#I have all of s1 and about 1/4 of s2 fully plotted out

[wheeler-things]

Man, I’m never going to write it properly because I don’t have the patience or time, but one day I’m going to talk about my Crazier Things roleswap au.

Where—

Joyce kicked Lonnie out much earlier, and, instead of getting work at Melvald’s, decides to angle for a better paying job at the police station. Nobody believes she can handle being an officer because she’s Joyce Byers and she’s tiny and lbr a woman, but through her ferocious tenacity when the safety of her boys is on the line plus a pathetically slim pool of applicants (and the fact that I am the god if this au and I want her and Hop to swap roles because I’m swapping all the mains), eventually she’s brought on in a trial capacity. She ends up sticking around when her skills as a detective become apparent (yes, she still faces sexism in the workplace on the daily, but she is legitimately good at her job).

Meanwhile, Sara died when she was 2 or 3, so Hop’s divorce happened earlier. El wasn’t an experiment in this au (though she does have latent powers), but through some situation, Hopper ended up with El being shoved in his direction when she was a toddler. He wasn’t really in a fit place to care for her, but (for whatever reason that I have not and will not figure out) he ends up adopting her anyway. He moves the two of them back to Hawkins, and picks up a job at Melvald’s, because it’s what’s available at the time. Because all the stress doesn’t actually help his substance abuse issues (and because I need a reason for other people to doubt his sanity/perception a la s1 Joyce being doubled), he still drinks too much, and he’s not in a very mentally healthy place at all, but he’s trying his best.

Mike Wheeler might only be a little kid, but there’s already something weird about him. Even as a baby, he gets chronic nosebleeds. The lights flicker when he’s upset. Sometimes, the tape suddenly skips to or repeats a song that he loves, despite nobody touching the tape deck. Ted doesn’t notice any of this as more than a strange coincidence. Karen does her best not to think about it, but she can’t help but worry about her son.

Mike and Will still meet on the swings when they’re 5, and within the day, they’re best friends. Within the week, they also meet El, and the three of them become best friends.

The summer after Kindergarten, Karen takes Mike to see a doctor because she’s worried that his chronic nosebleeds haven’t stopped. That’s how he ends up on Brenner’s radar. And just before the start of first grade, Mike Wheeler disappears without a trace.

Max moves to Hawkins that October, and she becomes El and Will’s friend pretty quickly (she also gets a front row seat to the slow progression of the two of them losing more and more hope that their third best friend— who Max never met but knows everything about because both talk about him constantly— is ever coming home).

Karen obviously fights to look for her son, and the searches go on for months, but they find nothing. With her money and connections, Karen actually gets the current police chief kicked out of the position, because she doesn’t believe he’s doing everything he can to find her son. That’s how Joyce takes on the role of Police Chief because she might be the best detective the station has, but she’s also a woman so the thought is that Karen will probably get HER fired as well which for totally unknown reasons is the most palatable option to a bunch of people with power over the station (//sighs in sexism). Joyce actually listens to Karen, though, and is as transparent as possible about the search, even though it’s very cold at this point, so despite being dissatisfied and upset, Karen at least believes Joyce is doing her best. And that’s how Joyce ends up police chief.

Mike’s disappearance puts added pressure on the Wheeler house, so Nancy ends up acting out more for attention which is how we get Nancy in Steve’s canon s1 role as the popular party girl (though she’s still Nancy— smart as a whip and ambitious as hell, it’s just hidden better). Meanwhile, Jonathan ends up in her canon nerd role (he’s studying hard for a full ride to NYU!) with Barb as his best friend. And Steve… well, Billy showed up earlier with Max, so he got to work putting Steve down long before Steve’s rep was secure, and Steve is now something of a loner. He’s still a jock, but he does solo stuff like track instead of team sports. The upside is that this means he and Robin (who mayyyy or may not be the cool anti-establishment teen running this universe’s Hellfire Club, when the canon era starts) became friends earlier.

Steve and Jonathan know each other loosely, and are assigned to do a project together (Jonathan’s a nerd who’s taking a class above his grade level and Steve had no friends in the class so they got paired up by default), so Steve goes over to Jonathan’s house and sees Will, El, and Max huddled over their first dnd manual. Somehow (Steve doesn’t remember exactly how, but he’s pretty sure El and Will’s twin puppy dog eyes had something to do with it), a simple “oh, dnd, huh?” comment turns into thirteen year old Steve agreeing that the kids can use his place as a quiet place to play (his parents are never around anyway), and maybe he’ll get his cool friend who knows how to play to stop by and help out if they need it, and telling Joyce that it’s fine he wouldn’t mind babysitting because, really, he’s really bored a lot of the time in his big, empty house. And from then on, Steve’s place is this version of the Party’s Wheeler Basement.

Lucas shows up in fourth grade, and joins the Party. Obviously this changes his dynamic with Max— they get a slower burn in this one (and I’m still undecided whether it would ultimately end with El/Lucas/Max or Dustin/El), but he gets accepted really readily.

So… on November 6, 1983, the Party bikes home from Steve’s place after a session, and El vanishes (which is Will’s actual worst nightmare because now BOTH of his Kindergarten best friends have vanished without a trace). This leads, ultimately, to Will, Max, and Lucas going looking for El in the woods the next night. They don’t find her, but they do find a very bewildered boy with black, shaved hair and dark eyes, with the number 014 tattooed on his wrist.

[love-byers]

Hi! Not gonna lie I was a bit disappointed that you believe the birthday gate stuff... The Duffers wouldn't have admitted to have made a mistake if that were the case. And most of all, it would've come up in volume 2! Now if something happens in S5 it would just feel like they came up with it during the 3 years between S4 and S5. They can say it was planned all they want, people would call bullshit, and rightfully so. I'm sorry I can not believe how anyone can think birthday gate could be a real thing. Not to mention it doesn't even make any sense. Please bylers let's just accept the Duffers made a mistake!!

i disagree with everything you said

1. "the duffers wouldn't have admitted to have made a mistake if that were the case"

they lied.

the duffers are sneaky snakes who want us to analyze and always be looking for little details. they have literally said there are no coincidences in the show.

so yes, i completely believe that they would go out of their way to lie in order to save the surprise for s5. i mean actually think about it, if it really was just a mistake, why would they not just fix it?? they have the full power to just do a little voiceover edit and boom, problem solved. they explained exactly how they'd do it. but they didn't. 2 years have passed and they still haven't changed it when that little tweak would literally solve all their problems if it really was a mistake.

they lied. they're liars.

2. "it would've come up in vol 2"

since when does every single problem have to be solved in one season?? do you know what show you're watching??

there are hints and foreshadowing all over the seasons. vecna is foreshadowed in s1 ep1 when will's door was opened with telekinesis, and we had no idea he existed until 6 years and 3 seasons later.

in s1 they don't fully explain how will was communicating with joyce. but after s4 everything clicks into place.

they show us that will can clearly hear her and is finding a way to make the lights light up. then in ep 8 they show joyce and hopper making the christmas lights light up as they walk through the byers upside down house. jonathan sees this and asks if it's joyce, and joyce hears him.

that isn't addressed AT ALL in s2 or s3. it is fully explained and explored in s4, when nancy steve eddie and robin are stuck in the upside down. they fully show us how it works and acknowledge that it was how will communicated with joyce.

the creators knew exactly how the light upside down stuff worked the entire show. but it wasn't time for it to be explained just yet. it was meant to come up later on. it's a masterful way to write a story with longevity.

stranger things teaches you to never just write something off. everything is important. don't let it go just because it hasn't been fully explained. there will be payoff.

3. "now if it comes up in s5 it would just feel like they came up with it the 3 years between s4 and s5. people would call bullshit."

respectfully i think you're projecting a bit.

the average viewer who does not spend their time on forums is not going to think that whatsoever. the average viewer is going to think "wait what?!", go back and watch s4 ep 2, and think "holy shit it was planned all along that's so cool!"

like that's such a dumb way of thinking. you have to be a master level hater to see a well written plot twist and think "they just did that to cover their asses" like that's some next level hating

and i guarantee you once s5 comes out the duffers will be like "yeah of course we had to lie you guys were too close to figuring it out!"

david harbour has talked about how hard it was for him to flat out lie to people about hopper being dead. it's really not that crazy to think they lied

4. "it doesn't even make any sense"

....it does.

i don't know how you could think it doesn't make sense

rink o mania day was march 22nd. will's birthday. they have not changed his birthday. his official canonical birthday is still march 22nd.

but no one mentions it. even will doesn't seem to know it's his birthday.

s4 is all about memories and trauma and feeling isolated from others. we also literally learn there is a powerful monster man who can read minds and enter other people's memories, just like el can. so i don't see how it's so outlandish to think there's some memory fuckery going on.

of course we can't explain exactly why or how, because it hasn't been adressed yet. you have to wait for the pay off.

5. "just accept the duffers made a mistake"

i would accept that they made a mistake if they actually fixed the mistake LIKE THEY SAID THEY WOULD. they said "we are going to edit the episode and change it to say may 22nd" and then DIDNT. EVER.

and not only that, they wished him happy birthday on march 22nd 2 years in a row. noah schnapp posted a bts photo on march 22nd 2024 with the caption "Do you know what March 22nd is? It's your birthday. - Joyce Byers"

they are saying "yes it's still his birthday so get hyped for s5 where it'll be addressed" every way they can without spelling it out for you.

i really don't know what more you need

[crazypenguintacofan]

Okay after sitting a bit with my feelings and rewatching the whole thing, I'm 100% certain that killing Izzy was the correct narrative choice.

1— This season solves all of Izzy's main character conflicts and satisfyingly closes his arc. Easily resisting Ricky's "seduction attemp" (appealing to Izzy's ego and desire for praise and power) and remaining loyal to the crew (which s1 Izzy would've had a lot of trouble with), plus his apology to Ed and fully letting go of Blackbeard, were the perfect culmination for his story thus far. And, crucially, Izzy's character conflicts needed to be solved so his relationship with Ed could be solved, because it's the only way Ed could've ended the season leaving piracy, which I'm guessing was a major plot point the writers always had in their 3-arc plan.

With that in mind, to keep him in the story, you'd have 2 choices:

a) Build up a new conflict for Izzy, which would take a lot of screen time that we do not have bc next season is the last and we don't even know how many episodes Max is gonna order (and the resolution to Ed and Stede's story has to be the priority).

b) Just keep him around doing things in the background like other minor characters, just a pleasant background presence with no real function. Which honestly? Would've been a disservice to both character and actor. I think having Izzy go out with a blaze of glory of sorts both honors the character and gives Con O'Neill the chance to show off his skill, and that was the right call from the Doylist perspective.

2— I didn't like what I perceived as Ed being passive in the final "break up" with Izzy, I read it as only Izzy making the choice of letting go, but that's not really what happens. Ed could've chosen to go full Blackbeard again and go get revenge, and in that way keep sacrificing his true self for Izzy's sake. But he actively chooses to build his happiness with Stede instead <3

3— As many people have pointed out, both Izzy's death (as THE representative of traditional piracy) and the destruction of Republic of Pirates symbolize the end of piracy as we know it at the hands Prince Ricky. It's a massive change in the status quo of that universe and it sets potentially very interesting scenarios for season 3.

4— Izzy's death contextualizes and makes more meaningful both Ed's choice to remain in land and the crew's choice to remain pirates.

On perspective, someone important had to die in the final episode. The whole of s2 has been about showing the harsher realities of piracy, which haunted the narrative in s1 but were never explicitly visible (you could consider the Kraken scenes in s1 ep 10 a sneak peek). Piracy becoming more realistic and less fairytale-like (not hyper realistic either, this still a surreal comedy in which people turn into seagulls) could be linked to Stede and Ed getting a more realistic perspective of romantic relationships, as well. Crucially, what was missing from this exploration of piracy was a meaningful death. We've been told often that risk of death is a big part of that world, but we've never really *seen* it in a meaningful way (RIP Ivan who died offscreen). A big death was needed to contextualize the decisions that all the characters make at the end of the season and that set the stage for season 3. And again, if you're gonna kill someone, it's better if it is a character that has finished his arc and has no loose ends, and that's Izzy.

This death is a tangible reminder of the cost of living as a pirate. A sudden end can happen to anyone at any time (and Izzy got inmensely lucky that he didn't die in the battlefield and kept breathing for long enough to say goodbye). With full understanding of the costs, Ed decides to leave piracy as he always wanted, but the crew decides to recommit to it.

