dritaroai

[detectivehole]

looking for dubs for funsies and found a good tweet. he's drying

[alwaysgodownwiththeship]

"Got Any Better Ideas?" Aziraphale's Conviction and Crowley's Resignation

I was watching that scene in 1x06 again, and something clicked for me that never any sense to me before. In fact, it explained a couple things in season 2 .

See this scene is beautiful, heartbreaking, and hilarious all in one. We see yet another example of how much Crowley cares about Aziraphale... And we see Aziraphale making a bizarre move to (?) attack Crowley, then make a childish threat that won't matter given that they're both about die.

Before, I just assumed that he was just saying whatever thought ran through his head.

Now I get it.

Recap: Crowley realized that Gabriel and Beelzebub told on them Satan. Satan, who was now coming to kill them all. Crowley was this close to giving up, and then Aziraphale picked up his sword.

There's only one reason why: Aziraphale wasn't going to give up. In that moment, Aziraphale chose to fight Satan. He knew he would likely die trying.

(Psst! Past self: He's not giving Crowley some weird, friendship ultimatum!)

He's terrified. But resolved. And he knows this really will be their last conversation.

And Crowley gets it. He might not have believed that they were going to survive Satan's arrival, but he hadn't quite put together like this: If he isn't able to come up with another plan, Aziraphale will take up his sword against Satan and Crowley will have to watch him die.

So Crowley got a better idea, remembering Adam's power, he decided to give the human(s) the choice and protect it alongside Aziraphale.

Season 2

This is part of larger ongoing dynamic where (unless circumstances allow Crowley to give Aziraphale a better plan which actually addresses the problem) Aziraphale will act, like choosing to help Jim!Gabriel. If he thinks it's the right thing to do, he'll do it, regardless of the costs. It won't deter him at all.

Crowley learned that about him some time ago.

He saw Aziraphale lie to save Lot's children despite fully expecting to go hell for it.

(Plus Aziraphale straight up lied to God about the flaming sword that time, right? UMM... Why didn't he fall????)

So there Crowley is, apologizing(?), dancing, and lying about the full extent of the danger they're in.

I don't agree with Crowley's actions, with the lying especially. (Seriously, Crowley? Tell Aziraphale about the Extreme Sanctions!!) But Crowley is resigned to help at this point because he knows Aziraphale will be in danger anyways and he knows that when Aziraphale has made his mind up, he won't change it. Crowley can only offer his help or provide a different solution.

And since their communication problems are so big right now, their dynamic is to work around each other rather than with each other.

Right from the very beginning, their conception of the problem is very different.

Crowley: We're exposed to danger because of Gabriel, we have to find a way to hide Gabriel/ourselves from Heaven and Hell.

Aziraphale: Jim!Gabriel (innocent like Lot's children/rather childlike himself) is in danger, we have to find a way to hide Gabriel from Heaven and Hell.

TAKEAWAY

-Crowley wants them both to stay away from the toxic plans of Heaven/Hell so they can be safe together.

-Aziraphale wants to directly interfere with the plans of Heaven/Hell when he feels the responsibility to do good.

Takeaway on the ending of season 2:

When their perspective on the problem is so different to begin with, the breakup makes a little more sense to me. Though no less horrible.

(Wild Card: Heaven is the symbol of what is right and good? Aziraphale since when??? UGH, I have to meta more about this: Aziraphale's (and Crowley's) belief in the ineffable plan and how it affects his idea of reform/fixing the institutional problem of Heaven.)

[stevebcks]

Okay so I haven’t been able to stop thinking about episode three and especially Ed’s plotline in it (and the final scene of course), so here’s a not so short messy analysis of what I’ve been thinking.

MAJOR SPOILERS JUST IN CASE…

As a short background, we start with Ed almost dead after he has basically been begging the rest of the crew to kill him. First Izzy, when he gives him the gun, then the rest of them when he sails them into a storm, trying to get them and himself killed, but instead still getting what he wanted when they turn against him. We get our final hint at how this is what he always wanted when he says “Finally.” as Jim lifts the cannonball.

And we start with Ed now in this purgatory state. I would assume this entire place is created by Ed since it is so deeply connected to him. And we learn that he also creates Hornigold as a representation of himself, of the subconscious parts of himself talking to him, and he hates this guy deeply.

This place puts the cards on the table for Ed.

“So if you hate me and I am you, then…”

“I hate myself.”

He gets to understand the hate he feels for this guy is really what he feels for himself. But it’s not only that, we see the reaction he has when he first sees Hornigold. He fears himself, what he is capable of doing to others, disgusted by the stories of what Hornigold has done (like Felix’s death) in the place of what he has done.

Everything Hornigold says, is really just his most hidden inner thoughts coming to the surface.

“You’re not very good with people, are you, Jeff?” His biggest fear, the one he has only ever been able to admit to Stede is displayed right there for him. How he believes every bad thing he has ever done is the reason he is unlovable, why he doesn’t have any friends.

“Maybe you wanna strangle me like you did your old dad.”

“How the fuck did you know that?”

“Grown man covered in tattoos. Ay? With daddy issues.”

“I never told anyone about that.”

“But you did, though, didn’t you? And he left you.”

“Fuck you.”

“And it all boils down to this. You’re afraid you are unlovable.”

Not only that but he believes that is also the reason Stede leaves him. Stede leaving puts salt in a wound he was only starting to heal. He once again believes he is inherently an evil person, unworthy of anyone but even less, of Stede.

“You gotta move on, man... or you blow your brains out.” But to some degree, he knows what he has to do in order to continue, he knows that if he really wants to live, to truly live, he needs to forgive himself of the past things he has done. It’s either that or… or what he did which is getting himself killed.

His choice is final (or so he believes…) when he is on the edge of the cliff. Hornigold, or really himself, has tied the rock to his waist and is ready to throw it. And as he said it with the pros and cons list, “I don’t think anyone’s waiting for me.” so there really is no point for him to go back.

“I’m not lovable.”

“And you’re scared to do anything about it. But old Hornigold, he ain’t scared.”

Ed knows, he knows "doing anything about it" is going back to life, face what he has done, fighting for Stede and for the person he wants to be. But his subconscious, his fear, is stronger.

“You’ve made your choice.” Hell, not only is this admitted by Hornigold, we literally see him at the beginning of episode two throwing himself, or really his little cake topper, to the water from the window. And Hornigold, or really his subconscious, throws the rock.

Then Stede finds him.

And when Stede finds him all it takes is for him to remove the towel from his face for him to open his eyes as he sinks in the water.

Him feeling Stede’s presence sparks something in him in this purgatory. And he starts fighting against the rope that he put himself in. But this is a world he has created so he still has control over it, and subconsciously, he still believes he is unlovable, unworthy, he is still not sure he deserves to be untied.

And then Stede starts asking HIM for forgiveness, and he fights and he fights, and he wants this so badly that in the real world he starts fighting too, tapping his fingers against the wood and begging Stede to keep talking, to keep leading the way with his voice. And he does.

As he takes Ed’s hand, he literally also shines a light and illuminates the surface. In the midst of this world of self-hatred, there is the voice of a person who, seeing past everything, loves him.

And the rope unties itself, in this moment his whole self fully believes that he is worthy of love, that he deserves this and he deserves Stede and that he deserves to live. This is Ed allowing himself to have this.

The flashbacks start, Ed remembers these moments and sees what he can still have, thinks “Maybe someone IS waiting for me.” as Stede keeps begging him to wake up.

And then, through the light, he sees merman Stede. And oh, how important this is. He has been seeing Hornigold, the person he hated the most in life, during all his time in purgatory, but now, now the reflection of his subconscious becomes the person he loves the most. Stede, Stede as a sea creature coming to save him. Stede, as a reflection of Ed’s subconscious telling himself, you are worthy of this, you are lovable, and you can love yourself.

The kraken, this fearful sea monster, is saved by the merman.

Stede is finally right there, and when they are finally face to face, Ed reaches for a kiss, and in that moment, he opens his eyes.

[neurosiscocktail]

Okay so here’s my pitch for the season 3 cold open-

We open to a close up of Stede’s face, he’s clearly concentrating, he’s sweating a little, and covered in blood. It’s pretty clear as we pan out to a shoulder shot that he just killed someone. He looks very sexy about it.

We switch to a close up of Ed’s face, sweaty, clearly has just been fucked. Maybe his top button is done up wrong. Who knows.

The shot pans out and we start hearing their conversation. They are outside the inn, digging up Izzy (stick with me)- they’re talking about how silly they feel for just now realizing this is the problem- OF COURSE Izzy has been so mad, they didn’t bury him with his ring! How silly of them! And they didn’t even notice until someone tried to rob them and Stede killed the robber (and they fucked about it). THAT must be why Izzy won’t stop haunting them. They tuck the ring into his breast pocket and start to rebury him.

Next shot- we find out that they think Izzy has been haunting them because of a the ~weird happenings~ at the Inn. The haunting does not stop after they bury the ring. This part of the episode starts very creepy, real horror movie vibes. However, we find out through the course of the episode that what they think is a haunting is just two whim prone chuckleheads with no experience running an Inn.

“All of the produce mysteriously went bad!” - Stede, whose experience with food preparation is putting marmalade on toast just left them too close to the fire and the heat did what it does to produce.

“The room keys keep going missing!” Nope. Ed simply cannot remember where he put them.

“The desk bell keeps ringing at night but there is no one there!” It’s buttons the seagull fucking with them.

They both think they’re responsible for the haunting and having a crisis about it. Idk, dealers choice about what they feel guilty about.

They are losing their fucking shit over this haunting. Maybe Izzy shows up once or twice in a Badminton style memory ghost.

We pan back to The Revenge. It’s a total parallel to what happened with the red suit.

They also think they are being haunted by Izzy.

The word “twat” keeps appearing carved into random places aboard the ship. Frenchie’s peanut allergy is back full swing. They keep sailing into storms by accident. Etc

They set sail for the Inn, desperate to ask Ed to control the ghost of his dead best friend or burn the body, anything to get rid of this fucking ghost.

It’s Jim fucking with them and dumb luck. (Except for the storm thing, it’s just impossible for anyone to read the weather as well as Ed)

They all meet up at the Inn, and now we have a Scooby Doo style episode where the ghost was the friendship and character growth we made along the way.

And then for an extra layer of comedy, maybe at the end of the season we see Izzy’s ghost just sort of old man loitering around the ship because he didn’t want to leave what I am affectionately deeming his kids.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk

[t0ast-ghost]

Watching Star Trek TOS for the first time, and here are my thoughts on episode three (Charlie “X”)! (I didn’t do episode two cause I just wanted to watch it but I love Bones)

- so far I really like the kid

- Kirk shut up, let Charlie talk

- oh no he’s frightened by the door :(((

- girls do not look THAT different, getting some bad vibes from you Charlie

- BONES!!! (Why does he stand like that, it’s so curved)

- “I want people to like me” oh god they gave this boy anxiety

- He’s learning about the patriarchy, like Ken

- Kirk making Bones tell Charlie about puberty, he looked so defeated

- SPOCKS EYESHADOW!!!

