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discotreque · 3 years

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LwD 2.05: An Embarrassment of Dooplers

So I was a little nervous about this one! I hadn’t heard any spoiler-spoilers, but screeners have been out for weeks now, and I’d heard a bunch of individual, vague, non-spoilery hints about (1) big character moments, on the scale of a mid-season finale even though the show’s not taking a mid-season break; and (2) an ending that would make me cry.

I guess I imagined something relatively serious and dramatic, like “No Small Parts”? This show makes me cackle with laughter and giggle with nerdy glee and “d’awww!” at heartwarming friendships every week, but it’s only ever made me cry once—and then I was impressed that they were going to get there from the wacky hijinks we saw in the brief teaser.

The lack of a cold open made me apprehensive too—in my experience, that’s typically a sign that there’s so much plot in the rest of the episode that they need that extra scene—but after ~21.5 minutes of aforementioned hijinks, I was having so much fun that I’d completely forgotten about the alleged tear-jerker at the end…

…and they were not the tears I was expecting.

I didn’t think I’d be smiling and crying!!!! That was wholesome as SHIT!!!!!

I almost can’t believe they earned that—but they totally did.

After a Mariner–Tendi episode and a Boimler–Rutherford episode, we’re back to the “usual” Season 1 pairings… except the relationships between these characters have changed since Season 1. Mariner still feels thwacked in the abandonment issues by Boimler bailing for the Titan, and Rutherford’s having a tiny little existential crisis about losing an entire year of his life.

Both of which are extremely understandable and very heavy situations—and both of those situations get resolved because everyone in them is vulnerable with each other and honest about their feelings—AND that honesty and vulnerability brings both pairs of friends closer together. Are you kidding me?? I would watch SEVENTY seasons of that shit. Put it in my veins.

Onto the notes:

So basically Dooplers are Tribbles, but for cringe comedy instead of slapstick? Ohhhhh boy.

Look at Ransom the diplomat, tossing his own fork on the floor! I like that he’s actually a pretty competent Starfleet officer, despite also being a completely ridiculous person.

Wait a second, is that—OH HOLY SHIT, THE DOOPLERS ARE VOICED BY RICHARD KIND.

It makes sense that B. Boimler would find William annoying—who likes seeing their own flaws reflected back at them? And who could be a better reflection of one’s flaws than one’s literal duplicate?—but most interesting to me is that it implies on some level, Bradward knows the stick up his butt is a flaw. (Does William?)

Why does the Cerritos model have working phasers?!?!

I’m loving hot pink as the currently en-vogue colour for “dangerous sci-fi energy” in animation (cf. almost every previous episode of this show; Into the Spider-Verse; other stuff I can’t remember right now). As a former child of the 80’s, I’m living for it… but as a former teenager of the 90’s, I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to age as poorly as the harsh neon green of The Matrix, every Borg appearance on Voyager, and like 80% of the websites I made in high school…

SKANTS! SKANTS! SKANTS!

That fake-out joke with the fly-by over the Cerritos model was in the season trailer weeks ago, and I was so enthralled by that handsome lady that the sticker coming into frame still got me good 😂😂😂

BECKY Mariner????? omg yes

Some top-quality Boimler screams in this one. Poor Jack Quaid must drink gallons of throat-coat tea when he records.

One of the great things about Star Trek to me is that you never know what you’re going to get from any random episode. A murder mystery? A road trip? A spooky thriller? A cheesy romance? Broad comedy? Body horror? Didactic political screeds shrouded in tissue-thin science-fiction metaphors? Brain and brain, what is brain??? And after this many years of watching, you’d think I’d be hard to surprise. But if I ever told you I thought I’d see a Blues Brothers–style car chase through a frickin’ shopping mall on an episode of Star Trek, I would have been straight-up lying to you. I loved it, it worked for me, my jaw was on the floor and I was clapping with joy—but I’m definitely comfortable calling this one “unexpected.”

It’s CAPTAIN SHELBY!!! And an ancient babydyke crush rose from the depths of my childhood subconscious… (Also I think her Number One is based on the original makeup—eventually deemed too complicated—for Saru? Now that’s a deep cut.)

In 20th-century Trek, you almost never got to see what was going on inside a starship from the outside. Even after they switched from physical models (where it was next to impossible on a single episode’s budget) to CGI (which was still in its infancy, still not exactly cheap, and still broadcast in SD anyway), it was a rare thrill to see any meaningful interior details in an exterior shot. Disco’s modern VFX have given us some tasty, tasty treats in that department, but nothing quite as sublime as all the pink Doopler light glittering through the Cerritos’s windows.

Mariner says she’ll take her contact Malvus down with her, and threatens that they’ll end up “in the same cell.” Malvus is a Mizarian, a species introduced in TNG’s “Allegiance,” in which Captain Picard is held in a mysterious prison with one. I think I see what you did there, McMahan?

Bartender… so hot… lesbian circuits… overloading…

The Tendi and Rutherford C-story was, well, a C-story within a 22-minute episode, so there wasn’t much to it, but the one scene that mattered actually mattered a lot. I’m ambivalent on whether they should end up romantically involved—I’d prefer they don’t, but they’ll be one of the cutest couples in Trek history if they do—and as long as they keep that pure, sweet friendship between them at the heart of whatever else happens, I’m on board.

Carol Freeman was already one of my favourite captains before this season, and she’s been steadily moving up the list. The quiet throughline about her ambition to be on a better ship has been fascinating so far, and it’s starting to actually make me feel a little conflicted: I’m of course rooting for Captain Freeman to recognize her worth, make Starfleet recognize her worth, and become the ass-kicking captain of a hero ship that she’s clearly ready to be—but that almost surely means she’d be kicking ass off-screen, because LwD isn’t about those kind of adventures, and I’d be devastated not to have Dawnn Lewis on the show every week. So I’m kind of on the edge of my seat about this one!

I had so many favourite jokes this week I put them in a separate list:

“Even the replicated water on the Titan tasted better” is a low-key brilliant dunk on people who can’t shut the fuck up about the cooler places they used to live.

“Ooooh, they have a Quark’s now! That used to just be an empty lot where teens would make mistakes!” ← That’s literally me every time I go back to where I grew up. I felt so Seen™ I almost hid under a blanket.

