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luxshine · 4 years

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The Great Supernatural Rewatch Project - Salvation

I started writting this in the middle of season 13 but RL and work and some mental health issues made me take a step back from fandom in general and well, I was also fearing this would be an unending job since the series JUST.KEPT. GOING.

However, now that the series is done (And omg, what a clusterfuck that was. My tallies are going to go insane if I get there) and thus there’s an ending in sight, I will do my best to finish season 1, and try and get the rest of the seasons in a more timely manner. Say, before they do the inevitable reunion and ignore the last episode completely.

(I’m going to be honest, part of the problem was that Supernatural used to be SO good back then, and when I see the new episodes I weep a bit inside. I can’t believe they were so much better at creating story arcs when they weren’t TRYING to create story arcs)

Of course, now we all know that Dean’s plots in general will not have a happy ending no matter what, and that makes that particular tally bittersweet. But there are STILL people who claim that nope, Dean was never mistreated by the writers and well, Jack damn it, I am not going to let that claim go without bringing numbers to the table. Hopefully, it won’t take me 15 years to finish (Because by then, I would be the only one caring I guess)

In any case, last lap for Season 1 and we begin with Salvation.

General stuff

A specific reason for me having rage quitted this episode in particular for so long: For some stupid copyright thing with Netflix, they don’t have Carry On My Wayward Son as the song for the final recap –at least in Netflix Latam. And Supernatural without Carry On My Wayward Son is no Supernatural. So I had to hunt my DVDs. Then my computer DVD player died. Then I decided to make 5 webcomics at the same time. THEN I decided to start doing illustration works, and three other projects and let’s just say I am a bit of a workaholic and leave it like that as the rest is not SPN-related.

Ahem.

Funny thing about the Road so Far –you know, besides being a LOT shorter than the ones we’re getting now- is that it focuses a lot more on DEAN at the beginning, while if you watch the show, well, we know most of those Dean scenes come from MoW episodes and not the actual mytharc. Another interesting thing is that if one believes those things to be chronological, it makes it as if the Colt had been with the brothers for a lot longer than half an episode, and that Sam’s issue with the visions is not that recent. Edition Magic everyone! Also, omg, they were babies when the series started, and how WEIRD is to see John looking at them with pride and smiling at Dean at some points.

Anyway, the recap and the epicness that is Carry On my Wayward Son ends and we start the actual plot.

Hello Pastor Jim. Goodbye Pastor Jim. And here Supernatural begins the long, long tradition of killing characters who could’ve been useful later on, and more importantly, that could’ve been the boys’s support system later on. While here it’s understandable since we need to show how dangerous and vicious Meg is –ah, irony that in about 8 seasons people will be rooting for her Redemption- it also makes the Hunters kind of useless. I mean, he has all that weaponry and only uses a knife? Sigh. Really, a waste. Pastor Jim as a concept was really intriguing –and I don’t think we’ve heard of any other hunter who was also a priest. Funny, when we have so many demons free now. There’s also the fact that when Pastor Jim claims that she can’t be in the church because it’s hallowed ground, she replies that “That might work with the minor leagues, but not with her” and I wonder… did we ever got a demon that couldn’t enter a church? Because right now out of the top of my head I can’t remember, and yet Pastor Jim was surprised but later no one seems to think it weird there were signs of demonic activity around his body. Another sign that, as engaging as the series was, once we start digging the world building, things fall apart very quickly.

Actually, if I may digress for a bit, here we have the very first look at Supernatural´s second biggest problem: killing support characters that may have been useful lately. Here it is because Kirkpe had this weird idea that Hunting would never be glamorized by the show/fandom and it would be a completely miserable and lonely existence. He also didn’t think that the series would survive past season 2. So, ok, killing the guy we only knew by throw away lines didn’t seem so bad. By season 13 every single recurring character had died at least once –and there were petitions to bring back I think every one of those who haven’t come back- it’s a big problem.

