#I’m definitely reading way too much into the obviously comic relief character but I don’t care

[gummy-sharks666]

I think the reason I like shadow so much is not just because he was the quirked up goth boy of my childhood dreams, but that he’s so unhinged you have no idea what his motivation for anything is. He’s just along for the ride and going to be absolutely batshit insane the whole time. The only time you really get a hint of him actually caring about people around him is when he chooses to die with mylene and calls her his friend but even then you’re not quite sure if he actually cares about her, if he just lives to pester the shit out of her, or if it’s just a platonic attachment type of thing. You’ll never know and I think that’s how god intended it. It drives you crazy but then you remember he IS crazy. It’s his essence. He’s like a morally gray Kefka

[azure-firecracker]

ATLA Live Action Stream of Consciousness (Episode 2, Part 1).

Hang on this show is rated PG? Did they not see the people burning alive last episode?

The fire nation theme with a full orchestra goes so hard. I need Azula’s version too.

Zuko tearing up the room looking for his fucking diary while Iroh just fails to calm him down is peak 16 year old and his dad core and I’m living for it. I, too, want to smash stuff when my beloved things go missing.

Zuko’s right, Aang is a coward which is good because he’s nuanced! Now the show should acknowledge that.

We’re going to Kyoshi island yay!

Another good Katara monologue. They seem to have grasped the hopeful aspect of her character well (and it’s clearly in Kiawentiio’s acting wheelhouse). Now let her break stuff!

Wait if Aang can fly why did he fall out of the sky in the last episode?

On the Waterbending Scroll: @juniperhillpatient talked about this in a great post so I’ll link that here.

The Gyatso memorial was a really nice touch. I think Gordon’s acting was slightly flat (emphasis on slightly) but the way his voice broke on the last line broke me. Since it’s the first time I’ve had anything bad to say about his acting, I’ll give it a pass.

I will say idk if it’s sets of CGI but the whole setting is gorgeous. I’m glad their budget let them add in those details that we didn’t get in the cartoon.

Yay Iroh comedy! Give him more!

They nailed Zuko and Iroh’s dynamic. No complaints. Also since the main trio is less funny (which is fine) the comic relief is much needed.

Kyoshi Warrior makeup looks awesome!

Ooh Suki’s mom is here! And Suki getting some more background/development, always love! Not sure if I would have called “kindness” one of her core traits but it’s not like she wasn’t kind. She didn’t have much characterization to begin with besides “cool strong girl!” so I like that she gets a softer side.

Sokka’s fangirling over Suki this is cute and also hilarious. And Suki is EVISCERATING him with her skills.

Iroh is comedy gold (makes sense since I know this actor has a background in comedy) This episode overall is lighter which I think is a nice break since last episode was pretty intense.

Zhao seems like less of an asshole right off the bat. Is he sneaky or just watered down? (Like Katara-no I won’t shut up about her).

Shirtless Sokka was not necessary I want everyone to stay far away from over sexuality the teenage characters I don’t care that some of them look over Netflix don’t Netflix this.

I like that we’re expressing Aang’s grief more overtly. Something the original couldn’t do.

I find Aang and Katara’s friendship really wholesome.

Katara talking about Aang knowing how to connect…BUT THAT WAS KATARA’S THING. Why are they taking her good traits and giving them to her male friends istg.

Suki is so cool I love her definitely no character crush here. Her literally being like “I like this boy. Obviously the logical choice is to show him my fighting skills” she’s so real for that.

“Only justice will bring peace” - please tell me Katara being the one to read that line is important because thematically it’s a very Katara line.

Aang’s backstory with people being scared of him and losing control is an interesting new touch that I think could be used really well. (Also seeing some Azula parallels especially with the “lucky” thing but I don’t think I’m that lucky).

I do miss Sokka’s Kyoshi Warrior uniform. The tension though! A little more of a mature tone than the original and idk how much I want to lean into sexual tension of any kind but the characters are 16 so I thiiink I’m okay with this but NETFLIX IF YOU OVERSEXUALIZE THEM ALL I WILL COME FOR YOU!!

Part 2 coming soon!

[shayminlucario07]

Post-clearing Bayonetta 3 thoughts

Obligatory (And obvious) spoiler warning!

So... people really didn’t like this game? Like, actually? Why?

Is it because of “Straight Bayonetta”? If so, I have news for you: Bayonetta’s relationship with Jeanne has always been deliberately ambiguous, just as much so as her relationship with Luka was in the previous two games, so like. Read it however you want- if you want Cereza and Jeanne to be a thing, they can be! Bisexuals do in fact exist!

Is it because people didn’t like Viola? Because... I mean, fair, I guess, since the narrative didn’t exactly do her justice, but she’s also the Cerezita/Loki of this game, which means she was never going to be as fleshed out as the other characters. And, frankly, if there’s going to be a Bayonetta 4, she’ll pretty obviously be the main character- which I’m totally here for, to be clear- and that’ll actually give her the chance to DO something.

Is it because of the Homunculi/Singularity plot being underdeveloped? Because... that’s kind of the case with every Bayonetta antagonist. The only reason Balder works as well as he does is because of the retroactive adjustments in Bayonetta 2, since he was... not exactly three-dimensional in Bayonetta 1. And the only reason Aesir worked is because of Loki, you know. BEING half of Aesir.

Is it because of how little focus the alternate Bayonettas got? Because... yeah, I agree, they deserved more emphasis than they had, but the thing you have to remember is- regardless of what the narrative in Bayonetta 3 implies, there’s no way to be sure that ANYONE is actually gone- Bayonetta 2′s storyline was literally about Cereza trying to bring Jeanne back from the dead, so like. As far as I’m concerned, resurrection has already been established. Also, when your story goes to multiverse level storytelling, all rules are out the window- not that there ever were any, since it’s Bayonetta, and rule of cool dominates everything, spectacle above all is the entire concept of the series.

Ultimately, my thoughts are thus:

It sucks that we have more limited weapon kits, but the weapons we did get are awesome in their own right and frankly, the acquisition of them is much more narratively effective than every other Bayonetta weapon except the guns and maybe Alruna, since. They actually HAVE A ROLE in the narrative. Also, the concepts were pretty great overall- though I could’ve done without having like, four separate slow weapons, but hey, we got Ignis Araneae Yo-Yo and Simoon and there’s a weapon named Ribbit-Libido BZ55, so, who actually gives a shit.

Some of the demon designs were... weird (Looking at you, Gouon and Clock Tower) but the returning demons were a delight to see reimagined (BAAL ZEBUL MY BELOVED YOU ARE THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE ENTIRE GAME) and while I’m kind of mad we didn’t get to see Sheba or Omne again, I also didn’t really expect it in the first place. At least we didn’t get a repeat of Khepri using Butterfly’s body model.

Demon Slave was a fantastic concept- in my opinion, a total step up from Umbran Climax, even if it did mean having to give up meaningful torture attacks- and I especially loved Wink Slave, because like. It’s like a Wicked Weave but EVEN BIGGER and AFTER A WICKED WEAVE. They took the best part of Umbran Climax and made it a normal gameplay move! Fantastic!

Viola’s combat was... weird. Not being able to move and shoot took an adjustment, and I don’t think I’ll ever know how to use the block properly for Witch Time, but it was at least successful in making her feel distinct from Bayonetta, which they never quite nailed with Jeanne and Rosa. She definitely could’ve used more polish in the gameplay department, though.

Speaking of Viola... she suffered from Luca syndrome (Admittedly, rather fitting) in that she was played for comic relief a bit too much to work as well as she needed to. I love the idea of her inheriting the name Bayonetta, but... she doesn’t quite feel like she’s actually THERE yet. She doesn’t have the badass level yet. Also, Cheshire should’ve had actual story in 3, and not just had it be locked behind Cereza and the Lost Demon.

Jeanne was neglected in a frankly depressing manner. Her missions were... fun at first, but overstayed their welcome, and honestly, the most memorable Jeanne moment was Jeanne Beta-Three/Egyptian Jeanne. She deserved better and she CERTAINLY deserved to live- she should’ve been alive to be Viola’s mentor in whatever the next story is.

Ah, Cereza... While I’m sad to see her die, frankly, they could bring her back in the next game and I wouldn’t be bothered in the slightest. It’s Bayonetta, who cares, there are no rules- just look cool and it’ll do everything it needs to. Make Bayonetta 4 be about Viola going to Inferno to bring Cereza and Luka back to the human world, and have her beat the shit out of Queen Sheba to do it. Full circle to the fullest, this time instead of killing God at the end of the game, we’re killing Satan. I’m 1000% in. Also, there’s no way that she’s supposed to be the alternate universe Cereza from the Records of Time in Bayonetta 2- They literally reference the Aesir storyline directly and how the Eyes of the World no longer exist, which is why the Multiverse fracturing happens and why the entirety of Bayonetta 3 happens at all.

Luka was... kind of weird, but not in the way people seem to think based on everything I’ve seen. First and foremost, the idea that the Bayonetta-Luka relationship came out of nowhere is simply untrue- she was always flirting with him. She put Rosemary in her perfume at the end of the first game SPECIFICALLY because of what he said- that’s what that meant! People were just blinded by the concept of Witch Lesbians, which is fair! (Let Bayonetta have both, y’all. Let her have her cringefail ambiguously-part-faerie boyfriend and her badass motorcycle-riding, literally-Joan-of-Arc immortal-ish witch wife. She deserves that.) The whole Lukaon thing was... not well developed, but frankly, I think that’s mostly because of how much the game tried to do. And really, none of the alternate universe things were that well developed, so if you’re going to criticize aspect of that, criticize them all.

Speaking of the alternate universe things- I loved all of them. Tokyo Street-Witch Bayonetta was perfect and I absolutely used that outfit the entire game, because hello, Chinese Warlord Bayonetta was awesome and it was super fun to see her lead an entire army, Egyptian Princess Bayonetta was super cool and it was amazing to see how she actually managed to have a full character arc, going from bonding with her first Infernal Demon to sacrificing herself to save Bayonetta Prime by the end, and French Thief-Magician Bayonetta- Masque*DeMasque Bayonetta, if you will (Hehe Ace Attorney reference I make myself laugh)- was an utter delight, even if she had the most tragic death. And she allowed us to see Rosa again! And she was the only Bayonetta to be blonde! Where did those genetics come from? No clue! Egyptian Bayonetta seemingly inherited Balder’s silver hair, so no clue where French Bayonetta’s blonde came from, but at least we know how/why Viola was blonde. (Also, we deserved to see a variant of Balder. Just one. It’s not fair that we got to see Rosa again but not him. Anti-feminist, dads and moms should be equally important (THAT’S A JOKE DON’T GET MAD AT ME)) I’d love to see more from any of those Bayonettas.

Sigurd was... not good, but he wasn’t really any worse than Aesir or Bayo-1-Balder would be without other characters to make them work better, and frankly, it’s probably a good thing there wasn’t an attempt at making Sigurd more well-developed, because the game was already pretty over-saturated. Singularity as a final boss was underwhelming compared to Jubileus and Aesir, but that’s honestly probably just because there was no summoning of Queen Sheba/Omne and no Infiniton Climax (Bring back the Big Bang Bonus!).

The setpiece segments of Bayonetta 3 were better than 1 and 2 by a landslide- at least, in my opinion. Even if you just focus on the setpieces from the Deadly Sin Ritual Summonings, they surpass the first two on theatrics alone- ESPECIALLY Baal Zebul. Bayonetta just randomly breaking out into a rhythm minigame with an opera-singing frog-princess-demon? PERFECT. But also... Mega-Godzilla-Sin Gomorrah rock-paper-scissors boss fight? Shockingly fun! Phantasmaraneae being upgraded to The Phantom (Devil May Cry reference! FUCK YEAH! Just make them the same universe PLEASE) and... low-key being implied to represent the Big Bang explosion? And the fight where you’re switching between him and Malphas? Fantastic. AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON QUEEN BUTTERFLY. Madama Butterfly was badass enough on her own, but MEGA MADAMA BUTTERFLY USING THE CLOUDS AS A BATHTUB FOR A BOSS FIGHT? Immaculate. How does she relate to Queen Sheba, though? I wonder... (More Inferno lore Platinum please and thank you it’s the least developed of the trinity of realities)

And for one final note- Being able to CHANGE BAYONETTA’S HAIR COLOR FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. WHY WAS THAT NOT A THING BEFORE. REDHEAD BAYONETTA.

[fill-me-with-your-memes-daddy]

Watching the Rise of the Titans movie and I'll be documenting all of my thoughts/reactions here. [Spoiler Warning]

So instead of reblogging every new update, I'm just going to have this post up on my phone as I watch and type my reactions in a bullet list format.

Nari's human disguise is so cute. As someone who does have a cottagecore aesthetic, I want to cosplay her so bad

Are Skrael and/or Belroc non-binary coded? Regardless, I'm also obsessed and I want to fuck Skrael and be Belroc.

STEVE CARING ABOUT JIM BEING HURT YESSSS!!! My god his redemption has probably been one of the greatest there is because he doesn't just suddenly go from being a bully to a completely good person. You can see the gradual shift in learning better throughout the shows which is awesome.