- Charlie gets a Kirk assigned father, it’s not Kirk himself but he did assign Bones to do it, can’t you see the man is tired Jim?!?

- why is she being mean to Spock in verses? Nvm this is fun and he’s enjoying her singing

- HE SLAPPED KIRKS BUTT WHAT

- “there’s no right way to hit a woman.. you know man to man.. uhh… you understand, Charlie?” That was the worst way to try and explain anything, Kirk

- “I put meatloaf in the ovens, now there’s turkeys, real turkeys” then Charlie’s little laugh

- aww they’re playing chess together, normal husband activities

- “you smell like a girl” “I feel hungry… all over” back the fuck up Charlie

- stop trying to get Bones to explain stuff to him, Kirk

- this episode is just so icky, one issue is that they can’t just have an adult conversation and they can’t explain anything properly to him, they’re just telling him no and that he’s wrong. It’s a good example of how concealing information doesn’t allow people to find their own morals but instead creates a bunch of rules which can be easily broken if the person doesn’t believe in them because they don’t understand the logic behind them. (Not saying that the boundaries they’re setting for him are wrong, he just can’t understand them because they’re not explaining shit)

- SHUT UP SAM HE’S TRYING- oops Sam’s gone

- damn that German expressionist lighting tho, like something out of metropolis

- I FUCKIN DARE YOU KIRK, PICK HIM UP SEE WHAT HAPPENS

- okay Kirk saying it’s his choice is good cause at least he’s teaching him that these things he does are his own actions

- “short tempered, because he doesn’t understand” cause you won’t explain shit without mind games and metaphors

- Spock and Bones DO NOT want to get involved

- when Charlie’s explaining what he did to the Antares Bones looks absolutely terrified (Bones sitting like that on the table is… I have many thoughts)

- OH NO UHURA!

- Don’t you dare call Spock Mr. Ears

- “Teenager with supernatural abilities realizes his full potential and decides to use it for evil NOT CLICKBAIT”

- Why would you do that, why would you turn her into an iguana

- GET HIM!!! Wait no! Janice!

- “I love you” “you don’t know what that means” good for her, fuck you Charlie

- He gave Kirk period pain

- “cause you need me to run the ship, and I need him” Spirk? It’s more likely than you think

- this slide from Bones

- “I don’t think you can handle anymore, you’ve reached your limit” Spock and Bones start fucking shit up immediately for Kirk

- Kirk was so ready to punch a bitch

- nice fucking try Charlie- oh Kirk is defending him- nvm he still gets yoinked

- imagine if Charlie becomes Q lol (is that a thing? Are they related?)

- well that’s done now… where’s Scotty, Sulu, and Checkov? (Sulu appeared shirtless in the credits as I wrote that)

Thanks for sticking around again :)

Here’s a link to the first ramble

And all the other rambles

Below the cut is some thoughts I had on the second episode

Some thoughts on episode 2 (The Man Trap):

- it was kinda funny seeing Jim be like “she’s old as fuck, just like Bones”

- I didn’t realize that was where “he’s dead, Jim” came from and my dad quotes it all the time

- it was interesting that even the creature referred to themselves as an animal

- McCoy in the ending where he really didn’t want to kill somebody he loved even if they were just the image

- would not want to be the person to explain what happened to her to Bones

[flowerandthesongstress]

Hi I'm dropping by to share an opinion that might be controversial, but might just as well be common and widespread among the 'loved this show as a child, rewatched as an adult' crowd. I'm not sure. I'm always out of the loop. All of the loops.

Anyway.

Recently I'd learned that my SO never watched the X-Files, the show that was my favorite when growing up (yes, I should not have been watching it, but oh well...frankly, I had much worse sources of childhood trauma in my life) and we decided to amend the fact.

Over the course of a few months, we went through approximately 85 to 90% of the episodes. We skipped a few insignificant ones. With insects.

Some short remarks first. One: all of my favorite episodes still hold up and some go twice as hard and Clyde Bruckman goes ten times as hard. Two: Mark Snow might have been in an abusive and mutually codependent relationship with an oboe. Three: "Everything Was Inspired By The X-Files" seriously, so much media in the last two decades has just been 'a person who watched the x-files when growing up is now writing stuff' and I'm not immune ... Four: this video essay that I found after we'd gotten to 'JS's from OS' and I was like "waaaaait I minute, this is... postpomo? in 1996? released around the time Infinite Jest was published? when metamodernism still was little more than a concept in DFW's head? what the heck?" and looked it up to see if my brain was wishful-hallucinating, and found this video essay. Five: when watching the show for the first time, I only knew three names: Anderson, Duchovny, Carter. Like, 'Hello yes this a cool scary TV program with The Anderson and The Duchovny as my Mom and Dad, and all of this program in its entirety is made by The Carter'. That was it. Because only those three names were translated in the credits.

And now I'm going to ask you to please don't kill me. Please. I'm going to die, I promise, I just don't want to be killed right now because of a possibly controversial X-files opinion. This is just a personal opinion. You are free to not share it, you are free to hate me, but could we please avoid conflict and arguments? I love you. I was drugged.

Anyway x 2.

Here's the most important thing I realized now that I'd rewatched the show in English as an adult who'd loved the X-Files as a minor (and watched it dubbed), and then went on to receive a university education that very specifically gives her a shmauthority to determine if a writer is actually a crap writer...

...Chris Carter is actually a crap writer.

He's uuuhm. He's bad at writing. Wait, no, that's unfair. He is what I like to call 'painfully mediocre'. Slightly paraphrasing a quote from my other favorite American show: he's every kid on the playground that didn't get picked on. He's a business casual potted plant, a human white sale. He's VH1, Robocop 2, and Back to the Future 3. He's the center slice of a square cheese pizza. Actually, that sounds delicious. Vince Gilligan is the center slice of a square cheese pizza. He's Jim Belushi.

He's just so. painfully. mediocre as a writer. Some of his choices were BAFFLING. Not just bafflingly bad, but simply baffling in a 'how and why and why would anyone ever think this is a compelling idea' sense. Some moments made me wonder if there's zero self-awareness or negative self-awareness.

Chris Carter would hardly make you mad with how bad he is. He's seldom bad in a memorable way. He was cliche when those cliches weren't yet cliches. When the TV tropes website didn't exist. When metamodernism still was little more than a concept in one bandana-covered, troubled head.

He attempted three other shows. All of them were canceled. Two of them he had to wrap up in the X-Files, and he wrapped them up with as much poise as I wrap burritos when high. One was canceled before airing, but he put a piece of it into an X-Files episode: a minor character in the cold open watches and praises this show, so enraptured that he doesn't hear his daughter being kidnapped by a serial killer or abducted by aliens or neither or both, tbh I'm still not 100% sure what happened and what didn't happen, because that episode was written by Chris Carter. The highest rated episode out of all the episodes in all of the three canceled shows has Darin Morgan's writing credit, and it's a sequel of an X-Files episode. Where Jose Chung just goes 'you know what? this sucks' and dies.

Yes, I did enjoy The Lone Gunmen, but guess who has the most writing credit? Yes, Vince Gilligan. Perhaps, executives didn't really understand and didn't bother looking into why X-Files was such a popular and beloved show? And kept on greenlighting Carter's pet projects and then going: Wait, Where Money? Probably. That's how I imagine the reason. Thing is, the X-Files was so beloved and popular not because of Carter's obsession with Christian symbolism and conspiracies and apocalypse and ambiguity so vague and lazy and full of itself that I felt vicarious embarrassment, not because of his narcissism God complex that is manifested on screen in such a way that watching it feels exactly and very specifically like grinding your teeth while there's a bit of slightly wet sand on them, and not because people ached to learn how aliens would colonize Earth. Characters. We loved the characters. We loved the relationships in the show. And we loved the CRAZY and the over-the-top. And all of the Human, all the Silly, and the Funny, and the Tragically Funny.

Every single episode I remember loving the most, and every single episode that tops every single 'bestest X-Files episodes evah' list, has the writing credit of either Darin Morgan (Humbug, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, Jose Chung's From Outer Space, War of the Coprophages), or Vince Gilligan (Soft Light, Pusher, Bad Blood, Small Potatoes, Paper Hearts, Meme— you know what, this is easier), or Glen Morgan + James Wong (Squeeze, The Field Where I Died, Never Again, Musings of the Cigarette-Smoking Man). Not Carter. Although according to a WaPo article I read, Carter was insanely controlling and everything had to go through him. Duh. :-\ Not to mention, his entire writing room was a sausage fest, apparently? And Gillian Anderson finally got to write an episode only in season seven, when the show was about to be foreclosed by Fox and turned into a movie franchise (never happened, alas), and around the 'f*ck it who cares anymore we're rich and uncancellable' time when Gilligan was allowed to write the episode where Mulder solved existential nihilism via freeing a genie? Not surprised.

Meanwhile, Carter himself had written the episodes I was looking forward to the least during this rewatch. And my SO would be like: wow, you're rolling your eyes so hard I'm worried about your vision, should we maybe skip this one..? And I'd be like: no-no imma just do some chores, I really wanna do some chores, I'll be nearby, yes please keep on watching babe, no need to pause, I'll keep the bathroom door open to hear everything while I do my favorite very entertaining things like clean the toilet and scrub the shower and wash the litterbox.

Hmmm? What's that? Post-modern Prometheus is highly rated? Hoo boy :-| Can we please not go there... Also, even without all of the problematic aspects of PMP: 1) even a broken clock can do postmodernism is right twice a day, 2) no, it is not a well written episode; it's loved because of its subtly familiar nostalgic visuals and because it attempts to imitate Darin Morgan's signature style with about as much success as I had while trying to imitate Lovecraft when my English was at ~C1 level and then I started crying and went to Postmodernism and told him 'please mister postmodernism sir, please save me by making it all into a long setup to a punchline'.

Anyway x 11:21.

This whole realization made me dislike the Auteur theory even more. My relationship with it was already so hostile that we've been sending each other death threats every month since I was seventeen.

Yes, I should be fair(er). Chris Carter's primary role is NOT that of a writer, but a producer and director and *cringes* shOwRuNnEr. He was the one who pitched the show to Fox, was rejected, and fought for it until they agreed. Without him, the X-Files would not have existed at all. And all bad jokes aside, this show helped me a lot when I had no one and nothing else to help me. I was indeed in a parasocial relationship with its leads. They were my TV parents. Thing is, everything you love about the X-Files' writing... like me, any other casual viewer might discover that all of these things were not done by Carter. Yet he was getting all of the credit.