“I would never go down the stairs!” (evil grin) (goes up the stairs)

The “well, shit” expressions from Mariner and Boimler as their crashed car sank right into the water… which started to bubble innocuously… and then the bottles of Data bubble-bath popped up, paying off a joke I thought had already been paid off—that was the one that woke up my poor cat this week. Just exquisite timing.

“YOUR PAGH IS WEAK, AND IT DISGUSTS ME!” “I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t like your tone!”

“Okona’s in there? He’s not even Starfleet! This is outrageous!” made me shout “NO!” at the screen like I was scolding my cat for scratching furniture. (She did not wake up that time.)

Best background joke: the neon sign at the dive bar advertising FREE SHOTS & BEERS. (Get it? Because they’re on a Federation starbase? Where nobody uses money?)

And of course Quark merchandised DS9.

This wasn’t just a standout episode of Lower Decks, this was a brilliant episode of Star Trek, period. The Dooplers, though extremely silly, are nevertheless also a clever sci-fi metaphor for real and relatable personal/interpersonal issues, and an effective plot catalyst for meaningful character growth from all four of our ensigns and the captain.

The jokes were hilarious, the action was kinetic, the A-, B-, and C-plots linked up thematically, the visuals were consistently and thoroughly gorgeous, the character beats—between Mariner and Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford, Mariner and Capt. Freeman—were all genuine, heartfelt and wholesome, and the references to other Trek canon were both deep and deeply affectionate.

Only 15 episodes in, and this series knows exactly what it is, exactly what it wants to do, and knows that it can knock our socks off doing it. Mike McMahan has said in recent interviews that the back half of S2 (and the apparently almost-fully-written S3) is a straight line uphill in quality from here—which surprised me at first, because McMahan seems like a pretty chill dude who doesn’t normally brag about his own work like that.

But then the Prophets sent me a vision of my space dad Ben Sisko, who reminded me of the words of 1930’s baseball player Dizzy Dean:

“If you can do it, it ain’t bragging.”

[Thanks to cygnus-x1.net for the screenshots this week—I was too lazy to do my own.]

#star trek #star trek lower decks #lower decks #lower decks spoilers #lwd spoilers #amy's episode notes

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mamusings · 4 years

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Supernatural Season 2 thoughts

Continuing with my rewatch. This season kicks up several gears on season 1. Overall the storytelling is much better. There is a less formulaic approach to the even the MOTW episodes. Its inventive: you get one from the perspective of the ghost (Roadkill), two that layer in the boys run ins with the law. The first 4th wall breaker (Hollywood babylon), first alt reality (What is and what should never be) and I think the first straight up comic one (Tall Tales). This works much better. S1 episodes give you: a kill, work out the lore, find the creature and kill it right back. Instead of s1 espousing the lore and developing the brothers as a team, we now get to explore the show's moral compas and the complexity of what brotherhood means within it. I think Hollywood Babylon riffs off ditching the initial importance placed on accuracy in how Spn presented itself in it's own storyline. Yep we like story telling thank you, realism isnt really the point. The monsters and sub plots more clearly refract on the season themes and plot.

Supporting characters are another aspect of the shows blooming. They are a much more varied and interesting bunch. Gordon helps explore a key issue for the show - the distinction between being a hunter and a killer. Its significant he appears twice - it's a big issue. The psychics Andy and Ava are fun. Bank heist dude Ronald garners the right mix of derision and respect - I'm not sure spn homages to freaks and geeks hit the right note most of the time. And theres the Roadhouse crew and Bobby who really help flesh out what can become an overly confined universe.

The first third explores grief. You get the contrast in Sam and Dean's personalities in how they try to deal with John's death. But you also get the sense of them learning from each other as the season progresses. Dean tries talking. Sam tries keeping busy. Both grow while staying themselves. Nice. You also get a switch from s1 dominance of Dean's concern for Sam, with Sam's concern about Dean's increasingly high octane behaviour here and it's a nice switch. With grief you get guilt. Sam's is the easier too little too late regrets. Dean's is the motherload of guilt that John sacrificed himself for him. Given the shows dominant theology is Christian I find it hugely interesting that the focus here is on the receiver of the sacrifice. The overwhelming guilt Dean feels underpins the opening episodes, gets hammered home in Crossroads and then comes back for an even bigger bite when Dean does the same to Sam in the finale. Bobby's anger with Dean and Sam's devastation leaves me little doubt that as much as we all love that Sam is back, Dean did wrong here. Although maybe Dean's guilt comes from his low self worth. Sam might cope very differently?? But I do think the zombie episode declarations of 'what is dead should stay dead' make the point that thus wheeling and dealing with death cant be good. I personally find the idea that moral rules dont apply to Sam and Dean because of love is a weak one. I think fandom does spn a disservice by reducing something really complicated here into 'well they are soul mates'. Loving someone is not an excuse to chuck the rules out the window. But maybe the show itself descends into a moral free for all with no underpinning message and the blame lies there? I'm not sure. In a way that is what I'm trying to figure out with these commentaries.

What works better in explaining why Dean does to Sam what John did to him is the other big theme of season 2: the idea that right and wrong isnt black and white. This is the focus of lots of episodes some of which explore whether hunters are just killers. And others that explore at what stage something becomes evil and why. Both these questions are crucial in relation to Sam's destiny and how each of them should respond to that destiny. The first half of the season sees Dean trying out his fathers black/white approach and the hardening off of himself he thinks he needs to achieve in order to kill Sam should that becomes necessary. Its the mid season finale that finally answers that one for Dean. Sam goes proper bad, Dean doesn't kill him. Along the way, with Sam's prompting, Dean questions not only his father but also the morality he had assumed of his hunting so far. How Dean outgrows John is a huge theme for me. I find it fascinating because he remains the same kind of man as John. Tough, difficult etc he diesnt become Sam. What he changes ir accepts are that what he prizes isnt what John prizes, but rather the people he loves and he learns that this isnt a failing or a weakness. But it's a long long road.

Sam wrestles with the fact that he may turn evil trying to find ways to hope and ways to cope. He takes a leaf out of the Dean playbook at gets drunk. He prays. He looks for a safety net getting Dean's to promise to off him. Dean promises to save him, but the message in Heart is that sometimes the only way to save someone is to kill them. However, the other message is solving things one step at a time, making the right play for the circumstances and not drawing one arbitrary line somewhere - be it between people and non-people or even that evil acts make you irredeemably evil. Slippery stuff, but that's what makes it interesting.