IN NEW YOOOOOOORRRRRRRK!!!!!! CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

The mugshot montage reminded me of season 1 of trollhunters when toby and Jim were arrested at the museum.

STRICKLER PUT A RING ON IT??? HE'S THE ONLY DILF IVE EVER ACTUALLY AGREED WAS HOT WYM I CAN'T HAVE HIM??? well I'm still really happy about his arc over the series probably one of my favorite character growths.

Eli my guy got his growth spurt!!! As an 18 year old who is still 5'0", I'm happy but envious for him

So I went into this movie without watching any trailers or promo, but I doubt anything could have prepared me for the existence of mpreg. In fact, I wasn't going to document my reactions until I saw that.

NAMURA!!!!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!! I CAN STILL THIRST FOR YOU WITHOUT GUILT

The coach teacher just called the kids zoomers so I have to dock one point from my final rating just because of that. Unforgivable

Those husky animation models suck lmao

Oh fuck the titans got power ranger zords!!

God why did they include the mpreg??? This movie would have been perfect without it.... After that plot point being revisited only one time I'm already beyond done with it

Like it's bringing me back to the v*ltron days where they're was a suspiciously high amount of klance omegaverse and mpreg fics and art created and it physically hurts because Steve and Keith's voice actor is the same person meaning this is especially cursed to me since I was unfortunately in the v*ltron fandom and remember all of that

But like on another note, how old are these characters again??? I haven't checked any wikis because of spoilers but is Steve an adult??? I know aja might be technically a lot older than 18 because alien but is whatever age she is equivalent to an adult as far as emotionally and physically in Akaridion development??? IS THIS A TEEN (M)PREGNANCY IN A KIDS SHOW????

Like bruh I saw a singular post on here before going into the movie that was like "rott spoilers without context" and there was a pregnant belly but I was absolutely not expecting the actual context of it. I'll find the post after I finish and edit this post to tag the creator right here: @makoden

This entire post is just gonna be me ranting about mpreg huh

Anyway I love the whole roundtable allusion to the legends of king arthur (not the toa version but the one he's based off)

THERE'S 3 TO 5 BABIES????? I need to take a break bruh this is just too much

Alright I've taken a 30 minute break got some food and did some things i love (decompressed by tactile stimming with some owl plushies and watched some videos on my favorite owl, Garu. He lives in Japan with his owner and is a domesticated eagle owl who basically just acts like a sky cat. If anyone else needs some eye bleach, here is their YouTube channel)

Blinky and ARRRGHHH!!! saying their "if one of us doesn't make it" talk my god one of them is going to die I can see it and I will be utterly crushed. Jim can't lose another father figure and Toby can't lose his wingman again I will riot if this happens

On a similar but unrelated to the movie note, can we just talk about how toa started with Jim having 0 dads and (if strickler and blinky live to the end) will end with 2 dads? Like I just really feel happy for him that he has two dads who actually figured out how to put the past behind them to not have any infighting between them so that both of them are healthy father figures. Jim has already been through literal hell and back losing his actual humanity in the process so if he loses one of them, I'm going to be really pissed because at this point, this is just Jim torture porn. Y'all know how as SpongeBob SquarePants went on, the show just became Squidward torture porn? It's starting to feel that way for toa and I really hope they cut the shit by the ending

Jlaire is such a good ship but like I feel like it's too perfect they never disagree with each other

YESSSSSSS Someone finally doesn't treat toby like a fat waste of space who messes stuff up!!! I think out of all the characters that would have been most deserving of a rewrite, it's Toby. Sometimes I just feel he's only comic relief and any heartfelt moments he's had in the series was also born of stupidity (ie his flour baby project being unharmed was seen by him as divine intervention from his parents but was actually just Eli and Steve behind the scenes).

Ohhhhh yesssssss Archie's father!!! I was hoping I'd see him again because we got so little of him last

Ooooooooooh Asian trollmarket!!!!!

Oh never mind slavery trollmarket

Bruh titanic camelot

I feel like we're not seeing enough of the villains because I completely forgot about the power ranger zord things

NAMORA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY LAST CRUSHHHH

STRICKLER NO NOT YOU TOO PLEASE

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE ONLY TWO CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR ON THIS SHOW DIED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER

THAT WHOLE ASS RANT I WROTE IS COMING TRUE FUCK THIS MOVIE THIS SERIES IS JUST JIM TORTURE PORN

WAIT JIM'S SPERM DONOR INFO?

Oh thank God I don't want to know anything about that person

For the record, I call that man Jim's sperm donor because he has no business being called a father to him. All he did was donate some swimmers to the creation of him and give him abandonment issues

Oh another blind troll elder???? This fucker is just if vendel was a bad guy

Bruh I was grieving

PACIFIC RIM WITH GUN ROBOT VEX AND THE BELROCZORD? I've never seen that movie but I know the reference

Bruh Blinky doesn't read horoscopes? Does he realize conspiracy theories are just the manly version of horoscopes?

NO DON'T KILL VEX STOP KO-ING FOUND FAMILY MEMBERS

Oh thank God he's okay

NO NOT ARCHIE AND CHARLEMAGNE OH MY GOD

oh never mind they're just gonna coup de tat I believe in them :))

But I want to see him again

But I'm glad to see vex

Yay they're in arcadia!

But yeah I wondered why the trolls and Merlin didn't keep the whole "daylight doesn't hurt trolls" feature from the eternal night but now Guillermo del Toro I see you were playing the long con in that just to kill my girl Namora :(((

Oooooh I love the animation of the Narizord over Chihuahua!! It looks very good and realistic (if only they could have put some of that into those huskies from before smh)

Bruh the character designs of the arcane order are so good I want to be them

Nari making sure the Skraelzord doesn't crush the bus

DAMN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Bruh I'm just glad we finally have an answer on why arcadia had everything going on as opposed to literally anywhere else!! I always found that as a weird coincidence for plot convince.

BRUH WERE BACK TO THE MPREG IM SO JEALOUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF MY LOVELIES.

Oh that's real convenient that the ninth configuration meant all of them. Way to not decide which character gets more attention. Though it probably was a smart way to not have any infighting in the fandom between each character's stan group.

Bruh I just realized where is Barbera did they just ditch her on the Camelot ship???

And where are the other trolls that migrated at the end of trollhunters s3? They said something about new jersey but obviously Jim and the other main characters got on Camelot instead.... This feels like a plot hole

And we never learned the process of how changelings are made and bonded to humans and stuff. We just know it's super painful but I'm curious ffs!!!!

THE DONT THINK BECOME HERO SPEECH ALL SAID TOGETHER!!!

BRUH THEY REALLY HAD TO SHOW HIM GIVING BIRTH??????? WAS THAT AN ABSOLUTE MUST??????

Plus the main audience for this series is little children (the rating for the movie is literally TV-Y7) so even though my adult ass is not in the target audience, I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD MPREG AND ANAL BIRTH WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT THING TO 7 YEAR OLDS???? THIS IS A LITERAL FETISH HIDDEN IN KIDS CONTENT ITS ELSAGATE ALL OVER AGAIN Y'ALL 😭😭😭😭😭

Though it's probably hypocritical of me to think fetishes don't belong in kids tv when I've openly admitted to thirsting for strickler and namora

HUZZAH

NEW AMULET WAZ GOOD????

STAB THAT BITCH JIM

WAIT NO I SAID STAB NOT GET STABBED

Alright good job just missed the directions at first but you fixed it

SEVEN KIDS?????????

T O B Y ????????????

W A I T NO

N O

IS HE ACTUALLY

OH MY GOD THERE'S HOPE

NO THERE ISN'T

F U C K THIS SHIT THEY REALLY JUST HAD HIM TO BE BULLIED THEN KILLED

Y'ALL IM ACTUALLY CRYING THIS NEVER HAPPENS

I NEVER ACTUALLY GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER MEDIA THAT I CRY IT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE AT THE END OF VOLTRON BUT AHHHHHHHH

W A I T

HE'S GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK?????

HOLD UP THEY'RE JUST GONNA BRING ALL THOSE DEAD PEOPLE BACK??????

WAIT IS HE

BLINKY CALLED HIM A SON

HOLD ON IS THIS GOING TO BE A CLIFFHANGER???????????

BRUH THEY REALLY JUST CAN'T END THE SERIES WITHOUT CLIFFHANGERS like there's always an open ending

TROLLHUNTER TOBY????? You know what forget the whole rants I had on how toby was written they just redeemed it all

And that's all! I'd rate it a 6.5/10 because it's definitely the weakest of all the sequels but still had amazing animation and some good plot points. It's just really hard to look over the bad stuff enough to rate it any higher.

[manikas-whims]

Shadow & Bone, The Crows & everyone's complaints

So now that I'm on my 2nd watch of the show, I wanna speak on certain things about the Crows in the show, which have made many people mad and some of which I didn't like either..but which I can still see as tying up with the canon.

⚠ Spoilers for both the Books & Show ⚠

Here we go:

• Kaz accepting the 1M Kruge job

Now ofc we all remember the book Kaz who bargained with a Mercher and raised his prize to 30M. But Leigh, Eric & the Crows Cast has been pointing out since day one that these aren't the same people we know from what we've read. This is a sort of prequel to those characters and just them figuring out their dynamic with each other.

Remember, the book opens with Inej saying Kaz is a feared man in the Barrel without hesitation, she introduces herself as the Wraith who can't be stopped even by gravity on certain days and Jesper as the amazing sharpshooter and charmer.

Now as a new reader, I found that chapter sort of funny because how are you claiming all this without showing me their process of becoming these formidable people? But as I read through, the thought that inded these are 6 dangerous outcasts, settled in my mind.

But before that 30M job, they must've had many smaller conquests too right? Ones which slowly built-up their experience, confidence and relationships.

Since this is a prequel, consider this as another day in their Barrel life, as them going on another of their regular jobs. And just think of this as a learning experience for Kaz. That its the dangers that they got into travelling to a different country that made Kaz learn his and his crew's worth. And prepared him for the negotiations he did with Jan Van Eck in SoC.

• Kaz brought to his knees by Pekka

While Kaz being bested by two mere lackies of Pekka was kinda annoying to me as well, why do we believe that Pekka can't harm him or the others? PEKKA ROLLINS WAS THE BARREL KING BEFORE KAZ.

Remember on the Ferolind when Oomen tells them he was ordered by Pekka Rollins to take down the Dregs? They all were shocked and somewhat worried. And it was brought up later on when Jesper said they were going against Pekka Rollins and Wylan explains for Matthias sake how Pekka is not to be messed with.

It was only Kaz who wasn't concerned at all, who consoles Jesper by saying Pekka is just another Barrel Boss.

And what were we even expecting Kaz to do when Pekka brought him to his knees? Didn't Kaz express in the books enough how a simple beating won't make it up. He promised to take his revenge in small steps— building up his gang, stealing customers from Pekka's clubs, etc. BRICK BY BRICK.

So Kaz can be brought down to his knees too. And Pekka can easily do it if he wishes so. But no one wants outright Gang Wars; Pekka because he is far more experienced and knows when and where to put pressure or when to let go of a job. He even advices Kaz to forget Inej and drop the idea of going against a Mercher in SoC last chapter, because it is a foolish thing to do.

And Kaz wouldn't want gang wars because he knows the Dregs aren't big enough to face the whole of Dime Lions. Besides he already plans to bring down Pekka brick by brick.

But no one threatens Kaz Brekker, so consider this "on his knees" scene as a set up and another reason for Kaz to strike back and pay back tenfold.

It will also serve as an amazing parallel if we get to see him make Pekka beg on his knees.

• Kaz and Inej are too obvious

Are they? Haven't they always been like that when in each other's company or when around the other Crows? So of course they're expressing alot in front of Jesper.

But note that there are was no incident in the show where Kaz expressed his slowly developing feelings in front of his enemies, namely Pekka. In fact all Kanej moments happen only between them or in Jesper's presence. So there's nothing wrong with that.

Are they too obvious? No. As I said before and as we all know Kaz and Inej ALWAYS share deep conversations whenever together even in books— "i will have you without armor", "i would come for you", etc.

So show Kaz telling Inej "no saints have watched over me like you.." was not much different from their canon alone conversations.

Have they shown too much already? NOT AT ALL.

We only saw Kaz putting the Crow Club on collateral but his reason behind it wasn't shown at all.

We only saw Inej kill a man to protect Kaz. We don't know why she chose to kill for him. You can't immediately translate that to love. It can very well be considered her trying to pay back because he saved her from the Menagerie.

Remember in Crooked Kingdom Chapter 4, Inej says: "their lives had been a series of rescues ever since, a string of debts that they never tallied as they saved each other again and again."

So consider these moments as their endless back and forth of saving each other.

*Another thing to note in the show is when Inej gave her knives to Kaz. She says: "as a friend once said".

She has started considering Kaz a "friend" and she knows he feels the same way even though he won't say it. They're only starting to open up and give way to friendship. And not just Kanej, Jesper too.

People can care for and have each other's backs without it having a romantic aspect. The show gave the viewers a peek at what Kanej are willing to do for each other and showed that there's obviously sparks flying but no clear motto. We still didn't see Kanej's first encounter at the Menagerie or Kaz staring at Inej sitting on his window. These are just small moments to set up the ship.