The crew's choice to remain pirates despite the cost it's even more significant if it turns out they're the only crew that managed to scape the destruction of Republic of Pirates. They are among the last pirates in the Caribbean (I really hope that Anne Bonny, Mary Read and Hellkat Maggie are still alive and kicking somewhere, though). And now "the new Revenge" has the opportunity and the responsibility of rebuilding piracy in a fresh and better way, inbued of all the ways Stede's captaincy has made all of them kinder.

So yeah. Izzy's death ties everything narratively and thematically in a neat little ribbon. So I'm still gonna miss the little rabid rat, but I'm at peace with it, I'm zen, I'm like a fisherman contemplating the universe in a fish scale.

(I'd still like it if they brought Izzy back as some kind of pirate revenant. I don't know how the fuck that would make sense at a thematic level, but I do love stories about the undead)

[juno-box]

Okay then! Moving onto your ideas for a fix-it time travel style fic for TWDG, do you have any concrete ideas so far of what you'd want to do with it? Who'd be going back in time, how drastically things would change, plot points, that sort of thing? If you don't mind sharing of course, I'd understand if a lot of that would be spoilers should you decide to actually write it.

Would you believe I’ve spent the better part of last night thinking of this very fic idea? I couldn’t land on WHO the heck would I send back.

I’d send them back as the age they were during that time, so Clem going back to S1 from S4 would be 8-years-old all over again but with the mind and knowledge of 16/17-year-old Clem.

Clementine would be an obvious choice, right? As a character from the start to finish, she could easily make the most change. Depending on what point she travels back from in the series, she could very well change a lot of things. For starts, Clem from any season after S1 could:

Not talk to the stranger over the walkie.

Knowing her folks are dead, and probably want to avoid Savannah all together.

Be aware about the St. John’s, not trust them and campaign for them not to go. But then comes the fact that she’s a child and possibly the only person who would take her seriously would be Lee. So that could be something she might not be able to fully change.

If she doesn’t or can’t stop the event of EP2, then there could be a chance that she can intervene on Ben’s deal with the bandits. She would have to keep an eye on him specific pay attention to him whenever he leaves the inn or is on watch, which she’ll have to do w/o raising any attention.

If she can do that, and convince Ben to listen to her, even if she’s just a kid, they might be able to warn the group and get out of dodge before the bandit’s raid begins, so they could leave for the road a few days early.

If that happens, Lilly’s meltdown might not happen. If Larry died during EP2, then she’d still be depressed and in mourning of course, but not paranoid since there’s not a conspiracy going around the group about betrayal. Meaning Carley/Doug might not get headshot.

This also means Katjaa & Duck survive for now, and thus Kenny doesn’t have his complete character arc in S2 if his whole family is alive, since that loss played a huge part in his arc.

That also means that Lilly might stick around longer, and we may not get a Delta!Lilly.

They still take the train, as Clem can’t do anything about the train being in the way.

But then Clem realizes the train rolls right through Savannah, and there’s no avoid it anymore.

But Clem knew not to listen to the Stranger, so her sneaking away to meet him only to be kidnapped possibly won’t happen.

Meaning… We don’t lose Lee, which would’ve been Number 1 on Clem’s list of things to fix.

If that happens, the group has no reason to leave the house, meaning Vernon and the cancer group can’t get the boat.

Speaking of the boat… it’s WAY too small for their group.

Lee, Clem, Kenny, Katjaa, Duck, Chuck (since our group is big, I doubt they’d let him die the way he did), Lilly, Carley/Doug, Ben, Christa & Omid? That’s 11 people on this boat meant for at most like… 4 or 5.

Cue the talks of changing their plans. And much to Kenny’s chagrin, Katjaa agrees.

The group decide to put a pin in the boat plan and mull over their next move. This is where Clem chimes in and says they should head for the country, and get out of the city ASAP.

At this point, Lee would be way more trusting of Clem’s intuition and agree, so would Christa. Katjaa, Lilly, Doug/Carley, Ben would agree with the majority, and Omid would pick whatever he thought was best for Christa and their unborn baby.

They gather their bearings and plan their route out of Savannah over the night. The next day they discover the boat’s gone. So, Kenny really has no choice but to agree with their plan.

I feel like once the group is out of Savannah, and Clem has time for, well, downtime, she’ll want to think about how she’ll get back the other important people in her life like AJ, Javi and his family, and the Ericsons kids (especially if she romanced Louis or Violet). She wants to see them again, albeit not in the same circumstances as before.

On the other hand, is would I send back Lee? Another start to finish character (at least for S1), Sending Lee back from the end of EP5, Lee could make changes as well, his only hold up would be protecting Clementine even more since she really is 8-years-old:

He’d probably train her earlier, like between EP1 and EP2.

EP2 is the hardest to change, because it’s a group choice. It would probably go down similar to that deleted scene of them voting, where Lee would vote against going but be out voted by everyone else.

He doesn’t trust the St. John’s in the slightest, and when he goes back with Mark to check the perimeter, he tells him keep his guard up and watch the trees. Since Mark’s a bit more attentive, Mark gets grazed by the arrow instead of full impaled, and the scene plays out the same.

They make it back and Mark’s still a bit injured but not remotely as bad as before, so he’s able to attended dinner without having to go through Brenda’s, ahem, “check-up”.

So, who’s for dinner then?

Mr. Parker! Mmm, barbequed band teacher-

Let’s for back a bit, during the hunt with Lee, Mark & Kenny. They find Ben, Travis & Mr. Parker.

They don’t cut him out in time, but this time Lee doesn’t try to hack his leg off, remembering last time how he still bled out and died by time they made it back.

Lee instead tells Mark and Kenny to grab the boys and go. Before they can protest, the walkers are coming in, not many, but enough.

Travis makes a go at Mark’s rifle, but Mark shoots him in the leg. So now they have to carry him back.

So, Ben and Travis live! And Mr. Parker… for now.

Hypothetically, let’s say the dairy boys got to Mr. P before the walkers did.

So, he’s for dinner.

Dinner scene plays out the same, but this time Parker takes Mark’s place.

The Larry in the locker moment plays out differently. Since Mark is there, he’d help Lilly revive Larry.

Unfortunately, leaving Lee to argue with Kenny about not killing Larry. He’s trying to prevent as many unnecessary deaths as possible.

I believe Kenny and Lee would actually tussle over this, but Kenny would lose.

And by some miracle, Larry would win. As in he’d live.

Rewinding to where Lee was investigating the farmhouse, in the cabinet he found the morphine and wire in, he’d also find nitroglycerin pills. Lee kept them on the chance the moment in the locker happened.

Rest of the scene plays out the same until they make it out the locker.

Lee meets Carley/Doug, Ben & Travis outside the barn.

Since Mark’s arm is still a bit injured, Lilly shoots Andy.

Fight goes the same. Lee spares Andy and leaves him to his fate.

Interesting change, when it comes to the Stranger’s car, Lee purposely tries to distract the group from hearing the car.

Unfortunately, Mark sees it.

Lee is adamant about not taking from it, and doesn’t give Kenny the keys.

This almost prompts another Kenny v. Lee fight, until Larry steps in and argues they need it since the dairy was an absolute bust.

Lee uses Clementine’s argument that it’s more than likely someone’s car, and they might not be far. Since he knows it’s the strangers, he’d mention it probably belonged to a family.

A dreaded vote, and it’s Lee, Clem and surprisingly Lilly vs. Kenny, Katjaa, Travis, Carley/Doug, Mark and Larry.

Outvoted, Larry snatched the keys from Lee and they pillage the car. Doug/Carley comes up to Lee with batteries for Clem’s walkie, but Lee takes them instead, saying they might need them for something important.

EP2-3, Lee is aware that at this point the bandits are going to attack the inn because of Ben’s deal. So, Lee decided to nip the bud and go to Ben directly. He’d say something along the lines of “Don’t talk anyone in the woods, especially bandits who claim to have his friend.”

Sprinkle in a little, “Or else” because Lee’s DEAD serious on nothing that happened in EP3 happening twice. And Lee’s threat worked…

For Ben, at least. Because the difference between this time and last was Ben’s deal with the bandits.

He didn’t account for Travis being made the same deal.

So, color Lee terrified when Lilly comes to Lee about missing supplies.

He didn’t think she’d be paranoid, now that her dad was still alive.

He knew everywhere to check by the back of his hand, the signaling system, the chalk, all of it.

First, he trucked it over to Ben and immediately called him off the RV. Ben climbs down and Lee lays into him (well, where only he and Ben could hear) and accuses him of being guilty.

Ben’s confused more than defensive, which throws Lee off. Ben asks is it about what he warned him about a week ago, and says he hasn’t seen or talked to anyone outside the inn after he warned him about the bandits, and is generally confused as to what Lee’s blaming him for.

Lee apologizes and leaves. He checks the grate and what’s in it. Meds, of course.

He brings it to Lilly. The motel gets held hostage, but this is different; when they get held hostage, Mark taps on the window Lilly would exit from and warm them before they eventually hear for themselves.

While Lilly tells Lee to stall them, Larry does something stupid. Stubborn as an idiot, he refuses to be held up like he just was a week ago and goes for one of the bandit’s guns, getting shot in the process, causing all hell to break loose.

Lilly leaves her vantage point and goes to get Larry while Mark takes her place, the group splits up like they did before.

Lilly manages to pull Larry behind cover and tries to save him, so Mark has to deal with the bandits and keeping enemies off of her while she’s distracted.

The fending off goes the same, each group gets inside the RV, Duck is still bitten.

Lilly has to leave Larry, so now freshly mourning, and losing the inn, Lee knows all hells about to break loose.

Lilly pins it on Carley if she’s there, or Ben if Doug’s there.

Lee would defend Ben, saying he thinks it was someone else, and for the first time asks Travis.

Travis gets immediately defensive, just as Ben did before. Lee knows he did it.

But Carley/Doug would tell Lee to lay off him. Lilly would believe Lee’s claim that it was Travis since he’s helped her before.

Travis pins it on Carley/Doug.

Ben defends Travis, getting hi back under the microscope.

RV hits a walker, they’ve got to stop. Everyone exits.

Lilly shoots Travis in the head.

…

Lee knew it was Travis. But even so, the act alone caused the group to vote to leave her behind.

Katjaa calls Lee up front and tell him Duck’s bit.

Lee is angry that he’s failing to stave people this time around.

The train scene goes the same, they meet Chuck, Duck and Katjaa die, but instead of training Clem, since he already trained her a bit more and cut her hair, he decides he should tell Clem the new plan for Savannah.

Chuck compliments Lee on teaching the girl to survive.

He tells her that even though Kenny’s deadest on finding a boat, he thinks their best bet is getting out of the city ASAP and making it to the countryside.

Clem wants to find her parents, but Lee tries to gently tell her that they’ve been gone for so long that the chances of them being there or alive are slim to none.

Clem hates that answer.

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Clem—”

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

Well, at least that radio won’t be a problem.

They meet Christa and Omid. The next morning, Lee is horrified to hear Clem’s radio go off.

She’d been talking to him again.

Again.

Kenny says he thought the thing was broken, to which Carley/Doug will admit they gave her batteries for it when she’d asked.

Without a second thought, Lee angrily chucked the radio out the train. He’d be damned if that bastard gets his hands on Clementine again.

The they get to Savannah. Molly tolls the bell, they make a break for it. Ben runs from Clem, Chuck saves her and gets split from the group.

They get to the house. And get inside, Doug/Carley keeps watch. Everything plays out the same. Clem goes to Crawford with them. Carley/Doug actually gets killed instead of Brie, however.

Lee saves Ben at the bell tower.

Since Ben isn’t guilty, Kenny has no ill will toward Ben, but also threatens that if he leaves Clem like that again he and Lee will tag team his ass. Ben gets the message quick.

Vernon still offers to take Clem. Lee knew it was coming but isn’t as mad as he was at the suggestion to give away his adoptive daughter. He still declines.

I should note that Clem has definitely notice her walkie’s missing, but Lee says she might’ve accidentally dropped it while they were one the train. She’s really sad about this, and a bit anxious.

Clem asks Lee if they’re going to get on the boat with Kenny. Lee says they might. Due to him trashing the walkie, cutting off all contact with the Stranger, they may be able to all get on the boat; He, Clem, Kenny, Christa, Omid and Ben.

Clem asks if they’ll have time to look for her parents, Lee tells her what he said on the train.

She cries and leaves the room.

Since the group is downstairs, Lee lets Clem have her space. She’s probably really upset with him.

