#still in beginning season 2 so no spoilers (even though I know some major plot points BUT STILL)

[brushes-of-sage]

POOKIE WE HAVEN'T TALKED IN SO LONG BUT THANK YOU FOR THE BUNGO ON MY DASH OH EM GEEEE

DUUUUUUUUUDE /gn HOW’VE YOU BEEN???

You’re welcome for the BSD spiral consuming my soul lately - watching it with a friend rn and I’m losing my mind you have no idea

[dichenlachmandaily]

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 7 of “Severance,” streaming now on Apple TV+.

She’s alive!

At least some version of her is, held captive on Lumon’s Testing Floor and shuttled from room to room, activating her severance chip and splitting her into several different identities.

I’m talking about Gemma, of course, whose wellbeing and whereabouts have been central to the mystery of “Severance.” In this week’s episode, we finally check in with Mark’s (not dead after all) wife, played by Dichen Lachman with a sexy coolness — and then an emptiness — in a series of heartbreaking flashbacks and harrowing glimpses of the Testing Floor.

Gemma is not to be confused with Ms. Casey, who, it turns out, is just one of many of her “innies.” In vignettes of Mark and Gemma’s marriage, gorgeously captured by cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné in her directorial debut, Gemma is charming, playful — far from the robotic wellness counselor she inhabits on the Severed Floor.

The episode starts with Mark and Gemma’s meet cute, at a blood drive at the college campus they both worked at. They have instant chemistry, but their fate may have been sealed from the beginning — there’s a Lumon logo emblazoned on the medical equipment. Soon enough, Mark and Gemma start their life together, with dancing and Christmas and putting flowers behind each other’s ears. In one flashback, it’s revealed that Gemma was pregnant. She miscarries, so they try IVF. A visit to the fertility clinic reveals another Lumon logo, and a glimpse of Lumon’s Dr. Mauer, played by a chilly Robby Benson. As Mark and Gemma’s attempts to conceive fail, their relationship suffers. We witness their last moment together, exchanging “I love yous” before Gemma leaves the house on the night of her “death.” In the final flashback, Mark is greeted at the door by policemen.

Down on the Testing Floor, in the present day, Gemma plays dress up, as a nurse brings her into different rooms that activate different identities. In one room, Dr. Mauer assumes the role of her husband, supervising her on Christmas morning as her hand cramps from writing too many thank you cards. Another room is dedicated to dental work, with that particular innie’s entire existence strapped to a patient chair. Gemma’s hand and teeth still hurt once she crosses the severance threshold, even though she doesn’t remember what happened to make them hurt. And even more important than her physical symptoms are her mental state, as Lumon gauges the degree to which her “tempers” carry over as well. How strong are the walls of severance, and what, if anything, bleeds through from innie to outie?

The rooms are named after the files Mark has completed in the macrodata refinement unit, though, to him, the work remains “mysterious.” There’s only one room left: Cold Harbor. We don’t know exactly what will happen to Gemma once Mark finishes that file, which has been touted as a major landmark for Lumon, but it doesn’t sound good for our estranged lovebirds. It’s hard to imagine the corporation that kidnapped Gemma and held her captive for years will simply let her free once testing is completed. 

At the end of the episode, which takes place as Mark is unconscious, “journeying” in his reintegration process, Gemma takes action, whacking Mauer over the head with a chair and plotting her escape from Lumon. But when Gemma makes it up the elevator, she’s trapped by her own mind. She’s on the Severed Floor — she’s Ms. Casey now — and she’s told by Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) to head back down to the Testing Floor voluntarily. It’s a battle of innies and outies, and it’s going to require both working together to make it out of Lumon.

Below, Lachman discusses this week’s episode of “Severance” with Variety, unpacking Gemma’s captivity and “heartbreaking” escape attempt, and theorizing about how Lumon faked her death in the first place.

Until now, we hadn’t really seen Gemma in her element. We’ve seen Ms. Casey and really brief glimpses of Gemma. How did you go about shaping that character and how she would behave?

It was very important to everyone to make the relationship with Mark really grounded. We discussed them having difficulties in their relationship, and that was the most important thing we kept coming back to: How do we make this relationship feel lived-in? People will have noticed that up until now, I didn’t spend a lot of time on set. So, the time to build that rapport with someone was essentially nonexistent. But Adam Scott is such a generous actor, and everyone made me feel so comfortable. Basically, Episode 7 was like my first day at school for Season 2 because I hadn’t really been there. I felt a tremendous amount of pressure to do my absolute best. We played with Gemma a lot, taking a lot of time with those scenes and dialing in more intensity, less intensity. 

What did your schedule look like for Season 2? There’s even a meme about how Gemma pops in for a few seconds in each episode to “serve face” and then vanish. Would you come in for like one day to shoot those little flashes of Gemma?

Yeah, I’d come in from time to time to shoot those little beats. Some of them were extremely technical. The one in the tent [in Episode 4, as Mark sleeps with Helena], they had a monitor that I was looking at, and I had to line my face up exactly to the position of Britt Lower’s face. They had a special piece of machinery to be able to do the take. I just remember lying there and not moving for hours to get that one moment. This show is full of things like that, which the audience members may not notice. The amount of work that goes into some of the technical shots is extraordinary. We were trying to get that two-second shot for a good half of the day. 

Were there any scenes from Episode 7 that were similarly challenging, technically speaking?

For the airplane set piece, they built this part of an airplane on hydraulics, and I had to take anti-nausea medication because I was in there all day. The whole thing was moving around like a plane that had severe turbulence, or that was going to crash.

This episode feels like the answer to the Season 1 cliffhanger of “SHE’S ALIVE!” But how alive is Gemma, really? She’s been held captive for years and seems pretty depleted. How much of Gemma’s true self is left?

I definitely think a part of her — that joy and ease and frivolity — is gone, to some degree. She just wants to get home to Mark. Ms. Casey is quite rudimentary. When I got the script for Episode 7, I thought, to justify that quite literal person, who is simplistic in many ways, maybe it’s because her mind has been bifurcated so many times. Unlike the severed floor, where it’s just their work person and their person in the real world, perhaps because Gemma has so many different versions of her mind, that has affected her. That’s my fan theory — that there might be a part of her that’s gone. But I do think she is essentially there, and her love for Mark and her strength and determination is still there.

In the flashback to when Mark and Gemma first meet, they’re giving blood at the school they both work at, and there’s a Lumon logo on the machine. At the fertility clinic, there’s a Lumon logo on the intake form. It seems to indicate that Lumon has been a part of their relationship and their lives for a long time. What should we take away from that?

They’ve definitely been watching them for a long time. My theory is that it has something to do with Lumon deciding to pick this couple and monitor them. You also see Dr. Mauer [Robby Benson] at the fertility clinic — he just walks by. The whole world is Lumon. Even [the restaurant] Pip’s is owned by Lumon. My theory is that they picked something up with Gemma’s blood work when she went to the fertility clinic, and that’s got something to do with why they picked Mark and Gemma. I noticed that the Christmas tree tinsel in the Christmas room [on Lumon’s Testing Floor] is the same as Mark and Gemma’s Christmas tree in their living room. I mentioned that to the writers, and they didn’t confirm or deny anything.

So you have your own theories, but the writers don’t tell you if you’re on the right track?

Never. And one of my favorite things is looking at other people’s fan theories online. They go into such depth, and it’s really rewarding. Some of these guys should be writers! They’re so talented.

Earlier in the season, Mark tells Devon that he identified Gemma’s body after the supposed car accident. Clearly, she wasn’t dead. Do you know the logistics behind how Lumon faked her death?

My theory is that they gave her some Shakespearean potion, that Lumon has made salves and balms and stuff. Maybe it’s something that stops your heartbeat and breathing for enough time to fake her death. I’m getting into the weeds here, but…

I love the weeds!

If Mark saw Gemma completely charred up, he might actually think Devon’s right, because the body wouldn’t have looked like Gemma. He would have seen a charred body. So that’s my theory.

In Episode 7, Dr. Mauer tells Gemma, “Kier will take away all of [Mark’s] pain just as he has taken away yours.” What pain is he referring to?

As a woman, it’s very difficult to feel like your body is not doing what it’s meant to be doing. I didn’t have anything clarified [by the writers], but I think everyone agreed that [Gemma’s inability to give birth] had been very painful for her, and she felt guilty. She felt inadequate.

Can you talk about the dynamic between Gemma and Dr. Mauer? He blatantly lies to her about Mark remarrying and having a child, and he clearly has some sort of fixation on her.

He definitely does. She loathes him, obviously. His relationship with her is totally different because he gets to experience being in all these different rooms with her. He’s infantilizing her in a way. I think maybe she understands that they have time together that she’s not aware of, which is super creepy. That could go into some really dark places. Gemma has been on the Testing Floor for so long that she is numb. Finally she breaks, especially when he revs her up with that horrible lie about Mark. I don’t think it’s the first time she’s tried to make it out, because Drummond asks Mauer, “Didn’t she break your fingers?” So, she’s had these moments where she’s lost all tolerance and makes a break for it. It’s heartbreaking, she’s trapped by her own mind.

One of the most heartbreaking moments is when she makes it to the elevator but then turns into Ms. Casey on the Severed Floor. She doesn’t know how she got there, and that allows Milchick to lie to her and send her back down. 

We shot that scene four times, all in one take. She runs to the elevator, transitions from Gemma to Ms. Casey, then from Ms. Casey to Gemma and has that moment with Sandra Bernhard’s character. That was probably the most challenging thing I had to do as an actor.

Mark is reintegrating, merging the memories of his innie and his outie. His innie is in love with Helly. How might his reintegration complicate his search for Gemma?

Right! How much influence is Innie Mark going to have on Mark’s outie? And what is that life going to be like? It’s actually really bad. I don’t know where it’s going to go, but that’s what’s brilliant about it. The philosophical questions are endless.

There’s one popular fan theory that links Miss Huang [Sarah Bock] with Gemma, that she’s some sort of lab-grown child between Mark and Gemma, or that they’ve somehow shrunken Gemma? It doesn’t really make sense to me, but have you seen that?

I have seen that. I don’t blame people for having that theory, because when Mark looks at her in the first episode [of Season 2], there is some sort of flash, isn’t there? Initially, I even wondered if she had something to do with Gemma. I wasn’t 100% sure. I didn’t ever get to ask, but I don’t know whether I like or dislike that theory. I can see why people might think there is a link.

So it’s not completely out the door?

I don’t know! The time frame would be off, because of her age. But it is interesting: why would a young teenager be in this place? Why isn’t she in school? It does raise a lot of questions. Sarah is an extraordinary actress. She did such a wonderful job, and the ambiguity there is really intense.

At this point in the show, what do you view as the biggest looming question?

What I want to know as a fan is who is behind it all, and why are they doing it? Why did they pick the people they picked? Obviously, Lumon has some volunteers, and they’re global — we had that wonderful Italian guy in Episode 1. What is their mission, and how much do they control? But I do feel like we get a lot of answers this season. It’s not all left as a mystery for the sake of a mystery. They are answering questions and asking even more.

[violettathepiratequeen]

May 16th, 2025

Hello there, gentle viewers! Welcome back to Buffy Slays, where I’ll be going through all 144 episodes of BtVS over the course of a year, highlighting as many of the GOOD moments, lines, character choices, worldbuilding moments, etc. etc. as I think people will have the patience to read. 

So, here we go! 

Season 2, Episode 8, “The Dark Age.”

Giles' past comes back to haunt him when a demon he and Ethan Rayne summoned in their wild days comes looking for them in Sunnydale. (Pulled from Hulu.)

If you're reading along and haven't finished the show, consider this your Spoiler Warning for discussion of future episodes and major plot points in any and all of these posts.

Episode Number: #20 Episode Ranking: #112 out of 144. Writer: Dean Batali & Rob Des Hotel

Top 5 Quotes:

“He probably sat in math class thinking, 'There should be more math. This could be mathier.'” —Buffy

“Have I ever let you down?” “Do you want me to answer that, or shall I just glare?” —Buffy and Giles

“Can you help me with a ticket? It's totally bogus. It was a one-way street, I was going one way.” —Cordelia

“I’m gonna kill you. Will that blow the whole karma thing?” —Buffy

“You know what the worst thing is? I was saving up for some very important shoes, and now I have to blow my entire allowance to get this stupid tattoo removed.” —Buffy

How “The Dark Age” Slays:

Jenny and Giles, in one of their last really amazing scenes together. Not the VERY last, but really, after this episode there will just be one thing after another keeping them apart until her murder. But this scene near the beginning is one of their best. Because she calls him “England” and “a sexy fuddy-duddy.” Because he gets so flustered talking to her, but clearly adores her. Because she teases him about staining and dog-earing a beloved book of his, and grinning as she hands it to him completely fine. Because they lean in for a kiss, and the bell rings… and the common trope is to have the couple pull away at the first sign of interruption, but nope, these two go for it anyway, letting bells ring and students flock as they have their kiss in the classroom doorway. Which is just satisfying to see, whether you ship this couple or not.

Cordelia and Xander both loudly complain about having to go to school on Saturday, they cling to each other when Eyghon attacks, and when Willow yells at them for bickering with each other, they both meekly and immediately apologize and promise to be good. They’re two episodes away from passionately making out in Buffy’s basement, and I love these last-minute signals that they’re drawn to each other!

Giles has a tattoo, which, in an episode where the Scoobies say his diapers must have been tweed, is such a great bit of character lore about him. Because even if he’s shaken about the Eyghon demon resurfacing, he’s had to stare at that reminder of it every day for twenty-five years. We’ll see it again in only two other episodes, and it’s not brought up ever again, but I love that it’s there, that even though Ethan and Buffy lose their Eyghon tattoos in this episode, Giles still holds on to his. 

Xander makes reference to his Uncle Rory the taxidermist in this episode. Uncle Rory will pop up in random Xander anecdotes throughout the next several seasons, and it just delights me that when the episode arrives to show Uncle Rory in a supporting role, all the bits of info we’ve learned about him will be there, starting with this one!

Third episode this season where Willow loses it at the people she’s working with, since she’s had to take charge when Buffy’s not around. It’s amazing to see that she is consistently the one to do so, to make the plan when the Slayer isn’t here, no matter what other adults are around. She takes over, and God help anyone who doesn't fall in line when she does.

Willow also thinks of Angel to take on the Eyghon demon and beat it… and he agrees to it. We don’t see the scene where he asks, but Buffy wasn’t even the one in danger; Angel did it to save Miss Calendar, someone he hasn’t even met on screen before now. Because Willow asked, heheheee…

When Eyghon infects Jenny, I think it’s not supposed to be obvious that’s what happened at first. But it was completely clear to me. Because even though she still talks in her Jenny Calendar way, she’s simpering and weak, leaning on Giles, claiming she’s not ready to be home alone, and just… so different from the cool and snarky woman we’ve seen of her so far. Even at the end, after she’s saved and she tells Giles he needs to give her space, she looks ashamed to be asking for it, and I think she’s aloof not because she’s scared and traumatized, but because she doesn’t want him to see her scared and traumatized. We know she comes from a very prideful lineage, and I’m not saying that in a bad way, at least not in this case. I just think she’s used to being tough and invincible, and she’s embarrassed for Giles to know that she isn’t.

Cordelia definitely doesn't always love being a Scooby, but I think she has a good time in this one! She waltzes into the library to see Giles being interviewed by the police, and immediately brings up the parking ticket she wants to be cleared… and then doesn’t think to mention the incident to anyone later. She kicks Ethan when Buffy yells not to let him get away, and boasts of the fact later. She asks why Ethan called Giles “Ripper,” and then when Giles grabs Ethan by the scruff of his neck, says “oh,” like all her questions were answered, just like that! And when Buffy is doling out orders, she smiles all bright and eager at Buffy as she waits for her task, saying that she cares about Giles and wants to help, too.

Buffy’s workout music, that she’s not shy about listening to and working out to, and lets Giles complain about it as much as he wants… which he does, loudly, and without hesitation. I love their dynamic so much. Buffy later offers to get back to training to take his mind off Jenny, and lets him rag on her music to feel better. 