• The Crows only there for comic relief

NO. I don't agree to this at all.

I'm gonna go back to SoC Duology. Now we know both the books have a sort of a dark setting. But both of these books also had hilarious moments.

Right in Chapter 2 of SoC, Jesper joking about spelling with his bullets and Kaz joining in on the joke. There's also the "this whole shoot me thing is starting to worry me". Inej & Kaz's banter about "greed is your god".

Almost every chapter had atleast one moment that was either comical or to lighten the mood or just straight up banter between the Crows. And all those moments were all always entagled with serious ones.

The show did exactly the same. We were given their crime life because they were after all, on a job to capture and sell off a person. But the show lightened it by adding the Crows banter and certain comical moments. And for the finishing touches, they sprinkled in some vulnerability.

• Kaz not being ruthless enough

I AGREE. I DO.

What the fuck is wrong with us all wanting a sinister man being ruthless? 😂

There's not much I can say about this but that even in books, Kaz isn't always ruthless.

He is mostly giving out orders and scheming schemes. But in those rare moments in the book when we get to see Dirtyhands, we are given a view into some really intense moments.

When Kaz dislocates a man's arm in the Ice Court Prison, he himself admits it that he didn't do it as much to make himself look intimidating to the other criminals but more to remind himself that he can do it, that he isn't some helpless man.

The only such thing we got in the show was the brief scene between Kaz and that Inferni where he had that scary look on his face as he crushed that inferni's arm and slammed his face.

WE DID DESERVE MORE OF THAT.

But maybe it was a good moment to set him up for more violence in the coming seasons. *crosses fingers*

• The Crows not stealing from Alina

Okay whilst Inej wouldn't do it, Jesper may only consider, Kaz would definitely do it!

Remember Kaz kazually conversing with Van Eck and Pekka but also stealing their stuff in those moments with his slight of hands?

Yeah, the showrunners had a perfect chance at the end to do it but they missed it 😐

This is probably the one thing that I'm unable to settle with 🤧

So..that's it!

I don't want everyone to agree with me but I hope everyone can be a little less aggressive and more kind to the show. It was still amazing, if not a proper adaptation then at least good as a standalone show. And the showrunners already did say "high budget fanfiction"

[zuzuslastbraincell]

☕ atla comics

been a while since i read them very closely but they’re largely trash imo.

they mostly serve as a springboard to LoK’s setting, something i’m not particularly interested in and prefer to ignore, since it’s informed greatly by western-style imperialism and liberal perspectives on modernity and politics. since ATLA is set in a late feudal / early industrial period, with at best clearly flawed and short-sighted leaders (at worst rampant imperialists), the show writers are not as invested in defending the 'status quo’ and while there are moments (e.g. Jet, Hama) where the writers’ political leanings end up manifesting in ham-fisted ways that condemn certain types of anti-imperialist resistance that do not agree with their liberal perspectives, ATLA largely serves as a decent, serviceable critique of imperialism and imperialistic war.

The comics, however, have the heroes in the driving seat of political power, with the end goal of setting up LoK’s worldstate, and that means they do some bafflingly irritating things especially r.e. Yu Dao / Republic City. IMO, I would actually be fine with Zuko, who has only recently challenged his own imperialistic upbringings, on receiving the crown and basically being left to rule a nation who at its very core is driven by an imperialist, hierarchical understanding of the world, and backsliding somewhat on those principles. Like, he is living in a palace, no longer surrounded by ardent anti-imperialists, most probably surrounded by advisors and officials with imperialistic mindsets, while he is trying to draw a line somewhere between a vision of the Fire Nation that rejects the core principles of imperialism and a Fire Nation that could be palatable to his people, not understanding the ‘people’ he is listening to right now are the elite who are able to get anywhere near close to the palace. I don’t think that Zuko being wrong is actually out of the question. What frustrates me is that this isn’t challenged and deconstructed, Zuko doesn’t realise he’s out of touch, what frustrates me is that they reach a ‘compromise’ on an issue that shouldn’t be compromised on, that Aang & co. don’t push back and say ‘nah this land belongs to the EK you’re in the wrong here’. That can’t happen, obviously, as Republic City needs to exist, and Republic City needs to be Aang and Zuko’s pet project (nevermind it’s not their land! not their people! not their business!). The conclusion reached doesn’t have anything meaningful to say about imperialism and doesn’t see the fact that the heroes are in positions of political power as an interesting opportunity to examine what being in power means and how your perspectives can shift due to your elevated position.

My other main issue is that pretty much every character is flattened, simplified, and is lacking in depth.

Katara largely just follows Aang around. She doesn’t have many meaningful arcs of her own, doesn’t develop as a character or contribute much to the plot. I recall one arc in particular showing Katara being ignored / neglected by Aang while he’s getting a load of attention and it’s frustrating how that could have been a good moment of character conflict that doesn’t.... go anywhere. Ugh.

Sokka is largely reduced to dumb comic relief, ironically, the very role that the show took pains to avoid Sokka being exactly that.

Azula I could write an essay on, but largely I hate that she was thrown in an institution without that idea ever being considered cruel or hurtful (like, incarceration isn’t fun!) and just turns her into a flat, spiteful villain and implies there’s no hope for her. Bad!

Ursa shifts from a complex character who loved her family & committed treason for them even though it’s implied she was otherwise loyal and committed to the nation before then, and is portrayed as an “uncomplicated” victim. Furthermore, despite abandoning her children, despite erasing her memory of them and replacing them, this is never treated as morally complicated decision, as a failing.

There’s more honestly. I could go on. Why are the Kyoshi warriors serving the Fire Lord? The Fire Lord who 1. who burnt down their island 2. leads the nation the world was at war with? (I love the fact that we see more Suki, and Suki & Zuko interaction, but this is not how I want to see it). Then there’s the whole way Toph & her parents are handled..... ugh. Lots of bad.

The new art style in ‘Imbalance’ is lovely, imo, but the plot of that comic is predicated on a lot of worldbuilding r.e. Yu Dao / Republic City, as well as Toph’s relationship with her parents, and contrived conflicts between benders and non-benders which don’t speak true to the actual axis of oppression (ie. between fire nation colonials and earth nation citizens) that was at play not too long ago.

I liked Katara & the Pirate’s Silver, it was a fun, sweet story, and IMO I’d definitely be interested in more side-stories that don’t touch the mess that is ATLA’s post-canon situation.

[mermaidsirennikita]

bridgerton--the good, the bad, the ugly

The short of it: Bridgerton excellently captures the tone of Regency romance novels and offers a lot of escapism and great sex scenes, but could definitely use some serious work in terms of how it depicts race and it should have made some further alterations to the dated and flawed source material.  Definitely loved a lot of it and am hotly anticipating the second season, but I want to see more work done and I HOPE that this encourages the adaptation of better (and less inherently flawed) romance novels.

Now for the longer take.

The Good

Bridgerton depicted sex and romance in a way that is totally different from anything I’ve seen in period dramas, for sure, but possibly different from anything I’ve seen on TV.  The romance of it all was woven into almost every aspect of the show. There is the handsome and seemingly severe but extravagantly wealthy and sexually adept duke sweeping into town.  The (multiple) rakes who just want to have fun while also being hot messes.  The awakening of female sexuality and the copious use of the female gaze.  (Note the pretty modest and minimal focus on female nudity, while we get plenty of lingering shots on Simon.).  People want love!  There is pretty minimal violence and perhaps the most physically violent scene involves Simon beating a man up because HE IMPEACHED DAPHNE’S HONOR~.

The sex scenes themselves focused on Daphne’s pleasure for the most part, and were probably among the best I’ve seen since Outlander in terms of chemistry, in terms of the visuals, in terms of focus on sex as an act of emotional connection and FUN. Yes, there was some Unlikely Vaginal Orgasming, but we also saw Simon tell Daphne about masturbation.  On the wedding night, he was pretty clearly touching her to help her enjoy it.  He ate her out... a good bit.  

And aside from that, we got all of the grand speeches, the stolen glances and touches, an excellent buildup of sexual tension that led to some pretty hilarious moments.  

I also really enjoyed many of the performances on this show.  Rege-Jean and Phoebe had great chemistry and excellent back and forth.  Jonathan was a GREAT Anthony.  I would argue that as lackluster as I found his relationship with Siena (more on that in a minute) it largely existed as a way to set him up for his romance with Kate.  He now has even more of a reason to be down with love, as opposed to solely relying on a kind of flimsy tragic backstory.  Additionally, his overprotectiveness of Daphne added tension to the story and made him a source of comedic relief for me?  I loved it.  Give me disaster Anthony all day; can’t wait until he falls to the enemies to lovers trope just like Simon fell to his FLAW-FREE fake dating plan.

A lot of the changes I found were really good.  Obviously, it was important that the show incorporated greater diversity (though they need way more).  Benedict was INFINITELY more fun and interesting than he was in the novels, and acted as another standout for me.  As much as I hate Portia Featherington, I think that the elevation of her to a proper villainess is probably necessary and Polly Walker excels at those types of roles, though they need to maybe have her be less like, actively racist.  I adored the addition of Queen Charlotte; she was excellent comic relief.  Lady Danbury’s expanded role and relationship to Simon was one of the best moves they made.  It touched my entire soul.

Buuuut....

The Bad

The show needs to work on casting more men that are frankly on Rege-Jean’s level.  It feels a bit awkward to see a guy that is by most people’s standards kind of stunning and then.... Colin looks twelve.  Lord Philip is like... a farm guy.  Get rid of the sideburns, we’re in romance novel territory.

In the same note, the girl who played Siena wasn’t a great actress and wasn’t super stunning, so even though I’m fine with her being a placeholder....  Eh.  Go for better casting.  The woman playing Madame Delacroix would’ve played that role so much better and I really enjoyed her dynamic with Benedict because she was just fun.

Frankly, I don’t know what the fuck they’re going to do to make me want to watch Penelope and Colin fall in love.  Their book was already a bit basic--fun, but far from revolutionary.  I don’t really get why they would receive attention similar to that of Kate and Anthony, basically.  The issue is that Colin, again, looks and sound rather young and twerpy.  It obviously wasn’t great for him to be tricked into raising another man’s child, but.... For fuck’s sake, how much would that have affected his life on a practical level.  He’d never know unless he was told, thanks to the lack of DNA tests.  He was marrying far out of his league in terms of attractiveness.  He’s a rich white guy in England with a supportive family.  

I really disliked the fact that Colin told Marina in his huffy little tantrum that he would have married her anyway--because would you have, buddy?  Really?  The thing is that Marina had no way of knowing that and her entire life (and the reputations of her cousins) was on the line.  She didn’t know if she could trust Colin to keep her secret.  They barely knew each other.  He basically came off as a whiny child and I’m fine with him staying in Greece if that’s the plan.

Penelope was just... psychotic.  And that was really disappointing, because I love Nicola and would love to have loved to see the fat girl get her sexy love story.  But first off, lol, it wouldn’t have been sexy because Colin was miscast.  Second, she basically tried to destroy Marina’s life and that of her sisters?  And herself?  Because Colin?  Because Colin, a guy who hasn’t even shown any amount of attraction to her at this point?  Her tears, her whining, it was all too much.  Penelope was dealing with a crush and Marina was dealing with the real Grown Woman issues of a child out of wedlock and as it turned out a dead lover and they were not on equal footing.

I mean, Penelope could very well make a great villainess at this point, and if done well I’d embrace it.  But I do not know how the fuck they can make me interested in her love story.  And the idea of her basically being launched into villainy because she was this chubby white girl obsessively jealous of a beautiful black woman...... not a great look.

The show definitely needs to explore diversity in terms of sexuality too--I don’t think it’s correct to read Benedict as straight because he still seems to be open to exploring.  Once he has more screentime, I think he could totally end up being bisexual, and it’s possible that the writers were trying to feel the audience out in terms of their receptiveness to taking a straight character who has a big straight love story in the books and making him LGBT+.  Eloise could also easily be a lesbian, and I’d be thrilled to see that happen.  They need to do something to expand the world, and if there are 8 Bridgerton kids, all of them being straight as an arrow seems SO unlikely.

The Ugly

Obviously, the rape scene was bad and should have been written out.  Simon could have gotten caught up in the moment and blown up at Daphne after he accidentally didn’t pull out in time.  Men.... accidentally don’t pull out in time... a lot.  That’s how babies happen.  It would’ve been believable, and due to our sympathies being with Simon largely, I don’t think he would have become irredeemable if he was more at fault than Daphne.  

As it was, I will say that the scene was somewhat better than it played in the books because Simon was conscious and totally sober, and it was a bit?  Confusing?  That he didn’t just roll Daphne over and pull out?  Because she wasn’t really clearly trying as hard as she was in the book to wrap her legs around him and hold him tight.  But it remained a rape scene.  The show also did a better job, I think, of establishing how fucked up it was that Simon took advantage of Daphne’s lack of knowledge.  Whatever he said about thinking she knew what was up--he knew she didn’t even know about masturbation.  He had to know she wouldn’t understand what pulling out meant.  He did very clearly mislead her to think that he was sterile and therefore denied Daphne her ability to give informed consent.  Did that justify what Daphne did?  Nope.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.  But both of them did a fucked up thing and I think that we honestly could’ve stopped at Simon’s misleading.

