#...“we made an awesome plot and characters but he still has a rendezvous with the bridger sooooooooo... bye

neverwatchedonepiece · 6 years ago

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643-644: "Shaking Heaven and Earth! Admiral Fujitora's Power!" and "A Blow of Anger! A Giant vs Lucy!"

Brutal.... :(

Were I to sum up 643 and 644, it would be: unexpected feels and reveals.

The feels came from poor Brutal. It was all going so well! Luffy found a new pal and then, BAM.

The reveals? Well, we have the “return” of Norland from Skypeia, for one thing. Flower Field also seems to be the location for the next Big Showdown.

The Donquixote Family have also made some moves. Diamante has put Bellamy in an uncomfortable position and an... artistic new character has been introduced. As for Doflamingo himself, he revealed a past working relationship with Trafalgar Law (I knew it! I knew there was something there!)

Oh, and we have yet another ridiculously powerful Admiral. :D

Fujitora is My New Favourite Admiral

This entire scene escalated quickly. It went from Dodgy Dealings to Dragon Ball in the blink of an eye. Not exactly an exemplary lesson in conflict resolution, but I am not complaining.

Because it was awesome.

Law was understandably pissed off at being duped by Doflamingo. It wasn’t really Law’s fault. He’d planned the best he could with the information he had to hand. Unfortunately, it was just as Vergo had foretold: not knowing about Doflamingo’s past would be Law’s undoing.

Law refused to hand over Caesar. Doflamigo had reneged on his side of the bargain. “The deal’s off!”

Then Doflamingo said something interesting. “Is that how you talk to your boss after ten years of silence?”

Boss? Really?

I freaking knew it. I knew there was something between Doflamingo, Law and Vergo. It was the way Vergo spoke to Law back in Punk Hazard, calling him a brat, acting as if he knew everything about Law, about how he had improved but not enough. Doflamingo treats him in a similar way. Law is from North Blue, a territory in the New World. Dressrosa is in the New World. Was Law born in a territory claimed by Doflamingo?

I wonder what caused Law to go radio silence and desert Doflamingo? It must have been something horrendous. Maybe Law knows Doflamingo a bit better than he lets on.

Whatever the case, Doflamingo was adamant in retrieving Caesar. (Caesar’s starry-eyed moment was hilarious. I’d say he’s totally in love with Doflamingo, but the only thing I’d ship Caesar with is research funding).

There was a quick, “Yeah, I’ve heard all about you” exposition moment. Just to bring any viewers up to speed on Fujitora in case they missed that awesome episode when he sent an unfortunate bunch of fodders to a hole in the ground hell. “You were appointed as Marine Admiral through the World Military Draft,” Doflamingo said. “I’ve heard a lot about you. They say you’re a monster who wields unquestionable power as well as Ryokugyu.”

First thing: World Military Draft? That’s a new one to me. Was Fujitora plucked from obscurity to become an Admiral through a military draft? Or was he retired in some capacity and they brought him back? Whatever Fujitora’s deal is, I’d be interested in finding out.

Second thing: what the hell is a Ryokugu?

Caesar’s presence at the Green Bit beach was of great interest to Fujitora and his Marines. Fujitora knew who Caesar was, which implies he has been briefed on all the Big Criminals or he does have prior experience working with the Marines. He is also familiar The Way Things Are, as he admitted they couldn’t arrest Caesar if he was working for Doflamingo (the perks of being a Shichibukai). He knows Doflamingo is a nasty bit of work but, as Doflamingo said, he has to be able to prove it. (I wonder if Fujitora is trying to do just that?)

Interestingly, it seemed like Fujitora also tried to throw Law a similar lifeline. Law is still officially a Shichibukai. His movements are crucial to the success of the Marine’s mission. If the Strawhats were working under Law, Fujitora was prepared to ignore the alliance. However, were it an alliance of equals, it would go against the Marines’ interests and Fujitora would be forced to arrest Law.

Law made some quick calculations. His original plan had failed. Even if he selected Fujitora’s Option #1, he would have to take the matter to Dressrosa and that would only make matters worse.

He chose Option #2 and fessed up to the alliance with the Strawhats.