Buffy is violated… quite a lot in this show, and, well, I’m sure I’ll have a segment on that at some point. But I think for this violation in particular, it’s important to point out how amazingly she takes it. Ethan knocks her out, ties her up, and then tattoos a demon emblem on her neck that will allow the demon to possess and kill her. He tells her she can scream while he does it… but she doesn’t. She bites her lip, and doesn’t. She banters and snarks at him, she’s mildly irritated that she has to blow her allowance money to get rid of it, but it’s not something she brings up, now or ever in the future. Jenny is clearly much more bothered about her own violation than Buffy is of hers. Buffy is the Slayer, and this kind of thing can and does happen to her, and she’s better equipped to take it than anyone else, but some of the things that happen to her obviously scar her and hurt and traumatize her… this one doesn’t. This one she braves, and moves on from intact.

In the ending scene, Giles tells Buffy he was short-sighted and foolish about all this Eyghon stuff that he tried to hide from her, and Buffy says hey, they’ve got something in common, which is a little weird, but kind of okay. Which is an amazingly sweet sentiment to end on.

Buffy Grows Up:

The past three episodes in this show (Reptile Boy, Halloween, and Lie to Me) have very much dealt with the theme of Buffy clinging to her youth and innocence as much as possible. But this episode forces her to step up and be the adult when the actual grown-up in her life fails, almost like life is giving her a trial run before she’s confronted with the really heavy stuff later in this season.

Giles tells Buffy about a delivery of blood going to the hospital at night, and says he’ll meet her there to make sure it doesn’t fall into any vampire hands. He warns her not to be late, and she isn’t… but he misses their date completely, because his Eyghon past is dredged up. Buffy goes to his house to ask what happened, and when she finds him drunk and unshaven and aloof, reports his behavior to Miss Calendar.

Ethan shows Buffy his own Eyghon tattoo and urges her to ask Giles about it. Giles tries to deflect, just telling her to get away from Ethan, but Buffy holds her ground. When she presses Giles again later, he tells her to stop asking because it’s none of her business.

And she doesn’t care. She presses again, and again, seeing that there’s a demon on the loose she needs to stop, but Giles doesn’t confess until the demon infects Jenny. He finally tells Buffy of his past, of him and his four friends summoning Eyghon for the demonic power he possessed, letting it infect each of them in turn until one of them died. Buffy pinches her forehead the way an exasperated parent does, and then leaves to fight this thing. He tries to follow… and she benches him. She says she has the gang working on a way to fix this, but that he’ll slow her down if he comes.

She and her team fight to save the day, as well as Miss Calendar, but Buffy watches as Jenny pulls away from Giles, saying she needs space to recover from this. Buffy tells him it was scary, finding out that he’s just a person when all this time she thought he was a grown-up.

And then she pulls out a CD of the music he hates, waving it in front of his face, urging him to scold her for it.

Letting him back in, to be the adult again. When the situation called for it, she stepped up and handled the problem, cleaning up the mess of her father figure, but now that it’s over, she lets him slide right back into his role in her life, the way Jenny can’t at the moment.

She’s still a child, and yet not a child. But Buffy is extremely skilled at playing the role that’s needed of her in the moment, and also finding solace in the role she wishes she could have when she’s permitted to. 

Wild British Guys:

To the delight of the Anglophile in me, this season sure delivers on completely unhinged British characters. Giving Giles a dark past and an episode where he made a major mistake and is paying for it, letting Buffy take the reins and clean up his mess, is just… ahh so good for his character development, especially this early on.

And setting aside Spike and Dru for now since they’re not in this episode, let’s talk about Ethan Rayne and just how much fun he is!

Ethan is introduced in the Halloween episode as a servant of chaos, and in his final episode, A New Man, Giles will accuse him of worshipping chaos as his religion. This really isn’t touched on as much as it could be in his regrettably few episodes, but I think there’s so much we can infer about his character, purely based on the fact that chaos is his thing.

Because for one, he’s so clean-cut, well-dressed, intelligent, pays his rent on time, can meticulously tattoo someone at a moment’s notice, and has a polished accent and a repertoire of wit. So like… he’s got a lot going for him. He’s not a scrapper, he has no reason to be. He could be living a totally normal boring life right now, but instead he chooses to wreak havoc, because he can, and it’s fun, and he’s never quite outgrown his wild youth.

He’s not even inherently evil. As far as we know he hasn’t sold his soul or has lent out his body for any demonic practices… Eyghon aside, obviously, and even that he’s anxious to get rid of as soon as possible. But he IS evil and a villain, again just because he wants to be, and can be, so he gets up every morning and looks for ways he can sow chaos and have a good time. 

But he’s also got a level of pathetic ridiculousness to him that makes him endearing, and saves him from being just some cheesy slimeball. He gets captured and found out in every one of his episodes, even lamenting in one of them that he needs to learn how to get the job done and leave, instead of staying to gloat. He’s a smooth talker, but not smooth enough to get what he wants, pretty much ever. He uses Buffy as a human shield when confronted with demons who want to kill him, and his banter with her in this episode is TOP NOTCH. Since I couldn’t put them all in the Top 5 Quotes section and me just gushing about them won’t convince you of how great they are, I’m just gonna put their exchanges here: ***

Buffy: You sold me that dress for Halloween, and nearly got us all killed!

Ethan: But you looked great.

***

Buffy: Honesty. Nice touch. Ethan: It's one of my virtues. Not really.

***

Buffy: Giles told me everything. Look, it's coming for you.

Ethan: And you came to protect me? I'm touched. Buffy: Don't worry, it's nothing personal. To protect Giles I have to protect you. Ethan: How does Ripper inspire such goodness? Buffy: 'Cause he's Giles. Ethan: And I'm not. Still, lucky me. Buffy: Hmm. Lucky you. Ethan: Well, we can't run. Eyghon will find us. This mark's like a homing beacon. Buffy: That's okay. I'm not much into running. Ethan: Aren't we manly? Buffy: One of us is. You're gonna hide till it's over. Ethan: Excellent plan.

***

Ethan: Wakey, wakey. You're missing all the fun.

Buffy: What fun?

Ethan: Your initiation.

Buffy: You know what? I'm not real interested in joining your club.

Ethan: Too late. I already voted you in. Y'know, I hope you're not taking this personally, Buffy. I actually kinda like you. It's just that I like myself a lot more. If you think of it karmically, this is really big for your soul. You know, taking my place with the demon, giving so that others may live.

Buffy: I'm gonna kill you. Will that blow the whole karma thing?

Ethan: Sweet child.

***

My gosh, I love him. We needed so much more Ethan Rayne.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that’s a wrap on Episode 20! Thank you so much for reading this far!

Previous: “Lie to Me.”

Next up: “What’s My Line? Part 1.”

(Credit for GIFs in this post: @detectivedawnsummers)

[bearpillowmonster]

I'm a Miraculous fan and have been since-oh- 2016/17 I think and I've seen complaints that it takes too long with pacing and its badly written past a certain part and honestly I accepted it for everything it was and still got hyped for it. I rationed the final episodes and now I'm caught up and honestly, I'm not sure what to say.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD WATCH YOUR STEP

I saw 25 and thought we were peaking, that this next episode was going to be hype, there was a new season greenlit already and there was a another episode after that and a special so I dive headfirst into the next episode and- it's not really anything like I imagined. I saw the AU the movie gave and ok, it was alright but a bit rushed considering it was also the origin, I didn't want it to be the same for the sake of spoiling and for variety. But I realized that we had so much set up.

We had the recent Felix and Kagami episode where they try to employ Marinette's help and really, I loved that but it didn't go anywhere, she didn't use that at all and we got no more of the thing and really I don't see a reason to now.

I saw 26 and realized that about half way through I had sort of checked out, I wasn't popping off like I was before and I really mean it. (You guys know that KH is my number one media, I was actually considering putting Miraculous at No. 2 during 25, for real, I was that excited) And I think it started going downhill with the whole video thing of his wife. Like- Nathalie couldn't have just showed him that? Plus it was a cheesy thing to do anyway. Then I thought about how Chat Noir isn't there at all, your secondary main, this wasn't the grand finale that I imagined because he wasn't there. We saw Chat Blanc and why certain pieces didn't work but I figured everything would work its way out through time, this way it just sort of makes for a secret between the two to make for more issues later on. I like that she didn't just put an end to him and reached out but he just...got his wish? And how did they explain his mother's return to Adrien? Just that Monarch had her trapped? And what exactly was his plan to make Adrien and Kagami these icons? Like wtf? And Tsurugi is still here but what is she on about now? Now only Nathalie knows about her involvement.

We also had Lyla biding her time and popping in every now and then and yeah, she's the new Hawkmoth, I actually didn't expect that one even though we knew that there was another at some point in time. It just felt sort of the same and I'm sure they'll build on what I'm complaining they didn't do but it just feels like that was it and we were fed a happy ending but there's a loose plot thread from Alyx, we might as well throw that in there. I was disappointed in the movie and to a degree some of the specials but I always figured that the show was covering its bases, that they were just side stuff anyway but for the first time, I was actually pretty disappointed.

I tried going to that next episode but I just couldn't do it, I was too heartbroken and stayed that way for two months (yeah, I've sat on this post for this long) and I thought how could there be another episode, it was never going to make up for it and I was right, the last episode isn't a sequel...it's a recycling episode. Which normally, I'd be all for but it's completely out of place being there at the end, but I know the release order has always been shoddy between airing and regions and streaming and networks and whatever. But I skipped it and moved on to the special- Miraculous World Paris

It too isn't a sequel but it hooks you from the beginning because it's Gabriel singing the theme in his own twisted way. They introduce the multiverse which...both has and hasn't been confirmed with stuff like the 2D universe before but definitely is now and really it sounds cliche and stupid but man if they didn't do a good job. I didn't pop off like I normally do because I needed to be won back and just a single episode wasn't going to do that but it sure did try.

I would start pronouncing the things I liked about it. "New designs!" "New characters!" "New Music?!" it just kept getting better and works as a nice contained special. There were various points where I kept asking how they wrote this like that but not the finale and it's REALLY apparent, like someone else entirely wrote it because there's a whole different formula and different gimmicks being used, even the language they use to describe stuff is just so much more articulate. I looked at the credits and I see just about the same in everybody which I just can't believe unless they wanted to get that finale out of the way and then decide to write the series differently.

[yapwithsyd]

Is Spy X Family my anime of the year? [Spoiler Free-ish*]

*This article will avoid all major plot spoilers but will include some basic information about the story/characters. This will also only cover part 1 as part 2 is still airing at the time of writing.

Welcome to After Thoughts, a series where I take a moment to collect my thoughts on things both old and new. These things will include newish content that I am viewing for the first time (most of the time, month behind everyone else) or perhaps things that I am coming back to so I can re-experience (like my future plans to explain why Soul Eater is my go-to comfort anime). Now, onto my thoughts on the recently finished season one of Spy X Family!

How I found Spy X Family

After deciding that Spy X Family would be our next anime, my boyfriend and I sat down and binged the first six episodes in one evening. Around midnight, we had to drag ourselves away from the TV to go to bed because we did not want to stop watching, we were already in love with the premise of this show. We spent so much of the night laughing at the characters and guessing what would happen next. It was the pinnacle of "just one more episode" and that feeling was present from beginning to end. The next night after work, we caught up to episode 11, which was the latest episode at that point. We realized halfway through episode 11 that it would be four days until the final episode aired, crushing our spirits because we were on a Spy X Family high. The wait until episode 12 dropped was painstakingly slow and even worse knowing that we couldn’t watch it the day the last episode was released. Having to avoid spoilers was easiest to do when you just avoid social media almost altogether.

Thoughts on the show

I went into Spy X Family with decently high expectations. When I mentioned that I would be watching it over the weekend, I was told by a friend that she and her girlfriend were absolutely loving it. I had been avoiding anything related to this show for a while at that point and I just knew the premise of the show going in. A spy must gather a fake family in order to perform his mission. His new wife turns out to be an assassin and the child he adopts is a telepath. Neither of the adults knows the other’s secrets, but the child learns everything.

Spy X Family is a brilliant mix of comedy, action, a little romance, and of course, slice-of-life. This blend makes the show something that you can binge and not get sick of. The progression through the 12-episode season seems so well-paced that I was never wanting to speed up through an episode or was confused because it seems like the anime skipped over something.

I think that the art style used here really enhances the overall feeling of a cute slice-of-life comedy. The bright colors and the way the characters are drawn allow for the wacky facial expressions and actions that really sell the mood.

I'm excited to see how the plot will progress as I am waiting for the full season to be released before starting. After finishing the anime’s season 1, I am now tempted to find the manga just to see how the anime holds up to the original material and also to see what happens next. Now to answer the question in the title. Do I think Spy X Family is the anime of the year for me personally? Maybe. I think this show could definitely make my top 5 when I look back at the end of the year.

Final thoughts

Thoughts on the genre: I loved the mix of multiple genres that really keep the show moving. The blend allowed for amazing moments that pulled emotions from amusement to empathic pain.

Favorite character at the start: We really only get a good look at Loid at the start, so he was the one I wanted to know more about at the beginning.

Favorite character at the end: Normally I change who I really like by the end of a season, but I still think Loid is in that top stop. My enjoyment of other characters has certainly grown over those 12 episodes, but Loid still remains my favorite.

Thoughts on the animation style: I love the use of quirky animation to give those over-the-top expressions that really fit the fun mood of this comedy show, I feel like this is the best style to use and can’t imagine it in another style.

Grade on pacing: I think the pacing is great, I feel like the show never lags, and really made me want to keep watching.

Grade Overall: I would give this a high B to a low A grade. I think this is an amazing show, I just wish we could have seen more out of the other characters.

Does this show make me wanna read the manga: Yes! I would love to pick up the manga and I hope that if I do, I can get some of the information that I am looking for.

Who would enjoy this series: I think that this show has a wide range of people who would enjoy it. Of course, people who enjoy simple slice-of-life anime will love this. I think people who want a funny story no matter the genre will enjoy it. I think this is a good anime to start when you just want to throw something on that won’t take too much brain power or you wanna watch something short.

Now that you know my thoughts, what were your reactions after finishing this series, or do you wanna watch it for the first time?

[beauspot]

The Bear Season 2: And Why I’m Fucking Annoyed (Full Spoilers below)

*Long Post*

The Bear is something truly special. When it dropped in June of last year it wasn’t a major hit right away. It was a sleeper and it grew its fanbase over time. If you were here this time last year you remember how small the fandom was posts on every platform could barely reach 200 interactions, but with the Golden Globe wins and the word of mouth this fandom began to grow and expand, because season one of the show was just so good.

Season 2 however is an interesting piece of media. I am well aware that I have some bias in this department and I can’t view this season objectively, but neither can the rest of you so I’ll say what I want.

To start off I really enjoyed some of the episodes this season, the first two? Excellent. The Marcus Episode(with my husband Will Poulter at his side)? Fantastic. The Richie Episode? Perfection. And let’s not even talk about Fishes, which was beyond words. I genuinely went into this season wanting to like it and praise it the way I did the previous season because I thought it was good. The writing—which is spectacular in nearly every other place—takes a nosedive with this romance plot. I still do think it’s good, but I can’t act like this whole season hasn’t left a sour taste in my mouth, because it has. Because the show runners are lying racist misogynistic nasty assholes who bullshitted us for nothing.

