#and Thanks to Them may have forshadowing

[okayrigamarole]

🤞 Fingers crossed Luz’s palisman egg hatches to be a snake and she names it “Pajamas” 🤞

[dearwriters]

Hey there!

I've been writing for a while but I wanted some advice.

May I ask you?

I've been writing a fallen hero (who was a king) who's forced to mentor the actual hero.

This king had to sacrifice the heroes of his time for peace and he doesnt like the new hero because he remembers himnof them.

So he absolutely refuses to do help him but I really need him to, you know, mentor the hero.

How can I do it without making the mentor surrender?

And how/when do you I should uncover the fallen hero's past?

Thanks you and ignore this freely.

And thanks for the past advie you gave on the blog too!

The Reluctant Hero/Mentor

This is the struggle with reluctant characters. You kinda have to make them do the thing they really don't wanna do. So you have to really give them a convincing reason.

It may be a notion ingrained in their character or backstory, like revenge or duty or guilt.

Maybe there is an anticipated reward promised at the end of the story. Something they really want or that was taken from them.

You can also make the threat personal. Either they themself could be in danger or someone/something they love.

Maybe the path they really don't want to tread, offers them some answers they were seeking. This, again, is a great way to tie in their backstory. Let them seek knowledge that can only be acquired by going on the journey.

Basically it's all about this: Writing a reluctant character is a good idea, but it has to be ingrained in them, that their reluctance can be overcome. While planning a character like this, you kinda have to start by planning the reason for their reluctance but also the reason for their eventual action.

Now, looking at your example: The old hero is reluctant to help the new hero, because he reminds him of those he lost. But is this projection not also a very good reason to end up helping him? Because he can try to right the wrongs of his past? Maybe there is some kind of spark in the new hero, that convinces him.

This may be a weird comparrison, but... think about the hero trainer Phil in Disneys Hercules. He refuses to train Hercules, because all his other heros failed and died on him. But the exceptional strenght of Hercules (and a comically timed lightning bolt by Zeus) makes him believe that this time he can succeed and train a great hero who may survive the fight, narratively pointed out by the song "One Last Hope".

When it comes to uncovering the old heros past, I think this could be a great twist, for example breaking into the third act (depending on what kind of story structure you use). You can use his reluctance as a forshadowing tool.

I hope this helped a bit. Have fun writing!

[tobeornottotc]

Do you think vegas will make it in the end? I know they said season 2, but do you think maybe they said that so as to distract us from thinking this? I'm getting stressed, i want vegaspete to both be here..do you think vegas saying things like making merit to meet in the next lifetime or eat so you can have strength to kill me later on can be considered forshadowing? Also, build, on the live conference thing said something about mile/kinn slapping him, so we are hopefully getting that, in your opinion, what do you think would cause the slap? Will it be because pete chooses vegas and defends him? Or something else entirely

Hi!

Sorry for the late reply. Let's get into this. Normally I don't promote things but anon if you haven't yet we discuss all of this and more on a 8 hour twitter space breaking down things all things episode 11 and VegasPete. Vegas will be one of the characters that will be in the danger zone essentially. his story depends on where the directors and writers want to stop at before they deal with him in season 2. So it's hard to explain to you what could happen with him. It's either he will be seen as dead by us the audience with a cliff hanger waiting for his rebirth to happen in the next season or if they will tackle his rebirth in this season as they have been foreshadowing to both him dying and being awake, or a side of him dying and being reborn anew into something of good. The next life conversation is part of these foreshadowings essentially the religion believes in making merits for your next wife 'washing' away your bad karma, your evil deeds, and those you hurt and getting repentance and mercy to become someone else. This isn't a scary foreshadowing because it's a positive way to view *dea*th, it is about it being a tool to bring purpose and a new happy peaceful beginning again. Deth (i'm gonna have to spell it like this so i don't get flagged) in KP is a good thing, Porsche is connected to this with the phoenix he needs Deth to be able to reborn into the queen of the chessboard, so does Vegas who is also his queen of his chessboard, both queens have to become something new for their story to take place and for their loved ones to be protected and happy. There has been so many, like so many foreshadowings for VP with deth and rebirth, I just even got a new one from a fan, but I feel confident for now they are tackling and keeping this with Vegas, we will see him go through some type of deth but they'll hopefully talk or hint at his rebirth too.

As for Build getting slapped. I can see Kinn being betrayed by Pete but a slap feels out of order since Kinn already left Pete and forgot about him. I feel like the show wants KInn to make mistakes but they don't want him hated, they've rewritten him to fit that, so slapping Pete when it could make him look heartless and extra I don't think I believe that but then where else or what other reason would Mile have for slapping Build? So yeah I get your point, Kinn slapping Pete upon him admitting he wants to leave or betrays them seems again cruel, is there a chance Pete may ask for the slap, for a punishment because his head isn't focused on his work? Is there a chance Pete may ask Kinn to do that? Yeah that's what I would lean into more than just cruelly slapping him cause youre butthurt he betrayed you. But like I said I'm uncertain about this statement, however Build did say it and it wasn't an error so Mile must have slapped him and made him realise Pete is a masochist. Even the actor is saying it.

Thanks anon! there's a lot to think about when analysing VegasPete dynamics and boy did the show go all out for it. They have spent so much energy and effort thinking and making these two be filled with depth and symbolisms and things to foreshadow and explain the psyche behind their love story. For that I truly want to trust this team and see what they do with the ending. They are changing the novel's ending so this analysis is not a spoiler, but more just on what the show is giving and it is deth and rebirth with VP. Who will go? who will need to be rebirthed? how will they show it in the story narrative? that's what we have 3 episodes to figure out. Thanks again have a great day <3

[ackermanshoe]

"Mikasa?!"

"get your shit together"

"we are the only ones who can stop Eren"

Well smart ppl, this is the first time in the entirety of attack on titan Levi "snapped" towards Mikasa. The look on his eyes it's so full concern, did he know what was happening to her? Did he realise it was her headache or did he think it was Eren doing something?

Maybe he snapped bc he was absolutely tired of Erens shit and mikasa's hesitation towards him. Maybe he was so worried that he couldn't get his words to come out? "Get your shit together" is such a Levi think to say if he said "are you okay?" It would be so out of character.

I know I don't need to explain this as we are all aware that Levi's way with Mikasa is like none other, right? Eg when he snapped at historia for not being able to give a straight answer to the biggest decision of her life - more: he often snaps at hanji despite them being friends for years etc.

It also makes me wonder how Levi is so in touch with reality, he's right next to her, could it be that his presence helped Mikasa come back to hers and finally decide to end Eren?

"a theory isn't a fantasy, it's a coherent set of ideas intend to explain something.." and this is me theorising so stay with me. The Ackerman's who had their inhumane power activated are Levi Mikasa and Kenny. Kenny met his tragic end with Yuri, Levi met his tragic end with Erwin and now it is clearly Mikasa's turn. Ik it wasn't obvious but when Kenny Ackerman lost his liege he was completely alone then eventually he had died off. Isn't it funny how the only two Ackerman's to have had years side by side were Mikasa and Levi? It's just my belief that Erwin's death would have caused more harm on Levi if he hadn't had Mikasa by his side and Mikasa would have been more lost in her delusion or dreams without Levi's consent attempt to bring her back to reality. Eg female titan arc.

Even after killing Zeke Levi never found true happiness, was it really the purpose of his life? Definitely not. It almost feels like there's a loose end to tie, possibly with another Ackerman. This is where my theory ( or more questions ) about the shine in his eyes comes in which I will explain later.

I have always seen Mikasa as a doer, who is not indecisive and always goes for the kill. Levi knows that too. This one moment where got her headache and she hesitated to move forward it was a conflict that clearly irretated Levi.

But man if it were anyone else with all their love and care for Mikasa they would have snapped at her ages ago. The patience this man has for Mikasa is unmatched.

Furthermore

"got it"

"Mikasa"

He said this to himself, TO HIMSELF I repeat not to Mikasa or anyone. What does this tell me? It tells me he trusts Mikasa to make the right decision. He knows it's time and he knows that she won't hesitate this time. Remember the gleam in his eyes when Mikasa asked him to help her kill Eren?

It's a gleam of trust and recognition.

To me this is the purest form of support Levi has given not only to Mikasa but anyone at all. It kinda makes me feel soft if I'm being honest but I can't explain that with facts.

Might I mention how how Levi said mikasa's name more in this one chapter than he has said in the entire manga?

( if someone know why he never calls Mikasa by her name please let me know I'm so hung up on that and still wondering what could be the meaning behind it )

It can be said the same with Mikasa calling Levi "captain" several times in the last chapter and possibly this one.

It may be a personal view of mine but the I think there's a lot of significance in calling ones name. But in rivamika's relationship the lack there of name calling makes it much more interesting to theorise. I have always been someone who would hesitate to say my crush's name because I feel like it would be awkward and make the conversation much more intimate. Yeah it's just a theory but most people would avoid using their crushes name because it makes them nervous and the fact their crush exist near them much more realistic. ( Input scene from there first caridge scene where Levi called Mikasa by her name to tell her to protect Eren with all her skills and Mikasa had a drop sweat on her, she was caught off guard by his voice calling her name )

If I was to assume this is what happened with Levi not mentioning mikasa's name ( all that often ) then it kinda makes sense. And now that we have Levi finally calling out her name in the middle of a life or death battle it makes me wonder if he is finally breaking out of a invisible shell and confronting his feelings (?)

Note: "feelings" can be interpreted as romantic AND non romantic. I don't mean to say that I think he is in love with her that's realistically thinking.

Idk how to word this properly but it's like he is becoming more aware of mikasa's importance in his life and vice versa (?)

Ones name is the biggest connection they have with their individuality and the fact that Levi calls her name several times in this particular chapter makes me think it's somehow connected to Mikasa letting go off Eren and choosing herself + Levi and whoever is left to save. I believe Levi already knew this since the moment the gleam came into his eyes, like I mentioned many many many times Levi knows things about Mikasa before she does. For Levi it's like looking into a mirror that goes backwards in time.

If I'm going to talk more about the gleam in Levi's eyes I might as well put it all down on the table and you can view it however you want.

Remember this

"is it from hope or despair that this strength comes from?"

Well the gleam to me represents hope, not only for the survival of them two by killing Eren, but for Mikasa herself, finding herself MIGHT just be the gleam of hope Levi's strength came from. Individuality. This is more like forshadowing the future than the present.

It also reminds me of S1 when Levi's eyes gleamed when Eren expressed his hatred towards the titans. The look of obsession, to kill the titans and now mikasa's determination to kill Eren ( her obsession).

