true to who she is, especially the version of her that knows damn well they “need a hit.”

But now that knowledge is also where the episode loses me. Because here’s the thing: this is (at least per the end of season 3) the dream for Deborah and Ava alike. No matter what Ava’s suddenly saying or feeling, in the very recent past, JPL had her telling the woman doing her headshots that this was her dream job. And we know damn well Deborah has been fighting for this her whole career. Now, don’t get me wrong! It may be that the dream is crumbling in live time, that the fantasy is revealing itself to be hollow. But it’s still a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity, and I simply do not believe that they’d be this unprofessional and this willing to risk it all at this stage, especially post episode 4.2. This isn’t to say I think they’d be roses and butterflies and rainbows—absolutely fucking not—but screaming at each other in front of a live studio audience? Deborah calling another woman a conniving bitch essentially on camera? And all this after she’d been so quick to realize they were being surveilled at Winnie’s? I’m just not buying it, man. Deborah’s not good with hecklers, no. But she knows how to perform even under duress. Think about the hug on camera. Think about her letting them smear that soot on her face and fuck up her hair in the pizza parlor. For better or worse, she knows how to push it down when the camera’s rolling, and that was just a fucking pizza shop opening; this is Late Night on a top network at the do-or-die moment with her own name, career, and future on the line.

The content of their dispute…sure? It feels like we could be getting a little more incisive about Deborah’s relationship to womanhood, feminism, and politics at this point, rather than retracing old ground about Panera people vs. intellectual no punchline jokes (which we *literally* return to with the reliance on the implicit punchline of a photo of Sweden), but imo the show doesn’t actually want to go there. Which is fine, but it’s just an interesting thing how the show continuously dances around the question of Deborah’s relationship to other women, but always stops just short of true critique by side-stepping the consequences. Like in 1.69 Million we get this question of ladder pulling that gets resolved by a one-off stunt. In the cruise episode Deborah announces she doesn’t hate lesbians specifically; she hates women, and don’t we all, she asks. But we breeze on by it with no narrative impact. We get Deborah making it part of her new act (how many women do you actually have to care about to be a feminist?), which gets played as a joke in such a way that it insulates her from immediate pushback. The college student arc gets played through quickly without our ever having to return to it. We have Deborah disavowing her womanhood in the opening press event, and now we’ve got women who (shocker!) don’t like her! And I get the jokes of “well did they ask lesbians??” but I think we can adore her the way we do only because she’s a character, not a real person, and the show’s polls exist in-universe where you know what? Deborah Vance does have a women problem. Now, I don’t need (and I really so, so don’t want!) the show to go didactic fiction on me. I’m not looking for Hannah Gadsby here! But I do think they had the door propped open for this to be a clash that takes Ava and Deborah’s differences and pushes them further, rather than falling back on well-trodden ground, this time simply paved with market demo research. Because as is, it feels like…well, we know Ava and Deborah can come to a compromise on the terrain of “funny enough to appeal to a big crowd without going for the hacky shit.” And yeah, it was for a differently scaled audience, but reaching this true impasse feels like it calls for more as narrative justification, and imo, some of this unaddressed baggage feels like a pretty easy inroad because you could reasonably believe that Ava’s been hanging on to a frustration about some of these past moments that she’s convinced herself are fine or something in the past, only to have this newest thing (Deb going “mommy makeovers” as this condescending attempt at appealing to women ages 25-40) be the spark that ignites it into a big thing—especially when she’s comparing it to the writing room she was just in (bc right now it feels like Ava’s sitting there comparing apples and oranges when she knows goddam well they’re two different fruits, so she just looks petulant af).

Okay, I’ve rambled for a looooong ass time here, so a few final quicker things:

Let Ava own her throuple! She can be thrown by Deborah’s presence, but I don’t buy that the woman who confidently told Deborah literally just days into knowing her that sometimes she needs a dick to come but the sexual experiences are deeper with women is gonna stutter and stammer her way through saying she’s a third. Especially not in the queer LA scene in the year of our lord 2025.

Also, I felt two different ways on first, then second watch of this ep re Ava’s two restaurant scene lines about the not knowing Deborah very well / telling Dev and Emily to wait for the show to get good to watch it. On first watch, they felt almost breathtakingly cruel—especially piling on the show comment after we’ve already seen the hurt on Deborah’s face after the first line lands. But on rewatch, especially, like I said, rewatch from the start, the first line in particular feels more like a protective barrier—Ava learning to put up her own walls to keep from getting hurt. She held out her heart for Deborah at the end of season 3, crying and pleading with Deborah to treat her better than the world (which they both know is cruel), only to have Deborah tell her that she was willing to lose her. And even throughout this season, we’ve had several moments where we’ve seen Ava at least try—even when it’s meant caring about Deborah as a person, not the show (e.g., rushing backstage during the panic attack and then showing up to the hospital and staying to make sure Deborah didn’t miss the premier even when she found out Deborah didn’t ask the hospital to call her). And, largely, Ava’s been rebuffed. (Which isn’t to say we can’t feel for Deborah, too! But simply to suggest that there’s a point at which you have to put on armor if you want to survive—a lesson Deborah knows far better than Ava.)

Also, Stacey’s final snap was well deserved lmao

Of course Dance Mom is dancing to Katy Perry’s heinous AI album ripppp

And Dance Mom, much like Deborah’s dancing, does feel very, very daytime, big Ellen energy (right down to berating the staff!). But I think it’ll be really fucking hard for Deborah to move on from the high of the crowd’s enthusiastic energy and response. Which is gonna drive Ava up a fucking wall. Speaking of…that final expression from Ava? I wish we had known what exactly Deborah was scrapping for Dance Mom because it feels like, if it were something Ava wrote and felt good about (vs more of the vaguely hacky pandering shit), that response would have felt a little more justified? As is, it feels like Ava’s hitting a breaking point that we don’t 100% buy. Because I’m sorry, but they did need a victory after the audience witnessed that screaming match and faceplant! You need a strong (and, more importantly, distracting) finishing act to come back from that, and jokes about Sweden just aren’t gonna cut it!

[archduchessofnowhere]

The tropification of Elisabeth of Austria and the perils of historical dramas without history: A review of Die Kaiserin season 1

Back in 2022 Netflix long awaited (by me at least) new historical drama about Empress Elisabeth of Austria premiered. And to my great disappointment, the series had little to nothing to do with history. Now, two years later, we are on the eve of the premiere of the series’ second season. Since I’d forgotten most of the story, I decided to do a rewatch of season 1, despite my deep dislike of it back in the day. I usually don’t do this, I truly believe that (unless you’re a paid reviewer and it’s your literal job) the only reason for watching a series should be that you like it. If it wasn’t because of my completionist drive to finish every piece of media relating to Elisabeth and analyze the hell out of it, I would’ve dropped it two episodes in. But I promised a review in 2022, and I still feel bad for not finishing writing it then. So at last, here is my review of Die Kaiserin.

Revisiting Die Kaiserin was an interesting experience, if just as frustrating as my first watch was. The character assassination of literally every real person depicted in this series is still infuriating, the costumes and hairstyles are dreadful, and the portrayal of the few historical events is so bad it makes any person with some knowledge of the time period roll their eyes and wish the series had gotten canceled in pre-production. And yet, looking at it from the outside, trying to watch it as if I were an spectator who doesn’t know nor cares about the time period and only wants to kill time with Netflix’s shine new period drama series, Die Kaiserin reveals itself exactly for what it is: a mediocre soap opera set in a half-assed court setting. Upon this rewatch I realized that the biggest crime of this series isn’t that it’s inaccurate, but how boringly predictable it truly is. It’s not that the characters are nothing like their historical counterparts, it’s that they are not characters at all. They are stereotypes, walking tropes crashed against each other like dolls in the hands of a child. And the entire plot of this series is built around serving these tropes.

Although we are not given a clear year at any point on-screen, the story begins in 1853 as it always does when it comes to Sisi media: with a young and rebellious Elisabeth learning that her elder sister Helene is going to be the emperor of Austria’s future bride. The first episode proceeds to re-imagine the fated encounter of the Duchesses in Bavaria with Franz Josef and his family, finishing with the climatic moment in which the emperor reveals that he will marry the younger Elisabeth instead of her sister, shocking everyone present (in fiction, for in real life the entire family realized right away that he had fallen in love with his cousin at first sight).

So far, the typical beginning of every piece of media about young Elisabeth under the sun. But then the series makes the bizarre choice of setting the entire season in an atemporal space in which nothing of note happens. The episodes usually take place during a brief period of time (from a couple of hours to a single day at most), yet it is uncertain how much time passes between them: days? months? Who even knows. The timeline is fuzzy, bending to the whims of the script.

You now may wonder: why does that matter? Plenty of good series don’t have clear timelines. And I agree, there are indeed good series which don’t need a clear timeline. I just don’t believe historical series about real people whose lives are well documented are one of them. Why am I tuning in the history based series and finding no history at all? Why can’t I even guess in which month are we supposed to be in?

In the later years there has been a boom of period dramas which are historical satires, historical fantasies and/or alternative history. These series take history and throw it out of the window for the sake of their plot (whether it’s romance or comedy or both). And I don’t hate them, in fact I thoroughly enjoyed plenty of them. But Die Kaiserin doesn’t belong to this genre. Die Kaiserin is supposed to be a serious historical drama. I still remember that before the series premiered the screenwriters talked about how they wanted to follow the steps of The Crown. Yet the quality of the script is far more reminiscent of the alternative history teen drama Reign. If Reign thought it was The Crown.

What is the point of taking these real people, ignoring the entire context in which they lived, and throwing them into completely fictional settings, while still claiming you’re adapting their lives? If Die Kaiserin had owned what it was, if it had not pretended to be a serious historical drama, I don’t think I would’ve been as upset as I was when the series was released. 

I realize this is a personal frustration since I know and care for the real history, and that someone who doesn’t probably didn’t notice the dozens of inaccuracies that plague this series. That’s okay. But I can’t help but feeling a deep disappointment in the fact that I’m not the target audience of a series about one of my favorite women from history. Which also makes me wonder: if not us, the people with a genuine interest in history, then who is the audience for this series?

I don’t have an answer. Not only “the general public” is as vague as it gets, time and time again “the general public” has shown they can and will love historical dramas more grounded in fact. I wholly disagree on this notion that you must “dumb down” history in order to make it more palatable. Again, audiences have shown they can enjoy complex writing - a memo I wish the screenwriters of Die Kaiserin had received. 

