#I'm legit afraid of s2

[asgardian--angels]

...prayer circle for izzy hands

[andiwriteordie]

Okay I absolutely want to take turns and play a little ts st game so.. tag you're it.

(I am also obsessed with you, if that wasn't obvious)

THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE GAME YAY YAY YAY

i'm gonna go with one of my most favorite taylor swift songs (legit this has been in my top 3 songs on spotify since 2019 or 2020 lol): the archer. i constantly go back and forth between whether it feels more mike or will to me because it just... it feels so much like both of them.

(prepare yourself for a loooooooong analysis. bold = mike; italics = will; both)

Combat, I'm ready for combat

I say I don't want that, but what if I do?

Alright, breaking this down section by section, be prepared for a long post, my friend. I think about Mike so much with this lyric, simply because Mike has a more combative nature than Will does. He’s hot-headed, brash, and easily angered, and we see him escalate a lot of situations (not even just with Will) because of that. But it’s so interesting, because while Mike’s nature is to be more combative and feisty, I feel like this also then contradicts other parts of Mike’s personality. Mike wants to be needed. Mike wants to be loved. His biggest fear is losing people that he cares about. He fears being abandoned by the ones he loves so much. So, these two lines to me just capture that internal battle, especially in the context of Byler, where Mike jumps to these argumentative, harsh words with Will (see rain fight, see Rink-O-Mania fight), and yet, he doesn’t want that. We know he wants things to be normal with him and Will again, but he’s using his combative, argumentative mask to hide those true feelings.

'Cause cruelty wins in the movies

I've got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you

Cruelty wins in the movies. Ouch. This just reminds me of how Mike is trying to put on a facade. He is trying to emulate what a traditional, masculine kind of guy is supposed to look like. Guys aren’t supposed to be sensitive. They’re not supposed to care as much, and they’re certainly not supposed to care about other guys that much, right? Mike wants to be like the men he sees on the screens and that he sees in real life too (see - how he tries to follow Lucas’s example of traditional masculinity). But then, we see again, this other side to Mike. Lettergate theory truthers rise up. Mike has so much he actually wants to say to Will. Words he’s too afraid to say out loud and that are lost on pages he’ll never send or hidden in the back of his mind, where nobody gets to see them. But he wants to say them. He really really does.

Easy they come, easy they go

I jump from the train, I ride off alone

I think I’m gonna talk about Mike’s side of the chorus first, then I’ll talk about Will’s side when the chorus comes back around. God, “easy they come, easy they go” KILLS ME. I just have the images of Mike standing outside of Will’s home as Will (and El) are driven away from him in both the S2 finale (when they’re going to save Will from the Mind Flayer and when El is going to close the gate) and when Will and El’s family move from Hawkins. People keep leaving Mike, and that’s his biggest fear. It’s not just Will and El either; it’s all of his friends. We see these fears spilling out when he’s angry at Lucas in S4 for the basketball thing. 

I never grew up, it's getting so old

Help me hold onto you

This line is so freaking ironic to me, because Mike is just the opposite of that, right? He forces himself to try and grow up. He tries to push his childhood away in S3, and in doing so, he hurts Will and the rest of his friends too. He’s trying so hard to ignore all these confusing feelings and repress them, but in the end, it just hurts Mike more too. He feels like he has to grow up, but he doesn’t actually want to. That’s getting old, and Mike just wants to go back to when things were okay—back when he could still be close to Will, could hold on tight to Will, could do things that weren’t looked down on because they had the innocence of youth to hide behind. And so, I read these lyrics as almost like… Mike’s inner child quietly asking if he can go back to that, begging to return to how things used to be?

I've been the archer

I've been the prey

Who could ever leave me, darling?

But who could stay?

Again, going back to the theme of Mike’s fear of loss and abandonment. “I’ve been the archer” - Mike has hurt people with his harshness and the words he’s said. He’s hurt Will before. But God, don’t other people realize how much Mike has been hurt too? “Why am I the bad guy?” Mike literally asks Will, because God, doesn’t Will get that he’s hurt Mike too? That Will didn’t reach out and didn’t answer his calls? That Mike feels like he keeps getting left behind, that everyone else is moving on and moving forward, when he just feels stuck? When he keeps losing the people (the person) who means the most to him?

Dark side, I search for your dark side

But what if I'm alright, right, right, right here?

Alright, moving on to some Will lyrics now! I can interpret this a couple different ways… But when I think about these lines, I just imagine Will in the aftermath of S3 and before S4, hurting and thinking about Mike. Because Mike has been his best friend for years now, and Mike did hurt him. Mike said harsh words and cruel things to Will, and maybe there’s a part of Will that is angry and hurt. That wants to leave their friendship behind, because Mike did it first, right? For what was probably the first time, Mike showed Will his “dark side” which is so shocking to Will, who has only ever been able to see Mike’s light and his love. 

But that’s the thing that Will gets to learn about love and friendship—that you don’t just sign up to love the goodness someone has. You sign up for the good, the bad, and the ugly. And yeah, he’s seen the bad parts of Mike, but he’s also seen so much good. The bad does not discount all the years of love and friendship he and Mike have shared with each other, and Will wants to return to that friendship. He misses Mike. He’s not planning on leaving anytime soon. 