If I'm being a delulu then yes I do think he is in love with her and nothing less 🤩 and this look^^ above is so sexy can they just idk send me the wedding invitation already I'm 🕯️😔🕯️ tired of waiting.

Anyways I'm going to end this here I feel like I write so much and if anyone asked me what this was all about in real life I would prolly run away rather than speaking. Thank you guys for being here and supporting me and everyone else! I hope the last chapter is at least 100 pages long because we need it 😭🕯️😭.

Edit: I apologize for making this so long I was going to post it like tomorrow but I think it will makes sense if I do it now rather than later.

Also regarding the snapping bit I honestly think it's just because the way he speaks it comes out as harsh which is natural for his character we already know he cares so much about her, he was panicking guys.

[blushing-titan]

Eren as a father and Ymir as a mother motives theory never made sense. They were represented as emotionally stunned children in paths doing the Rumbling, not as adults. Ymir never cared about her children, she doomed them to suffer after her VERY SHITTY AND SELFISH CHOICE TO DIE because her abuser didn't return her "love". That was clear before Eren revealed it. She saved him and abandoned her children. She never gave a single fuck about them. She was always looking at HIM. (1)

For his part, Eren reverted to a child, talked about the sights with Armin which foreshadowed his motivation was mixed with his mental fuckery and timeless perspective. Dina and bird twist were foreshadowed via memory shards earlier. Krueger went on a rant about protecting Armin and Mikasa (and the "others") to Grisha. We've always known who Eren prioritized above all. Last chapter offered no twists, only confirmations. The story was always about EMA, Historia never had a place in the climax.

Hi! Thank you very much for writing 😀 I put my reply under the cut, so people who scroll down while searching tags don’t have problems with my long post (...because I feel like, unfortunetely, it’s gonna be another stream of conciousness from me, sorry about that 😅)

I really like your take on the "emotionally stunned children in paths" imaginery - I fully agree that it's a nicely-done symbolism!

To me, the whole Ymir sacrificed herself because of her unrequited love was not at all as clear and obvious as you say - especially before Eren revealed it. I still have a lot of problems with this plot twist, and how Ymir's feelings towards Fritz were portrayed in the end.

With the amount of abuse and mistreatment the king put her through, many fans tried to come up with different theories as to why Ymir kept on serving him. The way I interpreted it, after seeing her tortured expression over and over in many panels, was that she stayed by his side because of fear and emotional damages. With the way she was living, I was not surprised that she sacrificed herself, too - I thought that she honestly had enough, which added to the tradgedy of how she still couldn't find peace after that, and kept on being enslaved in paths.

I saw many takes and theories on her motives, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone betting on she was actually in love before ch. 139. I probably didn't search good enough, but again - with what I saw in the manga, I would have never bet on that either. My point is - before ch. 139 (...and after it too, in my opinion) Ymir was a walking mystery with unclear motives, so there were a lot of theories. Therefore, I disagree that the "parents" theory could never work - it obviously doesn’t work now, after ch. 139, but before that, her motivation could be anything really. I still wish it was something else, because what we got was too vague and problematic, in my opinion. 

I simply dislike Ymir's conclusion. I feel like there was so much potential in her backstory and motives + a few different ways to tie it back with different plotpoints and characters in the end to make it more meaningful, but what we got was a brief: She was in love with the person who abused her, I know it sounds unbelievable but I couldn't look deeper into her heart, so we have to take it as it is.

In general - I can't brush it off, but to me it feels like Ymir's end goal was rushed, not explored properly, and almost pulled out of nowhere. Unfortunately, I feel the same about Mikasa's involvement in lifting the titan's curse. Don't get me wrong - I'm not at all against her becoming the hero. Quite the opposite, I was rooting for her since the beginning, and hoped to see her develop and have a big moment, but this...this honestly also felt pulled out of nowhere and, in my eyes, didn't do Mikasa justice at all. I wish there was more proper build-up and foreshadowing done so I (...and, from what I've seen, a huge portion of fans) wouldn't feel that way, but here we are.

As for the Eren/Armin conversation, I like how they got to "see" the world together, even though just as a visualisation in the paths. My problem is the [...] Eren reverted to a child, talked about the sights with Armin which foreshadowed his motivation was mixed with his mental fuckery and timeless perspective part. Again, this should have been forshadowed (...and developed in general!) much sooner - not in the final chapter, right before we learn about this controversial motivation of his.

Instead, for many chapters, we were lead to believe that Eren was acting with his original goals and personal motivations in mind; that he had some character developement which caused him to start thinking his actions through, stop acting so impulsively - and finally, that he had a plan in mind, or at least was acting out of his own free will.

If you've never seen him in this light and his motivation/behaviour seemed in character in the last chapter to you - that's fine, all power to you! But if such a big portion of the fanbase felt otherwise (me included), then it means that there were some writing issues that led to this.

The Dina situation should have been explored more, as well. It's a huuuge plot twist, which puts our MC's motovations in an entirely new light, and creates quite a few additional plot-related questions. The way we're shown the situation: Berthold couldn't die just yet, so Eren directed Dina somewhere else, which ended up being his house.

...why not anywhere else? He could literally send her back outside the wall. On top of that - did he seriously sacrifice his mother in favour of his friends? I'd really like more information on this, but the topic is cut basically as soon as it appears. I find it especially unnatural, considering the way further dialogue goes:

Eren tells Armin about how he caused his mother's demise. Armin makes a terrified face, but drops the topic, smiles and casually proceeds with: "Let's go, Eren" - like his friend didn't just reveal one of the most controversial plot twist in the series. No, who'd want to hear an elaboration on that - better talk about Mikasa, so instead we get the entire (in my eyes - really forced) Eremika-themed talk. The priorities...

About the bird thing...if I remember correctly, there were three shards revolving around this theme. Two of them just show birds flying, one of them shows Falco from bird’s perpective. Sure, now that we know that some random bird in the end pecked on Mikasa's scarf, we can kiiiiiind of connect it to the Falco's shard...but honestly, why was Eren's soul transferred into some random bird after his death? On top of that, a bird that was already existing in the world while he was still alive, as a human...did that bird’s conciousness just go poof! one day, for Eren to take the vacant spot? Should we also look for other deceased titan shifters in barns or birdhouses? 😅 I can’t believe I’m overthinking it this hard...😆

That's some three-eyed-parasitic-jeager stuff, for sure.

Jokes aside, I guess what I'm trying to say is that foreshadowing is fun and great, but it should go hand in hand with proper developement - and, in my opinion, the examples above kinda lack it (...ok, I'd let the "bird Eren" thing slide because whatever, I don't feel the need to be that serious about it, it could stay ambigous in my opinion - but I'd definitely want some more closure as for the Dina situation or Ymir’s motivations and inner thoughts)

I've always said that Armin and Mikasa were two of Eren's closest friends - or, even more, the only people he considered family. I've also never believed that he would ever willingly sacrifice them, as some people theorized (...though guess what, now that I know what happened to his mother, I have to rethink my reasoning). I understand that EMA are the main characters, and was expecting that the story's conclusion will be tied to them somehow, but definitely not at the expense of logical character and story developement (...and sorry - to me the ending just felt that way).

As for Historia: if she was never supposed to be important in the end, then, in my eyes, it's a very poorly guided plotline that only led to unecessary drama in the fanbase. Why make her situation look sus with things such us:

Incorrect conception date,

The emphasis on how she didn't marry the father of her baby (...only to reveal in ch. 139 that she, in fact, did that),

The mysterious, cloaked figure observing her talking to the farmer,

The whole talk with Eren in ch. 130, and Eren thinking back to it while talking with Zeke.

All the Historia/Ymir parallels.

Seriously, what was the point? It would be so easy to simply make the situation clear. Why not just make Historia admit to Eren in ch. 131: "yes, I'm already pregnant with the farmer's baby - I did it to save myself."? Why not cut the bs with the "she didn't marry him" - because, in all honesty, what did that information bring into the story, aside from confusion and "misunderstanding" - and just make them married, instead? Even better - why not have at least one panel showing Historia and farmer being at least somehow affectionate with each other? Why not let go of all this retconned stuff and use these panels for shelling out other plotpoints?

The theories didn't come out of nowhere - they were based on what was shown in the manga. People wouldn't be disappointed with Historia's conclusion if it was never implied that she was still somehow important. We may argue about it back and forth, but the truth is - when so many people collectively "misunderstand" a certain plotline to this extent, then it means there had to be some storytelling issues that led them to this - simple as that.

To sum it up, I'm happy that you enjoyed the chapter and found it logical and satisfying. I absolutely don't want to take that away from you, or make you change your mind, but I also can't help the fact that I don't see it in the same light as you. You say that the final chapter offered no twists, only confirmations - to me, it was pretty much the opposite. Still, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts, and sorry it took me so long to reply! Hope you're having a nice day 😄

[lol-jackles]

Ive been meaning to ask you opinion on Jensen's work as a director. What do you think about it overall? From the 6 episodes he directed, do you have a favorite? In terms of evolution, do you think he improved or stay the same throughout them? Is there a specific aspect that you would have done different? Sorry for so many quesions in one ask

One of the reasons why I want Jensen to go to the WB TV Director workshop is because he has an abundance of raw and natural talent and his skills are mostly self-taught, including his acting.  I would like to see if Jensen could go further than his comfort zone and try to do something distinctive.  For example, while I didn’t love all of Richard Spreight’ directing choices, at least he tried something different with some of the SPN episodes he directed.  There is a saying, "the director’s job is to bring something to the editor."

Overall Jensen does a fine job directing and works with the material as best as he could, and he was given some weak material.

Let’s review (but remember, I’ve only seen most SPN episodes once so I may not remember most of the specifics).

“Weekends at Bobby’s”, written by Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin.  A good directorial debut from Jensen, the story pacing was consistent to the tone of the episode, which is drama with just the right amount of silly comedic scenes.  Jim Beaver is a good actor but it’s the director who guides the performances of the actors, so given that Beaver hit the nail on the head, I took it to mean Jensen was good are guiding Beaver’s performance.  The look and lighting of the episode was solid.

“Girl Next Door” written by Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin.  A good sophmore effort by Jensen.  The lighting choice between flashback and present scenes were pretty good. The performance of young Sam and Amy were convincing as prequels to present day Sam and Amy, which I credit Jensen for.  The pacing was solid and the semi-twist in the end was a surprise but not unexpected, therefore satisfying, a sign of having a good director.