He tries not to fall asleep, but dozes off for a bit.

Lee jolts awake when he realizes. He looks around and doesn’t see Clem near him before remembering she’s downstairs.

He turns and looks out the window, expecting to see Kenny working on the boat.

Instead, his blood runs cold as he sees Clementine, standing outside the fence, talking to someone beside a car.

A station wagon.

A station wagon that looked horribly identical to the one from the woods.

From the one that was parked in front of The Marsh House.

He could’ve sworn his heart stopped beating for a minute as she willfully climbed inside the backseat.

Lee booked it downstairs, nearly falling as he slammed through the backdoor as the car peeled off down the street. Lee runs out the back yard but is too late.

And that’s all I have for now! I spent a minuuuute conjuring this all up! Keep in mind, this is all a rough idea of what I could try, not definitive!

[prismaticflare]

Hello everyone! Throughout my time here in the Ninjago fandom, I’ve talked a lot about a major AU of mine I began thinking about all the way back when I was only about halfway through my first watch-through. I’m officially ready to begin talking about it, which I have named Equilibrium, although I may refer to it occasionally as Ninjago : Equilibrium to avoid confusion since it is just a normal word lol.

Unfortunately, this is not a project I plan on officially starting for quite a while. I already have too many projects on my plate and not remotely enough time to complete them, much less a whole Ninjago rewrite. That doesn’t mean I can’t begin planning it, though!

The first step to that is a Ninjago rewatch, and I decided to blog my process. I will be discussing quite a few different topics (which I will lay out under the cut) and post it here. Feel free to read only the parts/seasons you care the most about. Whether you want to hear about my thoughts and my AU, want to use my thoughts for your own projects, or simply want to hear my autistic ramblings about a silly Lego kids show, I implore you to join me on this journey!

Below the cut I will lay out the plans of the rewatch and will have links to each part when they come out! I will use #prismaticninjagorewatch for all of the posts, so you can sort by it or block them out if you are not interested. Also, if you have any questions about the rewatch or my au, feel free to ask. My inbox is always open!

Enough said, see you soon for our first part!

Okay, onto what will be being discussed!

1. Summery - Will give a short plot summery of what happens. This is just rough, and will likely leave out information I plan on using/expanding on in the final rewrite. This is just to fill the audience in and make sure I know what roughly happens.

2. The Point - Why does this season matter? This means a few things. Why does this season matter in-universe? How does it affect the plot, the characters, and the world around them. Also, why does this matter to us? Why does it affect both our view of the plot and why should we want to watch this season? Obviously, it is to entertain, but what is being done to fulfil that goal?

3. The Characters - Who are the main playing characters and how do they affect the plot. If it is a new character, what are they like, and if it is an old one, how do they grow and do they fit modern interpretations? Why or why not? I plan on discussing what role, arc, and subplots involve each character. If there isn’t enough of one, what can be done to fix that?

4. The World - Ninjago has quite a rich history, geography, etcetera. What is brought up? This can be landmarks, cities/towns, history, climate, ecology, and more.

5. Pros and Cons - What things did this season do well that I want to keep? What things did it do poorly that I should either attempt to fix or completely scrap? Are there any ideas that are mentioned that I want to expand upon?

6. Continuity - Ninjago has evolved a lot over time, and so have many plots and concepts. Now, I suck at seeing bad continuity, so if even I can notice something, it is a problem. So, are there any continuity issues. How do I want to fix them?

7. Tropes - This may seem odd, but let me explain. Ninjago is filled to the BRIM with tropes. Episode tropes, season tropes, character tropes, it’s all there! ESPECIALLY in S2, although most of Pre-DR is just based on tropes. So, to fully understand each season, I need to go over the tropes used. This will end up being VERY useful to understanding the season and how to write it.

8. Conclusion - Summery of what discussed to wrap things up and any additional thoughts I think are worth mentioning.

--- Quick Travel ---

Pilot, S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, DOTD, S7, S8, S9, S10, FireChap, IceChap, S12, S13, Island, S14, S15

[anotherblblog]

2023 Review - Shows

okie okie, well, I'm not the most consistent poster but I did wanna join the look back at 2023 with some top hits (and misses)

Top Shows

1. Utsukushii Kare s2/Utsukushii Kare Eternal

I literally flew across the world and then proceeded to fly back and forth between Thailand and Japan I think 4 times to watch all the Utsukare stuff happening and it was very much worth the miles and hectic sleep schedule. Utsukare s1 made me love bl's again after I had gotten burnt out on them and when I saw the trailers for s2 and the movie, I fully let myself have hope and both of them delivered. Utsukare s2 did more with 4 episodes than many many many many shows do with 12-14-18 episodes. And this was the second bl movie I saw with no subs because I couldn't/didn't want to wait and similar to Gameboys the movie, this was the right decision for me. ITSAY was my longtime number 2 favorite bl show but Utsukare s2 and the movie and the hope for a 3rd season let it get the leg up my overall rankings.

2 - 5 the best of the 2023 GMMTV suite Moonlight Chicken Only Friends My School President Midnight Museum

I think the one I had the fewest critiques about is Moonlight Chicken and the ending of Only Friends still makes me unhappy to pissed depending on the day. It's hard for me to settle on a ranking for them because there's something about each of them I would desperately want to change/see done differently. Actually thinking more about it, my Moonlight Chicken critique is this should be one of the shows GMMTV has 12-14 episodes of. So sure, Cheating McChicken, Nightly Nuggets, McInfidelity is my favorite of the GMMTV shows I watched. My School President was really strong but I think the cast could have been culled a bit. Tinn's mom's arc was so damn compelling for me, really stands out. And I am a Gun simp and him playing multiple characters again and being evil gay Jesus and Tay Tawan also being evil gay Judas or whatever, sign me the fuck up.

6. Jack o'Frost

I wanted to watch this one because I saw a picture of Kyoya Honda and said "oh she's pretty" out loud to myself and then watching this series and then Me, my Husband, my Husband's boyfriend, Kyoya is pretty and can act. Amnesia plots aren't my favorite but I do think Jack o'Frost is the best executed of the ones I can remember (pun intended?).

7. The Campfire/My Universe

I felt nearly contractly obligated to watch this one because Turbo told me directly he was proud of his acting in this one and that he and Kaow did really well and he was right. I was engaged and affected by the gayest campfire horror short story. "I (M) like him but he liked you (F), so I (M) dated you (F) to stop him from getting a chance." And then comes ghostly revenge. Hilarious comedy and gay rights and gay wrongs galore.

(Dis)/honorable mentions:

8. Our Skyy 2: Bad Buddy X A Tale of Thousand Stars.

I would not have bet my worst enemy's money that we would see Ohm and Nanon together again. So them getting an Our Skyy episode was definitely a surprise. I didn't dislike their episodes or the crossover execution but I do think it could have had another 2 episodes or something so it could have had more room to breathe. I considerd the Our Skyy premise to be kinda like OVAs in anime, it's semi canon material, mostly just letting the cast and crew "do a silly one" as it were, so I wasn't necessarily looking for anything as powerful as Bad Buddy and AToTS but seeing them together again, just made me want more than what I was given.

9. Shadow

Well, you gotta swing to hit some shots. Singto and Fluke are two good actors who have had.... some odd projects they've done that I felt didn't let them really act - looking at you Oh My Sunshine Night. Shadow at least let them act and the premise/first half was really promising. The ending was a bit botched in my opinion but I do think the potential and the performances from Singto, Fluke, an Fiat were all really strong.

10. Love Syndrome 3 Uncut

When the trailer said this would be the erotic thriller of the year, I knew we were being threatened with maybe a good time. Then the show started and I was like all the softcore dry humping can't execuse whatever the fuck is supposed to be happening onscreen. Then halfway? through the airing, they started airing the uncut version which had more high heat scenes and also made the story more coherent (not necessarily a better story mind you but at least somewhat more of a coherent one). What a trial that was. But I wanted to see Doctor Kok in something again and the show introduced me to my 2023 Mark Pakin Babygirl Award winner Rossi, so I won't be too mad at it.

Top New Characters

Boston (Only Friends) Boston was me in my early 20s. Boston was a lot of my friends in their 20s and some now in their 30s. Boston is an actualized gay af drama queen horndog icon legend he's the moment and if you don't get it, you don't get it. For all that Only Friends was poised to do, it fell flat on its face when the narrative wronged Boston. Neo acted his ass off following a strong performance in the Eclipse and this rocketed Neo up my radar for someone to watch. I have to excise ep 12 from my mind but Boston is easily my favorite new character of the year and would make my top 10 overall. Boston is my young galvanized gay praxis.

Nick (Only Friends) As I was a Boston in college, boy did I have a Nick and lord jesus did my BostonNick college relationship end POORLY. I have a Mark Pakin stan since he was Teh's hot roommate in IPYTM and seeing him get more and more promiment roles has been the biggest "we're so back" of the last year and a half for me. Only Friends also did Nick a little dirty in the final arc but not as bad as Boston but damn did it hurt having Nick walk away from Boston and out of the story like that. Regardless of how bad the end of OF was, almost everytime Nick was onscreen, it was instantly on the highlight reel.

Photjanee/Tinn's Mom (My School President) A parent in a BL having their own growth arc, unprecendented (don't fact check me too hard). Mrs Ma'am here went through a full ass soap opera arc about her gay child and did the vast vast majority of it on her own without adversely affecting her son. Just masterfully done and really healing and refreshing to have in the bl pantheon.

Gaipa (Moonlight Chicken) "Is it possible for me to be the right one for you?" girl, get the fuck out, that scene was so damn brutal and nearly every Gaipa scene was like the systematic destruction of this poor lil twink. Also the fact that Khao went from Ayan to Gaipa to Ray within a year and half. That's a fucking actor.

Boeing (Only Friends) He's sexy as hell. Don't think I've seen a character drip this much sex appeal hell maybe ever. Idk. This is a ranking based soley on Mond making me wanna hard and nasty [REDACTED].

Li Ming (Moonlight Chicken) An contextually sensible angry character. This little hothead had me rooting for him the whole way through. We were promised a healing love story and Li Ming and Heart and Li Ming and Jim and Li Ming and Jam delivered.

Night (Love Syndrome 3 Uncut) Rossi is my background babygirl of 2023 now that Mark is getting prominent roles. Night was a breath of fresh air in a sticky and dank and confusing experience.

Dan (Shadow) There are protagonists who refuse the call and then there's Dan who straight up was so fed up with the fuckery and mysticism and spoopy oogy boogey shit following and haunting him that he would have rather stayed in limbo than deal with more of that fuckshit and honestly BIG MOOD. Honestly, I would have loved him being aroace (and have that not be a trauma response or at least done well if it were) because his non-reaction to Nai's kiss and affection was hard to watch.

Dome/The One/Evil Gay Jesus (Midnight Museum) If I stumbled upon Gun in a boat and got to live exclusively with him alone, I also wouldn't wanna give that up.

Top Lines/Moments/Scenes

Delicious pure camp. Also the fact that relatively baby faced Earth is playing an almost 40 year old man. More camp. Then his sister, Li Ming's mom joins the cast and we're supposed to believe she and Earth "grew up together," heehawlarious.

Gonna bullet list the rest of this

Kiyoi: "sorry, I won't let you have a one sided love anymore" (Utsukare s2/eternal) [could have been number 1 favorite line]

Kiyoi's jealousy and possessiveness at and after the actor's party (Utsukare s2/eternal)

Anna's waterfall photoshoot (Utsukare s2/eternal)

Kiyoi's photoshoot (Utsukare s2/eternal)

Hira starting off s2 by admitting he lied about his end of s1 confession (Utsukare s2/eternal)

Koyama taking Kiyoi to task (Utsukare s2/eternal)

the bathtub scene (Utsukare s2/eternal)

BostonNick's like 4-5 episode fuck spree (Only Friends)

Nick: "you destroyed my happiness" (Only Friends)

Nick: "Boston was about to love me" (Only Friends) [could have been number 1 favorite line]

Boeing just being sexy and chaotic and at times menancing af (Only Friends)

Ray vs Boston at Sand's impromptu bday party (Only Friends)

Rock & Star performance (My School President)

Gun: "would you like to tell me what to do Mister President" (My School President)

LISTEN (ฟัง) (My School President)

TiwPor non school outfits (My School President)

Li Ming throwing the pad and demanding Heart write out the truth about who broke the alcohol bottle (Moonlight Chicken)

Heart taking his parents to task about them failing him (Moonlight Chicken)

Wen's love stares (Moonlight Chicken)

Nick being a true chaos gremlin and instigator (Love Syndrome 3)

all the raunch and high heat scenes (Love Syndrome 3)

the slow motion pool hall fight scene (Love Syndrome 3)

Night: "Let's let the past be the past" (Love Syndrome 3)

The wife being like "you're not gonna stop fucking this twink so I'm going to ask him to move in with us and we're gonna figure this out" (Me, My Husband, My Husband's Boyfriend)

[altruistic-meme]

Hmmmm so I think that season one and season two have very different vibes if that makes sense?? Season one feels quieter simpler and more intimate somehow, like there's only a few main plot lines to follow and the focus is almost always on Simon and wille, whereas with season 2 it feels like SO MANY THINGS happened! Maybe it's bc I just watched the show so quickly and haven't really processed it yet but there were so many ups and downs and so many revelations and twists and it felt very chaotic and dramatic and angsty and messy. It's not necessarily worse or better than the first season, it's just different! And kind of unexpected. Like s1 is what you watch if you want a really nice quiet story that tugs at your heartstrings and makes you want more, and S2 is what you watch if you're in the mood for revenge and drama and lies and betrayal and chaos. What do you think?