Toward the end of last year/beginning of this year Chef’s Kiss fans words made their way to some journalist who then asked about the potential for it with the actors and the writer( in an article stupidly named “don’t worry the bear doesn’t want carmy and sydney to kiss, either” the writer of which goes on to ship carmy and marcus so clearly they have excellent taste 😒) who all shut it down. Fine. That’s fine. That’s their opinion and it doesn’t affect us. What bothers me is the words of the co-creator Chris Storer who said this 👇🏾

He went on to say the show was also just meant to be focused on these people doing their jobs. So fine. We said even if it won’t be canon there’s no way they would bring in a new love interest cause that’s not “the vision” they have for the show, right?(He also goes on in the pic above to act like we couldn’t separate our love of the plot of the show from the ship which is…infantilizing and annoying) continuing on though, he also said this

He thought it would be cool to see a show with no romantic plot. Mind you this statement was made in January and the show starting filming in February. So unless they want me to believe they added this romance plot as some last minute thing (which very well could be the case as Claire has quite literally no personality outside of being pushy and being Carmy’s girlfriend) they knew they were having a romance plot in the second season and chose to lie about it. So the actors, the creator, basically everyone who was apart of this project said that Syd and Carmy were a weird ship (a strange thing to say to your, at the time, small audience even if that’s how you felt) just for them to turn around and have Carmy with a new love interest from school and have Sydney and marcus develop feelings for one another in the second to last episode? can y’all be fucking forreal for one minute?

Suddenly all you “yesss let men and women be friends, not every show needs romance” ass bitches want to ship something. I can tell you know Syd and Carmy have chemistry otherwise you wouldn’t have been shaking in your boots hoping the writers wouldn’t get them together. There was some dumb post i saw rooting for Claire and Carm but then adding ‘no one was better than platonic Sydcarmy’…

I see you.

I spoke about this before, but this constant sidelining of black women in these types of shows irks me. Sydney is basically hunting Carmy down for 85% of the season because he can’t do his fucking job he’s so consumed with Claire. And I know people are gonna say i’m being overdramatic, but it’s so clear they just did not want their main white boy to be with a black girl. Something that happens over and over and over again so many fucking times you can just lose count. Carmy, who in season one was so in tune with Sydney’s emotions he quelled his own anger and anxiety to ask if she was ok now ditches her at their restaurant to go help some girl he hasn’t seen since high school. He ditches her to go to a party then has the nerve to bring up Claire’s helping to inspire him.

Like yeah no shit Sydney is sorry that she’s there, y’all are opening a restaurant together which could fuck both your lives if it fails and Carmy is off doing god knows what instead of his job!

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!? And yeah, Carmy fucks it up at the end with Claire but that doesn’t negate the rest of the season. Chef’s Kiss shippers are strange and delusional and the show doesn’t need romance and then Claire is half naked in Carmy’s apartment? Look Carmy deserves happiness, his life has been basically nonstop stress and trauma since he was a kid and him ending the season thinking he doesn’t deserve fun or love is heartbreaking because it isn’t true, he deserves all the love in the world especially since he is actively trying to break the cycle (along with his sister). That doesn’t negate the fact that he agreed to being partners with Syd and then left her to make decisions on her own about a business they agreed to start together. Which is why he apologized and rightfully so.

And I know for a fact annoying Sydney and Marcus shippers are going to be like “well ackshully they are clearly setting up Sydcus this season so how can they hate black women.” I love Marcus as much as the next person and honestly after I saw where the writing was going I was like fuck it why not at this point, but if Sydney and Carmy’s shippers were living off crumbs Sydney and Marcus shippers were living off the memory of food. But sure that ship had development.

also no i don’t fuck with that syd and marcus ship because why the fuck are you snapping at sydney cause she rejected you and it wasn’t even really a rejection that was very incel core and it’s not about being upset half the kitchen is always screaming about something, it’s why he snapped at her.

I’m just angry so yeah fuck this show.

I’m genuinely contemplating if I want to watch the next season at all. I said if they wanted to go no romance, fine go no romance, but to not only lie about that but bring in some whole new girl we don’t know and throw the black girl to the closest guy despite the fact Sydney and Carmy are more alike than anyone else? You clearly need to do some introspection and think about why you can view Sydney and Carmen as friends but get sick at the thought of them being more.

There is a possibility (a slight possibility) that they are playing the long game we wanted, but i am wary because they lied and put a manic pixie indie girl in as a love interest this time and it sucked. But then I remember the scene with Syd and Carmy under the table and how open and honest they were with each other and even though their relationship wasn’t the best this season I can see it’s potential, because that one scene had more chemistry than all of that other ships other scenes combined. I don’t know.

This got me thinking though Will Poulter romcom when? I will be seated. Also the consensus on twitter is that people really didn’t like Claire and thought the show should have ditched their plot all together so that’s nice. A lot of people seem to think this is a setup for sydcarmy and idk, maybe i’ll rewatch when i’m more calm.

[hellsbellschime]

(potential hotd spoilers) I've seen a couple people propose the battle of the Gullet as the season 2 finale, which I think is super plausible, so if that is indeed the case, that would mean that Rhaenys, Jace, little prince Jaehaerys, and little prince Viserys would be the major casualties of that season (except technically Viserys since he's actually still alive, but since everyone thinks he's dead until the war is over, I'm counting him here). I feel like that's a pretty decent chunk of the story to make 10 episodes out of.

I also heavily hope that they delay the Blood & Cheese thing until at least the mid-point of the season instead of putting it at the beginning. First because I think we need to spend some actual time with and knowing who Helaena's and Aegon's kids are before one of them dies. Second because imo Helaena has the least development of Alicent's kids that we've seen so far (rip Daeron), and considering that she actually has a lot of influence on the story later on (her death triggers the riots against Rhaenyra and causes her to flee KL) I feel like it's important to establish who she really is and how she feels before she falls into depression. And I feel like they can afford to delay B&C instead of just having it immediately happen after Luke's death like in the book. They can give it a slower build-up with Daemon and Mysaria finding each other and plotting it out, while in the meantime further establishing the Greens' dynamics that we didn't get time to see in S1, then having B&C culminate in an explosive mid-season event that shakes up the Green dynamic even further, kinda like how Rhaenyra's and Laenor's wedding was the super big mid-season event. Idk, that's what I feel is the best option given the pacing of the show so far.

Yeah I really can't see them doing B&C immediately, like Aegon and Helaena's children have barely been acknowledged so if they want the audience to actually care about what's happening then they're going to have to develop them as a relevant part of the story. It's a tough situation though because B&C is really the biggest moment in the entire story for a lot of readers, so the fact that it happens relatively quickly in the books makes placing it in a good spot in the TV series difficult.

[waitmyturtles]

Oh my gosh, family. What an awesome ride. I just want to say, before I get into my review here, that EAW was my first full fandom conducted on Tumblr, and I got a lot of awesome feedback and questions on my posts, so thank y'all so much for reading these! I find writing these posts super therapeutic! (I saw some repeat mutuals reblogging my posts and adding awesome tags and comments -- I HEART YOU ALL!) SPOILERS AHEAD! Long post!

Before I dive into my list, I want to first say that: the finale was FULL OF K-DRAMA TROPES and I was SO HERE FOR IT. LOVE CONFESSIONS! Stunning courtroom revelations! Sensible judges! GOVERNMENT! Restaurants! Delicious food! HOSPITALS! Ex-wives! Emergency board meetings! REPORTERS! SECRET SIBLINGS! Shared genes of possible sub-clinical psychological diagnoses! Longing camera shots on lovers! RECONCILIATIONS! Hacking! Possible escapes to the States! URGENT DRIVING! URGENT PHONE CALLS WHILE DRIVING! Minors! LEGAL CONFESSIONS! PARENTING CONFESSIONS! Possible hints of revenge by crazy-ass bosses in coming seasons!

I mean, the list goes on. We didn't think the writers could do it, but y'all, they did it!

Okay, besides the awesome trope applications, here are my thoughts on the episode.

1) Why do I watch Asian dramas? Because, so very often, they center on themes of family in ways that I don't think Western content even begin to touch. (And as an Asian, they are so much more relatable to me.)

This episode introduced family as the unwinding theme to end this season, while still offering amazing and nuanced commentary on communication, as I wrote in my last post.

I wrote in my notes, while watching this last episode, that I think the correlation between family and communication is that: both of these themes are just fucking complicated. They are not binary. Family and communication are so deeply nuanced and attuned to the people acting as family or communicators, and to the people receiving family and communication.

I wrote in my last post that the penultimate episode set up examples of how Young-woo interacts with the world, and how the world interacts with her. Young-woo had the absolute PERFECT SUMMARY of this when she met Tae Su-mi in the government hall. Oh my gosh. The meditation on co-existence. It was gorgeous. The narwhal and beluga analogy:

"Because everyone is different from me, it's not easy to adjust, and there are a lot of whales that hate me, too. But it's okay. Because this is my life. Though my life is unusual and peculiar, it's valuable and beautiful."

Talk about understanding her in-and-out-and-back-in-again of how she interacts with society. Her analysis of co-existence with a majority nautistic world. Her time at Hanbada, her time with Jun-ho, her growth with her dad and her friends, have helped her develop into the adult she is, getting a better understanding of how she sees the world and how the world sees her.

And she had the damn guts to say this to her mother who abandoned her. Maybe she had those guts because of the self-orientation she has as a person with ASD, but I don't really think so. I think it's because she knows she's grown into a broader understanding of who she is as an adult and a person who deserves love and respect.

(I keep hammering at this point that the life lessons she demonstrates are for ALL of us, regardless if we are autistic or nautistic, and once again, I think the plot demonstrates this.)

2) A couple more notes on family:

Her dad. Yes, her dad played with the devil, and somehow, the plot unwound to relieve him of guilt. I know there's a lot of criticism of Young-woo's dad out there, and I get it.

But..... I'm a parent. 

And.... I might get why he played with the devil. When you see your kid sad -- you might do anything to make them happy. There’s a feeling of love intoxication you get when you have kids. I get it. I get why he did what he did, because when you see your kid sad, your heart stops in a way that’s far more arresting than romantic love.

Which is why I think he was SO relieved to see that Young-woo had her contract renewed at the end of the episode.

It was a close call, to allow his daughter to be played by CEO Han.

But. Remember Young-woo standing up to her dad earlier in the series, asking him to not interfere in her life? We didn't see her saying "no" to her dad to go on the Hanbada paid vacation or to the States with Taesan. But we all know that she DID say no. Because she was still riding out the case in the end.

She stood her ground. She GREW. She's his daughter, but she's also HER PERSON, HER OWN SELF. That happens in family. Shit's complicated, and parents aren't perfect. Parents have got to allow their kids to grow. I think we didn't see the communication there, but she pushed her dad to let her grow. He let her. And fate played out in her favor.

(Also, one note on these conversations getting editorially cut in the show. I wrote last night about non-communication being communication. I wonder if those intentional editorial cuts were meant to kind of replicate the non-verbal moments that Young-woo has in own her life.)

3) More on family!

Who else is her family? Jun-ho now, obviously. (I posted earlier today on the whole cat analogy thing -- you can read my thoughts there, but I thought it was sweet and clunky.)

Who else is her family? She says it at the end. Hanbada is her family. She likes it there. Who knows if there’s another law firm in her offing. But: Hanbada is and was a part of her growth. She likes it. That’s her authentic feeling. 

And who else became family? To Attorney Jung, Hairy and Geu-rami became family and vice versa. And Attorney Jung got a part of his family back. (I want to see more Ji-su in upcoming seasons.)

4) More on growth and change!

Really quickly, it was interesting to see Tae Su-mi decide to quit her candidacy to be a “better mother” (hmph), and interesting to see Min-woo’s switch and growth. We better see these changes in more depth in season two!

Also, I need to better understand the beef between CEO Tae and CEO Han, seriously. As evil as they are, I love me some crazy beesh action. 

5) So, I’ve reflected on tropes and the occurrence of the theme of family in K-dramas, but I also want to commend EAW on centering a person with ASD.

I don’t even know if I have the words to say, as an Asian, how important it was to see this centering. Many of us in Asian cultures are disenfranchised, disengaged with, sidelined, bullied, and ignored for characteristics that stray from perceived norms of our cultures. Our own parents and siblings do that to us. Our schools, our friends, our co-workers, bosses, strangers. Even social media. You stray from a norm — you’re committing a risk. And it just feels more pronounced in Asian cultures because the idea of the perfect family is set up to be this all-encompassing, ultimate ideal that a family unit needs to achieve.

I’m a black sheep in my family for many reasons -- I’ve strayed from the path of my parents. I’m my own person, an Asian-American working mom, much to the chagrin of my own folks, who want me to be at home with my kids (literally, not joking). 

So in a major, well-financed drama, to see an individual woman with ASD, something she cannot at all control physiologically, doing these THINGS that independent women DO -- earning a badass salary, working her ass off at a high-level job, being the GENIUS that Min-woo says she is, being a freaking credentialed lawyer with top honors, getting a hot boyfriend -- it just really means a lot to me. 

It tells society -- the black sheep can win, too. The fact that this drama performed well beyond what ENA and Netflix expected is truly heartwarming. Moon Ji-won -- you are my hero. You packed so much in that I have written literally thousands of words on your work. Thank you for centering and giving agency to the black sheep, for the sake of our Asian cultures that often leave us behind. 

****

THANKS FOR READING, FAM! I may have more thoughts over the next few days. Park Eun-bin, omg, I don’t think I could love you more. Kang Tae-oh, be safe, my man. Season two can’t come soon enough. <3

[buffysummerslay]

I have watched Lucifer series finale yesterday and I am still reeling from feelings, feelings I need to work through to be able to move on.

Unfortunately, I am late to the party and I have started watching Lucifer (despite the show being on my radar for a few years already) when season 6 came out, and this turned avoiding spoilers about the ending as well as the show itself into an extremely hard task. I have, of course, seen some reactions to the ending and it was obvious that the viewers were divided between "the ending was amazing, they really did the story and the characters justice" and "what the fuck was that". I always take these reactions, especially when they come instantly after the episode has ended, with a grain of salt because, realistically, I haven't been fully satisfied with the way a tv show has ended - any tv show - since, like, 2010. However, I also know that there is a difference between "okay, the ending was anticlimactic/disappointing/etc, however, it is the journey that matters and I am still pretty happy with the show" and HIMYM type of ending where you are like "I want this show wiped from my memory because the final hour has ruined the entire experience for me". So, I took some time to reflect on the events that took place, gather my thoughts, and make my peace with the ending. After doing that, I can comfortably say that I am not fully satisfied with the ending because of one very simple reason - I can make sense of the choices taken by the character at the very end of the show only if I use "Lucifer gave Rory his word" rationale, and not because I believe in the theory they provided or the choices they make. So here are some of my thoughts about the ending of this beloved show, including both the things I liked and disliked. Be warned, there are spoilers ahead so if you haven't seen the show, the final season or the series finale, please stop reading because you don't want to manifest spoilery energy into your life!

The main thing I have a problem with is the time loop. I will begin by saying that I really dislike time travel in general - I think that it is an overly used plot divice that more than often creates holes in the story instead of driving the narrative where it needs to go, unless the concept of time travel is integral to the show, like for example in Timeless and Fringe. However, in this case, I dislike that the major characters have made a major decision (a serious, impactful, life-altering decision) based on a flimsy theory. And since they have told us exactly what will happen in the end, we simply didn't know why and how, I have expected a more bulletproof reasoning instead of a rushed conversation wrapped up in five minutes and sealed by a promise. Lucifer leaves Chloe and Rory and goes back to hell, Rory grows up resenting him and she becomes so angry she travels through time to confront him only to end up being the reason for his departure, therefore creating an unbreakable time loop. She makes her parents give her their word that they won't change a thing in order to make sure that Lucifer discovers his true calling, which is helping souls in Hell break their hell loops and ascend to Heaven. And the reason I am so hesitant to accept this is because of two reasons:

1. Lucifer has made amazing progress through the show when it comes to his character development, finding his worth and making peace with his identity, and yet you are trying to tell me that this is the only way he would discover his true calling, especially now when he has a higher level of understanding himself than ever before? And especially since these thoughts and doubts have already been in his mind aka him postponing to become God long before Rory's arrival into their timeline!