As I restarted writing, I also realized that the mere existence of Pastor Jim and his room of awesome research and weapons creates a problem in the future about the Men of Letters because… ok, so ONE member of the clerigy knew enough about demons and stuff to be a hunter and have THE Hunter as his main contact (John Winchester was sort of a legend back then. And he had also fell out of contact with many others so the fact that he and Pastor Jim were still friendly? Kind of interesting), but what about the rest? Did the Vatican have any contact with the British men of Letters or the American ones? And if so, what the hell did they think when suddenly ALL the Men of Letters disappeared? Ok, so that’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t matter right now as it won’t actually exist until much, much, MUCH latter, but see what I mean when I say that they didn’t plan anything and the lack of a series bible hurts the show more than it helped it thrive? I am realizing right now I could write a whole treaty on the Men of Letters and their non-relationship with hunters ONLY using this cold beginning and the Henry Winchester episode.

But this is not the time for that, so we get our title card and a very, VERY young Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

We move to John who is explaining off camera everything he knows about Yellow Eye´s plan. We can tell it´s not much as he thinks it came out of hibernation and that the whole attacking families is part of a cycle, but back then it was impressive how much he had managed to find out about this demon. We also know that it attacks exactly when the baby in the house is six months old, which brings us to this little jewel:

JOHN It starts in Arizona, then New Jersey, California. Houses burned down to the ground. It's going after families, just like it went after us.

SAM Families with infants?

JOHN Yeah. The night of the kid's six-month birthday.

SAM I was six months old that night?

JOHN Exactly six months.

SAM So basically, this demon is going after these kids for some reason. The same way it came for me? So Mom's death...Jessica. It's all because of me?

DEAN We don't know that Sam.

SAM Oh really? Cause I'd say we're pretty damn sure Dean.

DEAN For the last time, what happened to them was not your fault.

SAM Right. It's not my fault but it's my problem.

DEAN No it's not your problem it's our problem!

Now, in the following seasons we will know that yes, it was ALL about Sam. But right now, the characters and the viewers don´t know that. We know that a lot of families were killed by the demon (That at this point was still “The demon” and wouldn´t become Azazael until later), and that he doesn´t take the children. So… how did Sam leap from “this demon attacks families with 6 month old children” to “It´s all about ME!”? He even ignores that Dean and John lost Mary for his last line, when he decides it´s his problem and not their problem. Also, and this is important for the “Dean is the most awful person to Sam” crowd… Dean immediately tells Sam that no, it´s not his fault. While he could harbor some ill feelings against Sam –and demon Dean, 8 seasons later, will voice them- at this point he is 100% on Sam´s side. There’s also a sideway glance from John to DEAN when Sam claims that everything is about him, and then I wonder exactly why, if John knew all about the fact that the demon chased six month old children specifically, he never resented Sam over it. One would think that given John’s love for Mary and deep desire to revenge, Sam would really be the outcast and the one only treated like a soldier (as he claims he was, but not really as we’ve seen), instead of Dean who was completely blameless in the whole thing.

(Also, this is the first time we see that Azazael´s plan didn´t make much sense IF we believed that Kirkpe had everything planned. But that´s a discussion for another time)

Anyway, John interrupts the argument to explain that while he has no idea what the demon is after (Another thing that later would be contradicted as he knew Sam had powers), but that he has managed to figure out his pattern of attack to the point that it even repeated it for Jessica’s killing (Even if much, much later, we’ll learn that it wasn’t Azazael the one who killed her, and Demons would completely forego the signs when attacking. Have I mentioned I miss the times when the myths made sense?) and the three of them pack up for their first real hunt together as they decide they will save the next baby on the demon’s list, in a town named Salvation.

Important thing to note: when John recites the demon signs, Dean immediately replies “that happened in Lawerence”. He remembers, quite clearly, what happened a week before his mother died even if logistically, at his age? He wouldn’t care nor notice. Sure, he remembers his mom’s death because that was traumatic. But random cow deaths before that? Weird show.