I fully agree that the vibes are so so different, and it’s something i’ve been thinking about since my first watch. And I actually kind of really like the contrast between them! It's exactly what we were told it was: Season 2 was darker than season 1.

This is what I meant when I said that “they were all so baby” in s1: Season 1 feels incredibly hopeful. It’s very much lighter, and although the stakes aren’t necessarily any lower we don’t tend to notice them as much. Season 1 does have Wilhelm and Simon as one of the biggest focuses and their relationship, while definitely having its downs, also has enough ups to balance it out pretty well. Even though we have so many moments where they break apart, we also almost always see them come back together again either in that same episode or in the one right after. Even after the final break up in epi 6, we get the hopefulness that came with their hug and Wilhelm’s “I love you”: yes, they aren’t together, but we can see that they want to be, and now Simon knows how Wilhelm feels, and we know that Wilhelm is getting ready to fight for it. 

In season 2, all of this hopefulness is gone. It’s a lot more somber. We see early on that it won’t have that same back and forth that season one did. Simon admits to thinking of Wilhelm all break, but he also shrugs off his hand and tells him he doesn’t want them talking. There are only downs, for a while, between them. Every conversation is painful because you want them to be together, to be happy again, but there is too much happening between them and around them for us to have that. They don’t get a moment of joy together until epi 4, and even then that moment is disrupted and the beginning of the next episode shows that we’re back to having that space. 

We do come to a much more hopeful ending than we did in season 1 though: Simon confesses in return, he wants to be with Wille even against his desire to not be a secret, and Wille is finally in a place where he has found out that he wants nothing more than to be with Simon, even at threat of the monarchy. Wille had all-but-directly told Simon he would give up the throne for him already. He’s told Simon that he is more important than that, and with the belief that there is a backup, the final scene is him risking that for Simon. It’s the return of that hopefulness for a future that we had had in s1 and had been robbed of throughout s2. 

I use hopefulness to describe it because that’s what it feels like to me. But lightness is another way you could go. 

As far as the actual contents, i don’t actually feel like we were truly short on Wilhelm/Simon content, just joy. Like I said, most of their interactions hurt. And there was definitely a lot going on but I feel like it was more of a culmination of everything going on in season 1. It didn’t feel messy to me, story-wise. It was messy in a very real way. When all of these things begin at the same time, they’ll all come crashing at the same time too. S2 was that crash. It was everything we had worked on in s1 falling apart and coming together and the result was messy because life gets messy sometimes. 

S1 is definitely what to watch when you want that heartstring pull, but I don’t think s2 was only about drama and revenge. It pulls your heartstrings too. Again, especially between Wilhelm and Simon. The way they so clearly want each other but can’t have each other.

So yeah, I definitely agree with you that they are incredibly different seasons. I think they work well together though. I had the joy of being able to watch them back to back and honestly, the shift isn’t as drastic as I thought it might be. Because like I said, s2 was a natural crash after s1. I loved both seasons so much. I really hope we get a third, because there is definitely more we could see, and like many have said before me I think a third season would be the perfect way to wrap things up.

[beepboop358]

Anti-Byler Argument Refuttals

Although I discussed all of this in my Byler Proof master slides post, I wanted to do a separate post specifically just refutting the most common anti-byler arguments.

1. "Mike and El's relationship is too developed" and "They have been through too much together to break up now!"

This is probably the thing I hear the most when people argue that Byler will never happen. The weirdest part of this argument is that people assume that they will never drift apart, and that they will never ever break up, as if we didn't just see them drift apart, break up, and not officially get back together in S3? Yes, they have both been through a significant amount of trauma, but their relationship is not as developed as people think it is, they barely even know each other really. They spent a week together in S1, then El was gone for a year. Mike and El don't reunite until the very end of S2, probably a few days after halloween. If we work out the timeline between Halloween of 1984 and July 4th of 1985 in S3, that's 246 days, so it's actually less than a full year they have spent together, getting to know each other.

The “development” people argue that Mike and El have just doesn't stand up. Mike and El do not have intimate conversations, their conversations are incredibly awkward, and they just kiss frequently in the beginning of S3 before they break up. That's not development. Hopper even refers to their constant kissing as "not normal and not healthy." Mike couldn't tell El he loves her to her face, which is a parallel to the failed relationship of Stancy where Nancy couldn't tell Steve she loved him, and we later find out it's because she doesn't, which all happens during the blank makes you crazy scene that is extremely similar to Robin's coming out scene. And yes, Mike and El have endured a lot of trauma together, but so has the rest of the group and people don't seem to use this argument the same way with the other couples, or between the friendships. History doesn't determine the future if there's no feelings involved, things can always change. This is idea of staying in a relationship where there is no real love but there is history/benefits is hinted at in S3 when Mike dresses almost identically to both of his parents.

2. "Look at how much Mike cares for El! They're in love!"

No, they're not, and how they treat each other proves that they're not. I firmly believe neither Mike nor El is seriously, romantically in love with each other.

If Mike was really deeply, romantically in love with El, why did he treat her like he did in S3? If he really cares about her that much, why did he wait for Lucas to guide him at all times in matters regarding his relationship with El, instead of just taking initiative, but he does take initiative with Will? Why can't her apologize to her? Why wasn't Mike more upset about El dumping him? Why couldn't he tell El he loves her to her face? Why did he consistently lie to her throughout the whole show? Why did he stop calling her in S2? Why did he give up and say she was dead, but never gave up on Will? Why did he scream in her face in S1? And no - it isn't because he's just shy or awkward. Mike doesn't act like he is truly in love with El because he isn't. He is projecting his feelings for Will onto El, and he is deeply in denial about his sexuality due to his internalized homophobia and hasn't fully processed how he feels about Will throughout the series (up until the ending of S3). And why does Mike have such an odd reaction to El saying she loves him if he does love her? If he loves her that should be exactly what he wants to hear, so why does he look so confused and scared? And why doesn't he just say it back right then?

El isn't seriously, romantically in love with Mike. They meet in S1, and he immediately takes her in, saving her life. He looks out for her, and actually cares if she is okay, and no one has ever done that for her before. El was abused her whole childhood until Mike lets her live in his basement. He was the first person to treat her like a human being, and show her compassion, which she has never experienced before. It makes total sense that she would cling to their relationship like a security blanket. Mike is an emotional attachment for El. He makes her feel safe, because of how he saved her life previously. El has very limited knowledge of love, life, friendship, relationships, and social behaviors since she was locked in a lab for over a decade of her life, she was never truly exposed to these concepts like the other kids in the party were. Everything El thinks she knows about love she learns from watching soap opera's alone in Hopper's cabin. Of course her perception of what romantic love is, is warped. If El was seriously romantically in love with Mike, why was their break-up no big deal to her? Why was she smiling, laughing and looking at pictures of boys with Max right after she supposedly dumped the love of her life? Why did she not seem even the slightest bit upset about it the entire season?

If they're both seriously in love, then why are their interactions so awkward to watch and why does it feel so unnatural and forced? Why don’t Mileven’s interactions feel romantic? The official released scripts on 8flix describe several Mileven scenes as "awkward". It's no coincidence that detail was included in the script.

3. "But they already have Robin"

I mean this comment basically means that sense the show already has one confirmed lgbtq+ character, there can't possibly be any others. What?! There isn't a "one gay character limit per TV show". This comment really bothers me because it reeks of homophobia. If you don't ship Byler that's fine, but refusing to even explore the possibility there could be more than one lgtbq+ character in a TV show just because one already exists? Yeah no. Queer people existed in the 80's, definitely more than just one, so capping out the amount of queer characters in the show is just icky.

Also, Robin was not originally written to be a gay character. It was decided during the filming process that Robin should be a lesbian, because Maya Hawke and Joe Keery were not getting romantic vibes between their characters. Just because the show introduced a new gay character in S3, it does not mean the queercoding of Will and Mike is erased to make room for Robin, and keep Mileven together. Making Robin a lesbian, does not cancel out Mike and Will being gay/liking each other, and the show's future plans for byler.

4. "Mike's not gay."

Does this seem straight to you?

Giving your girlfriend a drawing of your male best friend, that was drawn by him, but telling her it's your drawing so she'll hang it up on the wall you coincidentally face while you make out with her, to remind you of him.

Taking your girlfriends hands off of you while you're making out with her, and keeping your hands folded in your lap away from her.

Only being able to apologize to said male best friend and being more emotionally invested in that relationship than your relationship with your girlfriend.

Mike is the only other person besides Will pictured in close up shots with rainbow and fruit imagery.

Even the die-hard Mileven fans have to admit that's more than a little coincidental, and if we know anything about the Duffer brothers, it's that they love incorporating intricate details in their show to reveal things about the characters/plot.

If you want more examples, some images, or just a more in-depth analysis of byler throughout the series, I suggest you check out my Byler Proof master slides :)

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. I think the romance in LO isn't very good bc take out Hera, Aphrodite, Eros, etc it's like would these two even talk to each other, much less end up married? Like RS has made it too much that the plot forces them together than actually showing what would make them work as a viable couple and showing them wanting to be together. If anything she's spent more time showing them avoiding each other to now rushing them into a relationship with no build up and expecting us to buy it as "true love" 🤔

2. I really wish RS would stop putting the women of lo in ugly buns. Hera hasn’t been able to have her hair down in so long and I really miss it. I think double buns can be cute but when it’s just a lazy bun it doesn’t look good.

3. so what exactly is unique to persephone now if shes 99% just whatever was given to her by the other goddesses? because all i can gather is her being obsessed over hades and doing whatever he wants that even hera and minthe never did and that's it :/

4. OK BUT I NOTICED THAT TOO why is so much of the merch and promo material for LO ONLY Hades?? Isn't thiss ssuppised to be about Persephone? If I didn't know better it would be as Hades is the lead character while Persephone is a secondary at best character, which is sort of an issue when it claims to be about a "feminist reclaiming" of PERSEPHONE'S story. He has more time spent on him, more history, and all the relationships/development too. Is this a ruse? Was he the actual lead this whole time?

5. lo persephone is so underdeveloped as it is that her now being literally reversed developed to where her own personality, emotions, and ambitions are all from others almost seems like a joke, but it's not, it's rachel thinking this is great writing to make persephone so devoid of any complexity and nuance that she's not even a character, she's just a checklist of being "perfect" and that's it. even the worst example of mary sue characters have more going for them than this.

6. there's no other way to cut it, LO going on for nearly 4 years now with 190 episodes and the main couple isn't even officially DATING is just ridiculous, especially when t's only been a MONTH in all that time. this is not a slowburn, it's writer incompetence combined with monetary greed, there's no other way to put it.

7. not only can persephone not logically ever compare to the queen of the gods anyway (and if RS tries she truly does not get mythology at all) but also its bad writing to make your LEAD CHARACTER only look "the best"  by devaluing everyone else, especially when it's women against women, which RS has already done towards Minthe, Aphrodite, etc. If Persephone is truly amazing she wouldn't need RS to constantly tear every woman down and make her double blessed in everything to look even ok.

8. I really think LO should have only been one season. It still would have been longer than normal but if she had actually planned ahead and paced it it would have told a tight story going off on a high note, because it really feels like S2 is just hot mess after hot mess. S1 was not perfect but it was salvageable, but this season (and possibly s3 if it happens) is just too long, too directionless, too full of random plots and twists, and nothing has been wrapped up. It just broke it IMHO.

