#I individually went through the episodes to find these help

[katzdxd]

can we take a quick moment to appreciate how MF and brock look at each other because LOOK AT THEM--

[thehandymen]

ok controversial opinion but. although spy x family and buddy daddies appear to have a lot in common (traumatized hitmen acquire a child etc etc) i really don’t think they should be compared. yor & loid, despite rushing into a marriage of convenience, are both pretty decently equipped to act as parental figures despite their unconventional backgrounds. yor has the experience of practically raising yuri from a very young age, and loid’s jack-of-all-trades spy career and general hyper competent personality means they’re able to handle anya and the whole sudden family situation better than your average single, childless, late-20s(?) adult. of course they still face a lot of bumps in the road/have a lot to learn, but what they do know from their respective lives and occupations definitely helps, and let’s not forget that anya is a whole telepath. 

kazuki and rei, on the other hand, have absolutely ZERO parental qualifications. it’s pretty obvious both of them have lived through their fair share of tragedy, with kazuki and his presumed dead wife and rei and his brutal childhood, but they’re also just. really messy people individually. kazuki is shown to regularly hang around gambling houses/the red light district and rei is a wet sock of a man when not in uniform. miri is your typical 4 year old: wildly energetic, no filter, constantly making a mess, requires attention at all times, and so on. unlike anya, she cannot read the minds of those around her, which means the only way she knows how to “help” her papas is by unhelpfully inserting herself into whatever tasks they’re trying to complete (and if you’ve been around small children, this is super typical behavior). she means well but she often inconveniences rei and kazuki’s already precarious lifestyle. and frankly, that pretty much sums up the early years of parenthood. 

kids are a lot of work. raising a child, even when you’re a “normal,” well-adjusted adult is really tough. but it’s supposed to be fulfilling, and it’s supposed to be something that parents view as “worth it.” we can’t really blame miri’s mom for resenting her so much when she never wanted to be a mom in the first place (and it’s clear she’s not suited to it, either). kazuki’s argument with miri’s mom demonstrates that his concept of parenthood is pretty idealistic, although not incorrect. kazuki may like the idea of protecting a child’s happiness, but he doesn’t realize the difficulty of the logistics involved, which we see in the daycare episode. we also see in the daycare episode that rei has no clue what a traditional childhood looks like. it’s implied he never went to school and doesn’t really understand how children usually act. 

kazuki and rei are arguably much less qualified than yor and loid to be parents, and therefore the buddy daddies family dynamic is going to be way more dysfunctional in a way that viewers may find bordering annoying rather than comically chaotic (i’ve read the crunchyroll comments). the same goes for miri, who is your average run of the mill small child, and not some super kawaii esper. but kazuki and rei are trying their best, in their own ways, and it’s clear that miri is going to brighten up their lives in really touching ways. so buddy daddies is definitely still worth a watch, especially if you already enjoy spy x family, but people should keep in mind that buddy daddies is not the “ripoff” of spy x family i’ve seen people say. 

[eastsideofthemoon]

Celebrating Black History Month

Captain on the Bridge: CAPTAIN MICHAEL BURNHAM

Seasons 4 was our first full season of Michael as captain (finally)! So I'm reflecting on things she did that stood out to me. Also, it's Black History Month! She's our first Black female lead in a Star Trek Series and our first Black female lead captain, played brilliantly by Sonequa Martin-Green.

1. The Queen of Chaotic Ingenuity

Michael is a master of thinking on her feet. If a plan goes awry, she can course correct on the fly (bars). Honestly, we've seen her do this throughout Disco, but as captain, we especially see it in the season opener, Kobayashi Maru, with the Alshain (aka The Butterfly People). When their re-contact mission goes sideways, Michael is able to identify that there is an issue with their navigation and work with her crew to come up with a solution while being chased and shot at.

The Alshain did not report the problem, but by providing them a solution - no strings attached - Captain Burnham was able to win over their trust with the Federation.

2. Collaborator

I love how Michael respects the expertise of her crew and encourages their involvement with problem-solving. Having personally been on teams where collaboration was encouraged, it does a great deal in boosting team morale, building teamwork, and communicating through action that the individual team members' skills and ideas are valued. This is seen best in Anamoly and Stormy Weather. It's also seen with how she suggested to Book that he talk to Dr. Culbert. As a counselor, he's more equipped to manage Book's mental and emotional state after losing Kwejian.

3. Recognizing the needs of her crew

"All In" was one of my favorite episodes this season. The fun, the action, and Owosekun getting to shine. One of my favorite scenes was seeing how Michael responded to Owosekun's outburst with Saru from a previous episode. Instead of choosing to double down with additional punishment or verbal reprimand, she saw an opportunity to allow Owosekun to do more in her service to the mission at hand.

O: Why bring me?

M: Saru told me about what happened at the subspace rift. How you didn't want to stand down when he told you to.

O: I was totally out of bounds. I apologized to him.

M: I know. I also know how it feels to want to do something. Anything. And how it feels when you can't.

Michael recognized Owosekun's actions didn't come from a place of rebellion but a place of wanting to do more to help. Michael found an opportunity to allow her the space to fulfill that desire and utilize that drive.

Also, allowing a place on her ship that provides mental and emotional support for the crew via Dr. Culbert becoming the ship's councilor is the sign of a leader that cares about the whole health of her crew. Yes, I know other captains have had a ship’s counselor. The point it Captain Burnham does too and it deserves recognition.

4. Balancing her heart and duty

Captain Burnham had the challenge of being the supporting partner to the man she loved, who lost his entire home planet while maintaining her commitment to Starfleet. And she did a stellar job. Yes, she loves Book deeply and was willing to do all she could to help him. But when he went rogue, she chose to stay committed to the course of a peaceful first contact, despite it putting her at odds with the love of her life. Furthermore, when she thought Book died (Sonequa gave one of the best performances in Star Trek), she was still able to see the mission through, despite her heartbreak.

5. How she handled the Magistrate

Although empathetic to their plight, Captain Burnham still set clear boundaries with the magistrate about WHO has the authority, what WILL happen while on HER ship, and some food for thought when they arrive to wherever they find refuge. And she didn't have to raise her voice to do it. One's ability to yell at subordinates is not a true show of power and authority.

6. The Beginnings of a Diplomat?

Now we know Michael is a Kirk-type captain. And this season, she does not like politics or politicians. But during season 4, as much as she can’t stand it, we are shown that Captain MB may have the makings of a Diplomat as shown best in All Is Possible and But To Connect.

7. Leading a successful First Contact

Captain Burnham led a first contact like none other. A true first contact with serious stakes riding on its success or failure. After successfully getting through the Galatic Barrier (shout out to Detmer's immaculate piloting) and utilizing her (Michael’s) xenoanthropologic skills to investigate the 10-C's home planet, she along with some of the Federation's best had to figure out how to connect with the 10-C. A truly alien species, where universal translators failed to help with communication and who Starfleet had 0 records of. What makes Captain Burnham stand out is her willingness to step out on faith. She led her team on a mission on the 10-C's home planet to find some form of culture context to aid in their ability to communicate with them. It paid off. It laid the foundation for the first contact team and the USS Discovery crew to help understand how to communicate with the 10-C. Also, it should be noted that Michael admitted to President Rillak that she was angry, but we don't see her anger and frustration run her emotions or hinder her ability to command. I've seen people accuse her of being emotional. There's a difference between emotional intelligence and being emotional.

Also, I admire her recognizing when to take the lead and when to be a team player. As already stated, her calm demeanor and unwavering trust in the crew were excellent in helping them get across the Galatic Barrier. But she also recognized that it was President Rillak's voice that needed to be heard when informing everyone that the DMA moved to the Alpha Quadrant. It takes maturity to know when someone else need to lead and humility to let them lead. All of these actions lead to a successful first contact.

Conclusion:

In closing, Captain Michael Burnham is not the same Michael Burnham we met in season 1. In season 4, she has inner peace. She has a balance with human emotions and her Vulcan-trained logic. She knows who she is and has confidence in herself. Her duty to Starfleet and the Federation is matched with joy in what she's fighting for. Captain Michael Burnham is THE captain of the USS Discovery. No one else.

I want to end with this. There's plenty of room for more than one Black Starfleet captain. We can celebrate Sisko, Burnham, and Freeman in a way that respects them all. There's no need to pit them against each other. They all matter and are important in representing Black people in the future.

Happy Black History Month

[fantastic-nonsense]

honestly I think if you complain about Star Wars focusing too much on the Skywalkers because "the galaxy is bigger than one family" and "not everything has to be connected" you have fundamentally missed the point George Lucas was trying to make with the original movies.

