#However the way he did it was extremely unethical and horrifying

[ikeameatballspoisonedme]

BobbyBroccoli is genuinely the best video essayist on YouTube hands down. If I live in the US I would've ran to subscribe to Nebula

[crimeronan]

Hang on. In the latest chapter, Luz is talking about Hunter's backstory &how Belos told him where he came from & she says she can't remember "which one it was for him." Is she talking about lies Belos told the other Grimwalkers??

BINGO. i am THRILLED that someone picked up on this.

what hunter Has been told is: his father was belos's brother. the brother and the rest of hunter's immediate family were killed, hunter was found in the aftermath, and belos took him in.

(i don't think i've ever established whether he was found in the woods or a house or a wrecked village. bc i'll never remember my own canon.)

when hunter found out that belos is human, he assumed his father must Also have been human. and that he himself must be half-human.

luz has let him think this.

hunter Suspects that parts of the story are bullshit, given what he now knows about how belos fabricates wild witch violence. he's not sure at All that his family actually Was killed. but he is certain that his dad is dead & the thought of tracking down his witch family makes him Incredibly Fucking Anxious, so he's. not pursuing it.

this AU's hunter would actually not be too badly shaken by the grimwalker revelation, bc he has WAY less emotionally tied up in belos. and he'd forgive luz for lying to him and understand why she did it.

however!!

it's easy to forget because the story (thus far, anyway) doesn't go into heavy detail -- but luz knows.... basically as much as belos did. about. all of the prior grimwalkers.

belos obfuscated the manner of their deaths to keep up his lies, but he was Extremely honest with her about everything else. like. everythiiing else.

like from a scientific perspective, luz knows all the components and how to put them together and how long to wait for them to incubate and whatnot, which is not That horrifying, it's basically just necromantic scavenger birds-and-the-bees.

but she also knows, like. how it's better to raise a child than form an adult because children have better temperaments. she has belos's notes on all the fucked-up early-psychology-style unethical experiments he did, & what the results were, & which of those results should ideally be repeated.

she has notes on what they were all told about who they are and where they come from, about whether it's better to be honest or to lie, and then when it's Clear that lying is better, about which lies are the most simple and effective.

she has his notes on the lifespans of all of the prior grimwalkers, including shit like child development, language acquisition, discipline, reward systems. his notes on personality and temperament and "illness," which is almost always just budding signs of independence/disobedience.

she has Everything he thought might be useful if she ever decided to create a companion of her own. including unnecessary information. bc he's a father passing down his legacy and wants her to know what he did.

like. it is GROSS. the things she knows are GROSS.

hunter being a grimwalker won't freak him out by itself. but she is fucking Terrified of him finding out that those notes exist. like hey, dude, i have concrete on-paper proof that Every Single Aspect of your personality and loyalty and love was premeditated to make you easier to control. proof that you can't actually trust any of your emotions or instincts because you're SUPPOSED to be non-autonomous. you love me and you chose me but did you actually?? you have never had any control over anything ever! okay bye 💕

like. that's a revelation that's either going to shake hunter to his core, which is fucking awful because he'll be upset and unmoored, OR it's going to have no impact on how he feels about luz/his life at all, which is fucking awful because it just feels like more proof that everything he does is coerced.

what a nightmare position to be in. Truly Unfortunate For Everyone...

[hurremsultanns]

Poison is Queen: What Made Livia such a Fantastic Villain in I Claudius (1976)

(TW: Mentions of sexual assault and incest)

The miniseries I Claudius (1976) took the historical figure of Livia and her portrayal in Roman histories (by authors such as Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio) and how Graves adapted that for a novel and then turned her into a charismatic, well written, entertaining and memorable soap opera villainess. She is one of the most memorable characters on the show due to how she is written and acted. Personally, she’s my favourite character on the show, even though I sympathise more with other characters. She was the smartest character on the show and someone who always achieved her goal, she embodies the show’s dark humour, and she straddles the line between a pure evil and a complex evil villain without losing character consistency. Overall, she is a well-rounded and well-written character