2. The consequences of our actions are the results of the choices we make, not the other way around. And sometimes, different choices can lead to different outcomes and sometimes the array of choices we make lead to the same outcome. It is absolutely possible that if they broke the time loop and made different choices, that their actions would lead them to the same outcome aka Lucifer finding his calling while remaining in their lives. I think that it is fully possible for them to make a timeline B (the timeline that would have been created if they broke the time loop) based on the discoveries from the timeline A (their current timeline). There's no reason for me to believe otherwise.

Apart from the discovery of Lucifer's calling, the only thing that came out of the time loop was pain, suffering and probably a lot of loneliness. Even the good things that came out of the time loop (like Lucifer and Rory bonding) are a consequence of the pain that it caused. Of course, if they broke a time loop and created a completely new timeline, choices they would make there could theoretically end up having worse consequences on their lives. They could also be better, or they could be completely the same. The thing is, we don't know, we can only speculate and that is exactly what bothers me. The main characters made a major decision based on a speculation. I don't necessarily have a problem with the things that have happened, but rather with how they happened and how they were explained. Or better to say, how they weren't. I think that they should have completely dedicated the season to exploring this and reassuring us that this is the right choice to make and the right way to go.

Also, the concept of free will and making one's own choices has been pretty integral to the show. We have watched Lucifer struggle with the concept since the beginning of the show because he was convinced he is only a puppet in his father's grand plans. There were many events in the show reinforcing that belief, like Chloe being the gift from God. It took him seasons to accept that he chose to stay in her life, to be close to her, to be her partner in work as well as in life and in that acceptance he finally found the strength to tell her that he loves her. He chose her and she chose him. And while one can argue that leaving them and going back to hell was Lucifer's choice (since, technically, he could have chosen to break his word to his daughter and change things), it is one he didn't want to make. In the final episode he says that he desires to watch his daughter grow up and before he leaves for Hell he tells Chloe he doesn't want to leave her (she even responds that she doesn't want him to leave either, but that this is the choice that they are making for Rory's sake), making me feel like he is making this choice out of duty, out of fear and not because he wants to. He finally accepted that the choices he makes are his and his only, and the final choice in the show was made for him instead by him - I really don't think that the character deserved this. Lucifer gave Rory his word and we know he always goes by his word - they have turned one of the most essential qualities of his character into a plot device and an instrument that caused pain. Additionally, since Rory asked him not to change anything, it was implied that Lucifer can't come back to Earth in order not to risk changing anything even though it is completely possible for him to balance his work hours in Hell and his family time on Earth, like Amenadiel did. I also found this completely unfair and it felt like Lucifer was "banished" to Hell, not only missing out on being with Chloe and watching Rory grow up, but also staying away from his friends and the life he had built for himself. However, on the brighter side, Lucifer doing this - something he doesn't completely understand, something he doesn't want to do - is incredibly selfless of him and only shows how much he has grown. A character who has been described as selfish and self-serving from the very beginning does something so ultimately selfless, something that doesn't serve him in any way - quite the opposite, it pains him. As I said, I don't necessarily mind how things played out, I mind the lack of guarantee that they had to be this way. The only thing we don't know is if Lucifer and Chloe were in contact over the years since Chloe could have kept in touch with him behind Rory's back - maybe she sent him pictures of Rory, and maybe they exchanged letters. I am very doubtful because this would probably make the whole situation harder on them nor do I think that they would risk it because they wouldn't be able to know if their actions are breaking the time loop or if they are a part of the original timeline but hey, this is the stuff that fan fictions are made of!

And finally, I very much disliked the parallel between Lucifer and God - Lucifer abandoning his child for the sake of doing his job and that child growing up resenting him - if it was their intention to draw such a parallel. I think that God somewhat "redeemed" himself in Lucifer's eyes and that through accepting himself Lucifer also learned how to stop resenting his father for the things that transpired between them, and I don't necessarily believe that Lucifer had to walk in his father's shoes to understand him. So, in my opinion, this was completely unnecessary. Something I did like was Lucifer's calling - I think that it shows nicely the full circle he has made and that the souls he thought he is supposed to torture he is now helping heal. In a way, Hell is also the reflection of who Lucifer is - when he saw himself as broken, as evil, as unworthy and undeserving, Hell was also a place of torture - it was a reflection of him. And now that he accepted himself and that others have accepted him for who he is as well, it is a place of healing. In the end, Hell is his kingdom and he can choose to rule it the way he wants to. He broke his own hell loop and he truly became a lightbringer.

And, of course, Lucifer and Chloe (they are so soft and I am so soft for them). Taking into consideration my very bad OTP track reckord, I kinda expected a much, much worse ending for them - I mean, the Devil falling in love with a human, what could possibly go wrong, right? I knew from the very beginning that they aren't getting a pure, wholeseome, family-like ending. In order for that to happen, she would either have to become immortal (leaving Trixie, losing her detective identity), or he would have to become mortal - both of these scenarios feel cheap and I never would have wanted this for them or the show. Another option was to give them their happy life on Earth but then they would either have to leave a somewhat open ending or deal with the fact that ultimately, as a mortal, Chloe will die. And if they were given their happy ending on Earth, who knows if they would end up together in afterlife. Even if they did, it definitely wouldn't feel as emotional and as gratifying as it does now. The thing is, it is easy to give in to the pain of their separation when we measure it by the pivotal moments of happiness and loss that drive the lives of humans - him not being there when Rory was born or when she grew wings or when she started school - and it is even harder when you know how much she needed him and how much he wanted to be there for her. It is even more painful when you think about Chloe spending her entire lifetime without him, carrying all that pain inside of her, and him spending what had to be centuries alone in Hell. However, this is a fantasy show and many of our characters are immortal, celestial beings who have a different understanding of time, so maybe the idea of what a happy ending is and the rules for measuring happiness aren't the same as they would have been under other circumstances. Chloe became lieutenant and tried to make a difference, and she got to raise her daughters and see them grow up, and Lucifer helped so many souls heal, doing so much good. And now they get to spend the eternity together, solving crimes and kicking ass in the afterlife! Many of their friends and family are immortal, celestial beings too and (I am pretty sure) they can pay a visit to their human friends in Heaven... or see them in Hell, but let's hope not! In the end, what is one lifetime compared to eternity? Of course, none of this makes for the time they have lost, the momories they didn't get to make and the moments he wasn't there for, but now there are so many new memories they will get to make and so many moments to catch up on. It is bittersweet, but I think that's how it was supposed to be - in the end, pain is part of life.

I also have a few (dis)honourable mentions:

1. I am really sad and disappointed Lucifer didn't get to say goodbye to Trixie. She was gone for the majority of the season, but she was also a very important person in his life and he loved her. And we know how much she loved him.

2. I can't get over Rory travelling through time to kill her father because she is angry at him... sis, you kill him before he makes you, you wipe yourself out of existence.

3. I can't believe that they were surprised that Chloe got pregnant after having loads of superhuman sex (without any protection, apparently) after another human already got pregnant with an angel not that long ago.

4. Lucifer saying goodbye to Maze will forever remain one of the most beautiful scenes in the show.

5. The final major scene between Chloe and Lucifer, where they say goodbye before he leaves for hell, lives in my head rent free. I was choking on tears watching that scene, I literally had to pause and rewind three times. Such a beautiful(ly painful) scene. Also, when you have a ship and a person A says to the person B "close your eyes", pain is coming. I swear I travelled back to 1999 when Buffy said the same thing to Angel before sending him to a hell dimension.

6. When Chloe dies and goes to Heaven and Amenadiel greets her and asks her if she's ready to go home and then takes her to Lucifer was so pure. Her Heaven is being in Hell with Lucifer and there's something deeply poetic about that.

7. Hearing hello detective for the last time cleared my skin.

I have really and truly enjoyed the show, and the minor inconsistencies I see in its ending can't change that. I loved the show because it told stories about people and it allowed them to drive the narrative, and I can't say many shows these days do that.

[itstimetotheorize]

Shadowmoths victory, Marinette and Adriens breaking point, the miraculous teams desperate efforts (warning, spoilers for season 4 finale)

Ever since the series began, Marinette had always been considered to be one person who would be the most difficult for hawkmoth to manipulate. And while Marinette has had some close calls such as in  “Zombizou”, “Chameleon” and “Ladybug”, Marinette had always  succeeded in avoiding being akumatized, be it through sheer will power alone or just plain luck such as when Nathalie lost her grip on all the akumatized civilians, including Marinette!. 

However, ever since  the episode “chat blanc” had revealed to us just what it would take to akumatize chat noir , many of us had  since begun to wonder what it would take to finally akumatize Marinette?

Marinettes akumatization had always been foreshadowed in previous seasons, especially season 3. Out of all the foreshadowing the show could have ever provided for a number of things, it was almost as if the show was always hinting towards some extreme event should Marinette ever fall prey to hawkmoths manipulation. An event so shocking it would even rival the time chat blanc had destroyed all of Paris. As to what this event would be and how it would come to fruition, well…that all depended on what would happen to hawkmoth and ladybug.

In terms of  hawkmoth, well, hawkmoth had always stated how despite his ongoing defeat, he knew  ladybugs winning streak could not last forever, sooner or later her luck would run out and when it did, she would make a mistake that would finally guaranty his victory. The only question was...how exactly was ladybug(aka Marinette) going to screw up? what would have happened to her that would cause her to lose the cautiousness which has helped her overcome every obstacle thrown her way?. When it comes to Marinette and her battles against hawkmoth, Marinette had always thought things through, she had always remained cautious, calm, collected and above all...she learned not to let her emotions get the better of her so long as hawkmoth was watching and waiting....then again... If Marinette were truly ever to be akumatized, something needed to happen within the show which would lead her to throw all logic she had out the window....but what?...perhaps Zag studios had already provided us with an answer.

Early in July 2021, Zag studios had revealed something NO ONE believed they would have ever considered making public at such an early stage within the release of season 4, what was it exactly? well....it was the title and synopsis for the season 4 finale! 

According to this news, the season 4 finale had been revealed to be titled, “Shadow moths last attack”!....this... was a big deal! because ever since “Timetagger” revealed to us that Gabriel Agreste would Not be the hawk moth of the future, many wondered when exactly  Gabriels time as the villain of the series would come to an end. Well, after years of waiting, it would appear as though shadow moths time WILL come to an end... in season 4!.

But aside from revealing shadowmoths possible last season, Zag had also coincidentally revealed in an interview one very important, but not all to surprising plot point of the series. Before his inevitable demise... shadowmoth will first obtain what he had worked so hard to take...ladybug and chat noirs miraculous! 

However, despite hawkmoths inevitable victory before his final defeat, its clear something of great importance needed to happen to Marinette in order to guarantee hawkmoth obtaining the miraculous of creation….but what? What needed to happen?

Looking back at all the times shadowmoth had attempted to steal ladybug and chat noirs miraculous, shadow moth had only ever akumatized every person he could get his hands on in order to obtain the help he needed to accomplish his goal.... and yet time and time again, every person he had come across would fail him, but why?...well, maybe it was always because they were never the right person for the job... maybe what hawkmoth always needed was someone who would be considered his greatest “masterpiece”...and as we have seen throughout the series, that someone...was always Marinette!

but even if hawkmoth realizes he must obtain someone like Marinette in order to accomplish his goal, how would he even go about finally akumatizing her?... well...isn't it obvious...shadowmoth never needed to wait for her to fall into emotional destress, because all he needed to do was use the one person who he knew could push anyone to far... or quite simply, cause a situation which would purposely  force large groups of people to be akumatized at the same time. Who is this person exactly? well... we all know the answer to that....its Lila Ross of course!!

Despite Lilas lack of participation within season 4, many understood she couldn't stay quiet forever, after all, Lila had always been presented as someone who was more than willing to take part in some sort of major evil event within the series, such as the season 1 finale, the season 2 finale and even the season 3 finale!!. And based on zag studios reveal of the season 4 finale description, it would appear as though Lila will once again have her part to play. Looking at the season 4 synopsis, its said:

“Having understood that her cautiousness is the reason why Ladybug is always triumphing, Shadow Moth prepares a diabolic plan which consists of creating a supervillain able to make his victims take all sorts of risks. When Marinette finds out that Adrien is leaving Paris for a few weeks with Lila, the new figure of the Agreste brand, she’s ready to do anything to prevent him from doing so; but to what point? Would she reveal her secret identity for the sake of love? And would Adrien take the risk of finally confronting his father?”

Now, despite Marinette having been displayed as someone who was willing to take risks for the wrong reasons in the past, Marinette has also been shown to improve in taking risks for the right reasons over the span of the series (such as entrusting Alya with her secret identity). However!...keep in mind we don't yet know for sure if Marinette will be the one akumatized within the season 4 finale until the studio reveals the official season 4 finale trailer. But if Marinette is truly planned to be akumatized, then its possible the studio may have already revealed to us what we had suspected all along. Just as in “ladybug”, Lila will once again be used by hawkmoth in order to attempt to akumatize the “bad influence” she claims to be following Adrien, the bad influence being of course, Marinette herself! However, considering Lilas agreement with Adrien to not hurt the people he cares about (after pulling a stunt on Marinette which caused her to get expelled) its clear Gabriel will have to devise a scheme which will place Lila in a situation where she will finally force Marinette to reach her breaking point and make her take every risk she can as she watches Lila being given the chance  to leave on a trip with Adrien! 

And considering the great lengths Marinette went through just to warn Adrien of Lila back in “Oni- chan”, who knows what kind of lengths Marinette will go through to stop Lila and Adrien from leaving together. Should this occur, its possible Marinette will begin to lose her sense of self and toss all logic she has out the window as she uses everything and I mean EVERYTHING she has at her disposal to accomplish her goal...this includes her powers as ladybug! 

It wouldn't be the first time Marinette had used her powers for selfish reasons. After all, the only reason the events of “chat blanc” occurred in the first place, was because Marinette decided to use her powers to enter Adriens room in order to leave her signed gift. This single act alone was what ultimately lead Adrien to discover that ladybug is Marinette. So then...  if Marinette were to once again use her powers for the sake of love, would her actions once again result in the one mistake she always knew would lead to disaster? would her misguided attempts.... reveal her identity to shadowmoth himself?!...maybe

If Marinettes desperate attempts really result in her identity being revealed to shadowmoth then would her frustration over Lila, piled on top of everything else she is dealing with as ladybug and guardian, finally seal her fate of being akumatized?!...perhaps....but even if Marinette were to finally be akumatized and even if hawkmoth were to finally obtain his chance to take the miraculous of creation, how would he then obtain the miraculous of destruction from Adrien?...well...lets just say Gabriel might have already had his suspicions from the very beginning, after all, aside from Marinettes akumatization being for shadowed within every season thus far, the only other major for shadowing which followed parallel to Marinette was Gabriels growing suspicion towards Adrien and the ring he had on his finger! However, even if Gabriel continues to grow suspicious towards Adrien, what could possibly happen between the two off them that will finally reveal to Gabriel his sons secrets?...unless...what if Gabriel reveals his secrets to Adrien first?...

Gabriel had always stated how much he wished he could have told Adrien about his mothers true condition and whereabouts. That despite all the cruel things he had done up to now, it was all for the sake of bringing his mother back. When Adrien had discovered hawkmoths identity and the true reason behind his actions back in “chat blanc”, we see how despite chat noirs loyalty to ladybug and despite him wanting to carry out his responsibility as a hero by stopping hawkmoth, Adrien still struggled with  the thought of being given the chance to be reunited with his own mother, even at the cost of ladybug and his miraculous! 

The frustration of his fathers true identity, the realization about his mother having never disappeared and hawkmoths words swaying him with the idea that he could have his mom back was what gave shadowmoth the chance he needed to finally take chat noirs mind and force him to be akumatized! However, keep in mind, all these events happened in a separate timeline which was later fixed through Bunnyx powers and ladybugs quick thinking to erase her name on her signed gift to Adrien. The events of “chat blanc” were sealed to never happen again so hawkmoth would never find out Adriens true identity as chat noir...but if hawkmoth were to truly obtain the miraculous of destruction then... wouldn't Adrien first give him the chance to take it all over again!?