Star Wars is VERY deliberately an optimistic, cyclical, and myth-based family drama structured around a single family's story, and that purposefully generational story is the story George Lucas saw as the core point and purpose of Star Wars:

“It’s the missing link,” Lucas says. “Once it’s there, it’s a complete work, and I’m proud of that. I do see it, tonality-wise, as two trilogies. But they do, together, form one epic of fathers and sons.” [x] The first three movies had all kinds of issues. [Disney] looked at the stories and they said we want to make something for the fans. So I said all I want to do is tell the story of what happened. You know, it started here and it went there. It's all about generations and it's about, you know, the issues of fathers and sons and grandfathers; it's a family soap opera. I mean, ultimately. We call it a space opera, but people don't realize it's actually a soap opera. And it's all about family problems — it's not about spaceships. [x]

He also wrote Star Wars for the express purpose of attempting to teach people that everything is interconnected and everything we do has an impact that resonates beyond our own lives:

Paul Duncan: "It takes a lot of people to build the ark." George Lucas: "Yeah. And it needs to be done through reason, love, and compassion, not through force. The films are trying to stress the idea that everything is interconnected. I like to make movies that are complex, but it's not obvious to people unless they start digging into it. Most people don't realize it and can't grasp the whole entity because they're focusing on four or five pieces out of 200, and often they don't want to hear about the other pieces because it requires additional thought and ideas outsides of the films. There are cycles and cycles in the story and the characters throughout all six episodes. There are cycles of the same thing being repeated over and over with different groups of people, and the outcomes change because the characters have grown or changed over the story. The repitition shows the characters' development. [x]

GEORGE LUCAS: At some point you do have to become an independent person. And it’s about learning to let go of your — your needs, so to speak, and — and think of the needs of others. BILL MOYERS: So “Star Wars” is — yes, it’s about cosmic, galactic, epic struggles, but it’s at heart about a family. The large myth set in a local family. GEORGE LUCAS: Well, in most — most myths center around characters and — and a hero, and it’s — it’s about how you — how you conduct yourself as you go through the hero’s journey, which everyone goes through. It’s especially relevant when you go through this transition phase. Most societies it’s when you’re 13 or 14. In our society it’s sort of 18 to 22, somewhere in there, that you must let go of your past and must, you know, embrace your future and — and in your own self, by yourself, figure out what it is — what — what path you’re going to go down........... .......BILL MOYERS: And what do stories do for us in that sense? What do myths... GEORGE LUCAS: They try to show us our place. Myths help you to have your own hero’s journey, find your individuality, find your place in the world, but hopefully remind you that you’re part of a whole, and that you must also be part of the community, and — and think of the welfare of the community above the welfare of yourself. [x]

Lucas structured this tale in two ways: through Anakin's deconstructed hero's journey (in the form of a Greek tragedy) and Luke's straightforward hero's journey (culminating with Anakin's redemption) and showing us how this one family's multi-generational story had a huge impact that went beyond their own lives and echoed throughout the galaxy. That was the point!

While there are plenty of other stories not centered on the Skywalkers that can and should be told within the universe, ultimately people need to keep in mind that Lucas was not shy about his intentions in making the movies: he WANTED to write a straightforward retelling of "old stories," and he wanted to do it through the lens of a personal family narrative.

All of the Star Wars material that focuses on non-Skywalkers (which has ALWAYS been around, Rogue One and TLJ and The Mandalorian and Andor and etc etc etc were NOT the first ones to do that) is great, but it's a bonus! An add-on to the core story and point of the franchise! It's not that they're unimportant, because they're not, but at some point it should stop surprising people when the Skywalkers and/or the events of the original six movies get referenced or utilized.

It just bothers me when I hear these complaints because like...if you don't like the Skywalkers, why do you even watch Star Wars? None of those other stories would exist without them! Please just go enjoy another sci-fi franchise and stop complaining that the main characters of Star Wars are being focused on or are popping up in places it makes total sense for them to be!

[waitmyturtles]

THE MORNING AFTER: ONLY FRIENDS, EPISODE 9 EDITION -- SEX, RELIEF, HYPOCRISY, AND A MEDITATION FOR THE HOES

There's a lot to dig into, so let's git it. This episode was more complicated than it actually seemed on the surface -- THANKS, TOP.

@lurkingshan and @respectthepetty came OUTTA the GATES as soon as yesterday's episode dropped, swinging their chanclas at the hypocrisies that larded this episode. Shan read almost every last one of these motherfuckers for filth in her post, naming Atom (there goes my NeoTitle dreams already) for unfairly shaming Boston; Ray, for clearly cheating on Mew; and Sand, for equivocating Ray to Boston -- all while Boston is actually still clearly communicating his preferences to not date, despite people all around him judging him for the sex he has. RTP Senpai points out that Sand is pissed off at Top for stealing Sand's ex-boyfriend -- but that Sand full well knows that while he's sleeping with Ray, Ray was technically still dating Mew. So -- is Sand stealing Mew's boyfriend from Ray? Why, oh yes he is, and Sand ain't holding himself accountable for it, Big Boba Kanaphan Eyes.

Hypocrisy. It was the name of the game of this episode. Or.... was it? It was actually way more complicated than that.

Atom in particular, just like -- where's my chappal -- but let me get back to him in a sec. As the hypocrisies were starting to click in, I saw something else going on in this episode, an opposite to the hypocrisy. I saw some clear revelations, and a learning and leaning into love through the inexperienced eyes of Mew, as compared to the painfully experienced eyes of Yo.

The episode started with Mew waking up at the hostel, unaware of Top's behaviors after Mew passed out at the Halloween party. (Top, by the way, was just -- CHEF'S KISS -- drippingly condescending, hypocritical, and sneaky this episode. Force just laid it awl out. What a performance. More on this in a bit.) Mew parties with Yo, who is like, the friend we need the MOST in this series, and asks her about whether or not he SHOULD like Ray. And Yo has to remind Mew to check himself before he wrecks himself over any sense of obligation he may have to Ray.

Yo's starting to help Mew's thoughts tickle away from obligation to a reality of his heart. At least -- one reality.

I thought of this scene when we went on the camping trip with Sand and Nick, and we had, I think, the best scene in all of Only Friends so far (cc @wen-kexing-apologist and @lurkingshan who were very, VERY right) -- in Sand and Nick clicking into their moment where they're both single, they both real cute, and why don't we see if something's there? Because that happens among friends, sometimes, and if you don't try, you won't know, right? Especially in a queer friend community that will almost always be smaller than a het community, making love that much harder to find. So you might dibble and dabble with your friends here and there.

And they smooched, and they laughed, and they were like, this doesn't work, and they laughed more, and moved on. And they were just so mad cool about it.

The way that this particular line of engagement ended with two pairs -- with Sand and Nick finding clarity, and Ray and Mew together at the social services office and communicating, to confirm that Ray and Mew just would not work together -- was a kind of relief that I haven't experienced in Only Friends yet. The slight lift I got from seeing these considerations and interactions reminded me of how I felt when the tide of trauma began to turn in Bed Friend, where the second act of that series was just trauma pummel after trauma pummel -- how much more could Uea take, I wondered. As we saw, in this episode of Only Friends, clarity roll through SandNick and RayMew, I felt relieved that there was some closure, somewhere, among some of these individuals who had tried, even ever so briefly, to pair up.

But -- this being Only Friends, heh -- it was not only relief that I felt in this episode, but we also still saw a lot of sticky toxicity and hypocritical judgements.

Atom couldn't just leave Boston ALONE. As ever, Boston has communicated to his hook-up that he's not a dating guy, not a relationship guy. And Atom doesn't take the hint.

I love that at this point in the series, at episode 9, we STILL have people judging one-night stands as "awful." What a stark reminder of the ways in which people use judgements against sex to forever condemn those who choose to engage in casual sex.

After episode 6, I wrote a little about the phenomenon of having "feelings" after sex. Many, many people have a biological urge (or even a socially expectant urge) to care/have feelings for for the person they have slept with, whether they had sex after a one-night stand, a friends-with-benefits arrangement, sex in a relationship, etc. Others, like Boston, don't.

Either of these phenomena are okay and utterly normal -- as long as you're accountable to yourself for your feelings, and not placing on anyone else any obligation to respond to those feelings that are only emanating from you, yourself.

In other words: even if Atom had "feelings" for Boston after sex -- what is Boston's responsibility to respond in kind to those feelings?

Boston had the right answer to Atom here. Boston says to Atom: no one (meaning, me, Boston) asked you to care for me. And I'm not here to hold that caring for you. I don't owe you that, Atom. That's not what's assumed when two people have sex as casually as we did.

Compare this to Nick's farewell monologue to Boston (right before Boston is about to have a hook-up, oh my god, Nick). Nick had a thing to say about his feelings ("I like you, Boston, and I am sorry for everything I did, and I am going to move on from you"), he said his piece, and he moved on.

At first, I was CRINGING at what was happening, because I thought Nick would make an embarrassingly grand and dramaaaaatic farewell, of a kind that I saw many of my drunk girlfriends make to their exes at bars when I was in my 20s, all with an intent of making their exes feel guilty for the break-ups that had previously happened.

But Nick, in that moment, actually owned his feelings, despite the timing of the conversation. And we saw Boston respond, ready to approach Nick -- and Nick had bounced and moved on with Daddy Dan, right then and there.