9. Apollo : "I am the son of Zeus!"

*pretend to be shocked *

Everyone who know mythology : .....We know.....and even in the comic it was obvious because he was purple like Z.

10. The trial felt like the bare minimum but all the characters act like it is the end of the world. Like Persephone can still talk to nymphs and other non god deities. There is no mention of working to help the shades she created or the people of the city who had nothing to do with the farmers who were hurt. But mortals don't count as they are the lost caste in this story where classism is fully supported at about every turn.

[female-eren]

Since you wanted more aot asks, what is it that made you like Eren so much? Why is he your favorite? And what did you think about the ending and is Eren the true villain?

When I first watched season 1 and started reading the manga, I didn't care all that much for him. He was a pretty standard main character that got the job of shonen main character done okay. I actually liked Mikasa most for a pretty long time. The manga also didn't inspire a lot of feelings for the characters for me? I read the manga pretty "clinically" during the 4 year wait between S1 and S2, for the plot.

When S2 dropped, especially during the whole sequence where Eren loses Hannes, is inspired by Mikasa and is able to use the Coordinate, I started getting invested in him as a character. I liked what was happening to him, he started growing and strategizing a lot more. After S2, I read the manga with more investment in the characters themselves as much as the plot. I wanted to see where Eren got. His breaking point with Historia in the crystal caves was really good.

The basement reveal was a bit weird to me, I felt like many fans at the time that the story was becoming so much bigger than anticipated and it felt strange and a bit out of place to see Grisha's backstory. But Eren Kruger's scenes with Grisha really stuck with me. I was on board with the entire Marley and rest of the world idea.

And that was it for a while, until Eren's entire attack on Marley, where I really started finding him interesting. You asked what I think of him as the villain, and I like it, although I really, really wish everything had gone differently. I love the idea of Eren using the Rumbling as a threat but I would've liked there to be more... I don't know, strategy, attempts to build alliances. Marley is a war economy that is failing, because the rest of the world is catching up technologically. I don't believe Paradis was so fully cut off and incapable of collaborating with any other nations. There could have been so much more political intrigue like with how Hizuru allied itself with Paradis but was unwilling to help Paradis get more allies. We could've gotten ambassador/political negotiator Mikasa or Historia.

I think Eren's plan of massacring 80% of the world's population, letting Paradisians win, and hoping for the best that nobody will be mad is the stupidest plan I've ever heard. If it needed to go that route I would've preferred that Eren actually believed in his own plan, believed that he needed to genocide the entire world, not just doing it for shits and giggles. This plan has been done before, like in Code Geass. It didn't work, it's not original, and it wasn't satisfying.

However, one aspect that really draws me to Eren is of course my idea that AOT mirrors female oppression and female rage. Eren being the symbol of KAM makes it better. But in the actual story I think AOT's ending fell flat and I hate it. I want to make my own rewrite of the story, but first I need to figure out what exactly I want to do with it.

[melis-ash]

have you watched elite's season 4 finale already? what are your takes on caye and phillipe? no judgements here tho, just want to know your opinion on them

 Hello, nonny! Yes, I did. My opinion about Caye and Philippe has several different aspects (which a litle bit conflict with each other).

Lets write long post.)) Sorry for mistakes and typos, English is not my first language and I`m not really good with grammar.

1) Caye and Philippe story is feminist retelling-reverse of the Beauty and the Beast, where main characters didn`t became couple and The Beauty left her Beast not for Gaston other romance, but for her own path. And their relationship helped the Beast to realize his past mistakes and make to want to fix it, even if it`s too late . Comparing with many other things in that season that storyline was not bad. Really. There MANY problems with s4, I think the best stolyline had Rebe and Mencia, it was really good, and in my personal opinion, despite many flaws, Caye and Philippe storyline is second one for me. Kinda it was not really good, but it had plot, idea, composition and message. Writers knew very clear, what they tried to say, and despite obvious lack of screen time, they handle it, and this story, despite it doesn`t connect with main plot, resonate with main storyline on the level of their ideas. (About it later.) I know, Georgina is feminist, so I wonder, could she give some advice writers? Kinda “it can work better if...” something like it.

2) Personally I`m very disappointed how OOC was Caye in that season and how few screen time she had. For me Caye from s4 feels like too much different person than in s2-3. I wanted character development for her, but something more slow and realistic. S4 Cayetana feels like all her character development happened between s3 and s4 (and partly in special, which really was very good), and I don`t believe in it. Caye from s4 is good character, but there is no real connection with Caye from s2-3.

I knew, she was very upopular character in s2-3, so maybe creators afraid to gave her too much screen time. But also they still wanted she was part of story and write redemption arc for her. And honestly, anon, these two thing can`t work together well. When you write redemption arc for well written nuanced character that Cayetana was in s2-3, you need give character enough screen time and nuances. But it seems, s4 writers don`t care enough about writing S1-3 characters in character. In s2-3 Caye was bad girl, but also she was comedy relief (but s4 has very few comedy moments), she had family (where the fuck her mother and granddad now? We know only that her mother cannot work in Las Ensinas, but don`t know, why), we saw, that she did`t sleep almost, because she learn in Las Ensinas, worked as janitor and still hung out with rich kids. (I think I began feel compassion for her, when realized it). It that seson she almost has not other scenes than with Philippe. OK, she was pariah in school during previous year, but if writers began that things with Caye and Rebe friendship, can they continue it. Rebe and Caye both had problem with their love interests and they never discussed it. Only time they speak about Philippe was in 402. Also Benjamin fired Azucena, and wanted to expel Samu and Omar, but Caye still works there? And Benjamin still protects her even? Why? I mean, after whole thing with scam in s2. Maybe it because protection of Polo`s mothers, but it never was said in s4 even. It seems, Benjamin knows things about her story with Polo (like he knows about Philippe`s past), and it could be really interesting possiblity to bring on scene that aspect of situation and Benjamin`s character and him and Caye interaction. 

Also there is something with Georgina`s acting in s4, in most of scenes she acts as different character, so maybe it was and her (as actress) decision too. I wrote before, she is feminist, and maybe she wanted to bring more feminists vibes in s4 Caye, because it makes storyline works better? Given how few connection with previous seasons on script level her s4 story had, it make sense even, it`s just feel OOC for me, because Caye is not feminist at all. She is strong and ambitious, but she is not type of women what call themselves feminists, and when she said “I became my own Fairy Godmother” in s2, she meant that she was forced to do it. Caye was girl who wanted to be princess from old school Disney animation. In s3 she wanted to live and study on Polo mother money in London and was fully OK with it. When she refused their proposition, it was because thoughts, that Polo could be alive and even more or lesser happy in other school without those her messages, haunted her. Plus when Polo died, he thought Caye was with him more because his money than because Polo himself. I remember, in her first scene Caye read  The Second Sex, but it was spectacle for her schoolmates. And when she spoke with them about her fake rich life, it always was “look how rich and glamour I am”. Partly she spoke in this way because she knew very few about rich people`s life, but also there were some of her dreams. She wanted to be rich and and be part of this glamour life. In s3 she became in some way, and she had a lot of possiblities to understand how many shit, pain and tragedies can hide for glamour facade. Theoretically she knew it before. But she was exctremely poor, so it was a little bit difficult for her to think about it too much.

3) So I think more mention of Caye`s story from s2-3 could make her and Philippe story better. Philippe himself have same problem as Polo in some way: he is rich guy, and his mother indulged him too much. Caye saw how Polo`s mother indulged him and saw where it ended. Not good for Polo and many other people. Marina and Polo could be alive and Samu`s family could live with him in Spain, if Polo`s mothers raised their son better. Even if Caye don`t care much about Guzman or Samu and she never knew Marina, she had enough time between seasons to reflect of situation. So with more s2-3 reference that “matter of education thing” Caye says to Philippe`s mother could sound not only as sort of feminist  slogan, but as something very personal and painful for Caye. She was in love with boy, who was spoiled too much by his parents (like Philippe), and it brought a lof pain him, his friends, Caye. I don`t say there are not at all attempts include previous Caye experience in s4. For example, when Caye does google research about Philippe and finds nothings, she is still suspicious because she know, how easy money could erase some thing.  Also that thing with Pilippe`s mother. I think after conversation with her,Caye realized that Philippe`s and Polo`s promblems had very much same roots. But such moments really have not enough space. Guzman had at least one scene, where he speak about his reflection on s1 evens (where he compares Mencia and Marina). I would like to see something like it with Caye.

4) Many things in Caye and Philippe storyline feel offscreen. We know they regularly talk in school, but see very few of it etc. Actors have good chemistry, and since they both like fashion design, it feels enough for beginning of communication, plus Caye had crush on Philippe long before they met, plus she was first who was really friendly with him in new school (in some way it`s repeat of Caye and Polo story, but with more positive vibes). But I want to see more illustration, why Philippe fell in love with Caye so much.

5) Now about Philippe himself. I saw many hateposts and hatecomments about him, and it`s really funny, because I constantly see how many people in this fandom love Polo and think he deserved better, despite Polo is murderer. Yes, he killed Marina out of emotion, but she is fucking dead. She will never resurrect. Guzman will remember till grave that his best friend killed his sister and then was killed by Guzman`s ex-girlfriend, because policy failed to handle their job well. Samu`s brother was forced to left Spain because it. But it took 2 seasons for Polo to understand he needs go to policy and confess he killed Marina. Caye didn`t understood how wrong her actions were till Polo`s death. I don`t know how long was Elodie`s rape, but at least Philippe didn`t need someone`s corpse to realize his mistakes. Inside standart of this show that guy isn`t hopeless. “Everybody deserve second chance” was important point in Caye`s story in s2-3, so now I wonder how writers will play this card in s5 in relationship between Philippe and Caye. 

Also I want to say I was wrong, when doubted in Pol Granch acting, he`s good additon to Elite cast.

6) Caye x Philippe storyline and main storyline. In that seson Elite brings of scene, in additon of another murder and drug traid, sex crimes. Prostitution, rapes. It`s interesting, that connection here takes place through Ari, girl, who has serious problem with sexual behavior, when she`s drunk. She`s know it`s perfectly, but also she knows, that when woman says “no”, it`s means “no” and end of story. I really like her role in Caye and Philippe story and I hope in s5 there will be at least some scenes with her and Caye. Also interesting point were Ari`s word that she never report to the police without prove. It feels ambigous. She knows, Phillippe is not angel at all. But also there is other side of coin. I think, she also knows, reputation can be ruined very easy. During s4 there was subplot with discussion club. And Samu speak that ex-criminals cannot become somebody else, even if they wants. Their reputation in society was ruined. In final of Philippe story he sent Elodie his confession. So maybe writers tried to write about theme “can criminal, who admitted his mistakes, to became somebody else?” through season and I think they will continue it in s5.

Sorry if this all sounds muddled and too long. Maybe later I will make some additon into reblogs to this post, I don`t know.

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

it wasn’t power i coveted; it was acceptance.

Titans 3.06

y’know, i was just thinking the other day that 1.06/1.07 and 2.06/2.07 were the best episodes of their respective seasons, so i have great hopes going in to this one. fingers crossed!

as always, typing this up as i see the episode.

SPOILERS AHEAD

1. oh! um... that was a Cold Open, all right. *nudges* get it? cold? because it’s snowing? and two people got murdered in cold blood? eh?

... oh, i’ve just started.

1.5. i wonder if “i want to be sipping pina coladas on a beach with you” is the new “i’m just one day away from retiring.” i was so on edge after that--i kept expecting that car to explode. even so, the way they died wasn’t an anticlimax: brutal, and quick. 

1.75. so i’m assuming that’s the titular lady vic! this show better bring up why this doll was important or why these two cops needed to be killed, and not leave it to the ether like jericho’s little mindscape jaunt in 2.08 (i’m still dying to know what that was about???)

2.

i love how deliberately unappealing wayne manor is. 

(sorry for the pic quality. i don’t have hbo max! ssshhh.)

2.3. i love the many references to “home” and “our house” when they’ve been here for less than a week and saw one of their friends get blown into pieces. i mean, i unironically love it: home is where family is, after all!

2.5. i’d like to say that kom is playing some sort of long game here, especially given the build-up we had last season and some of the more niggling details this season: why did kom choose now to use her bond to lure kory when she’s been on earth for months? why did justin call kory now, just around the time that she started getting kom’s visions? and what about kom’s ability to exactly imitate other people? hmmm.