The issue too is that this leads into a bigger problem the show had.  It wanted to include diversity (yay!) but did not consider the total implications of what was happening (not yay).  Daphne and Simon’s dynamic is inevitably influenced by the fact that she’s a white woman and he’s a black man, regardless of whatever handwaves happened.  This influences the sexual assault and makes it even more messy.

Speaking of mess, I’m not sure what exactly would have fixed the “we don’t want this to be a colorblind casting” issue... but the explanation they came up with wasn’t good.  Never mind that this makes everything SUPER confusing (racism is over like..... maybe 50 years MAX after Queen Charlotte’s marriage if we assume she was a teen when she married and is in her 60s now?) but Lady Danbury’s dialogue explaining this was HORRENDOUS.  “One of them fell in love with one of us”.  The implications are awful.  I don’t know if perhaps setting back the integration of society centuries earlier would have helped?  But this wasn’t it.

Additionally, the writers and casting directors didn’t seem to get that diversity is all well and good, but what about the fact that almost every black character has a light skin tone?  Why are there so few black female characters?  Why is Marina, the most prominent woc on the show, given the “pregnant and desperately trying to trick a man into marrying her until her jealous white cousin fucks her life up and she is humiliated into settling for a loveless match” plot?  I desperately hope we see her next season, falling in love with Sir Phillip or perhaps having experienced a plot twist that gives her someone else...  And she better not die. Eloise can find someone else if Marina really ends up with Sir Philip.

Ultimately, again, I really loved the show.  But it needs to work on some things.  I think that a lot of its issues can be addressed and fixed in a future season, and I HOPE they do that.

[justanotherteentitansblog]

Bbrae Week Day 3 Into the Woods

There are giants in the sky! There are big tall terrible giants in the sky! 

The changeling had his nose buried in the score as he attempted to read the music in front of him. ‘Funny’ Raven thought, ‘I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen him reading something other than a comic book’ 

When you’re way up high and you look below at the world you’ve left and the things you’ve known, little more than a glance is enough to show you just how small you are! 

Raven hated admitting it to herself but dear god she loved his singing voice. He had this sexy tenor that was like honey to the ears. She could listen to him sing for hours and never get bored. Her favorite music was anything he sang, but she’d rather die than ever let him in on that. 

When you’re way up and you’re on your own 

In a world like none that you’ve ever known

Where the sky is lead and the earth is stone 

You’re free to do whatever pleases you

Exploring things you’ve never dared 

Cause you don’t care when suddenly there’s a big tall terrible giant at the door. 

Stupid Robin and this stupid theater that’s closing down. If Robin hadn’t made such a huge deal out of trying to save the theater Raven would never be in this mess. 

A big tall terrible lady giant sweeping the floor 

Raven was just glad she could keep her cloak on for the role at least for most of the first act, she didn’t know if she was ready to face an audience without it. 

And she gives you food and she gives you rest and she draws you close to her giant breast and you know things now that you never knew before 

A Teen Titans production of the show, into the woods. Super. Raven didn’t even know she could sing up until auditions. She had never really tried before and once she did, she kind of blew everyone away, herself included. 

Not til the sky

“Ok good work, you’ve obviously been practicing but next time hold out sky for a little longer, you’re cutting it short and you should be taking a big enough breath after before to be able to sustain that.” The music director, Dan, reminded Garfield. 

“Thanks dude! I’ll work on it!” 

“I know you will, that’s why I don’t hate you,” Dan nodded. 

Raven liked Dan, he didn’t pussyfoot around. 

Dan turned on the piano bench to face Raven motioning her to come forward with his fingers. 

Nevermind, she actually hated Dan. 

She sighed and slumped her shoulders trudging to the piano like a child being sent to timeout. She threw her hood over her face to hide the blush coloring her cheeks before Dan interrupted. 

“Your character doesn’t have their hood on at this part of the show!” 

‘Fuck you Dan’ Raven thought pulling her hood down. 

“Ok top of measure 55, here is your starting note and…..go” 

Careful the things you say

Children will listen 

Careful the things you do children will see

Gar regarded Raven’s tense form. She was nervous, and she didn’t want to make a fool out of herself in front of an audience. 

And Learn

Too bad she had probably the biggest role in the whole damn show, The witch. 

Children may not obey

But children will listen

The role really was very fitting for her. Maybe not the rap about produce but everything else about the role was very...Raven. 

Children will look to you for which way to turn

To learn what to be

If only someone could just show her how to relax into a character and just be natural in it, then it wouldn’t be so painful for her. 

Careful before you say, Listen to me

Wait! He was someone! He could definitely show her how to get into character, and you know a little extra alone time with her wouldn’t be such a terrible thing now would it? 

Children will listen….

Dan turned to Raven, “How do you think that went?” 

“Well I was pitchy on measure 75 and I think I got off tempo towards the end, also my voice cracked at measu-” 

Dan raised his hand to silence the girl, “No, you’re singing was perfect, the real issue is that you need to relax. You know what you’re doing so just let yourself do it without judgement.” 

Raven glowered at the music director, “Easier said than done, Dan.” 

After rehearsal, Raven gathered her things in her bag and was headed towards the stage door when a familiar voice called out. 

“Hey, wait, Raven!” 

“What do you want, Gar?” 

“I think I know how to help you with your stage fright, that is if you want my help.” 

Raven breathed a sigh of relief, “You don’t know how much I would love that, thank you” 

Gar chuckled, “Well you’re gonna love the means of how we’re gonna do it even more.” 

Raven was amused, “Oh?” 

“Yep, I’m gonna show you how to meditate like an actor.” 

Later in Raven’s room she had sat on her floor cross legged waiting for instructions from her teammate. 

“Ok start with deep breaths in and out. In….Out….In” 

Raven smiled despite herself, for him to give her instruction on deep breathing when she meditated everyday, it was almost laughable, but she complied. 

He guided her through a simple grounding exercise and once she was fully grounded he began speaking again, “Now I want you to imagine you’re in a cottage in a forest…” 

Ah, so this was a guided meditation, this she could handle easily. 

“Now this is your cottage and your home, understand? Around your cottage is a huge garden, full of beautiful greenery. Can you see it?” 

“Yes” 

“Spend a few moments admiring your garden, truly soak it in.” 

She did as instructed. 

“Now I want you to imagine you hear a sound somewhere in the garden, I want you to move towards the sound.” 

Raven found herself wandering a maze of vegetation in her mind’s eye until she found the source of the sound. A man in her garden. Not just any man but her neighbor stealing her vegetables! She tended that garden with every fiber of her being and the fact that someone she said hello to every morning was stealing from her, it felt violating. She was furious, she could’ve laid a spell on him right there! She could’ve turned him into stone, or a dog, or a chair…

Raven popped an eye open realizing what was happening, “Is this guided meditation based on the witch’s story in the show?” 

“Yes, now get back into it!” 

Raven shut her eyes and let her mind sink back into the story. 

Her neighbor was begging for forgiveness but she knew it would happen again if she didn’t do something to keep him away. She had been lonely and barren all her life and having always wanted a child of her own, she was envious of the baker’s pregnant wife. She offered the baker a second chance at life for the baby growing in his wife’s womb. The baker reluctantly agreed before climbing over the garden wall, but as soon as he had left the sanctity of her walls...BANG FLASH, LIGHTNING CRASH! She watched as her hands shrunk and withered into the hands of an old crone. Raven ran to a small stream that ran through her garden to look at her reflection and much to her horror and dismay a 90 year old woman’s face stared back. 

Raven sat up and screamed out of the meditation jolting Beast Boy backwards. 

“Raven, are you ok?”

“Meditation is supposed to relax you Gar, not send you horrific images.” 

“Yeah sure but...how do you feel about the baker now?” 

Raven’s eyes glowed red at the mention of the name. “Oh I don’t care what it takes, I’m getting my face back and somehow making him pay for it in the process!” 

Raven paused, confused at her own words, “What was that?” 

“That was you finally being in character.” Gar smiled up at his friend. 

“Ok but you said that you were going to help me with stage fright, not character development.” 

“I did, Rae. Now when you go on stage, you’re not going to be thinking about the audience, you’re going to be thinking about what a rat bastard that baker is and how you’re going to make him pay. You’re going to think about how everyone sees you as the bad guy because you’re the witch when really you’re the victim in the show. You’re going to think about how much you love Rapunzel and you’re not ready for her to grow up yet. All the characters on stage, they’re not in front of an audience they’re just living their lives, it’s our jobs as the actors to give a venue to tell their stories.” 

Raven was floored, since when did he get so...wise? 

“That was a very impressive speech, Garfield.” 

“Yeah well, you know, can’t be stupid all the time,” he shrugged. 

“A slotted spoon can catch the potato..” 

“See? Now you’re in the spirit of the show.” 

Color flooded Raven’s face as she stood to meet her friend at the door. 

“Thank you Gar, I don’t know what I would’ve done without your help.” she leaned up and planted a kiss on his cheek. 

Gar’s emerald skin met red as he flushed at the contact, “Uh, wait. What? Did you just?” 

“Best to take the moment present, as a present for the moment” she said, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him in for another kiss. 

[thereisnochillinsideme]

The rain, Akaashi Keiji part two

I'm sorry it's been such a long time I've just had some stuff going on but here it is, part two. I also think @bakudummy asked to be tagged, if you didn't ask me to I'm sorry please tell me I'll take it off anyway enjoy! Akaashi was currently locked in a debate between himself and himself. While one side was telling him that it would be fine if he visited [Name] and Takahashi in normal clothing while the other was telling him that they weren’t close enough and that he was required to wear a three-piece suit. The first side then argued back that they might think he’s rude if he showed up for a cup of hot chocolate in formal wear. In the end, he decided that after picking [Name] and her cake off the street and getting her to Takahashi’s apartment, what he wore probably mattered the least to either of them right now and settled on a cotton T-shirt. He made his way out of his apartment and knocked on the door to his right, which was opened by Takahashi. He hadn’t usually seen her like this. She had changed out of the pencil skirt she so usually wore to work and was currently in a sweater and leggings. She also looked surprised to see Akaashi in anything but his work wear. She let him in and went back to the stove, where the milk for the hot chocolate was bubbling on the stove. He saw [Name] spread out on an armchair, now changed out of her wet clothes. She saw him and immediately perked up, changing her position to see him better. He took a seat on the couch across from her. She gave him a smile and immediately began speaking to him.

“Stoneface-san! Feeling better?”

“Yes, much better. How about you?”

She smiled. “I’m doing great! I got my cake, I got to meet you, I got to see Yo-chan, and now she’s making me hot chocolate!”

Akaashi smiled at the childlike elation she had at the situation she was in. She was an optimist to the bone.

He was a bit jealous of her, though he didn’t realize it. He was jealous of people like her. They didn’t have a care in the world, complete confidence in themselves. And people like him or Takahashi were following them around making sure nothing happened to them because, jaded and anxious as they were, they didn’t want that optimism to fade. It gave them strength too. It reminded him of the former captain of his high school volleyball team. Bokuto-san’s confidence was a force to be reckoned with and now there he was, playing professionally on a world stage.

Takahashi walked over with two mugs of hot chocolate, setting them on the coffee table that separated him and [Name]. [Name]’s smile grew wider upon seeing the drink and she happily picked it up and immediately took a big sip.

Immediately she started coughing.

“Ah barned mah tahnge.” She said, with her tongue hanging out.

Takahashi and Akaashi started laughing in unison as [Name] also began laughing with her tongue still hanging out.

“Why are you laughing? You burned your tongue?” Akaashi asked through chuckles.

“It is funny,” [Name] said through sips of cold water to soothe her tongue.

Time was spent happily drinking hot chocolate while [Name] told them jokes and stories.

Putting down his mug, Akaashi looked at [Name].

“[Name]-san, I’ve been meaning to ask your full name, as I didn’t get it when I met you.”

[Name] smiled. “[Last Name] [Name]”

Akaashi did a double take. “I’ve been calling you by your first name this whole time? That’s incredibly disrespectful as we don’t know each other well”

“It’s fine, Stoneface-san. I’ve never liked using my surname as it puts a formality barrier between me and who I’m talking to. Please use my first name.”

Akaashi nodded in acceptance. “So [Name], what do you do for work?”

She winked. “If I told you it would be no fun. It’s your job to guess. Your hint is that I’m in the creative field.” After many consecutive wrong guesses, [Name] changed the subject and started telling them what had happened to her at the train station that morning. As they laughed, Akaashi began to realize how much fun he was having.

It had been a long time since he had done anything like this. He maintained a strictly professional relationship with his coworkers and Bokuto-san was not free most of the time with having gone professional. He would come by and have a drink with Akaashi ever so often, but Bokuto-san usually found himself leaving early to spend more time with Shoyo. Akaashi didn’t mind that he was branching out and he knew that their adult life was definitely going to impact their friendship. However, it was not after he lost them that he realized just how much he cherished the carefree days on the volleyball team, how he would chase Bokuto-san around with an umbrella to stop him from getting wet in the rain.

It was probably why he spent so many late nights at work, trying to quiet his mind by occupying it. His high school friends were all busy with their own lives, he felt he should be as well.