And I cut off my nose just to spite my face

Then I hate my reflection for years and years

Okay I couldn’t decide who I wanted to analyze this set of lyrics more for, so I decided to do both. God, I love these lines so much, because when you think about that phrase “I cut off my nose just to spite my face” and its meaning that, “Hey, I’m going to do something that’ll hurt somebody else, but surprise? It hurt me just as much too,” I just think it’s so Byler. I don’t think either of them intentionally try to hurt each other, but when they do hurt each other, they end up hurting themselves just as much.

So, with both of them, I think about that time between S3 and S4. How neither of them really reached out all that much. How many they didn’t quite know how to be around each other anymore. How a little bit of resentment built up in their hearts, even if they didn’t want it to. How there were probably moments when Mike called Will and got no response, so he decided to be a little stubborn and not try again—until it just hurt too much not to try and reach out. How there were probably moments when Will saw letters coming in from Mike to El and how he thought about his own letters to Mike that he stubbornly decided not to send, because Mike couldn’t reach out first. How both of them wanted to reach out, but how both of them were hurt that the other wasn’t initiating. God. They’re so stupid, and I love them!

I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost

The room is on fire, invisible smoke

And all of my heroes die all alone

WILL WILL WILL WILL WILL. Literally this section of lyrics is so Will coded, like? I can’t. I love this song so much, Abby. I love that it’s a discussion of anxiety/mental health issues and how that then affects the way we love people. Because now, with Will’s perspective, I just… I think about how much Will has gone through. How he’s suffered from PTSD and probably still struggles with nightmares, even years after his kidnapping and possession. How when we see him in S4, he’s still trying to hold onto his past and his friendship with Mike, because of how much stability and comfort Mike once brought him.

Rewinding a little bit because if I’m gonna talk about Will’s mental health, I’m gonna talk about S2 because I love S2 with my whole heart? Literally all of this just reminds me of Will’s struggle with adjusting after S1 and then how he was targeted by the Mind Flayer in S2. He knows he isn’t the same, and everyone keeps reminding him of that. “The room is on fire, invisible smoke” - just reminds me of Will seeing the Mind Flayer and feeling his presence, but being told by Owens that it’s probably just all in his head. “Invisible smoke” like he made it up… all in his mind. Not to mention, “All of my heroes die all alone” excuse me. Bob. Dying because of something that’s indirectly Will’s fault? Ouch.

Help me hold onto you

Look, this little line gets its own paragraph because I’m not done talking about S2/S4 parallels yet. Again, thinking about how in S2 Will was struggling so much with adjusting and with being stalked, and who was there for him? Mike. Mike was this steady, constant presence, and he was the one person who didn’t treat Will with kids gloves or like he was broken or different for what had happened. He gave Will the courage to keep fighting! So, now in S4, especially at the end, we just see that struggle of Will knowing his and Mike’s friendship isn’t what it used to be, but God, he’s back in Hawkins, and he can feel Vecna’s presence again, and when will this end? Is Will going to be alone in this, this time around? God, he hopes not, and maybe that’s part of why he’s trying so hard to stay close to Mike too. Mike is his best friend, but Mike is also the one who most helps Will keep fighting. And sure, Will “ripped the bandaid” off, but then sitting on the couch next to Mike and quietly telling him these things—that One is back, that he’s not going to stop, that they have to kill him? It all just reminds me of this simple, simple lyric, and how Will is trying to return to that S2 dynamic. “Help me hold onto you,” is what he feels, even though he knows he shouldn’t.

I've been the archer,

I've been the prey

Screaming, who could ever leave me, darling?

But who could stay?

I mean, come on. “I’ve been the archer” in the sense that Will has done things he regrets. He was used by the Mind Flayer/by One to hurt and to kill people. But then, at the same time, “I’ve been the prey” because Will was One’s first target. He was abused and had his autonomy and control ripped away from him. One used Will to then perpetuate more destruction and harm. And that’s terrifying to Will, especially knowing he can still feel One and still is connected to him. But then, it’s just so beautiful to me, because in all of that, who stays with Will? Mike does. And Will knows it. Through the worst parts of his life, Mike stayed. The year before that, Mike moved heaven and hell to try and find Will. So, now, as they’re moving into S5 and into the fight of their lives, it’s just that question of… will Mike stay with him this time? Can they go back to the people they were and the relationship they had?

(I see right through me, I see right through me)

'Cause they see right through me

They see right through me

They see right through

Can you see right through me?

They see right through

They see right through me

I see right through me

I see right through me

Obviously, a lot of repeated lyrics here, but I just like thinking about how both Mike and Will are hiding parts of themselves—their sexualities and their feelings for each other. For two people who have built a friendship on the idea that “friends don’t lie,” it’s heartbreaking that they now find themselves in a place where they have to keep secrets from each other. And I just imagine, as they stumble close to crossing that line, as the walls fall down ever so slightly, if they’re wondering if people can see through their lies. Surely, somebody sees through their lies—Jonathan did with Will’s van monologue. And Mike’s fear is someone seeing through his lie in the monologue he gave to El. Because they both are well aware that they lied in these moments; they can see through their own lies and I’m sure they regret it. So, is it only a matter of time before somebody else sees through the lie too?