2.75. the reason i wrote i’d like to say is that i’ve made the mistake of assuming plot complexity where there is none; i was so invested in the jason todd orchestrated his own death theory for instance, when it turns out that oops! ra’s al ghul just happened to leave a little lazarus puddle in gotham, and oh yeah! scarecrow just happens to have a network of henchmen working for him on the outside and a fully functional laboratory and a weapons cache fit for a new supervillain in the basement of the high security psychiatric unit/prison that he’s in! 

(no i’m not bitter, why do you ask)

2.8. iiiii don’t know what to say about the implications of sex slavery being a thing on tamaran, so i’m not going to say anything at all. for now.

3. gotham, six years ago... wasn’t it five years before s2 that jericho died and the titans disbanded? and when was the flashback from 1.06 where dick let zucco die? i think it was after the events of 2.08: jericho? i can’t seem to find any transcripts or reliable information online, so i’m going to have to rewatch 1.06 at some point. 

(i love the old-fashioned batman music in this heist scene)

3.5. “security is a joke... it’s my way of keeping my dad on his toes”. what you’re an ethical thief now, like an ethical hacker? i don’t think that excuse is going to sell, barbara, on the day you do encounter a decent security system and your father is forced to arrest you.

(then again, gotham’s security is piss-poor. did you know that you could just walk into arkham asylum without any official clearance, ply one of its most dangerous inhabitants with contraband, and said inmate could get away with having an entire laboratory and weapons cache--NO I’M NOT GOING TO LET THIS GO)

3.8 so that flashback between dick and barbara was really cute! and also illuminating:

a) dick sounds so light, so... um. look. i have some apologies to tender to mr thwaites, because while i’ve always thought he does a fine job as dick grayson, i’ve never been terribly fond of his cadence as he delivers dialogue. it’s often monotonous, i thought, but then again, he’s usually delivering exposition or dealing with one soul-crushing crisis or the other. so i was pleasantly surprised to hear dick sound so carefree and alive in his conversation with barbara, laughing frequently, his emotions so bare and bubbling to the surface. it’s really a fantastic contrast to the traumatised and world-weary dick grayson that we see now, even more so than the costume department just bunging a backwards-baseball cap on mr thwaites’ head and hoping that will convince us of his relative youth. 

b) and god, when he wakes up from that memory, all alone in his bed, bleeding from bullet holes in his shoulder (bullet holes that are--in a somewhat convoluted way--barbara’s fault)? yikes. it’s great. you have my apologies, mr thwaites!

c) can you imagine dick just... crawling back to wayne manor, trying not to be seen by anybody, shedding his suit and just... collapsing onto his bed without even tending to his wound? the sheer emotional and physical exhaustion of it? 

d) it’s so interesting to see how barbara and dick approach the idea of legacy--a big theme on the show!--in this flashback. barbara is the one bucking the idea that she should follow in her father’s footsteps, while dick seems pretty content with the batman-and-robin setup, and even tries to get barbara to join their team (robin-girl. pfffft). obviously after this several traumatic things happen wherein dick ends up questioning and then resenting his role as robin, his relationship with batman or even returning as a vigilante at all. and barbara... ends up replacing her father as commissioner. it’s tragic, really. 

e) the dynamic between dick and barbara in the flashback reminds me of how it was between dick and donna in 1.08 and even between kory and dick in early s1. it’s like having an older, strong-willed woman by his side means he gives over the steering wheel for a while and lets himself... unspool, a little bit. it’s kinda endearing.

also:

*pinches his cheeks*

3. you know, we talk about dick and Eldest Daughter Syndrome, and that’s definitely valid, but here gar seems to me the embodiment of it, with all the emotional gardening and firefighting that he’s expected to do. he’s kind of the guy expected to keep his shit together and take care of everyone else while they are falling completely to pieces, unable to carve out time to process his own trauma. he’s also picked up dick’s and kory’s tendencies to bottle up their struggles and shun appearing vulnerable, and he’s struggling in the shadow of both dick and kory undergoing acute crises, his best friend (and frequent confidante) on the other side of the world, and seeing hank die, utterly helpless to stop it. 

i’m glad that he got a chance to tell dick even a smidgeon of what he really feels, and i hope this is at least a semblance of a wake up call for dick to actually sit down and work with the people he repeatedly calls family.

3.5. it’s heartening to see that dick immediately makes it his priority to go talk to gar. but don’t blow off kory in the process, man!

4. i’m really loving this dynamic between kom and conner--i get the idea that both of them consider each other as Unknowns, alien two times over. but conner’s only ever known the titans, who embrace being different, and kom’s only ever known... well. 

anyway, kory is Really Stressed, and honestly? #relatable. 

when you’re forced to bring an estranged family member to hang out with your friends...

4.5. i love that the titans are spending so much time in the kitchen. a real family!

5. jonathan crane is a creep and i absolutely cannot stand him.

5.25. how did he get a whole lab setup (in the basement of a hospital...?) with a bunch of whitecoats to work for him? how did he just waltz into the viewing room of an operation theatre when he’s one of the most wanted men in gotham right now? why is jason wandering around maskless when--presumably--as the adopted son of the most famous person in gotham he’d be a tad more recognisable than your average joe?

why do i expect this show to answer anything anymore?

5.5. that’s not necessarily a criticism, mind; i’ve said since season 1 that titans is very comics-like in this aspect, all about the Aesthetic and the splash-page splendour rather than the niggling unimportant details of how or when the characters got to said location. like. the camera gliding over the operation being set-up, lady vic bursting in and doing her murder dance (imagine the luck of the poor intern who chose this day and this surgery to assist) and jason, shocked and slack-jawed, framed by blood.

5.75. it’s a sobering reminder for jason that, though he chose this path in order to gain control over a world that seemed like it was rapidly spinning out of his grip, he’s only succeeded in handing over even more control to a man with an agenda that is very clearly not aligned with his own. he’s in too far to stop now, though.

5.9. i have a lot more thoughts about jason! saving it up for the end of this recap, though.

6. more kitchen time! i better see dick do some cooking soon...

(”our kitchen”! it still delights me! kitchens are So Important)

6.25. so much of dick’s issues have revolved around his relationship with bruce, so it’s completely understandable that in the wake of a huge crisis where bruce literally asks dick to replace him and be a “better” him, dick would default to all the worst things he learned from the man. and i’m glad kory’s having none of it, but come on, guys. the woman’s literally fetched her fratricidal sister out of a hole in the ground with no idea what said sister is going to do next and experiencing a burgeoning sense of guilt far, far beyond her history with the titans, and dick’s too far into his autocolonoscopy that he can’t see that she needs help.

6.5. “he services your urges”--well, as far as we know, kory is the last person he had sex with...

7. “i hope [gar] isn’t angry with me...” SIR! i thought you’d already spoken to him! smh, as the kids say. kory wouldn’t be needing to reassure you if you just took the effort to build two way emotional relationships with the rest of the team. @superohclair​ was taking about dick’s relatively low emotional intelligence? i agree.

7.5. “i got my own problems [...] you and barbara? fix it.” YOU TELL HIM, KORY

8. man i really like this weird, sad tension between dick and barbara--this sense that both of them are approaching the other based on how they remember them and are ultimately disappointed by the truth. barbara thought she could trust dick to... well, be a better batman, but dick has not only failed at that in her eyes, but repeatedly undermined her while exploiting the authority that she gave him. in dick’s eyes, this is nothing like the barbara that he knew, rebellious and ready to do whatever it takes to find something. 

like. this show sometimes really hits me in the chest about the ways it shows kids grow into adults and into caretakers, and the way it’s stop-start, the ways nothing can happen at all for a long time and then it’s Crisis Central all at once and there’s no space to breathe. the weird sort of sadness that comes with nostalgia. 

8.5. oracle name drop! i agree with barbara, any system that can just randomly tap into gotham phonelines is a monster.

8.7. (i don’t know if it’s my imagination, but is dick holding himself... differently in this episode? like that wound is definitely bothering him, and he’s running on fumes)

9. man, that was a really sweet scene between kom and conner. “feeling alien in your own world”... “not quite here nor there”

honestly this team runs on conner and gar’s faith in their value as a family, and it’s a sign of conner’s generous heart that he extends that opportunity to blackfire. this arc of maturation for him, where he’s now able to consciously choose which parts of himself he can use to do the thing he wants to so--save people--has been so fulfilling to recognise. this baby’s grown with the titans! and what he’s learnt is that people can get fucked up, but the titans is a place where they can be fucked up, and grow.

MY MAN CONNER

10. oh man i’m drinking in the gar-dick interaction in this episode like i’m three days into the desert and it’s the only source of water for miles around!

a) gar is absolutely not dealing with dick’s bullshit this episode and I LOVE IT. it’s such a far cry from the man who was idolising dick/robin back in s1 and expecting him to solve all their problems. dick is fallible, dick is fucked up, but he Tries His Best and that’s ok.

b) dick, huffing and puffing through that vent, unable to put any pressure on his left shoulder, trying to have a heart to heart with gar... fuck i love this asshole. 

c) bruce took in a kid who was suffering... “and made him into a weapon”. well. i absolutely agree with dick that it was bruce who put these kids into these horrible situations with him and they came away with a bucketload of trauma to add to the one that they already had. but we know that bruce was really trying with jason, and at the end of s2, dick was coming to acknowledge that bruce had offered him something that wasn’t just darkness. jason’s death and bruce’s reaction to that shattered that fragile progress.

d) “gotham got to me too.” i feel more sympathetic towards dick running off on his own than most, and it’s not just because i’m an unapologetic stan.  we’ve seen before that dick... devolves when overwhelmed, and he lashes out and makes ill thought out decisions and just Does Not Deal. it happened after hearing the news that deathstroke had returned in s2, and it didn’t help that everyone around him was reeling at the news, either. this time, however, he has his salvation in his family, and despite some stupid decisions like running off and kidnapping supervillains without telling his team, he’s been really on the ball this season. thinking clearly and logically, holding it together and working on a plan, thinking two steps ahead of the villains... yes.

e) gar needing to believe that jason isn’t beyond redemption... there’s a lot of blood on his hands, too, from when he was manipulated by cadmus last season. it makes sense why he’d relate to jason’s predicament, and i hope dick picked up on that.

f) my head just added a plaintive ow after dick jumped feet first into the storage room

i need, crave gifs of this scene!

11. *sits on hands* i’m going to talk more about red hood, i promise!

12. more gar and dick! is it my birthday??!!

(actually, according to the tamil calendar, it is my birthday! my “star” birthday)

12.5. excellent. dick using some implausible training that bruce taught him to solve a mystery? passing some of that knowledge onto gar? that proud smile when he sees gar perfectly execute moves that he taught him? MY HEART IS EXPLODING

13. aw, i love flashback!dick and barbara, they’re so cute <3

13.25. why does it not surprise me that the way he proposes a relationship to barbara is by saying “we make sense”? this guy can deduce exactly who was present where and what weapon they were holding from a garbled audio recording but other times he’s utterly clueless, and that’s a consistent character beat right from s1

13.5. so.... that’s why lady vic has it out for... barbara....? i don’t get it. it’s flimsy. but hey! the fun thing about titans is that i don’t have to get it. the payoff has nothing to do with the plot.

14. i can’t believe that barbara fell for that, but at least that wheelchair fight looked awesome, so.

15. oh yeah, i forgot that red hood bullied the mob into helping him and scarecrow... at least that explains the whitecoats and the elaborate set-up.

15.5. honestly i love how this dynamic between kory and kom is developing, though i wish more of the team would pay attention to it. time to call justin, i think!

16. i wonder what happened after that second flashback where barbara got hurt during that heist. did she give up on doing any more (maybe jim caught her)? was it because dick was called away by bruce and then the titans and got caught up in his own issues? maybe barbara froze him out because she wasn’t looking for the relationship that he was looking for? maybe the idea of doing that with someone turning into batman-lite was just... unappealing? scary?

whatever it is, it doesn’t look like dick ever processed the end of that relationship. it’s very intriguing to see where their dynamic goes next.

17. so.... what, did vic deliver some fear toxin to barbara? i... what?

17.5. and i TOLD YOU that they would never explain that doll or why vic attacked those two cops at the beginning! oh, titans. never change. 

18. did jason just randomly have tim’s restaurant burgled? god, i’m feeling a bit nauseous... are they going to kill tim’s father?