“Stoneface-san?” He heard

He snapped out of his daze and saw [Name] staring at him, slightly concerned.

“Are you okay? Your stare was really blank and you didn’t laugh when I told you about when I threw a squid tentacle at the guy who came to collect my taxes.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I’m just feeling a bit tired. I also have some work due tomorrow, so do you mind if I take my leave?”

Takahashi looked at him, obviously concerned, but trying to hide it. “Yes of course, I’ll show you to the door.”

She walked him over to the door of the apartment and opened it, letting him go through.

“Thank you for looking after [Name] today, I’m sorry if she was a bit of an inconvenience. It was nice to have you both over, we should do it again sometime.”

Akaashi nodded, thanked her, and went inside his own apartment.

He didn’t mean to leave so abruptly, but he wasn’t lying, he did have work.

He made his way to the small desk by the window of his apartment and sat down, picking up the large, stapled sheet of paper by his window.

Today, his work was a bit more enjoyable than usual. He was editing one of his more favorite comics that was published in his magazine. Asuma no Sekai was a comic set in a demon world, with the main character being an incredibly lazy demon who preferred eating cake to doing her job. The crazy schemes she pulled to get out of doing her job were sometimes more work than doing the actual job and always made the reader laugh. Editing it was a more favorable part of Akaashi’s week and it never failed to lift his mood. The author was Sakurai Daisuke. He had never met the author in person as he usually sent someone else to pick up his manuscript, but he looked forward to meeting someone who was such a good mangaka.

After spending a couple hours reading, laughing, and editing the work, Akaashi went to bed as he had work the next morning.

[Name] had left on the first train that morning and though Akaashi was slightly mournful that he didn’t get to say goodbye, he continued on with his day like normal.

As the week went by, [Name] occupied Akaashi’s thoughts slightly more than a normal person would. He would pass by the cake shops in his area and wonder if she would enjoy the one in the display window. He was confused by why he was thinking about her so often, but chalked it up to the fact that there were a lot of cake shops in his area.

Later that week, on an afternoon while he was home, Akaashi got a call from his employee, Okomoto Chiyo. She sounded extremely distressed.

“Akaashi-san! I’m so so sorry to bother you!”

“It’s okay, what do you need?”

“My wife is sick and I’m home taking care of her. I was supposed to pick up Sakurai-san’s manuscript today, but Nanako’s been throwing up all day and I can’t afford to leave her now. Do you mind picking it up?”

Akaashi was slightly annoyed, as he had just gotten home. However, he knew that he couldn’t possibly ask his employee to leave her sick wife.

“It’s completely okay. May I have Sakurai-san’s address? At least I can finally meet him.”

“It’s xxx-xxx on the other side of the city. The train will be able to get you there really fast. Sakurai-san should have completed her manuscript by now.”

“Her?” Akaashi was confused

“Sakurai Daisuke is a pen-name. The author is female. She picked a male name to sound more ambiguous.”

“Oh, that comes as a bit of a surprise.”

“Thank you so much for doing this, Akaashi-san! I am forever grateful to you.”

“It’s no problem.”

Akaashi looked out his window and toward the train station which was a couple blocks away. It was raining.

As he turned, his eyes fell on a now-dry neon yellow umbrella. He must have forgotten to give it back to [Name].

He picked up the umbrella, put on a long brown coat, and ran out his apartment door.

He was able to make it onto the train last minute, sitting on the seat in relief. As the train moved along, he thought about what the author might be like.

Thinking about it now, it was fairly obvious that this author wasn’t like most of the male authors Akaashi’s company had published.

There was barely any fan service in the series and the author made sure to write her female characters just as realistic and flawed as her male characters. Most of the male authors drew one woman with an unrealistic body and made her show up every now and then to rip her clothes off and leave. Sakurai-san’s female characters had personalities and all different body shapes, some bigger or smaller, darker or lighter, more like the women he would see in the real world.

The train announced his stop and he walked out, looking at the paper where he jotted down the address.

He navigated his way through the twists and turns until he finally got to the apartment building.

He entered and went to the specified floor and found the correct door.

As he raised his hand to knock, Akaashi suddenly felt a bit nervous to meet this author who he borderline idolized, especially when he found out he was wrong about her gender the whole time.

Nevertheless, his hand tapped lightly on the door twice and he heard footsteps rush to open it.

What he saw behind the door was definitely not what he expected.

[Name] was peeking out, wearing a large animal onesie, holding a plate of cake with a plastic fork.

“Stoneface-san?"

[gilded-green]

@persononplanet replied to your post Okay but if you want to know some truly cursed...

I mean it fits a lot with who Yong is. A man who loves torturing and walking over other people that he feels like he can walk over. Tuan’s one of those and Tuan’s letting it happen because he’s not coming up for himself, at all. So he’s the most simple of the directors to bully. Yong wouldn’t dare do it to Long Feng, Shirong (oh yeah definitely bully the man that will brainwash you in the night), If Yong gets too close to Delun, Delun’s going to bore him to death with history,

And Quy...well Quy is just a chill dude no one really seems to mind. But Quy would stand up for himself and he knows how normal relationships should work.

All of which yong does not. 

Tuan, all in all, is the easiest to bully.

Why does yong bully? Well who knows, we certainly dont. But some guesses? Probably a bad childhood wherein he might’ve been abused by his family, leading him to turn bitter and only know how to deal with people in a violent way and with disdain.

It may be insecurity, a fear of people not respecting him or something like that, which he tries to fill by feeling superior than them. Which obviously isnt exactly the right way to solve such isssues but its the only way he knows how to. 

He definitely seems to enjoy it, so it might also be that he has a mental illness that screwed something up inside to the point he does nothing but what he always does, except when he needs to appear all formal and nice. (psychopathic perhaps?) 

All in all, for whatever reason, Yong is an abusive little shit to Tuan because Tuan allows it. Tuan doesn’t stand up for himself, he doesn’t defend himself, doesn’t do anything, because he, just as Caelum pointed out, longs for that brotherly companionship that many Dai Li have with their assigned partner. But he doesn’t.

Plus, he might think that if he just sits back and takes it, it would be less bad than actively pointing out his former partner’s behavior.

It’s definitely an issue of insecurity for Tuan. And we see it all the time in the written works. Tuan’s a Dai Li director, he’s in charge of all the patrols, he’s scary and terrifying to everyone, except the rest of the Directorate. They all don’t take him that seriously and Yong outright bullies him. Tuan’s self esteem and self-assureness must be rock bottom at this point for this situation must’ve been going on for several years now, and that with Yong even longer. 

My conclusion? Tuan deserves some actual care and friendship, someone should put Yong in his place, and I really need to stop pulling a re-education agent and psychologically analyzing people/characters, and get back to the mother’s day present im making. 

thank you all for listening (err reading) to my tedtalk

-the totally not a weirdo re-education agent, ahlyae

OH HI AHLYAE I DIDN’T REALIZE THAT WAS YOU!!!! Thanks for the novel, lol.

Nice analysis! Reeducation would like their hat back.

I would like you to rest assured that there is no dark secret or tragic backstory or anything else in Yong’s background that could possibly be cause for sympathy, however. He is very much just a dick. A solid middle-turned-upper class asshole with a penchant for power trips, who sees human beings as numbers and statistics and capital that only exist as a resource to boost him up. One of those people who, at their core, is fundamentally just kind of a jerk, and instead of allowing basic human decency and their relationships with the people they care about to temper that, turns and goes in the other direction to just become an even bigger jerk. The kind of jerk who doesn’t see why human rights violations are such a big deal.

I mean okay maybe there was something that might’ve set him down this path, but like *gestures at Yong’s everything and also the Dai Li’s shadow police practices in general* we are well past that. A few decades and multiple torture victims past that, really.

Tuan is pretty much just living with it at this point, as he has been for years. I’m very glad that I got That Time Tuan Got Plastered published; in GG Tuan was comic relief and I appreciated him for it, but in TTTGP I got to show how he’s competent and also overwhelmed. Dude needs a vacation or ten and also a friendship detox but idk when that’s gonna happen for him.

Really is a shame auspisticism isn’t a thing in this universe. I’d nominate a Reeducation agent for their middle leaf.

.......Maybe someone should lock them in a closet with Shirong, if he’d would be willing to cooperate. Yong is low-key frightened of Shirong. He learned the hard way not to disrespect Shirong.

[asexual-juliet]

Hello, sorry to bother you, but I was reading your older posts and now im so hyperfocusing on Dick Casablancas. He’s potentially the worst person ever, and I think I still really like him??? It doesn’t make sense, but he had so much room for character development!!! He had been through so much trauma and had a objectively pretty bad childhood/parents, and I think he could have been a really decent person if he was allowed to be anything other than the comic relief. Also I love your work.

this is literally the opposite of bothering me. you’ve given me the go ahead to talk about this piece of trash garbage boy as much as i want and for that you have my eternal gratitude!!

honestly, when i say i love dick casablancas, i’m talking about the version of his character that i have created in my head where s3 explored his trauma and he actually worked through his shit and became a better person. but alas.

the big thing to remember with dick is that he was supposed to be a minor character, but the writers liked ryan hansen so much that they started writing him in more until he became a series regular. so by the time they decided they wanted to write him as this funny, likable character, they had already set him up as a guy who treats women like shit and does creepy things with rapey undertones.

and honestly, this is understandable! they didn’t realize how fun dick’s character could be until they had already made him into a shitty person. the problem is that instead of addressing it, they chose to ignore it and hope the viewers would forget.

obviously the biggest problem with dick’s character is him encouraging cassidy to rape veronica as established in 1x21. the writers wrote it thinking that dick would remain an unimportant minor character and that the rape plotline would end with duncan, but they chose later to write dick a bigger role and retcon the rape, giving his actions real, dire consequences, and there was a conscious effort to make the viewers forget about the worst thing the character ever did. it’s a really shitty part of his character, and there’s no divorcing dick from his actions, but the writers could have acknowledged it and had him grow past it, especially after s2 when cassidy’s abuse came to light.

cassidy’s plotline gave them a perfect opportunity to explore dick’s shitty past actions and have him reflect!! sexual abuse thoroughly fucked cassidy up, and s3 could have been a great opportunity for dick to take a step back and see the effect that his gross non-consensual actions could eventually have on the girls he harassed, but the writers ignored it in favor of writing him as the two-dimensional comic relief.

dick had an incredible amount of potential after everything went down with cassidy, and we saw the writers tap into that a little bit with the scene in 3.01 where he shows up at logan’s suite and cries, the scene in 3.18 where he asks logan about what happened on the rooftop, and the scene in 3.18 where he calls his dad out on his bullshit (as well as the more subtle way they had him spend basically all of s3 drunk), but they could have done so much more with it and just didn’t!! dick is genuinely one of, if not the most traumatized characters on the show and we deserved to see that side of him much more than we did.

also like you pointed out, dick is the product of two shitty parents, and i think it would also be super interesting to explore his relationship with his dad a little more! because dick was his dad’s golden boy, but his dad also treated cassidy like shit, and to have dick deal with that and kind of start to realize the negative lasting effects his dad’s toxic masculine ideals continue to have on him would’ve been so interesting. so many of his shittier traits are learned behaviors, and that would have been so interesting to highlight

also. this is irrelevant but how fucked up is it that the only place dick had to go after he was kicked out of his dorm was to the building his brother threw himself off of??? how lonely is he that that is the only place he has to go??? and how hard is it for him to live there for at least a year??? the fact that he came to logan’s suite saying “i have nowhere else to go” ...the thing is he could’ve easily gone home because his dad skipped town and kendall’s dead but like??? he chooses the place his brother died over the place where he lived which is absolutely heartbreaking. like, the neptune grand is where cassidy left mac, tried to kill veronica, where he killed woody, and where he killed himself and dick still chooses to live there. and i’m definitely reading too much into it but part of me is gonna put his decision on the fact that he lived in his house with cassidy and didn’t notice anything when he was being abused/killing people/raping veronica and if he lived there alone guilt would definitely overpower him. but at the grand logan is there and dick’s not alone and yeah, it’s where cassidy died, but dick wasn’t there to witness everything that happened that night, and he really couldn’t specifically have stopped the actions of that night, but he blames himself for not noticing something was off with cassidy and bullying him and being home might remind him of that.

in conclusion: girls don’t want boys girls want a solid narrative arc that focuses on dick casablancas and his unresolved trauma. thank you so much for the valid asf ask.

[lizacstuff]

Another very good episode despite the sad ending which was very well executed by hande. What did you think of the episode?

Very good episode. One nice thing about these new writers, so far, is that the episodes flow a bit better than they used to flow. I think the prior team had trouble putting 2+ hour story without it being disjointed.  These guys seem to be able to manage the format better. 

So much to love in this chapter. So much comedy. So much fun. So much ripping my heart out and stopping on it and then kicking it a little and then throwing it into a fiery lava volcano pit for good measure. 

All those emotions were felt. 

Edser to come, but let's start with Babaanne and the Prince.  It really feels like these characters were introduced with another story in mind, and then the show pivoted. Perhaps the new writers wanted something else, or maybe Fox wanted to renew but wanted the show to get back to basics so they changed course to this reset of sorts? It all feels unfinished.