One thing I really like in this season is how the brothers begin to influence each other. They are still a study in contrasts, but they try out each others approaches and they've learned to value what the other brings to the table. As Sam says in the opener they have just started to be brothers again. Their relationship is so supportive that the comic Tall Tales reminding us how much they wind each other up is a needed counterpart lest things get just too damn sweet. The disturbing siblings at the centre of 2 episodes is also sends the message that it ain't all roses too. Andy has an actual evil twin. The ending of Playthings with the sisters is filled with creepy foreboding is particular to this episode. One sister gives her life up for the other and it feels wrong. Of course its foreshadowing other famous brothers but let's leave that alone just now.

In terms of Sam and Dean, their brotherhood seems to have kicked the S1 Sam and Dean team up into formidable. Their run-ins with law enforcement moves our perception of them beyond boys hunting into being increasingly impressed as they outwit cops and feds. It also moves their interactions with outsiders beyond gratitude from victims towards validation from peers and this feels important. There's the seamless teamwork with code words and all. But more importantly trust and loyalty - Sam is unswayed under police questioning in The Usual Suspects. Folsom Prison Blues most explicitly highlights Dean's almost fanatical sense of loyalty and paying your dues.

This pays off in the final two parter. As strong as All Hell Breaks Lose 2 is, part 1 is a yawn fest. But what is interesting is that while Sam does his best to found a team, Azazel can just pluck them off one by one by appeals to each person's individual self interest. The only one of the psychics who gets that the only way to win is to stick together is Sam. In my view Sam learned this from Dean. Dean is always playing the stronger together card. At this point in the show, brotherhood is about solidarity, trust and loyalty. That's actually the message here far more than love. Of course they love each other. But that alone wouldn't have got them this far. What gets them here is sticking together. When Dean finally surpasses John in killing Azazel he gets his moment of John unqualified approval and love. But right after comes the key dialogue of the season. Sam says 'you did it' and Dean replies 'I didnt do it alone'. That seems to me to highlight what's been going on so far. Learning not to do it alone. Learning to lean on and accept others. That's where the Winchester boys outgrow their upbringing and themselves.

Addendum: the angel episode House of the Holy deserves a mention. Its so finely balanced between being about angels and not when viewed on it's own. Its only on rewatching that the effects and props leave you in no doubt that even if F. Gregory isn't an angel this episode is about angels. Its curious as to why it's in season 2 rather than maybe in s3 - no angel appears until season 4. I refuse to count Gabriel in s3 as an angel appearance as he's for many seasons yet still just the trickster. So why? Maybe it's to help us understand the significance for Sam? Angels give Sam hope - making it even more awful for him that he is the object of their suspicion. Or is it about the need for faith, which tellingly Dean hadn't got.

#supernatural #spn #sam #dean #winchester

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years

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what would be your ranking of each season? (love your all your recaps btw, they have given me insight to stuff I didn't notice before and made appreciate s3 a lot more)

Thank you so much! ❤️❤️❤️ Gonna put my ranking of Skam’s seasons under a read-more since I go into some criticisms and I’m long-winded as always:

1. Season 3. Probably obvious from my recaps, lol. Literally everything about it not just works, but soars. Like I remember watching in real time and expecting the show to stumble at some point, because even shows I love generally have aspects that I don’t care for. And instead this season kept ascending. The acting is top notch and the chemistry between Isak and Even is really something special. The writing is tight and nuanced - no scene feels unnecessary, and the use of symbolism is excellent. The music is perfectly chosen. They did some of the best social media work this season. You can tell Julie put so much thought into this story for a long time. It has no major flaws for me, like I can only think of one quibble and it’s more of a “I wish they did that” instead of something that really cuts into my enjoyment of the story. I feel totally OK saying S3 is a fucking masterpiece because I can prove it (I mean, art is subjective, lmao, but if you asked me to defend this season artistically I would have zero problem.) 2. Season 1. Also amazing. It’s more low-key and understated; I can see why people would find it slow, especially in the beginning. But I love it. Eva’s journey is raw and deeply personal. Lisa Teige is fantastic and makes Eva warm and sympathetic. She’s so natural and pulls you right into Eva’s struggles. (I can respect that remake Evas have worked better for some people, but I will go to the mat for original Eva. She’s incredible.) The themes of the season are established well and tell a story that often feels overlooked. There are a lot of subtleties about navigating relationships as a teenage girl and feeling adrift, and some truly gorgeous scenes. In some ways this is a “test” season but it’s still powerful, well-acted, and well-written, with a lot of Julie’s vision for the show apparent from the start. Adore it.3. Season 4. So while I prefer S4 to S2, in some ways I think S2 is better as a narrative. S4 suffers from a lack of focus, and S2, whatever you think of Noorhelm, has that story to anchor it and not drift too much. S4 would have benefited from a tighter story rather than trying to wrap everything up, because we ended up with like 3-4 storylines and none of them had a completely satisfying conclusion, IMO. Iman Meskini was wonderful this season and much of the good qualities of S4 were from watching her get to shine. The Sana/Yousef relationship, what we did get of it, was fantastic and made for many of S4′s best scenes. However, it was only one part of the plot, and other parts weren’t as engaging. Too much time spent on the bus and Pepsi Max girls who no one cared about. Filler scenes. I don’t think Even needed to be a major part of the story but I disliked the way his mental illness was portrayed in S4, especially after S3 did a good job with it. Overall I think Julie made less interesting choices for drama when there were more obvious ones that would have made for a richer story - for instance, the Noora/Yousef plot was a shallow conflict that could have been resolved with one conversation, and took time away from the real conflict for Sana and Yousef, which was being an interfaith relationship, an issue that has no neat resolution or “right” answer but would make for tons of complex drama and dialogue (as it did when it was the focus). Or how the bus storyline focused on Sara and Pepsi Max when we could have focused on Sana and Vilde’s relationship and their clashing over the bus, which would have been way more interesting. 4. Season 2. I’m not going to go into a full breakdown of it but my main issue is that some of S2′s positive messages and good qualities are undermined by other aspects of the story that are like … direct contradictions. You can probably guess how I feel about Noorhelm. Even outside of Noorhelm, though, William as a character needs a rewrite because I feel like we know barely anything about him as a person? Not what has happened to him but who he is, like what does this guy even like to do in his free time, what are his interests, what are his goals? He’s also weirdly endorsed by the narrative even when it doesn’t make sense (like why is Sana stumping for him and breaking down William’s reasons for smashing a bottle over his head when … she doesn’t know him at all … how would she know … ) The pacing of this season can drag. The Yakuza storyline feels like something out of Riverdale or Gossip Girl rather than Skam and is also underdeveloped (William: totally has good reasons for fighting and Noora needs to understand his motivations, we need to see other’s POVs because war starts from misunderstandings and prejudice. But those Yakuza guys are just violent nameless punks beating up people for the hell of it, don’t think too much about it.) I felt like Noora’s personal arc is not that clear other than falling for William and choosing to be with him - it’s not like with Eva or Isak where they had clear arcs and personal development regardless of their love interest. Or well, I think she has some personal development but a lot of the later episode big drama comes from William having to make choices, not Noora, so it felt like less of her story in the end. Even with Sana whose story is also muddled and whose arc wasn’t handled as well as it could have been, there was more of a personal journey outside of Yousef. Good things about the season: the girls, especially Noora and Vilde’s relationship, the handling of Noora’s assault for the most part, Eskild and Linn’s introduction. Some good symbolism and motifs.