18.25. i feel like the rest of the season is going to wrestle with jason’s culpability in the horrible stuff he’s doing and i’m already seeing that prospect divide fans. on one hand, his story is taking a lot of oxygen away from other equally interesting story arcs, and he’s done some truly awful things, like indiscriminate murder, threatening to kill children, blowing up hank, and potentially killing tim’s parents. 

there’s something to be said for the kind of hold that crane has over him, and the so-called ‘anti-fear’ drug that he keeps plying jason with--he’s alone, drugged almost constantly (to the level of dependence), fresh from the trauma of being bludgeoned to death. he hasn’t conquered fear; he’s ruled by it. on the other hand, given that he’s the one character on the show given an obvious and identifiable ‘mental illness’ arc (maaaaybe dick too), one can argue that it’s irresponsible to show this progress into such violence: jason was vulnerable because he was struggling, and that left him vulnerable, but it took only a push before he became a fucking serial killer.

but that could mean we underestimate the degree of that vulnerability, and the mechanics of this universe where he fell into the clutches of the one supervillain perfectly designed to exploit that vulnerability. that helpless spiral into further and further self-destruction is all too real. it’s valuable to know that someone who has sunk that low can still seek help--actual help--and get it. 

18.5. i don’t know. it’s not a question i’m going to resolve at the end of an overlong recap at 1 in the morning. i don’t believe it’s even a question that titans can resolve. but i am interested in where they’re going next with jason.

19. this episode was genuinely great! i’m pumped for the rest of the season!

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 5 Character Deaths That Made Me Side-Eye the Writers

There are a lot of character deaths in TWDG... obviously. It a series about the literal dead walkin’ around and eating people, so as you’re playing, one of your favorite characters is bound to meet such a fate. To give this series credit, it does have quite a few well-executed deaths that, while I hate them, they have a purpose in the story that works. 

The best example of this is Lee’s death-- we all hate that Lee dies, but it’s well-done. It serves its purpose, it acted as both a shock and a slow-burn for the player, and left us all an emotional mess. 

However, we’re not talking about the “good” deaths today. No, we’re talking about the character deaths that are poorly executed, cheap, lazy, and just plain dumb... they’re the deaths that make me side-eye the writing team and wonder what the fuck happened there. 

By the way, it was reeeeeeal fun narrowing it down to only five deaths, because it seems like for every great death, there’s at least two bad ones.

5. Mariana and her death that ruined ANF’s potential story

I’ve talked at length about Mariana’s death and how much I hate it. Like, I get it TWDG... you love your sudden deaths and you’re so edgy for killing off a child character because you’ve never done that before... but maybe consider things a little further before pulling the trigger?

Yeah, killing off Mariana the way they did got a reaction outta people when it happened, and we got the burial scene if you stayed with Clementine... but you didn’t consider the future of this storyline? You pretend you did by name dropping Mari when it’s convenient, but then throw it out the window when it comes to characters like David or Gabe.

Listen, I know that ANF is a mess and what’s the point in telling the mess that it’s a mess? Well, I’m still annoyed at the writers for wasting the biggest opportunity for this game’s story, something that could’ve saved it from being a mess.

And I get it, you gotta make a death quota, so instead of killing Mariana off... why not kill Kate off instead? Oh no? We don’t get the stupid love triangle that no one actually enjoys or is engaged in?

Instead of this dumb story about Javi falling in love with his sister-in-law but oh no David’s back.... we could’ve had a story about Javi losing Kate and being left to care for two children by himself. Mariana and Gabe are all he has left, and he going to do whatever he can to keep them safe all while the three of them are mourning Kate.

Then David comes back, and he immediately takes these kids away from Javi.

There is no stupid storyline with Kate, but an actual conflict between two brothers who were never on the same page and two kids caught in the middle.

Plus, Mariana herself as a character really could’ve brought something to the table. She could’ve brought out a lot in David’s character since she seems to be more like Javi.

Her death is just... annoying. It’s frustrating when you know they could’ve told a better story with her alive, something ANF desperately needed.

My side-eye is one of disappointment and annoyance.

4.Luke and his easily preventable drowning

Ugh.... where to even begin? 

Luke really just gets butchered as a character throughout the second half of S2, and the writers end up demolishing the set up they placed at the beginning of the season for a Luke vs Kenny thing. 

Why? Well, Luke vs Kenny was the initial ending they were gonna go with, but because this season went through all kinds of bullshit, they scrapped that and replaced Luke with Jane... and it’s so dumb.

Hell, it kind of ruins a lot. Not only did it ruin Luke, a character that many players loved, but it forces the new character of Jane, who we only get two episodes to get to know, so they can fade Luke out. 

But that’s not all. 

His death is so... ugh. It’s stupid, okay? Stupid and easily preventable, but noooo... we gotta kill Luke off for reasons because all we know is that S1 killed off a lot of characters and we’re gonna do that again but worse because we failed to understand what made those deaths impactful in the first place. 

Lots of character death and despair = good game. 

Yep, uh-huh. Okay. 

So we all know that Luke’s leg is hurt, yeah? Great, so you’d think that the group that has an injured man and a new born baby would be extra cautious and go around the frozen lake. Yeah, Arvo says that it’s safe but let’s not take any chances. 

But no. We gotta go across like a group of dingdongs and whattya know-- the ice begins to crack beneath Luke’s feet. Now, even here, we coulda got him outta there safely... if Bonnie wasn’t a dingus. 

Think about it. If we shot the walkers who were coming towards Luke with all their weight, he could’ve slowly scooted away, even if he’s already fallen through. BUT NO. Bonnie either guilts Clementine into going towards him, adding more weight to the already fragile ice as Luke tells her to stop, or Bonnie will go over there herself... and she’s a full grown woman soooo her weight breaks the ice. 

Good job, you dipsticks. 

When you have to make your characters into morons in order to move the plot along and kill off characters....maybe do some rethinking, yeah? 

 3. Mitch and his shock-value death

This death is so dumb... so incredibly, dumb. Even now, I can’t help but give full side-eye to the writers every time one of them tries to justify this death. 

I’m sorry, but this death didn’t have the impact you wanted it to have. And because there’s always someone who says, “Mitch didn’t die for shock value, you just can’t tell the difference between a good and bad death” lemme tell you a thing. 

What was the point of killing of Mitch? Well, according to those who worked on TFS, it was to show that Lilly and the delta are serious. This is when shit gets real, and when Lilly is established as a bad bitch who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. We should be scared of her now. 

Except no. 

This scene doesn’t tell me that Lilly is a bad bitch. It tells me that she has good reflexes, and going off her reaction after killing Mitch.... I’m not fucking scared of this dumbass. If anything, this scene says more about Mitch than it does Lilly. It says that Mitch is also a dumbass for running at her like he did. 

Y’know what would’ve been more impactful? If Mitch didn’t immediately get stabbed in the throat, but instead, actually got her on the ground and struggled with Lilly. Then, Lilly gets the upper hand and when you think she’s about to send Mitch to the cart, she fucking murders him in front of everyone to prove a point. 

There’s no remorse, it’s slow enough for Lilly to actually process what’s happening and show that she does know what she’s doing. That would scare me. That would show me that these people aren’t fucking around and they’re willing to kill some of them if that means getting the rest for their army. 

You still get your shock value death but it actually does something other than kill a character off. 

I’m really supposed to believe this is the same Lilly who can order to have Louis’ tongue cut off? 

But it doesn’t end there. No, no... there’s another part to Mitch’s death that annoys me, and it’s how insistent everyone was that his death is going to have a greater impact on the second half of the story. It had a purpose within the story, we did it for a reason.

...I mean, it has an impact on Willy and his arc for the second half. 

But that’s it. 

Oh... oh, what’s that? Oh, you were referring to those throwaway lines about Tenn? “He was screwing up again, just like when he got Mitch killed.”

OOOOOH.... I see, that’s what Mitch’s death was really amounting to... some lines dealing with whether or not AJ shot Tenn. Well, I guess I was wrong. Mitch’s death wasn’t just shock value. It really had a big purpose. In fact, Mitch’s death has the biggest impact on the series. Fuck Marlon and Brody’s deaths, and Lilly and James, and hell, fuck Tenn’s death, too. They’re meaningless compared to Mitch’s death. You did it, guys. You really did it. 

....Okay, I’m done. I’m just... salty, I fully admit. 

Being serious again, Mitch’s death is probably the worst in TFS as far as unpreventable deaths go and the real reason I side-eye the writers is because they tried to tell us it was going to have this huge impact in the future and it just... didn’t. 

2. Nick and his offscreen death.

I’m sorry, but what the fuck happened here? Why- what are you- how the hell did this happen??

I’m actually baffled. 

Someone wrote this. 

They set up at the end of ep3 that Nick is shot.... then ep4 comes and we find him like this. I just... did someone on the writing staff not wanna do their job that day? Someone was working on the story and at the last minute forgot Nick was a character, so they were like “Eh, he’s not important anyway, and it adds to the shittiness of everything so we’ll pretend this was 100% intentional.” 

Nick was one of your more interesting characters and you really thought killing him off like this was the way to go, huh? 

Like, his first death is shitty, but in the very least it kind of makes sense. 

But this? 

This is horrible. If I wrote this, I’d be embarrassed. 

I just... I’m so tired of S2 right now. 

This is at #2 because it’s just lazy, bad writing. At least with Luke, Mitch, and Mariana, we got to see their deaths and they had some, even if just a little, impact on the story afterward. 

But Nick? 

Nothin’.

Even Luke, who is the closest person to Nick, name drops him maybe twice? It’s just.... nothing. 

And yeah, you can come at me with the “oh well not every death has to have meaning!” 

This is a story, okay? This is a story crafted with characters who have arcs by people who wanted it to be a success, and usually that means having satisfying conclusions.... or, intentionally unsatisfying if that acts as a natural conclusion to their story or is a reoccurring theme. 

Nick’s death is just the writers falling flat on their faces and hoping no one would notice. 

1. Sarah and both of her shitty deaths. 

Ugh. UGH.

Okay. 

I’m not even side-eyeing anymore-- I’m fully glaring.

I don’t have to tell you how shitty both of Sarah’s deaths are. We all played S2, we all know that no matter what you do, Sarah dies in ep4. You can try to save her, she lives a little bit longer, and then falls to her death... and both deaths have her being devoured alive by walkers. 

Now, this is enough to annoy me. First off, I guess my choices don’t really matter. Sure, you can justify this as one of those “sometimes you can’t save someone, no matter how hard you try” ...and fine. Sure, if they had bothered to execute that point well, then great. 

But I disagree that the writers had that in mind when they were killing Sarah off. 

In fact, I know what what going on in their brains-- “God, can’t wait to kill Sarah off! Give us any reason to do it! She’s so damn annoying!”

The writers have openly admitted that a lot of the team were just waiting to kill Sarah off, waiting for any reason, so when the major part of the community who take everything at surface level because why think? kept complaining about Sarah, they jumped on the opportunity to kill her off.... but the deaths are dumb.

Listen, this isn’t like when the writers planned on killing Lee off. You can plan a death and even be excited about it because you’re excited about the story and execution of it all. You can be excited to see the heartbreaking end of this character’s story that you crafted because you know you put everything you had into it.

These deaths were lazy and the product of a team who didn’t care about the character. Sarah dies and no one cares. 

Sure, you leave her to die the first time and Jane does her thing about how you can’t save everyone, she talks about Jaime, and then Luke exposes himself as the fake Luke by agreeing that leaving Sarah behind was probably the right thing. Like what?

Now as much as I hate that first one, the second one is even worse. 

For some reason, Sarah is standing in the corner while they’re trying to fight off the walkers instead of being inside with Rebecca... y’know, where she would be if this was logical. 

Then the deck breaks and Sarah falls, trapped under a pile of wood. Jane, despite being the one who sees Sarah as a liability, goes down there to try and help her after Clementine begs her to. 

But because the writers don’t know what they’re doing, Jane gets hit by a random piece of wood and can’t get Sarah out in time, leaving her to be eaten alive by walkers. 

Then AJ is born and no one cares about Sarah ever again. 

I just.... 

Could’ve had an interesting story arc with a character who just lost her father in such a gruesome way, a character that already deals with anxiety and other problems that you never bothered to explain other than “she isn’t like Clementine” and you could’ve had her grow. 

But I guess that would’ve taken effort.... and screen time away from Kenny, and god forbid we ever do that. 