If Sam noticed or not the signs before Jessica died, we don’t know. John is the one who points out they happened.

After two gorgeous road shots where we see John’s truck being followed by Baby (yet another thing we lost, John’s truck. I know we needed to have the guys together all the time, but man, if Sam had inherited it, they would’ve been able to cover more terrain at times, have double the arsenal and maybe not being identified by everyone and their leviathan in season 7, but I digress), and just entering Salvation John stops, obviously spooked by something. As Dean stops behind him, they find out that Pastor Jim is dead, and John got a call from another hunter named Caleb to tell him. They assume it may be the demon they’re chasing, or maybe another demon that was looking for Pastor Jim specifically but that last theory is not very probable.

Here I have to pause to applaud Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s acting, as you can practically FEEL John’s despair at knowing an old friend of him died, and that HE was probably the cause for that death. A Winchester trait, of course, blaming themselves for everything bad that happens in their world, but unlike Sam’s early outburst, here it seems far more desperate. Of course, JDM had a lot more experience than Jared at that point, but I really wanted to make a note of it because we lost a LOT of that characterization for John, where he actually WORRIED about people and not just the hunt. Even as he decides the plan for finding out what baby the demon will take in a week, we can see him broken and confused. So much that while Sam calls him “sir” when receiving orders, Dean continues the conversation by calling him “Dad”.

John then declares that this ends now, obviously feeling responsible for what happened to his friend. A long shot from the flanderized man we’d hear about in future seasons who was infamous for letting his hunting partners die without so much as a second glance.

Also, and not to be mean to the writers, but in their endless accidentally making Sam unsympathetic, they made him say that there were too many children in the county that could be a victim and that it would take forever to check all of them. While I KNOW the intent was to make clear that they had a deadline of one week, it comes out weirdly as “I don’t want to do the footwork.” Seriously, writers should be careful with that.

Actually, let’s dissect that. Because I just thought of two ways they could’ve fixed it AND give us more info.

JOHN Now we act like every second counts. There's two hospitals and a health centre in this county. We split up, cover more ground. I want records. I want a list of every infant that's going to be six months old in the next week.

SAM Dad that could be dozens of kids. How do we know which one's the right one?

JOHN We check em all that's how. You got any better ideas?

SAM No sir.

So, first way to make Sam not look that bad: Give the line to Dean. I wouldn’t like it specially, but hey, he’s the sidekick, not the hero, and so far he has only wanted to bail on ONE hunt because he wasn’t sure it was a supernatural hunt so he’d be better standing than Sam in that regard.

Second way: Make Sam say that YES, he has a better idea. Because the brothers ALREADY faced Max, so he could say they could look for a baby that was a bit “strange”, like, with poltergeist stuff going around. John could not believe him, but at least Sam would be being proactive.

In any case, they separate as John planned and we see each of them get into the hospital records. We get a glimpse of John’s collection of fake IDs, that include one for a Morgue forensic doctor, then Sam getting a homely nurse giving him files and him taking notes, and Dean… getting flirty with a very hot nurse.

And I make a point of the “Oh, look, Dean is an irresponsible womanizer” trope because once again the writers shoot themselves in the foot by showing the opposite of what they were telling (And no, this time I can’t blame it on Jensen’s acting and refusal to look at his female co-stars without respect).

WOMAN Hi. Is there anything I can do for you?

DEAN (smiling) Oh God yes.

She smiles and looks down.

DEAN (Holding up his ID) Only I'm uh....working right now, so...

The writers here make us remember that a) Dean is AMAZINGLY charismatic, as the woman IS flattered and seems interested, and b) That he will NOT dump his work for a quickie. We don’t even get a “maybe later” that could make him look as if he was really into her. It’s just that he flirts naturally, or at least, this is what we can infer now, as so far he hasn’t had any one night stand fling. The one time we saw him have a sexual encounter in the middle of a hunt was with an ex-girlfriend.