#skamdirect #replies #skam #thank you for asking!

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katrinapavela · 7 years

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Is Rowan Trying to Bring Olivia Back to the Light, or Irrevocably Shutter Her in Darkness? #Scandal

Let me start by saying that I have a well-known history of not seeing it for Rowan, since 301. I didn’t even wanna write this because it seems boringly obvious to me (and other folks who see through this man’s behaviour), and I just want it to be over. I’m tired, even more than Olivia seems to be. I never bought into the idea back then that this man was trying to help save his daughter from destruction and danger brought about by Fitz. That he was going to extraordinary lengths, and showing “tough love” like a strong, black father.

The short version: Rowan is an abusive person. He has been an abusive person since we met him through Jake. Abusers always need the abused more than the abused need them. Without an object to play games with, the abuser doesn’t really exist. His “games” have gotten more and more intense over the seasons, switching tactics and acts like the shapeshifter he is. Rowan is trying to complete the process of eliminating Olivia’s chewy centre (her soul, her humanity) by eradicating ties to those for whom she has the greatest vulnerability. Except him. Fitz and Quinn have been used tactically this way. The ultimate point is for Olivia to have nothing and no one but Rowan (”You never choose one of them over me” (407); “If I have to choose between [my father] and you [Fitz]; you will lose” (611). Rowan sees Olivia as his only connection to humanity. Jake is just another “son” he created. Olivia is “[his], [his] child, the thing [he] made” (310). Everyone needs someone. Rowan’s soul is lost. He can’t have a genuine relationship with anyone. So he’s compelling Olivia, through control, manipulation and domination, to be that someone instead of working for it.

The reasoned version:

Y’all want me to believe that Rowan is simply a stern father who sees Olivia’s potential, and is practicing ‘tough love’, so that she can be the “championed” he raised? That Rowan has been transformed by his encounters with Ponytail and Peus? That Rowan is the old, feeble, victim now?

Y’all can forever and a day miss me with that messed up psychology. I have too many receipts listing the ways in which that kind of thinking is fucked up. The moment Rowan became an active presence (seen or unseen) in Olivia’s life, the level of death, destruction and alienation has increased, not decreased. I cannot think of a single thing Rowan has done for his daughter that did not require she give him something in return. That’s the definition of transactional, not family. Anyway, let me get to it.

HELL NO ROWAN IS NOT TRYING TO SAVE OLIVIA!

It makes no sense. Every single time Rowan has intervened in Olivia’s life, it has been to his primary benefit, which he manipulates her into thinking is also to her benefit (hold on to that because it’s relevant). Think about it. Can you name a single parental, altruistic thing he’s done for her? Even paying her goddamn student loans, before she knew he was Command, required her to report for weekly Sunday dinners in exchange (302).

Rowan: “People are predictable. Unchanging. Monotonous. They use the same language. They offer the same excuses. They make the same mistakes. People are endlessly disappointing because you hope they won’t be…” (413, “No More Blood”)

There is no way on god’s green earth that Shonda could write anything that would justify the levels of abuse Rowan has perpetrated directly upon Olivia himself, and through his prostitutes, Jake and Russell. I’m not gonna bother to list them all because it’s too great. Plus, Olivia, in her 707 monologue to Rowan, already alluded to the ways in which he has destroyed her life so that she is almost unrecognizable to herself.

But what is it that Rowan ultimately wants from Olivia? Why does he keep doing this?

Olivia actually said it best herself, in 409:

Olivia: “You’re not leaving. You’re never leaving. You can never leave me alone because you have no place to go. The only life you have is the sad, twisted one you built here. The one where you lurk in the shadows, pull puppet strings and pretend the world couldn’t exist without you. You can’t disappear, become a normal person because, dad: you are not normal. You’re a sick, lonely man who only knows how to lie and call it love.”

Maybe that hot truth she spat reaffirmed to him why he needed to let the kidnapping happen to her.

Because every word above is true. In fact, we can say Olivia has inhabited some of that ow, too. Change is a verb. I haven’t seen Rowan change anything, except the act he puts on in order to manipulate, people. Case in point: the dialogue @Jarmstrong05 on Twitter dug up.

Rowan did that because he wanted Olivia to run B6-13. Why the fuck would Rowan want Fitz’s soft ass heart to run B6-13? That was just another manipulation of Olitz love, just as Rowan’s trip to Vermont. Rowan started cultivating Fitz as an asset the moment he was on house arrest in the White House, in 6B. Rowan knows that if he went about convincing Olivia to be Command directly, Olivia would run back to Zanzibar. Just like he knew not to directly suggest she take on Mellie’s campaign, but instead created the circumstances to point Olivia in that direction.

/Pause for the cause:

(I am seriously wondering if he promised Mellie that Olivia would make her president in exchange for Mellie letting Tom out of prison, too (506). Because what incentive would she have to let Tom out? Mellie is thirsty for domination, short-sighted, and is too busy wanting to be the mammoth who gets the glory, so that she doesn’t see the stronger mastodon running circles around her)

pause for the cause\

But why wouldn’t Rowan just want to run B6-13 himself? Is he just trying to take it back from her?