“Welp, guess I’ll have to arrest you!” Fujitora said.

And a beautiful, big kaboom moment happened. Not only can Fujitora fire folk into holes in the ground, he can also crush them from above. A mighty meteorite came screaming down onto Green Bit. Caesar and the Fodders scarpered. Even Doflamingo was like, “FFS, is that not excessive?”

When the smoke cleared, only the three main fighters stood on conveniently preserved pillars of ground (hilarious, classic shounen trope. Love it).

Doflamingo was not pleased. “How did the Fleet Admiral train you, you damned stray dog!”

Fujitora remained supremely unfazed. “Thank you. I just wanted to test your skills. Now I’m going to arrest you, Is that okay, Law-san?”

He’s such a polite guy. I like him.

But there’s just one thing. Doflamingo wants Law too. I don’t think he’ll let Fujitora get his hands on Law. If that happens, Law might spill the beans (I doubt he would but it’s possible). Then all Doflamingo’s secrets will be out.

The plot chickenz.

Flower Field Rendezvous Crew

Well, I think I know where the Strawhats will reconvene once all the subplots have run their course.

Flower Field is the place to be, folks!

I’m kind of relieved Sanji is back on track again. Once he realised Law was in trouble, he called Franky to update him. I love how Franky was like, “Yo, Sanji. What’s up?” and Sanji was like, “Well, I’m in love,” and Franky just said, “That’s nice. Btw, I think I can find the factory but we can’t just destroy it and get away. It’s a much bigger task than we thought! Oh yeah, and I read the newspaper. Doflamingo sure fooled us!”

Even Franky was trying to steer Sanji back to the plot, lmao.

Then Franky mentioned he was heading to Flower Field with Sol and that Sanji should meet him there to catch up.

Sanji finally caught up with Plot and mentioned the ominous fact that he couldn’t reach Nami or any of the others on Sunny. Franky replied, “You still think she’s weak? Anyway, Brook and Monster Chopper are with her. She’ll be fine!”

I kind of think Sanji had a point here. It’s not about thinking Nami’s weak. It’s the fact she’s not answering the DDM. If I were Franky, I’d be like, “Yeah, something’s not right. Let me try and see if I can get her to answer.”

Violet then exited the plot stage left. Before she ran off, she handed Sanji a very useful piece of intel: a map to the Smile Factory (it’s disguised as a Toy House). Sanji told her to take care of herself and also where the Strawhats’ final rendezvous point is (Western Harbour). I’m still a teeny bit suspicious of her because there is still time for her to be caught by Doflamingo and sell out the Strawhats.

Then Foxfire interrupted (lmao) and announced Sanji had to accompany him to a place called Toy House right away. Turns out that’s where Kanjuuro is also being held.

Am I right to be suspicious about how easily this is all working out for the Strawhats at the moment? I feel like Doflamingo knows what they’re up to and is leading them into a trap.

Norland’s Back!

Oh, how I missed your resplendent, chestnut barnet! That’s two sneaky Skypiea callbacks now (more on that later).

And why has Norland cropped up again?

Turns out he visited the Tontatta Kingdom four-hundred years ago, as a botanist. A crew of Evil Big Humans were destroying the Tontatta Kingdom and Norland, being an Absolute Lad, fought alongside them and helped them defeat the evil Big Humans.

Usopp, being a smart guy, noticed the statue of Norland and totally took advantage. He had a chestnut-shaped helmet on and claimed to be Usoland, a descendant of Norland himself. The Tontatta people totally believed him and now they’re waiting on him hand and foot.

Robin was like, “Usopp, you are a terrible person,” and Usopp shot back with, “Well, it saved you too!” Fair point, Usopp!

It sort of backfired on him, though, because the chief arrived and announced Usopp’s presence on this most auspicious day must be fate. Why was that? Well, today was the day the Tontatta people vowed to fight the Donquixote Family! At Dressrosa, they will fight. The commander and fellow soldiers of the King Riku Army are expecting them at Flower Field. They begged Usopp to stand at the forefront of the charge and lead them. With Usoland, the Tontatta would be unbreakable!

I wish I could have seen Robin’s face at that moment.