Fans had always feared the return of chat blanc within the series, especially after seeing chat noirs growing frustration over ladybug throughout the span of season 4.

If Adrien were to discover all over again hawkmoths identity and his mother whereabouts near the end of season 4, would Adrien once again give shadowmoth the chance he needs to once again akumatize him?!...along with Marinette?! or would Adriens confusion and distress lead him to once again become vulnerable enough to make a mistake which would reveal to Gabriel what he had suspected all along... his own son.... has a miraculous! but not just any  miraculous, the miraculous of destruction he’s been fighting for!

However!, despite hawkmoth being fated to finally obtain both miraculous, there is still something even hawkmoth himself has yet to realize... something he never bothered to consider as he became blindsided with his thoughts of victory... his wish.... CAN be granted... but its comes with a PRICE!....Its just as Master Fu said, whoever wields the ladybug and cat miraculous will be given the chance to make a wish that can alter reality itself. However!, because the universe needs to maintain a balance when a wish is made, something of equal effect must happen in return. Despite Gabriels plan to use the miraculous to fix a past mistake and finally restore his wife to her former self, Gabriel might have never realized once his wish is granted, something bad will happen in return! as to what this disastrous result would be... well, your guess is as good as mine. If hawkmoth tried to just revive his wife then perhaps someone else might be forced to take her place. But if Gabriel were to go to the extreme and actually change a past event which lead his wife to be in the state she is in now, then this alone could prove to have major consequences. Its just as Bunnyx said, messing with time is dangerous, and if your not careful it could have dire consequences in the future.

 But regardless of what will happen, one thing is for certain, the end result of Gabriels wish.... will be catastrophic! and may quite possibly be to much for ladybug and chat noir to solve even if they do manage to get their miraculous back!

so, this does beg the question, should hawkmoth obtain the miraculous of destruction and creation after akumatizing Marinette and quite possibly even Adrien then later cause a catastrophic event upon seeing his wish be granted...what could possibly happen within the series to solve this mess?!... well, keep in mind, ladybug already planned ahead, after all, she and chat noir are no longer the only superheroes in Paris. Even if she and chat noir were to be defeated by hawkmoth, there is still one person hiding in the shadows, ready to take action and ready to gather all the heroes of the miraculous team in order to face this challenge. Who is this miraculous person waiting to take action should the day arrive? why...its Alya of course!

Ever since Alya had been entrusted by Marinette to act as a temporary replacement to ladybug( should anything ever happen to her) many understood it would only be a matter of time before Alya had to take charge and gather the rest of the miraculous team in order to fight the two people anyone would dread facing in battle, ladybug and chat noir!. But how would Alya even begin to figure out the proper way to handle this kind of situation even with the aid of the other miraculous heroes?, Alya only ever understood ladybugs side of things now that she knew her secret identity, but how could she possibly help chat noir when she doesn't even know who he is!....then again....she doesn't have to struggle with figuring out who chat noir is...because Luka already knows both ladybug and chat noirs identities!

We always theorized ladybug and chat noirs identities would one day be revealed to someone close to them, granted, since season 4 is still ongoing we don't yet know if Adrien will bring himself to reveal his own identity to Nino just as Marinette revealed her identity to Alya at the start of the season. But, ever since the events of “Wishmaker” revealed to Luka the identities of ladybug and chat noir, fans had wondered why Luka of all people would be set up to discover both of their identities without either of their consent?, well, after much debate, the answer may have been obvious all along... unlike the other miraculous heroes, he and one other miraculous holder carry with them a power  which will serve of great importance should Alya and the others be forced to face ladybug, chat noir and hawkmoth all at the same time. Considering the unimaginable challenge which is to be faced near the end of season 4, then its possible Luka was always one person who needed to know ladybug and chat noirs identities should he ever give the team a winning chance! 

If what we suspect is true and if  Alya and the others are meant to face their leaders in a fight, its obvious this fight alone... will be doomed to be plagued with errors and failures!, after all, this is ladybug and chat noir we are talking about, the miraculous team doesn't stand a chance against this dynamic duo to begin with, but if Alya and the other heroes ever plan to succeed then they must have someone who will proved them with a “second chance”, no matter how many things go wrong! Lukas power alone can provide the team with as many chances needed in order to change everything which could result in failure! and  with luka having already known ladybug and chat noirs identities, he will waste no time in finding a way to save their friends rather than remain in shock and confusion over the outcome which will occur in the finale. But if this were to be the teams solution in saving ladybug and chat noir, then what will they then do about the mess hawkmoth leaves once his wish is granted?

 If his wish were to truly cause a catastrophic event, would Marinettes miraculous ladybug be able to fix it even if they managed to defeat shadowmoth? we’ve seen ladybugs power repair some extraordinary things, but could it repair the effects of the two most powerful miraculous being used together? Should ladybug try to repair this incredible damage and fail, then what would she and the others do next once they’ve all failed?....unless....what if this was never their mess to help fix, because if everyone fails, then maybe it will soon be time for ladybug to call upon the one miraculous holder who had been labeled as “the miraculous of last chance”....what is this miraculous?...why...the rabbit miraculous of course!

Fans had always been anticipating the return of Bunnyx, or rather, they have always been waiting to see when young Alix would finally have her chance to use the rabbit miraculous. But considering the dangers of the rabbit miraculous, many knew it would not be used until the day it was absolutely necessary... well... if the team were to continue struggling in saving ladybug and chat noir, then perhaps Alix will soon rise up to help figure out a way to not only save ladybug and chat noir, but also help find a way to repair the incredible damage which will be caused by hawkmoths wish...but what will she do?... will she travel to the past to alter something which will fix the present?... if so, what would she even change without causing another catastrophe?... or will she travel to the future and seek the aid of someone who she knows could help her and the team solve this terrifying crises?...but even if she did, who could she possibly bring back to the present?...would it be someone she already knew and trusted just as much as her future self talked about trusting herself?....someone like...the ladybug and chat noir of the future!?...maybe...but I guess we will just have to wait and see, for now thats just a theory... a miraculous ladybug theory!

[5ro4]

Dark makes no sense [Spoilers of the whole show]

I thought Netflix’s Dark season 3 was disappointing, boring and made no sense. From its first few chapters I was wishing for it to end already, but it kept going, simultaneously being a convoluted exposition dump while actually explaining nothing, then pulling an ending out of nowhere long after I had stopped caring.

It’s kinda hard to find proper criticism for the series last season; most people just praise how it’s the best possible ending and everything makes perfect sense, so I decided to write my thoughts and criticism.

I’ll clarify that I enjoyed seasons 1 and 2 a lot. They are convoluted in a good and interesting way, where everything seems to fit nicely together, to have been properly planned all along, and it carries the promise that the deeper mysteries that remain will be explained later on.

But then season 3 happens. I still think overall it’s a good show, interesting and worth watching, but season 3 is disappointing and the show as a whole is certainly no “perfectly written masterpiece”.

Massive spoilers from now on.

Even if it made logical sense, season 3 is bad.

Most of the charm of the first 2 seasons is watching how every action fits in a single linear timeline and how every cause had an unexpected consequence that makes the timeline more and more complex while maintaining perfect coherence. It’s hard to follow, but it’s doable.

Then season 3 ruins the charm by making everything so convoluted it’s impossible to follow and unsatisfactory to even try.

Complexity is enjoyable up to the point where anything can happen. Why would you still care then? How could you? A mystery is intriguing because it needs to be explained by the rules of the world; the rules you know and are able to follow. If the explanation could be “a witch did it”, then none of the mysteries would be intriguing.

So we have a character that dies, and it’s intriguing because we know he’s alive in the future, so how can this be possible? Well, there’s actually 2 parallel worlds, so he’s alive in the other world. It’s a surprising twist, but the rules have been broken; now almost every mystery can be explained by the existence of a parallel world.

But then a character dies in both worlds! How can that be? Well, in the second world there’s actually two intertwined timelines, so they died in one of them but no the other.

How are you supposed to care about anything that happens from this point onward? No mystery is that mysterious when the possibility of a convoluted explanation involving multiple worlds and timelines is always there. And why even bother trying to make sense of it when they could pull out a fourth timeline or a third parallel world at any moment (and they actually do)?

Character’s motivations are impossible to follow because everyone is lying and being double-crossed by alternate reality characters all the time.

Half of the characters you are following now aren’t even the original characters but their versions from another world or another timeline inside that second world, so it’s really difficult to keep caring about any of them.

I’m not even going to attempt to criticize any of the fine details or possible loose ends because when characters can jump between timelines and realities at any time and all of them are either lying or being lied to, I’m pretty sure that by watching the show 3 times and reading the wiki you could find some plausible explanation for any small inconsistency, but at this level of complexity who even cares.

However, I think there are major, big picture flaws that somehow seem to have gone over most people’s head.

1.- The end is the beginning, therefore every action is an explanation for itself.

Most of the plot and almost the entirety of season 3 could be summed up as: A ton of people do nonsensical things because they know their future selves did those things, so they must repeat them because time is linear (except in the end it isn’t).

The bootstrap paradox is the cheap way this show has to explain any mystery and any character motivation: It happened the first time, so it must happen the second one too. Since this is a loop with no beginning, there is no need for any action to have had a logical explanation at one point.

It becomes useless to try to understand why any of the main mysterious characters do anything or what their plan is, because it can always be explained (and often does) as just “this is what happened the first time, so it must happen the second one too”.

There’s a point where one character is compelled to kill himself just because a character from the future saw him kill himself, so he must kill himself now so the future is consistent, even though there was never an actual reason for him to kill himself.

This is cheap and lazy because you can have any character doing any mysterious thing and no explanation is needed. Why do Noah and Helge drop dead kids at specific times and locations? Because they are just repeating what their future selves did, and since the loop has no beginning, no original reason exists.

2.- Adam, Eve and Claudia’s plans and motivations make no sense.

Adam and Eve’s motivations, and to some extent Claudia’s, are extremely unclear. They are the ones who explain to everyone else how time and parallel worlds work, except they are always lying and opposing their younger selves, and they are actually wrong about how all of it works.

This makes it hard to actually know what their actual motivations are, since the show doesn’t clearly show when and how they arrived at their current understanding of the world. It’s somewhat clear what they are trying to do, but not why they are trying to do so or what makes them so confident about their knowledge.

The show presents Adam and Eva as opposing forces trying to control time, while Claudia helps one or the other at different times for different reasons, yet most of the time all of them are actually doing exactly the same thing: Trying to make everything happen as it happened the last time.

So the story goes something like this: Following Adam’s instructions, Young Jonas tries to change the past by preventing himself from being born. Claudia stops him, tells him he must fight against Adam and therefore he can’t stop existing, so he must let history repeat itself. Jonas works alongside Claudia and somehow eventually ends up becoming Adam, whose plan, according to the Dark Wiki (dark-netflix.fandom.com) is to keep the cycle going.

This makes no sense, but that last part is actually wrong, at least to some extent, which shows that even the people writing the wiki don’t really know Adam’s motivations.

By the end of the show, it’s clear what is the ultimate thing each of them are trying to accomplish: Adam wants to destroy both worlds, Eve wants to keep the cycle going to avoid Adam destroying the worlds, and Claudia wants to save her daughter in at least one world. None of them seems to actually care about the apocalypse, although that was supposed to be the main conflict to avoid.

But how did Adam and Eve reach those conclusions? That’s never properly explained and their whole development seems nonsensical and contradictory: They try to change the past as their younger selves, they grow old trying and realize it’s impossible, so they turn around and try to prevent their younger selves from changing it.

At every chance they had to actually change the past someone appeared to stop them or convinced them not to do it, yet they somehow end up with the belief that time cannot be changed, while simultaneously doing their best effort to ensure time is not changed.

This is a total contradiction. Either you think time can be changed and try to do so, or you think time can’t be changed and do nothing about people trying, since you don’t need to prevent anyone from doing what you believe to be impossible.

Adam’s plan is to kill Martha and her baby, since her son is who ultimately will put the whole cycle in motion. If he is successful, he will create a paradox where the cycle was never put in motion therefore none of them exist, and thus they will cease to exist*. To do so, he needs to make pregnant-Martha go through a time travel portal because quantum shenanigans say that’s the only way to remove her baby from existence.

* “A paradox happens therefore we suddenly stop existing” makes no logical sense, but since it’s a common trope, let’s ignore it for now.

Eva knows of Adam’s plan and disagrees. For some not properly explained reason, she would rather have and infinite loop of people repeating their same miserable lives rather than ending the loop and making them disappear,  thinking this is equal to them never existing, although they clearly existed. There might also be motherly instincts mixed in; the love for the son she is never shown having a conversation with before turning him into a murder machine to prevent him from not existing.

Eva’s plan is pretty stupid and evil, while Adam’s plan is contradictory, since he is preventing people from changing the past or creating a paradox in order for him to create a particular paradox as a last resource after failing to change the past.

Meanwhile Claudia is trying to repeat the timeline with the intention of actually changing everything at some point, but I don’t care to try and guess what her plan actually was all along.

3.- There’s no way Claudia could get her final revelation.

The characters are supposedly repeating the same cycle over and over, so nothing should actually change, but let’s say it can somehow because they explain something about moving grains of sand.

Concluding that a third world must exist because “there’s always a third dimension” is already a wild logical jump, but even so, how could she ever conclude that the third world was an original one that got destroyed and divided into two parallel realities, and that the reason was the clockmaker failed to make a time machine? It is completely impossible for her to conclude such things.

4.- The creation of the two worlds makes no sense.

So, there was an original world. A clockmaster tries to make a time machine, but instead destroys his world creating… two parallel worlds with 3 timelines that are interconnected in an extremely convoluted loop without beginning? And neither of those worlds actually spawns from the moment he activates the time machine, since he is intercepted years before that by those world’s time travelers?

This is a total cop-out that’s not a better explanation than “magic”. A dude made a machine that destroyed the world and spawned 3 seasons of a completely arbitrary but conveniently interconnected mystery thriller.

5.- Time rules are inconsistent

There’s a scene in which time is proven to be so deterministic that Jonas is literally immortal. He can't be killed because that’s not the place and time where he’s supposed to die in. This is both dumb and inconsistent.

The concept makes sense to a certain extent: If the character is alive in the future, it means he didn’t die in the past. However, that only works as long as the character is not trying to kill himself to prove a point. It only works somewhat elegantly in the show because Jonas accepts it as truth and doesn’t try to push it further, but what if he didn’t? What if he kept trying to kill himself just because he knows he can’t? Would knives break and guns keep getting jammed? It’s dumb because it implies time is a sentient being that will go out of its way to prevent things that aren’t supposed to happen from happening.

Also, it’s inconsistent because it’s latter confirmed that the past can in fact be changed.

6.- Conflicting beliefs are held at the same time.

Eva devotes her life to ensure everything happens as it should happen while simultaneously being 100% sure things will happen in the present as they happened in the future and there’s no way to avoid that. She is dumbfounded when Adam doesn’t kill her the moment he was supposed to kill her.

I’m pretty sure Adam and Claudia hold these same contradicting beliefs at one point or another, simultaneously believing the past can’t change while making their best effort to ensure it doesn’t change.

7.- Time stopped for a brief moment.

Claudia literally says that time stopped for a brief moment when the clockmaster activated his time machine or something.

Think about that. She’s telling you that time stopped during a small  period of time. She's using time to mesure the lack of time.

Also, how could she ever know if time was stopped and for how long (hah), and how does it make any sense that her plan is to do something while time is stopped.

8.- Deep meaningful answers for the gullible.

This is not a plot hole, just a criticism to the writing and the development of the plot: Almost every time a character makes a crucial question to the character that holds the answer, they either don’t respond because of the bootstrap paradox (“my future self didn’t explain it to you so now that I’m in the same situation I won’t explain it either to avoid changing the past”) or they quote a philosopher or something in an attempt to seem deep while giving a non-answer that’s completely unrelated to the current conversation.

This is an actual conversation from the show:

- Why are you storing barrels full of nuclear waste inside an underground cave? - What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean.

OK! No more questions then!