Rowan switched up his tactics when Olivia was with Fitz in S5. He started cultivating her as daddy’s girl, instead of the usual “against me, you will lose” adversarial rhetoric he used with her in S3-4. Allow her to think you are both on the same side, and you get what you want from her more quickly. In fact, Olivia has been making the transformation to Rowena after 509. It is in 510 that we see the colour red premier (rowan means red).

If he tried to run B6-13 as Command Olivia would make it her mission as CoS to fighting him. Low key, Rowan has already been running B6-13 indirectly, by using Jake to undermine Liv’s decisions and go behind her back. Jake is a tin man with no brain of his own. He needs orders from someone, a mission. Like, I’m sure Olivia doesn’t know Lucy is B6-13. Rowan has basically allowed Olivia to borrow power (that’s the real ‘something borrowed’), and think that she was controlling the world. It’s easier than fighting her. If Rowan took back direct control, against Olivia’s wishes, she would dedicate Mellie’s whole administration to fighting him, which is tiresome for us and Olivia, but not Rowan:

Huck:“I never considered it before. But, yeah, you were made. Just like us. By him. Why wouldn't you have a guy? ... No. You don't have a guy. You don't need one. You have your father. He is your guy, and he is always out. And you really do need him, because as long as he is by your side, nothing you do seems bad in comparison. Your guy is always out, and he is the biggest, hungriest monster on the loosest leash in the world. ... A monster does not change. A monster is always hungry. Do you not understand that when the monster gets hungry, he will turn around and eat you?”

What I think Rowan has been doing this season, is cementing Olivia as both his replacement, and his permanent companion, until he dies. Rowan is trying to eat Olivia this season. His consumption of her keeps him alive. It’s either she dies or he dies. You already know the option for which I have advocated for 4 seasons now.

Rowan: “You are like looking into the window of my past. You are me. No matter how much I tried, all I could create was me. There is a reckoning coming for you, Olivia. You think you have it under control. You think you have all the power buttoned up inside you behind your eyes, lighting you up. But one day you'll glance into a mirror, and you will discover that some of that power is missing. The lights are going out. Then? You'll have some difficult decisions to make. Do I want that power back? Who am I willing to hurt to get it? Now I can say this because I know You cannot have it all, Olivia.” (701, “Watch Me”)

Rowan doesn’t make predictions. He engineers them. Of course she never had it under control because with him around, she will never be in command of her life. As long as she thinks life is defined in the parameters her father as given her. Of course she can’t have it all, because he never did.

Wait, so why did he try to get Fitz to save her?

lmaoo, Rowan doesn’t give a good goddamn about Olivia’s soul. He’s been trying to make it as black as his. The performance Rowan gives depends on his audience. He told us (and Jake) as much in 406. He needed Fitz to come back to DC in order to test Olivia’s chewy centre. Referring to Fitz as “son” (703, 704) and instructing him on how to “lure her into a cage” (704) all indicate Rowan’s cultivation of Fitz as a deputized B6-13 prostitute. That tactic would never work because Fitz has a genuine connection with Olivia and doesn’t need B6-13 tools. In any case, Olivia eventually passed the test and sent Fitz packing. (I can now see in her own way that she wanted him gone so he wouldn’t be used against her, and so that she can keep up her bad bitch facade. It’s harder around people who actually see you as a person, not just what you can do for them)

When Olivia tried to punish Rowan by taking away his livelihood, something he genuinely enjoyed (his BONES!!!!!!!), he was done playing. You don’t take Rowan’s things. He has a transactional relationship with everyone. Olivia took Annie, so Quinn now gets taken. A person like that is not tethered to reality (which is why Maya laughed incredulously when Olivia told her what Rowan did). Rowan doesn’t need to actually kill Quinn to achieve his goals. He needed to test Olivia's centre. From Olivia’s reaction to those gun shots, her time as Command is dead, to me. When QPA connect’s Quinn’s abduction (I know there are a lot of parallels with her and Olivia, but that’s another post), Olivia’s relationship with them is as good as done (Rowan hopes). Fitz and QPA are the last real connections Olivia has, even though she’s treated them shittily since becoming CoS and Command.

Lessons from the Alternate Universe episode (610)

(does anything I’ve written above make sense?)

Rowan’s influence goes back to the Defiance decision. The AU showed us the contrast in Olivia’s life when her father was not in it (and, by extension, Jake). She had more agency. She smiled. She loved her work AND her friends. She actually stayed and tried in her relationship with Fitz. She was in Command of her life, it wasn’t in command of her. So, in what world would the man who brought darkness into this girl’s life be the one to save her? Change is a verb, and I have seen no action from Rowan. And I need to seem some action from Olivia in the opposite direction. Otherwise, she will be eaten alive by the monster under her nose.

Some of this might be

So y’all tell me.

What do you guys think is going on?

#Scandal #it was only supposed to be a paragraph #i'm sorry #Olivia pope #Rowan pope #bastard

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kinetic-elaboration · 7 years

Text

December 10: Thoughts on 1x08 Day Trip

Wow it’s been a long time since the last installment of my re-watch. That’s okay. I’m continuing now with Day Trip; here are some notes:

This is something I should have realized ages ago but Clarke actually says in her voice over that the Ark has kept them alive for “three generations.” So in other words they (JRoth et al) know, explicitly, that their timeline doesn’t make sense!!! Three generations means Clarke’s grandparents were Grounders. How tf did they get so many people so motherfucking fast?? Generation 1 must have had 15 kids each.

Netflix subtitles suck: “Earth is survival. Mankind if going home.” Thanks Jaha, that’s helpful.

The dual sides of Miller: breaking bad news to parents, then down for some murder. I wish we knew what made him turn around re: Grounders during the S2-S3 hiatus. Did he and Lincoln became buds?

Also speaking of Miller, before S3 I didn’t like him much, tbqh, and even now that he’s a low-key fave I still laughed when Lincoln head-butted him and he went down. Because I mean he really goes down, it’s hilarious.