What a MIRROR of behavior between Atom ("Boston, you owe me") and Nick ("I thought about this, and I'm going to end it, for your happiness and for mine"). While Boston and his reputation still remain as a kind of bottom standard for people who want to feel superior when they compare themselves to him (ex: Top, Ray, Sand), Boston himself is direct about his feelings, or lack thereof, and Nick demonstrated that he himself has moved on from equivocating about a feeling of like/love that at least, he thinks, is not there anymore. (Which, from Boston's eyes -- we know now is not the case, as Boston continues to give hints of regret.)

I gotta tell y'all something. I was a party girl, like this group of friends, in my 20s. And I was heavily judged for being a ho. The terms slut, ho, whore -- were all used to describe my behavior in dripping judgement that I wasn't, instead, seeking safe and Puritanical monogamy. I was having fun with and in sex, and I was very heavily judged for it. Maybe, in part, it was because some of my friends had a harder time finding sex? Perhaps. But because sex is so EASY to judge, based on the majority popular judgements against sex -- isn't it easier to roll with the tide, than to think outside of the box and to not judge someone for having casual sex?

While Boston's ho reputation precedes him -- it is a reputation based on an unfair, almost Puritanical judgement against sex, and against people who have sex. (Once again: hello, Khai.) I give major applause to the hoes in this episode of Only Friends. All while people around them are judging sex, and judging people like Boston for having sex: Boston and Nick are not hiding anything -- they are not trying to equivocate away their actions. Their own timing isn't right. Nick knows he's about to go and hit that with a new dude. But they both have clarity about what's happening inside of them at their given moments, and they've become better about communicating what's happening inside of them over the course of the series. It's yet to be seen if the timing will work out for Boston and Nick -- but they're inching towards a clearer line of openness than we've seen in the past.

So. While awwwwlllll of this is going on: Top continues to try to infuse himself in Mew's life. Man. THIS GUY.

Top? Shut the hell up. Condescending foo. And then showing up to invite yourself to accompany Mew's moms? All while Mew doesn't know that you crossed his boundaries the last episode? And that you recorded Ray smooching Sand? Stooping to the very same tactics that got you, Top, caught? AND YOU CALLED A BOOTY CALL? While trying to win back Mew?

And...... amazingly. For Top, it worked. Or at least, it was working for a second. Mew was reconsidering.

To me -- in my opinion -- Top's behavior seems conniving, sniveling, more about winning than about love. But he also knows that he still has a hook in Mew, and was pulling rapidly on the fishing line.

And Mew... Mew began to follow that fishing line again, showing up to Top's building, and hopping into that elevator, with another person that Top had on his hook. And, good lord, now with Mond (MOND!) in the mix, we're going to have ANOTHER dramatic pile-up next week.

God, for me, while there were these notes of relief in this episode, these moments of clarity among people like Sand, Nick, and Boston, I just, like, wanted to tear MY HAIR OUT when I saw Mew and Boeing both approach Top's door at the same time. What the fuck will happen next.

And while Top will try to convince Mew to stay with him, surely, in episode 10 -- Top will also continue to judge Boston to Mew, I am sure. Top will judge Ray. Top will try to "heal" and "protect" and "take care" of Mew.

Top, leveraging judgement against sex by others to build up his own supposed moral and ethical fabric, "taking care" of Mew and leading Mew to think that Top is still a viable candidate for dating -- Cheum even interprets Top's behavior at the Halloween party as "taking care" of Mew -- will it come crumbling down as Boeing the Ex shows up for a little boing-boing?

Dudes, I have no idea, because Top keeps catching breaks! For people at The Top -- that's so often how it works in society, no?

Like I said: this was a hella complicated episode. We have three more to go. This episode captured in a snapshot a group of gloriously imperfect people making equivocating decisions as they bumble along, minute by minute. SandNick and RayMew got CLARITY. Boston got CLARITY on his feelings for Nick. Cheum is getting CLARITY on her association with the hostel. Atom got CLARITY on where Boston stood. I don't know that we have CLARITY on SandRay yet, but.... I dunno, I'll let the capitalists at GMMTV decide that, ha.

Where we don't have clarity is now with Top and Mew, with Top acting clearly duplicitously, and how Mew is going to manage this latest fall-out. I have no idea if Boeing will serve as competition to Mew, if Boeing will be the lug nut in the polycule we're all dying for -- I have no idea. I just know that Top -- who purports himself to be above all moral judgement, winning the hearts and minds of at least two moms from out of town, wtf -- will face yet another challenge in winning Mew's heart that he likely has a stronger chance of winning, due to his station in life. Top was about to come out on Top in this episode, and I wouldn't be surprised if he hangs on for another playoff win next week. We shall see.

I'm tagging the Ephemerality Squad in permanent fury over the permanence of people judging sex, let's go! @ranchthoughts @chickenstrangers @twig-tea @distant-screaming @thatgirl4815 (THATGIRL WITH THE THEORY THAT BOEING MAY NOT BE THE EX THAT TOP AND SAND SHARE, OH SHIT!) @lurkingshan @neuroticbookworm @wen-kexing-apologist @clara-maybe-ontheroad @kayatoasted

[asherisawkward]

How do you think a "hero and villian are forced to work together" type of episode would have worked between Luz and Belos?

(Note, this is a rough outline of what season three could look like but without any focus on subplots.)

The intro would play the way it does in Thanks to Them, and we’d get some scenes of the Hexsquad adjusting to Earth while Luz is in school. She’d still be suffering from guilt, but it would be related to abandoning Camila without thinking about how that could affect her, especially with Manny’s death. Additionally, there would be a scene where Vee and Luz talk about what happened, and Vee apologizes for taking over Luz’s life and throwing out her things without permission. I think it’d be a good thing to give Vee some more time to develop and acknowledge her own mistake.

At school, we could have a few scenes of Luz trying to fit in and being shunned as evidence for why she was so eager to leave behind the Human Realm. We’d still have the scene of Flapjack finding the Codex and the Hexsquad deciding they’d go searching for the Titan’s Blood as a surprise for Luz. It would also be around this time that we see Gus and Hunter being Cosmic Frontier nerds. They’d get the scene of the group finding giraffes and getting terrified like in canon, and they meet Masha, who gives them a hand with the code.

It would then switch to follow Philip wandering about the Human Realm, possessing or feeding on animal corpses in an attempt to regain his strength. This would be an incredibly grim set of scenes focused on the difficulty Philip has with physical survival and regaining his strength after what the Collector did. A lot of his screentime would focus on the after effects Philip experiences after the Day of Unity. He’s falling apart and having a hard time becoming stable without a form to take over, and he would frequently be interrupted and distressed by various memories that Gus went through in King’s Tide coming back and tormenting him.

He’d start working up in forms until he got to a deer and get hit by a car just like in canon, and goop would get sprayed and spilled over the road, attracting Luz’ and Camila’s attention as they’re driving home with groceries. This is the point that Philip becomes a variable to the Hexsquad, and they start trying to plan around him.

Then, as the episode continued, each party would individually realize that the Collector is a threat to their respective goals (Luz’s goal being to save the Isles and Philip’s being to destroy them) along with the unwanted necessity of needing the other person in order to be able to stop the Collector from going on a rampage. Philip could help them make another portal if they gave him the right incentive with it. The group is rightfully conflicted on it, and Hunter is the most outspoken one on the Anti-Philip side of things for obvious reasons.

Philip would probably be more active about seeking Luz out because he’s more aware of her and the Hexsquad, while the latters are still putting pieces together about where he is and grappling with the fact that he may be an asset. Eventually, he’d move to digging up corpses and possessing them to get back his human form without actually hurting any humans before he forced himself into his human form briefly to get his clothes back and starts hauling himself to the Noceda household.

The scene of Philip knocking on the door of the house that the Hexsquad’s adopted would be very tense because, a) everyone is already there, so who’s knocking on the door, and, b) Philip is possessing a literal corpse to be here. Along with, you know, he’s Philip.

He wouldn’t ever say “I need your help to take down the Collector,” because he would not want to confess that he needs help and cannot take the Collector on alone. Instead, he makes it about how the Hexsquad needs him to make a stable portal and his magical expertise will be invaluable to them. Hell, he’ll even be generous and swear to not attack them while they’re teamed up. After a lot of debate and bargaining, they come to an agreement and start working together.

The rest of the episode is about how the various characters come to terms with having to be around the monster that tried to murder them all, and how Philip attempts to balance his recovery and creating the portal. On Halloween, they go out and have a bit of fun before they go to leave, and they still see the Tale of the Brothers Wittebane. The episode would end with the characters going through the portal, except for Vee, who stays behind how she does in canon. She’s been incredibly brave in facing and dealing with her abuser/captor, and I like that she’s not expected or forced to go along after that.

In For the Future, it would focus on King and the Collector for about half of it (with a little bit of Eda and Lilith) and the expanded Hexsquad for half of it.