“Heartache” written by BuckLemming and I remember nothing about this episode.  But thanks to you all my dashboard gets gifs of Sam from Jensen’s lovingly scanning and zooming in on Jared and his white shirt.  I have no idea if the closeups were Jensen’s idea or fangirls’ giffing skills.  Usually the close-up of actors makes the audience feel anxious and uncomfortable, it was the late Stanley Kubrick’s favorite technique to forshadow character's insanity.  Lesser directors use close up for no earthly purpose other than to distract from the scene.

“Soul Survivor” written by Buck Lemming.  At least this one is more memorable because a) demon Dean finally got good when he was chair flirting with Sam and wanting to literally hammer his little brother against the wall and b) that wincesty stare and c) they got rid of the b-plot demon Dean.  Bonus that Dean was worried that Sam wants a divource.

“Bad Seed” written by Buck Lemming.  Oh boy.  Look kids, if the script is bad, nothing can save it. Not even the best directors in the world.  No amount of directorial skill is going to take a stick and convert it into a bar of platinum.  I don’t remember the plot but distinctly remember feeling cringy bout it.   Sorry Jensen, I know you tried.

“Atomic Monster” written by Davey Perez.  This was the first time I feel Jensen tried to do something different in an old school classic SPN episode, using the quick-jump edits for both Sam’s nightmare and the real life nightmare reveal of the female prisoner.  Not my favorite editing choice but I give credit where credit is due.  Backed by above average script and a steady director hand with a few experimental attempt, Jensen remains a solid TV director.

[greekwitchchild]

Hi I’m not particularly new to witchcraft but I’ve been having very intense dreams the past two days both of them involve me striking something with lightning or someone in my dream striking something with lightning and it’s started to trouble me and I can’t figure out its a deity or some sort of foreshadowing as I can’t figure it out (I apologise if this bothers you if it does you can just delete the ask but it’s starting to freak me out and I can’t figure out what the dream means) 1/2

2/2 : And I was just wondering if you or anyone else is having intense dreams right now that are making you feel uneasy and how to deal with them. Thank you and i apologise if i have over stepped a boundary.

Hey! First of all don’t apologise at all! You’ve not overstepped a boundary and its not bothering me! I hope my answer can help in some way.

Dieties and The Gods:

The most obvious answer to this is that Zeus is trying to reach out. He is the God of lighting and it’s one of his symbols. Intense dreams that reoccur to do with sacred items to Gods can often be signs from them they want to work with you. I would suggest trying to contact him and asking if this is him. If you wish to work with him, explain this but if you do not, explain why and ask him to stop sending you the dreams.

Foreshadowing:

There’s an awful lot of talk at the moment about the end of the world and signs it is coming. Whilst these dreams could be forshadowing and warning you that this will become reality, it could also be that it’s very present in your subconscious mind at the moment. Ask yourself: have i been thinking about this a lot recently? what’s been worrying me? If you find it’s something sinister like this, this could also explain it.

ME AND OTHER PEOPLE:

i’ve heard a lot of witches and spiritual people talk at the moment about how the energy is a bit crazy and chaotic atm. This is because of the moon, and also the crazy amount of energy at the moment due to the Black Lives Matter movement and Pride Month. This energy has been giving a lot of my witch friends crazy or intense dreams as well so this could also be a factor.

I hope this helped in some way! If you have any more questions please feel free to ask them in the comments, and readers, if you have any advice for them please also leave that! Thank you and may the Gods be with you all ❤️

[familyagrestefanblog]

You mentioned in one of your posts that you'd love to talk about every abusive thing Gabriel (and Nathalie) did to Adrien. Please do that!

You know what? You are damn right

Even though I cant make a whole essay analysis off of it right now ( I wanna wait for “Chat Blance” and “Felix” to air first to have the whole 3 seasons list of abuse complete and I’m kinda short on time from tomorrow on) I sure as hell started actually writing down the types of abuse done by Gabriel to Adrien seen in the show. Cuz im lying sick in bed so why the hell not, its for important education reasons. Cuz the amount of people in this fandom believing Adrien isnt being abused just because Gabriel doesn’t marsh into Adriens room to punch his son in the face every 2 scenes, is actually quite concerning.  

The list is not complete yet its just what I could remember today without rewatching 50+ episodes but still I may say that I still got a very large and diverse amount (cuz the abuse in the Agreste family is one of my favorite aspects of Miraculous).

I sorely focused on Gabriel for now. Meaning:

The abusive actions Gabriel has shown to have done and used against Adrien JUST AS GABRIEL

Then Gabriel as a person. His personality, tone, bodylanguage and choice of words when being with Adrien.

Then the harmful/abusive actions against/affecting Adrien Gabriel does AS HAWKMOTH or for his plans.

Every point isnt every incident Gabriel whenever Gabriel did something because sometimes things happen twice. Every point is another factor or type of abuse that brings in another layer.

(Ill also put them here in photo form because putting it all in here will get too much)

Sadly I couldn’t dive into how these types of abuse affect and cause Adriens behaviour in the show because that is just too much for one day. Adrien is too well written. Maybe one day I’ll find the time to really make some essay posts including all sides but for now

Let me show you my “Gabriel abuse” notes

Page 1:

Page 2 (with a little continuation from page 1 in the beginning):

and page 3 (the continuation of point 3)

Its frankly a fuck tone and im not even anywhere close to done. This entire abusive and toxic father-son power imbalance is so incredibly well written and often downright brutal when you think about it. But I’m just impressed that this show is for one ALLOWED to do this and two ABLE to portray this so phenomenally. Cuz this is abuse. This happens in real life to abused children. Take out the magic part of the show and you have a real life scenario.

And I freaking LOVE it!

But you know what I’ll love even more once we are there (and it is already build up and forshadowed like crazy)?

Adrien getting the fuck out of this nightmare of a house and getting adopted by the Dupain-Changs! Cuz for as much as I like Gabriel as a character and villain, I want to see this bitch burn and pay for his actions. Let him face the consequences and loose the son he abused, controlled, manipulated and neglected and abandoned this entire time.

I cant wait to see Adrien turn against his Father after finding out he’s Hawkmoth and step by step twisting out of the grasp of our toxic main villain until one day hes finally free and in a wonderful and loving family he can truly bloom in.

Yes. Its gonna get ugly. Its gonna get unfair. And its definitely gonna get more and more intense between these two. Its realistic just like it always has been and I honestly wouldn’t want it any other way.

Give me a real abuse Survivor children can look up to, because by God in heaven, there are children out there who need it! And Miraculous is doing a fantastic job with both Adrien and Chloe even if most of the fandom cant see it yet. Later, when we truly have the big picture these two will be unique characters of redemption and survival. But until then? Until they are out of their toxic situations and environments? Its gonna be ugly, rough, painful but bloody real and understandable

Because children/kids and, fuck, young ADULTS like me need ugly and bloody real and not some characters who have our backstory but still always happen to be oh so brave, so unafraid of the consequences of disobeying or rebellion and OH SO suspiciously unproblematic even though that’s complete unrelatable bullshit

Miraculous keeps this shit real, with real consequences, real behaviours and real and not rushed solutions

Thank you Miraculous (and She Ra), I would have needed you in my childhood

Thank fucking you

[rochey1010]

HI, ok so this second post is about Eliott posting obscure movies and how they are or will relate to the plot:

1: NIGHT OF THE GHOULS - this movie is basically made by an amateur movie director known as Ed Wood. Now this one did confuse me for a bit as i had multiple threads going in my head. So i'm just gonna list them all. This is setting up the ELU trust/insecurity issues to come. It's also setting up the connection between Eliott and Lola, and it could be setting up Eliott and his suspected uni movie project.

● ELU trust/insecurity issues- the girl in the clip is panicking over something being outside. She's very hysterical and unsettled, and refers to what's outside as ghosts. The guy in the turban is basically telling her she's a fool and that there isn't anything outside. So theorising here, the girl is lucas. The ghosts are the ghosts of the past AKA abandonment issues. They're so deeply rooted that there's a struggle to get through to him. The turban guy is Eliott and he's frustrated that his reasoning isn't getting through. That the fears are unfounded = possible misconstrued nature by Lucas of Eliott and Lola's friendship.

More obscure theory but actually starting to build ground as the show goes on. The girl is Eliott and it's simply that the ghosts of the past have returned (upcoming Benny.Taxi post) and he's freaking out over it.

● this is the BTS, and i think very important for the Lola and Eliott friendship. So Ed Wood the director of the movie formed a friendship with Bella Lugosi (star) but it was through the making of this movie that Wood got Lugosi through the darkest days of his depression and alcoholism. His friendship saved him and put him in a better place. How does this relate? Lola is spiralling at the moment and Maya is distant. She needs a connection and she's one step away from going on another bender. This is where Eliott comes in. He's empathic, sees the bigger picture and has shown concern towards Lola. Their connection is being built on self identification. Basically someone who can relate and understand. Lola needs that right now. Eliott has reached out and they are gonna be friends. He's gonna help her and i suspect the movie will be part of it.

● this one is just about Ed Wood and being an amateur director. I must say a really bad one. I'm thinking it's Eliott BTS and his possible Uni project, and his insecurities over his ability and talents because he was hurt when POLARIS failed to get the funding it needed in the past.

2: MAX AND MARY: A story about a long distance friendship between two lonely outlier souls. There is an age difference but the bond is innocent between them. They converse as penpals and in the end Mary goes to meet Max but he died. this is basically setting up not only the friendship between Eliott and Lola but that Lola will meet Eliott in the next few days. It's also screaming another theory (Benny.Taxi) but i'm gonna talk about that in my last post. The clip is Mary knocking on Max's door. Now my theory is that Lola goes to find Eliott possibly at his job but just misses him, and ends up slipping and going back to the club or more likely she now reaches out to him and meets him.

Edit: next movie Eliott just posted on his insta story.....

3: Unbreakable: This is a 2000's movie directed by M Night Shyamalan. There are 2 important characters. One is a security guard called David (Bruce Wilis) and the other is a comic book store owner calked Elijah (Samuel L Jackson) They come into each others lives and force each other to confront their true selves. They are opposites or polarities of each other. POLARIS i see you there. 👋 but at different places in their lives.

Elijah says "however unreal it may seem, we are connected you and i, we're on the same curve, just on opposite ends"

David is damaged psychologically. He's trying to fix himself and his world. He is numb and just going through the motions of life. He has no passion or drive. Then he finds out about his super powers. That he is super strong like iron, and through this knowledge, and using those abilities, he heals his soul and feels complete.