All the king's horses, all the king's men

Couldn't put me together again

S2 Will right here. I think about Will, feeling lost and feeling different and feeling broken, after his experiences in the Upside Down. He’s always felt like a freak, but now, he can’t run away from it. And it’s getting worse. The doctors are trying, and he knows it. Owens is a nice enough man. But nothing is helping. Maybe Will can’t be fixed. Maybe he’ll always be different and always be the freak, and there’s no running away from that. And it sucks… but even in spite of all of that, he still has Mike. His best friend. And Mike’s not going anywhere.

'Cause all of my enemies started out friends

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch, whatever you do don’t think about both Mike and Will feeling like the other one hates them now or is disgusted by them in the aftermath of their S3 fight. Nope, no, don’t do that. Mike feels so guilty; he’s hurt Will and said things that he regrets. And now Will isn’t reaching out to him. Will already feels different because of his sexuality and feelings for Mike, and now, he feels like Mike must know and must look at him differently. They used to be best friends, but now, they can barely even call themselves friends.

[Help me hold onto you

I've been the archer

I've been the prey

Who could ever leave me, darling?

But who could stay?

(I see right through me, I see right through me)

Who could stay?

Who could stay?

Who could stay?]

Lots of repeated lyrics, which I think I covered already. :) 

You could stay

You could stay

You

Combat, I'm ready for combat

And this… this right here. I love this. Because after all of this, after this song is a massive confession of anxiety and of the worst parts of yourself, after the vulnerability of asking the person you love to please stay, please don’t leave again, I interpret this as a bit of a hopeful ending. Who could stay? … You. You could stay. So with Byler, I view this as just that moment of understanding that I hope they’ll get in S5, where they realize in spite of everything that has happened, in spite of what they’ve said to each other and the mistakes they’ve made, in spite of the negative ways they view themselves… Mike is choosing to stay there for Will. And Will is choosing to stay there for Mike. They’re not planning on leaving each other’s sides. They will face whatever comes next together, as a team. Neither one of them is going anywhere. It’s Mike and Will, up against the world.

[imaginativecrime]

7 reasons The Witcher series is a mess (or damn I need to vent)

Unpopular opinion time! For the record, I’ve read the books, played the games, hell, I’ve binged the Polish movie and series (because my love for Michal Zebrowski and Zbigniew Zamachowski is undying, sue me), and I was super hyped. Then I spent the entire series yelling at the TV, so I made a handy numbered list of the reasons why I personally consider it mediocre at best.

Because I’m fucking disappointed and I’ll never not be bitter about it. Fact.

Be warned, there are all sorts of spoilers below.

Let’s look at some of the issues that affected the show as a whole:

1) Adaptation is hard work - but you have to do it right

Adapting a story from one medium to another is difficult, you inevitably have to change things to make it suitable to the new form of expression and also, everybody wants their adaptation to be unique, to emphasize points they think are important, to reflect on the current times, you name it. But changes in an adaptation should make sense and lend themselves to the storytelling.

Many changes in the series were arbitrary, nonsensical and contributed absolutely nothing. One such example is the Battle of Sodden Hill, a terribly executed “siege” with not enough extras to fill a classroom instead of a battle of 100 000 people. Writing out Redania, Aedirn and the Brotherhood of Sorcerers from the conflict doesn’t seem to have a point to it, while the delayed arrival of the armies of Temeria and Kaedwen is both unexplained, unlikely and underwhelming, not to mention that it completely undermines the Nilfgaardian threat as a whole. This, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg of all the things that are wrong with Sodden Hill in the series. 

Or take Foltest and his affair with Adda. It is perfectly clear in the books that after seven years of wizards, witchers and all manner of frauds coming and going while Foltest is obsessed with breaking the curse instead of killing his daughter, even the very last blind and deaf peasant knows about his shenanigans. It’s only logical, too. The story is relayed to Geralt in no uncertain terms at the very beginning. Now in the show the whole episode is too short to set up a murder mystery that requires Geralt’s incredible detective skills (uhuh) to unravel. What is worse is that you cannot make a big reveal of something that your audience actually has previous knowledge about. So why even bother to have Foltest deny it and have Geralt beat it out of Ostrit? 

Which brings us to point two:

2) We all know which way to Temeria, don’t we?

Even if you have popular source material, you cannot expect everyone to know it. An adaptation has to consider people who are just getting their first introduction to the sandbox. When your lore is as rich as that of the Witcher, you need time and careful effort to set up your world. The show made a total shit job of this one. As in the above example, sometimes the show ignores that we, as an audience, know things. 

Another example is Vilgefortz. We know him, his plans, abilities and allegiances, we have very specific expectations of his character. Besides completely failing these expectations (and doing a very unconvincing early reveal of his true colors), the show goes as far as taking Vilgefortz’s iconic sentence (You mistake stars reflected in a pond for the night sky.) and putting it in Fringilla’s mouth. Like did they actually think we wouldn’t notice? Or not be pissed?

