#I'm actually obsessed with these scenes

[clfixationstation]

they're both deranged <3

[mutantmayhems]

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM (2023)

[moodyseal]

OOH OOH CONCERNED-POLLO?? MANS IS MOTHER™

Y E S

Poor guy's stressed out over everyone's safety 24/7 consciously AND subconsciously

[clarkgriffon]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 2x07 | “Lie to Me” 

[wikitpowers]

look! it's kit and ty! :')

gif: @theedorksinlove

[mithrandirl]

[d1sc01nf3rn0]

I'm seeing a lot of people with neurodivergency, specially under the autism spectrum say that "Laios is annoying, never shuts up, is insensitive, and I can't stand him"; and the irony is not lost on me lmao.

[taxinealkaloids]

so...John’s planning on pulling the plug on the world, right? Like that’s what he’s doing here?

I’ve just been turning these bits of ntn over and over in my head and tbh I can’t stop thinking about the description of 10,000 years of civilization as a first draft. John’s first resurrection didn’t quite end up how he wanted -- closest friends all dead, turned traitor, or both, fighting a war on multiple fronts, his only allies the corpse of his accidental bastard daughter and a twenty-something princess with cannibalistic tendencies whom he canonized as part of a failed attempt to revitalize his polycule-- but hey, it doesn’t matter, because he can just start over. All of NTN he’s in this depression spiral; he’s falling apart, he’s having orgy parties with his senior staff, he’s got at least part of his subconscious camped out in the comatose mind of a half-dead nineteen year old he tried to have murdered, treating it like a confessional booth; because right there, in the background of his mind through all of this, is the off switch. He can have his breakdown, and then just...let Alecto out. Erase it all, start fresh, and this time he’s got one attempt under his belt, he’s got notes for what to do differently, and so let it all fall to shit! Nobody else is gonna remember any of this anyway. Two worlds, now, that only John will remember. Maybe three, later; maybe four, what’s to stop him from redoing it over and over til it’s just right? 

The issue with that, of course, is there’s really no way to treat the world like this and still care about it in the way other people do. You’d lose your ability to be affected by life’s events after a couple reboots and then what’s there to get emotionally invested in? When you’ve turned a person off and back on two, three, four times and you know you’ll probably do it again the next time something happens you don’t quite vibe with, how can you possibly look at them as a real person? Are they a real person, if they only know what you want them to know and do what you want them to do? And once you reach that point, once people aren’t people but project components for you to edit, what are you even bothering with all this for?? John started down this path because he so loved the world; what happens when he reduces the world to something he can no longer afford to love? Might as well pull that plug for good, yeah? 

Anyway. I’m fascinated by the way John’s shitty mental state is dooming the world and it’s everyone else’s bad luck. The rest of the cast is out there fighting for their lives and he’s like *sigh* let’s try that again. take two, everyone! 

[novelconcepts]

Do you ever just lay awake at night, turning over in your head the stark difference in delivery between Hewson's Van saying--steadily, unshakably--"it's just something that's happening to you...happening to us" and Cypress' Taissa saying--imploringly, whiningly--"this was not just my dream, this was our dream"?

Do you ever just turn it over and over, how often Tai tried to scare Van away, and how it only made Van set her feet more firmly? How Taissa's first love was this person who saw a problem fall into Taissa's lap, a problem that was quite literally trapped inside Taissa's body, and decided unflinchingly: No, that's an us problem now? How she refused point-blank to walk away even with blood in her mouth, how she flatly informed Tai "I'm never gonna be scared of you", and promptly turned a moment of pain into a declaration of love? And how this would etch itself into Taissa for the rest of her life? How she'd take these things that worked with Van--with the person Van was, with the bond they shared--and try so hard to run through an identical script with Simone?

Except Simone is her own person. A completely different kind of person. A person who hasn't been offered any of the context, any of the realities going on inside Taissa. So: naturally she doesn't respond the way Van did at eighteen--and will go on to do all over again in her forties. Naturally, she hears our dream as the excuse it is, not as a plea for connection. Naturally, she is scared away when Taissa pushes, and shouts, and begs. Because there isn't blood in her mouth, not yet, but there will be. And they have a son to worry about. And she isn't eighteen and a special kind of immortal, a special kind of romanticized. She's a grown woman with responsibilities, with priorities, with an understanding that you can't fix someone just because you love them. And Tai can't just perform a revival of the play she and Van had memorized twenty-five years later with a whole new performer in the works, and expect it to shake out the same.

Of course it doesn't work. But look at Taissa trying it. Look at Taissa trying to reframe her first love through a new lens. Trying to recast it. Trying to play it through again. Van taught her love was sticking out the blood, shaking off the pain, making a you problem into an us problem. Does it ever just eat at you, how tragic it is, watching Taissa try to shape her marriage around a woman who isn't even wearing a ring?

[yeommijeong]

I want only this, I want to live a simple life

Mr. Gu & Yeom Mi Jeong My Liberation Notes (2022)

[fairyroses]

I’m sorry... it wasn’t me. Are you sure?

SMALLVILLE — 1.15 / 2.04 / 4.17  ↳ dark!Clexana ‘expressing certain desires’ to each other 👀

[wickedsymphony]

“Apologies, Dream, but the laws of Hell demand that I become his champion.”

[angst-iguana]

Seiji's face-

He's flustered and startled, but more importantly, he's mortified. Their baggage goes beyond fencing, it's not just fencing Jesse, it's fencing Jesse. Jesse who shows up at Kings Row if only to see Seiji, Jesse who trys time and time again to get Seiji back. Jesse, who left him defeated in more ways than one after nationals. Fencing Jesse means facing Jesse. Jesse makes bold, confident moves, they're all calculated to push Seiji's buttons and mixed with a charming 'this is how far I'm willing to go for you.'