9.- Blind trust in the wrong person.

This is also a relatively minor nitpick I just want to get off my chest.

Characters, particularly Jonas and Martha, blindly trust anyone who appears before them and tell them they have been lied to, even after discovering that the last three people who supposedly revealed the truth to them was actually lying too.

This could still be believable given the circumstances until we get to the point when they would rather trust a total stranger over their future selves. Why would you trust anyone over your future self? Even if they are lying, you will become them in the future; their plan will be your plan, no matter how hard is it to understand now. Yet Jonas doesn’t require any proof from Claudia before trusting her completely over Adam.

10.- Why are Jonas and Martha needed to stop the cycle?

This is never actually explained beyond some vague idea of them being at the center of everything. Claudia could have traveled to the original world herself. Jonas could have done it too without taking Martha with him.

How do they even tune the machine to take them to a world that no longer exists?

11.- The whole time tunnel with Jonas and Martha?

???

12.- The resolution is a paradox, and thus impossible.

In order to stop time travel from ever existing they need to travel in time and prevent time travel from being created, thus making their existence a paradox, which makes them slowly disappear in a cloud of gold dust.

I know this was done for the visual spectacle, but still.

So much struggle against determinism, so many exposition dumps, so much care to make every piece fit perfectly in the timeline, just for the final resolution to be a blatant paradox. Pretty, but not really fitting.

Even though multiple universes with multiple timelines are shown to exist, somehow the rules of time only allow for a single timeline to exist in the end, even if that timeline contains an impossible paradox.

[ownedbybooks]

End of Year Reading Tag 📚

I was tagged on my main account by @therefugeofbooks so I thought "what a better way to start my new bookblr blog, then through my 2021 readings?". Thanks for the tag, Caah! <3

Let's go to the questions:

did you reach your reading goal for the year (if you had one)?

No, I didn't :( But I almost reached it! My goal was to read 55 books and I finished 2021 by reading 44 books. I was happy, though, because I've read 40+ books!

what are your top 3 books you read this year?

The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller;

La vie devant soi, by Romain Gary;

Time's Divide, by Rysa Walker.

what’s a book that you didn’t expect to enjoy quite so much going in?

Proteja-me, by Mila Wander & Josy Stoque. It was clearly from the beginning that it was a more madure and erotic book. And even though i like the spicy scenes, till this book I haven't found one that had a really good plot, characters and writing. So I started reading it with precaution, knowing it was going to be hard to me to like it. But, surprisingly, IT WAS EVERYTHING I WANTED. The writing was great, the characters had depth, the plot was more than the "i want to fuck her/him", it had drama, it discussed important topics, it had emotional growth, the majority of the female characters respected each other (even though they might despise each other at some points). Great, great, great reading!

were there any books that didn’t live up to your expectations?

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. I think that great part was from the fact that I already knew major spoilers about it, because of pop culture references. But still, I was hoping I was going to enjoy the read a bit more.

did you reread any old faves? If so, which one was your favourite?

I did reread some books, but none were previously my favourites. I don't even know if I can considere one of them my favourite rereads of 2021 ahhahah Maybe Glass Sword, by @vaveyard since I decided to finish the whole series and for that I needed to reread the first 2 volumes :)

did you dnf any books?

Only the ones I couldn't finish before the new year arrived (but spoiler: i already finished one of them):

Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop, by Timothy Samara;

Broken Throne, by @vaveyard

did you read any books outside your usual preferred genre(s)?

Even though I LOVE Historical Romance movies and tv shows, I'm not very used to it as a book genre.

So, after binge watching the first whole season of Bridgerton on 2020, I decided to read the first book of the series: The Duke and I, by Julia Queen. I thought it was okay (apart from a specific scene), but still I feel I'm not 100% used to this genre.

what was your predominant format this year?

Well… e-book and digital reading. Even thought I've read a lot of physical books, e-book was 50% of my most read format.

what’s the longest book you read this year?

Horror Clássico, a 3-in-1 ebook: it has together Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Dracula. I am now considering myself an gothic literature affectionate hahhaha

what are your top 3 anticipated 2022 releases?

I'm not much in touch with releases… So I don't know…

what books from your tbr did you not get to this year, but are excited to read in 2022?

I don't normally do TBRs, only during read-a-thons. But I'm going to answer this question based on my "Want to Read" pile from Goodreads (which for me is kinda like a TBR):

Oscar et la dame rose, by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt;

The Mirror & the Light, Hilary Mantel (I have even already bought it!);

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by Suzanne Collins;

Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare;

The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien

[gamergirlshelby]

"Can we talk about the BNHA OC Comeback timeline? I've been dying to talk about my theories for the BNHA OC Comeback timeline all day!"

-Me to anyone willing to listen.

Here are the ramblings of me, someone who has no restraint when it comes to coming up with crazy theories about their interests, rambling about their theories on how the BNHA OC Comeback timeline could work.

Note: this is all speculation, and if the people in charge of the AU deem it to not be canon it is not. This was just something I did for fun because I wanted to do some writing. That is why I said could happen and not should happen, because this is all just fun speculation, and none of the other fandoms I am a part of have been able to scratch that itch for me lately.

Also, I will be talking about spoilers for a majority of the anime, but mostly stuff revealed in seasons 3-5, with a little bit of stuff from seasons 1 and 2, since those are the seasons with a lot of the important details that I will be attempting to write work arounds for. I will also be using the Wiki's names for story arcs (a list of which can be found here) when referring to specific plot events.

My ramblings about my theories are under the read more:

Also, to start this off, this speculation was pretty much brought upon by this post from the official BNHA OC Comeback blog, but what is important here is the tags.

I think the idea of Class 1-A and Class 1-B being third years would be a good starting point for what I want to be diving into.

First point should be a little obvious but in this timeline, Deku still inherits One for All from All Might. This is mainly because if he didn't, if someone where to write or draw an interaction between this version of class 1-A with, lets say class 1-X for this example, Deku would likely not be there, due to not having a quirk, causing the question of "who is the 20th student in class 1-A?" One for All would likely be passed down to someone else (most likely Mirio because Nighteye was going to recommend him to All Might in the first place, and if Deku is not going to inherit it, I doubt there would be anything in the way of Mirio getting One for All)

Second point I want to point out is the battle between All Might and All for One that had happened before the events of the show. I think All Might will still suffer from his injuries from the fight, and continue being the symbol of peace, even if it is killing him. BUT I think it would be best if All for One gets defeated and gets put into hiding, not initiating any of his plans or finding Tomura Shigaraki. Tomura never getting taken in by One for All would also cause the League of Villains to never form (at least not in the way we are familiar with) so we.

Third Point is, although this is speculation, and I do not know where Nomus come from, I do think, even without the league of villains, there would be some sort of lab somewhere where Nomus are being created, likely as one of the last things All for One was able to set into motion before going into hiding in the AU. (I mostly went with this because I think Nomus as a concept are really cool, and I think it would be great to have some sort of generic enemy for the 1-X and 1-Y students to have to face without the need of creating a new organization)

Fourth Point is because All for One is in hiding, so All for One can not force All Might to reveal his "injured form" (I dunno what else to call it), but I do think when All Might and Sato get engaged, he will maybe (and this is a big maybe) reveal it to the public on his own, as more of a "I'm retiring and settling down now" then a "You must keep fighting because I can not" thing, causing crime to not sky rocket, but still rise because there is no more symbol of peace, since there is still the possibility (at least in the publics mind) that All Might could come out of retirement and go back to saving people.

Alright now I begin with some of the actual stuff that actively happened in the show that Class 1-A and Class 1-B had experienced.

Alright so everything at the beginning of the anime is the same, going up until the USJ arc. This is because, as stated previously, there is no League of Villains to attack the USJ. The only thing I can think of that could possibly stay the same is the All Might vs Nomu fight, because I think Nomus as a concept are cool and that was an awesome fight. The only way for the fight to happen though is that the Nomu is let loose somewhere else, like a highly populated area, because it makes no sense for it to be at USJ without the League.

Next is the sports festival, and this would also go the same. But after that is probably the most interesting arc I leave mostly unchanged, being the Hero Killer Arc. This is because, even without a League of Villain's, there would still be people following Stain's ideologies after he is detained, so I think maybe there could be some sort of small unorganized group of people following Stain's beliefs that there are no more "true" heroes. The group of stain followers would likely be the characters that had joined the League of Villains after the Hero Killer Arc (like Dabi, Himiko Toga, and Twice). It is also unchanged in the sense that the students are interning with Pro Heroes, and that Nomus are running around, being a cool concept (can you tell I like Nomus? I just think they are neat.).

Next is the Final exams Arc, which would go unchanged, but the next arc, the Forrest Camp Training arc, would also not have a League attack (because there is no league), and Class 1-A and Class 1-B have a normal experience at the training camp, causing there to be no Hideout Raid arc, because there is no hideout to raid.

Next, the Provisional License Exams are the same results, so no change here, except Camie Utsushimi would be there instead of Toga's impersonation of her, and still ending up to need to take the Remedial Course.

After that is the Shie Hassaikai Arc and then Remedial Course Arc. The Shie Hassaikai Arc would actually largely go unchanged because it is mainly just another internship for the Hero Course students, with the only change to the arc being the League involvement being removed, even though this would leave some plot holes, which I will fill by saying the small unorganized Stain followers would take the place of the league (since Toga and Twice are apart of the Stain followers group, so they would still end up working for them, filling the same rolls they had in the original Arc). Also Overhaul doesn't lose his arms because there would be no reason for him to get them ripped off (because there is no League of Villains). ALSO this means Eri would be canon to the BNHA OC Comeback, which I wanted to mention since from my knowledge she is a fan favorite. After that, the Remedial Course would go unchanged.

I'm also going to say that Mirio will have already gotten his quirk back during the main events of the AU, since Nighteye had predicted that he would get it back before Nighteye had died. How he gets it back will likely go unanswered, since I have not read ahead to the most recent chapter of the manga, only watching the anime, so we should leave the answer to how he got it back to be unclear just in case he gets it back in a spoiler-y way.

Then, lastly as of right now, the rest of the arcs would go unchanged up untill the latest arc where Todoroki, Midoriya, and Bakugo are interning with Endeavor, excluding the parts of the arc going into the Meta Liberation War, which can not properly go through thanks to their being no League of Villains, but especially because there is no Tomura.

Alright now we get to the stuff some of you are here for, being the new info and timeline stuff that occurs during the year Class 1-X and 1-Y are first years. First off, Class 1-A and Class 1-B would now be third years, which was a concept brought up in the original post that cause my brain to go into theory mode.

I would also like to pose the idea of a new "Big Three", replacing Mirio Togata, Tamaki Amajiki, and Nejire Hado (and also the nameless "Big Three" from when 1-A/1-B had been second years in this AU) since 1-A and 1-B are now all third years. This new "Big Three" would be made up of Katsuki Bakugo, Shoto Todoroki, and Izuku Midoriya, seeing as out of Class 1-A and Class 1-B, those three have shown to be the most consistent heavy hitters (and also being the most relevant to the original plot).

Aside from that, Class 1-A and 1-B would not be doing that much in the AU aside from the new "Big Three" occasionally helping out the first year Hero Course students with their studies.

Anyway if you read this far I really appreciate it. I have some more ramblings about stuff in the tags, but its more side stuff that doesn't really effect this AU within another AU.

[violettathepiratequeen]

April 3rd, 2025

Hello there, gentle viewers! Welcome back to Buffy Slays, where I’ll be going through all 144 episodes of BtVS over the course of a year, highlighting as many of the GOOD moments, lines, character choices, worldbuilding moments, etc. etc. as I think people will have the patience to read. 

So, here we go! 

Season 2, Episode 2, “Some Assembly Required.”

A series of grave robbings leads to a science club with a sinister agenda. (Pulled from Hulu.)

If you're reading along and haven't finished the show, consider this your Spoiler Warning for discussion of future episodes and major plot points in any and all of these posts.

Episode Number: #14 Episode Ranking: #137 out of 144. Writer: Ty King

Top 5 Quotes:

“Speak English, not whatever they speak in, um…” “England?” —Buffy and Giles

“Love makes you do the wacky.” —Willow

“Sorry, but I'm an old-fashioned gal. I was raised to believe that men dig up the corpses and the women have the babies.” —Buffy

“Maybe not, but I'll tell you this: people don't fall in love with what's right in front of them. People want the dream. What they can't have. The more unattainable, the more attractive.” —Xander

“Yeah, but he's in your life. He gets to be there when I can't. Take your classes, eat your meals, hear your jokes and complaints. He gets to see you in the sunlight.” —Angel

How “Some Assembly Required” Slays:

Buffy plays with a yo-yo in the beginning scene while she waits for a vampire to rise. Like the lollipop from the Harvest, it signals the child within, the playfulness that’s still inside her, and I love to see it. Buffy’s yo-yo will return in the episode after this, and Willow will give one to her as a way to pass the time when her mother is in the hospital, so symbolism aside, Buffy just likes yo-yos!

Giles has to practice asking Miss Calendar out… by asking a chair. Xander and Buffy walk in on him doing so, and give him playful ribbing as is their right, before Buffy actually coaches him on what to do. She is encouraging of his date throughout, reminding him of what to say, letting him skip out on helping her to keep his date at the football game, and all of it is so delightful and precious.

Even better though is when Giles actually goes to ask Jenny out, and totally chokes. He tries his best, we can see him fumbling over what words to use and not use, as instructed by Buffy. Jenny totally bails him out by just doing the asking out for him, and he smiles all twitterpated and even gives a little skip afterwards. Giles in love is absolutely something we were robbed of having more of because he’s just SO precious.

Giles’ giddiness for the weird and disturbing returns. He’s so excited to talk about grave-robbing and what might be the reason for it, and when Buffy chides him, he offers a string of words a normal person might say under the circumstances, even though he’s still wearing a pleased smile.

Miss Calendar tells Giles to call her Jenny, stating that “Miss Calendar was my father.” Honestly the best part of her character is the way she keeps him on his toes! The fact that she also loves football and admits she can’t find a justifiable reason for doing so is amazing, as is the fact that she drags Giles WELL out of his comfort zone to go to one. And then teases him about a first and a second date.

The Scoobies digging up a grave. Willow promises to bring food for the event, and she does, even though she’s the only one partaking as she and Buffy sit off to the side and watch the men dig. Xander says they should help, and Buffy declines, but I actually love this. Because they KNOW she’s the strongest one and could probably do this in half the time it takes the two guys. And when Giles and Xander are both squeamish about actually opening the coffin, Buffy jumps in and takes care of it. It’s not that Buffy couldn’t dig up a grave, it’s that the girls are being spared the hard and dirty work, being treated as the ladies they are, and it makes me happy.

Buffy’s empathy. And yes, this should just be a segment in every episode, but as most of this blog is just singing her praises anyway, that seems a little redundant. When Willow tells her about Daryl’s death, Buffy immediately expresses condolences for Daryl’s younger brother, Chris. When she goes to the Epps’ house and sees the totally checked out mother, she is patient and gentle. Though irritated with Chris at the horrendous things he does and tries to do, Buffy is always tactful when talking to him. And after stopping him from plunging into the fire at the end, she sits with him and listens to him explain why he did what he did. Patient, gentle, and sympathetic.

Cordelia in general in this episode. She picks “Is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable?” for her science fair project, because she can finish it in a weekend. The next scene shows her coming into the library and saying she needs Willow’s help. “It’s a fruit,” Willow informs her. I’m also obsessed with the fact that the gang is talking about zombies and grave robbers when Cordelia walks in, and none of them bat an eye at her presence or stop talking about the creepy supernatural stuff. She also doesn’t really care about what they’re talking about. They’ve accepted her as “in the know” now, and she knows they’re gonna talk about something icky, but that doesn’t bother her. There are major strides in both her future relationships, with Angel and with Xander. Xander dives into the flames to save Cordelia, and she gives him earnest and heartfelt thanks afterwards, even if he rebuffs it. And when Angel finds her in a dumpster, she wastes no time in playing the damsel in distress; giving him her hand to help her up, telling him he’s lucky because her night is free, clinging to him after finding body parts in the trash, and telling him she’s fragile and needs him to take her home. Everyone is watching for that last part, and Angel and Buffy exchange a look, but Cordy has no shame in taking what she wants. Buffy and Angel will dance around their feelings and relationship for… well, for most of their relationship, but Cordy has set her eyes on the prize, and she takes what she wants. She also gets attacked, tied up, and knocked down right before she has to go out cheerleading. Buffy stops the boys before they can drag her away, but when asking if Cordy is all right, Cordelia immediately runs out to the field to do her cheer thing. A mugging and almost-kidnapping isn’t gonna slow her down!