But Flower Field, eh? I wonder if Sol the Toy and the Resistance movement have been working with the Tontatta People to muster up this rebellion? Signs point to yes, since Wicka was super keen for Zoro to take her to Flower Field.

At any rate, that’s Franky, Zoro, Usopp and Robin all headed for Flower Field. I bet they end up caught in the crossfire. So much for remaining undercover, eh?

Not the Worst Installation I’ve Ever Seen

So... Giolla’s a bit of a character, isn’t she?

It’s like meeting Miss Goldenweek’s eccentric art teacher.

To be honest, I think Nami, Brook and Chopper got the raw end of the deal being left behind on Sunny. They’re the first ones to face off against a Donquixote Family member. And one with a pretty bizarre but cool power too.

Giolla’s introduction was pretty cool. Screechy violin harmonics hinted something sinister was afoot. Nami, Brook, Chopper and Momo peered into the dorm and were like, “wtf is this lsd nonsense?”

Then came footsteps; shoes oddly similar to the ones Doflamingo wears (there must be a Donquixote Family dresscode). A cloud of colourful smoke turned the place into coloring book land.

The Strawhats reeled back, horrified. Chopper wondered if it was the work of a Devil Fruit user.

“Bad Taste Fruit?” Brook suggested. (Lmao, Brook!)

The door creaked open and Giolla appeared in all her art-teacher glory.

Nami was like, “Who the hell are you and what have you done to Sunny?”

Giolla shrieked at her to shut up. The goons she brought with her answered Nami’s question. “This is Giolla-sama of the Donquixote Family!”

Uh oh, I thought. This could be a problem.

“I don’t like people with no artistic taste!” Giolla declared. “My soul is swinging. I see an image. My mind is about to erupt! It’s going to explode! An image of liberty and beauty.”

Then she transformed Nami, Brook, Chopper and Momo into 2D versions of themselves. Nami demanded Giolla turn them back, but, interestingly, Giolla countered she would only do that if they handed over Momonosuke without a fight. What is that all about? Hmm... I’m starting to think there is something going on with Momonosuke. Why would Doflamingo want Momo? I guess he was caught up in all the Punk Hazard stuff. Maybe it’s a “no witnesses” situation. Or maybe Momo ate a really good fruit meant for Kaidou and Doflamingo wants to sell Momo to Kaidou to make up for the cool Dragon fruit disappearing?

Whatever the real reason, the Strawhats obviously refused. Negotiations broke down. Giolla attacked again. The Strawhats hatched a plan to lure her away from Sunny but for all Giolla acts like an eccentric art teacher, she is no fool when it comes to battle.

Poor Sunny looks pretty... different at the moment.

Nami, Brook, Chopper and Momo are also surrounded by Giolla and her goons. Have no idea how they’ll escape but I love how Brook is most concerned about how mad Franky will be when he gets back.

Press F to Pay Your Respects for Brutal

Oh, the unexpected feels.

It was all going so well in the Colosseum. Luffy made friends with Brutal Bull when it challenged him in the ring. They had fun for a bit but once Luffy decided it was haki time, the fight was over. To my ABSOLUTE DELIGHT, Luffy did not punch out Brutal or finish him off.

No.

They teamed up! Luffy made a new bull friend! It was so adorable watching them mercilessly mow down the other fodders. They were having such a great time.

Until Hajrudin, the Giant Fun Sponge from Elbaf totally ruined it all.

Brutal accidentally got his horns stuck in Hajrudin’s boot. Hajrudin’s big hammer came down. I gasped. No! Luffy was fine but Brutal had been crushed.

“His little bull back legs. He needs them!” I wailed.

Luffy knelt down beside Brutal and touched him gently on the shoulder. Without saying a word, I knew revenge was imminent and inevitable.You know when Luffy’s eyes shift from one to two circles that shit is about to go down.

Cape blowing in the wind, he stood up, sized up Hajrudin, and executed a haki-filled beatdown worthy of Brutal’s name.

I can’t help but wonder if this scene with Brutal was a sneaky anti-bloodsports commentary from Oda? Maybe if you squint? I mean, instead of torturing an innocent bull for fun, what Luffy did was be friends with the bull; fight *with* the bull. The one who did harm the bull received a Gear 2nd Armored Haki punch right to the face.