Elijah is physically damaged. He has brittle 'glass' bones and is in a wheelchair. He learns of David's abilities and he seeks to understand them. Elijah thinks that himself and David are connected and it's through this presence in David's life that they both go on a journey of self discovery and knowing their purpose. Elijah acts as a quirky sort of mentor for David. A guide you would say.

Elijah: "it's alright to be afraid, David because this part won't be like a comic book. Real life doesn't fit into little boxes that were drawn for it"

It's a very ambiguous sort of movie, as both characters are simply grey people. They are very flawed and they have hurt people. There are themes of heroism, self worth, destiny, fear identity and purpose, and really it's about becoming your own hero in life. So how does this relate to the show?

Ok, Eliott is again forshadowing the plot and the issues these characters will face and overcome. Basically i feel it's again the dynamic that Lola and Eliott have. How they will affect each other and the meaning they will bring to each others lives. So Lola is David and she's depressed and numb right now. She's directionless and feels she has no place in her world. Eliott is Elijah and he meets her at a place in life where he ends up helping her to see her true potential. Through this Lola starts to take the reigns of her own life and be her own hero. And her world around her begins to flourish once again e.g. friends, family, love etc.

Elijah says to David at one point "do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world, to not know why you're here"

That screams so much fear in both of these characters, with their own insecurities and trauma's. Eliott could possibly be to me at a crossroads in his creativity. That now that he is trying to bring POLARIS back again, that he is crippled with doubt and insecurity from the first time it failed. His personal insta movie stories seem to me to be him trying to find inspiration to finish POLARIS. And through them it's like he's doubting himself (Elijah's "i almost gave up hope there were so many times i questioned myself")but also through them, the thread is there that he will have help to make POLARIS realised finally.

Ultimately the movie and the show is referencing the realisation of who a person is, what they are capable of, and finding closure from the past and putting your fears and doubts to rest. This to me is both Eliott and Lola's journey.

So basically Eliott's movie is coming. Possibly E6. And POLARIS will be the crux of the life changes in Eliott and Lola. I feel Lola being involved in Eliott's art may even start changing the way she views her own. (damage) and i feel POLARIS will help Lola come to terms with her love for Maya. Thanks to anyone who continues to read my ramblings. 😊

OK my last post is about Benny.taxi and how it's looking like it will be Eliott and not Daphne. And how Eliott's past connects to that.

[frustratedpker]

Some thoughts and analysis on Clarabelle and Horace

I wanted to write this for a long time!

Buckle up guys, this is gonna be long!

As you probably know if you ‘re following my blog, I am a big fan of the series Pippo Reporter (Goofy reporter) written by Teresa Radice and illustrated by Stefano Turconi.

For those who are not familiar with the saga, it’s a series of stories that take place in 1930′s America revolving around the life of Goofy who works as a reporter with the narrative building up and leading to his first meeting with Mickey.

The stories feature the usual cast of characters but what I find fascinating is that not all relationships are established in the beginning of the story. (e.x Goofy and Mickey haven’t met yet, the Phantom Blot hasn’t become the Phantom yet...). I could even dare call it a prequel of the ‘cannon’ events.

Here’s where Claire and Horace come in! I ‘ll attempt to present a chronicle of their relationship, along with some analysis and the reasoning of why I find their ship so well written in this particular saga.

Let’s start with the first story!

In the first story “Cronista per caso” both characters are introduced seperately.

Horace is in this series the introverted mayor of the city and Minnie’s boss as she’s his secretary at the town hall.

Claire is a fortune teller, a friend of Minnie whose advice she seeks in tricky situations. In the first story Minnie particularly seeks her advice for a matter concerning Horace and her job and Claire is happy to assist her.

Now, disney fans usually know that these characters are in most stories portrayed as engaged or in a relationship, so in this scene it’s established that in this narrative they don’t know each other (yet).

But for readers not so familiar with the disney canon (as I was when I first read the story) who don’t know that Claire and Horace are meant to be together, this scene still establishes them as two individuals associated with the main characters.

In both cases though, a link is made subconsciously between Claire and Horace, forming a base on which their relationship will be built.

As concerning the plot, this is the moment when Claire first hears about Horace who -as he’s the mayor- undoubtedly has heard of before (if not voted for) and she has her first glimpse in his private life through Minnie’s sayings. It’s a nice starting point in this episode for their subplot to begin.

In the second story, “Vasetto sospetto’‘, Claire and Horace don’t appear at all so I won’t bother examine this one.

In the third story though, “Crociera con ghiaccio”, we have the next clue.

“ [Mickey] won’t be able to attend [the cruise], he is very busy with his work! Claire, a friend of Minnie, will replace him (...). I could have taken Horace with me but he’s the mayor and mayors always have many things to do”

Once again Claire and Horace don’t interact and once again a link is made between them by reffering to them in such a way.

Here we are presented with a motif which is very important in “Pippo reporter”. The motif of ‘failed meeting’ as I call it. It has been established in previous stories that main characters (mainly Mickey and Goofy) had had many chances to meet all of which failed in the last moment.

Some other examples:

The reader, knowing by experience that those meetings are the most important plot points and meant to be epic (everybody knows that Goofy is Mickey’s best friend) now applies the same motif to Horace and Claire, even if they are not familiar with them.

Progress is also made in the fourth story, “Finale di campionato”

Here we learn Horace’s fascination with baseball and the whole plot revolves around him looking almost identical to his favourite baseball player, practically being his clone.

Horace ends up taking his idol’s place in the championship after the athlete’s mysterious disappearence.

Where has this player gone to?

At Claire’s aunt’s farm in the countryside trying to escape his overwhelming life as a sports celebrity!

“And he’s not at all ugly, isn’t he?” rushes to comment Claire upon first setting eyes on him.

That’s what I call forshadowing!

And her physical attraction to him persists on the entirety of the story. The first solid base is set for her later meeting with Horace and her -now undoubtful- falling for him.  At this point, even for not disney connaisseurs, it becomes evident that Claire will be Horace’s love interest.

Their official meeting happens in the fifth story, “La perla del fiume”!

I think that all necessary setting up has been established from previous episodes and now we are finaly ready -and curious- to witness their meeting!

Goofy: Oh, I haven’t introduced you! Claire, this is...

Claire: Our first citizen, Horace Horse, so mysteriously intruguing!

Goofy: And she is...

Horace: Claire la Belle, fascinatingly charming woman and fortune teller!

The attraction is instant and evident! A “love at first sight” that is actually believable. Why that? Because proper setting up has preceeded. It’s not the sudden ‘‘love montage’‘ that we ‘d get form a disney movie (I’m not accusative, I actually love them).

I can’t actually find a scene from the saga that explains how Horace already had heard of her, but with some guessing and common logic, I can assume that either Minnie or Goofy (who by now are his close friends) would have surely mentioned Claire to him and her involvement in some of their previous adventures.

It’s really realistic how they came together, getting to know each other through mutual friends.

Hoarce: You have a lovely hand!

Claire: Yours isn’t quite bad either! Would you mind me reading it sooner or later?

Horace: I would also have you read me your phone number!

Claire: What a brilliant idea! I always loved giving numbers!

They’re meant to be! (poor Goofy third wheeling)

I love how from the first moment they can’t get their eyes from each other.

There’s no more to say! They are so cute!

And they soon, almost at once confess their feelings to their friends (tbh Horace does try but Goofy is kinda oblivious, Minnie on the other hand is much more in sync).

And there is obviously a ball which they attend together:

I really like how Turconi makes sure to make their love so evident throughout the story’s events, event at a paranoic degree, just to show how in love they are:

I ‘m sure someone’s getting their ears chopped off in that fight but they keep dancing serenely. And poor Goofy just ... exists there (I feel you fam)

Claire: They have stopped playing the music...

Horace: Does it matter? Your voice is music to my ears!

I don’t know the bodycount of that fight, but good for them!

Claire: May I have this last dance under the moonlight?

Also Claire: May I also have this last dance under the sunlight?

And that concludes the ball and starts their relationship (dating at this point to be precise)

I particularly find the story’s ending very touching:

Horace: *spotting the motorcycle* Would you mind ... ?

Claire: Are you kidding?

Claire: It’s so romantic!!!

At the very next story (”Un ombrello, un capello, un monello”)  they’re already a couple:

The romance reaches its peak in “La piuma d’ oro” in which they get officially engaged and have their first (shown) kiss. This is actually the core of the whole episode and their relationship is for the first time, not a sideplot, but the actual plot.

[     you will excuse me but I sadly don’t have any pics from this story

                            have this little heart instead --> <3    ]

Their sideplot may have already concluded in “La piuma d’ oro”, but them being a couple now gains a plot forwarding role.

Claire: But what are you doing?

Horace: Making your dream come true my treasure!

In “Quel faro sui monti del lago” the characters find themselves entangled in another adventure only because Horace takes them on vacation in the place where Claire dreams to go (get you a rich mayor for fiance ladies)

And it’s time for their relationship to have its first test! While on vacation they meet this beautiful German (who **spoiler** turns out to be a spy)

Instant dislike! (I still prefer Silvia Ziche’s designs of displaying jealousy but Turconi gave us this fashionably annoyed Clarabelle so I can’t argue)

It was about time for them to endure jealousy. As in real relationships after some while not everything is seen through rose tinted glasses.

Still, everything turns out okay, leading to their last appearence together in the saga in the final story, “ Il rustico cavallerizzo”.

Minnie: The mayor has just arrived in the box of honour!

Lady: Let me see! Let me see! Is he in sweet company?

That’s how we leave them, together, officialy a couple and happy!

In conclusion, I really liked how this series treated them. Radice took time to first develop them as individuals, give them distinct personalities that also work apart. She made also sure to make them compatible and discretely foreshadow their romance, so when it comes it doesn’t feel forced or rushed but expected and natural. They also remain consistent as side characters who don’t disappear after their sideplot is concluded. They continue making appearences, both together and individually, that also forward the plot. The relationship between them evolves gradually, passing through different levels and situations to arrive at the point of ‘‘cannon’‘ events (by which I mean the disney lore outside of the saga).

I think that I said all I wanted to say, perhaps even more that needed to be said. But as I really like those characters and as I am a great fan of Radice and Turconi’s work I couldn’t pass up this chance to talk about them!

Thank you for reading and coping with my blabbering!

[aknowsnothing-blog]

Ok at this point after episode 5, I feel like the leaks may end up being true for the finale too. I'm so not OK with the ending, it looks more bitter than sweet. BUT I (will) have a hard time believing it coz why in God's name was there tons of forshadowing for a Jonsa endgame? Like one of the major reasons I always knew dark!Dany would happen was because of all the forshadowing and hints throughout the series. But even Jonsa was heavily forshadowed (atleast from S6) and I'm not saying this coz I straight away started shipping them.