(continued under the cut)

I think we were all expecting more trouble from both characters.  Not that kidnapping Eda isn't causing trouble, it clearly is, but the fact that it was resolved in the first 5 minutes is notable. What was the point? It did give them a cliffhanger, a chance for Serkan to be a hero, a reason for Serkan to fire Balca, and a reason for Babaanne to change her tune, so it wasn't completely pointless, it served some plots, however it was very anticlimactic. 

Babaanne was pretty anticlimactic too. She comes on like a house on fire in 25, having Serkan arrested on serious charges that could have stuck, framing Alptekin, ruining the project the team had won via the tender. She manipulates Eda into breaking Serkan's heart, goes full matchmaker with the Prince, but then when Eda decides, "Nah, I'm not only not going to give up on Serkan, I'm gonna marry him." she backs off all her threats? 

It does make me wonder if both or either (offscreen) the Prince or Babaanne have something to do with Serkan's plane going missing.  Just so they can fulfill their evil potential. Either of them is powerful enough to pull that off, and it makes more sense than either of them giving up so easily. 

As for Aydan and Ayfer, they made for some pretty good laughs this episode. I think the friction caused by their inherent differences is much more funny, than the fighting over Chef Alexander. As I said in another ask, Ayfer worked my last nerve in her very first scene this episode. She wakes up after being dosed by her mother's choice of life-mate for Eda, but immediately blames the Bolats. Fuck off with that. She enabled her mother, she is more to blame for this situation than anyone but the villains. If she would have stood up to her mother and supported Eda instead of choosing to further Babaanne's agenda by opposing the wedding, maybe Eda's life wouldn't have been put in such danger.  I can't with her. She would deserve it if Eda puts a little distance between them.  

GO DETECTIVE MELO! Love her tenacity in putting together the pieces of Henna night and rightly figuring out Balca's duplicity. For a second there I thought they weren't going to tell Serkan what they found, which made me nervous, but then at the first opportunity she blurts it out. Well done!  We should have known Serkan would be two steps ahead of them except that he's been two steps behind when it comes to Balca since the very beginning. It was very satisfying to watch him fire her. Though, I do wish we would have seen him find out she purposely put strawberry in his drink.  Good riddance!   The ILYs between Serkan and Melo were very sweet, it speaks so well of Serkan that he has such a soft spot for her. Of course it is only natural since Melo has been an unwavering supporter of his since the beginning, Serkan picks his allies well. 

Now onto the couples. The tension between all the romantic pairs this episode was fun, and obviously done for over-the-top comic relief, but also very silly, lmao. Those boys are so DUMB!  Engin has the sensibility of a preteen boy and Ferit never knows when to shut up, he's so naive and he can't read a room.  

However, who didn't love the friendship growth between Serkan and Ferit?  They planned a 15-day bike trip? I'm dying! And crying! However, I fully believe that Eda-broke-up-with-me-I-have-a-sad-and-need-a-distraction Serkan planned that trip and I found it preposterous that Serkan would have any desire to still go right after he got married.  We're supposed to believe that schmoopy, smitten, horny Serkan is ready to leave his newlywed bride for that length of time? Puh-lease he's planning every way he's going to sex her up over the next 6 months, and it's going to take every free minute. Also they can't even find time to get to Paris for the night, but he's going away for that?? NOPE.  Maybe next year, Ferit... but also invite the girls to the bike portion.  

The tension between Eda and Serkan in the first half hour of the ep was a nice little truncated story of the stress wedding planning and a looming, giant life change can put on a couple. Edser started the day in a very schmoopy place, but by the time they left Aydan's they were already starting to feel the pressure. The bickering between Ayfer and Aydan felt typical, and I felt myself being more sympathetic with Aydan.  They're rich, why wouldn't they hire a wedding coordinator? That's a helluva lot of work to do in 3 days!  Why would Ayfer want to spent that time doing centerpieces when she could be enjoying the pre wedding festivities? Dumb. The gems as favors do seem a little over-the-top, but I'd like to take home one of those aquamarines when I attend their wedding, so I won't complain. As far as where they're going to live, both ladies need to step off! They need to be at least 15 minutes of driving distance from both of them.  Not living on the Bolat property and not living in Ayfer's neighborhood. Geez. I'm stressed just typing it up, no wonder it set the betrothed couple on edge.  Obviously, they were having a major disconnect when they got to work. Serkan was dealing with a crisis and probably should have just told Eda that instead of burying himself in work, ignoring her, and getting irritated with her. Meanwhile, Eda should have noticed he was more focused than even the typical workaholic robot, and that meant something important. 

The misunderstanding that fueled their full day stand-off was so silly, and preventable, but also led to hilarity and one of my favorite scenes ever so I won't be too hard on how manufactured it was.  Each of these things-- family wedding planning stress, Serkan being inattentive due to work crisis, and Serkan acting a little "the old ball and chain" when Ferit was blundering along about guys trips and postponing the wedding-- all led to an Eda who was already feeling a bit insecure, so when she overheard Serkan's phone conversation it's not shocking she took it the wrong way.  However, it takes a bit more handwaving to believe Serkan took the conversation the wrong way and went right to freezing her out. Come on, Serkan, you're less emotional and have less reasons to be feeling vulnerable at that moment. She was in your office trying to get your attention on wedding planning and your home and future. You were the one too busy to engage!  Though, I suppose it's believable that these two stubborn souls would allow the misunderstanding to fester out of pride, rather than confront it head on and clear it up right away. It's pretty consistent that when one of them gets their feelings hurt and feels rejected by the other, their defensive walls go up and they both revert to pretending they're just fine and the other's rejection can't hurt them. They need to get over this asap.  

That poor wedding planner. She has a couple insisting they get married in 3 days, they're entirely unhelpful and now they aren't even speaking to one another?  I understand her frustration and don't ding her for asking if they're sure they're ready to get married, but her saying that was definitely one of the things that contributed to the insecurities they were both already feeling. They were both so sad when they had the last conversation in the office, each one suggesting the other to take time to think and rest. Their video call that night was equally as fraught and sad. Sweet, dumb babies. 

The entire sequence of the girls stealthing into the hotel and hiding on the couch was hilarious. I love that Eda doesn't realize that crashing the bachelor party could be embarrassing until she's flat on her back on that couch, hiding behind lobby foliage.  As for the boys, they redeemed themselves a little bit, by being too upset to enjoy themselves.  

One of my favorite parts is Eda trying to be breezy as if the girls being there has nothing to do with the bachelor party. I laughed at Melo taking the blame for suggesting the resort. The single gal always takes the blame, just like the unmarried/not engaged Ferit gets the blame later.  This moment (click here) is one of my favorites of the episode. I still am not sure what she's trying to say with her looping gestures and pointing upstairs and then her haughty pose, and I don't think Serkan knows either, but yet he just gets a kick out of her. The guy who Engin said never smiled, smiles pretty damn easily these days. Also j’adored the wardrobe that had them matching perfectly in shades of cream and olive. In sync and gorgeous. 

Speaking of wardrobe, during that fireplace conversation Serkan looked so huggable in that fleece pullover (more casual Serkan, please!) that I felt terrible that they were not in a place where she could cuddle up to him in front of the fire. Come on! We deserved to see that. That was the biggest tragedy in that scene, slightly ahead of them postponing the wedding. As for that, they were both so convinced that the other thinks they're going too fast, that neither of them was listening to how the other positioned it. Each positioning it as the other's preference. That illustrated the trouble that a little insecurity and a lot of pride can cause.  

Now on to my favorite scene of the episode! Seriously, immediately after watching it I mentally vaulted it to my top 10 scenes list (no such list exists, and if it did it would change all the time, lol).  First, can I say how I appreciated that the friends were all shocked at the news they were postponing the wedding? Ferit and Engin couldn't believe it, and Melo, Ceren and Piril all actively questioned the idea that Serkan would want to postpone. Thank you! You just know if Ayfer were there she would have tried to say "Oh, that's too bad, but really for the best, let's celebrate!"  

Anyway, I loved every second from the moment Serkan says, "Eda, can we talk?" until the apology. Finally, instead of being led by their pride, they both show some hurt which is the catalyst for the heated conversation that clears everything up.  

It's impressive how consistent they've been with some characterizations and how Serkan and Eda yin/yang each other. Eda has always had trouble saying, "I love you." It just doesn't come easy to her. She illustrated that in episode 12, she can handle the sentiment and agree with it, "our feelings are mutual" but it's hard for her to say the words. 

Conversely, Serkan has never had that problem. From the minute he confessed he has told her how much he loves her many, many times and in many, many different ways. What Serkan has trouble with is "I'm sorry". It is so hard for him to say those words. In episode 9, all it would have taken to get Eda back was a simple apology, instead he spent an entire episode doing everything to get her back, but the very simple act of saying, "I'm sorry. That is some next level aversion to apologizing. Whereas Eda doesn't have that problem, she can own her mistakes and apologize pretty easily. 

These scenes outside showcased this dynamic beautifully.  After the misunderstanding is rectified, Eda very easily apologizes, but Serkan goes with a "me too" type of response. The sentiment is there, but he doesn't say the words. A few minutes later, after the crew joins them, Serkan goes all romantic robot and tells her how much he loves her, then prompts her, but instead Eda teases and teases until she finally whispers it. 

Obviously, she loves him and obviously he is sorry about the misunderstanding, but I like the consistency that they both still have trouble vocalizing these specific things.

The fact that Serkan was ready to chuck the guys and his bachelor party in order to have a romantic night with her is very sweet, and also points out how silly the notion of him wanting to travel extensively without her right after they get married. I don't mind things that are exaggerated for humor, but still humor shouldn't need you to completely change the attitudes of the characters in order to hit. And playing on jokes about how marriage and a wife might be viewed as a burden, especially in context of a couple who aren't even married yet, isn't awesome. Which I get, the fact that it is a shitty attitude and a crappy joke fueled the fights between the couples, so at least there was that. It wasn't accepted. 

The lovely montage by the lake was a wonderful way to show us some quiet, romantic moments between them. That's one of the great things about this format, they have time to occasionally gift us with scenes that don't drive the plot, don't move forward any story or character development or even have dialogue, they just exist to make us swoon and fall even more in love with this couple. Mission accomplished! The fact that Kerem is the one who found that location just makes it sweeter. 

Engin, Engin, Engin. What makes you think it is a good idea to judge a beauty pageant?  Your wife is in the hotel! Not that she would be jealous, but, you know, assigning a number value to women based on their looks... it's not great. Also I realize that it's a necessity while shooting with Covid, and we just have to suspend disbelief in scenes that should have tons of extras but are barren, but the hotel holding a beauty pageant and the only people in attendance are three dudes who just happened to be bored in the lobby is funny in and of itself.  But glad the girls got a chance to take their revenge and make the boys feel what it's like to be judged in such a way. Plus it was worth some laughs and gave us a way to unite the bachelor party with the pajama party. 

For me the next scenes only exist to have Edser draped all over each other in the bar.  I didn't really pay too much attention, I think Piril/Engin and Ceren/Ferit all made up, but I do know Serkan wanted to ditch everyone and go back to the room and since we know what happened next.... we know why!  Though I did wonder, did he have a massage appointment for like 10pm?  Or was it the next day? It matters not at all, but it did strike me while watching. I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH WE GOT OF THEM IN THE TUB!!!  *flings self into the sun*  That was quite something.  Bless these new writers and their willingness to go there.  I love that scene so much. Serkan's smile is just... something else. 

One nitpick is the lighting. Obviously, with the timeline they shoot on, some production value will go by the wayside, though mostly I think they do a decent job despite all the constraints. However, one place that is consistently lacking is lighting in indoor, one-off locations.  The coffee shop in ep 12 is an example, and this was another one. I can understand they need to get in and out quickly. In this case the crew wouldn't have been able to probably prep as much as they'd like, because you're probably not going to put any stand-ins in the water, and you can't take time to perfect it once your big stars are in the tub, mostly naked, submerged and pruning, but the harsh shadows across each of their faces is distracting. Where were the bounce boards? Even those lines out. 

But obviously we don't care. WE GOT THEM BEING SEXY AND PLAYFUL IN THE TUB! What a bounty. That's all that matters.  Loved all the wedding prep, especially the lovely Aydan and Eda scenes. There was SO MUCH JOY... until there wasn't. 

I'm not going to spend much time on the contrivance that led us to the final scenes. I mean, first, Erdem... why are you so incompetent?  And, second, do they not have E-signature in Turkey? Or scanners? Or even fax machines? The idea of having to fly to Italy just to sign something is ridiculous. Oh well, whatever drives their plot, I guess. 

The final Edser scene was brilliant and beautiful and heartfelt and romantic and ominous and painful. All the things it should have been for what happens next.  Poor Serkan! Poor Eda! Why can't they catch a break? 

[takaraphoenix]

In all seriousness though, I never expected Harley Quinn to grow on me like this. Prior to diving into the comics, I thought she was just... a fun, quirky character. Bit of a comic relief, bit off the rails. I enjoyed her, sure, but I never really looked at her as the main vocal point.

I started reading DC Comics out of spite because my OTP barely ever makes the cut in adaptations so I dove into comics where they are canon. And then I read Injustice and... Harley’s friendship with Dinah and Ollie was just so great? Her entire arc and development, the dynamics to all the other characters she interacted with, were so enjoyable and engaging.