At other times the show expects us to fill in its glaring blanks exactly by knowing our lore and characters. One obvious, overarching example of this is the issue of the separate timelines, that sometimes left even fans a little confused. Also, fun fact: one of my friends (who has no idea about anything in the Witcher’s world) for instance needed some time to realize Pavetta wasn’t, in fact, a grown-up Ciri, and he remains to this day very confused about Blaviken.

Basically, we are on a swing here, which is actually made even worse by another thing: bad pacing.

3) Hold your Roach for a moment

The first season wants to cram too much into its limited time and it has a severe negative impact on worldbuilding and character development. By bringing in all three timelines from the beginning, the show has to juggle time allotted to each. 

To be frank, Ciri’s timeline at this point consists of a lot of running and screaming, which in itself hardly merits all the time we spend with her. It could have been utilized in part to provide us with a view of the war from ‘below’, to show that beyond the high politics and heroic battles there are burned villages, dead peasants, people who lost everything, cripples, deserters, ruined fields, and so on. Instead, we get one refugee camp of neat tents, actual beds, food and complaints about Calanthe (though not of dead husbands, lost homes or winter). Though I guess it should come as no surprise that the shock value of paint being made from a woman’s reproductory organs (that never happened in the books) is more important than actual large scale human suffering.

Now giving Yennefer an extended back story is great. But by that level of extension once again time is being consumed that is taking other opportunities away. Opportunities like giving Geralt himself a bit more background, clarifying points for fresh faces in the audience, giving characters more time for meaningful interaction. Because there is not enough time to let the story breathe and progress naturally, episodes are often rushed, choppy, and shallow. 

4) Reverse worldbuilding, aka welcome to nowhere 

Another serious issue with worldbuilding is what I suspect to be a deliberate departure from the game visuals and aesthetic. One of the things I adore most about the games is that it built heavily on Eastern European history and folk tradition. Nothing compares to the feeling when you ride into a village and you feel right at home because things are inherently familiar, or you go out into the woods and hear the exact bird song you are used to.

Netflix is very careful not to even offer a whiff of this particular identity to its show, but it doesn’t seem to have a clear artistic vision beyond that. Thus while landscapes are nice enough, other settings such as cities, taverns, ballrooms and the like are horribly bland in that “this is how we imagine the middle ages in Hollywood” way and look exactly what they are: sets. While one is not likely to quickly forget the red rooftops of Novigrad or the wild beauty of the Kaer Morhen pass from the games, there is nothing memorable about the locations presented in the series. (Even more bewildering is the depiction of the elite boarding school of Aretuza as a creepy dungeon with elf skulls everywhere. I cannot even begin to address this one unless it is all in caps.) 

Point being that the show lacks an actual visual identity that would distinguish it from any other dime a dozen medieval fantasy.

5) My kingdom for a decent wardrobe

Sadly enough, the bland and flavorless visuals have a terrible effect on something else: clothes and armor. While some costumes are well done, there are way too many examples of the opposite. One very obviously is Nilfgaardian armor, which looks like fossilized trash bags with sad dick helmets. The fact that armor in the show is treated as the equivalent of cardboard is doing no one any favors. Please do your homework next time. Please?

Another inexplicable departure from the books and games is the appearance of the nobility, and most jarringly, sorceresses. That dress Yennefer picks out the first time? It’s literally the drabbest, ugliest thing I’ve ever seen, and the others are not much better. When it comes to period-accurate choices, the range is just so wide: we are talking cambric, velvet, silk, cloth of gold and silver. We are talking luxurious furs, embroidery, colorful feathers, bright dyes, coats of arms and jewelry. Brooches, necklaces, bracelets, rings, hat badges, belt buckles, hairpins, you name it. People wore their wealth. Making them look like sad orphans will not make them look any more medieval.

Peasant clothes also had their decorations, though to a lesser degree than nobles, obviously. But I guess it’s too much to hope that those would get any attention when queens are dressed like they lost a bet.

6) I see your people and I raise you mine

Including people of color in the casting choices caused a lot of heated debate amongst the fans, but at least it means that the show cares about minority representation, right? Right?

The world of the Witcher has its own minorities, and what we have seen of them so far is so incredibly pathetic that I haven’t the words. For one thing, they look so terrible that elves in the Polish series actually look better, and that was so not a high bar to exceed. To make matters worse, they again seem to lack any sort of distinguishing visual identity (except for the Dryads. I’m also willing to make an exception for Chireadan, as he actually looks right and he’s a settled elf.)

Sadly, unlike the games, the series also fails to establish even the beginnings of a compelling narrative for its minorities, which definitely needs to be in place by the time Thanedd happens at the very latest. What is more, we seem to be given something called the Great Cleansing, which is plenty obscure but comes across as a Night of Broken Glass sort of thing (though that could be just me). While still salvageable at this point, this shift in narrative is cause for some concern, and so far doesn’t make much sense.

7) Your villains are not my villains

Unlike the books and games, the Witcher series sadly doesn’t seem to excel at presenting opposing sides without the need to vilify one (which again, makes me worried about what they are going to do to the Scoia’tael later). 

Nilfgaard is now an Empire of Evil (TM) that lives for killing and religious fanaticism, Fringilla is a psychopath, and Cahir... Well, Cahir is a thousand shades of wrong all on his own. Stregobor and Istredd are now assholes of a whole different caliber, and even poor Eyck of Denesle gets to enjoy his five minutes of fame as a madman frothing at the mouth instead of a paragon of knightly virtue.