Because even putting the inaccuracies aside, I ultimately just don’t think the writing of this series is good. Going back to the beginning of the review, upon my rewatch I realized something: this series is almost entirely made up of well defined but poorly developed tropes. This series feels written as if it was one of those viral Tiktok books whose entire plot is just a list of popular tropes. “Love triangle with a villain”, “fierce FMC”, “betrayal”, “falls first/falls harder”; and I could go on. Any complexity is simplified in order to create an easy to watch story, every character is made into a one-dimensional caricature. It is also ironic that, despite the screenwriters’ clear attempts to distance their series from every previous portrayal of the empress - to the point of having Elisabeth disdain her nickname “Sisi”, which is never be used after the first episode - they fall into almost every already existing stereotype on Sisi media anyways. Elisabeth as a humble country girl deemed the “troublemaker” of the family? Check. Sophie as an evil mother-in-law who manipulates her son and daughter-in-law? Check. The empress reconciling the discontent masses of the empire with her kindness alone? Check check check. 

I highly doubt I’ll ever watch this season again. I simply do not like it, and I know it may not seem like it given how much I’ve been talking about this series lately, but I don’t enjoy being a hater. It’s just that I’ve been following this series since the project was first announced years ago, and I’m still mad about how much it missed the mark. Will there ever be an Elisabeth - or just 19th century Habsburg/Wittelsbach - historical series with actual history in it? As of now, sadly, it still feels like an impossible dream.

[pop-punklouis]

it's nice to encounter empathetic people around here... i've been a huge 1D fan when i was 14-17 - joined when this is us came out... i haven't been part of the fandom in years but became nostalgic a couple of days ago, after watching some of the videos about liam's controversies that had been popping up. 2 days ago i even saved the old xfactor auditions to watch for later, sometime during this week... i was honestly so shocked when i read the news today. i truly didn't believe it. i was sure that it had to have been fake news...

i rewatched this is us after getting back from work (for the first time in over 10 years) and have been sitting in my dark room trying not to cry, reflecting on the future that will never come to be... i think this is what is so tragic about the whole situation (apart from the obvious grief) - this lost hope, this knowledge that he will never get the chance to make amends for his mistakes or find happiness again... seeing his parents in the documentary was too damn painful, hearing them 'mourn' the young liam who went out for an audition and never came back...

i don't spend as much time online recently as i did in the past, and try to curate my experiences here on tumblr even more than ever. after getting out of my own depressive episode i noticed how toxic the tumblr environment can be, how unforgiving. people on here, while kind and hopeful in some ways, can also be incredibly cold and desensitized in others... so thank you so much for being the more positive, kind and safe presence.

for anyone struggling: remember to be kind to each other. build each other up instead of tearing each other down. don't lose yourself to online spaces and loneliness. always remember to spend some time outside with friends, family or pets. learn to appreciate each happy moment. life does get better.

yes, this is such a great message. sending you so much love and so many hugs. it’s definitely unfortunate that this has reopened the conversation of checking on others you love and to be as kind as you can because there’s so little of it in the world right now.

[fictionfixations]

link click bridon episode 4 reaction n thoughts

i need a moment to like process this cause i was worried id have to step away for a bit and miss something and need to take time to wait for it to appear on crunchyroll and rewatch cause i was expecting food so i was doing this weird thing of trying to watch but also trying to be in the prime position to run to the door as fast as possible 😭😭😭

...and then it arrived while i was in the middle of writing this lMFAO okay

i think ive already mentioned this but is it just me who finds veins english like really hot what??? its hot but also im a vein hater like sir you killed my favorite thats not cool

'you look tasty' !?!?!?!?!?!?

also oh god cxs discovering his power

the dread i felt at the same time as lu guang the moment cxs disappeared like

'wait. that looked like when he uses his power' and then i realized he clapped like oh my god

also oh my god cxs no baby please :(

i was like this back at episode one but i was like they need to give him a break

but like. they do but then cxs is like no i want to save people and then he gets traumatized like holy fuck

i cant imagine how it'd feel to suddenly be in someone else's body. in the past. in the photo. you hear your dad's name. and. then you die?

and was that his parents dying?

actually did the body he was in die? cause if so then how did that person take a photo and upload it to social media? or was it like immediately after taking the photo? i didnt think it was like that but idk i mightve missed it

also me cringing a little every time in time travel someone does something thats obviously out of character or not right so when cxs said 'dad' i was just like AHGHGSUIHFSIUFAIU

.........what if his dad had powers though

like we dont know how they got their powers, we know it can be transferred to someone via death and handholding (although its unknown if it can be transferred while someone is still alive)

what if it was some secret haha i actually know youre my son

also LMFAO cat pajamas make a comeback bruhs had that for how many years?? when sick or injured theyre the way to go

also the way i was like ??? ?what are you doing lu guang when he called cxs with cats like are you allergic or something

which is dumb because there was like elizabeth in the shorts why would he be i was just so confused

then its like oh

man people do stuff that seems really dumb for time travel sake and im just sat here like it makes sense but also how does this long to an outsider like

imagine cxs saw lu guang in the car like ??? what are you doing????

also lu guang sweetie please be careful with your expressions youre giving it all away i know you probably have valid reasons to dislike liu xiao but please 😭😭😭

actually wait no im an idiot isnt liu xiao's power like hearing heartbeats? or did i misremember?? so hed know something was up anyway like hm why did this persons heart pick up?

also cxs like lu guang what are you doing ????? had me so stressed like oh god please dont have them fight please dont have them fight THEN LU GUANG COLLAPSED and its ah so thats where that clip is from hahahahahahah (in like the ep teaser)

uh what else uhm

i mean. i understand lu guang wanting to stay as close to what happened in the past, especially cause if things change then his future knowledge is useless

but things are changing. and its like. i mean. yeah. theres room for changes in between so long as the node remains unchanged and things that were up to luck in the past were also up to luck now and ended up changing things

i just wonder how it changed so bad that liu xiao did something and interrupted them with the news.

like it could be attributed to because its not the same, lu guang has future memories and hes in the past now but..

for what reason did it seemingly not happen before?

it makes me wonder if liu xiao might have an inkling of a previous timeline of sorts

also makes me wonder how in the first place vein knew they of the other timeline were messing with time or some shit and came after them..

aghhh theres so many questions

episode 5 preview what the what was going on

cxs getting bullied and cant fight back💀 i mean he'd already been bullied before right cause his parents were missing so people were bullying him for it

but still

i dont want him to suffer :((((

also another on the list of link click's tragic female characters who have a really shitty life and dont get a happy ending because link click doesnt know what a happy ending is probably???

maybe? i wonder.

WHO IS THIS

MISTAKES?? WHAT MISTAKES???

CXS WHY DO YOU LOOK SO STRESSED WHAT DID YOU REALIZE

[raayllum]

Because @kradogsrats got me thinking about it with their Harrow and Pip and Viren meta so now I'm throwing in two adjacently related cents

The first is that there is absolutely a fucking Premonition going on with dreams in the show (specifically Viren and Callum's dark magic dreams as well as Janai's nightmare) which only makes sense because all of these are 1) connected to Aaravos and subsequently star magic, and 2) dark magic which loops right back around to Aaravos

There are multiple times that images and ideas are relayed to characters who would have no way of knowing these things in the present

For example, Viren is surprised and asks Kpp'Ar about his arm, even when we know that Viren was the last person to see Kpp'Ar before he got coined, and presumably would've already been hurt / Viren would've been aware it had happened. But that doesn't seem to be the case given the dialogue

This also means that the answer Kpp'Ar gives either has to be not truthful and purely something Viren concocted (about something he didn't know had happened), which wouldn't make sense from a character or an audience standpoint, because in an episode titled "Old Wounds" we're going to remember the one visible wound we see on screen. So if the wounds are real and Kpp'Ar is truthful, there's some wonky magic knowledge time space stuff going on (which does sound like Star and adjacent dark magic to me)

We see this again with Janai's dreams concerning Khessa evolving past the point of a reoccurring nightmare to one that actually gives her, again, what we're supposed to assume is the Truth, even though Janai was leagues away from Aaravos (although she did hear his voice) and the lack of discerning his whisper wouldn't suddenly go away for no reason

And we Know there's some overlap between the dark magic dreams and the current reality happening outside the dreams, considering Viren's material reality in 5x02-5x03 directly informs his dreaming reality ("You keep moving" -> "We have to keep moving" as one example)

Most notably with the flower, Claudia begins discarding it in the dream before she drops it in real life, with Claudia receiving the flower in real life before it appears with her in the dream. So the interplay is not consistent moving in one direction solely to the other, but very much does exist

We even see this noticeably (upon rewatches) with Callum's dark magic dreams featuring foreshadowing for future seasons. Not only does having the Key represent dark magic in the dream make extra sense because it is connected to Aaravos, who is also connected to dark magic of course, it likewise has the Ocean rune on display in particular, hinting at things that haven't yet come to pass, but things that very much will

Why does this matter? Well... when Harrow does show up in Callum's dark magic dream, he is notably chained down

Or, y'know, caged like a bird

Now, this could just be because TDP likes its poignant but hella on the nose symbolism on a regular basis. It likes to use a variety of symbols concerning freedom, with a multitude of metaphors just in this episode alone: navigating a storm and steering a ship; keys and chains; the key; and verbally, books to go along with the idea of fate and destiny being "written" or being rewritten by yourself. And I'm willing to bet that that's Most of it

But also... the Claudia with the flower, Kpp'Ar with his arm, the cube with the Ocean rune, and all that stuff... alongside how blithering little we know about Star magic at the present. Hopefully "Dreamer's Nightmare," which focuses the princes and a town beset by horrible nightmares pre-series and set to come out early August 2024, could give some answers if S6 hasn't dropped by then

Regardless leads me to my second thing regarding what actually happened in that goddamn kindly bedroom between Harrow and Viren (innuendo half intended)

I think Harrow's soul got split

The main reason this makes sense to me is twofold on a plot level and then there's 1-2 things thematically, but let's talk about the most concrete stuff first

1) There is a significant chunk of time between the last possible chance Viren could've done the spell and when we see the binding actually fall

Now to be fair, there's a delay between Runaan's binding falling off and Rayla's (because story constraints) but it's worth noting that as Runaan makes his way to the balcony, only then does it begin to loosen. He's left the room and (rightly) assumed his job is done probably because he knew he was growing weak and still needed to send the arrow, but it's clearly something that gave Harrow a bit of time to like, Live. If Harrow had fully died earlier than that in some capacity, the bindings would have fallen off ahead of time, so Runaan did something and we know (thanks to the Flowers) that Moonshadow elves can enchant objects tied to souls, not bodies, even if other people can be fooled by their appearances

So although the novelization and the show indicate that Viren did something shady as hell ("If Viren wanted to defy his former friend one last time, he'd have to do it tonight"), it isn't something that could've fully killed Harrow at that time

Hence the split. As Kradogsrats pointed out, the Soulfang serpent spell is something that due to the unique nature of the specimen as well as it's not exactly something you can practice (S4 even emphasizes how specific ingredients have to be sometimes in order for a spell to work correctly as well as multiple TDP short stories showing what can go wrong if you lose concentration) it was something that could've gone so wrong so easily.