I’m definitely not a Batman girl; I don’t hate him, he just doesn’t really interest me. But while I’m here, I might as well explore things that didn’t spark much joy in other versions, right? So I read White Knight at the recommendation of someone who feels about Batman kind of the same way I do. And, honestly, that was less a Batman and more a Harley Quinn comic, where once again, Harley was just... winning absolutely everyone over to her.

I knwe she was more complex than the fun, quirky comic relief, obviously. But reading something that actually dives into that complexity is much different from merely knowing it exists. And beyond that, the way she wins people over, how she makes friends, with the most unlikely people, it’s so incredibly fun to read that I ended up putting Harley’s solo-runs on my list of comics I want to read too.

And that’s, truly, not something I had expected. There were some heroes I’ve been interested in through adaptations before and they’ve made the list, some universes that were recommended to me, but Harley Quinn? You could say she just... surprised me and suddenly grew on me, much like she did with all the characters she interacts with. She’s a joy.

[lethesomething]

Ghost of Tsushima and the Hands of Fate

I see we're still trying to prove that games are an art form by making everyone feel bad.

For the record, Ghost of Tsushima is one of my favourite games in a very long time. It is extremely pretty, the aesthetic and general … polish is *cheff's kiss*. You can pet foxes and backstab people. The fighting mechanic is decent and there are just So Many Hats.

But also, it has the kind of story that pulls you in to the point where you have to drop the controller to hide behind your fingers going 'ohgodno'.

It is an absolute bastard of a game, is what i'm saying.

So let's talk about that, and specifically about Straw Hat Ryuzo and how I feel bad for him.

I am, by the way, going to be talking about the narrative structure of a video game about medieval samurai, so expect like, a bunch of spoilers.

The narrative is one of the big draws in Ghost of Tsushima. Like yes, it's an open world rpg with fighting and flower picking and all the important stuff, and also yes, some of the bits are sloppily written (looking at you, specifically, 'Ending to Norio's Arc'), but the game definitely sets out to Tell a Story.

And because this is a Serious Game that openly bases itself on samurai movies like Kurosawa's, it is a Drama.

In many ways it is an utterly brutal Bildungsroman, a narrative in which a young man finds his identity.

I have joked with friends about the clear intent for this game to make Important Stories, in that it actually tries to tick all the boxes of hotbutton subjects: childhood trauma? Obviously. Gay relationships?  Yup. Survivor's guilt and PTSD? Oh yes. Domestic abuse? Several. Suggested pedophilia? Damn, even that.

The foxes are there to soothe the soul

It's interesting to note that from a writing point of view, this bildungsroman is even Very Classically Structured. It goes so far as to be a three acter, with a pretty standard build-up.

 Jin Sakai, traumatized man that he is, spends the first act slowly getting to grips with the bit where you don't fight an army by yourself by  just walking up to them and challenging them With Honour, like he has been taught his entire life. Instead of getting stabbed repeatedly in the chest and set on fire, he  discovers guerilla warfare and creates this persona of the Ghost, a literal vengeful spirit seeking justice for the island of Tsushima.

It gets him some big wins and in the second act he slowly embraces this identity until things get to a head where he clashes with his entire old life. The third act starts at the hero's lowest point and is utterly gut wrenching (i am Still Not Over the horse, game), forcing him to pull himself together for an ending that is, well…fitting for the narrative. It's an ending that is needed, but perhaps not what Jin deserves.

 But anyway, this is about Ryuzo, and how until that ending, I was very upset about his role.

You see, this story is told in part through the lives of Important Npc's, who contribute to Jin's journey of self-discovery. This is pretty obvious with someone like Yuna, who is the one to introduce him to the Stealth Life and who is a driving force behind the marketing of the Ghost.

Someone like Masako, meanwhile, portrays vengeance and self discipline, but Jin also kinda tries to make her fill the mother-shaped hole in his heart.

Lord Shimura, meanwhile, is an Obvious Father figure but also stands for Jin's past. He's rigid and ineffective, which pushes Jin to further look for alternatives.

Ishikawa, that other mentor figure, is more moderate and flexible, but he also represents a possible unwanted future. He literally warns Jin at one point not to become like him.

Norio, then, is as mentioned not the best written, but he too is a person that searches for his destiny and tries to become like his hero, while only barely holding on to his sanity. 

Kenji, I'm sorry, I love you but you're just comic relief, that's all you do. It's an imporant job in the story, because god does it need it, but you're not teaching Jin anything other than how to make different 'resigned sigh' noises.

So what about Ryuzo? From the very beginning, Ryuzo's story didn't really sit right with me. There's the obvious class issue: he's one of the few important npc's that are poor, and he's an Antagonist.

It has always rubbed me the wrong way that his original intentions were good, depending on how you read it. He's trying to feed his men. He essentially made the decision that this one man's life (even if it is an old friend) is worth the price for the lives of his band of ronin.

It's a lot more complex than that, of course. Ryuzo partly blames Jin for his predicament in life, and he also knows that samurai treat their soldiers as chattel, which the game goes out of its way to show you they DO.

  Essentially, he's a complicated character who makes bad decisions for arguably good reasons.

Ryuzo did everything he could to save the lives of the people he cared about. He went so far as to abandon his honor and his childhood friends, to try to make this happen.

Does that ring any bells?

It kinda clicked for me at the very end of the game.

Jin, being the protag in an assassin game, does a lot of killing. But some of these deaths are given more meaning than others. Some of them are there to make you feel like shit (the Horse Again, but you lose several friends along the way), others serve a more defining purpose.

You see, there's a fair amount of what i'd like to call 'intimate violence' in Ghost of Tsushima. It's an old trope. The 'if someone was gonna kill me, it had to be you' kinda scene that hails from a worldview in which some deaths are better than others, sure, but some deaths are better even than living. It's a worldview in which life itself is less valuable than your legacy. You die for your place in history. For your clan, for your family, for your honor.

Bushido is full of that sort of thing, so it makes sense that a game building on that worldview, would use the heck out of that trope.

  The first is Ryuzo's death. You fight him in a duel, in which he tries to plead for some resolution. You could let him go, come up with some story. But Ryuzo is a traitor, so Jin ultimately defeats him and sends him off in what would be a touching moment of bro friendship if it wasn't for the blood and my 21st century sensibilities.

You grant him a warrior's death, is what I'm saying.

  It happens again with Shimura. The game actually gives you a choice here, but if you go through with it, the scene almost perfectly mirrors Ryuzo's.

You fight in a duel, and Jin tries to get his uncle to just let him go, come to some kind of resolution. But Jin has been branded a traitor, and the only way for Shimura to restore his honour and clan, is to take his life;

This being a game in which you have the power of bamboo strikes and also save games behind you, Jin ultimately wins the duel, and has the option of granting Shimura a warrior's death.

It is utterly heart wrenching and that whole scene has no business being as pretty as it is. The swelling music? The fucking strings? The anguished yell?

Fuck.

  But anyway.

That's about where it clicked with me, that Jin never had a choice.

Ryuzo's whole role wasn't fair, but this is one of those stories where life itself is just not fair at all.

Both him and Shimura are there to show us Jin's path.

  What if, the game says, Jin had listened? What if he'd taken one of several offers the Khan made and surrendered?

What if he'd cooperated?

Well, we see in Graphic Detail what would happen. He would get pushed into doing horrific things. He gets manipulated, again and again, until there is no way out anymore. At some point it becomes clear to him that he's on the wrong side but whenever he tries to devise some plan to turn things around, things go Badly. He's firmly stuck in Khotun's web and the only way out is death.

But what if, the game says, Jin had stayed true to his honour? What if he had listened to his uncle, not defied him, if he had dropped the Ghost before it was too late?  If he'd gone full bushido and repented for the shogun and done all the groveling and the proper stuff.

Samuraihood is just another straightjacket, says Shimura's fate. The tenets are so rigorous you would take your loved ones life, while fucking bawling your eyes out. Shimura knows damn well it's unfair but he also has no way to leave this path. It's a ride he cannot, and will not, get off alive.

  Jin never had a choice.

There was only ever one way for him to go.

Like let's be real: pretty much everyone in this story was dealt a bad hand. It's a narrative about resilience in the face of utter horror, of reinventing yourself and giving up entire structures of faith. People like Masako, Yuna, Norio are finding peace in dealing with huge levels of trauma and regret.

The goal isn't to start a family and live happily ever after, it's to Survive.

Submitting to the mongols would have killed Jin's spirit. Standing tall and rigid as he was taught to do would have, ultimately, killed him as well.

  "I've given up everything to save these people", he says near the end. "And I would do it again."

That's someone who has no regrets.

Jin never could have taken another path and he knows it.

And this is why Ryuzo needed a fate as shitty as his. He fell, so Jin could walk.

I'm sorry, it's still not fair.

This game needs some comfort fic.

[ijustwant2write]

A Free Spirit-Tommy Shelby x Reader

(GIF credit to @beautifulmultifandomfamily​)

Requested by @sylvanaiello​

Summary: ‘Hi ! I really love what you write, so much so that I'm French but I still read your writings in English because I love them! Could you write me a short story with dear Tommy Shelby? Like : the young woman is pregnant and with Tommy for years but she constantly challenges him to fend for herself, to go out or else ... and they argue. Sorry that's a bad description, but you're a fairy I know you'll make it great. (Sorry for my english!) much love XX’

Characters: Thomas Shelby x Reader

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: Mentions of sex, fighting, threats, pregnant symptoms, shouting, swearing

(A/N: I can’t believe there are people out there, who don’t have English as their first language that read my work! So sorry for the long wait though x)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

With all the strength in me, I used my entire body to push against the vault door, letting out a sigh of relief when it finally closed. Comically slapping my hands together, as if they were covered in dirt, I felt as if I wasn’t the only person in the shop. Of course, I knew who was standing there, I would be a terrible wife if I didn’t.

“Tommy, you’re here. Thought I was meeting you back home.” I smiled as I made my way over to him.

He didn’t look amused.“What did I tell you about getting involved with business?”

“What?” I kept a smug smile on my face, slithering my arms around his waist.

“The young lads were supposed to collect that debt money, not you.”

“Have you seen those boys? They’re still new to all of this, they would have pissed their pants if they had seen who answered the door.”

“Exactly. He could have hurt you.” 

Tommy’s arms finally wrapped around me, huffing at my actions from earlier. 

“Tom, I know what I’m doing.”

“But you don’t need to do it. Not anymore.”

“I don’t mind-”

“That’s not the point. You’re (Y/N) Shelby, everyone knows who you are, there is a target on your head.”

“There’s one on yours too.”

“I’m different.”

“How?”

“Remember when I kept pushing you away? Rejecting your advances when you would stumble about in the Garrison?”

“You make it sound like I was always drunk.”

“You were when I saw you.” 

“What point are you trying to make here?”

“I said no so many times because I knew I had already fallen for you. I didn’t want to put an innocent person in the firing line. Though I suppose it’s a little too late now.”

“Yes, it definitely is.” I held up my left hand, wiggling my fingers to show off the wedding band.“And I wouldn’t have approached you if I didn’t think I could handle the infamous Thomas Shelby.”

“Is that what you’re doing now?”

“Got you wrapped round my finger. Everyone knows it.”

I pulled away from him, walking away when I thought I was off the hook. However, he called out my name, and I refrained from slumping my shoulders, trying to not sigh at him. Turning around, I clasped my hands together, holding back a smile as he slowly walked towards me. Fuck, he was handsome.

“(Y/N), you’re not to do that again.”

“I’m not wanting to start an argument with you, I’m just going to ask a simple question. Why have you all of a sudden become so protective? More than usual?”

“We’re not getting any younger.”

“What do you mean?”

“If we were to start a family, I need you safe, I want you safe.”

I was never one to be taken off guard, or to be speechless for long. But what he had said shocked me. I knew Tommy valued family, but I hadn’t thought about having a child in a while. For some reason, I felt that Tommy was too busy for that; perhaps having a child running around would cause more stress than happiness.

The corner of Tommy’s lip raised.“That shut you up.”

“I...I didn’t think....we haven’t spoken of that in so long.”

“I know. But I’ve heard you speaking with Ada.”

“You’ve been eavesdropping?”

“I’ve overheard your conversations at the right time.”

I rolled my eyes.“Tommy, you should have said something sooner.”

“You want this?” He wrapped an arm around my waist, tugging me into his body.

“You already know the answer.” He kissed me quickly, but I pushed him away.“Ah, ah, I will not conceive my child in the betting shop.”

“And why not? This is what they’ll grow up with, might as well start here.”

“No. We have a huge house at home with many bedrooms that we can use.”

“Get in the fucking car.”

We had the most amazing sex that night (not that it was ever not amazing), but the passion was intense. We wanted a baby, we loved each other. At first, we knew that starting a family was risky, but anything we did was a risk, he was the leader of the Peaky Blinders; so what was the point of worrying and getting no where in life? It made him more determined, he had another surge to protect everyone. Maybe a baby would change his point of view. All I was certain of, he wasn’t complaining throughout the process.