This is a very important, and seemingly obvious but not really, factoid that applies to a lot of shows and movies. The person you give credit for a thing is often not the person who should be getting it. If you're rolling your eyes right now and calling me agent Obvious: may I remind you, I'm permanently out of the loop about everything. EVERYTHING.

I'm not going to devolve this into a rant about Auteur theory...Because then I'd be here all day or until I start foaming at the mouth. And I'm sure everything has been said without me and before me, anyway. I'm not even going to write a more detailed analysis to defend my views regarding the 'painfully average'. Shmviews.

I've said what I wanted to say.

This rewatch was an interesting experience.

"Skinner wants our report in one hour. What are you going to tell him?" — "What do you mean what am I going to tell him? I'm going to tell him exactly what I saw. What are you going to tell him?" — "I'll tell him exactly what I saw".

[sixstepsaway]

right, so, here are my Thoughts about that whole thing now i've slept on it. probably won't be super coherent but here we go

i feel bad for stede. he got shoved, somehow, into the weird love interest role so many female characters find themselves in, where they are truly completed by a man and a romance not the things they've been striving for throughout the series so far. he's shown no sign of wanting to give up the pirate lifestyle he's just finally got back, and to accompany him giving that up with izzy's gorgeous "piracy is about family and somewhere to belong" speech from earlier just feels cruel. we joke about how episode 2 stede wouldn't care if lucius died but that changed, he got attached, his crew became his family. they were loyal to him and followed him even when they were just working at spanish jackie's for pennies. they respected him and loved him enough to let him talk them into letting ed back on board. this was, at least at this point in stede's arc, his happy ending. in fact, you can even argue he was happy without ed for a while at the start of this episode. his relationship with ed is important and it's icing on the cake, but it isn't something to complete him, or his only source of happiness -- nor should it be!!! and then for some reason ed shows back up, fishes up his leathers, kicks ass to save him, loses izzy and now they're leaving stede's ship and crew and found family to... run an inn made out of the world's shittiest fixer-upper? stede? stede twirly fancypants bonnett??? in that place? maybe at the end of a full run this might have felt like a good conclusion to his story, him realizing he wanted belonging, not necessarily to be a pirate, and maybe them bringing some of crew along to have their home somewhere safer and happier than the piracy they don't really enjoy but turn to because they have no other choice, but right now it just feels like... honestly like either he agreed to it to keep ed with him ("AITA for convincing my boyfriend to run an inn with me after leaving him two days ago because we were moving too fast? little backstory: this involved my boyfriend leaving everything in his life for me and no i did not apologize for running off to become a fisherman") or like, as i said up there, a matter of "actually all he needed was a BOYFRIEND all along" which... ngh. stede is more than his relationship.

idk why we bothered establishing that frenchie, jim and even archie were willing to put their lives on the line and lie to ed's murderous face to save izzy's life just for them to be stone-faced and have no feelings about his loss. like, okay, ed and he's stories are tied together and him dying in ed's arms makes more sense narratively than him dying in anyone else's, but also ed hadn't earned that and izzy deserved to die in the arms of someone who hadn't tried to kill him and shot him in the leg not to mention we went from fang's squishy hug and frenchie holding his hand to just... nothing? not a thing? roach, the ship's surgeon, did nothing to try and save him? it's just ed slapping his gunshot wound pathetically?

it strongly feels like they swapped izzy and ed's roles in his death scene sounds stupid but hear me out "you're my only family" would make so much more sense coming from izzy with ed dying in his arms. izzy's desperation to keep hold of ed, right down to accidentally pushing him down the kraken path at the end of season 1, being rooted in the feeling that ed is all he has in the world? ed responding that no, the crew love izzy. he's earned their love. he has a family outside of ed now, can't he see that? that makes so much more sense, considering izzy nearly died for them multiple times and spent the first few episodes trying to protect them and then being protected by them in kind he was their new unicorn!!! meanwhile ed said sorry to fang, izzy and lucius, and no one else has been shown to give any fucks about him since that whole thing, and like... rightly so? because he hadn't earned them back at all? and he fucked off on them too last episode lol dont forget he didnt JUST leave stede

we should have known better than to trust djenks when he broke jim and olu up for no reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ idk

nothing worth a damn happened this episode it was all running around and waving swords. idk how anyone got to where they were at the end. it was just poor writing.

the pacing has been off all season but they really shoved three episodes into one and hoped it'd work

i'm getting flashbacks to the timeless ~finale~ ugh

they spent so much time one ed's stupid fishing boat monologue instead of on ANYTHING ELSE

i ran out of thoughts

oh, here's another: the show walked a line between muppetry and things that were taken seriously lucius' finger, izzy's toes: serious ed getting bonked by a cannonball: emotionally serious, but not physically serious ed and stede both getting stabbed: not serious and what was treated as serious and what was treated as handwavy was dictated by what the storyline and the emotional needs were izzy getting shot to make it so they all had to run away yapping would have been hilarious, especially if he got back to the ship and went "nah eddie it's my left side, remember what i told you about the left? nothing important on the left" "your liver" <- roach, horrified but instead weird death scene because this was treated as physically serious, even though it...should not have been, really? and that is bothering me a lot too, because when lucius was thrown to his death, we looked at stede finding the crew on the island and went, "aha! lucius will be fine, because that's what the show logic is" and we were right, because the show had taught us that but that didn't extend to izzy for this and that's just weird

[imthepunchlord]

Honestly, the thing I’m saltiest about in Tales of Arcadia is how they handled the redeemed villains. Angor Rot? Dead. Strickler? Dead. Nomura? Dead. Tronos Madu? Dead. Literally every redeemed villain doesn’t get a happy ending. It’s especially egregious when it comes to Angor Rot and Tronos, who were redeemed for all of five seconds before getting killed. Like, why even bother going through the trouble of giving that development if they’re going to die anyway? Redemption Equals Death is an incredibly stupid trope, and I really hate how liberally Tales of Arcadia uses it.

The trope does have purpose to serve, but it does depend on the characters. Cause sometimes that finality is the only way, and there is peace in moving on. One of the best examples can technically be Darth Vader, though that can be up for debate on his redemption. I wouldn't say he's fully redeemed, but has a redeeming death, saving his child over his dark service, felt like a good end for him.

So, the trope of Redemption Equals Death, it does have it's purpose and use, it just comes down to the character it will be applying to and their situations and set up. But the big issue with ToA is that they overused it. I would've top that trope at 2 characters max cause not every character will apply to that trope.

Like, I don't see the point of killing Strickler, narrative wise it didn't feel fitting. To me, it always felt that he was set up for a redemption and a happy ending.

Before he revealed himself a villain, you got to see that he loved teaching, and he worked off Jim well and on some level did still care for him. Like, you can also see the alarm/horror in his expression when he saw that Jim was the new Trollhunter and that Jim his student was now his enemy.

And even afterwards, able to accept that Jim IS his enemy, for a trained assassin who can easily kill this kid who just started out and would get stronger as he performed more, he didn't go out of his way to kill Jim, he first wanted to try and just steal the Amulet without causing Jim's death. I could be wrong, but, as antagonistic as he got, I felt he did always care for Jim on some level and was reluctant to see him dead, especially the first half of s1.

Also he did come to really care for Barbara (though it didn't stop his villainy, I feel those smacks in s3 should've happened in s2 but I guess they didn't want to explore Barbara in the know which is a weak choice to me). But, with her, his love of teaching, and his soft spot for Jim, Strickler was always set up for a redemption and a future ally and mentor. And with this, I always felt that Strickler's end was going to be him and Barbara marrying and he'd be Jim's stepfather, which would've led to more of their fun dynamic, where they do care but also can't help but be a little antagonistic and that it would improve as the years went on. Death didn't feel like a fitting end for him.

Angor Rot though I did see as a potential redeemed character and still fated for death and finding peace through it. This is a troll that had his soul taken from him, got forced into servitude to a human mage commanding him to hunt down his own people who were fighting his enemies, and through the years became hollow, bitter, and ruthless. Also, mindful the show is kinda up in the air about troll life expectancy, but there could be in the realm of possibility that Angor is also much longer lived than he should be given that he is tie to that ring. He's a villain that got put into a situation outside of his control, and he's forced into a service he didn't want to be in. By set up, that leaves him open for a redemption, and the possibility that death could finally bring him some peace, give him true freedom. Which I'm sure was the idea for s3 but I also had different ideas of what s3 was going to go, and it was so weird seeing Angor think highly of Morgana like, didn't you hate her?

Did, did you get some amnesia with your revival? Or was there some brainwashing with your revival? What's going on there, buddy?

Anyway, when s2 ended, I predicted that we were going to see a Claire and Angor dynamic explored, cause for Trollhunters, the first 2 seasons was really good about giving us different dynamics that actually came out to be a lot of fun to watch. Like Jim and Strickler and their antagonistic rivalry + Strickler falling for Jim's mom. And we got Claire and NotEnrique that was a lot of fun. And then we got Steve and Eli and gosh those two were hilarious.

So at the end of s2, I was anticipating that Claire was going to be trapped in Morgana's service with the revived Angor Rot and that they were going to be forced to work together and do as Morgana wills, and it was going to be intense and fascinating as Claire, next to Jim, had the biggest clash with Angor; she even thought that Jim should have kept that ring and wore it and forced Angor to work for him. And then lo and behold, she's now in a forced servitude and is working with a hostile and bitter Angor and what starts out as hostility becomes them becoming reluctant frienemies cause they're enemies stuck together serving something more dangerous than them and holds all the strings and the enemy of my enemy is my friend and those scenarios are always so fun to watch. And once free of Morgana, because he hates her far more than he hates Jim and co, he helps in that fight, and would pass on more at peace in contrast to his first end.

So, that's what I would've expected and that's what would've been my ideals on the paths for redeemed characters. Not every redeemed character needs to live on happily cause sometimes, there is that peace in death and moving on. But not every redeemed character should die either. And this series just took it waaaay to far, to a point it feels more for angst and shock value than something fitting to the character and story. But I also felt that s3 of Trollhunters was the start of this series starting to go downhill and made weird choices that clashed with what was initially set up so I'm not too surprised.

[mistandshcdow]

so i watched the ‘we have always lived in the castle’ film and i have some thoughts (good bad & weird, spoilers ahead)

Good:

- depiction of merricats OCD is accurate and visually compelling

- weird codependent / incestous relationship between merricat and constance probably weird and incestous

- uncle julian fucks now

- also letting uncle julian be able to move his own wheelchair is a good change for the sake of him as a character bc otherwise constance would have to be in every single scene with him

- jim is the perfect asshole

- merricat’s reaction to charles’ arrival is so funny

- i know a lot of whalitc fans hate sebastian stan for charles but imo he’s kinda perfect. he’s good at effortless asshole because he is lowkey punchable. also that he’s got literally nothing intelligent or good to say ever is so accurate/his pseudo intellectualism is so accurate

- what i like about this movie is that it is very firm in its pro incest worldview 😭 charles being into constance isn’t viewed as weird and they are literally first cousins

- constance constantly one pained smile away from a mental breakdown at all times

- merrricat walking around like a little goblin everywhere is too funny

- the kitchen scene with the argument between julian and charles is fantastic wow they captured the anxiety perfectly

Bad:

- merricat looks way too put together, she’s literally a feral child who never brushes her hair and hates washing and she’s here with two perfect twisted braids and not a single flyaway ???