I kind of hope Brutal is okay. I have visions of him recovering from his injuries and spending his days trampling people in Flower Field for years to come.

Things aren’t looking quite as simple for Luffy, though.

It seems everyone on Dressrosa is trying to kill him! Diamante slipped Bellamy a note in the Donquixote Family private backstage room. Said note contained orders from Doflamingo: Bellamy is to assassinate Luffy. One last chance at promotion. Obviously, Bellamy is now conflicted about this, as Luffy cheered him on in the ring and inspired him to travel to Skypiea. (I’m leaning towards Bellamy attempting, then regretting and betraying Doflamingo.)

Cavendish Banana is also on the warpath (him fending off Bartolomeo’s food-thieving hands with a fork was hilarious. “MINE. MY FOOD. NO.”) Obviously, Cavendish’s reason for wanting to kill Luffy is profoundly shallow. “Luffy stole muh limelight, wah!”

Bartolomeo said, “Well, my connection with Strawhat Luffy is much deeper.”

I gasped.

Yes, I thought. This is the moment.

What is the history here? Because I have watched this show since episode one. I have a goldfish memory but I’d like to think Bartolomeo would have stood out.

But do you know what?

BARTOLOMEO LEFT IT THERE. WITHOUT ANOTHER WORD.

BLUE-BALLED.

FREAKING CLIFFHANGER.

Shaking my head, man. Bartolomeo, you are so rude. Such a meta character.

And by the way, there is also something up with Ricky and Rebecca. Don’t think I missed that little scene. I bet it’s something to do with Kyros. That whole thing about everyone forgetting why the statue is there is so suspicious.

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 4 — Every Easter Egg & Reference

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This Star Trek: Discovery article contains spoilers for Season 4, Episode 4.

After season 2, one of the hallmarks of Star Trek: Discovery is the fact that many of the episodes tend to feel more like standalones. Although there’s always a big arc lurking in the background, both Season 3, and now, Season 4, have proven that even within the serialized framework of DISCO, Trek can still tell stand-alone stories in the 32nd Century. In the previous episode, “Choose to Live,” we got an action-adventure mystery involving the Qowat Milat. This time, in “All Is Possible,” DISCO does a classic Star Trek survival story, with an amazing emotional punch at the end. Here are all the Easter eggs and deep-cut references we caught in “All Is Possible.”

Ni’Var rejoining the Federation

Most of the plot of this episode revolves around the idea of the Ni’Var — the planet formerly known as Vulcan — rejoining the Federation. This references the events of Season 3, specifically the episode “Unification III,” in which we learned that Romulans and Vulcans now live on the same planet in relative peace. Historically, the planet Ni’Var/Vulcan was a founding member of the Federation, along with Earth, Andor and Tellar Prime.

A Ferengi behind the bar

The brand-new lounge/bar on the USS Discovery — which made its debut in the previous episode — doesn’t seem to have consistent staff, however, in this episode, in the background, we do see a Ferengi seemingly tending bar. This clearly references Quark’s bar in Deep Space Nine, where Quark and his brother Rom (both Ferengi) both tended bar. This feels like a deliberate follow-up to the previous episode, which had a shout out to Quark’s Bar patron, Morn.

Starfleet PJs seem to have old school insignia

Although the Disco crew has fully switched over to the 3189 Starfleet uniforms, complete with the rounded combadge, Burnham’s pajamas are still rocking the old-school Starfleet delta.

Dr. Kovich

David Cronenberg’s enigmatic Starfleet character, Kovich, returns in this episode, this time with the title of “Dr.” We don’t know what Kovich is a doctor of, and because he tells Tilly he’s “consulting” with Starfleet Academy, it’s still unclear as to what his regular job is within Starfleet. ray Tal’s Academy experience…and Adira’s

Gray Tal’s Academy experience…and Adira’s

Gray mentions that “Starfleet Academy is awesome.” This might seem like an offhand remark from him, but both Gray — and Adira — presumably have all the memories of the previous hosts of the Tal symbiont. When we saw the previous hosts of Tal in the Season 3 episode “Forget Me Not,” it was established that at least three of them were Starfleet officers, including Admiral Senna Tal. Because of Kovich’s age, it seems reasonable that he knew Senna Tal in Starfleet. But, because they are a human host of Tal, Adira doesn’t access those memories from the symbiont as consistently. Meaning, Adira’s memories of previous hosts of Tal having gone to Starfleet Academy might be fuzzier than Gray’s.