Some of his soul had to have stayed in his body (but possibly left Harrow momentarily unconscious). Maybe Viren thought he had failed and killed him, and that would explain why he does nothing in the hallway while the assassins are attacking (he seems to kind of know but not fully get what Runaan's binding means in 1x08), although he does seem to have a hint of reservation about Callum being there in the hallway, which wouldn't make sense if he was sure that Harrow was dead, because then who was gonna give a shit that Callum was there?

Another part of his soul could've gone in the bird, as the Soulfang was in the room and so was Pip (quite prominently displayed). Viren at least attempting the spell and it being partially successful would explain why dream!Harrow imprisons him further (after all, why not let it be Kpp'Ar, who literally got coined?) in addition to Pip. Harrow has Runaan's arrow in him during the imprisonment scene as well, so it seems likely that both Viren and Runaan had an equal hand in ruining Harrow's body on that level

The main reason I can see there being at least a partial piece of Harrow's soul in Pip is well

2) Runaan and Ezran

Even if we disregard the thematic irony of Harrow being trapped in the physical symbol of freedom (a bird), there is the fact that Ezran being able to talk to animals is like... the biggest tell that something is coming around with this goddamn bird.

Like Ezran's ability to talk to animals thus far has not had a lot of plot relevance, okay, outside of season one. Like him with Ava and the spider is the last time it's directly core relevant in ways that would be hard to get around. Like his bond with Zym could exist regardless as well as seeing through his eyes. Even if being able to talk to animals absolutely helped set that up, it's not necessary for Ezran to have the communication ability per se to have what he has with Zym, and thus far even as more animals have been introduced (most notably Stella) it hasn't really come into play.

The main reason to give Ezran an ability like this is so that he can talk to Pip. The main reason to remove Pip from the castle as of S2 is because - even in the original plans where Ezran didn't go home in 2x09, he would still would have off screen after S3 and inevitably run into Pip. So there's clearly something with the bird that will become evident upon him interacting with Ezran, hence why they've been separated.

At the same time, I don't think Harrow can wholly be in the bird just because that removes some of Runaan's teeth (and Ezran's subsequent potential beef with him) in ways the show just... doesn't do? I always think about how easy it would've been for Harrow to have no knowledge of what Viren had done with the egg/Zym until it was already over (which 1x02 kinda indicates) only for 3x06 to go "No, Harrow was fully conscious and complicit, even if he had reservations and it wasn't his idea." Our mistakes indeed. So I don't think it'd make sense to let Runaan completely off the hook, especially when we just spent two seasons giving Viren an atonement arc and showing that he can grow and change (and it'll be Runaan's turn afterwards -- especially because within the narrative of the show, killing Harrow is the Only Tangibly Bad thing he's really done, so if he's absolved of that than he doesn't really have a point of being here to the same degree).

Continent Split in Two

If Harrow's soul was split in two, not only would reconciling that (aka maybe letting it Leave Pip, the way the Moonshadow troupe and Sarai's breath had to be released) be a way for the boys, particularly Ezran, to get another shot at processing their father's death... It would also reflect the divide of Xadia itself because of dark magic, and how that literal rift metaphorically, magically, and literally, is being healed and mended over.

It would also have an interesting parallel of Claudia (presumably whether Viren lives past s5 or not) having to likewise learn to let her father go and cope/grieve in a healthier manner, and it would mean that Harrow never comes back fully formed (because Ezran has to keep being King, narratively / arc wise) but we finally understand what truly happened to him.

[hardworkandguts]

Negative Positive Angler

ネガポジアングラー

(Anime)

Fishing / slice of life by NUT

Era: 2020s

Rating: B

Plot: Tsunehiro Sasaki is not having a great time. He's heavily in debt after failed investments, stopped attending college, his doctor found out he has only about two years to live, and unknowing to him, his house is about to be torn down. One day, trying to escape from his creditors, he falls from a bridge, and as he accepts his fate, he's rescued out of the water by Takaaki and his group of fishing enthusiasts.

Length: 12 episodes

Thoughts: So, a show about fishing. Right. We're really starting to get into the “press random article on Wikipedia until a sport or hobby appears” phase of having too many shows. But here's the thing: when the end product is this solid, you could make a show even out of (tries method)... 1930s racing. Well, that's not hard, just hope you like characters dying in the most horrific ways. Anyway, This is a show I've picked out mostly out of curiosity, and it really paid off, arguably the best non remake I've followed during the Fall 2024 season after Acro Trip fizzled out a bit.

Like many of these shows, even if you don't know anything about fishing, it tries to fill you in with the basics with the main character acting as an audience surrogate, every episode has five minutes to go over some technique, equipment or basic knowledge, and you really don't need to know anything about fishing to enjoy this, you're not even forced to learn anything, more often than not those moments are used to connect characters to each other - by the final episodes, quite literally.

This is mostly a show where Sasaki gets to see his life through a different lens - he's really not in a good place at the start, but changes thanks to the kindness of those around him, starting with Takaaki who offers him a place to stay and to pay off his debt so that at least the loan sharks are no longer chasing him, and over time he also realises other people have problems too, there's an whole episode dealing with the Manager's estranged kid and his troubles connecting with him. What's more surprising about this show is how oddly upbeat it is for a show where the main character is dying. True he doesn't say anything, you just kinda forget... until reality comes knocking and things get real *fast* for the conclusion of the story, and indeed, other people have problems as well. Not really expecting a second season, but I don't think it needs one anyway - this is a fun show that tells a good story that ends in a good place in these 12 episodes, and you're probably going to want to rewatch it again in the future.

Character design is just great and the best I've seen this season. From Hana's blobby hair and Ice’s metamorphosis between her gremlin and model looks to Fujishiro in his permanent balding, chibi mode and Takaaki who kinda looks like a male version of Harako from FLCL (although with the opposite effect in the main characters life), everyone is pretty dynamic (there's a scene where Hana ends in gremlin mode and Ice in her model looks just because) and easily distinguishable.

Recommended to: anyone looking for a mostly chill slice of life

Plus:

Great character design

A chill time, very heartwarming

Minus:

Nothing big to report, but the final episodes can be a bit of a mood swing.

[darklinaforever]

TG and their stupidity :

The link for this post :

https://www.tumblr.com/princessyuue/746484212352319488/rhaenyra-choosing-to-not-have-a-relationship-with?source=share

These people really don't watch the same show or read the same book as us. Or their brain has a problem.

Rhaenyra did not explicitly ask for torture, but for Aemond to be questioned more harshly, because his insult directly put his children in danger. How dare Rhaenyra protect her children ?!

And she treated Alicent like shit ? Really ? Does ignoring her at most in episode 3 mean treating her like shit ? When she literally became queen by seducing a grieving Viserys ? Rhaenyra has no right to be angry ? Serious ?! Rhaenyra literally realized that while she was confiding her insecurities to Alicent, Alicent was preparing to become queen. She has right to be angry. And again, even if she is angry in episode 3, she clearly has positive moments with Alicent all the same. Worrying about moving Alicent who is pregnant / if the journey is going well for her and smiling at her when they were out hunting talking under the aunts. I think it's okay for Rhaenyra who supposedly treats Alicent like shit. She's just cold to her ! And she has the right to do so ! Oh and if that's treating poor Alicent like shit... Alicent who publicly declares war on Rhaenyra during her wedding and who harassed Rhaenyra (treated her like shit) for 10 years, what is that ? Oh but I guess it's nothing since Rhaenyra had children out of wedlock, and lied to her about losing her virginity in episode 4 ! She deserves to be harassed ! Not as if the show (since we're talking about the show) that Rhaenyra tried to have children with Laenor but was unsuccessful and therefore turned to Harwin, a trusted man, to have them ?

Another stupid argument that Daemon is a pedophile ! (While it is Aegon II who in the book sleeps with a woman considered a child for the society of Westeros and have a subtext / and has a symbolism about pedophilia in the episode 9 of the show...)

And also say that he kills people, as if we didn't know that Daemon was a gray character capable of doing bad things ? What about all the murders the Greens committed ? It does not count ? No, of course they have the right. (#irony)

And then, these people really have no knowledge of history or Fire and Blood, or do we need to rewatch the beginning of HOTD perhaps ? Dragonstone is the seat of the future heir to the throne, the heir must live there. Rhaenyra only did her duty by going to live there. (And then I remind you that in the show, Rhaenyra decides to finally move in partly because of Alicent and her harassment. But no, everything is always Rhaenyra's fault. Especially since normally, in the book Rhaenyra leaves to live sooner that's in Dragonstone from what I remember, and she doesn't run away. She just lives there because she has to. On the other hand, she settles there permanently after the event where Aemond lost his eye)

Also, the TG really aren't tired of always stating that Rhaenyra had 3 children out of wedlock, as if that were a real reason for her usurpation and problems ? Rhaenyra was still being impersonated in an old version of GRRM from Fire and Blood. Rhaenyra could have had children from her marriage that she would still have been usurped, because as the message from Fire and Blood makes clear, and the line from HOTD in episode 3, all that matters is that Rhaenyra is a woman. She could literally be Jaehaerys recussiter, she's a woman.

Anyway... the TG is really stupid.

[crime-wives]

ok so i've been rewatching the good place recently and there was once scene in season 2 episode 6 that stood out to me.

the scene between michael and janet in his office where michael refuses to kill her. "why are you making such a big deal about turning me into a marble forever?" "because of reasons. there are reasons. they exist, and I just don't want to explain them right now." "what are the reasons?" "they're reasons, janet!" "okay, but what are they?"

"the reason is friends!"

after he says this, we see michael blink in shock over the fact that he actually, truly cares for someone. it surprises him that he even has the ability to care. it humanizes michael to the audience by showing that even after years of nihilism, he still cares somewhere deep down. this is the first time we've seen michael express his feelings honestly. and it feels raw and real in a way that is emphasized so well in the show. before this moment, michael was trying to form excuses over his reluctance to kill janet, i.e. 'vicky will find out' 'we need you to escape to the real good place' etc etc. after the shock has set in, michael stands by his statement.