We learn their friendship consisted a great deal of Seiji following Jesse's lead, we can likely assume Seiji trusted Jesse in every way, to be a good friend, to protect him from other people, and to always be an out from the world. Seiji has a look of 'please don't make me do this' but we know he would. He feels helpless and becomes incredibly flustered because maybe he's always caved and maybe, he doesn't want to disappoint Jesse any longer, maybe he is overreacting because part of Jesse is right, this is how it's always been.

And Jesse, Jesse knows this, he knows what cards to play with Seiji, they've known each other their whole life. Jesse knows how Seiji feels about him and he takes advantage of that. The beginning of their conversation was genuine and heartfelt, but when Jesse felt Seiji slipping away, he plays his confidence and charm and gets Seiji flustered because Seiji's much more likely to cave to Jesse and all his charm.

[doubledyke]

eddy flirting with kevin is such a power move honestly

[lustrethings]

It's very important to me that you understand that "their relationship had deteriorated into their own private hunger games" implies not only they were hunting each other, but also that they were both scared of each other and fearing for their lives

[imminent-danger-came]

WAIT HOLD UP

When talking about Mei being like Monkey King. There was a really strong parallel in season 3!

It was kinda mentioned already? But I don‘t just mean thematically, in the execution too! The scene Wukong was willing to kill the host child and Mei was willing to burn him, because they felt they had no other choice.

(I think she even mentioned that this is what Monkey King would do. What a hero would do.)

They both even had that small confrontation of "Are you really willing to sacrifice a child/friend?". And both make the tough call that this is something they HAVE to do. Maybe with some guilt, yes, but always without question.

GOD YOU'RE SO RIGHT ANON.

Lady Bone Demon: "Stop! Have you forgotten? Destroy me and you destroy the host. Have you become so desperate to end me that you would sacrifice this blameless, innocent, child?"

Sun Wukong: "You're giving me no choice! All the time you spent locked away and you haven't changed a bit! I'm going to finish you, like I should have done a long time ago! I told you—you should have stayed buried."

(3x11 This Imperfect World) (Always manifesting this scene for eamk)

-

Lady Bone Demon: "*laughs* You think whatever happens to Wukong is of concern to me? He is a vessel—nothing more. You would really destroy your own friends to save yourself?"

Red Son Voice Over: "Harmonize the wild energies and emotions burning within us and focus them!"

Mei: "Wukong knew the risks, it's what he would do if he had to. That's the hard part of being a hero!"

(3x12 The Corrupted King) (Omg hi hand motif! Hi!!!!)

-

Bonus Secret 3rd Parallel:

MK: "I'm not gonna let you win!" Lady Bone Demon: "In your thirst to destroy me you used all your powers!" MK: "Not all of them."

(2x10 This is the End!)

-

Some extra thoughts under the cut!

What interests me the most about this parallel is the fact that Mei would totally sacrifice Wukong and Wukong would totally sacrifice that little girl—it's a simply trolley problem for them—but if that person were MK?

I don't think either of them could do it.

Here's where I get into more speculative territory, because personally I think Wukong killed Macaque, and I'm also a believer in EAMK, so I'm going to be plastering a lot of red string!

SO. Would Wukong willingly sacrifice someone who meant so much to him?

You could argue he already did so with Macaque—I think that's what they're setting up anyways. I think Macaque's death is going to fall into place with our continuing "do you sacrifice one person for the many" conflict we have going on here, one that was definitely built upon in 4x13:

Yellowtusk: "I know full well what would happen should Azure fail but- but he is my brother. I owe him my life!" Sandy: "We get it! I'd do anything to help my friends! But at the cost of the world?" Pigsy: "I'm sorry pal, but NOTHIN' is worth that price!"

(4x13 Rip and Tear)

-

So it seems clear: You sacrifice the one person for the sake of the world.

I think looking at this conflict and using it as a lens to look at Samadhi Fire Mei brings up some interesting points. If Wukong's had pulled off his plan without Macaque or Ne Zha's interference, and then hadn't been able to safely extract the Samadhi Fire from Mei...would Wukong have sacrificed her?

Everyone in 3x10 was willing to sacrifice Mei in a way, to leave her—except MK. MK refused to abandon her, risking himself and the world if he wasn't successful and the Samadhi Fire continued to burn out of control. But in this situation...choosing one person over the world was the right choice.

((Just wanted to point out that both Wukong and Mei are very willing to sacrifice each other which fascinates me. Moving on!))

Wukong himself isn't won't make that sacrifice if he feels there's another option: "You're giving me no choice!" (which I think echoes Mei's "We don't have a choice!" from 3x02)

All of this is a long winded way for me to say that at some point MK is going on the chopping block, either next season or beyond. It's going to be either him or the world, or at least it's going to seem that way, and our protags are going to have to make a very hard choice (omg hi "They will destroy you, harbinger of chaos!").

BUT, BRINGING THIS BACK AROUND TO EAMK.

Wukong won't destroy the one life if he feels he has a choice. This is where baby MK steps in: "all the time [he] spent locked away", and he changed EXTREMELY. To the point where he's basically not the thing that was sealed away in the stone, and very much just a "blameless, innocent, child"—meaning Wukong had a choice.

SO. Basically it's my hope that Wukong already chose MK over the world once, and him and Mei are gonna do it again.