---

Honorable Mentions

-Ava falling to her death in the most comedic way possible, made even more hilarious by David’s two seconds of mourning. -Omid.... because hope is dead. Do you get it? Hope? is dead? Because Omid means hope? Do you get it?? -Honestly you could put most of S2′s deaths on this list because oh my god. -Ben because I’m still a salty bitch.  -I also wanna add Louis and Violet’s deaths on the bridge mostly because they die, Clem is sad for two seconds, Tenn says sorry, and then no one cares. Yeah, yeah, they mourned off screen and I call that lazy bullshit. -Hell, throw Tenn’s death on here, too, for similar reasons-- no one but Louis/Violet and AJ seem to care. Even Clementine is like “whatever” after it happens. 

---

Y’know, picking this one seemed like a good idea at the time, but by now I’m just annoyed by all these dumb deaths. So, what are your thoughts? Are there any deaths that make you question the writers that didn’t end up on the list? Do you agree or disagree with my list? Lemme know, we can have a friendly discussion about it. 

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

---

Next week’s T5F Top 5 Favorite Louis Moments

[saturnaftertaste]

I would love to hear your thoughts on YJS3

sure! fair warning, though, I'm a ranty person by nature so this might end up being a bit long. sorry in advance ♡

anyway! things I liked:

the humor: s3 was pretty funny lmao, theres that whole collection of outta pocket scenes from throughout the season that I find hilarious each time + the humor was a little more dirty which is nice bc the audience has also grown up from the kids they might've been when they watched it on CN

dickbabs!: I'm not a huge fan of dickbabs, I prefer dickkory (no hate to dickbabs stans btw I just vibe more with dickkory) but this dynamic between the two of them was so sweet and well-balanced I couldnt help but squeal everytime they were on-screen

Clark and Conner getting along: them calling each other brothers was so CUTE I canttt

FORAGER: an absolute legend 10/10 freaking love him

That Episode With The Hallucination: mmmmmmm I miss wally. SO MUCH. and the og 6 I was Super Mad about the first timeskip so it was nice to see them all together again🥰

yeah that's about it for things I liked lmao. now time for the Much Longer list of Things I Hated:

HALO: young justice the bar was so fucking low how are you still successfully doing the limbo what the fuck. you take a muslim immigrant in what is VERY CLEARLY a hijab and 1. infantilize her to an exceptionally uncomfortable degree (I KNOW SHE WAS THE MOTHERBOX, I DONT CARE) to the point where she resembles a five-year-old with every sentence she speaks or action she takes 2. you made a visibly muslim girl claim that she's actually no longer muslim, she's just wearing the hijab as some kind of security blanket???? I'm sorry??? what the fuck were you aiming for here exactly 3. why did you have to name her violet harper. what. 4. really?? the immediate romance with brion? What the shit was up with that...you make her Muslim in some aspects like victor not seeing her hair when she brushes it but her LITERALLY making out with brion like I'm sorry what the fuck are you doing??? you had one muslim character and you fucked up so bad holy shit...like...it could've been simple as hell, man, but no...Big Yikes.

M'gann: I've said this before but I really feel like once they introduced artemis m'gann immediately became a side character whose only job is to be villainised again and again even though it doesn't really vibe with her character. Secret teams?? Lying to Conner??? This isn't s3 but that whole thing with their breakup in s2...what the shit are they doing to M'gann, man. I loved her so much in s1, she's literally trying her best after having gone through so much and it's never fully explored...like we get half explanations every season but we're never shown half the shit that we were given for artemis. And by making her the Uncool Girlfriend at points it just looks like they're trying make her easy to hate like what the fuck. no. stop it

The Plot: too overcomplicated, too many characters. It's only season three, why are you introducing Apokolips already. Why are there so many characters?? what's with all the subplots yall were switching location cards every five minutes. And it's so convoluted...like...what was going on with Beast Boy and the monkey-god-doom-patrol-exposition stuff? I can't even remember if there were two granny goodnesses or just the one. All of those meta kids left over from the last season are a cute cast but like...I was so bored??? we know you can do well-written self-contained storylines a la s1, so hop to it, yeah?

THE ANIMATION: ok ok ok so. season 1 and two (one especially) had a very distinct feeling to them and that feeling was very late-2000s Cartoon Network Action Show - the base model for the males and females is the same (like Ben 10 Alien Force) the colors were not dynamic (stayed the same no matter the lighting, lots of cel shading, and generally were realistically colored in the sense that suspension of disbelief was not entirely necessary) CHEEKBONES, gritty textures and purple skies (Batman the Brave and the Bold). overall theres a certain Tone to the earlier seasons that spoke a lot to the animation capabilities of the studios at the time, as well as the general feel of the show. however, season three was a MAJOR downgrade in terms of animation. they made it both simpler and more complicated - they started using their DCAMU animation style which while it does give muscles to the women, adds too many unneeded shadows and a strange stiffness and dullness to every character. There are now extra lines and uncessesary shadows on the face of every character, and their eyes and facial features are almost identical. There's also less highlights, and the hairstyles are way too overcomplicated now to be appealing (see mgann and dick) - the hair is unspeakably dull and and the skin tones and hair colors are painful on the eyes. This isn't even taking into account the shitty backgrounds they've started using (AHEM AHEM ARTEMIS'S KITCHEN) because while the earlier seasons may have had unappealing, mostly empty settings, the characters still fit in to the scene, unlike now.

the lack of sisterhood????: apparently, only artemis goes to see zatanna for her Dr. Fate appointments. Apparently, M'gann barely talks to Artemis after the very tragic apparent death of Wally. the two of them, dare I say even the THREE of them, should be close as hell considering they spent their early years super-heroing together on a team full of boys. M'gann LITERALLY called Artemis her sister in the SAME EPISODE she was introduced, and neither of them had any real girlfriends other than each other at this point. M'gann who fell apart so hard Artemis died in her head that she almost killed them all in her grief. Like. You're telling me, you're SHOWING me that these two aren't each other's support system? Where is the sisterhood, bitch????

Lastly: the costume design. I understand that they're constrained by the need to make it simple enough to animate, but COME ON. if you're going to borrow Diana's DCAMU/JL: War costume, at least keep the metal silver. What the fuck is that green-gold. And Tigress? god DAMN that mask is ugly. Cassie looks like she robbed a goddamn supermarket discount clothing aisle for her outfit. Why is bart's outfit Like That it's so ugly it makes me want to cry. @ young justice costume designers Please Rethink Your Decisions

that's about all I can think of right now. it got REALLY negative whoops, but theres just so much I didn't like about this season :/ hopefully the next one will better ;-;

[darthkvznblogs]

Dp- Do you still plan for Jim to turn Half-Troll, and will the Gravity Falls twins influence the plot of Season 1 of The Owl House? I also totally agree with you on Voltron and the deal with too many seasons, most shows should only run for 3-4 seasons. The only shows that have seemed to avoid this, for the most part, are Doctor Who (39, if you count both runs together) and IASIP (15) due to a constantly changing cast of writers and great writing respectively.

Kind of a spoiler, since the Trollhunters fic isn’t out yet, but since this question is answered within the first chapter: I don’t, actually. Maybe a controversial statement, but though I like the Troll Jim concept, I hate how we got there. I think I’ve talked about it here before, but Trollhunters spends almost 3 whole seasons building up the idea that maybe Jim by himself as a puny human isn’t powerful enough to defeat Gunmar, but armed with the Eclipse Blade and the friends and allies he’s made - his unique strength as a human Trollhunter who breaks the established status quo and chooses not to go it alone, with the negatives that comes with - and then Merlin comes in and goes “oh no, actually you do need to be a Troll for this and you do need to beat Gunmar all by your lonesome”. I know it’s not as simple/reductive as I’m making it seem, but this direction always struck me as a betrayal of the show’s message for the eleventh-hour dramatic twist, and I don’t plan on doing anything like that, myself.

As for the second question, also no; the events of Owl House S1 are fully canon to the Kryptonverse, and up till now, so is S2. Luz won’t meet the twins again until after the Belos crisis is resolved (the canon of which I’m hoping I can stick to by leaving that part vague in current stories, but I’m fully prepared to adapt another resolution in case Owl House somehow doesn’t end in a way I’m comfortable with/enjoy).

[ayankun]

Started rewatching hsmtmts, got through the first 4 eps last night (I like to think of that set as Act I), some thoughts this morning:

If I were to knuckle down and actually investigate the sensation I had of "S1 jokey S2 earnest," my thesis would be that it's a product of the show changing its content rather than visual style. There's no incidental jokes at Miss Jenn's financial state in S2, for example, or jokes about Big Red's reading competency, etc.

(Not a condemnation of S1's comedy style, just an observation of one of the ways the tone changed between seasons. The subjective point I'm making, though, is that, yes, for this and other reasons, I personally find more to engage with in S2)

On the topic of visual styles, though, the whip-pan talking-head transition is still being developed in Act I. In Tamra Davis' episodes (1-3), we would either lead in with VO dialogue and cold cut to the speaker, or just cold cut. Maybe two or three times we whip-panned out of the segment. I appreciated and was surprised to see the leading VO, because it's very documentary in spirit, and I noticed it a lot in the ep of Parks and Rec I studied -- because it stood out -- because later hsmtmts doesn't do this at all. I'll keep an eye on it, but my gut instinct is that the whip-pan transition fully supplants it.

Chad Lowe, director of the 4th ep, did a whip-pan transition into a talking head, but even he didn't do it every time.

These were the only episodes of the show helmed by either of these directors, and I'm curious about the behind the scenes events that lead to this eventually. Like, were they not invited back, and why?*

The director names I associate with the show (because their work stands out) are Kimberly McCullough, Paul Hoen, and Joanna Kerns, who each directed 7, 4, and 6 episodes, respectively.

Looks like Tamra Davis got her start in the New Wave music video scene, so I'm guessing they wanted to make their opening statement using the skills of someone who knew their way around a musical number.

Maybe I was tired or maybe I'm starting to become burnt out on the show, or maybe honestly I've put S2 on such a high pedestal that it's harder to recognize that S1 is also perfect for being exactly what it is, but I wasn't impressed with the Act I cinematography xD. I'm thinking of Paul Hoen's impeccable blocking, or Kimberly McCullogh's attention to visual elements that define the tone of a scene, the details you don't notice at first but can still be dissected for intent and meaning. I'm not sure that I saw anything worth studying (to that degree) last night. I did see some stuff that made me go :///

In conclusion, the visual style of S1 (in its infancy, at least) leans more towards functional than artistic. It is my opinion that S2 episodes (maybe not all, I can be fair!) have a functional and artistic look.

PS, Homecoming is the next ep, and that's the one I was blogging about that one time like "THESE WHIP-PANS ARE V LOUD" so maybe it's a noticeable difference because that technique hadn't really been used yet; maybe this was the episode that made it a standard tool in the show's toolbox. Everybody thank Joanna Kerns.

Oh gosh. The rest of the season is directed by either Kerns or McCullough (or both); the exception being the final two, directed by Kabir Akhtar. The six episodes of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on his filmography are what stand out to me.

*I think to be guild-friendly you have to allot a percentage of your credits to freelancers outside your salaried team. I think this is true for SAG, assuming that it's the same for directing credits? That would explain Chad Lowe as a one-off. After that, they kept it in-house and really let all the flavors come together, and then had a "here's how it's done" framework that subsequent new/guest directors could emulate. That's my guess.

Remind me to go back through sometime and pay attention to the writers and their individual styles. The only one that truly stands out in my mind is whoever was responsible for the dialogue in 2x09. The Gina & Jack and Ricky & Ricky's Mom concepts were expertly conceived and presented, but the conversations Nini had with Kourtney and Ashlyn were so full of under-researched zoomer jargon that I could see that poor Olivia and Dara and Julia were like "what is my character even saying rn?????" So I'd love to dig into different writers to look how they, idk, tackle story structure, or who's got the most authentic character voices, or who does what with integrating the themes of the borrowed musical numbers into the plots that contain them, stuff like that. Or a study of when the jokes stopped being as barbed and/or how the ratio of jokes:touching moments shifted over time!!!!!

Or how often and when is the screaming marching band whistle theme used, and to indicate what!!!! Was it used appropriately to signal the final moments of S2, per the established style guide, or had the show already evolved past that point and they failed to structure the episode accordingly so that its raucous rum-pum-pum didn't undercut the emotional highlight of the season???!!!

This show still has so much to unpack, you guys.

Shame I need to stop watching it and do my annual AoS rewatch instead XD XD XD