I didn't even realise Jonsa was a thing until I rewatched S6 and S7. I used to scream internally thinking "that's not how siblings behave" "why is Jon looking at her like THAT" etc. I mean these are the things that made me realise that Jonsa has a real possibility of happening. But if it doesn't happen I would like to talk to Kit, Sophie, the directors and D&D about why were these "siblings/cousins" filmed the way they were if it didn't mean anything? Like that's so not how people IRL behave. You can't tell me I was just seeing things I wanted to see coz I didn't even go look for them. It's Jonsa that found me.

P.S. I really really NEED to know what Kit was thinking while filming Jon and Sansa scenes. Thank you!

[darrowsrising]

What do you think of Ephraim’s death? I think PB wanted to give Virginia more space in the next book so he had to kill either Lyria or Eph in DA, but building a “reception arc” just to kill Eph the moment he found Volga again was soooo unsatisfying... ofc if he survived (again) it would have been unrealistic, but idk, he had so much potential and I feel like his story was not complete.

Thank you for the ask! Beware the salt, tho...

Er...you're entitled to your opinion, but Virginia had lots of space without Lyria or Eph taking any of it. Believe it ot not you can juggle 5 or more povs without sacrificing page time for any of them. Ask George R. R. Martin.

Ephraim's story was build up to be tragic. Read Iron Gold again and tell me he wasn't going to die by the end of this trilogy anyway. It made perfect sense to me. It was tragic, yet satisfying. He died to protect Volga. It was brutal and heart-breaking, but a logic and natural conclusion of his life. In Iron Gold he was suicidal. Now he sacrificed himself not for his dead husband, but for the future of his daughter. The fact that he lived long enough to relis he failed is unsatisfying, though.

This reminds me of those salty commenters who find blame with either Lyria or Virginia because their fave is getting side-lined. Before Dark Age, everyone wanted a Sevro pov instead 'because if we need insights on Luna he is the more interesting pov'.

This is bullshite and I'm calling it! You don't have a pov just to give insights on certain situations. You install a pov because the character provides you with certain insights - you can say certain things in different ways that enrich the story and the plot. Sorry to break it to some, but if you expect Pierce Brown to sacrifice his story just so your fave can have unnecessary page time, you're delusional, please use fanfiction as an outlet like the rest of us.

But anyway, I'm derailing. You are not a salty hater and you are entitled to your opinion. But thing is... Ephraim's death was forshadowed and not surprising at all. It was to further the plot, to show that no one is safe and that anyone can change. Ephraim wouldn't have died for any of his crew in Iron Gold, he kept them at a distance to make sure of that. Now he wants to protect Volga at any cost. It also taught Pax a lesson - a taste of what his parents have to deal with on a daily.

I don't think it's fair to say thay Pierce Brown just wanted to give one pov more page time in detriment of the other. He would never do that. If he wants to give anyone more page time he just does it. You're making it sound like Eph was disposable, like a wet tissue, when that's clearly not the case.

The author could have just given up a pov in the next book, like Martin does every once in a while (his only constant pov is Arya if I'm not mistaken). Page time is not the issue here at all. I mean, if he can juggle Lysander and Darrow being in the same places and having different perspectives, he could have juggled Eph and Virginia the same way. Also, look at the size of Dark Age - writing more, again, not an issue. He can write as much as he wants and his editor helps polishing the novel. I doubt the person in question ever said 'write less' or 'cut x pov to make room for the y pov'. He is not limited like that, he doesn't have word limits. He is required to make novels that fit into a trilogy, there can be 1000 pages for just one book, as long as the content is good, the amount of pages is not an issue. Pierce decides how his story can be told better at the end of the day. And this is a man who dead a deal with Universal to make sure there aren't any sacrifices made on the altar of profit. Also, Red Rising was rejected a lot and when some offers came with conditions (they wanted him to rewrite the novel starting with the Institute and using flashbacks to tell the first parts) he refused them, although that was hard to do.

This guy wouldn't sacrifice anything that isn't worth sacrificing or doens'tmake sense sacrificing.

Here are some examples of forshadowing, though:

Ephraim's mental state on the anniverssary of Trigg's death and his suicide attempt.

The story of how his crewgot tortured, but the culprits got away.

The fact that he never failed any of his missions...and there was still a mission he couldn't complete, along with his pride (his downfall) in his work.

The ritual - he and Sefi pledged their lives in case of failure.

He started to love the Obsidians, but the utter irony was that his feelings were inconsequential - he had a bomb attached to his heart and.

He always got into trouble out of pride, but died out of love.

His general attitude towards death.

Point is, he didn't die to make room for another pov. His death was tragic in itself, but not totally unpredictable. You are free to disagree with me, but if you look at his entire story, it's just tragic, not unsatisfying.

When I look at Alexandar's story, again, it's tragic, but not unsatisfying. Same with every other character that died in Dark Age.

Better screw 'unsatisfying'. When we said that word we mean that 'this character deserved a better death, an honourable death' etc. Well, that isn't always going to happen. It's not about satisfying the reader (crazy, ikr) it's about telling the story.

You'll only have deaths that make sense. And Ephraim's actually makes sense. As does Daxo's and Alexandar's and Sefi's.

I'm pretty sure everyone can agree that Ned Stark deserved a better death/satisfying death, but in the end it just made sense.

So yeah, it may not have been too great or honourable, but it totally made sense.

If you are for redemption-like arcs with people not dying, look at Lyria. She has come a long way since her days in the camp or her days on Luna. She took her fate into her own hands, yet still remained true to herself.

Ok, rant's over...

Howl on!🐺❤️

[larenoz]

Roswell New Mexico - Live Rewatch - Ep 1 - Pilot

So I don’t really have much in the way of original content on my blog. So I decided it might be fun to post the live blog I’ve been doing on discord of the rewatch our server is doing for Roswell, New Mexico over the hiatus period. 

I’ve only posted my comments, so there might be a couple of bits that look out of place. These are my responses to other people’s comments. I’m up to episode 6, so I will post the backlog and then do one a week until the re-watch is complete.

Be warned, there is swearing. 

--------------------------------

Sorry, cat decided it wanted a cuddle

I love the glass effect, it's so cool

You may not plan to see the small people again, Liz but we know it's gonna happen!!

Not gonna lie, I love poltics in my TV

You quote that verdict to him, Liz!!

That vent tells us so much about Liz in such a short period of time.

You're finally back says Max.Because he's been waiting for that to happen the whole time.

Excuse me Sheriff, with that good girl comment. Rude!

Arturo, playing along with Liz's mpreg story.

Fuck, I just realised - mpreg is canon!?!

Rosa!!

I want antenna headband

Cream on a milkshake is wrong.

So many people in this show have pretty eyes!!

Nooo.

Damn that's alot of lights to replace

I love that damn bullet hole in Liz's dress. It was the first indication they weren't gonna make everyone dumb as a bag of rocks and drag the storyline out FOR EVER.

Hoverboarding. Iz!!

Hey there Kyle!

Annnd here it comes, I'm in love.

That smug fucking grin. The song.

That look when he's trying to get the keys. That look would make you do just about anything.

That Michael monologue. It just gets better everytime I watch it.

Without a doubt, top 3 best character intros ever.

And we're only 15 mins in! I need to make less comments

I didn't think anyone was reading!! :wink:

"Untie some loose ends" - you go Iz

Oh Max you fucker. Telling Michael he wouldn't do anything for anyone else. Excuse fucking you.

Ok, blasting Max across the room is kinda hot. But then his guilty face! :sob:

And god, that little shoulder touch on Iz one the way out.

Another example of non-verbal storytelling. In one scene we get the fractured relationship between Max and Michael, we get that Iz and Michael are close and that both boys defer/protect Iz. So much with so little. It also sets up the physicality of the broken relationship between Max and Michael.

Others have commented on how Max is physically intimidating with people, and literally pushes Michael around, but to be fair, Michael is pretty much the same with Max (but never really with anyone else that we see on screen though we hear about it.

And then in a few lines, Iz gives us a lifetime of fears and concerns - dissection, prison, lying and hiding to loved ones - the rest of the season in seconds of dialogue

Ah, the ONLY thing that gives me Max feels is how dismissive both Iz and Michael are of Max's feelings about Liz. Especially annoying consider Michael should really fucking know better.

Yeah, because he's been pining for Alex just as long.

Unrequited love hurts just as much. Kiss or no kiss.

That's my take anyway.

Here it comes...

Typing may get bad. Cat is sitting on chest and I can't see keyboard.

Seriously, there is nothing overtly relationshippy or sexual, no pointed stares, but just how soft Michael is, even as he's making the real Manes man comment, you just know these two have a past, and that past was probably intimate.

The casual sex comment though, oh yeah they've fucked. That is such a fuck you comment to an ex.

And again with massive story in few words - Alex knocking his leg. "3/4 of one"

That run and tell Daddy line. The nastiest thing Michael says in the entire season, although we don't know that yet. And it strikes such a dissonant tone, even though we don't know why. I'm gonna put it down to things changing so much between shooting the pilot and the rest of the season.

Just my humble opinion but the shirt changing scene could've lasted longer. Just sayin'

Maths, lots and lots of maths

I love the glass SFX

Rosa!! "All our lives that kids been making eyes at you"

Oh Liz, such a good sister. Fixing up the memorial. And the braclets

Ah, sneaky Liz appears

Oh yeah can he keep a secret

Liz begging Max to tell her she isn't loosing her mind. Fuuuck.

Not cool Michael. Great control, but not cool.

Racist Hank, you douche bag

And Maria introduced as taking no shit from ANYONE.

Iz and her slideshow. I love that line.

Why is Iz so vehement that Michael would be so upset about telling Liz?

Max loosing it and Iz looking quite surprised. Forshadowing

yes, Iz no like about it. He is in love with her.

Ah Iz, Iz, Iz. "Too many secrets, things she can't ever know" you don't know the half of it.

Fall in love with someone else.  - If I could have, I would have. Fuck, Max, I feel you on that one.

Jesus, how do all these guys make dark flannel look so hot?

Dance it out. i don't dance in this town anymore, Kyle...

Hot take, I know everyone is mad for Trevino's cheekbones, but honestly, they aren't my thing. But his eyes, gods, his eyes. He has the best eyes on the show. God that make me sound like a freak.