- why are uncle julian’s clearly humorous lines being played straight / earnestly … this man is the biggest jokester around constantly trolling people not whispering deep truths

- helen and lucille … why did they have this weird visual gag of lucille repeating everything idk it was just a bad choice. unless we are meant to think that everything is through merricat’s twisted POV??

- not enough jonas

- not enough about the fucking poisonings?!?! idk i feel like i would have kinda liked to see it go down maybe that’s just me being a goblin

- ending lacks the emotional weight it needed, the scene about the sugar was not nearly as impactful as it should be and it’s because we didn’t get enough of merricat’s murderous inner monologue. if you didn’t read the book then you wouldn’t know based on what the film told you about her, but it’s obvious from one look into her mind that she’s capable of violence

Weird:

- changing the meaning of the burying. clearly burying is a good thing in the book but in the film she only buries bad things. i get they might have wanted this as a visual metaphor for when they kill charles but ehhhhh idk

- the house is not like i imagined but i guess everyone is on a budget

- constance sleeps in full makeup

- removing thomas from the family but i guess they didn’t want to make merricat a child murderer. seems a weird line in the moral sand considering she literally killed everyone else

overall, this movie conveys the plot of whalitc, but fails at telling the story or conveying any emotion that the original text does so masterfully. if you liked the book, the movie won’t ruin anything, but it will leave you feeling very disappointed. just reread the book.

[sinsiriuslyemo]

Title: Two Sides, Same Coin

Pairing: Jim Gordon/Reader, !Past Quentin Lance/Reader

Rating: PG13 (some suggestive language, dark humor)

Summary: When your former partner shows up in Gotham City asking for help on a case, Jim gets a bit jealous after learning more about your history.

Notes: This idea came from the previous oneshot I posted, Sleep Just To Dream. I started thinking about exploring the reverse, where Jim is jealous and Reader has to reassure him. Also, Quentin Lance from the Arrowverse, makes an appearance in this one shot. I realize that they are veeery loosely the same universe, and at the end of the day, not really since the Nolanverse is sort of stand alone, but too bad. I did it. It's done. I am not sorry, Paul Blackthorne is hot as well 😂 Divider by @firefly-graphics.

Warning: mentions of alcoholism, past trauma.

DD5s were among the most boring paperwork that existed in law enforcement, but much to your chagrin, they were necessary. You, of course, were a master procrastinator, letting them pile up until you had little choice but to finish them lest you not be able to ever find your desk with how many there were to enter into the system. While you waited on the result of a DNA sample, you had some time to kill and decided to at least get started on them, when a familiar voice sounded from behind you.

“I see you still let your paperwork pile up.”

A smile formed on your lips as you swiveled your chair around before you stood. “Like you’re any better than I am.” Closing the couple of steps between you, you flung your arms around your former partner, Detective Quentin Lance of SCPD. “How’ve you been, Lance?”

“Oh, you know,” he answered, hugging you back. “One day at a time, keep it simple.”

The common AA phrases made your smile widen as you pulled away. Quentin had fallen on hard times after his daughter, Sara, died, turning to his work and alcohol to help him drown the pain. Of course, having you for a partner — a rookie who had just earned her shield and was still in the throes of her early twenties — hadn’t exactly helped. In the end, his vices had cost him his marriage, which only seemed to make things worse for a while. By the time you had transferred to Gotham, he had better control over his drinking, though he would still go on a bender every once in a while.

“That’s great to hear. I’m proud of you, Quentin.”

“Thanks,” he said, returning your smile. “How about you, huh? Looks like you’re doing pretty good here.” He glanced around the precinct for emphasis.

Your eyes flickered to Jim’s office, where he was hunched over paperwork as you nodded. “Yeah, things are great.” You look back at Quentin. “So, what brings you all the way to Gotham?”

“Actually, hoping to talk to you about a case I’m workin’. Background check showed the perp has a record in Gotham City, I wondered if you could let me have a look at them.”

“Yeah, sure, I just have to clear it with my Sarge, but I’m sure it’ll be fine,” you replied, gesturing to Jim with one hand. “But you could’a called for that, so… what gives? Why fly all the way across the country?”

He smiled nervously in an effort to mask the fact that he’d been caught with his hand in a cookie jar. “You got me. Uh…” He glanced around the room again. “My captain doesn’t exactly know I’m here. Sorta used some of my PTO to come here on a hunch.”

You nodded once. “Okay.”

“Captain wants me to let this one go, but —”

“You can’t,” you offered with a smile.

He held out his hands at his sides. “You know me, once I get my hooks in something —”

“You don’t let go until you’ve reeled it in,” you finished, adding fondly, “Same ole Quentin.”

There was a bit of pink that made its way to his cheeks as he mirrored your nod and lowered his eyes.

“You got a name?”

“Yeah!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper, unfolding it and handing it to you. “Tyson Beckett, I like him for a string of homicides.”

“Okay. Give me a couple hours? We can go for a cup of coffee,” you suggested.

“Yeah, that’d be great. I appreciate any help you can give,” he replied. “I’ll just run to the hotel. Be back in two? Sound good?”

“Sounds great, see you then,” you answered.

“Alright,” he said, taking a step back, his smile warm and nostalgic. “It’s good to see you.”

Your cheeks grew warm as you answered, “It’s good to see you, too, partner.”

You waited until he left the precinct before you walked to Jim’s office, leaned against the doorframe and knocked on the open door. He looked up and gave you a smirk, returning his attention to the report he was filling out.

“Aren’t you supposed to be clearing your DD5s?” he asked.

“I was,” you answered, stepping into the office and closing the door, as was your habit any time you discussed police business to ensure you didn’t have any unintended listeners. “Quentin Lance is in town.”

He didn’t look up as he replied. “Your old partner from Starling City?”

“Yeah, he was asking about a suspect for a case he’s working. Apparently the guy has a record in Gotham, Lance wanted to know if he could have a look at those files.”

“He came all the way here in person for that?” Jim asked, finally looking up at you. “He could’a done that in a phone call.”

You bobbed your shoulders. As much as you hated being evasive with Jim, Lance was once your partner, and the habit of covering for your partner wasn’t an easy one to shake. “Yeah, I dunno, I guess it’s just a sensitive case.”

Jim smirked and leaned back in his seat as he arched a brow at you. “You’re a terrible liar.”

You should’ve known Jim would see right through you. “Well, you might have an unfair advantage. You’ve seen me naked, been inside me, so.”

His smirk widened. “My favorite place to be.”

Trying to suppress a smile, you nodded as your cheeks warmed under his stare.

“Look, I get it, he was your partner, you’re covering for him,” he said, letting his chair fall gracefully back into place, his elbows propping themselves against the edge of his desk. “But if there's something I should know, I hope you’ll tell me.”

You averted your eyes, taking a deep breath. “His captain doesn’t exactly know he’s here.”

“So he’s gone rogue,” Jim assumed.

“Sort of. Look, Lance is… he’s a bit bullheaded. Once he catches a bone, it’s really hard to get him to let go.”

Sighing heavily, Jim leaned back in his seat again, rocking back and forth. “You trust him?”

“Yes.”

He nodded and sat up again. “If this somehow comes back to bite us, it’s gonna be on you,” he warned.

“Understood.”

“That the name?” he asked, gesturing with his eyes and a nod at the slip in your hand.

You set down the scrap of paper Quentin had given you. “Tyson Beckett. Quentin likes him for a string of murders back in Starling.”

“Yeah, I’ll put a call down to Admin, let them know you’re coming down.”

You smiled at him. “Thank you.”

Turning to leave, you got as far as the door when you considered whether you should tell him about the history you and Lance had. On one hand, it had been one drunken night of passion, and had led nowhere. At the time, you were far too focused on proving yourself a worthy detective and Quentin was too focused on drowning his grief that it had only been one night. Still, you felt compelled to be forthcoming, especially since your relationship with Jim was so much deeper.

“Actually, there’s one other thing that — in the spirit of honesty — I should probably tell you,” you said, turning to face him and slipping your fingers into your front pockets.

“What is it?”

Your lips began to form the words, and you rattled off the cliff notes as quickly as you could. “We sort of hooked up this one time. Years ago. It was no big deal, didn’t mean anything, it was just the one time. Okay, bye!”

You started to open the door.

“Wait a minute, wait!” he called out, one hand reaching in your direction. He swatted at the air, silently telling you to close the door again.

You did, mentally preparing for whatever would come, hands sliding into your pockets again.

“You can’t just say that and then walk out.”

“It was really nothing,” you tried to assure him.

“Well, it wasn’t nothing. You ‘hooked up’, does that mean…” He waited for you to fill in the blank.

“We had sex, one time. It was a stupid, drunken hook up. It didn’t mean anything, and it never happened again,” you explained.

Jim let out a breath, slumping back in his seat as he tried to digest what you had just told him. Looking back at you, he tilted his head. “Well, this sort of changes things, doesn't it?”

“Why would it?”

“How do you know that’s not the real reason he’s here? This whole Tyson Beckett case could be a ruse just to see you again.”

You shook your head, smiling at him. “It’s not.”

“How do you know?”

“Because that’s ridiculous! First of all, I’m with you, and anyway, he lives in Starling City. I live here.”

“Maybe he’s hoping to convince you to go back,” Jim replied.

You shook your head, unable to help the way a smile played on your face. “I doubt that. And if by some crazy chance, you’re right, he’s gonna be sorely disappointed.”

“You’re sure about that?”

Arching a brow, you cross your arms over your chest and shifted to face him dead on. “Are you jealous?”

He scoffed, making to go back to his report. “No, I’m not jealous.”

“Really?” you replied, doubt lacing the word.

“No, I’m just saying you should be prepared in case that does turn out to be the reason he came all the way here. That’s all,” he said with a bob of his shoulders, going back to his report.

You tried to keep yourself from smiling and rolled your eyes, opening the door and leaving his office. As you went back to your desk, your eyes fell on the DD5s still await your attention, and you groaned to yourself. You looked back toward Jim’s office and saw that he was on the phone, likely with the Administrative Department to request the records you’d asked for. Pulling your jacket from the back of your chair, you put it on and began to walk toward the elevators when your partner called out to you.

“Y/L/N, we got something?”

“No, I’m just headed downstairs for a sec,” you answered. “I’ll be right back.”

About ten minutes before you were expecting Quentin to meet up with you, you pulled out your compact of lip balm. The cold weather always took its toll on your lips, and the only thing that worked was your Sugar Coconut lip balm. You gathered some on your finger and spread it on your lips liberally, drawing in your lips to spread it evenly.