Zhian’tara exercises

Gray has to work on his “Zhian’tara exercise” to keep his “mind-body” connection strong. As with the last episode, “zhian’tara” is a reference to the Deep Space Nine episode “Facets,” which refers to various hosts of a Trill inhabiting new bodies.

Red Starfleet Cadet Uniforms

All the Starfleet Cadets wear red uniforms. This references not only the 2009 reboot canon, in which all cadets wore red, but also, The Next Generation-era, which established all cadets in the 2360s, wore black jumpsuits, with red shoulders. Even in the DS9-era, red was the go-to color for those shoulder pads, too.

USS Armstrong

After the planned training exercise, Tilly’s shuttlecraft of cadets is supposed to rendezvous with the USS Amrstrong. This ship is almost certainly named for famous astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first human being on the Moon. Trek canon loves naming things after Armstrong; Riker mentions “Lake Armstrong ” in First Contact and a different three-nacelled USS Armstrong was part of the Federation fleet sent to defend Vulcan in the 2009 Star Trek reboot.

But, within the current Discovery timeline, this USS Armstrong is actually the 32nd Century version of the “Constitution Class,” named after the original “Constitution Class” of The Original Series. According to the book Starfleet Ships: 2294-The Future, the Armstrong has a crew of at least 2,000 and was designed as a kind of tribute to the “Constitution Class” ships from the 23rd Century. Similarly, the USS Voyager-J is an 32nd Century version of the “Intrepid Class,” meaning that, after over 800 years, Starfleet started recycling the class names of their various starships.

Gamma-Ray Burst

Adira and Harral both mention that a “rogue gamma-ray” burst knocked out the shuttle and the communications. The pseudo-scientific version of “gamma radiation” has been mentioned in Star Trek canon several times, including, but not limited to, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the TNG episode “Silicon Avatar,” the DS9 episode “Meridian,” and the Voyager episode “Child’s Play.”

Based on a sampling of those references, gamma radiation, or a gamma ray burst, has been linked to:

Recrystallizing dilithium crystals (The Voyage Home)

Remnants of the Crystalline entity (TNG)

Time shifts with planets (DS9)

And Borg weapons (Voyager)

In fairness, it might not be a great idea to draw too many conclusions from this very innocuous line, however, Tilly has experience with recrystallizing dilithium in the Short Treks episode “Runaway,” Discovery loves time shifts, and people have been wondering about the return of the Borg in DISCO since Season 2 seemed to suggest a connection between Control and the Borg.

That said, the DS9 episode “The Sons of Mogh” also established that Klingon mines emitted gamma radiation. And so far, in 3189 we have no clue what the Klingons are up to in the post-Burn future. Did Tilly and the kids hit a Klingon mine?

L-Class Planet (or Moon)

The notion of a planet (or Moon) that is slightly below the coveted “M-Class” planet, is not new to this episode. In fact, Discovery crashed on an L-Class planet in the Season 3 episode “Far From Home,” last year. The first L-Class planet in Trek canon was in the TNG episode “The Chase,” a planet called Indri VIII.

Colony on Titan

Cadet Sasha mentions she grew up in a “Colony on Titan.” In the Discovery Season 3 episode “People of Earth,” we learned that Titan had been in a decades-long feud with Earth, one which was diffused by the USS Discovery.

Vasquez rocks out the window of Ni’Var

Out the window of the conference room on Ni’Var, we see several rock formations that look like the Vasquez rocks. These real rock formations are a near omnipresent Easter egg in all of Star Trek. North of Los Angeles, the area stood-in for several alien planets in TOS, TNG, and yes, was the planet Vulcan (Ni’Var) in the 2009 reboot. More recently, the Vasquez rocks made a big appearance in Star Trek: Picard Season 1, appearing for the first time, as the actual Vasquez rocks. In this case, in DISCO, clearly these are CGI.