"whatever" with that tiny, tiny almost invisible smirk. Yeah, you think you're all that

He manages that whole distraction use me, use me speech without coming off as a total wanker. And that is pretty amazing.

The station promo/ad on my cable channel has a bit for Roswell - tag line: "Beam me up hotties." Too right.

Scientist Liz!!

Needs answers now.

Fuck you Jesse Manes

I hate you already.

No Kyle, don't do it. But thank fuck he doesn't just start talking,

Yeah, nah Max. That's not how it works. It's not ok if people are nice to you but shitty to everyone else.

Why should Michael like the world? it's been pretty shitty to him!?!

Liz with the serial killer joke, just with the wrong person!!

The pods are sorta cool.

They could've been so chessy.

Now we know why the three of them are so close. And just about the only real bit of exposition on the show.

But will you Liz? Will you keep the promise?

Secret Bunker No 1

"This matters to you, so I'm here". :heart:

Do what Michael, what could you possibly mean?

"Just like you did 10 yrs ago".......

What are you max? Just a guy from Roswell

In Max's favour, when he says he stayed in Roswell, and didn't follow Liz because of Iz and Michael, he doesn't sound resentful, which is sort of what you'd expect here. I like that.And Max going to the reunion for Iz. And Liz tagging along even though she's expecting a bad reception.

"i don't save people all the time. I never save people" But you saved Liz, And why is that Max?

OT re Trevino's eyes. It was that gif set of him laying on his stomach  on his bed (?) with his doggo, looking up to the camera. That angle, OMG, his eyes....

And no verbal confirmation, just Liz realising exactly what Max said - that even though he's in a job where he'd be in contact with sick/dying people alot, he's never saved anyone before. Omph

Of course you remember the very first time you met, Max.

Little kid Max is sooo cute.

Ah you big sap, Max.

No kissing. An "Echo" of what he feels for Liz.

Nice choice of words there writers.

We see what you did there.

So far it's taken me 2 hrs to watch 50 mins

Fuck you again Jesse Manes

Swoon Kyle's eyes.

And we have Kyle's first exposure to the fact that the govt knows about aliens and did medical type stuff to them.  Does this hover in the back of his mind from now on? is this the reason for the quick reaction to his fathers actions at Caufield.?

No he's fucking not cooking meth. Seriously, Alex, what the fuck?

Sorry Alex, not cool, not cool AT all.

I want to see the outakes of Tyler saying phenyl-2-propanone

Because I'm a bitch like that

Yeah, that so serious up close and personal for straight people....

And there is Alex's nastiest line - You're wasting your life. Gods, that is such a shit thing to say to Michael.

And re outtakes because Tyler would laugh and do that thing where he covers his mouth as he trys to stop himself giggling. That's soooo cute.

But anyway, back to the show...

Oh, he wants to hold something, Michael but it's not your hand...

Macho cowboy swagger.

Did it get old for you.

No it did not get fucking old for him. At all.

Michael walking away with arm around girl. Noting for those who say they didn't realise Michael was bi after watching the pilot. How?

How could you miss it?

You go Maria - dying alone of syphillis to bitch

Maybe Liz does still dance in Roswell!! She just needs a good reason.

And that song begins.

"You can't hide from who you are". Alex's prothesis as he looks at himeself skating in the slide show. Fucking killing us.

And it only gets worse-

I don't thnk that's an unpopular opinon at all. That's totally where I see his headspace. But that does result in him saying some nasty shit to Michael. And it's because we know it's not true that it hurts so much.

Fair warning it may take me half an hour to get through the next 2 mins of show!!

Long shot - "Nostalgia's a bitch"

Fuck, the way Michael looks at Alex as he's leaning against the door. People have started wars to have someone look at them like that. That's Greek epic shit right there.

Then cut shot to Max and Iz looking at Liz.

Alex expecting Michael to be gone from Roswell.

"Is that what you want" as Michael takes a step closer. Not "wanted", but "want".

"What I want doesn't matter" as they both slowly sway towards each other. Bullshit, Alex. What you want is ALL that matters. Fuck everything else.

Michael's eyes flicking up to Alex's face....

And Michael launches himself at Alex like a dying man.

God, how do you even describe that kiss?? Everything about it is just.......

But it's more than just the fire. Its the tenderness of Michael gently craddling Alexs' head even though the kiss is passionate and desperate.

Battery break

And then, back to reality - Iz knows that Max has told Liz.

And then Jess Fucking Manes (I fututus et mori in ignie cunne) (don't look that up it's very bad swearing) talking about being monsters who despise compassion and love. Projecting much.

"Thrive on our tragedy". Die MF Die

Despise Love over a visual of Michael and Alex. Die some more you MF

But you haven't told Liz everything have you Max. There's still some stuff you're hiding.

"When the truth hunts you down"

Yeah, that truth is going to hunt you down and fuck you up Max

My house just wobbled.

No, there isn't a secret that is safe.

And people will be caught in the crossfire - have already.

"What's lost will be found, when the truth hunts you down."

Well doesn't that one line sum up a ton of shit that goes down in the rest of the season.

And fin

3 hrs

That was not what I planned.

[ackermanshoe]

Just a few things to talk about here: lengthy 😩

Levi being a 2 in teamwork meaning he never had chemistry while fighting alongside others, like ever. But then mikasa happened. As if isayama spelled it out for us that Levi and mikasa’s connection is so special, particularly to Levi, from the beginning. So now you realise that Levi has experiences with mikasa that he has NEVER had before with anyone, ever.

So you have seen this picture before but I’d like to take the time to dig deep into this. It’s from erens point of view and it most likely shows how he remembers these characters to be most of the time. Connie and admin being playful with each other, Sasha laughing at them, floch and marlo talking and hitch (?) just existing there because eren prolly never interacted with her.

Hanji in the background smiling at the group and Erwin giving them a soft smile. However there’s something particular about both Levi and jean isn’t it? Yeah you guessed it, both of them are looking at mikasa’s direction. ( I saw a post where they were trying so hard to refuse the FACT that Levi was looking at mikasa, even though they acknowledged that Jean was. 🤥🤥)

And lastly mikasa softly smiling at eren. You can clearly see Jean being glaring at that and the fact that isayama drew ALL of their eyes so crystal clear EXCEPT both Levi and Jean,,,, gets me. So you’re going to draw faces of people being themselves but what purpose does it serve you to draw both Levi’s and Jean’s( Jean who is a known mikasa simp) face looking at mikasa’s direction but not draw their eyes ( pupils ) clear? Was it forshadowing their mutual feelings towards her? Since “eyes are the window to the soul” and the drawing does not allow for us to get a clear view of their eyes was isayama implying that both Levi and Jean had hid their feelings for her?

Of course jeans face has a certain darkness to it because everybody is aware of his unrequited love and isayama does little to hide that. But notice how both Levi and his faces are tilted in a way. And the most obvious connection to both Jean and Levi are the way Levi is positioned almost in a line behind Jean, which creates a vector line from their eyes leading straight to mikasa.

Let's talk about this shall we? See how by placing the dark haired people on the front and centre has created a salient within this frame? Yeah the rest of the people in there are either blonde or light haired, Isayam placed each character there with a purpose. Now I'm not saying the 4 heads makes it look like a heart shape but that's excatly what I'm SEEING. maybe, just maybe this was a forshadowing of mikasa's choice, since she was placed in the middle of both Levi and Eren. Eren, whose face is not placed on the same level as Mikasa and Levi could possibly represent "dream" or a reality which would be hard for Mikasa to reach, therefore giving a hint of chapter 138 and mikasa's headache AU.

Whereas Levi, despite his height, face is on the same level as mikasa's. A form of equality, sameness, familiarity and most importantly symbolising reality.

Since he isn't hard to reach from where is Mikasa is placed. And lastly Gabi, we have all seen rivamika parental mode kicking in the recent chapters and here Gabi being in between Levi and her could possibly hint their parenthood, an option that will only be available if Mikasa choose reality: Levi. Therefore Gabi representing quiet simply Levi and mikasa's possible kid. Ackerbaby 👶

This panel, I'm dying to talk about this.most important question: is it Levi's tears that's falling?

I have stared at this for houRS, and I still don't have an unbiased answer. Although most would discard this as spit or sweat Levi probably has from yelling, I'm not fully convinced by it. Maybe it's my desparate rivamika mind that's refusing to let it go but how would spit or sweat end up where his bandage is?

On the too right corner we see multiple drops but why would anything but a tear be where you can see that single droplet of water on his bandages? It's literally so suspicious which is why isayama makes me mad, he teases so much and so subtly. He doesn't show Levi's eyes there, he could have, to emphasize on Levi's level of worry which could have been more effective when reading his expression and yet isayama chose to show his widened mouth to showcase Levi's anxiety.

I'm still debating on this however there's no mistaking it that Levi cares for Mikasa more than anyone.

Which brings me to this:

The similarities that I can not call parallels just yet, between erehisu and rivamika is really comforting as cruel it maybe to mikasa and historia. Levi is willing to have historia eat the beast titan without remorse, without thinking. Where as eren as we all know will do anything but sacrifice historia. Yes, anything. Even if it means putting mikasa ( and admin) on the boat as everyone else and letting them do whatever they want. In a way both of them are treating both mikasa and historia the same way.

Note Levi’s eyes while talking about historia almost looks psychotic which is unlike Levi and his eyes while looking at mikasa.

Eren who is pressed down to one single choice which might risk mikasa’s life but he won’t sacrifices historia. Protecting her.

Levi who decides to help mikasa has made a choice without any regret, relying on her.

And as for their respective person, both eren and Levi’s gesture and behaviour changes when they are around them. As eren said historia is the girl who saved him and the same way mikasa is the who may bring meaning into Levi’s life. I feel like these two couple has always developed together, take s3 aka rivamika season 🥵

The same way rivamika found trust and a way to bond, so did eren and historia. In their own way they. It’s funny because both of their development are so weirdly ignored by the aot general fandom, gee I wonder why 😒 anyway through these similarities or whatever you may call it you can really see who they each really care for and value over the other.

Lastly

LMAO idk how much people considers pieck and Porco canon as potential lovers but this shot of porco really reminded me of Levi’s jealous look. Not to mention pieck resembled mikasa with that ponytail

Although I support jeanpiku I always had this feeling that porco and pieck might have been shipped together and they are, in this scene ( I haven’t watched the ep) I ASSUME porco is looking at her this way because of these men around looking at her and blushing, well it does resemble another grumpy old man. Anyway I’ll never shut up about that scene with both historia and Levi looking at their partners, jealous and shit 💆‍♀️💅💅💅

Okay I’m done talking for now, thank you again for reading as always idk what this post was tbh I didn’t have it planned at all I just really wanted to talk about these that’s been on mind to spark new conversations about them.