“What are you doing?” Jim asked from behind you.

You jolted slightly and turned to look, spotting him about halfway between your desk and his office. Turning back to face forward, you closed the compact and put it back in your drawer. “Putting on lip balm.”

“Why?”

“Because my lips are dry?” you answered.

He came up to sit in the chair beside your desk, facing you. “What, is Lance gonna feel them or something?”

You could tell he had tried to make the question sound playful, maybe even a little sarcastic, but in the end, his tone had been annoyed, and just slightly wounded.

“Gordon.”

“What?” He shrugged, trying to play innocent.

“Stop it,” you said as a smile came to your lips.

“When’s he coming back for this?” he asked, gesturing with his head at the file that was sitting on your desk.

“He should be here in just a few minutes. We’re gonna go get coffee downstairs,” you answered, trying to sneak in one last DD5 before Quentin showed up.

“Oh, that’s nice,” he replied.

This time when a smile threatened to break through, you did little to stop it. “It’s just coffee. There’s no need for you to be jealous.”

“I told you, I’m not jealous.”

Somehow you sincerely doubt that, but you said nothing, quickly putting in the DD5 in front of you before setting it in the finished pile.

“It’s nice to see you’re actually getting some work done, but then I guess coffee with Quentin is a nice incentive.”

“Oh — My God,” you replied in a chuckle, looking up at him. “Do you wanna just come with us?”

“No,” he replied, shaking his head. “Thank you, but I do not want to come to coffee with you and your ex.”

“He hardly qualifies as my ex,” you said.

“Is this your way of getting back at me for the Brooke Shields thing?”

“What? No —”

“Cause I didn’t actually have sex with Brooke Shields, you at least got to have sex,” he said.

“Don’t piss me off,” you pleaded.

He put his hands up in mock surrender.

“Do you want me to not go? We can just go over the file here at my desk and drink the precinct coffee.”

“No,” he replied, brows furrowing. “No, I trust you.”

“Are you sure?” you asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

A distant ding made you look toward the elevators just as Quentin was getting off, making his way toward your desk.

“There he is, please be nice,” you mumbled to Jim as you stood.

“I’m always nice,” he replied, standing as well and looking over at the dark-haired, older man walking toward you, muttering under his breath. “Well, you certainly have a type.”

A huff of a laugh burst from your lips and you turned your face away, shaking your head. “Stop it.” Turning back to Quentin, you gave him a smile as he walked up. “Detective Lance, this is Sergeant Gordon. Sarge, meet Detective Lance, my old partner from SCPD.”

“Good to meet you, Sergeant,” Quentin said, holding out his hand.

Jim glanced down at it, and shook it politely, and to your relief replied, “Nice meeting you, too, Detective.”

“Really appreciate your help on this case. This guy always seems to be two steps ahead, I’m hoping maybe he wasn’t so careful when he was first startin’ out.”

“Yeah, sure. Hope this helps,” Jim replied with a nod before he looked back at you. “See you when you get back?”

“Yes,” you answered, giving his hand a squeeze before you picked up the file and followed Quentin back to the elevator.

You got back to the precinct about forty-five minutes later, file in hand, which you promptly took to the fax machine. Mostly everyone was gone besides Jim, who was still in his office judging by the fact that it was one of the few lights still on in the place. After faxing the files to Quentin’s hotel, you went to Jim’s office.

“Knock, knock,” you said, coming to a stop in the doorway.

Looking up from the file on his desk, he leaned back in his chair. “How’d it go?”

“Great, actually.” You held up the file and stepped into his office, sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk. “It’s a good thing we had this in our records. I think it might’ve cracked his case. I just faxed over some copies for him to take back to Starling City.”

“Well good, I’m glad you two still make such a good team,” he replied.

His mustache shifted just enough for you to tell that he was subtly smirking, and a smile teased your own lips.

“I’m not his partner anymore,” you replied. “Would it be okay if we lock this up in here tonight? I can take it back in the morning. I hate going to the basement this late, it’s creepy.”

“Yeah, sure,” he answered, leaning forward to take the file from you and putting it in the top drawer of his desk. “Look, I’m sorry for being a little nutty before. But the thought of you with some other man — touching you, kissing you the same way I do…” He shrugged as a sigh blew through his lips. “It made me a little nutty.”

“I’ll say.”

“And then seeing that same guy going to get coffee with you, it just…”

“I’m sorry. That’s not why I told you about Quentin. I only told you because if you had somehow found out some other way, I didn’t want you to think I was trying to keep it from you. I wasn’t trying to make you feel jealous or upset, I swear.”

“I know,” he said. “And I really am glad we were able to help him.”

You nodded. “He really needed the win, so, me too.”

“Yeah, I know. I checked him out after you left earlier,” he said.

“You vetted my old partner?” you asked with a smirk.

“Course, I did. I wanted to know more about the guy that was taking my girlfriend on a coffee date,” he answered, mirroring your expression.

“It was more of a meeting that happened to include coffee.”

“Whatever it was, I know he’s been having trouble at SCPD these last few weeks. Hopefully this’ll help turn things around for him,” he said, closing the open file on his desk and standing up. “Now, come on. Let’s get home.”

“What about my DD5s? I’ve still got a few to input into the system,” you asked, thumb pointed toward your desk as he came around to stand in front of you, close enough that you could feel his body heat against your own.

“You can finish them tomorrow. Right now, I just wanna take you home, take off all our clothes, crawl into bed and do unspeakable things to you,” he said, moving some hair behind your shoulder, the tip of his finger grazing across your neck.

Goosebumps erupted on your arms, nipples tightening against the lace material of your bra and your breath deepening. “Fine by me.”

[chalkrevelations]

So, I’ve been catching up on podcasts about TLOU during the commute to and from work or while I’m running errands. And I’ve developed this habit that I subject spouse to on a regular basis, which I call “Today On ‘How Dudes On Podcasts Are Wrong About The Last Of Us.’” And this week, I just feel really strongly about a couple of things re: Ep 8, and so all y’all get to be subjected to this week’s installment, too.

(I definitely need to go back and watch all of the show again, because I feel like it’s going to unfold beautifully on a second watch, but I don’t actually have the patience to wait until I get all the way around, back to Ep 8 again, before hashing through this particular stuff, so fuck it, we ball.)

I just feel like I’m listening to a lot of guys 1) being weirdly precious about the cannibalism and 2) missing the point of the cannibalism.

I mean, all of this is with the caveat that I realized a long time ago, I’m kind of missing the automatic cannibalism squick that most people have. I’m not down with killing people specifically to eat them, and I wouldn’t particularly want to eat another person, but I do appear to be more pragmatic - at least theoretically - than about 96.5 percent of the population about the idea that dead bodies are meat, that living people take precedence over dead people, and that if you’re in a starvation situation without other options and Joe next door kicks it, as long as he wasn’t carrying any communicable diseases, I don’t have a lot of practical or ethical compunction about you looking at Joe as a source of protein. All that being said, I’m listening to people acting not only like the cannibalism in Ep 8 is some freaky weird shit - which it is! don’t get me wrong, being in a situation where your only option is to eat people is inherently fucked up! - but that it’s a narrative choice that illustrates a moral and ethical vacuum in this group of characters, which completely misses the point? I’m hearing things like the fact that they didn’t immediately butcher the horse while people are neatly strung up for storage shows that they’d rather eat people, and how voraciously they were eating their “venison” stew shows how they are indelibly marked and changed by eating human flesh - even when they don’t know, I guess - and I’m like, no, they’re HUNGRY. They’re literally starving. That’s why they’re sucking down that stew. And I’m sure they’ll get around to butchering that horse as soon as David’s done terrorizing and molesting Ellie, which brings me to my first point:

The cannibalism is not what makes these people monstrous. What makes them monstrous is that they allow David to openly prey on children the way he treats Hannah and Ellie. What makes James monstrous is that he knows their raiding party attacked Joel and Ellie without provocation and Joel killed their guy in self-defense (don’t start none, won’t be none, m’fkr), and yet he still wants to revenge-obliterate Joel and Ellie. What makes David monstrous is the way he preys on the people in his care and particularly on the children in his care, like Hannah and Ellie. “Freaky cannibalism” is not what makes any of these people monstrous, it only means they’re starving and desperate. What makes them monstrous is their other behavior, that they could control, unlike starving to death if you don’t eat Jim-Bob when he kicks it and all you have otherwise are three cans of stewed tomatoes for a group of 25+ people.

Also, I realize I’m coming at this with hindsight because I’ve finished the season, but particularly if you’ve played the game, I feel like you should see this coming: The narrative point of the cannibalism isn’t about these people at all. It’s not even really about David. The cannibalism is about Joel. Joel has to see those bodies strung up in the back of the steakhouse, Joel has to understand that David and his group are - in Ellie’s words - cutting people into little bits, Joel has to understand that this is likely what they’re going to do to Ellie, and Joel has to see that he wasn’t able to rescue her from that, that he failed her again, that she only survived because she saved herself. Joel has to see those bodies stripped down to meat because it literalizes what’s going to happen in Ep 9, when he wakes up in the Firefly facility and Ellie is gone, and Marlene tells him she’s already headed into surgery - they’ve washed her, prepped her and are getting ready to expertly butcher her, to kill her and strip her down for parts, cut her into little bits, just like those bodies he saw hanging back at Silverlake would be, just like Ellie would have been if she hadn’t saved herself. He’s failed her again and again and again, he told Tommy, back in Ep, what? 6? 7? He fails her again in Ep 8, and she is fucking traumatized. You think he’s going to fail her this last time, if he can help it?

And that’s why, sure, people can argue the ethics of his actions all they want, but the overall story is so very VERY narratively satisfying, because Joel was never going to do anything other than what he did, and that’s what the story is ABOUT. This is the most cohesive story I’ve seen, on a character level, in a LONG damn time.

But I do think part of the ethical argument of whether you do or don’t agree with Joel’s decision should be informed by the fact that David’s group and the Fireflies are paralleled in Ep 8 and Ep 9. Maybe Ellie would have said yes to Marlene, but Marlene didn’t ask - she doesn’t care any more about Ellie’s consent than David did. Is Ep 8 repulsive because it’s happening in the back of a steakhouse and Ep 9 OK because it’s happening in an operating room? You’re going to be all “Ew, cannibalism, beyond the pale” when it’s about desperation and survival, and the meat is (usually, at least) already dead anyway, and a lot of other people would starve to death if you just let it rot, but you’re OK with Ellie, who’s still alive, being butchered to keep other people alive? No - to maybe keep other people alive, because this is all hypothetical, the Fireflies don’t even know if it will actually work? So, if it doesn’t work this time, how many teen-aged girls are you willing to butcher on a possibility? At what point does it become too many? Do we rebuild the world on the bodies of dead teen-aged girls? I submit this is part of the moral calculus that has to be considered at the end of S1, and it’s put into stark relief by what we see in Ep 8.