As we had hoped and expected, I feel pregnant, assuming the news when I woke early one morning, dashing to the bathroom with my hand clamped over my mouth, trying to not throw up over the lush carpets. The doctor later confirmed this, as did Polly when she decided to unexpectedly grab my breasts. She stated I was pregnant, and I couldn’t lie to her, because one, she already knew, and two, why would I dare lie to her? 

“Oi, oi! I hear we’ve got another Blinder on the way in nine months!” Arthur exclaimed as Tommy and I entered the Garrison. I was thinking of keeping it a secret a while longer, though all of that was thrown out of the window. 

“Well, we were going to tell you later down the line, but I suppose the word has spread.” I smiled, welcoming his hug.

That night was full of celebration, and although almost every night in the Garrison was long and full of drunks, this had a different atmosphere. It was more joyous, there was a lighter feeling in the room, even Tommy broke out a small smile. All of this, all those months ago; it felt like only yesterday I had announced my pregnancy.

Now here I was, four months pregnant, and definitely feeling the side effects of pregnancy. My bump was on show, that’s how I liked it to be, it was at that point where my dresses strained against it if it was too tight. My hands were constantly resting on it, soothingly rubbing it in calming motions. I loved this feeling, I never wanted it to end, but at the same time, I wanted to have my child in my arms. It was a confusing emotion. Tommy was always around me too, normally I would go a day or so without even knowing where he was, but now he was beside me at all times. I wasn’t stupid. I knew what was going on. He was paranoid before, but this was a whole new side of him I hadn’t seen.

It felt wrong, but I wasn’t going to obey Tommy’s every command. Yes, being pregnant obviously meant I had to be more careful than usual, but I wasn’t made of glass. Tommy always went on about how there were many threats to the Peaky Blinders, but I was always under threat, what was the difference now? I knew how to look after myself, I would never put my baby in danger. However, Tommy would never let it go, especially after the stunt I pulled in the Garrison.

The boys were supposed to be meeting with the rest of the family at the Garrison, though as usual they were late. Polly, Ada, Esme, Linda and I were sat in the private room, everyone else drinking but me. We were trying to engage in a conversation that didn’t involve any mention of God, though that was impossible with Linda there; to contradict this, Ada started arguing with her, using politics, and my head could take no more. Not wanting to snap at any of them, I excused myself, finding the rowdy bar more peaceful than the two bickering Shelby women. Sitting at the bar, I found myself talking to a few of the locals, until I spotted someone.

“William London? What are you doing in here? I remember my husband barring you, as well as threatening you if you ever came near this place.” I slowly slipped off the stool, holding onto my baby bump.

He rolled his eyes, beer spilling out of his drink as he waved it around.“I couldn’t give a shit. This is my local, I’ll drink where I like.”

“Your local is owned by my husband, the leader of the Peaky Blinders. Are you really that stupid to waltz back in here?”

Tension was building, and although the noise was still raised, people were keeping their eyes on us. 

“Who are you to tell me anything? You’re a woman, you’re not in charge here.”

“Not officially.”

“Look, your days of being a rebel are over. You’ve married into a gang to make yourself look bigger and badder, but all it’s done to you is make you a little housewife.”

I scoffed a laugh.“You must be blind then sir. You obviously don’t know me.”

He stepped forwards, pointing to me with the cup of beer.“Yes I do.And I know whatever is growing inside of you is from the devil himself. Might as well save you the trouble.”

My hands instinctively covered my bump more as I backed away, the men I was previously speaking to jumping up to barricade me. William didn’t stop, and although he wasn’t being violent, the men grabbed him, forcing the man back.

“Does no one see how he has used you to continue his legacy?!”

“Will, you were kicked out for many reasons, one of them on account of how crazy you are. Glad to see nothing has changed.” I spat.

As William started to fight back, thrashing against their hold, things escalated quickly. Voices were raised, fists were thrown, and I was backed into a corner, forced to stand behind the bar as to not get hurt. Just when I thought that no one could stop this, the doors burst open, Tommy, Arthur and John stormed in, knowing that there was trouble. It immediately stopped, the man currently holding William using this chance to throw him to the floor. 

“William London, what the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” Arthur snarled, hoisting him back up on his feet by the back of his collar.

Tommy’s steps broke the silence.“I told you to stay away. And do you remember what would happen if you came back?”

Nothing.

“Answer me.”

William kept his head low.“Y-you would cut my eyes.”

“I would cut your eyes, yes. Well, you broke that promise. It was a simple task, just go drink somewhere else. But you’re too much of an idiot to listen.”

He nodded to Arthur who nodded back, before dragging out a flailing William, John following after. No one was sure when to go back to their conversations, not wanting to risk offending the infamous Shelby. 

Tommy held his arms out, gesturing to everyone.“Well go on, back to your drinks. Enjoy your evening.”

As the noise level resumed, Tommy stared straight at me, and I knew that I was in trouble (though I hadn’t done anything wrong in my eyes). He walked out of the Garrison, wanting me to follow. Sighing, I stepped out from behind the bar, spotting Polly standing in the door frame of the private room. 

“You gonna be alright?” She asked, handing me my coat.

I slipped it on.“Yes. Just got to convince him that I’m not in the wrong.”

“Don’t put too much stress on the baby.”

“How can I not? I’m a fucking Shelby.”

Tommy was waiting outside. There was no sign of the other Shelby men, meaning they must have dragged William off to somewhere secluded. I was surprised when Tommy took my hand in his, starting to walk us to God knows where. I thought he would slump away, just wanting me to follow along. I didn’t ask anything, I didn’t even want to say anything. He was going to snap at me, for no reason, I didn’t want to start a fight. Surely he should have seen it as me respecting him and enforcing his rules?

We walked into the betting shop, Tommy not bothering to turn on the lights, until I did. Letting go of my hand, he ran his down his face, deeply sighing. I lowered myself into a chair, feeling the pressure lift off of my swollen feet. He noticed this, pausing his pacing and watching me.

“Before you say anything, I was not putting myself in danger. You walked in at the wrong time.” I started.

“I think I walked in at the right time. We’ve already pissed him off enough, what if William used you as revenge?”

“Revenge? Tom, that’s a bit dramatic isn’t it?”

“You saw him go berserk. He would have hurt you.”

“Yes, but I had people there to protect me.”

“They aren’t our men. They could have-”

“Tommy, they still fought him. Look, I’m sorry that I opened my mouth, but I can never stand it when people go against you. You’re a fucking Shelby, you banned him for a reason.”

“Yes, I understand that.” Tommy walked over to me, kneeling in front of me.“But you can’t be the same woman as before, not fully.”

“What? You’re telling me not to be myself.”

“I’m telling you to think before you speak. I’m not calling you stupid, or anything along those lines; but you must know that you’re an easier target now.”

“Because I’m pregnant.”

“Yes. We both know you can defend yourself, but with our baby, you’re slower, you can be hurt easier.”

“Tom, I know-”

Tommy placed his hand gently on the bump.“I don’t think you do.”

“I’m not an idiot! I’m stuck with this every day! Our baby is growing inside me, how can I not think about it?! But I am not incapable.”

He groaned.“You’re not listening-”

“I’m not going to sit around and look after the baby all day-”

“(Y/N)!” He raised his voice before clearing his throat.“You’re too used to this life, but I don’t want you to be. I don’t want our child to be. You’re not an idiot so I don’t understand why you’ve put yourself in these situations?”

“I...I...” I put my hand over his.“I’m Thomas Shelby’s wife. I’m supposed to be this strong, powerful woman that stands by the leader of the Peaky Blinders. You said it yourself, I’m much more of a target like this, so what are people thinking?”

“I take it back, you’re a fucking idiot.”

“Excuse you?” 

“Everyone still thinks of you as who you were before I got you pregnant. You said it yourself, those men in the Garrison stood to protect you, even though they weren’t employed by us.”

“I’m just not able to do the things I used to.”

“All women think that when they’re with child.”

“But it’s different for me.”

“You’re still stubborn, that’s not changed.”

It was hard to hold back the smile at his comment, and his laugh made me break.

“Tom, I feel useless.”

“You’re not useless. I know that as soon as that baby is out, you’ll be wanting to get back into business you shouldn’t be involved in.” 

“Maybe not as much after our baby is here.”

“Really? Not going to train our lad as soon as he takes his first breath?”

“Course I will. But we must wait for the student to become the master, he’ll take after his mother.”

“I don’t know if I can deal with two of you.”

I gently grabbed his chin.“You knew what you were getting into when I drunkingly proposed to you.”

“As did you when I told you to shut up and proposed to you.”

I guided his face towards mine, kissing him hard.“God we’re romantic.”

[demons-fanatic]

Major Spoilers for ‘The Good Place’ Television Show:

(Skip to the final paragraph for no spoilers and my points)

I watched ‘The Good Place’ on Netflix these past couple of days and... It was good! It deserves the praise it gets and definitely doesn’t get boring at all. However, I did have a tiny issue with the way some of the story went. As in the whole thing with going back to Earth, that entire thing I actually felt was pointless and could’ve been used to build other information instead of seeing the exact same thing we saw in Season 1. But, it didn’t overstay its welcome, it actually was pretty okay for the most part and seeing that setting was fun. Especially with the characters seeing people they knew. Not to mention all the times they had to restart was getting on my nerves.

My next biggest issue was Jason, not that he was annoying. No, no, I actually thought the different character was great... But, I honestly feel if he wasn’t there, literally nothing would be different. He did do a few things, such as give advice a few times. But, overall he was pretty... boring? Like, he was very funny, don’t get me wrong but the other characters actually did something. And sure you could say everyone else was doing stuff so him being there, being funny, the comic relief, yes! But, usually characters who are just comic relief aren’t that interesting and sadly this is how I feel Jason was for me. He was the only one (besides from Tahani, since she didn’t go through the door.) I didn’t feel for when he went through the door. And I can only assume this is because he didn’t really do anything. Was Janet and his relationship cute? Yeah, actually. But yeah, that’s just my qualms. He, of course, is a good character and doesn’t ruin the show for me.

However, my next compliment is actually Janet herself.  She is genuinely one of the best characters I’ve seen in a while and to say I have to congratulate her Actress, would be an understatement. Despite being an essentially robotic slash Human Archive, she becomes well, human. Over the course of the series she becomes extremely well versed in conversing with the main cast and develops a relationship with them, a friendship. This is obviously due to the 800+ reboots she got, which increase social ability. Nevertheless, it’s obvious overtime she becomes better on her own. She becomes her own person. Even though she denies being a human, socially she has essentially adopted that role, like Michael did and soon literally did. She cannot die and unlike Michael, cannot become human. I feel as if her doing all of this is probably the best growth of the series. Yes, I’m very serious. She has an extreme metamorphosis from a servant into breaking her shackles, not only that, breaking them and forging them into armor basically. Not literally, but... you get it. Needless to say, she’s actually my favorite character overall. I love her humor and mishaps in the series not to mention the genuine dialogue she happens to deliver near the end. She genuinely cared about these people and it was amazing to see. My only hope is that despite her having to live forever, she found happiness in that and can always relish in the memories she can experience.

And lastly for compliments I have to appreciate the Show’s final episodes for what it did. What did it do? Well, it showed that even in paradise, you can be happy. But, once you’ve done everything... Are you really living in paradise anymore? And it’s true, the worry is very much true and it made me start to think as well. However, if there really is an afterlife with a paradise, it would probably just be eternal happiness forced upon us. In which, I have to be ok with because if I’m dead and my soul, or whatever, is just unable to return to Earth, I’d rather be eternally happy. Or if the system is like The Good Place (which, frankly I have no reason to believe) have a job like one of the Architects. Again, whatever it is, I’d be ok with it. But, in the show it solved this problem, it gave the solution which is to be forever evaporated into the universe and just fall down into a spec that causes someone to do good. And that actually spoke to me a lot. Not that I should become a better person(because I do believe I’m not a bad person at all, honestly.) but that if you do work hard enough. Your effort will bear fruit. All Eleanor wanted was to help people in the series. Well, for the most part. Regardless, she worked so hard she actually did it. Tahani is doing it too, she’s helping the entire Afterlife and Mindy, so she can get into the Afterlife too. Assumedly the rest of them did the same, their specs or whatever it is, helped people do good. It’s beautiful, genuinely. Despite all of the jokes, all of the haha’s and stuff, it does show a beautiful thing and I have to appreciate that. Even though everyone’s parents came back and their friends. Even though they can go anywhere they want forever. They all chose to just stop, exit the universe and even though unknowingly, help one more person. Whether or not they come back, I don’t know, I assume not. But, still. It really spoke to me. And I really really liked it.

Finally, would I recommend this? Well, of course I would. Not only does it display some good themes and messages it also teaches. It’s 53 episodes across 4 seasons. The characters are great, the story is good and doesn’t take itself seriously much and the end, while being pretty sad and heartwarming, shows a good ending. I didn’t actually feel like there was much wrong with it. Even the points I brought up could be excused since even though it is a plot driven show it’s also just a comedy with philosophical points mixed in. It’s not a crime drama or anything like that. It’s just a funny Heaven and Hell story that deserves your time if you’re into that. My rating in the end would be a 9/10! Anyways, if you read this, thank you very much. The show is on Netflix, however, I’m sure it’s available elsewhere ;).