Chris is friendly to Willow when signing up for the science fair. They seem to have a friendly rivalry about which of their projects will come in first place, indicating another example of someone in the “loser” category being friends with Xander and Willow.

When Cordelia is successfully captured and finds herself strapped to an operating table, she naturally starts screaming for help. “Scream all you want, we’re in an abandoned building,” Eric says menacingly. Cordelia proceeds to do so, and after exactly one second, Eric threatens to knock her out if she doesn’t shut up. I realize one may struggle to see the good part of this… I just am amused by the way this exchange riddled with cheesy tropes is twisted in a funny way to make it not so cheesy.

Buffy asks the other cheerleaders where Cordelia is. These are the same girls who kicked her off the team in the Witch episode, and when they try to brush her off here, Buffy gets in their faces and repeats her question. And apparently gets an answer. She’s not intimidated by them, but they are most certainly intimidated by her.

When the gang starts breaking into lockers, Giles protests that as a member of the faculty, he cannot condone this. “Fine, your butt’s covered,” Buffy says, and then hands him a locker number and asks if he wants to open one, to which he immediately agrees. Poor Giles, he tries his best. 

Not enough to warrant an entire segment, but when the gang decides to go dig up a grave, Willow’s first question is if Buffy is gonna ask Angel to come. She brings him up first more often than Buffy does!

Life and Death:

You may have noticed, if you’re looking at my episode rankings, that this one is WAY down the list for me. Not quite the worst of Season 2 (that one comes three episodes from now) but pretty close. And YET, the beauty of BtVS is that even the worst episodes are brilliant, in some way.

The themes of life and death are showcased in a myriad of ways in this episode. And while the outcome is of course that killing = bad, and frankensteining someone to life isn’t great either, there’s a number of instances where the question is raised and showcased, laying out the evidence for the audience to figure out on their own.

This episode opens with Buffy in a graveyard. Not an uncommon occurrence for her, or this show, nor is her waiting around for a vampire to rise all that unique. The unique is that Angel walks up to her, and talks about how disoriented a vampire is when he first rises. She comments that it’s weird to think of Angel going through that, and he admits that it’s weird to go through, highlighting the fact that he has died and come back to life. He also laments not being able to see Buffy in the sunlight… because he’s dead, and has to stay in the shadows. Much like Daryl in this episode.

While arguing with Angel, Buffy falls into an open grave. It’s one where the body has been stolen, so not only is it an open grave, but an open coffin as well. It foreshadows her own death, and her living body inside a coffin that she will have to climb out of.

Daryl Epps died “rock climbing or something,” and his mother and brother Chris take the loss pretty hard. His mother has completely shut down, not leaving the house or paying attention to anything except watching the old tapes of her son playing football. She’s aware that his birthday is coming up… but isn’t aware of whether her other, still-living son is in the house, or if he even went to school today. And this episode obviously isn’t about her, but I was just hit with the thought, while re-watching this episode, of how distraught she would be if Chris had died, and she realized she hadn’t cherished the son she still had before losing him, too.

Chris and Eric resurrect Daryl successfully, and are trying to build him a girlfriend as well. They need a fresh head to do so, and while Chris protests killing anyone, Eric argues that if you take a life in order to make a life, the whole thing is a wash.

When Cordelia is captured and told the plan, she pleads for her life by saying she’ll date Daryl anyway, no surgery or necromancy needed, but Daryl laughs that off, saying he knows she won’t stay with him unless she’s a monster like he is.

Buffy doesn’t believe that necromancy is possible, even after all the stuff she’s seen, because crossing the life and death line is too extreme, even for her. When faced with the evidence that the science club might have actually succeeded in bringing a girl to life, her first concern is what that poor girl could be thinking, walking around as bits of multiple girls, shocked into living. While trying to convince Chris to help her save Cordy, she tells him he can’t give and take lives like he’s trying to do. “That’s not your job,” she says. She also claims to have no patience for anyone who chops dead girls into little pieces.

Buffy risks her life to save Cordelia’s, and Xander does the same. When the science building catches on fire, Willow and Giles see an unconscious Eric and pull him to safety, even though he’s the psychotic creep who was about to chop Cordy’s head off and stitch it on a corpse. Because he’s still alive, and therefore needs to be saved. On the other hand, Frankenstein-Daryl plunges into the fire to be with his corpse bride, and when Chris tries to go after him, Buffy holds him back. Letting Daryl burn, because Daryl wasn’t truly alive. Not a demon, and not human anymore, either, but a stitched-up, half-alive corpse that should have been left in peace and dignity in his grave.

The final shot of this episode lands on Daryl’s headstone. 

The Giles Family Unit:

The other redeeming feature of this episode is Giles’ arc in it. Because while he may be a Watcher in the sense that he’s there to research and provide theories, he’s very much a follower in this episode, and more focused on his date with Jenny than anything else. This episode has serious parallels to Buffy trying so hard to date Owen, because on the night where Buffy is trying to stop Chris and Eric from re-animating a dead girl, Giles protests that he’s supposed to be at the football game with Jenny, and Buffy grants him permission to go. 

While the Scoobies are doing their investigating thing, Cordelia is trying to drop hints about the loss of Daryl and how much it affected her. When no one pays attention, she demands, “Can we deal with my pain please?” Giles absently walks by her and pats her shoulder with a “There, there,” and while it comes off as definitely sarcastic, the fact remains that he was listening and decided to take action when no one else did. 

At the football game, Giles is laden down with merchandise and snacks, that either he’s been coerced into buying, or simply thinks that’s what one does when going to a football game. How should he know? He’s never been to one. But he tries, for Jenny’s sake, and when Xander and Willow show up and he tries to brush them off, they instead take the seats in front of them, nabbing Giles’ popcorn and asking about the score. Jenny gives that awkward smirk of someone who’s been romantically interrupted, but Giles accepts the presence of his kids as his God-given duty, and lets them do what they will. I wrote a missing scene for this episode just because the idea of him as a single dad that Jenny is amused by stood out to me so strongly here!

I’ve said before that Giles adopts every Scooby who comes across his path, and even though it’s still a small number by now, he is proving up to the challenge. And it’s so fascinating because I think it’s really difficult to have a father figure like this for ONE child, let alone a group. Without it being sexual or creepy, and without it being heavy-handed. It’s amazing too because it’s not like these kids are orphans, or homeless. They’re only here for Buffy, and Giles just happened to be there, too. Giles does not accept his role with grace or patience, and is very grumpy about it, but also never shirks from his duty (...yet, anyway) if one of them needs him or just wants to hang around him. I know the cast of this show have claimed that Anthony Head was actually a goof and acted more like a sibling to all of them, but it cannot be denied that Giles is an adopted father for all Scoobies current and future.

And Jenny is just looking at this single dad that she’s trying to date and totally laughing at him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that’s a wrap on Episode 14! Thank you so much for reading this far!

Previous: “When She Was Bad.”

Next up: “School Hard.” 

(Credit for GIFs in this post: @detectivedawnsummers)

[rayofspades]

How to Write a Horror Story: The Magnus Archives

This post is kinda weird since most tumblr fandom content is based on the assumption that Everyone Has Seen The Thing, but since this is a transcript of a video essay, it’s more broad. 

I might link the video in a reblog since, you know, tumblr doesn’t like links.

Anyways, here’s the post:

Hello Jon, apologies for the decep-

I’ve seen a lot of mystery shows in my day, and some supernatural shows, and the common thread between them is that they kind of...fall apart as they go on. 

Obviously, this is a generalization and I haven’t seen every mystery show or every paranormal show, but it’s a pretty common problem. 

At this point in pop culture criticism, it’s basically common knowledge that these shows fall apart due to a lack of planning. If a mystery series is making shit up as it goes along while trying to surprise the audience, it’s going to stop making sense at some point. And if an episodic paranormal show is constantly trying to up the stakes, eventually it’s going to become absolutely ridiculous and stretch the audience’s suspension of disbelief past a breaking point. 

Other people have already talked about this stuff to death, but today I want to talk about a paranormal mystery show that actually succeeds at what it set out to do.  

The Magnus Archives is a podcast written by Jonny Sims and directed by Alexander J. Newall. It ran from 2016 to 2021 and it’s...really really good. It’s an episodic horror story, taking place at the fictional Magnus Institute where the head archivist reads various statements about people’s encounters with supernatural entities. It’s got it all; scary stories, mystery, an overarching plot, office comedy, office romance, office tragedy, a villain that’s making straight men everywhere question their sexuality, and an overall really solid structure. 

If you listen to the Q+As put out by the writer and director, you’ll hear them talk about how they planned the series from the beginning, setting up the layout for each season. Some things were definitely changed throughout the actual writing process; that’s just inevitable and necessary when you’re working on a long running show, but in a general sense, they knew where they were going. But, writing a good story doesn’t just involve knowing where you’re going; it’s about executing whatever plan you have effectively. And I think the execution of The Magnus Archives is pretty brilliant, so I want to talk about it. 

And for the record, I said “brilliant,” not “perfect.” I do have a lot of criticisms of this show, and I’m definitely going to talk about those too, because honestly? Even the problems with this show are interesting in their own right. 

Ok, let’s go. 

Oh, spoilers by the way. For the whole plot. Whole thing. 

Part 1: Horror and Mystery 

Ok, so The Magnus Archives has two separate plots going on: the episodic stories that can be listened to individually, and the underlying meta plot. The former is where most of the mystery storytelling takes place, and it’s a really engaging mystery. It’s starts off slow, and almost undetectable at first. The main character, Jon, also known as The Archivist, is just reading out old scary stories that people have delivered to the Magnus Institute. Stuff like; a college student sees a ghostly inhuman figure asking for a cigarette, a woman’s fiancé dies and she finds herself trapped in an empty graveyard, there’s this goth kid who apparently murdered his mother and then skinned her? But she’s kind of still alive? What the f*ck? Hope we never see that kid again. Also, this “Jurgen Lietner” guy wrote a bunch of cursed books and Jon knows about this? Are more books gonna come up? And then you’re like, wait is the goth kid who killed that burn victim the same goth kid who killed his mom like 8 episodes ago? Holy shit the family of that girl’s dead fiancé FUNDS THE MAGNUS INSTITUTE? Did this famous youtuber meet one of the missing people from episode one? The goth kid is back and he’s looking for Leitner books? The name “Michael” has come up like 6 times? Are they all the same guy? I just—who the f*ck is Jurgen Leitner? 

So yeah, as you can see, a lot of these stories connect in cool ways, and I’ve only mentioned like, 0.2 percent of all of those connections. Furthermore, these stories are told out of chronological order, and sometimes the same scenario appears in more than one statement, told from different perspectives. This asymmetrical storytelling and odd doling out of information creates a mystery that’s really interesting. It also makes for a great re-listen, since you can retroactively see what elements were set up before you even realized that they were going to come back.  

The audio format contributes to this too; you can’t just see that the table from episode three matches the pattern on the box in episode eight. You have to pick up on clues that were mentioned and pay attention to what people are describing, and it’s highly rewarding when the pieces all start to fit together. 

There is a bit of a downside to this though. Technically The Magnus Archives is a horror story first and a mystery second, and these two elements can mesh in weird ways. 

The horror is element is really strong. Each story is completely different, sometimes focusing on psychological horror, body horror, or supernatural versions of more primal fears like heights, darkness, enclosed spaces, etc. Basically, if you’re afraid of anything, there will be at least one episode of The Magnus Archives that gets under your skin. 

Jonny Sims can really sell his stories through both his writing and acting. He plays Jon, by the way, and plagiarized his own birth certificate for the character name. (For future reference, Jonny is the actor, Jon is the character). Overall, he’s really good at writing prose, and each narrator has a very distinct voice even though the large majority of the stories are being read by one character/actor.  

Obviously not every episode is a bull’s eye. Sometimes it’s due to the subjectivity when it comes to what you as an audience member are scared of, and occasionally it’s just weird writing decisions. I’m thinking specifically of episode 21 where the line “the sky ate him” is said, and it is the worst line in the entire show. The whole goddamn show. That’s it. That’s the number one worst line. 

But still, overall, the horror storytelling is incredibly solid, and some episodes even gave me brand new fears, like the unholy isolation of being in space, or the concept that someone you love could be replaced by someone completely different without you noticing.  

But here’s the thing; 

A lot of good horror is based on the absence of explanation. Most of the episodes that gave me the most visceral reactions of genuine terror come from the first two seasons, because that’s when the audience has the least amount of information. 

For example, in episode two, a really terrifying coffin is introduced. It’s creepy, it reacts very strangely to water for some reason, and appears to compel people to try opening it. By the end of the episode, the audience never finds out what’s in that coffin and that is a good thing. That is a huge part of what made that episode so unnerving.  

And then a few seasons later, we do find out what’s in the coffin, and to be fair the answer is both very creative and very scary, but it also takes a lot of the punch out of episode two. 

 No matter how f*cked up your thing is, it’s not going to compare to whatever the audience can conjure up in their own mind after such a creepy set up. This problem isn’t just stuck in this one scenario either; there are a lot of early episodes that, while still good, seem a lot less creepy in hindsight after you learn more about the scenario. 

I don’t think it’s bad writing, but I do think it’s a double-edged sword. Jonny Sims even mentions this sort of issue in the first Q+A. 

But yeah, to sum up; the narration is good, the ideas are creative, and seeing the mystery unfurl itself is deeply compelling. And for the record, the mystery elements aren’t of the Sherlock Holmes variety. It’s less about finding out who did the thing, and more about discovering how all of these individual points are intricately connected, pulling on each other as they move. Woven together like a... oh shit what’s the word? Gah, it’s on the tip of my tongue. Ah, whatever, I’m sure it’s not like a running motif or anything.  

Part 2: Stakes 

One of the main reasons I stopped watching Supernatural is that it devolves into complete f*cking nonsense. At the end of season five, the boys literally defeat the devil, and then the show...keeps going? Which would be fine. It’s also, largely, an episodic show, so if they have more creative ideas, they could definitely keep going with it. In fact, there are some post season five episodes that I thought were pretty good. But as they kept trying to outdo themselves with Bigger Bads, it got kind of difficult to suspend my disbelief. And the final nail in the coffin for me was the end of season nine, when Crowly basically points out to the audience that the main characters keep dying and coming back to life, so there are no stakes. The most-badest bad guy can always be defeated because some new Thing can just come out of left-field, and dying isn’t even on the table as a threat since people have tons of ways of coming back to life. 

The Magnus Archives, while being a show based in the supernatural, notably doesn’t bring anyone back to life, even though some very beloved characters die. I say “notably,” because in the season three Q+A, Jonny even says, “We make a point not to bring people back from the dead in Magnus, I know it sometimes feels like that, but we are very careful to never actually resurrect anyone.” 

Upon listening to this I said “oh my god, these guys are the only writers left who at least kind of know what they’re doing.”  

Also, as far as plot progression goes, The Magnus Archives is lowkey structurally perfect in the way the threats escalate in the underlying plot; both in terms of destruction and power and in terms of emotional consequences. Season one starts off with one major threat that’s dealt with by the end of the season, season two reveals the main villain, season three lays out the grander forces at play, season four ends the world, and season five is about un-ending the world. The difference between season one and season five is vast, but how we got there makes perfect sense. 

As for the emotional stakes, let’s talk about themes and characters. 