And that is the point of the cannibalism.

[meilas]

Socks' Ultimate Phantoms list, part two

PART ONE

Phantoms, continued:

David Thaxton - Had this moment in Final Lair where it looked like he’d had a heart attack, and then Christine put her hands over his on his heart and just—🥺 David Arnsperger - Had a wild self-caress right before MOTN where he rocked backward. That's it, that's all I remember. John Cudia - I remember actively not liking his Phantom the first time I saw him, but I changed my mind at his Final Lair because it was so good. Jonathan Roxmouth - Has a slightly nasally tone and a slightly deeper voice than a lot of Phantoms. He did not have good pants. Actually the worst pants I’ve ever seen. Looks like a cinnamon roll, is not afraid to burn you if you’ve wronged him. I also don’t like how his wig looks like thinning hair at the very front. Tim Martin Gleason - Don't ask me why, I just like him okay. James Romick - Really like his voice. Does an excellent sad. Derrick Davis - Fantastic voice. Brought a touch of humanity to that awful restaged show and made it worth watching. Wish we could have seen him in Real POTO. Great ass. Brent Barrett - I remember liking him. Thomas James O’Leary - Good acting, good voice. Jon Robyns - Makes excellent noises during the Final Lair. Good voice. James Gant - Works best with Eva Shanu-Wilson. Okay acting, but nothing else really going on. Occasional good moments. Thomas Borchert - Unfairly pretty, beautiful voice, excellent choices during Final Lair, MOTN was mesmerizing. Bit of a slut. Top ten for sure.

Christines: Lisa Vroman - An "older" Christine. Great chemistry with Franc D'Ambrosio. Initiated a gentle hand-holding during the ring return with him which was an excellent choice that I don’t often see. Made some other excellent choices throughout the show in reacting to what was happening around her. Looks like she could kill you, is a cinnamon roll except when she’s going to kill you. Elizabeth Southard - Another "older" Christine. Love her. The best chemistry with Gary Mauer, her irl husband. Also had great chemistry with Jim Weitzer, who was her Raoul. Very, very good actor. Looks like a cinnamon roll, is a cinnamon roll but only for her husband, otherwise she can and will kill. Luzia Nistler - Love her voice. Austrian. (Like German, but elegant.) Emilie Kouatchou - I wanted to like her. But she has a ton of vibrato and she sounds like a child. I also don't care for her acting. She looked like she was only doing what she was told, rather than reacting to things happening around her. Meghan Picerno - I don't remember anything about her. I saw her live right after the reopening. Celinde Schoenmaker - I've only heard audio of her but I remember liking her. Kanisha Feliciano - Good Wishing. Looks fabulous in the blue dress. I love her wigs more than any other Christine. Hers doesn’t look like a frizzy mess. Lucy St Louis - She played a very sympathetic Christine, and has such a beautiful voice. Lily Kerhoas - fierce. Loved the anger she had in Final Lair. Holly Anne-Hull - too much vibrato Paige Blankson - too much vibrato

Raouls: Christopher Carl - Didn't get to see much of him owing to the fact that the boots he's in are Phantom-centered highlights. The little I have seen of him has been excellent though. I've heard an audio boot of him as the Phantom and it was excellent. Has a more "American" pronunciation than most Phantoms. ("ay" vs "ah") Ciaran Sheehan - I like him better as Raoul than as the Phantom. He was ready to throw hands. Has a very stilted way of singing that reminds me of the few clips of Colm Wilkinson, but sounds better than Colm. Willing to troll his associates irl. Bronson Norris Murphy - A. Dorable. The best. Looks like a cinnamon roll, is a cinnamon roll. Could probably do a murder if pushed far enough. Have heard audio and now seen a boot and he’s a protective Raoul. Hands down my favourite Raoul. John Riddle - Saw him live right after the reopening. I don't remember anything specific about him. Paul Schaefer - Nice chest. Matt Blaker - meh

[thegeminisage]

the tholian web episode rewrite

this post is an episode rewrite of the tholian web, an episode about jim kirk being declared prematurely dead and the enterprise, particularly spock and bones, falling to pieces until his miraculous return as a weird space ghost. i thought this ep was very very very VERY good, it's one of my all-time favs, but the end was really jumbled and didn't quite give me the payoff i wanted, so a summary of the original (which you can skip if you've seen it) plus my suggested fixes are below.

the original

the enterprise, searching for the a missing starship called the defiant, finds it in a weird area of space that is "breaking up." when jim, spock, bones, and chekov beam aboard (in space suits) they find the ship dark and full of the corpses of its crew, who all killed each other in fits of insanity, and the ship threatening to disintegrate with them on it

unfortunately, they can't all be beamed back at the same time, and jim of course insists on being last, so when the ship does disintegrate ("interphases" into another dimension), it takes him with it - with only 4 hours of air left in his space suit

because scifi, spock works out that they can get jim back if they hold perfectly still until the dimensions interphase again. but this is an episode where every possible thing goes wrong - the area of space is slowly driving the crew insane and hostile, and titular tholians show up to fire on the enterprise for being in their space past the time they said they needed initially for their rescue of kirk

spock fires back, hoping to preserve what little chance they have of saving jim, but the battle not only damages the enterprise, it also (somehow) damages the area of space they were supposed to rescue jim from, which means they have no choice to declare him dead, AND the tholians come back to start weaving some kind of forcefield (the titular web) to prevent the enterprise from leaving

btw: bones HATES this. he thinks staying to fight was stupid because they'd already lost jim and now they're going to make his death meaningless because the rest of the crew will die too. he thinks spock not emoting is heartless, and asking him to find a cure for something that isn't a disease is unreasonable. he accuses spock of being a selfish short-sighted gloryhound, etc

after kirk's funeral (baller scene; it is interrupted by yet another person erupting in screaming), bones INSISTS on watching kirk's "last orders," a tape he made prior to his death meant to be played only in the event of his passing. once bones gets spock alone, he demands to know why spock stayed and fought instead of getting jim's crew to safety like he would have wanted. spock sort of gives a nonanswer and they start fighting again, but they get interrupted by kirk's tape, which basically urges them to get along - for bones to respect spock's ability to captain and for spock to trust bones's human intuition. after the tape finishes, there's a long silence, and bones apologizes

meanwhile, uhura has seen a ghostly image of captain kirk appear in her mirror. she runs out of the room yelling for spock, but finds bones instead, who chalks it up to the space sickness having gotten her. but more and more people report seeing kirk, until finally bones and spock start arguing about it - bones even spins spock around in his captain's chair to face him when he feels spock isn't taking his concerns seriously, and then has to apologize - spock replies, "i'm sure the captain would have said, 'forget it, bones.'"

at this point kirk finally appears on the bridge. spock tries to touch him but can't, though you can see kirk mouth "spock, hurry!" 

things finally start going right: bones develops a cure for the insanity and the engines are repaired. they manage to get away from the tholian web and bring jim along with them. 

at the end of the episode jim asks if they watched his last orders. at a single exchanged glance bones and spock decide to lie about it, and promise him they behaved perfectly well in his absence 

but in MY version...

the problems

again, this ep is one of my all-time favs, but it's full and jumbled near the end. the setup was excellent, and the payoff was REALLY good, but it could have been even better.

the biggest issue was the stakes. tos loooves fake time limits and other arbitrary problems to up the stakes, but this is going way overboard. jim has 4 hours of air left in his suit AND the engines are busted from the fight AND the space is making the ship act weird AND the tholians are closing their web AND interphase only happens at random intervals AND the crew might not even be able to drive the damn ship because they're going nuts...there's so many stakes you kind of forget what you're supposed to be worried about

secondary issue was the spock and bones plot. i think they were fighting just for the sake of fighting, without any real reasons, and so their reconciliation felt a little hollow

not NEARLY enough kirk in this episode, particular cool space ghost kirk. ik it was a limitation of the sfx, but still. also, no spirk reunion. kirk deserved to see them both when he got back!!

the changes

the plot

firstly, i think interphase was explained a bit poorly, which feeds into some of the ??? near the end of the episode. i think what they wanted to convey was that some wall between dimensions was weak in this particular area, causing both the madness and the phasing in and out of reality, and these two dimensions crossed at random. i think it would have been better if there had been a predictable cycle (say, the two hour mark, an even number into kirk's 4-hour time limit), and i was never quite sure why they needed to hold perfectly still anyway

next we've got to work with the stakes. definitely keep: jim needing the 4 hours of air in his suit. the tholian web, since it is after all titular (sorry for using the word titular again) - though if it weren't, i'd be tempted to chop it too. the crew going bananas, since it is both wonderfully terrifying and can act as a "can we even drive this ship" question. however the damaged engines, and also the initial tholian wait time can def go. the "this space is making the ship itself act weird" too - perhaps the reason jim was beamed back last has something to do with the suits only being able to go one at a time, or him dropping his communicator and them not being able to lock on, idk.

so to recap: keep the scene where they beam aboard and jim has to be beamed out last, but the ship vanishes before the beaming is done. i like when jim sacrifices himself in an understated calm sort of way but i'd add just a LITTLE more rising dread here on his/the music's part because the scene is already very spooky and since i knew what was gonna happen going in i was nail-biting the entire time, and would looove to transfer some of that energy to our hypothetical new and improved episode

upon disappearance of the defiant, some scifi technobabble happens and spock figures out they'll have another chance to get jim back. unfortunately, bones doesn't buy that one bit. he and the rest of the crew (to legitimize his position and keep his accusations from seeming baseless) all think there's no possible way jim could have survived, that it's dangerous to stay where they are, and that spock should get them the hell out of dodge immediately

but spock's the captain and he says logic dictates jim might still be alive so long as there's air in the suit, so they stay. IMPORTANT: there needs to be a little bit of an argument here, involving spock saying something like "starfleet would totally agree with me and in fact if i don't fuck it up i'd be given a commendation" or something to that effect. he's not saying it because he WANTS a commendation, he's actually struggling to validate his decision to bones while also hiding the fact that he's extremely upset, but it's important. we'll get back to it later

the tholians show up. i think it would be better if the battle happened immediately to cut any confusing wait time, and this is what damages the enterprise. spock is successful in scaring the tholians off temporarily, but his ship is fucked and now they CAN'T leave, and to make it worse the tholians come back and start weaving their web. this leads us to...