So for some reason I remember reading that S1 is supposed to be roughly October and S2 is roughly November. And I live just a tad south of where the show takes place so I know something of VA winters (or as I like to call them “winters”) and, yeah, October IS probably when people who don’t know what seasons are should start worrying about the cold. So this episode’s story line makes sense in and of itself. But my question is: why was winter never actually a problem??? Like there’s been snow in the background on occasion but literally no one has ever been cold? It’s such a bizarre problem to just jump up front and center in ONE EPISODE and then, without being remotely solved, just disappear entirely from view. This has bugged me for years and will continue bugging me forever. [Actually ETA everyone forgets about winter about a third of the way through the ep so literally it’s not even an issue for a full 40 minutes.]

Kane: look at this supply depot I learned about from “civil defense plans from before the war.” First, later retconning says there was no war so what’s that about? And second and more importantly I get giddy whenever I hear “civil defense plans” because whoah-boy do I have a whole cache of trivia about those!!

“The 100 would die from exposure before help arrives.” They are really assuming exposure-death is going to happen like NOW aren’t they? That’s unrealistic, October is not that cold. (Fuck, October this year was like 80 degrees.) Also, again, no one is ever chilly, not in this episode or any subsequent episode. Please explain.

I had a semi-theory about Bellarke and leadership and here’s another data point for when/if I put that together: Clarke is seen as the leader from the POV of the Ark leadership, going all the way back to their first contact. This is somewhat understandable, given that Bellamy, still a fugitive, can’t be having one-on-one chats with the Chancellor. Plus, Clarke’s lineage makes her an obvious point person. So here we see the different spheres of leadership further dividing: Clarke still isn’t (I don’t think) really a leader to the kids but she IS a leader from the point of view of the adults. This paves the way for Bellamy to be side-lined in S2 when the Ark comes down, because he was never a leader in their understanding.

They’re even breaking up ice from the dropship seats--that’s an early frost right there. A frost we never see again!

I love the socialist delinquent collective. We needed more of this, everyone working together and shit. Could have sustained like 4 seasons on that.

ALSO THERE ARE JASPER AND MONTY I LOVE THEM.

As far as I know, Dax is the only delinquent with an actual violent past. And of course he doesn’t last long. Also interesting for my purposes how Shumway manipulates him: with favors, including a “choice assignment.” Fits my theory that one’s job is one’s life.

It’s been a long time since I watched a S1 ep but apparently Bellarke are still pretending they don’t like each other. Interesting. Man to follow the twists of this relationship requires watching more than one episode every six months. I’m just going to say this here but there is no way that it would make sense to have “I don’t want to be around anyone I actually like,” even said not-entirely-seriously, coincide with “Clarke run away with me” all within one 40 minute episode. Like honestly cutting that dialogue was SUCH a good idea.

Jasper and Monty are the best everyone else GO HOME RIGHT NOW. Here we see Monty having literally no idea how to actually cheer Jasper up because Jasper is legitimately terrified of the future and Monty survives on dry wit and nihilism. I do appreciate how that bit of disconnect grows and grows over the course of the next four seasons.

#Awkward love triangle alert. Honestly I don’t hate it as much as other people but the worst of it is that it puts Raven in this position where she just doesn’t shine as bright as we all know she can.

Miller is really not a great guard. Just wanders away from Lincoln and lets Octavia in to set him free. That’s the opposite of “guarding.”

Octavia’s like a totally different person in current-canon. She doesn’t even have the same voice anymore.

I don’t know if this is a fair criticism given that current-canon Octavia is hardly what anyone would call mentally stable but in a certain sense I wish she’d been...more explicitly fucked up? Like I can’t always tell if the ridiculous things she thinks are meant to be read as ridiculous. For example, “I’m sorry I freaked out when you kidnapped me, it’s because of my childhood” is deeply ironic. It IS because of her childhood--her childhood makes her incapable of understanding that kidnapping is wrong. But that’s not what she thinks she’s saying. But, like, is that what the writers think she’s saying? I’m not really sure. Are they on the same page as Octavia, or are they like me, on a plane above? Maybe I should have more trust in them, but did you see S4? Mmmmm hard to trust after that.

Speaking of O being fucked up, this story line would make somewhat more sense if Lincoln were actually a bad guy. It’s hard to reconcile the Stockholm Syndrome-y elements of their love story with him being, from like 1x08 on, basically a stand up fellow in every respect. Not that I don’t love Lincoln as is. It’s just that I kind of have to throw out whole episodes of characterization to make him make sense.

“I want you to remember me after I’m dead.... This only ends one way” could have been long-term foreshadowing except that we all know why Lincoln was really killed off. Plus there are too many twists and turns along the way.

Miller thinks he can give Lincoln a beating when Lincoln literally felled him with his hands tied, I mean, wow, glad you have some self-confidence at least.

Nothing will ever beat the aesthetic of Bellarke at the depot site. Also Clarke is so convinced that Jaha will be lenient on Bellamy when if she just thought about the events of her father’s death with some degree of care she’d realize that perhaps (and don’t get me wrong I love Jaha, but just maaaybe) he’s not someone to count on for forgiveness or rule-breaking. Possibly. He’s just too unpredictable. Also what is Clarke carrying, and where tf are they supposed to be? There’s like a...Colosseum there??

I think that by S3 Raven has a crush on Octavia but I also think that this Octaven scene is evidence that they were never actually friends and that Octavia, in particular, really honestly likes almost no one except Bellamy (partially out of obligation because that is NOT a healthy relationship), Jasper, Monty, and Lincoln.

Do they have furs??

Raven is so beautiful. She is the most beautiful.

Clarke has some kind of knitted thing on her ankle. The costuming on this show is A+. Wow.

I’m not sure what I think this “supply depot” is supposed to be. Why didn’t they just call it what it really is: a “bunker”? It looks sort of official (”Supply depot #22″) and it’s on the civil defense plans so it’s obviously a government site. But was it intended for government relocation (conceivable, Mt. Weather and Raven Rock are the big ones but there are others on the East Coast) or for civilians? My understanding is that the civilian shelters were mostly above ground. They were for re-location post-blast, away from the major cities. I’m also semi-confused as to why it’s in such bad shape. They built good bunkers during the Cold War, and that’s true in this universe too: Mt. Weather survived, and so did Murphy’s lighthouse bunker. Why is this one such shit?

Bellamy Blake/Guns: The true OTP. I know we all gush over Bellarke but has he ever smiled at Clarke the way he smiled at that firearm? I’m afraid not.