"but for me, our… our relationship has become important. you're my oldest, my truest, my most loyal friend. i can't just get rid of you and replace you with some other janet I don't even know."

in this moment we see michael recognize the value of external connection and companionship. the realization that things, that people matter to him.

i talk a lot about michael, but this moment also humanizes janet. i mean this in a way that's different from michael. throughout the show so far, we've seen janet as a comic relief, or as someone who really isn't very fleshed out as a character. she's mostly used as a device on the show for the main characters to gain items or knowledge for their own benefit. it's established very early on that she's not human and therefore does not have feelings. however, as we progress through the show, after all of the reboots, we see janet begin to develop feelings. she becomes more human because of that. additionally, this scene impacts janet as well. this is because it's different for janet to matter to someone not just because she's useful to them. michael values her because she's his friend, because he cares about her. not what she can provide him. maybe it started like that, but now, she has value outside of being useful. it shows janet that she is not replaceable, no matter what she may think. however, even with her developing psyche, she's still pragmatic to a fault. insisting that killing her is the choice that causes the most good.

in fact, now that i think about it, this is an interpretation of the trolley problem presented for michael. 'kill his closest friend to save the neighborhood, or not kill her and let the neighborhood be destroyed, and his experiment deemed a failure, risking retirement'

in the previous episode titled "the trolley problem" we see michael's fickle grasp of ethics as he plots on how to cause the most carnage. however now, when faced with the exact scenario in a way that applies to him, he is unable to do anything. he chooses to save janet's life, risking the entire experiment, his future, and the existence of everyone else. and is that selfish, sure. but it shows that michael has grown. that he prioritizes the people he cares about over all else. it shows that michael is loyal, a trait we have not seen him display so far in the show.

anyway, what was i on about again? oh right, the importance of michael and janet's relationship in the development of both of their characters. about how friendship, having people to lean on, being vulnerable, caring, having external support can help you build yourself into a better person. i think that good place is a show centered on the belief that everyone can change, that it is never too late to improve oneself. the good place shows that being "good" is a choice. that you have to choose it over and over and over again. and that even in this bleak world, it matters. all you can do is be kind and caring and good towards others, and i think this is the moment where michael chose it for the first time.

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch 1x3: a place of safety

Onto episode three, where we get to have some new dynamics and some relationship building for the future.

spoilers for the first season and the new s2 teaser scene that we got and for book spoilers... through The Dragon Reborn due to an identity reveal, I guess.

Nynaeve! I think it was a really good idea for the show to make sure to show us that Nynaeve was still alive at the end of episode two rather than trying to draw it out any further.

We do get some useful info here. We see the Trolloc's willingness to kill their own. We get to see Nynaeve being both brave and clever in how she dispatches the Trolloc. And then she tracks down Lan & Moiraine afterwards. We get shown on screen how impressive Nynaeve is.

Lan is also very impressed by Nynaeve, even so that he's very honest with her here. And he also needs her help, of course.

I'm going to be watching for our mirrors and parallels between Rand and Egwene while they're separated.

Rand is still calling out for Egwene and Perrin, and Mat is the one thinking clearly - he reassures Rand that they'll find the others but that they need to keep themselves alive first.

Mat wants to go home, but Rand is now picking up the responsibility baton, both to protect their home and because he knows Egwene will want to continue to the White Tower. I love Rand and Mat's banter in this episode a lot.

Perrin and Egwene are being followed (by wolves) and make a fire - Perrin tries with a flint but Egwene succeeds with the Power. Perrin takes her using the Power pretty well -- I do wonder if he jumps on board the "Egwene is the Dragon Reborn" train here.

Now they get to have their parallel discussion about what to do next. Rand knew Egwene would continue to the White Tower but Egwene thinks that Rand will go home. Perrin says that they won't, and he's right. Rand wants to go home -- Egwene's correct there -- but both responsibility and wanting to reunite with Egwene and Perrin prevents him from turning back even though Mat was on the side of "let's go home".

But that gap between Egwene and Rand loving each vs maybe not always knowing each other is something that continues from the first episode. They know parts of each other but they both also have gaps of knowledge - Rand makes assumptions about Egwene in episode 1 because he doesn't know about her offer from Nynaeve and Egwene makes assumptions here because she doesn't know that Rand has reason to believe that he's the Dragon Reborn. Rand accepting being the Dragon Reborn means accepting that he "can't go home", which is a big thing that he struggles with over the season but deflects onto first Egwene and then Mat once it starts looking like Mat might be the Dragon (exhibiting the 'signs' that Thom told him about).

Lan is developing a big crush and Nynaeve has no clue. <3 also I like Nynaeve's little healer's kit. We get some hints about the Warder bond here but we'll be getting much more next episode.

The set-up of the give-and-take between the three pairs being explored in this episode is a lot of fun.

Perrin's dream... Ishy trying to suss out if Perrin is The One, I assume. I wonder if he was trying to trigger Perrin into a memory of "his" past life and guilt over his dead wife. Which isn't going to work because it isn't his past life, of course. But it does make me wonder if he thought Perrin was TDR. We know from the finale that he appeared to be genuinely surprised it was Rand until they got a bit of quality time alone.

So Perrin and Egwene start out having a rougher and scarier journey -- howling wind, howling wolves, and being chased. While Mat and Rand appear to have found a touch of luck by running across a town. But the town is not a genuine "place of safety" while the wolves are actually doing their best to help out and lead Perrin to people who can help him.

Thom's coat does have colorful patches on the inside. I do understand why they toned Thom down, for sure. I wonder who wrote this song - given the subject matter. But we know why Thom would feel so sympathetic to Lews Therin.

Dana was such a great introduction to Darkfriends. It really feels like the show put a lot of thought into why someone would decide to become a Darkfriend and are putting it into practice early on. Lots of thought into all the various world philosophies that we've seen so far.

Go to a slighter large village than the one you grew up in, immediately get pickpocketed. No safety here for Rand and Mat. And poor Rand is so grossed out by how Dana just dumps all the leftovers back into the stewpot.

Mat Tries To Set Up A Porn, take one: offering to work for their stay.

Mat Tries To Set Up A Porn, take two: threesome edition.

On a more serious note, lol, this is also where Mat and Rand first get into a genuine bit of conflict, when Mat blames Rand for them being here and tells him that Egwene and Perrin are likely dead and, even if they aren't, that Egwene wouldn't go through any of this effort for Rand's sake and so he shouldn't do it for her. Basically, taking all that emotional sensitivity that Mat has shown previously and using as a weapon against Rand to try to get Rand to do what Mat wants to do (go home).

He successfully hurts Rand's feelings, clearly regrets it, but instead of apologizing, he goes with Mat Tries To Set Up A Porn, take three, which ends in him serving drinks.

Dana is pretty honest with Mat and Rand. Except for the big thing she's lying about, of course.

Honestly, I'm finding Perrin's guilt and grief over Laila to be pretty touching in this rewatch.

Rand trying to talk himself out of a room for the night, lol. Rand burns Mat so hard and he's not even there to hear it. Dana, of course, already knows about Egwene so it feels like her trying to "help" Rand and Mat's, uh, relationship woes was her angling to get some kind of in with Rand (which worked). From what we see in S1, Ishamael does have a fair amount of knowledge about their current lives (likely from Fain) but just doesn't know how that tracks into them potentially being the Dragon Reborn.

Mat is starting to get pretty twitchy and quick to draw his fancy new dagger. But he's still willing to calm down and realize Thom isn't a threat. We also get some tiny bits of Aiel lore.

"Mat says a lot of things" yeah, so true. But both of these scenes -- the Mat & Thom one and the Rand & Dana one -- are so good.

At this point, Thom was willing to give some advice and then walk out, because the two boys might need a life lesson but there's no indication they're in trouble they can't get out of. And then he hears that a Fade is after them, and everything changes for him.

"All five of you... but only one matters, only one of you can be it." Ishamael hasn't ruled Nynaeve out yet, because he doesn't know the exact wording of the prophecy.

I love how passionate and sincere they had Dana be here. And now that we've seen the teaser, we get a look at how Ishamael acts around prospective marks so I feel like Dana probably got started with the 'soft sell' just like the little girl did.

And now Lan leads his group to a hopeful place of safety. And we get to explore Aes Sedai politics in the next episode. <3

Logain! Talk about you soon. <3 <3

[thewomancallednova]

feeling very positive and emotional about Face the Strange, I loved the fun bits, strangely all connected to Stamets in some way ("Are you stuck in a time loop right now Stamets?" "nooo?"; "we have to find stamets" "how could he help" "hes outside of time because of his tardigrade dna" "uhhhhh?"; "Every one get out I'm very angry and grumpy") and I loved all the sad things from poor abandoned Zora to poor alive Ariam TT They really brought her back for just one episode. I really love how Burnham used that future knowledge to prove herself to Airiam that she'd know how she'd act in such a hopeless situation but I also hate that Airiam exactly knows how she'd sacrifice herself in that situation my poor little Baby why does she think about that TT

It was also really awesome to see all of Burnham's progress. I hate that the show is ending but man am I ready for a full rewatch.

[feuqueerfire]

4 Minutes Ep 1 - 6 Rewatch + Ep 7 Live Blogging

I've watched just a handful of series while they're airing and I don't tend to rewatch stuff while waiting for the next episode. However, I watched a whole bunch of this show on my iPad in a different country (Ep 1) or on my phone while outside and barely able to see the dark scenes (Ep 5, 6), so I thought I'd do a rewatch to actually watch the show.

Also, ep 6 gave us more info and the story is a little more coherent now, so I think it'd be cool to watch the earlier episodes with the knowledge of ep 6 and then watch ep 7 with the refreshed knowledge.

Probably not going to write down much for the rewatch because I've already written my thoughts as I go in the live blogging for those episodes.