spock & bones

NOW spock and bones have something concrete to fight about, instead of just bickering for the sake of bickering. bones thinks spock should have ran, but spock wanted to stay

i think a good twist for this argument in the episode that we have is that bones was under the impression spock wanted to stay for self-serving reasons (not normally an assumption he'd make about spock, but he's grieving too), and all along the reason spock wanted to stay was an emotional one. unfortunately in canon his accusations of gloryhounding came out of fucking nowhere, so we need a scene to seed in that subplot

logically speaking, the first thing that has to happen after jim's death is his funeral, which i'm saving for something else, so this scene would need to be BEFORE all that, perhaps during a pre-funeral moment of chaos where the crew are dropping like flies and the screaming arrivals are flying into sickbay. bones wouldn't be the only one bitter about spock's decision to stay behind, and someone, a fellow sickbay worker or some yeoman, makes a comment about they can't believe spock did this to them just so he can be captain, and bones is like girl WHAT and they're like yeah i totally caught him looking at transfer orders the other day

of course, spock doesn't really want to transfer off the enterprise. it's obviously a misunderstanding. i'm not totally sure why he has the paperwork...the best i can come up with is some starfleet official wanted there to be a token vulcan captain for some wack reason or another, because in tos whenever they have problems they can't logistically justify they always blame it on some backward starfleet official, so i don't see why i can't do the same

anyway, this is why we needed that argument earlier - when bones thinks back on it, spock's remark about the commendation all but confirms this new theory of his, when really had spock been on his game and not grieving he probably wouldn't have attempted to validate himself to bones at all

so this is the real conflict between them - bones think spock has gambled the lives of everyone on this ship because he thought he could outsmart the tholians, exploited jim's DEATH for his own selfish gain, and has hardened his heart against the palpable grief and loss that everyone else is displaying. none of that is true, of course, but spock would prefer to let people believe he doesn't have emotions and he has no idea anyone knows about the very irritating starfleet officials trying to poach him for another ship, so HE thinks bones is being extra irrational because of his grief (which is only a little true), right when they all need to be at their best. they will yell at each other about this for the rest of the episode.

anyway, bones is good and mad. you see the steam coming out of his ears all through kirk's funeral, which, again, is interrupted by someone starting to scream as the madness takes them. at the end of the funeral everyone is dismissed and starts to file out of the room and bones immediately jumps on spock about 1. going to see the tape and 2. his bad and selfish decisions

HOWEVER, i'd like to combine this scene with the scene of uhura spotting kirk's ghost. while people are still hurriedly leaving (mom and dad are fighting again, awkwaaard), uhura cries out that she's seen captain kirk and everyone turns to see...nothing there. bones shakes his head sadly and declares her the latest casualty of the crazy and he and spock personally take her to sickbay, barely restraining themselves from continuing their argument...

but the camera stays on the room after they leave, which slowly darkens and changes slightly in color, and the camera pans to...

a ghostly captain kirk, watching all of this with the quiet horror of a doomed man

space ghost kirk

my biggest problem with this ep was that i wanted it to be 2.01 my time of dying from s*pernatural, and it wasn't because the 60s have limits on their sfx abilities. in this fantasy world, though, i can do WHATEVERRR i want

CAPTAIN'S LOG, SUPPLEMENTAL: here kirk outlines what really happened to him, which is that he escaped the defiant during the attempted beaming but found himself floating in the enterprise in an alternate dimension - it's dark, like the defiant, and maybe green or something to visually denote the difference between kirk's dimension and ours. he can see and hear what's happening but no one, except uhura just now, can see him. he can't touch or affect anything. he is powerless. all he can do is try and figure out some sort of solution while he watches his ship falling apart - this time from kirk's pov, with lots of FUNNN spooky ambience - and, of course, spock and bones being extremely angry with one another, like fighting in sickbay after they've seen to uhura (when it's clear to jim and us that they're angry BECAUSE they're grieving)

then we get to kirk's last orders. spock tries to put bones off about this because seeing jim's face right now would kill him on the spot but bones wants to get him alone in order to violate the hippocratic oath by shaking him like a dog with a squirrel. finally spock reluctantly agrees is metaphorically dragged away to the woodshed 

more arguing but this time with kirk as a third unseen participant. bones makes an accusation and he chimes in with "spock tell him it's not true!" spock implies something about bones's abilities being compromised when he's so emotional and kirk goes "mister spock you're out of line!" spock fields the accusations of wanting a captaincy by explaining the truth about the wack starfleet officials, but bones doesn't believe him at ALL. "if you didn't want a captaincy, why did you stay and fight!?" he's sure he's got spock cornered; now he'll have to admit the truth. 

perfect time for the tape to come on. this is the same as it is in the episode, and when it stops and kirk's smiling face remains frozen onscreen, spock explains haltingly that he stayed because he wasn't sure jim was dead and couldn't bear the thought of leaving him behind. there: an emotion. he prepares for the inevitable vivisection.

instead bones apologizes, like he does in canon. i liked the line "it does hurt, doesn't it?" unlike spock, bones shows his emotions outwardly. as in canon, they get called away by plot stuff. bones leaves first. spock stays behind, looking at the screen, and reaches out almost as if to touch it. there's a moment where you think he'll break - then he puts it all away, turns on his heel and goes, and the camera pans back to kirk, speechless.

kirk notices that as time goes on and they get closer to that next interphase, he becomes visible more and more often. perhaps when he talks into the radio in his suit it could come over the intercoms or something. people start hearing him and then dismissing it. someone sights him in the engine room. spock and bones think the whole ship is going nuts, but kirk can't seem to get through to the two people who need to see him most. 

so they have to do it on their own: reconcile. develop an antidote. a toast to their departed captain with scotty, where bones finally addresses spock as captain. then, with interphase growing closer, and the tholian web coming to a close, spock and bones are on the bridge when kirk appears in front of EVERYONE

(i liked bones spinning spock's chair around and then swooning into his arms and of course the "forget it bones" is CRUCIAL, so maybe the toast/drinking the antidote takes place on the bridge, and this happens just before bones drinks his share)

anyway, this time spock reaches for him, like he does in canon, instead of aborting the motion like he did in kirk's quarters when he nearly touched the computer. but kirk vanishes again, and spock's hand closes on nothing

the ending

now that they KNOW kirk is back, everyone has to rush to beat the clock in order to both escape the tholian web and bring their captain with them

everything goes well just like it does in the episode, with the small change of: as soon as spock has directed the ship out of the web, he gives the bridge to sulu and books it to the transporter room. he arrives just in time to see jim materialize on the plate alongside bones, and he probably stands at parade rest while bones welcomes jim home like he does in the episode proper, but there's enough eye contact happening between the three of them we know spock is just as relieved as the rest of them

NOW the scene at the end, where kirk talks about how empty that universe was and how he likes a crowded one much better. i have two versions of an ending in mind and can't decide which is more fun so i'm doing them both

#1: someone, spock or bones or one of the other bridge crew members, asks jim if it was totally awful being able to see the ship in such distress and not being able to help and he dodges the question by saying he couldn't see much anyway or some stupid bullshit. then HE asks spock and bones about his last orders and they also lie. and you get the idea from their various face journeys they all know each other is lying but they're going to pretend in order to remain professional and buttoned up - and then someone says something that gets them started again. bones exasperated, spock deadpan - but it has a totally different tone from the vicious fights from earlier and it cuts the tension easily. it's an all's well that ends well moment, because you can see jim is enjoying the nice version of their bickering again.

#2: kirk asks about the last orders, spock and bones lie, and kirk calls them out on it by reminding them he could see and hear everything. this is followed with the sort of gentle and loving admonishment that kirk is capable of when he's touched which basically amounts to: thank you for continuing to be excellent and professional to my ship while privately falling apart, but if i die again, please be better to EACH OTHER so i can go to my death knowing the two of you at least have one another. spock and bones, mildly abashed, agree - and then again, someone says something to start the friendly bickering and cut the tension before the credits roll

DONE. this CONCLUDES my episode edit of the tholian web, which again is really very very good already. we love a good character death fakeout and we also love SPONES. look for more overthought episode edits someday in the future

[averywiseanimatedcat]

Rewatching Good Omens season 2 liveblog

Episode 2, ‘The clue’ post 4

Link to previous post

Starting off strong with

FUCK

OFF

GABRIEL

Step in a puddle with socks on.

*when my boss is watching me work and I don’t know what I’m doing*

Azi and Crowley were such a disaster in this scene, just winging it. But Azi LIED for the first time!! This was so important because we saw him have to make a choice, and he had to do it quickly. So he went with what his true ethnical orientation is-to protect Jobs family. So this part of the flash back is really quite poignant for Azi. It’s the moment he feels like he fell, and was suddenly no longer safe.

Then when we’re back in the bookshop we find out Crowley just left at some point while Azi was staring at that picture? Did he try to get his attention? Does this happen allot? Crowley doesn’t seem at all concerned so I feel like it does happen a fair bit that Azi gets kinda lost in something and Crowley just goes out for a stroll until his Azirphale is ready to talk about whatever it was.

His lil concerned/traumatised face I can’t.

FUCK OFF AND BANG YOUR FUNNY BONE ON THE DOOR AS YOU LEAVE GABRIEL.

I’m sorry that was an automatic reaction. He’s actually kinda cute in this scene with his lil ‘am I bad now?’

‘Gotcha’

GOTCHA. David really killing it with the line delivery this season. I love Nina’s character because she just rolls with it, and Crowleys like ‘oh a human who isn’t completely put off by my weird ass’ and I think that’s why he respects her and listens to her later on when she tells him to talk to Aziraphale. She’s not put off by him even though she literally saw him skull 6 shots of espresso, get hit by lightning and then ask her about rain and the girl who has a crush on her over the road? Like this is the weirdest mother f-er she’s ever met and she’s like ‘ok and what?’ He respects that. We respect Nina in this house.

STOP HIS LITTLE HEAD POPPING OUT. And did he miracle out there? There was the miracle sound when his head popped up. Why is he so cute. And I love how we can see Crowley was just wandering around waiting for Azirphale to come find him, he didn’t go anywhere he just waited for Azirphale to be ready. I just reminded myself of the final episode…shit…

“Oh.” Again. This is like the fifth ‘Oh’ Crowleys done when Aziraphale says something clever this episode it’s fucking cute.

This is apparently the Good Omens book this absolute FUCKWIT is holding. I’m sorry I’ll try to tone down the aggression he’s Jim not Gabriel Jim not Gabriel…

#season 3 vibes with Azi sitting alone? Lol I’m in pain.

But this ending scene was…oof. The symbolism of Aziraphale sitting alone, thinking he’s fallen then Crowley comes to be with him. He didn’t have to do that at all, he could’ve just left. But he went and looked for Aziraphale knowing he must be struggling.

He’s such a sweet not-lad who pretends to be big and scary but really he’s a softy.

Their conversation was so sweet and we again see how Crowley is kind to those who he can tell have good intentions. Crowley teased him in the cellar about going to hell but he could see this was a time to be serious. He was honest and admitted it was lonely to be on your own side. I think this is the moment where they really connect for the first time. They were very much themselves here, with no walls up.

On their characters-Crowley doesn’t seem to have much sense of self worth and I think that is what allows him to be so brash and confident. He doesn’t think he’s worth anyone caring what happens to him. And he is working within an impossible system so figures he might as well do what he wants and deal with the consequences later. He’s bitter and has mostly given up trying to make any big change, he just does the best he can with what he has at the time.