On King’s side of things, he is dealing with a very sadistic and manipulative Collector (Shadow Collector, my beloved /j) They’re still playing Owl House with the Collector as Luz, but they’ve amped the stakes up. Instead of puppetifying everyone immediately, the Collector is forcing everyone to play their parts through intimidation, and if they mess up, then they start getting turned into a puppet slowly. It travels kind of like possession but slower, and the victims lose control and feeling of their limbs as the spell progresses. I’m thinking a horrifying situation that kind of goes, “my body is not my own.” Once someone is completely transformed, the spell is irreversible like petrification and basically becomes a corpse that is forced to move around and talk by the Collector. Eda, Hooty, and Lilith are set up by King as vital characters and are given a bit more leeway because King said they’re necessary for the game. Still, the Collector is becoming more violent as he starts to get bored with the game.

With the Hexsquad, Gus is quickly becoming one of the more important characters in the episode. The earring the at he took from Graye had a slice of Galderstone, which, contrary to popular belief, amplifies the complexity and scale of illusions that can be done. Using this knowledge, Gus makes and maintains an illusion as the Hexsquad walks that makes it seem as if there is nobody there without needing to hold breath the way they would with a glyph. He does a double-layered spell: one layer that has slight changes to the area around them and a couple animals to explain the noise they’re making, and another that just makes the group invisible to other eyes.

Willow and Amity will start talking properly about the way that things have changed over the past couple years and how just because Odalia and Alador made them stop being friends did not excuse the bullying that she did for years. Amity could properly acknowledge this and work to be better.

Camila is being a momma bear while also trying to adapt the way Luz did, and Luz finally gets to explain to her mother how she came to the Isles and how she fell in love with the place as a whole. It’s a really good bonding moment for the pair, and I think it could really help flesh out the way they interact as a family as a whole.

They’d stop at the Owl House and take a break, and Gus would have a moment where he talks to and connects with Philip. He explains his fascination and interest with humans and how he spent his childhood being enamored with them. He thought they were strange, amazing creatures that were good as a whole. Now, with what he’s seen in Philip’s memories, he feels disillusioned and hurt, like he’s lost a part of something integral to himself. How it that humans can be so horrible to people?

It would be really interesting to watch Philip and Gus to mourn their childhoods and the loss of that bright-eyed innocence about the world. After all, even if Philip believes humanity is good, he knows that there are bad people, and it can’t have been easy to learn that.

It would be a moment of genuine connection between the pair, and Philip could point out that there are good and bad people in every group, and that for every murderer or thief, there are doctors and authors and other amazing people who change the world. After listening to that, Gus pauses for a moment and says, “Have you ever considered that it’s the same way for witches, too?”

The pair stop talking after that.

Finally, finally, Luz and Philip get to talking about the way things are. Luz shares some of her concerns about being like him and how she’s a bad person for helping him meet the Collector. Philip roughly says, “You aren’t like me; you’re like Caleb.” Then we get a brief flashback scene as Philip explains a little bit of his childhood—being orphaned and dependent on Caleb with no one else in his life, the way he was all but destroyed when he saw his brother leave with Evelyn, how certain he was that Caleb wouldn’t abandon him, and everything else about his story.

At that point, Luz starts feeling awful about what happened with her mother and how scared she must have been when she found out that Luz wasn’t at summer camp and instead another realm. She wonders how she could be so thoughtless and what other ways she could have hurt the people she cares about. Philip points out that Camila is still alive and that there’s time to make things right between them. Hearing that, Luz runs off to go talk to her mother.

Camila is a bit surprised that her daughter comes to her suddenly and says that she needs to talk with her. They go into another room, and Luz pours her heart out about everything that happens and apologizes for leaving the way she did and not talking about things with her. Camila is gentle and comforts her, saying that she had been incredibly scared, but she’s proud of how much Luz has grown from her time in the Boiling Isles and how she could never ask her to leave someplace so dear to her forever.

Luz’s palisman wish in this is, “All I wanted is to feel like I belong somewhere,” because it still fits into her theme of being a weirdo and feeling misunderstood without putting pressure on her friends and family to bend over backwards to understand her even when they disagree. Stringbean is still her Palisman, but she’s just a snake as opposed to a snake-shifter.

Meanwhile, the Collector is becoming more and more suspicious of their “friend.” King goes away too often, and he’s always so secretive around Lilith and Eda! What if he’s planning something? What if he’s going to betray them the way Philip did? He begins preparing himself for King’s betrayal and spends some spies to follow the Titan. Eda, Lilith, Hooty, and King wander about in some of their limited time away from the Collector while they’re distracted or sleeping.

Eventually, the two groups meet up, and there’s a lot of joy for everyone as they reunite with each other, explain what’s been happening in the different realms, and introduce Eda, Lilith, and King to Camila. The Hexsquad is ecstatic to know that their loved ones are okay, as King confirms that he hasn’t seen any of them get puppetified (and King’s almost always there when that happens). However, once the shock has worn off, they realize that Philip is there, and they become incredibly suspicious about him. The situation is quickly explained, and the Eternal Oath between the two groups soothes them for now, but Lilith makes sure to tell Philip that she’s watching him for any suspicious business. The episode ends on the Collector, revealing that he’s seen the whole interaction.

In Watching and Dreaming, it would start shortly after Eda, Lilith, and Hooty were reunited with Luz and the rest of the Hexsquad. Philip is awkward and generally standing off to the side due to his mistreatment of both witches in the past and the growing realization that with the fight approaching, they will have to fight and either die or suffer, and Philip will have to turn against them in the end.

Eventually, the Collector would find the group and try to take King hostage for betraying him and working for his downfall. That would trigger an all out fight where everyone would scramble to get King free. Hunter would succeed by grabbing King and teleporting away after Amity restrains the Collector for a short period of time.

I’m not the best at describing fight scenes, but it would be a mess. Willow would be shooting vines at the Collector and making sure that everyone had the potential to get in range and get away if needed. Gus would be distracting, diverting, and attempting to visually overwhelm the Collector with his illusions. He might even try the bad memory thing again.

Amity would attack utilizing abomination matter and attempt to restrain the Collector’s movement. Hunter would have Flapjack and go about his usual teleportation-and-retreat based fighting style. King would use his Titan powers and Lilith would use potions (and Hooty) to destroy and hold back the puppet army. Eda and Camila would be doing their best to give the Collector hell while protecting their kids, and they’d be absolutely badass at it.

Philip would be fighting like the devil, and it’d be another opportunity to get a true sense and scale of his power. I’m thinking that because he’s the most durable and survived being liquified by the Collector, he jumps in to take most of the damage for the Hexsquad. Finally, Luz would be absolutely amazing with her glyph combinations now that Philip has had some time to teach her some of his combinations.

The fight would eventually end when Philip partially petrifies the Collector before Luz slams them with a glyph combination that nice again traps them in their prison. Then, the Hexsquad absolutely demolishes the tablet that’s used for the imprisoned and the real world to communicate.

There’s celebrations, laughing, crying, and hugging. People are hugging, and Amity and Luz kiss after the latter hugs her mother. Everyone’s celebrating, except for Philip. He’s standing off to the side and kind of staring at the scene before him. He’s seeing proof, actual proof, of the goodness of the witches and demons that he thought were evil. His entire life has been dedicated to a lie, and everything that he used to see as good is monstrous.

Philip is badly wounded, but he interrupts the festivities to attack the witches around him. Luz uses Stringbean to deflect the attack and begins fighting him back. With the wounds he has and the knowledge he’s been wrong his whole life, Philip is not fighting nearly as well as he does in his prime, making it easier for Luz to fight against him on more equal ground.

Luz asks him to stop, saying that there has to be some other way to resolve the situation. Now that she understands the situation and what caused it, maybe find another way. (Basically, she tries to pull a Steven Universe)

“How else could this have ended with how far I’ve gone?” Philip asks, continuing to fight. They continue to fight, the man getting more and more injured as they go on. Eventually, he’s too wounded to go on, and his body gives out beneath him. He passes on soon after. Luz is there when he dies, but she is not responsible for it. I want it to feel kind of somber, because he’s a pretty tragic character as a whole.

————

That’s my idea for Season Three if Philip and Luz had to team up. A lot of Thanks to Them comes from @chiconisroc’s “Was Not The Hero,” because it’s got the same sort of premise.

[mattoidmeerkat]

This is me working through my main issues with Bathena in 7x01. If you have no issues with the transition from 6x18 to 7x01, I'm happy for you and there's nothing to see here. If you'd do see some issues and/or are willing to help me work through some of them, please continue reading after the cut.

Disclaimer: The long hiatus and my recent cold definitely did not positively influence my experience. I'm aware of this.

Man, I'm so conflicted about Bathena's story in 7x01. I mean, the acting was top notch. The scenes and dialogue? Instant classics. The dancing? Swoooon. And we finally get to explore the foundation of their relationship? What's not to love?

Well, this really feels like the perfect follow up to Season 4. They had just addressed their communications issues and still had topics to work through. They would soon be empty nesters and didn't know how that would impact them.