Ep 1 (Sep 1)

didn't even notice the guy pointing the gun at Tyme the first time

The dead cat appearing to Tonkla

I wonder what these Korn at work or the Tonkla scenes actually are. Is it just us being shown the original timeline like I was thinking at first? But we saw in ep 6 that some scenes don't happen the same way in the OG timeline right? But it's like Great's mind isn't coming up with this because he doesn't know about all this, so either it's original timeline and the stuff involving Great is the "redo" timeline based on his thoughts or there are at least two actual timelines where the Korn-Tonkla stuff from ep 1 - 5 is the modified timeline and not the real one. idk?? Because like okay Korn is so hesitant at his job in ep 1 - 5 but Great also doesn't actually know about it, right? Whereas in ep 6 we see he's more ruthless. So the ep 1-5 is an actual timeline? Where Korn is a different type or guy? Or is it actually just Great's imagination still even though Great doesn't fully know the Korn work and Korn/Tonkla stuff? We still don't know what's real and what's not ig

Ep 2 (Sep 1)

I'd kind of forgotten just how apathetic/disengaged Tyme was with his patients. Like in Ep 6 we know that OG timeline Tyme is an asshole what with the revenge porn and such but he wasn't a kind person in the redo tl either

ah, the flashbacks that Great was seeing of having sex with Tyme show up in the ep 6 ONS

I really like Bible's acting/demeanor when asking Tyme about whether he has patients who see the future + the line after that. idk why but his delivery struck me the first time when watching too

Ep 3 (Sep 1)

Tyme really is so much nicer to Great in the redo timeline lol. Like how he was trying to get Great's Line last ep + this whole entire Thai Tea on campus exchange (but where's the flashes of the apology from?)

I loveeee the "oh really?" (ow, laww? - I can't find what word it is in Thai rip) Den says so much at 14:33. Rewatched it a bunch of times the first time and now too

Ep 4 (Sep 2)

oh yeah, I forgot that Win was being followed. Wonder if that'll come up again

Tonkla's "Take off" to Win's pants lol. I think it's fun to see how Korn's so much more submissive with Fasai while Tonkla is bossy with Win, a flip for Korn and Tonkla's dynamics with each other

wonder if the cat/the cat's killer will come up again. is it his dad? did his dad die already and so we won't get more of him?

I did not watch the full Korn/Tonkla first time, so I didn't know that Tonkla didn't even know how to kiss!

oh, Korn also said I love you to Tonkla. I'd missed that my first time, so I thought only Tonkla had said it.

I want more info about Lukwa and how she and Great were in that same white room

the difference between the redo timeline Great and Tyme having sex vs in the original timeline truly is stark

Ep 5 (Sep 2)

this is the episode I watched on iQiyi and it only had non-sultry at the time but like... they cut out regular scenes because they didn't have sex scenes to cut in this ep

Mon's death is so fucked up

who's the guy in a disguise following Tyme? It's not Win is it?

it's still striking how differently the parents/the dad treat Korn vs Great

Fasai is so attractive

I do wonder if Korn is bi and just likes both of them. If he's gay and only likes Tonkla. If he's bi and just using Tonkla, especially because he feels powerful/desired/important there whereas he's under Fasai or his parents' thumbs otherwise.

If his mother doesn't die in the original timeline, how does Great have visions of the man pulling a gun on his mother + her lying on the floor with blood splattered across her

Wonder what the running sequence with Tyme is about. and is it the same outfit as when Tyme is shot and walking around in ep 1 intro? Looks like it...

Things pointing to a third timeline: The Thai Tea that Tyme gave when Great saw the visions even though it wasn't in the original timeline + Great seeing his mother being shot even though in the original timeline she was not shot.

Ep 6 (Sep 2)

Differences with Great: Den telling him about research, Nutcha breakup (happened the day Great killed the woman, not earlier)

this car dashcam of them getting rid of Dome...

In this original timeline, Tyme doesn't know that Great killed the woman, right?

I didn't fully watch the Great and Tyme sex scene outside last time but watched it almost fully this time

so curious about Tyme's parents apparently starting the gambling thing + Great's dad claiming he didn't kill them. What's the truth?

I loveee Great's loud "we can choose your favourite spot" to pressure Tyme

Great is really just so... a not as nefarious/dangerous Vegas in the conversation with Tyme. like idk he's def far from Vegas but the demeanour/manner of speaking somehow... like thus far, Great has been quite distinct from Vegas despite being played by Bible (because he's talented as hell omg) but this specific convo... It reminds me a bit of Vegas messing with Pete

the way he leans forward to ask "Wanna hook up?" is so funny

In the redo timeline, Korn is more hesitant about hurting Nan and he + Great have a better relationship (ep 1 talking after the dinner with parents where Great tells him about his visions + in ep 4 or 5 when they get drunk enough that Great can steal his phone, etc.). Here, Great and Korn don't really talk + Great follows a car, doesn't get Nan's address from Korn's phone.

So in this tl, Tyme himself releases the info that Nan releases in the redo tl I guess?

Now that I've binged these episodes, I'm even more excited about episode 7 actually. Like it wasn't super hard for me to wait a week between these episodes but I think the wait it is a little bit harder now because after seeing everything in the span of two days (+ on my laptop mostly), I need to know what the next episode will do. hmm maybe I should have done the rewatch on Thursday - Friday so that I don't have to wait 3-4 more days until ep 7 lol.

Ep 7 (Sep 6)

This was the hardest few days of waiting for this so far actually. Rewatching really did a number on my brain, I'm so much more into this show now than being like "yeah, sure, this is cool" when 1 ep a week.

Busy at work but not busy enough to pass watching this. I’ve been looking forward to it for the past few days.

Ohhh the day Tonkla’s cat died

okayyyy Title not Tonkla’s first murder. The jingling and the music as the body lay there reminded me of Bulbbul.

ah, the dashcam footage of Title and Great was found but fell into the hands of the corrupt cop and so was destroyed

Now Win knows that Title killed Dome. Is this before or after he knows that Tonkla killed Title?

Also Title is the chief’s son, no wonder Title was all confident about his father’s power

Oh, it’s literally before Title’s death. I know people were wondering how tf Tonkla knew who to kill and if it was just a (correct) guess lol but Win did tell him

The kid who found the dashcam footage had backed it up on his phone while fuckass Inspector Win did not

Oh true Tonkla finds Title’s IG -> Great’s IG (accomplice) -> Korn’s IG and realizes they’re brothers or maybe remembers. idk if he already knew before or not

In the original timely, the parents flee first and ask Korn to find Great to follow them

not Den literally dropping his cookie and hearing white noise at learning that Lukwa has a faen lmfaooo I was shipping her and Den too

okay lol she’s broken up now, lukwa/den still a go!

rip grandma

it seems like Great was a beloved child so why the sob story man

I can’t remember right now but I’d found out this week that Great and Tyme knew each other as kids. Was it a spoiler from Bible?

those wafers… want

oh yeah, did I find out in relation to Tyme knowing about Great’s fear of dogs?

So I guess it’s like Great’s parents and Tyme’s parents are both pretty bad with the illegal gambling rings and stuff but they’re making Warit the main villain?

okayyyyy Tyme’s tymeline with 4 minutes power. People were posting about it last week and guess it was indeed true.

I watched like 15 minutes of this at work and the rest on the way home on the bus + I watched the censored version I think (2 mins less than the sultry version?). So I'll do a rewatch next week closer to the ep 8 date.

I wonder how they’ll wrap everything up next episode omg. Gotta be a 2 hour episode or what. I don’t really foresee a happy ending and I don’t want one either but I don’t necessarily want one where it’s all bleak, everybody dies, either. They said ep 8 is more like a recap episode that explains everything, so we'll see - esp since it'll be from Tyme's POV I guess?

I'm a bit sad that it'll end next week because it was pretty fun the past month to have something to watch on Fridays but I'm also excited to see how it ends.

[weerd1]

It’s Been a Long Road: Two decades after “Star Trek: Enterprise” I still have Faith of the Heart.

After the click, there are 2300 words of me doing a deep dive on my love for "Star Trek: Enterprise." You have been warned.

When I was in elementary school, I was a year younger than my peers. My mom had decided I didn’t need to go to Kindergarten as I was already reading ahead of my level, so she insisted I be placed at age 5 directly into 1st Grade. In ways she was right; I completed the reading and phonics program in my little Arizona school for the entire first grade before Christmas. To this day though, I am clumsy with scissors, paste, and all the “kindergarten skills” and I spent the rest of my school career smaller, weaker, and less coordinated than everyone in my class. 

This probably all worked out in the end; sure, I couldn’t play sports, but to avoid bullies and getting picked on, I got funny, and that’s worked out pretty well for me. But in those days when I would play a sport such as baseball, the opposing team would step a little closer, the coaches would advise me to take the walk; I was not as good as my peers, so allowances were made for my performance.

That is exactly how I looked at “Star Trek: Enterprise” for years. It was only four seasons, while its powerhouse predecessors all had seven. It wasn’t set in a utopian far future, but rather not too far from now meaning more modern and vernacular language. The science seemed a little spurious, with writers seeming to think the term “Rigel” was just some made-up word from older Trek series rather than older Trek series using actual star names for locations. The knowledge of Trek seemed a little lacking as well, with the first episode citing “Klingon Warbirds” and basing the hero ship on a design introduced in a then recent movie…that was set 200 years later. 

I watched though, as we were coming off of there being CONSTANT Trek on television for the previous 15 years, and this was what we had.

I groused then, a lot. The lack of continuity, the trivia gaffes, the over-sexualization of women characters (ok, that WAS more than a bit overdone, and I still grouse that point).

The theme song. Oh my lord, the theme song.

But eventually, this show won me over, almost in spite of itself. Then there was a major shift in tone for the third season, and it got to be pretty solid, and the FOURTH season was…STAR TREK! Like its predecessors, the show had taken some time to find its footing (c’mon, admit how uneven the first couple of seasons of TNG were), but had pulled itself together, and the show’s future looked bright in 2005!

And then there was a truly terrible last episode and ENT was cancelled and gone. 

Twenty years later, here I am, and though the absence of new Trek only lasted about four years—until JJ Abrams 2009 movie—I felt that absence keenly then. I am glad to report there has been Trek I really enjoy since then…and some marginal entries, but that’s not new either honestly. But with all this new material, I still find myself going back to revisit Archer and his crew. I’ve rewatched maybe two TNG episodes in the last 15 years. Maybe two or three Voyager episodes. But TOS, DS9, and ENT I hit regularly. Why does ENT keep forcing itself to the front of my Trek consciousness?

From the beginning, ENT suffered from some external pressures that weren’t helpful to its development. There was a tension between doing more of the same, successful formula Trek had been delivering since “Encounter at Farpoint” (the TNG pilot episode from 1987) and doing something experimental and new. Viewer fatigue was setting in a bit, but fans were vociferous in what THEY thought Trek meant. Anything that strayed too far would take a beating on the internet message boards. 