Multiple references to the TOS episode “The Galileo Seven”

The entire set-up of Tilly’s predicament, and various aspects of the shuttlecraft crash are intentional homages to the 1967 episode of The Original Series, “The Galileo Seven.” The director of the episode, John Ottman, has confirmed that in speaking to the writers of the episode — Alan McElroy and Eric J. Roberts — this episode was intended to directly reference various aspects of “The Galileo Seven.” So, that means, there are quite a few small nods to that episode

When Adira goes to repair parts of the shuttle, they move a grate on the floor. This is exactly like Scotty working on the Galileo shuttle.

In “The Galileo Seven,” the shuttle is lost in a “quasar-like” area of space called Murasaki 312. In “All Is Possible,” the cadet shuttle crashlands on a moon of a larger planet, but we’re told there are over 30 moons. The point is, in each case, it would be impossible to find the shuttle in a short period of time.

In both episodes, the trapped crew of the shuttle hears roars from outside on the alien planet. In “All Is Possible,” this turns out to be some actual snow monsters. But, in “The Galileo Seven,” it was giants with spears.

In both episodes, one crew member dies and everyone is told to move on quickly with their survival tasks.

Finally, in “The Galileo Seven,” Spock’s ability to command the shuttle was put into question by several other people, which suggests a degree of prejudice against Spock simply because he’s half-Vulcan. In “All Is Possible,” Harral and Gorev distrust each other because as an Orion and a Tellarite, they have bad blood from the days that the Emerald Chain ruled over several planets. (Which also references the events of Season 3.)

To be fair, “The Galileo Seven,” isn’t the only Star Trek episode which focuses on a shuttle crash and/or crew members being trapped in a shuttle. Other notable episodes include “Final MIssion,” in TNG, when Wesley and Picard crash on a planet, and “Shuttlepod One,” in Enterprise, in which Trip and Reed shiver in a stranded shuttlepod, hoping someone will find them.

Tilly’s photo with Michael

Toward the end of the episode, in Tilly’s quarters, we see a photo of her and Michael from earlier in the Discovery timeline. Specifically, this shot has to come from Season 2, because Tilly is rocking a Starfleet badge that’s not her Cadet badge from Season 1. This suggests this photo had to be taken sometime between Season 1 and Season 2, perhaps around the events of the Tilly-centric Short Treks episode “Runaway.” Basically, there’s actually a fairly tight time period in which this photo could have been taken. Because Season 2 hit the ground running, it feels unlikely Burnham and Tilly would have posed for this picture while Burnham was super stressed about finding Spock or after Burnham discovered her mother was the Red Angel.

Remember when we first became roomies?

Tilly recalls the moment when she and Michael Burnham first met. They were forced to share a room and Tilly says “I was scared to bunk with a famous mutineer.” This references the third episode of Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, “Context Is For Kings,” in which Burnham joins the crew of the Discovery following her mutiny on the USS Shenzhou in “The Battle at the Binary Stars.”

I can get Zora to record me sleeping…

Tilly mentions that Zora could create a hologram of her for Burnham. Zora, as we well know by now, is the sentient computer that runs the USS Discovery. Although Zora hadn’t totally emerged in Season 2, by the end of Season 3, Zora had put her consciousness into the Dot-Bots, who first revealed themselves to Tilly, while she was in command of the ship in the episode “There Is a Tide…”

Snowglobe with NX-01 (all is possible)

Several times in the episode we see Tilly’s snow-globe with the words “All Is Possible.” Adira is gifted this at the end of the episode. But, the starship inside the globe seems to be the NX-01 class, meaning the same class as the “first” Enterprise, for Star Trek: Enterprise. Although Discovery now takes place in the 32nd Century, well beyond the canon of the rest of the other shows, it didn’t start that way. In seasons 1 and 2, DISCO took place in the 2250s, before TOS and after Enterprise. That’s Tilly’s original timeline. And, of all the shows, the DISCO is the one closest to Enterprise, at least, chronologically.

In other words, Tilly having nostalgia for the NX-01 makes perfect sense!

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