I just wanna say I wish i was part of this fandom sooner, not only does this fandom has the best theorists but also such amazing people. I hope our shitposting and analysis of rivamika will not end with chapter 139. Rivamika will always make me happy and this place will always feel like home, thank you for creating this community 😭💜💜💜💜

[arcadianambivalence]

Les Miserables 2018 Reactions

Episode One

A title card gives a brief summary of the situation in France before dropping us into the day after the Battle of Waterloo, when the “glory” of battle is over and the gore remains. 

 Rather fitting for a series translated to The Miserable (or Wretched) Ones.

Yikes.  British viewers really weren’t kidding about the typeface.  Or that 1970s slasher movie red.

But in all honesty, I like the change in opening.  It’s a bold move, sure, but it grounds viewers in a specific time in history (so only the inattentive can make the “it takes place during the French Revolution” mistake) and functions as a mirror of the eventual end.  

**Book spoilers**

A Ponmercy possibly dead at the scene of a failed conflict?

A man surviving conflict and returning home to be separated from his child by Gillenormand?

Does this not sound like a bitter cycle when we know this story ends in Marius surviving a failed conflict and Valjean surviving conflict and returning home to be separated from his child by Gillenormand(‘s grandson)?

And to top it all off, the title card ends with: “The old order will be restored.  The revolution forgotten.”  Aside from Les Miserables, how often do you hear of the June Rebellion?

The Opening

Rain, mud, dead horses, trees shattered by cannonballs...the cinematography feels Romantic (capital R) already.  A horse flutters its eyes (Is this a reference to Napoleon’s war horse Marengo, famously depicted in Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David?)

Thenardier (!) rushes onto the screen, injecting it with a surge of adrenaline.  Laughing (?), he hops from one dead soldier to the next, picking pockets and collecting anything of value he can get his hands on relatively quickly.  And he’s not alone.  There are other looters, and there are British soldiers chasing them in the background.

(Are we supposed to see a parallel between this and the way society is shown to treat its ‘dead’ and ‘dying’? Or are the British soldiers chasing people breaking laws, or at least morals, representative of how the Law works in the series?)

...But I can do without Thenardier cackling the entire time.

Anyway, he starts to loot one soldier crushed under a fallen horse when the soldier regains consciousness and, thinking Thenardier pulled him out for charitable reasons, thanks him for saving his life.  Could it be Baron Pontmercy?

The Pontmercy Plot

In a rare adaptation appearance, a living Baron Pontmercy returns home alive.  The streets of Paris initially seem colorful and thriving, but lintering shots of homeless beggars.  Pontmercy’s father-in-law, Gillenormand, rejects him for siding with Napoleon.  He goes into the “I’m glad my daughter is dead” trope, then ends it with a biting “I thank God I may never see you again.”

“It’s your lot they’re strining up from lamposts now,” Gillenormand says as we are shown a precious toddler overhearing everything. This is Pontmercy’s son, Marius, a little baby boy who will be raised to hate his own father by his grandfather.

Nicolette sneaks out of Gillenormand’s house to tell Pontermcy where he can see Marius at church.

The Fantine Plot - Part 1

A few feet away, a young Fantine is trying to convince her friends that she’s not naive and that she can take care of herself (I’ll wait for a Cosette callback in later episodes).  I like seeing Fantine as a carefree young woman instead of being introduced to Fantine after she had and separated from Cosette.  It makes her slow descent even worse when we see how youngshe is.

Also, we were just introduced to one man who is denied custody of his son by a gatekeeper of society, and now here is a woman who will eventually have to give up custody of her daughter by the circumstances of her society.  Nice parallel!

The Valjean Plot

The yellow filter and the music makes this feel like a Western.  This town ain’t big enough for the both of us, 24601...

Valjean sees one of the guards beating a prisoner and causes an avalanche that pins down the guard (so he visually echoes Pontmercy under the horse in the opening scene).  Why does Valjean attempt murder?  Well, this adaptation’s Valjean senses the injustice and wants to balance out this unjust society through violence (again, foreshadowing).

But when he hears the pinned man’s agony, he realizes he isn’t that person.  He isn’t capable of committing a crime like that without guilt.  So out empathy and guilt, he goes to lift the weight.  A man lifting a weight from a man pinned under debris? Hmm...forshadowing.  A man lifting a weight off someone pinned under the rocks (of society?)  Hmm...symbolic.

Javert, who has been watching the entire thing, stares down at Valjean.  That night, Valjean is brought to Javert’s office.  Javert asks, “What was that about today?”  Valjean looks at him like Because I’m a decent human being?  That’s why...

Javert’s backstory is really, uh, shoe-horned in there, isn’t it?  Could have revealed it later when he unwittingly befriends Madeleine or something...No?

Javert says, “Men like us have only two choices: to prey on society or to guard it.”  And, well, you could view every male character we’ve met so far through that lens: Pontmercy vs. Thenardier and Gillenormand, Valjean vs. Javert.  

But who’s really the one preying on people here?

The Fantine Plot - Part 2

Speaking of prey, Fantine’s out on the town with her friends.  She meets eyes with Felix, and her friend Favourite urges her to be more forward with the attraction.  Felix wastes no time playing the charming dance partner.  The slow music switches to something more lively (and tell me if you don’t have the tiniest reminder of that below-decks dance in Titanicin this moment).

Ugh.  These Fantine night scenes look gorgeous.  Like a (modern) outdoor wedding.

“You have to remember they’re not serious...they’re amusing themselves.” The harsh voice of experience doles out some foreshadowing.  “Why should it always be like that?”  Fantine asks. The voice of change we hear throughout this series, too.

The Fantine section is also filmed like Davies’ more famous adaptations (lulling unwitting audiences into a false sense of security about where this is going...)

So many period drama romance tropes.  It really does feel completely different from any other adaptation I’ve seen in this section.  I like it.

Felix tries every trick in the book: I didn’t care about anyone before you.  I’m going to be a poet, and you’ll be my use.  Have mercy on me, I’m suffering with love for you.  But Fantine has never read the playbook, and she kisses him, despite her doubts.

The Pontmercy Plot - Part 2

In case you weren’t against this prison system before, the prisoners are forced to watch an execution in a brief scene that cuts to Gillenormand saying, “order restored.  Now everyone knows their place again.”

Gillenormand convinces his grandson into believe his dad’s a “scoundrel” for his political stance. Throughout the scene, little Marius is playing with army figurines, too.  Hmm…can you hear commentary about how wrong this situation is yet?  (The book isn’t subtle about this is, either)

Baron Pontmercy is reduced to waiting for a glimpse of his son at church.  It hurts in the book, and it hurts here, too.  Oh, and the religious theme comes in.  (And a nice Mabeuf cameo).

This is a good time for an unpopular opinion: I’m fine with the cuts between the Pontmercy, Fantine, and Valjean stories.  It makes the later inclusion of more characters and the eventual intertwining of some of these plots feel natural.  It also shows how different people in this society suffer completely different unfair circumstances that bloom from this society and culture.

The Valjean Plot - Part 3

Is this what Daves meant by “sexing up “Les Miserables with a nude, underfed, and whipped Valjean?  He’s muscular from forced labor.  Not really sexy.

“You have your name back, Monsieur 24601.”  Hey.  This will be ironic in hindsight!  

Oh, and (un)paid labor for prisoners commentary, too.  Valjean’s furious.  But why wouldn’t he be?  Nearly two decades for petty theft.  And in those conditions.

Valjean carries those barrels like he’s carrying the world.  (Do you see the Jesus symbolism yet?)

But if he carried any hope that life outside of prison would be any more rewarding, he is quickly corrected.  More manual labor with little pay.  Chased away from a place to stay by dogs.  Pointed to the church by a kind woman.  (All in all, pretty book accurate—down to the ensuing conversation)

Cut from one faceless shot of Valjean to the Bishop, connecting the two.

Bishop with spectacles.  Awww.

Valjean has the bluntness that comes across in the translations of the brick (I’ve never read it in French.  Is he blunt there, too?)

The comparison Valjean draws between the religious authority figures in prison versus the Bishop here is a nice book reference, and it shows that he is very much aware of his terrible situation and how imbalanced society is (in and out of prison) versus the (actual) Christian values shown by the Bishop

“How can I love my fellow man when he treats me like a dog?”

“Even if the world has done you a great injustice.  Does it really serve you to have a heart full of bitterness and hatred?”

Ooh.  The quandry at the heart of this adaptation’s Valjean.

So what if it’s on the nose?  It’s for viewers introduced to the book for the first time.  Books are a well.  Shows are a pool.  It’s the detriment of adaptation.

“What about the silverware?”  The bishop, knowing full well it must have been taken by Valjean, “I can’t help you, I’m afraid.”

In the few minutes he’s part of this episode, the Bishop is The Perfect Christian example that Valjean (and even other characters) will follow in various ways

The vulnerability and disbelief in Valjean’s eyes when he realizes somebody’s helpinghim and even covering for him...

Valjean’s little chuckle when he realizes he’s free again

Valjean’s what am I supposed to do with these?look at the candlesticks.  Heh

“Jean Valjean, you do not belong to evil anymore.  You belong to good.  I have bought your soul with this silver and these candlesticks.”  Again in this adaptation, there’s this sense that Valjean didn’t choose to better himself, but it was foisted onto him (the Holy Spirit foisted on him) until he eventually makes the choice to let it in himself

The episode began with Thenardier stealing and showing no signs of remorse.  It ends with Valjean stealing and being presented with the means to turn his life around.  Nice bookends—is what I would say if the episode ended here.  But there’s more!

The Fantine Plot - Part 3

Oh, the “sexing up” was with Fantine and Felix.  Just some family-friendly snuggles as he drops hints he’s going to leave her and her baby.

Fantine has a caged bird in her room.  Symbolism.

Felix, Fantine, and their friends are out on a double (well, tripple) date. The guys tease a “surprise” for the women.  What could it be?  A beautiful day outside.  A meal at a fancy restaraunt.  Could they plan on...proposing?

Nope!  This is a last hurrah before the guys leave to return to their “respectable” families.

I’m surprised we got an abbreviated Felix speech from the book. Didn’t expect that.  And it’s all the more irritating for his character when you know what comes next: the men quietly leave the room as their girlfriends wait excitedly for the “surprise.”  But the light drains from the eyes of all three of the women as they read the “surprise,” a letter stating that their boyfriends (and financial support) are leaving them forever.