DS9 had just finished off their wartime storyline, and though there were adamant Niners, it was only just beginning to truly find its audience with the advent of home video allowing one to actually watch the whole thing. Meanwhile, the less arc-oriented VOY had added the character Seven. There had been a ratings increase, which the producers took to mean any new show needed an attractive woman in a catsuit. Remember also, we were in the midst of the Star Wars Prequel trilogy, so going BACK to a time when the story could be a little looser was floating in the zeitgeist. 

But it was also 2001, and though the visual continuity of the then modern Treks had maintained a history inclusive and accepting of TOS, putting a starship on screen that would look like a century’s LESS development than Matt Jefferies’ design from the mid-1960s was going to be problematic. 

I don’t know this is true, but I also suspect that since the previous shows had a British man, a Black man, and a Woman as captains, someone in Production wanted to make sure there was a white, American man back in the center seat. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s my gut.

So all of this goes into the show, and honestly it kicks off as a bit of a hot mess. So much seems to be playing it safe. Some fairly cliched storylines that occasionally try something a little new. A few things it does try new are not quite there: That aforementioned over-sexualization of the women in the crew*. Cringy comments about relations with aliens. Archer watching water polo.

There are a lot of forgettable episodes, contradictions. And yet, I kept watching. Yeah, I was on message boards complaining about the tech looking too advanced. I’d gripe about how un-Vulcan the Vulcans seemed. I’d gripe about every violation of what I accepted as canon, that was often really just things the fandom had settled on in the 70s and had no basis on the show. And I was just a complete tool online when the first cloaking device showed up. 

And the theme song, oh my lord, the theme song.

But I kept watching. And before I knew it, I started to appreciate something about this show. I had to make a choice between griping that this modern show that I was actually enjoying didn’t adhere to a single line of dialog written (then) 40 years before for a show that wasn’t expected to last a year. I, a staunch Trek gatekeeper, was having an awakening about continuity and canon, and I had to figure out why. Finally it hit me. 

These characters, these performers, they were more than they should be. These characters were making me love them, even when the stories were mediocre or cliche or counter to what I believed was canon. 

Take Jonathan Archer, played with almost megaton-levels of earnestness by Scott Bakula. Archer’s earnest, do-gooder nature is so extreme…you know how a show like “Family Guy,” does a joke, and it’s ok, and then it keeps going way too long, and you get sick of it. And then it keeps going still, and somehow, this only kinda-funny joke goes so long or so far that it actually manages to somehow loop back around to being not just funny, but hilarious. That’s Archer’s earnestness, his naiveté.  His “oh gosh” nature is interesting and fun compared to Kirk’s bravado. Then, after he oh goshes his way into losing ANOTHER fight, he’s simply grating. THEN you start to think he’s just devastatingly boring. But if you keep watching, then it comes around to this unironic serving of safe-guy that doesn’t blink in how GOLLY he is as a hero and you smile when he all but winks at the camera. And then, in later seasons when he’s faced with some pretty devastating moral dilemmas, you FEEL it!

T’Pol, played by Jolene Blalock: she’s so attractive it almost hurts to look at her, but you realize soon after that while she somehow seems to keep ending up getting rubbed down in decon Jolene is BRINGING the performance. That her delivery, her tone; the micro-expressions which betray her stoic facade for the Vulcan emotions at a full boil underneath…you buy it. You realize her performance is wonderful, and she’s one of the best Vulcans in the entire franchise.

Connor Trinneer as the character I recently described as “Florida Man in Space,” Trip Tucker. He’s a walking cliche, his accent making “warp-field plasma conduits” sound like something you’d serve up with sweet tea and grits. He’s got Himbo energy that rivals the output of his anti-matter reactor, and still it works. His “I don’t really know much about anything, but I’m willing to learn…oh God I’m pregnant” (actual episode) speaks so beautifully to humans DISCOVERING things for the first time, screwing it up, but learning from their mistakes and going back for more! 

I could easily go on about Travis Mayweather, the kid who grew up in space and is both completely knowledgeable and blissfully ignorant of anything that goes on out there. Malcolm Reed, the British tactical officer who if his upper lip was any stiffer, he could use it as a weapon. Hoshi Sato who starts out completely out of her depth, and ends up loving it all. Dr. Phlox, your over-friendly, polyamorous uncle who brandishes optimism like a flame thrower and plays with eels. 

They are all just…TOO. Too this, too that, and in doing so, somehow all circle back to being absolutely perfect. Because as flawed as ENT is in its storytelling at times, and how mired it is in attitudes before #metoo, the IDEA of the show is a great one: How does humanity get from the mess we are now to the icons of TOS or TNG? Enterprise shows us it wasn’t a switch, but a road.  A long road, getting from there to here.

Yes, even the damn theme song, hokey and way too on the nose is EXACTLY RIGHT for what this show means.  

Somewhere along the line, we all knew we had to move in a little closer when ENT comes up to bat, but we all started wishing, hoping, that maybe it would get a home run.

And sometimes, just sometimes, these characters that are great in spite of themselves, and this design, that’s too good for what it should be**, and this show that’s just not on the level of its predecessors does exactly that and knocks one into the stands. Suddenly it’s season four, and Enterprise manages to sum up the humanity Star Trek has been serving up since 1966 better than any show before or since:

Vulcan Ambassador Soval: We don't know what to do about Humans. Of all the species we've made contact with, yours is the only one we can't define. You have the arrogance of Andorians, the stubborn pride of Tellarites. One moment, you're as driven by your emotions as Klingons, and the next, you confound us by suddenly embracing logic.

Admiral Maxwell Forrest: I'm sure those qualities are found in every species.

Vulcan Ambassador Soval: Not in such confusing abundance.

We’re not perfect, we’re not utopian, but we are AMAZING when we give ourselves the chance, and for me, Enterprise takes that idea and runs with it. It often swings and misses, but when it connects, we can smile and clap and let it take its run around the bases, because it makes us feel good. And if it weren’t for Enterprise teaching me how these lessons, these characters are more important that visual continuity or strict adherence to arcane canon, I wouldn’t have accepted the Kelvin timeline. The DISCO Klingons. The Strange New Worlds uniforms, sets, and character interpretations. Because as much as I love what Star Trek means, all of that deeper meaning is nothing if it isn’t entertaining. And Enterprise taught me how important that was. 

I could go on about how much better the show got when Berman and Braga took a back seat to Manny Coto, though there are certainly strong arguments that he got a little too fan-servicey. But in the end, the point is CBS took over and closed down Enterprise just as it found its footing. I hope the wave of nostalgia we’re seeing applied (perhaps TOO applied in shows like “Picard”) to modern Trek means we get more than a passing Lower Decks reference to the show. And if not, well, I’ve got my copies, and my fan fic, and my Tumblr memes. 

Most importantly though, I’ve got (I’ve got, I’ve got) Faith of the Heart.

*I will give the show credit at least that it was pretty willing to flaunt shirtless men as well, and biceps-a-plenty. 

**In regard to things looking more advanced, I will give credit to Brannon Braga for dropping a hint in an interview at the end of season 1 that the Enterprise-E coming back in “First Contact” had subtly altered the timeline, making things a little more advanced. Fans—and I regret to include myself—railed against that online, and it wasn’t really mentioned again. Recently, Strange New Worlds has revisited and canonized the idea that the timeline, even though it is the Prime timeline, DOES go through shifts and changes due to temporal incursions, evidenced wonderfully in the episode “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” when a Romulan time traveler admits to altering time so the rise of Khan happens not at the 1992 date that Spock gave us in the original series “Space Seed” to now to him still being a child 30 years later. It’s in-story shorthand for the fact that when a show goes for six decades some continuity has to change and THAT IS OK. I wasn’t ready to accept it then, but am glad it’s now part of Trek. 

[t-u-i-t-c]

3 and 15??

3. A character that fandom has helped you appreciate

Nagi from Ninninger. An absolutely vital part of the team and so important to the development of the team as a new unit that's branching off from the expectations that were placed on them by the previous generations. Ninninger talks about development and growth past traditional and societal expectations in a really interesting way. It often uses ninpo/nintality to expand upon the idea of branching off of what you know in creating a new type of ninja/expanding upon individual strengths that can be vital within a unit. I think that the first time around I didn't appreciate him enough but after seeing more on what others who like Nagi's character and development, I felt like I was able to put more into analyzing his character and understanding how important he is to the team.

From my rewatch of episode 35:

#i actually do think that nagi has some of the most interesting dynamics as he is the youngest and feels he has to do more to keep up with#the others and i think he's quite unique in how he approaches his dilemmas as he's very much a people person and reads people well#it's part of why he's so important on this team as he's more innovative with his approaches but also quite thoughtful#he's young and still has a lot to learn but he is leading the innovation of the team's strategy alongside kasumi#like being so proficient at advanced ninpo and pushing further and further to better himself and create new techniques is really neat and#i don't think people give him enough credit like he's literally the backbone of this team

And @melto's tags from a reblog of said post that I think are relevant, and expand on Nagi's character/importance:

#ur so right about all ur tags about nagi.#he is such a vital part of the team bc he is ultimately very well rounded and able to do things so new and uniquely due to him seeking out#so much knowledge in different areas and being such a people person#he wants recognition in some way but it is very hard for him to grasp bc everyone has already solidified their roles and hes so young#he knows fully know what he wants yet but he knows he wants to be someone that helps#all the ninnins want to help people. ofc. they are all good people but nagi’s desire is so much stronger for it#he needs to make sure hes good enough at things so that the rest listen and value him truly while still being a kid#its a very hard balance of trying to be seen as a reliable person amongst people who have always seen him as their kid cousin#which is why i rly like when his and kinji’s stuff gets kinda intertwined bc kinji is the only person who doesnt have that view of nagi#and kinji does often times get treated so lightly bc hes sillay and hes hard to read but nagi. nagi can do that#bc hes always been so people focused. he wants to be so useful and recognized#even if he doesnt feel confident in what he wants his future to look like#hes soooo awesome i miss himm#hope that all made sense. lol.

However, while I appreciate Nagi a great deal and some of that appreciation has grown due to the influence of others, I still feel as though Nagi is underappreciated from a general standpoint. I do think that there's a lot of value to his character, especially as he's the youngest and still trying to find his footing which I feel a lot of younger people could relate to. I just don't think that characters have to be the strongest or have the grandest solo victories to be impactful and important to a story and I want Nagi to be appreciated for who he is.

15. The character that always makes you smile

Genba has such an infectious smile, like I see him smile and immediately I want to smile too. He's just very warm and calming, and I just adore him.

Fandom Asks

[cowboytarlos]

cowboy rewatches 911 lone star: season one episode six: friends like these

- fuck, this episode. this has to be my favourtie episode of season one. they really feel like more than colleages in this episode, this is when they became a family. the way they all came together for mateo so he can become a firefighter.