This is going so well.

[pastafossa]

No bc surface pressure Matt makes perfect sense

LEGIT.

Tell me this ain't Matt Murdock.

"I'm pretty sure I'm worthless, if I can't be of service."

Much like Luisa, Matt's entire identity is based around doing everything for everyone. He doesn't think anyone else can, and even when all he wants is rest, he can only see his value in how he can be of service - to the city, to his clients, to his little found family. He literally does not know how to say 'no' when someone asks for help, regardless of whether they actually need help or are taking advantage of him.

"Pressure like a drip, drip, drip, that'll never stop."

Also like Luisa, how much of DD is Matt taking on every burden because he thinks he has to, pushing people out of harm's way to catch these struggles and take them on himself? And it never stops, not once, burden after burden until it's eventually too much, and even then he can't stop.

"Watch as she buckles and bends but never breaks."

You can literally see the cracks beginning to form in Matt's life in S2, watch everything coming down on his shoulders, and still he takes on more. He's buckling and bending, determined not to break, determined to shoulder every last stone.

Luisa literally holding not just Casita and the family but the entire Encanto on her shoulders, aka Matt desperately trying not just to hold his found family and their firm up, but the entire neighborhood.

Sad part is... what Luisa is afraid will happen is pretty much what happens to Matt. He fails, he breaks, he finally crumbles. He loses the firm, his friendships/found family, his relationship with Karen, Fisk gets back out, he loses you know who to the Hand. Then he gets a building dropped on him and literally breaks under the pressure.

In other words, a lot of this could have been solved by forcing Matt to listen to Surface Pressure on loop until he learned from Luisa, thank you Disney.

(OH MY GOD THIS MAKES FOGGY MIRABEL, IT'S PERFECT, HE'S THE 'NO GIFTS' PERSON BUT HIS GIFT IS KEEPING THE FAMILY IN ONE PIECE AND/OR HEALING THE FAMILY AFTER THE SPLIT OCCURS)

[jaskier-than-thou]

wholly skippable post, not trying to piss anyone off ok, but i got an itch about this.

listen

i get it, i really do. i get why burnt hand whump is so favorite for our bard. i do honestly really get it, and i love burnt hand whump too, but--!

plea under cut, addressed to those who have not watched twn s2 but do read the fics.

i need everyone who's reading all this delicious angst and trauma over a canonical physical injury to actually watch the episodes in question, not JUST read fic

because canonically it just ain't that bad. i'm sorry! it's not! in canon it's not, it's really clear that the worst of the torture was legit psychological. firefucker smacked him around and tied him up, then *started* burning his fingertips. enough to freak an anxiety-fueled musician the fuck out, and enough to hurt *at the time*

i've had worse burns working at starbucks. in fact i had nerve damage from repeated burns working at starbucks. i could still play guitar.

it's been fully healed since like a year after i stopped working there.

rience did not even hold the not-a-lighter under jaskier's fingers long enough to fuck up his fingerprints (i got a match head stuck burning to my thumb when i was three and now my left thumb has a different TYPE of print from all my others. also it was healed in two weeks.)

jaskier's hand is FINE. he was playing the spoons in jail after!! that's impacty! he was not using his wrist. we have seen his hands! he was practically juggling that jasper, he was superduper wringing his wet shirt out, he in no way favored that hand. his hands are physically absolutely fine (and very pretty)

his MIND is not! that was traumatic. that was torture. even if it hadn't been torture it would still have been traumatic for him!

look. i was three. *thirty nine years ago* i burned my thumb playing with matches. i'm STILL afraid of matches. i smoked for 20 years and NEVER used matches. (i am quit for a year and a half now!! :D)

canonically he is gonna be fucked up about it for a WHILE, but his hand was already fine by the time geralt picked him up.

SO MY POINT IS:

whump the bard, WHUMP HIM, write all the fucked up permadamage hand fics and i will read them ALL bc i LOVE them, but darling dears who get your twn content from reading fics, please oh please be aware that that level of damage is not canon.

fuck yes fic is for making shit up and exaggerating shit and exploring what-ifs and all the wonderful stuff people write!!

(i rly love bardburn fics)

(just, it is not actually a big deal physically in canon)

(this is a thing for me because i started with fanfic and gifsets and i KNOW how it is when you haven't canoned yet, and i am seeing really good and prolific writers cheerily talk about it like it's the incontrovertible truth, and it may be in the vast majority of post-twn-s2 fics, but it's not in canon hhhhhhh)

[gra-sonas]

I agree with you about the pacing and letting the characters breathe. I made my own post about it earlier. I think they’ve been suffocated by having 13 episodes. With such a plot heavy show, even having two or three more episodes, they’d have more time and space for character development and some more of these plot-less beats.

Lbr, no matter how many episodes they'd get, they'd do the same thing (i.e. they'd just add more plot), imo it has nothing to do with the number of episodes.