Part 3: Themes and Characters 

At the very end of season two, it’s revealed that the supernatural happenings in the Magnus universe are the result of entities far beyond our understanding. Since their existence is so fundamentally different from what we can comprehend, they interact with the world through cursed items, creatures, and humans who have dedicated themselves to an entity.  

A lot of people read this as a metaphor for late-stage capitalism, and I am one of those people. A bunch of faceless entities exploiting humans through means of dehumanization and causing people to suffer because it feeds them seems like an appropriate metaphor. 

While we’re on this topic, I do want to talk about Elias, since he’s the main villain of the entire series and also one of my favorite villains of all time. The Magnus Archives is a series that deals with a lot of moral questions and has a lot of characters who do morally questionable things, so one might assume that the villain of said series is, you know, morally ambiguous and sympathetic to some extent despite being “the bad guy.” 

Nope! No stops, full bastard. It’s great. 

He falls under what I’ve deemed the “unbeatable boss” archetype. He just doesn’t tolerate insubordination or resistance, and that combined with his lack of empathy means that anyone who crosses him is either killed or brought to heel. His power set is cool too. On the surface the ability to see out of any eye and read minds sounds useful, but not deal breaking, but the way he uses that power to manipulate people and anticipate threats...yeah, it makes him kind of impossible to beat.  

He’s just...so evil and he loves being evil and every single f*cking thing he does pisses me off and makes me want to kill him. It’s. Great. 

Anyways, I think Elias’s role as the central antagonist is what makes the capitalist reading so common. He’s the head of the institute, he’s wealthy, he’s powerful, and he dehumanizes people in ways that are both brutal and chillingly indifferent. He seems like an appropriate stand in through that lens. 

I also love how voice actor Ben Meredith plays him like’s he’s trying to seduce the audience.  

With all of that said, I wouldn’t call this the critique of capitalism a direct allegory or anything; in much looser terms, this could be a metaphor for any power structure that exploits humans. Organized religion or cults might be even more on the nose, considering there’s a lot of mentions of rituals and worship within the show. 

But if we boil it down to its barest aspects and focus on the avatar characters, The Magnus Archives is a series about people becoming monsters. Or, at the very least, becoming worse versions of themselves. That can mean a lot of things to different people in a metaphorical sense; the tense relationship between desperation and morality, the eagerness to please at the cost of one’s own mental health, the psychological traumas that lead people down dark paths, and how personal choices can still be dictated and manipulated by outside influences. It’s kind of heavy stuff, but put into a digestible package through the show’s abstractions. 

Well, for the most part.  

There’s some debate as to whether or not Daisy’s arc was handled tastefully. While her demise and Basira’s character arc were clearly meant to condemn police brutality and the deeply corrupt system that allows it to foster, it’s still a weird subject to discuss in such a fantastical context, and there is a strange sympathy for the devil angle that can get kind of uncomfortable for some listeners.  

Okay, stepping back from that for a bit, let’s talk about Jon and how he fits into this whole “people becoming corrupted” thing. 

Jon has one of my favourite brands of character arc, which is one based in deterioration alongside growth. The most obvious way this takes form is his departure from humanity as his relationship with the Eye drives him to psychologically harm others, and he finds himself sympathizing more and more with the people he was afraid of, stating in episode 152 that anyone listening to his recordings might compare him to the other avatars that have had their minds and morals twisted. 

Over the course of the series, he is repeatedly traumatized and the show makes a point that he is being both physically and emotionally scarred. These happenings are what drive his motivation for revenge in season five, and he even states that revenge is making him a worse person. As a character he’s constantly berating himself and his own monstrousness, much to Martin’s dismay.  

That’s why the finale destroys me in the best way. Upon seeing that Jon has betrayed him and basically given himself over to the Eye, Martin asks “how much of you is even left?” And when Jon tries to reassure him that he’s still himself, Martin’s response is “how would you even know?” This cuts through me every time. Up until this point, Martin had consistently stood up for Jon and Jon’s humanity, even in the face of Tim’s doubt, Basira’s mistrust, Elias being cryptic, and Jon’s own self-hatred. This is the ultimate breaking point, the point where even Martin, the love of Jon’s life, doesn’t really recognize him. It’s brutal. Because at the end of the day, Jon is still himself; he’s a deeply broken person trying to make the right decisions.  

We’ll come back to the finale later, but for now I want to talk about the romance. 

Jon’s emotional growth throughout the series is largely tied into Martin. Martin’s the first person that Jon really opens up to, and this later grows into trust which then turns into a genuine emotional connection.  On the flip side, Martin’s growth in season four is largely tied into Jon. Martin starts season four basically waiting to die, but Jon’s return gives him a reason to keep living, and he’s later able to recognize his own value outside of the pure utility of ‘you need to set yourself on fire to keep everyone else warm.’ Both of them give each other reason to push onward despite everything becoming more and more hopeless.  

It’s a good romance. I wish the two had had a few more scenes together before the culmination, but it is built up over the course of four seasons and comes together in an utterly fantastic confession.  

And yeah, the scene with Martin and Jon in the Lonely is cheesy as hell, but it is the highest quality of cheese. These are some gourmet nachos.  

Umm, also kind of stating the obvious here, but it’s also pretty cool that the main character in this horror story falls in love with another man. You don’t see that a lot, and it’s cool that no one even makes a big deal out of it. It’s just a normal romance, but with two guys. It’s nice. 

So, they go to Scottland, they hang out, they’re in love, Jonalias starts the apocalypse through Jon, the world ends, and season five starts! 

...Let’s talk about season five! 

Part 4: Season 5 

At the very start of this post, I said that supernatural mysteries tend to get worse as they go along, and I am deeply sad to report that I don’t think that The Magnus Archives is an exception. It just goes downhill in a very different way than its ilk. 

And, so we’re clear, I don’t think season five totally tanks or becomes unlistenable, it’s just, in my opinion, notably worse than the rest of the show. 

As discussed earlier, it doesn’t fall apart due to a lack of planning; everything still makes sense, but the presentation has changed drastically. The episodic statements are no longer scary stories, but more like slam poems about the various hellscapes that Jon and Martin are trekking through. Honestly if these were published in a book of slam poetry, I would probably think they slapped pretty hard. I genuinely believe that Jonny Sims is a good writer, but as a podcast a lot of these statements just made me zone out. There’s at least four that I don’t even slightly remember. Myself and many others have noted that they just...aren’t scary, unless there’s a specific episode that really gets under your skin due to a certain fear or phobia. 

To quote my friend, “it’s harder to feel a solid impact when the setting is literally divorced from reality. People would either go numb or insane to the point where their fears become unrelatable.” 

And, to be honest, I think that this same surreal odyssey set up could have worked with a slight shift in narration. Two stand out episodes for me were “Strung Out” and “Wonderland.” Both of them show the tormented target actively trying to resist and interact with their tormenter, instead of just trying to escape or live through their situation. “Strung Out” is also more of character study; you learn about Francis’s life before the apocalypse through their interaction with the Web hellscape. Meanwhile “Wonderland” is just...f*cked, and you get to see Jon take the perspective of first-person Bad Guy throughout the whole thing, which is its own level of disturbing. 

But the majority of episodes feel so abstract that I kind of forget the people trapped in them are supposed to be characters and not just concepts, so it’s harder to feel their dread and pain. 

But I’m still here for the metaplot, the drama, and the romance. And when that’s good, it’s great! I think the final handful of episodes are really solid in that regard. 

Buuuuuuut... 

A decent chunk of season five is dedicated to the “kill bill” plot. Jon discovers he has the power to smite people, and while at first, he’s embarrassed about this, since he actively enjoyed killing Not!Sasha, Martin is super into it! He’s encouraging Jon to murder people.  

This is actually the set up for a really good arc. As Jon gets more and more into his own avenging angel persona, Martin could get more and more disturbed by it so by the time they get to London, Martin could be really upset that Jon is so willing to wreak his own divine justice by killing or torturing all of the avatars. 

And this does kind of happen. We do reach this end state, and it makes for a good final conflict, but the way we got here was borderline nonsense. Thematic gibberish, if you will. 

Throughout the journey, Martin is clearly motived by a sense of justice; these people are bad, and so they should die. Whereas Jon is clearly more motivated by revenge; he only goes after the avatars that hurt him personally. At one point, Jon admits that maybe all of this killing isn’t making anything better, but just making him worse. Martin apologizes for egging him on, Jon absolves him by saying he started it, and then Martin’s like “I’ll keep my apology then.” This is the second worst line in the entire series, right after “the sky ate him.” And it’s close. 

But it kind of feels like we’re back at square one. Jon is back to being ashamed of killing and Martin is still keen on his justice stance, but now just less pushy about it. The arc is basically half resolved at this point. 

But then it doesn’t matter, because Jon kills Helen anyway. So, Jon’s back on his revenge/justice thing. Then what was the point of his earlier revelation? Why have that if it’s not going to matter and the conflict that was escalating still culminates with Jon leaning into the avenging angel stuff, and Martin being disturbed by it? It just makes both of them look like huge hypocrites! I f*cking hate it when they’re in the tunnels and Martin says “you weren’t meant to enjoy it this much,” regarding Jon’s smiting. Where did this come from?! Why didn’t you say this earlier? Third worst line in the series. 

And yeah, I’ll say it; the boys fight too much in this season. I loved their romance up to season five, and their cute moments and more lowkey serious discussions are still good in this season, but God, they fight so much. And I’m not saying couples can’t have fights or tension, that’s just realistic and also stories need conflict to be interesting. Jonny Sims is on the record saying that balancing a healthy romance with the stress of a literal apocalypse was a priority, and I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s well balanced.  I’m just saying that sometimes it feels like they don’t even like each other and it really started to grate on me. 

Maybe it would have been better if the beginning of this season was dedicated to charming romance at first, so we as an audience could better appreciate how strong their love is and how it’s truly being tested. But obviously that was never on the table— 

ALEX NO. 

So, yeah, I have a lot of problems with season. I think it’s the worst one by far, even though there is a lot of it I still enjoy, including the ending. 

As I mentioned before, the moment where Martin confronts Jon in the panopticon absolutely kills me, and Jon’s reaction kills me even harder. Throughout the season, Jon had largely been motivated by revenge, martyrdom, and the subconscious call of the Eye, and all three of those factors led him to his position as the pupil. He’s getting revenge against the powers, sacrificing his humanity to get rid of the Fears, and taking his place as wearer of the watcher’s crown. But all of this gets thrown out the window when he realizes that Martin is going to die. And not only is Martin going to die, Martin is going to die specifically because he loves Jon and refuses to leave Jon alone to die horribly. Martin had always been an underlying motivation for Jon, his “reason” as stated in episode 167, but now love as a motivator has come to the forefront, and Jon can no longer go through with his plan because of it. But at this point in the series, they’re both utterly doomed, and Jon concludes that the only possible chance they have of surviving, however unlikely, would be to sever the pupil of the eye, technically killing Jon, but maybe, just maybe, allowing them to escape with the Fears. Whether that’s meant to be literal or more ethereal is left unclear. Hell, maybe Jon’s just making it up completely and creating his own potential happy ending. It’s a pretty potent ending in emotional terms; Jon has to release the Fears and Martin has to kill Jon, and those are the two things they were dead set on not doing.  

The Web, arguably the real main antagonist, basically won, and their manipulation of Jon worked. The destruction spread, and there is kind of a bleak underlying tone to that. 

But at least this ending has some semblance of hope to it. I’m not saying that releasing the Fears was objectively the correct moral decision; the entire point of the dilemma is that there was no objectively correct moral decision. But, while Jon’s solution does have merit, it was also the most hopeless. I think dramatically, any one of the choices on the table could have worked if the writing was well executed, but thematically this one seemed like the perfect combination of grim and optimistic. Like, all of the evils that plague humanity can’t just be defeated forever and things could get worse, but maybe not. Maybe everything works out... 

So yeah, The Magnus Archives...is a podcast. And it’s a really good podcast. Great, even. I can complain about season five all I want, but regardless of how that worked out, you can tell throughout the entire show that the people working on it were trying to tell a genuinely excellent story. 

It’s good. Go listen to it. Even though I spoiled the entire thing and if you’re still here, you’ve probably already listened to it. Listen to it again. 

[pynkhues]

Good Girls S4 Spoiler Survey Results

Hello! I’ve finally gotten around to compiling the results for the S4 Good Girls Spoiler Survey. Breakdown is below the cut, but one of the things that became apparent is that there are a lot of varied opinions on it!

Interestingly though, we do seem to be a fandom that mostly doesn’t mind spoilers:

Far and away the biggest thing people considered spoilers were major plot points with 43 votes, followed by behind the scenes leaks (runsheets, location shots, etc) with 32 votes. All in their twenties were:

Episode synopses with 26 votes

Interviews with 25 votes

Sneak peeks with 24 votes

Episode promo pics with 21 votes

And then:

General plot arcs with 19 votes

Minor plot points (i.e. returning minor characters like Baby Tyler) with 15 votes

Promos and trailers with 14 votes

General set pictures with 11 votes

There was also a write-in vote here which said:

I'm generally fine with some spoilers and bts, but I really dislike knowing when minor characters return/ shows up! For me that's what "spoils" it!

These ones are pretty even, with reaction posts and episode discussion being the main thing considered post-episode spoilers.

And the major question of this survey is how long after an episode airs do you think content from that episode should be tagged as spoilers, and look, as you can see from the pie chart, there really isn’t a consistent answer for this. 56 people answered this question and the most anything got was 12.

How that breaks down is this:

3 days and 1 week tied with 12 votes each.

1 day was a very close second with 11 votes

2 days and Not at All tied again with 8 votes each

4 days got 2 votes

5 days got 1 votes

There were also two write-ins which were:

1 hour lol

Doesn't matter bc we get it extra late in france. The longer the better but yk. It's only fair to a certain point to ask to tag spoilers imo 

And then the write-in round:

I think the bulk of our GG fandom on tumblr would be considered hyper fans versus casual fans and it is more likely that casual fans would be more leery of spoilers and picky about what they consider spoilers whereas hyper fans are more likely to consume the episodes within a 48-72 hour period of it airing and generally devour any leaks or sneak peeks. I feel like tumblr functions as a more concentrated space where fans have a specific blog for a specific fandom and maybe because this platform is what it is, we don't generally need a longer grace period of spoiler etiquette. Not everyone feels this way though and it differs for everyone but that's my general feeling. I watch when it airs on my own timezone and when I saw people on tumblr begin liveblogging about the premiere I simply got off of tumblr and didn't come back until I watched the premiere.

if spoilers are that much of a deal breaker for you, it's your responsibility to protect yourself and you probably shouldn't be on the internet until you watch because inevitably something is going to get through. waiting 2-3 days to stop tagging is more than enough imo and how I've always seen it done in other fandoms (if people tag at all)

I love spoilers. Let me know if something is worth my time. Usually I won’t even watch a show until I know how it ends so I know going into it how mad I’m going to be. So weird to be following a fandom when it’s active. People sure do love to be pressed. 

I try and wait until the next episode airs to stop tagging spoilers for anything referencing the previous episode. I think it's a fair amount of time for people who plan to watch as the season airs. 

i think spoilers should be tagged the whole week after the episodes airs in general. that’s how all other shows are tagged on tumblr:) 

Yeah I’m not going to tag stuff. I get why people do but I’d rather people just unfollow me. 

I don't really care about spoilers, I'm immune 

In conclusion

There really doesn’t seem to be a consensus on this, so I think it’s up to individual people’s discretion as to what and for how long they tag things, but hopefully this might help people make those calls!

I personally will be tagging most things as spoilers still, but post-episode, I’m going to be tagging spoilers for 3 days. I will though still be, as always, using my episode tags, so people can blacklist for instance 4.02 or 4.03 or whichever episode they don’t want to see content for. I use these episode tags across asks and answers, gifsets, reaction posts and whatever, so hopefully nothing trickles through.

I hope people find this as interesting and useful as I did! :-)