One of the most important reasons why she was such a villain was how intelligent and effective she was. The best example of this can be seen in how she killed Augustus in Episode 4 (Poison is Queen). In this the show takes for its inspiration an accusation that Cassius Dio made of Livia. According to this story, Augustus refused to eat any food that anyone else had prepared. Therefore, in order to poison him Livia painted the poison onto the figs on a tree that he would pick himself. Even though though this owes itself to historical sources written decades after the events they describe (and is apocryphal), it is an incredibly creative and clever method of killing someone. In addition to this, she clearly embodies patience and uses time to her advantage in order to get what she was. Not only can this be seen in the Prophetic Chickens speech in episode 1 (which is a brilliant introduction to her strategic insights and political awareness, as she could see how things were eventually going to turn out, gambled and patiently waited in order to see the results of her decisions take their course) how she waits for the right moment to kill people (such as Agrippa and Augustus), but Siân Phillips herself discusses it in her interview in I Claudius: A Television Epic. She may not achieve her goals quickly, but she succeeds in the end. Her strategy is the definition of playing the long game. And using her brilliant foresight and strategic political abilities, she accomplishes what she sets out to extremely well. She played a risky game, but ultimately for better or worse Tiberius did become emperor, the Republic never returned and she was eventually deified by Claudius. And even though there are implications that the corruption that the choices she makes brings risk destroying the empire and will bring about the fall of Rome, ultimately the final word on this is said at the end of the final episode (Old King Log) by the Sibyl to the dying Claudius. She says that there will be many emperors in the future and they “won’t all be a bad lot”. This, and Livia’s argument that keeping the Republic would have doomed Rome contribute to the possible argument that ultimately while what she did was unethical and immoral, in a sense Livia was right at the end of the day. It is certainly unclear whether or not she doomed Rome or saved it. There are obvious pitfalls of this, however. It is important to acknowledge imperialism, monarchy and dictatorship are deeply flawed political systems. Of course, because they are examples of absolute power, corruption and the abuse of power tend to be at their very core. And this also reinforces the misogyny of Graves’ original book because it shifts the blame from Augustus being responsible for the political decisions which he took that allowed him to set himself up as the answer to the crisis of the late Republic and the slow accumulation of more absolute power in the hands of individual strongmen. Although, these problems don’t in my opinion take away from the way in which Livia is set up to have far more political savvy than the men around her, as she is the character who sees the clearest how the winds of history are blowing. This makes her a compelling character because it makes her truly awesome: her methods are terrifying, but her intelligence and her effectiveness are impressive.

In addition to this, she embodies the link which the show makes between its most horrific moments and it’s funniest moments. This is contributed to by the employment of dry humour and dramatic irony in her dialogue. One of my favourite examples of this is when Marcellus telling her that cooking his food for him personally is a good thing for her to do and she replies that “Goodness has nothing to do with it.” This is a good example of how well the show used dramatic irony, especially in respect to Livia. While Marcellus thinks that she is simply doing something kind but smothering for him, both she and the audience understand that there is more to this (i.e. she’s going to poison him in order to free up Julia in order to marry Tiberius). Not only is this simultaneously a shocking moment (since as far as the audience is concerned she has practically admitted what she’s going to do, even though Marcellus is unaware of what she meant), but the fact that this is hidden behind what would otherwise appear to be a kind but empty platitude is both clever and hilarious. This is an important moment because it sets the bar for the dry wit, sarcasm and dramatic irony that often accompany Livia as a character, even in her most horrifying moments. Other examples of this include the “food poisoning” scene between Livia and Musa in the same episode after the death of Marcellus, the “don’t touch the figs” scene, and her brilliantly hilarious speech to the gladiators. Not only does this add to the characterisation of her intelligence, but it also adds to the entertainment quality of her as a character. As villainous and evil as she is, she is also genuinely entertaining and fun to watch, which makes her show version so enjoyable to watch and memorable in comparison with the version of her character in the book (This is a comment that other fans of the series, including Prof. Mary Beard herself, have made and I fully agree with it). By contrast, in the book, there is often very little ambiguity as to what Livia’s schemes and activities are, and there is very little dialogue. This means that one of the things that show!Livia is most memorable for, her one liners, were added in Pulman’s script, and they make for a far better character than book!Livia. Through the dramatic irony, we get a far better sense of her intelligence because the audience has to work out on our own what she has done before it is confirmed (which adds to the perception of her intelligence as we have to think it through for ourselves) and that and her humorous moments make her a far more enjoyable character than her book counterpart. Therefore the dramatic irony and humour that characterise Livia as a character make her a great villain because they make her more memorable than she otherwise could have been.

She goes between being a pure evil villain and a complex villain, although this is never made to feel contradictory as it is completely within her established character. She is perfectly willing to the lengths of murdering Augustus’ heirs and disappearing other people in order to get her way, but when she finds out how bad Tiberius has become and Caligula is, she calls their behaviour “disgusting” and refers to Caligula as a “monster”. Since their villainous actions are so different from what Livia does. She’s OK with herself murdering people in order to get what she wants, but she draws the line at incest, sexual harassment and assault. This also works well because it highlights her self-serving narrative: that she is doing everything for the good of Rome. Which is even emphasised by her outrage at finding out what happened to Lollia. She does not want to admit her role in turning TIberius evil by separating him from Vipsania (forcing him to divorce her and marry Julia, the original Disaster Marriage) and Drusus (by murdering him when he was injured, the one thing she can’t admit to Claudius), his two anchors. In episode 1 when he is speaking to Drusus, Tiberius says that they are the only two people whom he loves and describes his brother as his “lifeline into the light”. Therefore, by murdering Drusus and also forcing Tiberius to divorce Vipsania, Livia has a role in turning him into the evil person he becomes later on, and her outrage could be interpreted as a way to avoid the consequences that her toxic behaviour has had. I am not saying that she is responsible for his actions (that’s all on him), but she is responsible for turning him into the type of person who would do them, and that this is a fact that she conveniently ignores as a part of her self-serving narrative. While in some ways she is willing to revel  in evil, there are things that she cannot bring herself to admit to. So she both has the motivations of a complex villain and the entertainment value of a pure evil villain, and this works flawlessly.