But Aziraphale is very idealistic and believes he can do good on a large scale. He believes he has potential and has tainted that by lying/going against gods will. And he believes this because he lacks confidence in his own judgement. He’s very intelligent, but still stuck in a very closed cycle of thinking. And honestly, that hasn’t changed a whole lot since. He’s made some headway, but he is still holding onto the same ideals more or less.

But despite Aziraphale idealistic side he is drawn to the confidence and freedom Crowley seems to possess. He appreciates his honesty and straightforward nature. Crowley says and does the things Azirphale knows is right, but can’t/won’t admit. I think in a way he also needs Crowley to give him permission to do ‘bad’ things, he wouldn’t do them alone but Crowley is an accomplice that gives him confidence.

Crowley is drawn to the pure hearted nature Aziraphale possesses. He’s drawn to Aziraphales unending hope that things can be good in the world. Aziraphale is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. And it’s a very forceful Ray of sunshine. He respects Aziraphales desire to do the right thing. Again, same with Muriel and Jobs kids. He is drawn to those who remind him of himself before he fell. He sees himself before he was hurt, before he lost all his hope and before he became bitter and angry. Maybe he thinks it’s to late for him, but it’s not to late for him to preserve those who still possess what he’s lost.

Long story short I’m obsessed with this flashback. And it shows just how LONG Azirphale has been struggling. Crowley had his moral compass pretty well oriented even back then. But Azirphale is still struggling all the way up until the last episode where that struggle really explodes and causes them to fly apart.

Ironically, this flashback illustrates how the thing that caused them to fly apart was also the thing that brought them together in the first place!

And I’m sad now so here’s a cute smiling Crowley bc he deserves the world

Link to episode 3, post 1

[t0ast-ghost]

Episode 23 (Space Seed) it’s kind of funny to me how many of these I’ve made by this point. I think only…62 to go? That seems like accurate math skills.

Let’s just fuckin go:

- “I can’t understand why it always gives you pleasure to see me wrong” already starting this, are we?

- WAIT WHAT isn’t Botany Bay from… eugenics war… khan?? (Thought this was a different episode)

- McCoy and Spock just fight, they’re like two cats who will just attack each other. They just will fight right with Kirk between them.. I feel sorry for whatever poor bastard gets put between them, like take this to another room gentlemen

- “Care to join the landing party, doctor?” “Well if you’re actually giving me a choice-” “I’m not” he’s so salty today

- “Here’s a chance for the historian to do something” lol poor historians

- Who wrote this episode? They’re so sassy today

- “You’re an old fashioned boy, McCoy.” did he know it would rhyme?

- wait… KHAN IS FROM 1990s??? Does he know what a teletubbie is?

- haha Kirk you do not know what you’re unleashing

- What is Spock looking at on that tiny ass screen in his corner of the bridge

- Jim Kirk as a psychologist? Literally just let me suffer

- NONONO DINT GURT MCCOY

- “Well either choke me or cut my throat make up your mind.” No survival instincts, none. What why would you say this Bones?! And then he continues to explain how to kill him “I was just trying to avoid an argument.”

- DO NOT give this man access to your ships blueprints

- Kirk took Spock’s chair so Spock simply sits on the control panel

- MCGIVERS GET OUT OF THERE, do not engage with him

- The way Spock says “whip” with a little extra “whuh”

- Nono Spock is quite right, what the fuck, he was a tyrant don’t admire him

- Can you not leave the bridge from anywhere but the turbo lift? That’s a fire hazard

- “Every person on the bridge will suffocate.” Kirk looks directly at Spock and only Spock

- WHY are you wasting your air on a captains log

- wow historians suck

- “Take Mr Spock next” McCoy looks so worried

- Why would you need this chamber for medical reasons

- Kirk stunt double, I cannot express to you how obvious it looks (cool fight tho)

- That little bell is so stupid, I wouldn’t be able to not laugh

- WAIT they’re letting them go? He’s awful

- McCoy kinda just had to sit there

The credits have a blurry picture of Spock punching Kirk which is… what is that

Masterpost

[everythingtoony]

MADE A TIRE LIST WITH LION KING CHARACTERS FROM THE ORIGINAL MOVIE AND THE SEQUEL LETS GO OVER MY CHOICES!!

S tier: Timon, Pumbaa, Nuka, Rafiki, Scar

Timon and Pumbaa- I feel like this one is an obvious choice tbh, at least for me! I adore these two, they are extremely gay, and I just love the contrast between their two personalities. Timon is impulsive, reckless, and can be loud and rude at times. Meanwhile, Pumbaa is the literal definition of a sweetheart. He's kind, loving, and although he may be oblivious at times he can actually be quite smart in his own way.

Nuka- Ah, where to start with this loopy boi... he is such a dummy, and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible. He's got a few screws loose in his brain, and he can be very jealous of his younger brother Kovu. And while his selfishness ends up being the thing that kills him, he's got a very endearing personality, and I just adore how dumb he is!!

Rafiki- I'm just going to start by saying rest in peace to Rafiki's voice actor, he brought this character to life in the best way possible, and I am so glad he gave this monkey as much personality as he did. He is very wise, yet can come off as confusing to others. She can actually be quiet sarcastic when he wants to be, and he has outbursts that I find quite funny. I also love it when he just casually hit Simba on the head with a stick with no warning. And in the second movie, when Mufasa's spirit talks to Rafiki, suggesting that Kovu and Kiara should get together, Rafiki loses his mind, it is the funniest thing ever. I also quote him on a daily basis, he's actually one of my favorite characters!

Scar- he was actually my favorite character before I realized that I may like Timon and Pumbaa a little more... but! That does not mean I still don't love him. Scar is my favorite Disney villain ever! I just love his menacing personality, and I think Disney knew what they were doing with his design and voice, because come on, you can see it in the animation. Jeremy Irons voices Scar and I think he did an excellent job on the character. And at one point Jim Cummings had to take his place in the end of Be Prepared, and you can barely notice the difference. The only noticeable thing is that Scar's voice sounds more vicious and chaotic. I really love this character, and he is the last one to go in S tier.

A tier: Ed, Banzai, Shenzi, adult Simba, Zira, adult Nala, young Simba

The hyenas- I don't think I need to say too much about these guys, they pretty much speak for themselves. I think I tend to lean towards chaotic trios and Duos. The hyenas are actually extremely hilarious, and I find their Antics quite funny.. in fact, these hyenas are probably the reason why Timon and Pumbaa exist. Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella originally auditioned for the hyenas, but they loved their dynamic so much that they created two characters just for them, Timon and Pumbaa! I adore the way the hyenas talk to one another, and I think that their dynamic is so cool to watch

Adult Simba- Okay, bear with me here. This list gave me young and adult versions of a lot of the characters, including Simba, Nala, Kiara, Vitani and Kovu. I mainly placed them on the list based on their personalities, because they have two very different personalities... I might like an adult version more than a younger version, or vice versa. With that out of the way, I'm going to talk about adult Simba. I actually really like the way his character was evolved in the first movie, and while he's kind of a jackass in the second movie, he gets better in the end. I think it might also have something to do with his voice, both speaking and singing. I just really like Simba.

Zira- Her obsession with Scar is actually so important to this movie, it's not even funny. In the deleted scene of her death, she says and does a little more than she does in the final scene. Either way, she chose death, because the only thing she wanted was to be with Scar. She would've rather died than be helped out by those she thought she had been hurt by. I think her whole motive is a little strange, but I understand where she's coming from. I think the only thing I don't like about her is how she treats Nuka. She only cared about him in the end when he died. My stupid baby boy did not deserve any of the treatment that came from that woman. Either way, I still think she's a great villain. Scar is way better, but Zira is second place

Adult Nala- This lioness is one of the best moms I've ever seen. I was unsure about where to place her at first, because of the way she reacted with Simba in the first movie...I don't like how pushy she was with her. But like Adult Simba in the 2nd movie, Adult Nala got better by the end of the first movie, and I think she was great in the 2nd one. She saw Kiara, and knee she wanted freedom. She understood that, and tried to help Simba understand as well.

Young Simba- Finally, this little shit is the last to be on the A tier. He's absolutely adorable, but he's constantly getting himself in trouble. He's energetic and just wants to be like his father, but JEEZ, SIMBA WHEN HE SAYS DONT GO TO THE SHADOWY PLACE IT MEANS DONT GO! I think his voice is adorable, and he was super close with Mufasa, which made Mufasa's death so much sadder. Either way, Young Simba is great. Not my favorite, but he's cute.

B tier: Adult Kovu, Zazu, Adult Kiara, young Nala, Mufasa

Adult Kovu- He's pretty nic

e looking, and I love how he's eventually taught how to let go and have fun. I also love how he decided to go against Zira's plan in the end, although he was going to do it at first. And of course, Scar was a heavy influence that he was taught to look up to as a cub, he didnt know about the blackness in his soul. Other than that...yeah, I think he's a meh character. I certainly don't hate him, but he's definitely nit my favorite.

Zazu- He's so snooty and I love him, but he played such a small role in the 2nd movie, and it made me sad when I didn't hear Mr. Beans voice. I think he's kinda in the middle because he's not really anything special. Yes, he's smart, witty, and can be rude at times, but he's also extremely overbearing and it kinda annoys me sometimes. Either way, he's a good character, just not my favorite.

Adult Kiara- Ehh...I like her voice, and the way she stops the war at the end of the 2nd movie by making Simba eat his own words was pretty good...but she's kinda meh. She was quite annoying sometimes, and Imma be honest, her laughing is fake as he'll. But I do like how she has the same energetic spark in her soul that Simba once had. I think that's cool.

Young Nala- Again...nothing really special...yeah, she's sassy and witty, but other than that...she doesn't really do a whole lot. Her adult self does way more than her younger self.

Mufasa- He's a really good dad, but he did let Simba go off on his own constantly. And I think he definitely deserved more screen time, because he's such a good father. But now he's dead, so oh well.

C tier: Sarabi, Adult Vitani, young Kiara, young Kovu

Sarabi- Okay, getting to the ones I'm really kinda "meh" about. Sarabi didn't do much...I do like jer personality, but the only thing exciting on screen was when Scar hit her across the cave. I don't really have a lot to say about her.

Adult Vitani- ehhh...she joined Simba's side in the end, but other than that, dhr really didn't do much, either. I do like her personality, and her and Nuka's dynamic was funny, but other than that, she's mid.

Young Kovu and Kiara- dislike these two but not enough to put it in D tier..they're just...there for story, I guess. They're eh.

D tier: Young Vitani

Don't come at me but I don't like Vitani that much. She's just there to be the "voice of reason" between her and Nuka. I don't have much to say on her.

Well, that's it, there's everything. I'm gonna take a nap.