Jasper’s first words while high are “Earth is scary” and yet the jobi nuts are what he wants to ingest for fun during his last days on Earth. Not realistic.

“You’re acting weird.” / “I’m feeling weird, but in a good way.” WINK. BRING DEVON BACK FOR A FLASHBACK EPISODE THAT IS JUST JONTY ON SPACE WEED FOR FORTY MINUTES.

He says “Earth is scary” before he sees the Grounder hallucination so what prompted that observation?? Is that just his unfiltered thought all the time? Poor Jasper, so sad all the time.

The Jasper & Octavia friendship was so meaningful, and so beautiful, and I miss it. (Sidenote: Octavia does know how to sew, and sewing is one of her jobs in the camp, fits with my other theories, good.) I love that Jasper’s the sort of person who wants “I love you” to be the last words he says to someone before his certain death.

....Well I just realized something. FUCK EVERYTHING. We’re not gonna think about that.

(This is why I don’t want to watch S5, because I’m afraid it will distort even more my otherwise pleasant experiences watching the show’s first two actually-good seasons.)

“Here buddy, take this.” I know I point out this line every time I watch this ep but BUDDY. He’s the little brother of the group I don’t make the rules. Also of importance: “You’re bombed.”

I love sneaky-Octavia and frankly I don’t think she gets enough credit for being sly. I wish they hadn’t played up her great warrior prowess as much because it’s totally unrealistic, but that she has a natural head for low-level treachery is reasonable. Also she and Clarke could have teamed up for some Slytherin-y evil-plan fun times.

READY TO BE A BADASS CLARKE.

This learning-to-shoot scene, in all its cliche flirty glory, is officially the moment Bellarke became endgame, jsyk. They’re hot, he’s obviously attracted to her, they snark at each other, there’s touching involved, they’re bonding over a (newly) common interest....

Clarke at least obviously perceives them as co-leaders (following the “for now we make the rules” Charlotte story); she wants to talk about how they’re going to deal with the guns in camp. Those questions interest me a lot and, hey, do we ever find out how they DO deal with them, like what the rules for access to weaponry are? All that government-building stuff is of interest to me but w/e. Meanwhile, Bellamy sees Clarke as the obvious (sole) leader in his absence (he tells her to keep Miller close).

Bellamy’s experience with the glitter berries is ALSO negative, yet he also chooses to use them as a party drug. Maybe I just don’t have enough experience with drugs but is that not odd??

Jaha would definitely refer to the victims of the culling as “320 souls” who were “sacrificed” but is this also how Bellamy thinks of them? As SOULS? Or is he just really good at keeping his hallucinations IC?

Clarke playing with the bendy gun is the second most hilarious thing in this episode, second only to Lincoln knocking Miller out using his head. Clarke’s a riot. She would be so fun when drunk.

My entire Miller-is-a-drama-nerd headcanon comes from a post someone made about that 2-second moment he’s standing there talking to himself while high and I have NO REGRETS. It’s canon.

“Finn, babe, I know you’re grievously injured and need to stay lying down but the whole camp’s nutter-butter for some unknown reason so get your butt out here to enjoy the hilarity. This is priority one.”

Shame on everyone who doesn’t properly appreciate Stoner!Monty. SHAME.

Clarke is so efficient she uses her state of intoxication to do some problem solving.

She’s obviously a Daddy’s Girl. The excessive use of the word ‘kiddo’ alone basically confirms.

“Forgiveness isn’t about what people deserve” is a criminally underrated line. Especially given the running thread of forgiveness and absolution through the whole show. I agree with that meta from back in the day that Bellarke’s view of forgiveness in the first two seasons is shallow, that it’s harder than just “if you want forgiveness, I’ll give it to you” but I still think there’s something there in Clarke’s initial glitter-berry-fueled realization.

You know what I had always previously assumed that Raven was high when she said “You are the most beautiful broom in a broom closet of brooms” and I wondered, you know, why she chose to eat the nuts AFTER she saw the full effects of them, but now I think she was sober and that was her way of taking care of Connor (?). Because she doesn’t sound space-y when she says it, and at the same time Finn is dumping nuts into the fire and then he says “I got this one,” about another delinquent who is high, which makes it seem a lot more like they’re wrangling their wasted compatriots rather than getting wasted themselves. Which brings up the inevitable question: how did Raven and Connor get to talking about brooms??

Bellamy has explicit suicidal urges but also sees suicide, or death, as something he doesn’t really deserve. Which is fucked up but also...I wish that had come up more explicitly in S4 when so many other characters, including characters he interacts with, start talking about ending their lives. He tells himself (I’m assuming this is him and not Dax speaking through Jaha) that “life is a struggle.” Here he frames it as ‘the struggle of life is what you deserve as punishment for your sins,’ which is interesting enough though bleak, but perhaps he could find some slightly-less-bleak framing of it a (canon-verse) year later?

Bellamy’s confused face when he realizes his gun is a hallucination is the third most hilarious part of this episode.

The Bellarke story line in this episode (both in the sense of the Bellarke-relationship and the Bellamy and Clarke intersecting story lines) IS SO GOOD. Hot damn.

This scene by the tree is also why I still haven’t forgiven Clarke, like 10 years later, for walking away in 2x16. Because Bellamy didn’t run! She asked him to stay and he stayed! She offered him forgiveness and he knew, I’m sure, on some level, that it wasn’t that simple but he still came back! And she couldn’t do that for him.

“All I think about is how to keep everyone alive. But we don’t have a choice.” Already she’s seeing their leadership as pre-ordained (I think in part to alleviate her guilt for all of the things she’s already had to do as a leader, which we see in her convo with her dad weigh on her heavily), and this is the weakness Lxa exploits in S2. The hero/martyr complex.

Bellamy and Clarke walking into camp with the guns = the reason I’m bi.

Bellarke are so smart in this convo with Jaha: Clarke gives her speech first, and then Bellamy’s like “I see that doesn’t convince you, how about some of the coin of the Ark-realm: we make a deal. You live, I live. Everyone wins!”

Lol @ Finn thinking he’s a part of the leadership team.