But this isn't the beginning of Season 5. This is Season 7. Since then we have seen Athena and Bobby go through so much separately and together. They have grown closer and have developed their communication skills and the foundation of their relationship.

They struggled together and supported each other through the Hudson ordeal and the fallout around Harry in 5A. We've seen them make time to focus on their intimate relationship (5x09, 6x13) and to sharing personal history (5x15, 6x02, 6x03, 6x13) and support each other through oh so much personal trauma (5A, 5x14, 5x16, 5x17, 6x02, 6x03, 6x09, 6x12, 6x17). They've put the other's happiness before their own without a moment's hesitation (5x05) and developed a deep and easy intimacy with each other (5x08, 5x09, 5x11, 5x15, 5x17, 6x02, 6x08, 6x12, 6x13, 6x17) without ever losing their individuality in the process. Athena built a relationship with Bobby's sponsor and Bobby shared his AA world with her. Athena allowed herself to be vulnerable with him by admitting fears while she developed a deep understanding of how Bobby worked on a fundamental level (6x14).

And then Tim came back and decided nope, none of this. Gonna reset Athena to Season 4 (when he left as showrunner) and leave Bobby as confused as me.

I love me some good angst and conflict to explore characters and their dynamics. But what explanation were we given for this drastic change in Athena's personality? She is afraid to find out who they are when it's just the two of them? Which we have just seen again and again in Season 5 but much more so in Season 6?

Characters being flawed and acting irrationally is not bad writing. On the contrary, it can be excellent writing because flawless characters are boring and bland. And Athena and Bobby are so deliciously flawed. Have been from the very beginning.

So why not provide us with an explanation for how 6x18 Athena went from happy and confident in her marriage after settling into her empty nest with Bobby for a year, to the neurotic mess we see in 7x01? (A highly entertaining and cute mess, but still a completely different Athena than literally one episode before.)

How did 6x18 Athena, after recently celebrating her fourth wedding anniversary with Bobby and saving him from a bridge collapse, from one moment to the other decide to go to therapy (something she canonically avoids like the plague - see Seasons 3, 4, and 5) and do a 180 on cruises (despite copious discussions of cruises her fear did not come up with Bobby in 5x18, 6x01 or 6x18, with May in 6x01, or with Hen in 6x01, or in the conversation about cruises with her parents in 6x01 despite those two apparently being responsible for that fear)? How did that Athena then board the cruise with Bobby at the end of 6x18 full of joy and happy anticipation after a last minute cancellation? And how did Athena then manage to have a therapist appointment about the last-minute cruise two months in advance somehow?

I'd love to find some explanations for this beyond sloppy writing at best and blatant disregard for the prior story lines at worst.

At this point my only hope is that the next two episodes will shed some light onto what exactly triggered Athena's abrupt change in personality from one episode to the other. (actually retroactively within the previous episode somehow) But I won't get my hopes up too much because so many of Athena's, Bobby's and Bathena's story lines have been left to fizzle out without any kind of explanation or resolutions over the years (under both Tim and Kirsten).

So what's my takeaway here? I desperately want to love this episode. It has so many amazing scenes. But the retconning is making it really difficult for me to process as a coherent story line. And that's on me. Shows do this all the time. THIS show has done it plenty of times in the past.

But I feel so sad that I seem to care more about Season 5 and 6 Bathena than the show itself. It feels dismissive of the growth those two have gone through. And it makes me fearful of what kind of disregard the show might display towards these characters, their arcs, and their growth journeys in the future.

Thoughts? Helpful ideas? Number of a good therapist? 😅️ (One that doesn't just say "I'm sure you'll be fine.")

[jacky-rubou]

Planning to write an essay on the limited Ford and Mabel bonding in the show and well, I thought of approaching you if you have any pointers. Especially dispelling any misconceptions by the fandom whether Ford overlooked Mabel or the bond she shared with her brother.

I think the main misconception I see is that Ford didn't care about Mabel at all in comparison to Dipper. Or, in some ridiculously extreme cases, that he hates her.

People forget that Mabel was the first twin he interacted with, and it was largely positive. Ford laughed and said he liked her when she stated that his six fingered handshake was one finger friendlier than normal.

The Last Mabelcorn being the episode where Ford interacted with Mabel the most gives a big insight into how he feels about her. First, he agreed with Mabel when she stated she was probably the most pure of heart in the room (i forget the exact phrasing but same difference). He trusted her with the unicorn mission, even knowing that the unicorns were difficult. And last of all, he directly tells her that she is a good person without even knowing the struggle she went through with her morality moments prior.

Dipper and Mabel vs The Future is contentious in this regard, fans often using it as proof that Ford doesn't care about Mabel just because he asked Dipper to stay in Gravity Falls. But honestly, Ford cared enough to observe Mabel's social skills with the pizza delivery guy, plus probably witnessing plenty of instances of Mabel handling herself without Dipper's help. He genuinely believed that Mabel could handle being without her brother outside of the summers.

Plus, it isn't like Mabel was forthright about her feelings about leaving Gravity Falls and growing up until she blew up at the end of the episode. Obviously there are things to be said about Ford taking Dipper on as an apprenticeship being a good or a bad idea depending on who you ask, but Ford didn't know how badly Mabel would take it. He thought he was doing Dipper a favor by giving him a head start on his studies and, as I previously mentioned, that Mabel would be fine at home. That the two could reach a compromise if needed.

Ford isn't perfect though, he does tend to project himself onto Dipper after finding out how similar he thinks he is to him. That might've affected how often he spends with either twin or how he saw their bond, but to say that he doesn't care about Mabel at all is simply misguided. He cares about them both so much. His traumatic experience with his own twin just tainted how he saw the twins' bond being something that could be potentially suffocating. He does sorta have a point though, Dipper and Mabel can't force each other to stay glued at the hip forever or it could potentially stifle their individual dreams if handled badly. But that's just my 'controversial' opinion right there i guess, so take it with a grain of salt if you wish.

And besides, if we were gonna get upset at Ford for favoring Dipper over Mabel, you might as well also get upset at Stan for favoring Mabel over Dipper in some honestly worse ways than Ford ever did to Mabel. Stan literally projected his father's abusive ways onto Dipper and justified being hard on him with 'toughening him up'. Not to mention how he made Dipper the butt of his jokes so often it drove Dipper to seek out time with Ford over him because Ford never made fun of him like that. Obviously Stan does care about Dipper too, but the double standards in this fandom when it comes to how the grunkles treat the twins is honestly flabbergasting. Neither grunkle is perfect in how they handle the twins, neither are 'better' in their methods, and I think that's the point.

it doesn't help that Ford doesn't get a lot of screentime compared to Stan, as i'm sure you're already aware.

anyway, if you have any more questions, feel free to let me know. hope this was a good insight into all this Ford and Mabel business.

[000marie198]

In some media that have found family and then the friends go their own ways at some point later on, find their own paths, I've noticed the aftermath in sequels that come after time skip of several years is not always... the best. As if the once closest friends, the family, has drifted apart. I mean sure, friends do sometimes drift apart but that separated found family trope creates a rift between friends too and like- I understand that people in real life can be like this but from my personal experience and observations, this shouldn't be, isn't, the case with family. This isn't the case with a group of people closest to you who you grow up with or who supported you in your hardest times and vice versa, who helped you find yourself.

Personal observation, I've literally seen best friends or childhood friends meeting after decades and acting like they just met yesterday. There's no rift, no reserved behavior out of politeness, they literally let go of everything and let out their inner child. They laugh and tease and joke wholeheartedly, are comfortable around one another, rile each other up for funsies in a heartbeat, throwing every piece of maturity out the window. And that's not counting my own personal experience of meeting any of my best friends after several years, we didn't even realize until my mother pointed out that we were acting like we just saw each other yesterday even though it's been years.

Anyways, I'm getting off track here. Point is, I've seen many pieces of media that always create a rift between closest friends or family or found family after a long time of being away from each other and it adds drama and all but while I've seen it excused as being realistic, it isn't. Not in my opinion. Which is one of the major reasons why it always breaks my heart to see this happening and why I hate the Separated Found Family trope. I mean, why even form it in the first place if you're just planning to tear it apart in the end? What's even the point?!

So, whenever such a thing is built up in any franchise, I develop a sense of dread. I'm internally going "plz don't separate then plz don't separate them" about characters I've grown to love. And part of the reason is how media usually handles it, extremely poorly in my honest opinion.

But this didn't end up being the case with Team Sonic when Sonic's closest, life long friends decided to grow and find their own paths in life. Go their separate way. He was happy and proud to see them grow, a little reminiscent and a little sad (though he didn't show it to them) but ultimately happy for them. Would the empty nest syndrome even be a problem for someone who considers the whole planet his home? Perhaps. He respects everyone's boundaries and understands their wishes to not randomly show up whenever he misses them. (Extra bit of angst that when he was setting them free from Cyber Space and becoming increasingly infected in the process, his friends were forced into a situation that got them in a very introspective mindset and each one of them individually decided to go out on their own, leaving him, and he didn't show the literal hell of pain he was being put through that was caused by the Cyber Corruption. He was losing himself with it. He had to come to terms with all his closest friends leaving him after that adventure while he was pushing himself to the brink of death, not even knowing if he'll come out of this in the end, just to set them free. And he didn't let them know so they wouldn't worry.)