They just want to squeeze in too much plot, while being afraid of letting "slower" moments play out. That doesn't always mix well. And with these last two episodes in particular, they even "invented" struggles for some of the characters (So. Many. Pep Talks. OMG), and these scenes took up time/space, that could've been dedicated to slower, more emotional moments (like the Malex/handana scene).

Not to mention all the science babble this season. They spent endless minutes of precious screentime on talking about fake science, I wish they would've skipped a minute or two of that in favor of a full length Malex couch scene.

Or, y'know, spent less time on the millionth pep talk for the same 4 characters and instead had developed a relationship between Isobel and Anatsa that deserves the label "relationship".

Or they could've cut short some things and instead added on-screen moments like "freeing Max from the pod and his reaction to being body-swapped with Jones" or "Michael checking in on Sanders and making sure he's not dead".

Or instead of wasting time on redeeming Wyatt, they could've given Gregory a personality.

Sometimes they tend to skip over things we'd like to see explored more while dragging out things most people couldn't care less about. (Like Liz didn't have to explain in-depth how to science Max and Jones' DNA apart in every single episode. It's a show about aliens, handwave that kind of shit, and give us emotionally more relevant and interesting scenes).

I'm also still wondering what Maria's visions, that kept them going for the first half of the season were actually about, bc this HUGE storyline was suddenly dropped completely and never talked about again. ¯\_(°~°)_/¯

IDK, there are so many (often little) things that could've been handled/timed better.

I still think that S3's way better than S2, and I adore the new cast edition of Dallas. Like, he's legit one of my favorite characters already, and Quentin Plair is an absolute pleasure to watch.

But I also wish they wouldn't continue repeating some of the same mistakes that were annoying in S1 and S2 already.

Anyway, S3's done, and overall it's been a fun ride. And I couldn't be more grateful for a mostly "happy ending" for the characters - which should make the hiatus more fun. :)

[princess-of-the-corner]

I'm afraid that the hidden villain might be Adrien turning against Ladybug once he finally learns what happened to his mom and what HM wants the Miraculous for. He'd no doubt get a half-assed redemption arc which just amounts to him going to the dark side somehow being the right thing to do (bc remember, Adrien is perfect , it's the world that's wrong), or have a shitily executed 'was secretly always still a good-guy but was pretending to work with the bad-guy only to betray them' twist at the end.

Another terrible candidate for the hidden villain I'm afraid might happen is Kagami. Months ago I remember seeing a possible leaked image of her using the Peacock Miraculous; I can't remember if it was a legit leak or fake, and I know she only showed up in S2 so she hasn't been around 'since the beginning', but I wouldn't put it past That Guy to try and do that.

Hell, I wouldn't put it past him to try either of these shit ideas after how he massacred my girl in Miracle Queen.

Considering both "Collector" and "Chat Blanc", I think it's pretty solid that while Adrien might hesitate when he finds out, he's on Ladybug's side no matter what. So him going Darkside would be such an asspull for shock and drama. Even if it is a double agent thing.

While I'm pretty sure the leak was fake, I could see them giving Kagami some kind of "Miracle Queen 2: Electric Boogaloo" treatment. Where she's also broken down and manipulated and outright forced to join Hawkmoth, but it's portrayed as something petty like "oh no Adrien broke up with her because he still loves Ladybug, better join Hawkmoth to literally take out the competition!".

Either way I'm throwing hands.

[ambiengrey]

Watching another one!

.::mind the spoils::.

S2 E2

Hazel! I literally wrote: "if a grenade didn't get her" last season and then erased it. :/

The MUSICS. I dig it. It creates SUCH a Mood.

My guuuy. You a fish. Do you know?

What hospital was she in that didn't explode during the apocalypse? XD

I was gonna say, did they even clear out Five's desk of his things? lol

Who is this guy, does he look familiar or am I imagining it?

Oh, it's Carl!

She doesn't recognize you Luther! Don't take it the wrong way D: go after her!

Oh, Allison.

Is your aesthetic so white because you drink milk, or do you drink milk because your aesthetic is so white?

Everything in the 60's is so bright-looking. Like, over-saturated sometimes, and just, Sunny at other times.

Klaus had a Lot of Time to do things.

Where did she even get that? Lol.

We're counting days again! I dig it.

Someone with an umbrella? Oooooooh snap.

Luthe! Does this haunt you as things she did, or as things she did because of things you did??

I am excited for thiiiiiiis!

That gun. The Former then. -_-

Oh. Thiiiiiiis. Yaaaassss! AW MY HEART.

Am I gonna end up appreciating these dudes?

XD

I hope they'll at least take legit care of the cats.

If I'd paid more attention last season, I'd be able to remember the date Mr H arrived like it's relevant.

This red and green colour palette is Great.

Hahahaaa.

I wanna break a window. Just for funsies.

Give Klaus three years. He'll take over the world. XD

That would scare me. I'd be worried I was an awful person. At least, that's what I think, now, knowing who I am XD maybe if I lost my memory I'd turn into someone more reckless or fearless or terrible and less afraid or hesitant to speak her mind, and without a care for who she was before (this is giving me Jason Todd fanfic ideas, because I always gotta bring it back to that lol).

Violining! :D

I was wondering, How did Mr H learn about them and the first apocalypse? I half expected them to cross paths with and Tell him themselves in the past.