And again I have to wonder what was Sera Gamble’s intention with those scenes as yes, this was written by the same team as Faith, another episode where Sam’s good intentions tend to have a darker side, and gave Dean some amazingly cool scenes.

We don’t know what Dean says to the woman, as we cut back to Sam, coming out of the hospital just in time to have a very convenient vision of a woman, a nursery and a fire. Thankfully, the vision also comes with the useful audio hint of a train passing by, so Sam gets out his map and starts checking where that could be, which leads him to the house in his vision.

And by this point, we know we’re in the right track and this is an important Myth Arc episode, because Sam only has multiple visions in Myth Arc episodes, and he has one the moment he steps in front of the house in said vision. The gods of convenience smile upon him as right then and there a woman pushing a pram comes by, and he manages to talk to her, all friendly like by pretending to having just moved. Then Sam learns the woman’s name is Monica, her baby is Rosie, and Rosie is just six months old, exactly to the day.

Also, that she’s a very quiet baby and that it sometimes seems as if she was reading your mind. Oh, and that Monica really is blind to suspicious men asking her about her family with a face that reads “Oh shit, this is bad”.

Now, HERE is where the whole “five year myth arc” story falls completely. I mean, we already knew it was pretty unlikely it was real, given Kirkpe’s original interviews, but the mere existence of Rosie contradicts every single future story beat. Because if SHE has powers before Azazael goes into her house, then it means that the babies he was hunting didn’t get powers because of him, just that his blood either connected them (hence Sam’s very specific visions), made said powers far more powerful (quite likely), or made them a little bit more prone to violence/prideful behavior. All of those possibilities match with the plan of “raising” a new King or Queen of Hell, that would be faithful to Azazael, but are a bit iffy on the “finding Lucifer’s vessel” thing. Especially since we later learn that the Angels were also helping, and all Hell knew that Lucifer’s vessel HAD to come from the Winchester/Campbell bloodline due to Cain and Abel being the roots of said bloodline, and later pretty much everyone knew Sam was Lucifer’s vessel so the whole targeting a ton of kids, in particular after Mary’s death, is kinda weird.

Oh, Lux, you will say, it is because he wanted to hide his true intentions! No one knew that Sam had been feed demon blood!

Except that the important parties, namely Heaven and Hell, did. Michael had Heaven convinced of his orders, so even if a rogue angel found out that they were speed running the Apocalypse, said angel could be killed. And any demon who was against getting Lucifer back on top would be smart enough to keep quiet so, why the secrecy?

And again, ok, I buy the original demon blood kids being important to “hide” Lucifer’s vessel but… Rosie? What good would it do to Azazael’s plan to have a psychic 4 year old when Lucifer rose? Was “little four year old girl” a good match against a grown up hunter? What was Azazel thinking, if that was the plan all the time?

Now, I want to make clear this doesn’t make THIS episode or the Season-myth arc bad. This original “Boy King of Hell” storyline WAS good. It had a lot of potential, made sense for Sam and since it was before the days of the eternal “What is wrong with Sam?” seasons, there was no boredom of a repeat. It also set a very good question of what made a monster a monster, which would be explored a bit more in Season 2. And it was long before we realized Dean having a myth arc was a pipe dream, so there was no issue there either. It made sense.

But the fact that the writers kind of forgot about everything I just pointed out with Rosie’s scene to try and weld this to the “Heaven vs. Hell” storyline in season 4, and then just promptly forgot because Sam’s powers were then firmly connected to Azazael’s blood so they never came up again and even worse, we never find another psychic kid that could’ve been feed blood by Azazael THIS year that John was chasing him? (Since we know there were no other survivors from Sam’s generation, and later we have a scene that proves that there were no previous generations to Sam’s), it's kind of weird. Personally, I dunno about you, but maybe a return to this storyline in season 6 would’ve been a lot better than we got. Maybe.