Tails, Amy and Knuckles went their own separate ways to grow and find their paths. This looks like it advanced into the separated found family trope, right? But no. The thing is, while many other media used that trope to create rift and drama or something (I'm sure there are good ones out there which didn't do this, honestly kudos to them), this one didn't play out as such. In the latest TailsTube episode, that is proven and shown beautifully. They've all met up before on Amy's birthday and there was a quick visit Sonic gave to Tails in an earlier TailsTube ep and their dynamic remained the same in both, their friendship was just as strong as ever.

But episode 5? God, I'm in love with that episode. Team Sonic coming together after months and nothing has changed. In fact, going their ways and finding their paths in life to grow didn't create a rift between them or anything, it only made their bonds stronger. It made them even closer than they were before. Like how you grow to appreciate and treasure something more when you don't always have it.

This is how found family should be depicted. That's how it actually is in real life too. Found Family doesn't mean you have to stay together 24/7 or you can't grow and find your own paths. It means that even with living life, finding yourself, growing, these people you have come to love will be connected to you just the same. Distance doesn't create rifts when the bonds are so strong, it only ends up strengthening them even more.

[wutheringskies]

S3 EP 5: Lan Wangji visits Yiling CN Audio Drama + Inspired Meta about Mistakes

My heart feels so heavy. The episode starts with Jiang Cheng denouncing Wei Wuxian. There are a thousand rumours about him, instantly squashed by his own appearance. There is then Lan Wangji, who is cautious and hesitating. There's poor, good, Wen Ning, who wonders if he offended Lan Wangji in any way. There's the tsundere Wen Qing. There's A-yuan painting his happy picture with rich-gege, poor-gege, granny, qing-jiejie, granny, ning-gege, fourth uncle, wen bing bing etc, etc. There's Wei Wuxian saying it doesn't matter if Lan Wangji walks a broad-lit path, as he will continue to walk down the narrow path. There's Wei Wuxian saying Lan Wangji has plenty of stuff on his hands with his sect duties, and that he will probably never visit again, and his sad laugh. There's the nervous Wens, the knowledge that Wei Wuxian either goes out everywhere or locks himself into his cave, there is Wei Wuxian getting introduced to all the Wens, there is the Wens saying that they'll walk through fire and rain for him, there's a toast to him, there's him saying the road is not dark after all.

This makes the scene at the second siege all the more important.

"There is something I wish to do. Will you do it with me?"

"I will."

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian have always shared the same sort of beliefs, yet walked different paths, bound by filial duty. Now, they finally walk the same paths.

But the thing that struck me the most is that Wei Wuxian, despite wishing to be closer to Lan Wangji, refuses to leave behind the path he must walk on. He'd rather say farewell to Lan Wangji than place him above his duty. I find this aspect of their relationship so necessary, the fact they are clingy but not dependent. They're both individually strong-willed people, who accept the loss and separation in life with grace, who accept defeat and humiliation and punishment with grace, and come out of desolation a better version of themselves.

Lan Wangji himself was certain that the unorthodox path would cause one to 'lose control,' cause damage to the heart, to the body, and Wei Wuxian does eventually 'lose control.' Yet, Lan Wangji never has an 'I told you so,' moment, despite being the one who had scolded him the most, as he looks deeper into the tangles and nets that Wei Wuxian was caught in than just the dark nature of his cultivation, his lair, and the surnames of the people he was protecting. He comes to terms with the cultivation world. Bound by filial duty towards his sect, he cannot help Wei Wuxian. Yet, he chooses to disregard this filial duty and picks his morals in an integral moment - which is what Wei Wuxian did, a year or two earlier. Despite being the one to pester him endlessly to come back to Gusu, Lan Wangji fights against his Gusu elders, thus disregards the orthodoxy, and drops Wei Wuxian back into the Burial Mounds - on his own chosen path.

Similarly, Wei Wuxian still apologizes to Jiang Cheng, and Lan Wangji still goes back to take his punishment for betraying their filial duty - Lan Wangji more so, since he's the literal heir of the sect. But neither of them apologizes for choosing their moral duty.

Similarly, when Wei Wuxian came out of the Burial Mounds when he was seventeen, he killed the Wens in a blood-thirsty manner, digging up the graves of their ancestors, making the Wen soldiers face their own dead family, etc. These actions were justified in the war, praised by the cultivators, and accepted as an act of revenge.

Yet, these actions went against Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's personal moral codes. Lan Wangji, since the age of eighteen, felt it was excessive and cruel, and could only blame Wei Wuxian's new cultivation path for darkening his heart. Once Wei Wuxian is in a better mental state, he too feels it was too much and regrets those applauded actions.

Thus, both of them have made mistakes, have been hurt and retaliated, and realized certain things too late. They are not perfect but they aren't meant to be, as they are still humans - children, to young adults, in highly stressful, unprecedented situations with no major support systems to rely upon.

Yet, instead of being burdened by the shame and their own failures, they come out stronger.

Lan Wangji

Disregarding his filial duty to his sect -> Accepts punishment and seclusion, teaches the new generation of Lans, night-hunts, and marries Wei Wuxian, and comes back to the Lan sect.

Leans heavily into the generalisation that dark methods are evil: The Lan juniors taught by him argue that Wei Wuxian may not necessarily have created the 'dark methods' to create harm, shows his gratitude to Mo Xuanyu and his sect implements the said dark methods in their orthodox night hunting.

Unable to understand his feelings, pushes Wei Wuxian away -> Regardless of his feelings, stays by Wei Wuxian's side, enduring all of his teasing. Even after their biggest misunderstanding in the Yunping inn, he tells Wei Wuxian they'll continue on the same path the next day.

Fails to protect the Wens: Rescues Wen Yuan, does literally anything to get him accepted into the Lan blood line and have that protection, lets Wen Ning stay (when he is sober and not jealous), bows to the Wen remnants, never attends Jin banquets, never speaks to Jiang Cheng, publicly showing his disapproval while being perhaps the most revered cultivator for the common people.

Fails to protect Wei Ying: He's always there to catch him now, sword out, on Wei Ying's side, against the entire cultivation world. But perhaps, more importantly, willing to sheathe his sword for Wei Ying. Staying by his side if he is hurt, standing up for him, silencing those who speak against him. Hugging him when he sees dogs. Keeping his memory alive.

Fails to prevent Jiang Yanli's death: How many times has Jin Ling been saved now.

Wei Wuxian

Creating the Stygian Tiger Seal: Destroys one-half rendering it useless. Yet, once it is recovered, he still takes responsibility and protects those who are harmed by it. Eventually, he doesn't take the seal, and lets it be sealed with JGY and NMJ, abandoning it.

Digging up the Wen ancestral graves to take revenge: Though, it was justified in the war, so it isn't a wrong. Yet, character development is being regrettable about it. He can't undo those actions.

The Nightless City and demanding righteousness: Once again, as the ceremony in Nightless City was an oath to lay siege on the Burial Mounds, going against their promise to him of 'letting the matter go,' Wei Wuxian was justified in his actions. But character development is learning self-preservations and running away rather than protesting, when faced with those who are more powerful than you (I would also like to inform the readers that if not at Nightless City, then maybe a month later, or two months later, this would have eventually happened anyway) but Wei Wuxian learns.

"Betraying" his promise to Jiang Cheng: He apologizes for breaking the promise of staying by his side in the future. Despite everything, the fact he chooses to do this is just admirable.

Trusting the Jiangs after their ways had already parted: Includes not drawing up clear boundaries, having Jiang Cheng know his weakness, going to Jiang Yanli's son's anniversary etc. Fixes this by firmly parting ways with Jiang Cheng. His relationship with Jin Ling is now just his own!

His so-called arrogance: This is also regretted and wishes to beat up his pretentious younger self are made.

Saying everything that is on his mind: Holding his tongue and recognizing that people are simply unrighteous at heart, and choosing to leave rather than fight, and have fun with his husband who shares similar beliefs.

Downplaying his pain: Admitting that it hurt when he fell, plus other scenes. All he needed was a safe space, someone who can be stronger than he is, and didn't treat him like an option.

Breaking every Gusu Rule and teasing Lan Wangji: ----

Thus, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji really go through multiple challenges and come out stronger. The path of righteousness is bitter, coupled with losses, and lonely yet these two walk it alone, and leave behind strong people who follow the same. On one side, unrighteous acts lead to many deaths and losses, to be righteous may be to add to those losses, yet it was due to righteous acts like people like Mianmian and Lan Sizhui, who are also very righteous are. Thus, the road may be lonely at first, but the numbers of the travelers will only increase.

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ep.23 thoughts

[Mamaaa! Didn't Mean to Make You Cryyy!]

I guess if any episodes had to be the best episodes, it's appropriate that they be the end of the season, but god dammit, why wasn't every episode this good???