That's not creepy.

I don't think dad's been home in a minute. Unless there he goes. Does he know they're there?

Mr H has got a different name?

Pogo on the blackboard!

Also in the room!! That was terrifying.

GASP. I didn't hear what he said though. Amateur? :/ Oof.

Just a man and his monkey. Nothing to see here.

How very dare. Now I'm gonna have to watch episode 3 too. :|

[chiara13]

(1) Kinda long sorry but I really wanted to send to you cause I love when you answer asks! 💗 A part of me is happy that it was Zach and Alex that killed Bryce, only cause I've been saying that I thought it was them since day one and I'm happy I'm right but honestly, the way everything unravelled this season leading up to it kinda frustrated me. Zalex barely got any development and not just as a friendship but as characters. Both of them were sidelined for the sake of everybody else.

(2) I feel like in S2, most of the characters were pretty fleshed out and had awesome development but IMO Alex had the least which is understandable cause Alex wasn’t apart of the main story/trial but now that S3 has rolled around and his counterparts get to develop more while he’s still behind, it feels like the writers didn’t know what to do with his character to the point where they purposely ruined any development he could’ve possibly had because they didn’t want to touch another character(3) or make them unlikable. Like, I just find it strange that we legit know next to nothing about this kid beside what has happened from his life starting at liberty to present times. His storyline this season was super OOC and just not that believable IMO and it felt like his only purpose was to yell at people and be super distant until it was convenient. I kept thinking, that maybe if they had given him something to work off of then it would be easier to sympathize with him for what he did(4) (cause I know eventually that guilt is gonna eat him alive) but him being so aggressive and annoyed the whole season + having him kill someone is bound to make people dislike him as a character. I don’t know if that was the point, like the writers wanted him to be unlikeable this season but he (and Zach!) had so much potential man. I’m sad. I love them so much but I honestly don’t even know how the writers are gonna try to get people to not think what they did was bad.

–

Thank you! :) And thank you for sending this my way.

I feel you. It’s a pity that we didn’t get more Alex and Zach content, both individually and together. I had high hopes for some cute family scenes and some more background info. We barely saw Alex’s mother and brother and Zach’s mother, no May Dempsey at all (I’m really upset about it!), and we only got a couple of scenes of Alex with his dad…

It felt like Zach, instead of getting his own story arc, was mostly there as a supporting character in Chloe’s and Justin’s. Don’t get me wrong: I’m over the moon for all the Zach & Justin content we got, and I loved Zach & Chloe’s friendship. ♥ However, Zach’s life/problems could have been explored much, much more in depth. I thought we would hear a lot more talk about scholarships and college, instead they only mentioned them passing. Maybe because it’ll be the focus of S4? One can hope.

Alex also didn’t have as much screentime as many of us hoped. :( I don’t think people will start hating him, though. I think he’s one of the most beloved characters in the fandom and I doubt that’s going to change.

I have a feeling that the writers kept them “on the sidelines” on purpose because they were afraid otherwise everyone would figure out they were guilty. Every conversation they had was a landmine.

Hopefully they’ll get a lot more screentime in S4. This season focused on different characters and personally I loved most of it. I still smile whenever I think about Clay and Justin, tbh. ♥ I would love to see more Zach & Alex next year, though.

[igpitn]

so i'm carefully rewatching the scene where five leaves and it's interesting because i'm noticing that he and vanya keep glancing at each other before he brings up time traveling to reginald (which kinda makes me think they discussed it privately beforehand?) and it seems like they're almost having a nonverbal conversation through the scene. and the continuous glances and eye contact/head shaking during his conversation w reginald and the eye contact right before he says "i'm not afraid" (1/2)

(2/2) and the resigned way that he turns away from her concerned face before he says it makes me think he told vanya that he WAS afraid maybe the night before or that morning and the immediate distress she gets when he runs off and looks at her upset beforehand. it kinda makes me wonder if what aidan said abt them having a mutual crush was just his own thoughts or like a legit discussed thing? or maybe he and tj discussed it or something? either way, damn these kids are good actors. the subtext!

yesss anon oh my god it’s one of my favorite scenes and something my over-analyzing ass likes to go over again and again. THE NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION. do five and vanya do this often. they can’t talk at meal times so i imagine they do have conversations through looks, maybe tapping on the table and such to signal things? the EYE CONTACT. five’s face when she shakes his head...... god. 

oh this is very interesting in terms of five actually telling vanya he was afraid... five’s ego might prevent him from admitting his nerves but if he told anyone it WOULD be vanya. i do think at the very least he’s discussed time travel with her and wanting to do it.

aidan is a fiveya warrior but idk about tj. the kids are definitely good actors though so!!!! i hope they get to act more together in s2.

[tuiyla]

i’m doing well myself, thank you!! 1000% yes to that Quinntana anger essay LOL, i feel like i have jumbled headcanons abt how their anger and conflict resolution styles evolve over time and would love to hear your thoughts.

love the call-out to the 3x08 scene; Naya is just so good at emoting so much with a single look and I love how Dianna carries herself there. in a subtle way, I feel like it really highlighted how much Quinn was forced to grow up/realize at such a young age and I wish RIB had continued that positive growth when we saw her return to Lima in 4x08, but alas. also wish we could’ve seen more serious but heartfelt convos like this between QS for big moments in later season, but I’ll happily headcanon them happening offscreen LOL.