What makes Livia such a great villain is that she is such a well-rounded and intelligent character.This can be seen in the characterisation of her intelligence, the humour that accompanies her and the way in which her depth as a character does not diminish her evil. She is a more interesting, entertaining and enjoyable character than her counterpart in Graves’ original book at least in part due to these reasons.

[miraculoussugarcube]

A Sweet Review & Analysis of “Ladybug”

Hiya! This is my second review & analysis, after “Desperada”. I’ll link it here in case you’d like to read that one too. Boy was this one intense! I had high hopes for this one to begin with, because it’s right before the season finale. The animation is absolutely gorgeous in this one, I would just like to mention that first. There’s a lot to unpack here so lets start!

  Firstly, and most importantly - Adrien Agreste.

  His behavior in this episode was way beyond what I expected. Of course, I imagined he would stand up for Marinette. It’s who he is, and it’s clear that he cares about Marinette a lot. But THIS almost made me stand up and clap. He was the only one to stand up and say something in class, he was about to vouch for her in the locker room before the principal interrupted him. He looked so mad too! Then, that ending scene! “Because we’re friends aren’t we?” That gave me chills, I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud of him. This is one of the first times that Adrien has a sense of how influential he is, since it seems that before he was oblivious to how other people saw him. Not even just Marinette, but everybody. Adrien, after all, seems to be the most famous teenage model in Paris. A very beneficial person for Lila to ally herself with, and even she knew he has the power to take her down if he wanted to. All I gotta say is, that’s my boy!

  Now, plotwise, one of the most important pieces of knowledge we’ve gained is that sentimonsters can become sentient. Isn’t that awful to think about? I fully believe Sentibug is there to set the scene for another sentimonster. To make us consider that these beings have feelings too, there just has to be a reason for it. I’ve seen the theory floating around that Adrien himself is a sentimonster. To be honest, I think a twist like that would be both horrifying and awesome, and it would’ve had to be planned from the beginning with everything that’s going on with Adrien’s mother. However, even though it would make sense, I’m leaning more towards the side that it isn’t true. Sentibug is definitely a setup for something though, and we should be paying real close attention from now on.

  Chat Noir broke my heart this episode. Of course, Ladybug has rejected him before, but what Mayura did here was pretty cruel. He really wanted to believe that the real Ladybug loved him, so much that it clouded his judgement. This part really pushed us to look at the differences between Ladybug and Chat Noir, the head and the heart of the operation. Both are necessary, but too much of either can prove disastrous. Despite reprimanding Chat Noir for not using his head though, Ladybug also uses more heart when she catches Chat Noir later on. He was right, he probably would’ve been fine on his own. With his superpowers, he mentions that they’re nearly indestructible. It’s rare that we see Ladybug not think things through like that. Maybe we’re heading towards a love square reversal? It’s possible, and though I would like it to happen there would need to be more progression, and it would push the reveal further back than it may be. Only time will tell!

Lila, the villain in Marinette’s daily life, also deserves a round of applause for being an absolute menace. We as the audience are extremely baffled and infuriated that most of the characters believe her lies, but I want to consider for a moment being in the same place of the characters. If a classmate, whom you liked but didn’t know all that well, told you that they went someplace, or did something, what reason would you have to doubt her? Maybe she even shows you a picture, which could be fake or fabricated, but why would it be? Adrien mentions that she is a very good liar, and her lies seem so wild and unbelievable to us because she always goes big with her lies. They’re not little white lies, they’re huge. And I think what most of the characters default to is “why would anyone lie about that?” because they’ve never met anyone like this. It’s almost like Lila is such a good liar, because she lies about things that would be unethical to lie about, and it’s hard for the characters to understand that she is that bad of a person. However as the audience, we are told that she’s lying and that makes it hard to see the point of view of the characters, who don’t have the whole picture.

In this episode, her lies cross the line of just making herself look good to hurting others. She plants evidence and gets Marinette expelled. Now, many of us wonder why the other characters believe this since Marinette has never done anything wrong. Well, in their eyes, neither has Lila. She has been incredibly good at staying on everyone’s good side, with the exception of Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe. I think this is what makes her such a good villain. Being two faced allows her to further push her agenda, and as we can tell she’s probably planning something big. And now, Adrien is stuck being her “ally” in order to protect Marinette. I wonder how Lila will use that to her advantage, she is quite cunning after all.

This is getting quite long now, so I’ll end it here. Overall this episode was fantastic! Certainly one of my favorites. I can’t wait to see if the ones that come before it (Startrain, Kwamibuster, Feast, Chat Blanc, Felix) will make me look at it a little differently. Luckily, there weren’t really any spoilers for those this episode, just a brief mention of when Hawkmoth found out about Master Fu. I also can’t wait to see how this one leads up to the season finale. There’s a lot more to come! :)

Much Love,

Sugarcube