The animation, the music, the emotional weight, this episode was a real all-rounder. Even with how comparatively little action there was, it was great!

I actually feel like there's nothing for me to say, it was so good. There weren't any big reinterpretations of the source material for me to latch onto, mostly just little details like the pages crumpling under Sean's feet to convey his presence or a subtle Easter egg when Rip cut off Anno Un's arm. The coolest detail was definitely that Akira couldn't narrate the preview anymore now that we know who he is, but I get the feeling I wouldn't have noticed that if other people hadn't pointed it out first

If we're lucky, maybe that'll mean there's no recap next week...

Something this episode did help me realize, though, was that Yuki Yase's style really lends itself well to dramatic weight rather than pulse-pounding action. As we saw, the latter is still possible, but I think the thing that killed the pacing for the season as a whole was the insistence on pregnant pauses and atmospheric shots over a consistent flow of events and ideas. The dark lighting and zoomed-out shots are both pretty indicative of this, and were definitely my least favorite elements of the season. Those moments that reduced visual clarity to presumably focus on what was being said were, ironically, very distracting for me, as I always found myself trying to figure out where the cast was (though I think they were usually hiding behind Hulu's garishly huge subtitles) instead of focusing on what was being said

As near as I remember, though, this episode didn't really have moments like that, and if it did, they went by quick enough that I didn't really notice them. I remember this episode being very bright with the exception of the brief moment of sepia with Akira sitting next to his grieving mother, which was extremely poignant without the directorial style I was complaining about. If I had to guess, aside from the amazing moments of sakuga, this was the biggest reason this episode left such a good impression

I'm not really good at understanding this sort of thing, but I hope to learn at some point who was in charge of what in each episode; Yuki Yase is the director of the series as a whole, not individual episodes, so it's possible that he's not responsible for most of my gripes this past half year, but it's also possible that his overall style overshadowed everyone else's decisions, so he may well be responsible either way. I hope that someone like Totally Not Mark will cover UU down the road so I can get insight on this from someone who's good at hunting down that kind of information and comparing one bit of an artist's works to the rest. I may not like researching that kind of thing, but I do love hearing about it!

With that, we have one final episode to go. Will it be up to snuff with the last two episodes, will it miss the landing, or will it go above and beyond and convince a million people to sit through 20 episodes of recaps just to see how it gets to this point? We'll find out next week, and I can't wait!

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[maul-antics]

Top 5 ObiMaul headcanons 👀

Oooh that's a fun ship! Here are my top five headcanons that I've come up with over the last few years for these two! :D

One of my headcanons for these two is they have some kind of connection to each other ever since Obi-Wan cut Maul in half in the Phantom Menace. I mean that in the sense that they kept being drawn to each other at various points in their lives including the end there where Maul seeks Obi-Wan out on Tatooine to have the man end his life. Bc it could be no one but Obi-Wan to do this for him since it was also Obi-Wan that set his life away from Darth Sidious in motion back in the Phantom Menace, so it might as well be the same man who ends his life once and for all.

2. Another headcanon that is kind of confirmed in TCW canon is that once Maul made his reappearance to the galaxy when Savage found him, Obi-Wan went searching for records about Maul. Just to understand why the Zabrak is the way he is bc I doubt that Obi-Wan had been able to take time right after Qui Gon had been killed and then taking on Anakin as a Padawan. I do think that he took every available route to find records that could point to Maul as a person and that it would lead him to Dathomir - which I would have loved an episode on that bc I'm a sucker for seeing how Jedi conduct research and all that. It is confirmed by a TCW episode, Lawless that he visited one of the villages and got Maul's story of being handed over to the Sith as a baby.

3. Another headcanon which is based purely on my Maul is Leia's Master au since that's fun to think about, but I do believe in that scenario where they're trapped with each other for long stretches of time they would talk/debate philosophy of the Light and Dark sides of the Force - at least their sects for it. It's inevitable when Leia and Luke spend time with each other and they're not changing their minds on why they believe in the Light or the Dark side, but a closeness that comes with it. An understanding that it's sharing pieces of themselves with each other since there is no one else to understand it with the lives that they had lived through before taking on the Skywalker twins as their students. Maybe a romance blooms between them in their old age, the kind that remains unspoken even if it helps with dealing with the realities of the Empire as two Force-Sensitive individuals.

4. This one's a fun, little personal headcanon for myself, but I could definitely see Maul and Obi-Wan being in an ace/ace relationship with each other. I would like to explore that more in a fic since there are ideas that I can't fully explain in an ask like this.

5. Last headcanon, but I feel that Obi-Wan carries the memory of Darth Maul once he buries the man's body somewhere on Tatooine. Not in the same way he does for Anakin or Ashoka, but as a way to push him forward to make sure Luke lives to be trained in the Force bc someone needs to take down Sidious for all that he has done. But especially to Maul bc Maul never stood a chance when he was given to the man to be trained as a Sith apprentice as a baby. It's a personal injustice, but it shouldn't have had to happen to someone who would have likely thrived if he wasn't subjected to the training and abuse that Sidious did to Maul for most significant parts of the Zabrak's life.

[nahobinobrunestud]

When They Cry and perhaps every 07th Expansion work where Ryukishi07 is the main writer/director is fundamentally against the concept of fate. One of it's core messages is that anything can be overcome with enough collective and individual effort. Anything can be overcome proportional to the amount of individual and/or collective effort that it requires, i.e. overcoming capitalism and its woes is going to take more collective and individual effort from more people than overcoming one person's drug addiction. The combined efforts of each individual trying their hardest becomes a greater collective effort with the more people there are putting their minds and bodies towards one goal.

Let's start with the most explicit example that most directly handles the subject. The fragments of Higurashi is a metaphor for the infinite or near infinite number of possibilities that humanity has and the directions that it can take. In the original 8 episodes of Higurashi we fittingly only go through 8 of them, but Furude Rika has went through 100 years of them. She tries her best to save Houjou Satoko and her other friends from their tragedies but even when she tries to get help ends up failing numerous times. It's only one she truly relies on her friends and believes and trusts them does she get somewhere and achieves her goal with the help of everyone around her. It's only the collective efforts of not only her friends but the entire village and then some does she save Satoko and break free from the tragedy. It's only through the active choices that each of them makes is it possible to choose a path that doesn't result in the deaths of many. It took the efforts of a village and then some to overcome what was becoming seemingly inevitable in Rika's jaded mind, but their choices DID matter and it WAS possible all along.

Umineko doesn't focus on the subject directly as much but that doesn't mean it isn't a fundamental part of it. With every instance of something that is wrong or goes wrong just like in Higurashi, it is clear that with different decisions with varying amounts of effort and varying amounts of steps backward in time that these things not only could have been avoided but could have been made better or alleviated after the fact. The most explicit example of this of course is in Ep 7 where Bernkastel finds a rare fragment where Yasuda Sayo is loved and cared for by Ushiromiya Natsuhi despite her troubles and misgivings at least partially caused by Ushiromiya Kinzo, creating a person rather named Ushiromiya Lion with near none of the trauma that their far more common fragments have. It's just another example of showing how nothing is fated, how all can go different directions and be avoided with different actions. Nothing in history has ever been set in stone until it has already happened and been written. Even still this doesn't stop Kinzo from doing THAT to his daughter, but there are surely fragments where he treats her like the daughter he should have and could have lived alongside her siblings.

And though I know little about the exclusive manga Ep 9, Confessions of the Golden Witch (because I actively refuse to read it and want to figure out the entire mystery myself on the second read rather than it all being told to me), I do know that Yasuda Sayo spills their guts out about how it was impossible in any fragment for them to be loved for who they truly are in their fullest context. This shouldn't be taken at face value however, as this is through the unreliable lense of someone who literally cannot see or believe that they themselves can be loved. Someone blind to the color of the ocean shouldn't be trusted with color theory. It is likely that they are blind to or in denial of the possibility of them ever being loved due to their trauma and self hatred and would tear it down with what seems obvious and logical to them. I'm firmly under the belief that if they sought help from the siblings, or even just Ushiromiya Jessica, something could have worked out for the better and that maybe there could have been steps made to integrate them into the family and perhaps finally begin to heal past woes and cruelties.

I can't say much about Ciconia given the much unfinished state that it's in but I have no doubt in my mind that it'll handle the subject as well. When They Cry is all about putting your best efforts in what you seek to achieve for the betterment of yourself and those around you and that anything can be achieved with enough collective effort. Anything is possible, all wounds can be healed at least partially with due time, and that the strongest thing one can have is a community that stands by and helps one another. When They Cry is fundamentally about love, overcoming trauma, and social solidarity among many, many other things that gives one reasons to keep on living and have hope and love this world and all living things on it.

[akirayuri]

So, after doing some digging for why was D. Gray Man Hollow cancelled or specifically why it became concerning, I found out that the studio released a poster featuring Allen and Kanda in rather scandalizing position.

So here is the debate weather Hoshino-sensai got angry because of the poster or the fact that they published it without her permission.