-Quinntana anon

Oooo I'd be super interested in your Quinntana + anger thoughts Anon, I hope you share. I'll hurry up with my own and maybe you can share then!

Not that the characters themselves aren't interesting but Naya and Dianna are such a big reason why I like Quinntana. They were able to do so much with so little and turned what could have easily been a more catty than a genuine relationship into a complex friendship. A lot of it exists in its subtleties, yeah, but it is there to be explored. You know I just saw someone say that Quinntana were never really friends, just rivals, and that shit (same going for Pezberry) drives me up the wall. Like they legit said they didn't have any heartwarming scenes because I guess people only remember Quinntana's slaps not the part where they do ultimately care about each other. Whatever.

The way Quinn's character was treated is one of Glee's many tragedies but I'm just glad we got as much as we did of her, and her with Santana, in season 4. I still can't believe they didn't even have them interact one on one after the hookup? I swear RIB were too afraid of their power. It still leaves us with much to speculate on and hey at least fanfiction is better than what Glee would have done.

I so agree with your point on Quinn growing up fast. One of the ways in which it's clear to me that the writers never cared about Quinn's story and her POV regarding the pregnancy is that they do not know how to deal with the aftermath. Nothing can ever be the same for her after that. And yeah we can make Quinn's arc make sense, that she tried to pretend otherwise in s2 and then broke down in s3 but we have to put so much extra effort into it. Imagine if Glee had competent writers, I can't.

[wandarogers]

Hi! So, I'm a big fan of skam since day one, but here's the thing: i really don't understand the whole Chris x Eva ship. I'd like just to get your insight, cause I only see him as a fuckboy who cheated his girlfriend (I have really strong feelings about cheaters, they're just not good people). Besides, all their "romantic" moments besides the new clip are just based on him trying to make out with her. hELP

Hello!Well, all of us like different things, right?  Okay, i will write you a reply and you are free to agree with it or not. A for me it’s all about their chemistry. Their dynamic is quite interesting. There some sort of magnetism between them and i found it awesome.

Trying to make out with her? It’s notlike he’s not letting her breathe. It always were mutual. They’re either sticking togetheror not talking for weeks ( like in s2). There is no pressure. It has startedpurely physical, yes, but it turned into something special. 

The only thing that is perfect in ChrisSchistad -  is his eyebrows. Everything else can and will be questioned. The same is for Eva. She did her own mistakes. I think Chris can change for a lot better because of Eva, or because he just wants to become a better person. It’s up to him. He was there not because he have no one to fuck, he came to Eva’s birthday because he wanted to, he wanted her and to be with her. He stayed because he wanted to. He had balls to stand and greet her mom despite of the very awkward situation.

He cheated on Iben, but Eva cheated on Jonas, so aren’t they in the same position? Now Eva is the bad person too? If we judge Chris for it, let’s bring Eva into conversation too.

Life is not perfect and never be. People tend to change. Chris changed, Eva changed and relationships between them is changed.

In new clip they are basically had puppylove. it’s another thing that changed, because earlier it was all about desire.Other 0000.3s scenes with kisses  that we saw  were hot. Now it’s calm, comfortable and gentle.

Can you imagine Chris, with all kinds ofshit people talking about him, settling for a one girl? For Eva in particular? He’s legit  desperate to make her his only. The boy with a machofacade is just wants to be loved. It’s that simple. 

On the other hand is Eva who just found herself after toxic relationshipsand being at the bottom of, let’s just say, life. I think you remember her sleeping around with random guys, getting shitfaced and everything else that happened in s2 after her break up with Jonas. I think she’s tired of being someone she’s not. As we saw in the last clip she rejecting Chris many times even when he was THIS needy. She likes him, but maybe she is afraid to lose herself in another guy? Maybe Eva is afraid to make that mistake again. She jumped into the void with Jonas and among other good things, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbow for her. Jonas twisted and turned most of the things about her.

She got 3+? Lol, she’s dumb, but at least she shouldbe happy that she’s able to take care of herself. She have no friends? Bad, go find some, stop being a weirdo. Eva started  spending a lot of time with her new friends? Bad. No matter what she did, Jonas didn’t liked it.  Wow, what a supportive boyfriend. 

So i get why she is not letting Chris be close. I comparedchriseva and jonaseva just to show why Eva acting this way. Chris is the firstserious thing that happened to her since Jonas. It would scare the shit out ofany girl.  When you’re in relationship it’s not about physical closeness it’s also about mental.

Especially when Chris is god damn serious about being with her aftergraduation from  elvebakken schoolof desperation. Maybe he’s seems to be not the most trustworthy guy, but he deserve a chance. If William got his chance at love, why can’t Chris?

It would take a lot of hard work to make ChrisEva relationships work, because  both of them have their ownissues that hasn’t resolved yet. Maybe they will end up being  85 year olds   with shit ton of money, nice house, family  and fifteen grandchildren around them. Maybe they will break up in a year. it’s up to them. 

In other words, if you still don’t like them it’s all cool.