I feel like one way of summarizing S1 was “how the first people back on Earth after the nuclear apocalypse set themselves up for another apocalypse” but then the show kind of...didn’t go there? Like they make their Oppenheimer references and there’s tons of stuff about accidental escalation and accidental war (a big fear during the Cold War irl btw), and Finn even lays it out here in this conversation with Clarke: bringing in guns is a first step down a dangerous road; this is how it starts. What happened to that whole theme?

I know I talk shit about this show a lot (probably more outside of tumblr than on, actually) but I really do honestly love it, at least in its first two seasons. Like this episode...that was some good shit.

#the year 2017 #2017: the 100 s1 #2017: fandom thoughts

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gadgetsrevv · 5 years

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Germany and Low are firmly in transition, but can they get it right before Euro 2020?

Twice the sound of Kernkraft 400’s electro-hit “Zombie Nation” rang out of the speakers at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion on Friday night. Thanks to Serge Gnabry and Toni Kroos, Germany’s new goal music had arrived but beyond the beats lay a spluttering, twitchy Germany performance.

“This is not the way we want to play,” Joachim Low said afterward. That much was obvious, but how Germany do want to play is not so clear.

Low’s latest rebuild — one that some observers feel should be happening without him — has seen him change assistant coach, enforce retirement on Mats Hummels, Thomas Muller and Jerome Boateng, and move away from the possession-based style of play that won them the World Cup in Brazil. And yet, their display in Friday’s 4-2 defeat to Netherlands was confusing.

– Nicol: Imagine how good Dutch could be with “proper” No.9 – Replay: Stream Germany vs. Netherlands on ESPN+ (U.S. only)

In the first half, Germany had less of the ball, sat a little deeper and looked to be explosive in transition. For the most part, it worked. One of Low’s key changes in his latest rebuild is to make Germany faster, something a front three of Marco Reus, Timo Werner and Gnabry proved they could execute. Gnabry, the man Low says will always play, still looks the most dangerous player in a Germany shirt and in the first half, he made the difference.

But the reactive nature of Germany’s first-half performance didn’t appear to be the plan. Low suggested afterwards that a bit more access to the ball and a little less running would have been desirable. Both Joshua Kimmich and Nico Schulz talked about not having enough control, while Reus was keen to stress how much of what happened had been avoidable. In any case, the respect Germany showed the Dutch at home in the first 45 minutes was telling; even Virgil van Dijk admitted he was a bit surprised.

Joachim Low is still in charge of this Germany side, for better or for worse, but they still look muddled and messy as they prepare for Euro 2020.

Indeed, a host of errors and general passivity hid whatever Germany’s plan in the second half might have been. Germany continually gave the ball away, notably while trying to move forward.

So what is this Germany side supposed to look like?

Victory against Netherlands earlier in the year prompted much belief that Germany had turned a corner. Kroos even said before this game in Hamburg that for a team with a new faces, a new system and a new style, Germany had pushed on quite a bit. On this evidence, they don’t know even where they’re going yet let alone where to turn. This Germany team isn’t as far along as the hype suggested, and the Dutch looked further down the track to becoming a force.

The attack is supposed to be the strong point of this team, but Low’s inability to get the best out of an in-form Werner or Reus, currently loving his club football, is concerning. The eventual return from injury of Leroy Sane will obviously be welcomed but this defeat was not about Manchester City star’s absence. It was about the lack of impact from the front three and, in the midst of this confusion, Low threw on Kai Havertz in the hope he would make something happen. Havertz is the playmaker that can add more balance to this side and he must not be forgotten in Low’s pursuit of pace.

Playing Kimmich in midfield might allow for moments of genius, such as the assist for the opening goal, but it does leave Germany weaker at right-back. With holding midfield hardly a position short of options (see Emre Can or Ilkay Gundogan), placing Kimmich in that role is even more confusing.

Germany is a work in progress in every area of the pitch. They switched their style of play midway through Friday’s clash with the Dutch and completely fell apart.

Then there’s the defensive unit. Jonathan Tah had an unfortunate night (scoring an own goal) and is clearly still a work in progress. Schulz has all of the positives of an attacking wing-back, but sadly also most of the negatives. Niklas Sule must be disappointed that the two strongest aspects of his game, his strength and his relative speed, were not strengths at all against a Dutch team that’s further ahead in their own rebuild.

Low will rightfully take the blame for this. The move to transitional football has not yet clicked and the in-game adjustment back to a possession-based style of play wasn’t promising either. Germany are not a team in balance yet, which is perhaps understandable given all that has happened in the wake of the World Cup debacle. Nevertheless, there are good enough players in this team to perform better than they did against Netherlands.

As for whether or not Low is the right man to get this team there is no longer a question. The DFB failed to plan for his successor five years ago or, at the latest, after the Euros in France in 2016, which has allowed this sense of stasis to take root.

Maybe that has now changed, and those who make such crucial decisions are putting a road map in place for the national team. In the meantime, the embattled manager must make sure he gets this team back in some kind of shape. They appear unlikely to challenge for the Euro 2020 title this time, and that’s ok, but Low must find a way to turn the ship around soon.

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#Uncategorized #2020 #but can they get it right before Euro 2020?#Euro #firmly #germany #Germany and

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gadgetsrevv · 5 years

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Germany and Jogi Low are firmly in transition, but can they get it right before Euro 2020?

HAMBURG, Germany — Twice the sound of Kernkraft 400’s electro-hit “Zombie Nation” rang out of the speakers at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion on Friday night. Thanks to Serge Gnabry and Toni Kroos, Germany’s new goal music had arrived but beyond the beats lay a spluttering, twitchy Germany performance.

“This is not the way we want to play,” Joachim Low said afterward. That much was obvious, but how Germany do want to play is not so clear.

– Nicol: Imagine how good Dutch could be with “proper” No.9 – Replay: Stream Germany vs. Netherlands on ESPN+ (U.S. only)

Joachim Low is still in charge of this Germany side, for better or for worse, but they still look muddled and messy as they prepare for Euro 2020.

Indeed, a host of errors and general passivity hid whatever Germany’s plan in the second half might have been. Germany continually gave the ball away, notably while trying to move forward.

So what is this Germany side supposed to look like?

Germany is a work in progress in every area of the pitch. They switched their style of play midway through Friday’s clash with the Dutch and completely fell apart.

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#Uncategorized #2020 #but can they get it right before Euro 2020?#Euro #firmly #germany #Germany and

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