And, dose she hate Yullen?

I think it has more to do with the fact that they published it without her permission. As we know that Hoshino-sensai is more or less dipping her toes in the LGBTQ community. We have Alma who can be considered non binory. And we also have his complicated yet simple relationship with Kanda which rivals a romantic relationship. I would say it's one of the most heart wrenching canon relationship of the whole series. It breath taking how much thoughts and emotions Hoshino-sensai puts into their relationship. She went beyond gender boundaries to create what is presented to us.

So I don't think it has anything to do with the 'Homophobic' thingy that happens with most of the mangaka.

So does it means that she is solely against Yullen?

Well. I don't think so.

If you guys are manga readers or even anime watchers [ though I suggest to only anime Readers to check out the manga cause it's far ahead of where the anime ended. Please, you won't regret one bit. ] You will notice just how thoughtfully crafted Allen and Kanda's relationship is. From the 1st chapter of the manga and the 2nd episode of the anime we are greated with their constantly heated relationship. From physical fights and taunting insults to getting to know eachother more then any one, knowing eachother's deepest secrets and understanding eachother more then anyone. Dose it looks like Hoshino-sensai is near any where near done? Their insults no longer hold that malice anymore. Kanda was the one to find out that Allen's hold on the 14th was breaking. Allen was the one to see a part of Kanda he didn't want anyone to see. Kanda was one of the few people to see through Allen's perfectly crafted mask.

And don't even forget the fact that giving Kanda and Alma freedom was the reason for Allen's demise or the fact that Kanda came back for Allen's sake, to pay him back and now he is constantly fighting his innocence from making him a fallen. That just how much important their relationship is to the manga. Oh and I totally forgot the borderline Possessive behaviour Kanda is showing towards Link for Allen's sake.

Look me in the eye and say that this isn't Possessiveness or protectiveness in Kanda's own trigger happy way.

[ you know what? This scene reminds me so much of Joongdok. If you don't know what Joongdok is, it's a borderline canon ship of the manhwa and webnovel series called Omniscient Reader Viewpoint. I totally recommend to check it out if you're a fan of apocalyptic fantasy, borderline isekai, unreadable narrative of a lovable yet 'I wanna smack some sense into him' MC, angst and good, plot heavy storyline with complex and good Characters with, of course homoerotic subtext, check it out! ]

They have a big role to play and I don't think Hoshino-sensai will let something so petty hinder her works. As I have read Hoshino-sensai's works just like other dedicated fans of this manga, Hoshino-sensai values her Characters too much to let something so petty get to them. And I respect her for that. Treating you're characters as, well like real individual can help.

It has to be Kanda who can chase down Allen. Lenalee, though a very strong individual but she is far too soft towards Allen to actually drag him down. Lavi as a bookman cannot get personallity involved with any of their business has to stay in the sidelines. And yup. That poor guy is held captive by the Noah's.

Kanda is not soft like Lenalee nor does he cares about anything the order says. The sole purpose for him return into his personal hell is to stick with Allen untill the end. He is the one who can rival Allen in stubbornness.

Not to mention we have this;

This

And this

And yes they're officials by Hoshino-sensai herself. So, antis you have this.

They contrast eachother. They compliment each yet blend into eachother flawlessly.

Let be true here. The last thing I am concerned about is the romance. D. gray man is far better for this. Hoshino-sensai has her unique style to write relationships between characters. So I am not necessarily concerned about the non existent romantic sub plot because I am better of worrying weather Allen will get his happy ending at the or not. I really don't mind if this series doesn't even have a romantic relationship canonically involving Allen cause he needs love as any form of love that has to offer. Plotanic relationship holds more value anyways.

I am really curious about what you guys think about the subject. I will be glad to hear. I don't know how to end this...so I will just leave it here.

[waitmyturtles]

I am late to catching up with Ossan's Love Returns, episode 6, but I'm not too late to catch on a major reason why I love this show, along with my personal GOAT, What Did You Eat Yesterday?/Kinou Nani Tabeta? -- the eloquent depictions of relationships in their deep stages.

No truer words were spoken about strengthening a relationship!

Shows that allow me to relate back to them -- woof. This got me in the chest. New love and romance is wonderful! But this scene was about LOVE WORK, the work of making love WORK. The work of arguing, feeling bad sometimes (maybe a lot during the early days of a relationship!), working on compromising yourself, which is hard, because changing yourself is hard, and changing your routines that you may have developed as an individual is REALLY HARD. All of that is just. hard.

But it's worth it when you meet the "right" person -- which is, who? The person who'll support you and help you during those changing stages. A person who won't waver, who'll be there in strength, as both of you are changing yourselves to make love work.

I often meditate on the fact that changing oneself -- say, you're losing weight, or quitting smoking or drinking -- often comes with uninvited feedback from others who may not WANT you to change. Because others in your life are used to who and how you are, as someone prior to your losing weight, or that you're a smoker or drinker. Others in your life may LIKE the fact that you haven't changed aspects of yourself, because they themselves may be afraid to make changes.

In a relationship -- the process of change unto oneself has to happen to make compromising and even a little emotional symbiosis work. The best part about finding the right partner(s) is when that partner is accepting of the changes that you're making, they respect those changes, they support those changes, and they're making life and emotional changes right along with you.

The flashback sequences of everything Maki and Haruta went through to get to their wedding speaks to this. These scenes were just wonderful encapsulations of how a deepening relationship is just as fascinating as a new one.

[anghraine]

Is Darcy reprehensible for not warning people/doing something about Wickham? I've seen the idea around in fandom & I'd love to know your thoughts. It always strikes me as being a pretty non-Georgian sentiment & Darcy's intervention later is presented as unusual rather than percived as something he should have done earlier.

I wouldn't say reprehensible, no, and his handling of the Lydia situation definitely goes above and beyond what anyone could reasonably expect of him. Even Elizabeth doesn't expect it after discovering he was at the wedding—her speculations about his involvement that throw him in the best possible light still fall short of what he's actually done.

As for what he might have done earlier, I think it's ... complicated.

For one, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place with regard to his responsibility to safeguard Georgiana vs a wider social responsibility. It's easy to say that, of course, the social good should come before any particular individual, and that publicizing Wickham's character would have been preferable.

But personally, I think it's very understandable that Darcy, at age 27, considered his 15-year-old sister and ward who had just been preyed upon by a man of his own age, considered that she chose to tell him what was going on while believing herself in love, thought about the likely very long-term consequences to her reputation, and went "nope."

(There's the possibility of publicizing Wickham's character without bringing Georgiana into it, but if he boxes Wickham into a corner where he has nothing to lose, odds are good that Wickham himself will smear her reputation, so ethically, there's not much difference.)

This rationale is basically what he gives in the letter. Understandable doesn't mean right, but reprehensible just seems way too strong to me for someone in a position that difficult in that social context.

It's worth noting, I'll say, that his silence is something he feels the need to explain, even if it's debatable whether saying something during the novel would have made much of a difference among the Meryton crowd specifically. He might have tried to mediate it through Bingley, but he has repeatedly told Bingley about Wickham's real character while withholding the Georgiana episode, and Bingley tried to pass on a warning (even Caroline did in her way), but couldn't remember the details that Darcy had told him previously.

It's also worth noticing that Darcy's justification seems sufficient to both Elizabeth and Jane at the time, and presumably is shared by Colonel Fitzwilliam (who definitely knows about it and, given his reaction to Elizabeth's slight reference to Georgiana, appears to be 100% onboard with protecting Georgiana's reputation as her co-guardian). And even after the Lydia disaster and without knowing anything about Georgiana's involvement, sensible Mrs Gardiner dismisses the idea that anyone but Wickham and Lydia should be held responsible, and specifically, that Darcy should.

Also notably, although Darcy holds himself responsible in his conversation with the Gardiners, and explains his greater knowledge of Wickham and Mrs Younge, Mrs Gardiner remarks that he doesn't explain what the cause of disapprobation actually was—so even at his most self-critical, he's still trying to protect Georgiana as far as the circumstances allow.

I don't think his penitence is just a cover for his "real" motivation of helping Elizabeth, for what it's worth. In the novel, Darcy says he wasn't thinking of her family but only of her, but he also says that he won't deny that his feelings for her "add[ed] force to the other inducements which led me on," which I suspect is a reference to his feelings of culpability. But no other character considers him responsible or finds his rationale for silence unsatisfactory, so I do think the kind of take you mention exceeds what is really supported by the novel, or would be a common perspective at the time.

It's not that any criticism of how he handled the situation is excessive or ahistorical, but—like, there was a viral post about his "toxic masculinity" with regard to this that a bunch of people sent me, and I thought it was, let's say, painfully misguided in terms of the novel and its social context. And I do run into takes like that reasonably often, and they very rarely acknowledge that a) he is not uniquely accountable for what multiple people know, and b) that his claim to guilt is immediately thrown into doubt by Mrs Gardiner.

So, uh, that's my take on it, and sorry it took so long to get back to you!