- fucking billy, hate the guy. slimy geezer.

- HE GOT A 92% WAY TO GO!🎆🎉🎇🎆🎉

- firstly, what owen said he would do cause its fucking crazy but billy really had no right doing that. he didn't do it for the right reason it was "nothing personal" my arse. im backing owen on this one, billy at every chance he took tried to tear down that place, which i can imagine is not what his orignal team would have wanted. owen really should have listened to michelle.

- im coming back to mateo's storyline. i love seeing storylines on characters who aren't the main focus, espically this early. it shows a side of mateo's characther that sets us up for the future but also shows us his past. shows his fears and anxity and possibly a glimsp into his family life (how he didn't know he didn't have an american birth certificate cause his parents never told him). makes him feel more real. shows why he's so nervous for this exam but also the stakes of it for him. he has always been determined about this job, which you see before in the first five episodes. he kept trying, and we know with future knowledge that he is an amazing firefighter. what's different this time is that he has a team for the first time truly rally behind him and take time to help him. which is why this is my favourite episode of season one because its an amazing example of how amazing of a team they are. as much as they have a moan about doing the recordings (cough judd cough) they do it none the less. and they're proud of him too.

- marjan not knowing anything about star wars and yet trying to a make a reference of it cause she knows mateo would understand it

[boysplanetrecaps]

The Great Produce 48 Rewatch: Ep 4, Very Very Very (IOI) Challenge

Welcome back to the thing I’m doing for some reason: The Great Produce48 Rewatch Recap-ma-jig! When we left off, we saw the penultimate teams perform Twice’s Like Ooh Ah. In this post, we’ll focus on the two performances of Very Very Very, featuring many future members of Iz*one, IVE,  Purplekiss, and Le Sserafim. Let’s do it!

Lee Seungki announces the next song as being “meaningful” -- and it is. Very Very Very was the song that made I.O.I. into what they were, and paved the way for IZ*one. He calls the two teams up on stage as the Avengers theme plays, I assume in the theater itself. Jeremy is like, “Wow, Sakura is in one of those teams.” Hey, Jeremy? Sakura is ranked 5th, which is respectable, but Yujin is ranked SECOND and Kwon Eunbi is ranked THIRD and I don’t see you mention either of them. And when Gaeun went up for Peekaboo, you didn’t mention her at all, even though she’s ranked FIRST. I know, I know, the filming was a little ahead of the voting, so they didn’t know what people would be ranked, and Sakura was the center, but she was the center, not like, actually Iron Man. 

It’s so weird the way these shows pick a person to be the whole show. I got it when it was Sung Hanbin from Boys Planet, as he is not just perfect looking but also an excellent dancer and a great singer and someone whose tears crystalize into diamonds that could refract light itself into champagne. But Sakura, despite being a sweet, cute, hardworking girl, isn't unusually talented or charming as far as I can tell. 

Anyway! To get us back up to speed, here are two teams. 

Yujin’s team, which was formed second overall introduces themselves as “Mixed Fruits”.

Left to right:

Honda Hitomi, 16, the super cutey who worked her way up from C to A and is currently ranked 47th.

An Yujin, 14, future member of  IVE who rose from B to A and is currently ranked 2nd overall. Wow! And she’s 14, you guys. I always forget how young she is here. 

Jang Wonyoung, future Wonyoung, known for being Wonyoung but currently with her original face, who has stayed in B and is ranked 4th.

Choi Yena, 18, friendly Yena from Yuehua who kept us company for a lot of episode 1, fell from A to B, and is currently ranked 6th. 

Shiroma Miru, 20, future visitor to Queendom Puzzle, who fell from B to D but is ranked 22nd. 

Na Goeun, 18, future Purplekiss, A class girl, and ranked 20th. 

Sakura’s team, which was formed first overall, introduces themselves a “Very Raspberry” (in English). It’s weird how many pairs of teams ended up with thematically similar names. 

Left to right:

Kwon Eunbi, 22, the future soloist, fell from A to C, is currently ranked 3rd

Motomura Aoi,  21, sweet faced Aoi from Never Ending Ferris Wheel, who rose from D to B and is ranked 42nd. 

Kim Minju, 17, a Very Pretty Girl, rose from D to C, ranked 17 

Kim Choyeon, 16, fire-eyes girl and future Bugaboo, fell from A to C, ranked 75 

Miyawaki Sakura, 20, THE SAKURA, future member of Le Sserafim who stayed in A and is ranked 5th. 

Lee Chaeyeon, 18, future soloist, who stayed in A and is ranked 10th.

Clearly, both teams are pretty stacked. But Yunjin’s team is just maybe that little bit more stacked, despite being formed second. I actually don’t remember who wins, but my 2024 knowledge implies it might have something to do with Wonyoung. 

Red Team’s Miru says, in Japanese, that their cute members will blend to make the sweetest juice, so bring it on! Blue team’s Sakura says that their team is the closest and that will make their performance best, and throws in a “fighting!” at the end. 

We jump back to Red team’s dance practice with Dance Bae, but this will be more about Blue team. Give it a moment.

Original face Wonyoung’s cute wiggling and winking earns a smile from Dance Bae, and it looks like everyone is doing a good and cute job. Dance Bae mentions the center, then after a pause says that they chose the right girl for it. 

We see Kim Choyeon, who is the center of the other team, reacting with concern to how good Wonyoung is. Poor Choyeon. Imagine having to go up against Wonyoung? In ANYTHING? It just wouldn’t go well. And the fact that Choyeon doesn’t quite meet Korean beauty standards -- despite being, in my opinion, a striking looking girl -- doesn’t help. 

Choyeon interviews, “Wonyoung’s facial expressions are all so natural. She’s so pretty and she does a good job standing at the center. I’m a bit anxious.”

It’s group 2’s turn, and Dance Bae tells them that she’s happy to see all of them since this is a team with a lot of skilled members. She expresses a bit of surprise that Choyeon is the center.

Center: Choyeon  Left of Choyeon: Aoi Right of Choyeon: Lee Chaeyon Behind Choyeon: Kim Minju Kneeling, left to right: Eunbi, Sakura

The editors present us with a weird-face-off between Choyeon and Dance Bae. (I mean a weird-face off, not a weird face-off, if you feel me.) 

When they’re done, Dance Bae says, “Choyeon, I’m sorry, but you were overacting. You made me feel so uncomfortable, I had to look at someone else.” Choyeon nods. I think she kinda knew. 

The editors keep doing that “swallowing” noise thing and I hate it nomu nomu nomu nomu much. 

Bae goes on, and she really, really lets them have it. She says, “What’s ironic is, you guys dance better than the other group. You have more famous members, too. But I sense that there’s a different vibe. You guys aren’t so fresh compared to Group One. I think it could be a problem of the center member. For the team, I think it’s better to select a new center member. Girls, you have to be careful choosing a center member. Why don’t you all think rationally? Don’t be swayed by what other people think.”

Afterwards, there is a lot of crying. Motherly Eunbi holds Choyeon while she sobs. Everyone else hovers nearby, patting her vaguely. 

Cut to dress rehearsal and we see that now, Sakura is in the center. Ahn Yujin voice overs that it makes sense to her that Sakura would be in the center, and really, it makes sense to all of us.

Soyou asks about it, and almost sounds angry, but that might just be her shouting to be heard from the distance. Kwon Eunbi explains that they decided to change to Sakura recently. 

Side note: Doesn’t Choyeon look pretty with her hair like this? 

Her face is one of those interesting faces that can go either way, and I think that’s cool. A lot of runway models are like that. She just needs, I don’t know, the right hair and the right styling and the right attitude to be like yeah, my eyes are lasers, get into it!

Cut back to the group meeting -- one of those Criss-cross-Applesauce-Crescent-Moons of Doom. It’s a CACMOD, if you will. 

Eunbi asks the group who should be the center, and Aoi sweetly says, “Choyeon,” which makes Choyeon smile for a second before immediately starting to cry. Even in her interview she is overcome with sobs. She tries to smile, though. She wants to do what’s best for the group.

The group smartly decides to record themselves six times, each time with a different person in the center, and then watch the recordings. Afterward, Lee Chaeyon says she thinks that Sakura should be the center. And at that moment, a thousand ‘ships were launched! Everyone nods, and Choyeon herself speaks up to agree that yes, Sakura should be the center. Pretty Eunbi agrees, and the decision is made.

They applaud, but Sakura is full of mixed emotions about taking over her friend’s part. 

She also has to learn the rap. We see that she has the rap written in katakana, the Japanese writing system designed for foreign words. 

She’s learning it phonetically, basically, and it’s not going to be easy, but she sits with the others and practices the pronunciation and dance as hard as she can. 

We cut back to dress rehearsal and Sakura is making a lot of mistakes with the words. When they’re done, Cheetah lets her have it, which I just think is mean.

 “That wasn’t good. I can’t hear anything. I can’t make out what you’re saying. Why did you have to change positions and make the rap part horrible?” 

Like, she doesn’t speak Korean, lady. It’s obvious she’s having trouble. I’d just say, “Well, it’s obvious you need a lot more work on the words. What is your plan to learn the lyrics by performance day?” And then, AND THEN, Soyou of all fucking people says, “Because of Sakura, everything was ruined. Her pronunciation was bad, and her dance was offbeat.” She goes on and on and on, and Sakura begins literally flinching as the words hit her in the face. 

Ugh. I think a lot of this is production interference. They know that they want to show a lot of both of these teams, so they need as much drama as they can get, and they want a lot of it to center on Sakura so they can put Sakura’s face in the middle of people’s TV screens. 

It must be so hard for Sakura. She seems to genuinely want to learn, and then she gets alternately praised and lambasted for roughly equivalently good performances. Audition offkey and with extremely simple choreo? Into A class! Not learn a 20 second rap in a foreign language in 2 days? MAKE HER FEEL LIKE SCUM YOU FOUND ON YOUR SHOE. 

Thanks, judges. Thudges. 

Kindly Jeremy asks, in Japanese, do you think you can do ok tomorrow? She answers, “I think Choyeon should be in the center.” 

Commercial break! In the Spanish video you can see this inexplicable advertisement featuring AI idols dancing to Nekoya. (23:30 or so)

In an interview, she cries as she says that she feels bad that Choyeon missed out on her chance to be center, but I’d argue that this isn’t entirely Sakura’s fault. Choyeon couldn’t figure out how to smile naturally, Sakura. I mean, harsh, but like… true.  