The Ending

Meanwhile, Valjean leaves the village, angry at the Bishop for “buying” his soul.  Conflicted, he rests beneath a tree.  Then a little voice grows louder.  Is it--? Yes, it’s Petit-Gervais playing with a sou and singing down the road. Valjean steps on the coin (almost intentionally) and scares Petit-Gervais away.

This is different from the book.  In the book, he goes into a trance during this moment and only realizes he’s standing on the coin later (which conveniently absolves him of guilt in the reader’s eyes).  Here, Valjean is brought back to the reality of his actions by the tolling of the church bell.  He stole from a little boy like the prison system stole from him.  A few scenes ago, he was that little boy.  And he tries to do the right thing and return the coin.  Like in the book, he calls for the boy to come back, but the child is gone, and Valjean is a thief again.

Meanwhile, Fantine returns home to her happy baby.  She moves to curl up on the bed and cry, but the needs of her daughter Cosette draws her back to the world.  Felix is no father, but Fantine is still a mother.

Valjean is free, but Fantine is about to enter a different kind of prison.

Overall, I liked this episode.  There were a few changes I would have made, like concealing Javert’s backstory until episode 2 (or even later) to build up a sense of mystery to him.  Thenardier was too…jovial to me, also.  Finally, that scene of the women gossiping in the woods was unnecessarily choreographed, and I’m surprised PBS actually aired that scene.

When I first heard about some of the adaptational changes, I was wary of this series, but now that I see them in context, they aren’t too bad.  I think an angry Valjean could make for a more dramatic transformation in later episodes.  I loved Derek Jacobi as the Bishop and Lily Collins as Fantine.  

But my favorite choice of this miniseries was the way it made the Valjean plot, the Fantine plot, and the Pontmercy plot run concurrently to highlight the similarities in their situations.  

In the book, Hugo describes Valjean’s situation in one “book,” then switches to Fantine and goes back in time a few years to explore her experiences before her plot meets Valjean’s plot.  It allows for the reader to get invested in each uninterrupted arc, but what works on paper doesn’t translate well to screen.  There must be change.

We’ll see what other page to screen changes were made in the upcoming episodes.  Les Miserables airs Saturday nights on PBS.

[nancydrew65]

SKAM Austin Season 2 Episode 10 (SEASON FINALE) Thoughts

We’re on the home stretch! Last episode, guys. I am going to be sad to see SKAM Austin go. Despite my misgivings about this season, I think they did an excellent job with the sexual assault storyline and it had several fantastic scenes. I hope SKAM Austin does Season 3 this fall, so that we can squeeze in Zoya’s season before the girls graduate.

Something Else

Are they sleeping on a couch? OK, not important.

I would have liked to linger on them sleeping a bit longer. In OG, this scene was so long, but it really gave you a feel of Noorhelm’s dynamic as a couple. You know, when William wasn’t acting like a total douche.

Daniel apologizes for his brother’s awful behavior which like, yeah, good… BUT dude, apologize for your own messed-up behavior too. This is one of the things that pisses me off the most about this character. He treats his girlfriend like shit when she tells him she may have been sexually assaulted and then he NEVER apologizes for it.

Grace proceeds to tell Daniel about her boyfriend back in Dallas. It is pretty much the same story as Noora’s. Daniel is very understanding about it which I appreciate. At least he hasn’t been like William, who basically disregarded Noora when she said she didn’t want to have sex.

For the most part, I actually really enjoyed this clip. I like that we got to see the conversation between Grace and Daniel about Grace’s past.

Future

Grace and Daniel are chilling as Grace finishes up her essay. It is too late for the deadline, but it did her some good just writing.

Daniel gets a call from Jo’s dad, his lawyer. If he gets charged, he might lose his scholarship and get jail time. Good job, SKAM Austin in actually providing stakes for Daniel. He has something to lose by telling the truth in this situation which will ultimately make his decision to do so that much more mature.

Grace asks if he is going to lie, and he says maybe. He has to think about his future.

Life in Italics

Grace and Daniel are going to Marlon’s band’s concert. On a Sunday? What?

They bump into Shay and Megan finally apologizes to her. Thank god. Shay tells her that Nic didn’t break up with her (Yay, Nic’s actually a good guy!) and she is sorry that she blamed the end of that relationship on Megan. This was a weird scene. I’m not quite sure what to make of it. Are they hinting at Megan/Shay? But then they mentioned Marlon again, so I don’t know.

The band performs. They have an… interesting sound.

Eve shows up and mentions that Shay is hot. Forshadowing for Shay moving into Grace’s house?

Can’t With You

I’m not quite sure what the girls are doing, but I think Jo is studying for an exam, perhaps?

Megan is sad that they have another pointless year until they graduate and… same, girl.

The girls tell Grace they are very proud of her for writing the essay and posting it online.

Kelsey says that her favorite line is: “Being brave is telling the truth to the people you love.” I’m guessing that alludes to Grace being brave enough to share her sexual assault with the girls.

Jo storms out right after that and Grace goes to follow her. She asks what is wrong.

Then we have this beautiful, original scene courtesy of SKAM Austin. Jo tells her that Grace can always count on her in a crisis and that she didn’t want to bring up anything before because Grace was going through a rough time, but now Grace is doing better and she has to get this off her chest. Jo is angry that Grace lied to Kelsey for over a year about the whole Daniel situation. She knows Kelsey forgave Grace, but she isn’t ready to do the same. I love Jo so much and I am infinitely glad they gave this speech to her. GIVE JO A SEASON!!!!!! I think this scene addresses a glossed-over aspect of Season 2, namely Grace’s treatment of Kelsey. In my opinion, Kelsey forgave Grace very quickly and that is OK, I am all for girls getting over boy drama between them. However, it never really felt like Grace’s behavior was ever addressed as being very wrong. I think SKAM Austin overall has done a really fabulous job with this topic. I loved Kelsey’s speech (it was my favorite out of all the Vilde’s) and I love this scene. It shows what a true friend Jo is to Kelsey and I am here for it. I think Grace really needed to hear this.

What Happens Now?

Grace is waiting outside the courthouse for Daniel (in a gorgeous outfit, I may add). 

Side note: I feel like in Season 1, Grace didn’t really have Noora’s distinctive style (which I really liked!), but in Season 2, they really emphasized Noora’s style in her. I feel like it made her less of her own character, so I wasn’t a big fan of that choice. (I still think all her outfits are really cute, though.)

Daniel tells Grace that he told the truth. He couldn’t get her voice out of his head. This is the moment where this character gets the most character growth. Dare I say, the ONLY moment he gets character growth? And I really like that, obviously. (No one is campaigning harder than me for the William character to be a good guy). However, this is Grace’s season and I wish she had her own moment of growth in the last episode, like Eva and Isak and Sana did in their own seasons. This is the one season where I feel like the main character doesn’t really grow as much as she could have, given the opportunity. And that is my main problem with Season 2 as a whole. It makes me very sad. Noora/Grace deserves better.

Losers

The little banter between Zoya and Grace about history class was so cute! I’m gonna miss these beautiful women.

Zoya says she kept her locker because she wanted to remind people that what happened to her was not normal. She and Grace talk about letting go of anger and getting closure. “Maybe closure is not getting closure” Zoya quotes. OK, be existentialist, girl.

Kelsey and the other girls come bounding in, handing Zoya and Grace pink fanny packs with the word ‘SENIOR’ on them. Nice.

Kelsey talks about how good carbs are for a person and how she is done beating herself up about her weight. Yes!

Then the girls go in for a group handshake. Go Los Losers!

Ready

Grace and Zoya are chilling at the party for Daniel, when Hunter approaches Zoya. Why? Why do we have to spend even another minute on this storyline? Just let it die. Please. Hunter is still a jerk, Zoya is still way too good for him. Luckily, it seemed like she was not taking his shit.

Marlon and Megan are making out. I really wished they had kept this couple apart. I haven’t really seen much on Marlon’s part showing that he has grown since his past relationship with Megan.

Jo sees a boy and quickly runs away. Grace follows her to the bathroom. Nice callback to earlier in the episode with the Grace and Jo scene that mirrors this one.

Side-note: Grace’s dress is so pretty and I didn’t realize how short it was until she ran after Jo.

Aw, I think it’s so sweet that Jo doesn’t want Grace to go get Kelsey because Kelsey is having a fun time and she doesn’t want to ruin that for her.

So, Damian (the guy Jo has been texting) just showed up. He lives 4 hours away! While I appreciate the gesture, a heads-up would have been nice for Jo. How does he even know where she is? Like, it’s not her house.

Grace does a great job of calming Jo down and giving her a pep talk. I think their friendship is reaching a better place.

Jo and Damian hit it off after a bit of awkward banter. He seems like a cool dude.

Grace and Daniel go to her room. Daniel asks if she’s sure she wants to have sex. Yay! She nods, and he asks: “So, I don’t have to keep asking?” Why did they put that line in there? It’s not like he’s really been asking her to have sex. It just makes him seem like more of a jerk.

I really enjoyed how they played the rest of the scene. It was much more awkward when Grace and Daniel were about to have sex. It was more realistic IMO.

In between the sex scene, they spliced shots of the party. Pen Joe looks rather jealous of Damian flirting with Jo. Hmm, this is a new development.

OK, Eve seemed to be hardcore flirting with Shay. She also said earlier that Shay was “hot”. Are they making this a thing?

Grace and Tyler have a bit of an awkward conversation before Grace goes off to her friends. Then we see Tyler take a drink out of his cup. His fingernails are painted green! So, people were right when they thought Tyler was Green Nails. Wow, I still don’t know if it was him in the bed with Grace and Clay because I think Grace would have recognized him. That also calls into question whether Tyler was telling the truth about what Clay did or did not do that night. I have so many questions! But this ending does seem to hint that Season 3 will be about both Shay and Tyler. I am not completely opposed to that, but it sure does make me feel so much more grateful that we got Cris’ season in SKAM España. This fandom needs more wlw love.

General Thoughts

Well, here’s the end. Another season of SKAM Austin over. I hope they don’t wait another whole year before releasing a new one. I liked this episode a lot. There wasn’t a whole lot of Daniel being a dick, so that was great! Overall, I think SKAM Austin has had a few stellar scenes this season that really brought the level of this show up. My favorites were Kelsey’s monologue when Grace finally tells her about Daniel, Grace confronting Clay about the possible sexual assault, and the most recent clip they released with Jo explaining how she isn’t ready to forgive Grace for what she did to Kelsey. I am excited for Season 3!