Now, in this interview, she’s wearing her actual performance outfit, not the outfit she was wearing in dress rehearsal, which had a blue collar. I can’t help but wonder if this interview, in which she says that Choyeon would have had more time to rehearse as center if it weren’t for her -- I wonder if this interview was recorded AFTER their performance. Because it would make sense if it were. It would put a different cast on it when she says that she thinks everything is her fault. 

Side note: I wonder why Eunbi was never really floated as a center for the performance? She looks a little like Irene from Red Velvet, in my opinion, and she can sing and dance. She would have been a great center. Maybe it’s because she’s not quite as twig-thin as the other girls….? IDK. 

Anyway, they decide to switch back to Choyeon, and Sakura voice overs that she feels much better about it. Eunbi voice overs that the team has gotten really close and they work well together. Minju voiceovers that she wants to make the performance perfect, and I’m like, “oh, is that what your voice sounds like, Minju? I had forgotten.”

And then it’s time for the performance. 

Here’s PD48 Editing’s blessed edit.

Standing: Aoi, Sakura, Lee Chaeyon Kneeling: Minju, Choyeon, Eunbi

My thoughts: 

Overall, they did great. Some of the vocals weren’t perfect, and not every facial expression exactly worked, but overall, great. 

Choyeon must have practiced a lot in the mirror because she was definitely much better than she’d been in that first rehearsal, expression wise. It still was a little awkward, alas. She is a great dancer and a decent singer (though I don’t love her vocal color), but she just isn’t a gifted smiler. It’s a bummer for her because I know she really wants this. 

Eunbi was flawless. No notes. She should have been the center. I don’t get it.

Lee Chaeyon was main vocal, ya’ll. Let that sink in -- the girl known for her excellent dancing was the main vocal on the team. Facial expressions, mini dance break, ad libs, all on point. Who is she, Kang Seulgi over here? I think she should have worn her hair down or curled or something maybe, and had a brighter closer to her face, but that’s the stylist unnie screwing her over. She’s just a queen when it comes to performance. 

Aoi was frickin’ adorable, of course. 

Smiles, pouts, finger wiggles… she gives Nako a run for her money. Dancing looked fine, and her one or two lines of vocals were fine. And the little part at the end when she blows the glitter at everyone -- seamless. She’s good at this, ya’ll. And it seems, for the record, that the audience appreciates her too, even if MNET gives her zero time or attention.

Minju just looked kind of scared a lot of the time. 

Use your finger to cover up her mouth in this picture and just look at her eyes and I think you’ll see what I mean. Her rapping vocal color is kind of offputting, too. She was on beat and I think she did it correctly but it didn’t work for me. Someone had to rap I guess. But she did the thing and was pretty, and that’s what she was there for. 

Sakura was super cute and had great facial expressions. She vocals were on key, though her vocal color remains unpleasant to me. Still, she did her Sakura thing and it was fine. I just don’t quite get why she’s the one that everyone is obsessed with compared to some of the others on the team. Nothing against her. I mean, it’s not just the MNET edit that makes her seem important -- when she sings her first few notes, you can hear a reaction in the live audience.

The MNET edit is about what you’d expect. There’s a cute moment when Jeremy says, “Chaeyeon is stable at everything,” which, yes, she is. The judges also praise Minju, which is their prerogative. I guess. No kind words for Eunbi or Aoi though, because MNET hates them I guess. 

Afterward, it’s all smiles and applause from everyone, and we see some signs in the audience for Choyeon, so that’s great! The judges are relieved that they changed the center back.

We cut almost immediately to Team 1, and all the way back to day 1, when they’re distributing parts. 

So you don’t have to scroll up, this team is made up of (left to right around the circle)

An Yujin, 14, future member of  IVE who rose from B to A and is currently ranked 2nd overall. 

Honda Hitomi, 16, the super cutey who worked her way up from C to A and is currently ranked 47th.

Shiroma Miru, 20, future visitor to Queendom Puzzle, who fell from B to D but is ranked 22nd. 

Na Goeun, 18, future Purplekiss, A class girl, and ranked 20th. 

Choi Yena, 18, friendly Yena from Yuehua who kept us company for a lot of episode 1, fell from A to B, and is currently ranked 6th. 

Jang Wonyoung, 14, future Wonyoung, known for being Wonyoung but currently with her original face, who has stayed in B and is ranked 4th.

They are having trouble figuring out who could do the rap, and Na Goeun wonders aloud if the rap should be done in Japanese (at least according to the on-screen captions in Korean). Maybe if a Japanese member did the rap, she’d be allowed to do it in Japanese…..? Not sure. Regardless, the Japanese members don’t want to do the rap. 

An Yujin volunteers to try, and then she does a pretty perfect job on her first try. Wonyoung teases her, “I thought she went to the back to practice first.” She ends up with the part, and is laughing about it in her interview before she adds, with mock seriousness, “I’m good at everything.”

It’s obviously a joke, and I really, really, really hope she didn’t get shit for that. But people are the way they are I guess. Also, she’s not wrong. 

We join them at an early vocal/rap rehearsal, with long-hair Cheetah. Yujin gets a little in her head for the rap and messes it up a bit, but Cheetah cuts her slack for trying to do it without looking at the lyrics. 

We go to dance rehearsal, where Dance Bae praises their performance and says they suit the song. They’re all happy to hear the praise. 

It looks like their rehearsal is fairly relaxed and they have time to joke around. 

A few of the girls interview that they think they can win. 

And it’s time for the performance! 

PD48 Editing’s blessed edit 

My thoughts:

Well, obviously this was basically perfect. 

From Wonyoung’s very first wiggle and “Sorichira!” (scream!), it was clear that this girl was born to be a Kpop girl group center. What would she have done in cave man days? Unclear. But in 2018 and 2024, she can wink at us and wiggle around cutely and voila! A star is born. Do I love her vocal color? Not really. Is she that great at dancing? The editing makes it impossible to tell. But she’s Wonyoung, and is somehow super engrossing. 

Na Goeun held down the fort as sub vocal 1. A lot of the time sub-1 sings more lines than the main vocal does and kind of sets the tone for the song. Think Nayeon as opposed to Jihyo in Twice, for example. Goeun kept the overall vocals good, and also pulls off all the aegyo with aplomb. 

I’m kind of surprised that Yena ended up the main vocal, with Goeun on the team, but she does a great job. I do think that her makeup doesn’t do her any favors, and I think this hair style is wrong for the shape of her face. She’s normally a super pretty girl, and I blame the stylist unnies for that. Perhaps because she was styled wrong, or maybe for some other reason, her facial expressions don’t quite work as well as those of her teammates, which is weird because she’s naturally super cute in normal life. She doesn’t do a bad job or anything, don't get me wrong, and her vocals are sweet and on key, but there was just something a little off about this.

But I live for this ending fairy. 

Yujin is wasted in this concept, but she can do anything she sets her mind to, and she does this, too. I don’t think the pigtails suit her though. 

Miru and Hitomi both fade into the back a little, with small parts, but they’re both cute in a super natural and straightforward way, and as far as I could tell, did the choreo well. Miru in particular has never had my favorite vocal color but they were both on key and seemed happy to be there. They both contributed in their way by bringing energy and cuteness, which is what this performance called for.

I actually don’t have any serious criticism for any of them. I’d like to have a word with stylist unnie, but that’s the main thing.

The MNET edit is in love with them. I mean, they were even left for last, even though they obviously performed before the other team. We see the audience and the other girls cheering for them. When they’re done, the judges sigh and say it’s really close because both teams did so well. 

Then Dance Bae says something really foolish: “One of these groups will not receive extra votes and not make it through.” As if those 1000 votes MATTER when you’re Sakura or Wonyoung? Come on. These benefit votes only ever matter for the people on the bubble -- people within say two spots of the cut off point, plus or minus.

The girls head to the results restroom to learn whether they will literally live or literally die!

Naturally, super cute Yena beats the not preferred Lee Chaeyeon. That’s how people do.

Surprisingly, Na Goeun beats Kwon Eunbi, which just is a factor of there being so many awesome girls on both teams and people only getting one vote. Maybe Eunbi looked a little too old for the concept…? She looks like a woman in a group of girls. Not that Goeun did badly at all. In fact, I’d have wanted both of them to get more votes, but that’s how life is. Poor Eunbi is like, “I failed,” and no. No, you were great, girl. 

Miru is up against Sakura, and they both do amazing. I don’t know why you’re looking unhappy, Miru-chan! You got 112 votes! That’s a lot higher than the average, which, by the way, is 69. (Wooooooooooooo!) 

Hitomi wins over Aoi and Yoojin wins over Minju. So far, except for Sakura beating Miru, red has beaten blue in every match up. 

At that moment, before they can reveal the results of the center battle -- Kim Choyeon versus Jang Wonyoung -- Choyeon over on blue team says, “Congratulations.” Red’s Yujin shakes her head to disagree, but Choyeon says, “Group one won. I’m not confident.” This makes everyone on red team look over sadly, shaking their heads… 

…. but Choyeon just looks down at her hands. 

She voice overs that this could be her last stage, as sad piano music plays. 

And then bam! Bam! They quickly reveal the final points -- Choyeon got a respectable 54 votes, second highest on her team and quite a lot considering her immediate competition amongst these 12 talented and popular trainees. But Wonyoung got 90, and red team won, 440 to 356.

Red Team: Choi Yena 64 Na Goeun 42 Shiroma Miru 112 Honda Hitomi 70 An Yujin 62 Jang Wonyoung  90

Blue Team: Lee Chaeyeon 34 Kwon Eunbi 24 Miyawaki Sakura  164 Motomura Aoi 46 Kim Minju 34 Kim Choyeon 54

That’s Wonyoung hugging Choyeon.

The girls all hug and applaud each other, and Wonyoung voiceovers, “I felt bad because we all worked hard together.” They do all rehearse together in the same training room, even though they’re two different teams, and probably all get to be at least sort of friends. So in a way, this was a proto-IZ*one challenge. 

Most of the blue team is crying now, including Minju. But Choyeon voiceovers that she doesn’t have regrets because she knows they all did their best. 

Ok, friends! That’s about it for this post. In my next one, I’m going to finish out episode 4 and do a bit of analysis of the challenge overall, including my personal rankings and some math. After that, I think I’m going to pause the P48 recaps for a bit while I watch Build Up, but I guess we’ll see about that either way. 

Also, as a side note: Here’s Kep1er doing Very Very! They do a great job, I think.

Thanks, chingus and dongsaengs, for reading! I’ll see you soon. 

Xoxo BPR Unnie