By the way, I am not counting the Boy King of Hell story arc as a dropped plot for Sam yet, as we’re going to keep with this at least until season 3. Yes, now we know it didn’t go anywhere, but at the time, and for these episodes in particular, it was THE myth arc of Supernatural. So it can’t be counted as dropped plot yet.

In any case, Sam goes and tells John and Dean about his vision and… oh, boy do we have to move John’s reaction to Emotional Violence.

It’s not good.

But before he can do more damage to Dean’s psyche, Sam gets a call from our favorite demon, Meg. Even if he doesn’t recognize her voice immediately which is weird because a) he did throw her off a window and one would think that makes a girl memorable, and b) it’s not as he knows that many girls who would call him, despite Dean’s best efforts to get him a new girl.

Meg dismisses Sam and asks for John. She makes clear that she is not playing, that she knows he has the Colt and that he will kill every single person who has ever helped John unless he gives it to her that same day at midnight. And to the brothers’ surprise, John accepts those terms (Unfortunately not before we loss Caleb too. I have a lot less interest in Caleb as a character given that he has exactly half a line in the whole show, but it’s still it’s sad to see a guy so defiant even in the face of death go so soon).

Meg also points out that John having the Colt is a “declaration of war” which is interesting as it sort of implies that if he hadn’t gotten it, then the demons would leave him and the brothers alone. And I find that incredibly funny since… no they won’t. And Azazael would’ve been ok if Sam kept the gun anyway, given why they really wanted and once again I am putting holes on the idea that this was planned from the start, aren’t I?

In any case, John declares that Meg is a demon “or is possessed by one” which… ok? First and only time we get the possibility of a demon not using a meat suit. I don’t think this is a mistake, because after all, this is back before the guys faced demons in a normal basis so they could believe that they had their own bodies besides the ones they possessed (And, more importantly, before there was a retcon that made the brothers face and know about demons since pretty much ever). To be completely fair, as much as I love Jimmy and the whole Lucifer arc once it started to make sense… I would’ve been ok if vessels weren’t needed. It added a lot of complications and ended up making the brothers actual serial killers.

Ahem.

After that little gem of wisdom that will be ignored forever, John declares that he will be taking the gun to Meg to avoid more killing and we get another questionable line for Sam. And I am curious as to how to tally it as it’s the opposite of him wanting to leave the hunt, but it’s not that nice either:

DEAN What do we do?

JOHN I'm going to Lincoln. DEAN What? JOHN It doesn't look lilke we have a choice. If I don't go, a lot of people die, our friends die.

SAM Dad, the demon is coming tonight. For Monica and her family. That gun is all we got, you can't just hand it over.

I mean, yes, it is true that the demon is coming for Monica (Well, actually, he’s coming for Rosie, the baby, but I will let that slip pass. Sam is not interested in married ladies), and that with the gun they can kill the demon but it’s not all they’ve got. By this time, Sam has already had his big hero moment when he exorcised a plane in free fall so they could do that, then chase the demon again and then kill it.

But what is jarring is how he hears “a lot of people die, OUR FRIENDS die” and he goes “yeah, whatever, we have a mission to fulfill”.

Which is precisely what later episodes will tell us John used to do, and was the reason why John was not exactly liked by the general hunter population. And at the same time, it’s an eerie reminder of Wendigo, where Sam is willing to let innocents die (his family friends, in this particular case, just as he heard Caleb choke on his own blood) in order to get his way (revenge on the demon that killed Jess. NOT revenge on the demon that killed his mom, since at this point, Sam is still on the “I never knew that woman” train of thought).

Sure, his mind is in the hunt, and that’s commendable because yes, in the long run, killing Azazael would save more innocents (And probably stop the Apocalypse, not that Sam or the writers at that time know it), but it is still strange to see our nominal hero simply not care for his friends’ lives. I mean, at this point WE don’t know about Bobby, so the closest to a parental figure that is not John that Sam had was Pastor Jim and he just DIED.

Worst part is, this could be solved really easy: Just have DEAN be the one who voices the complaint, and have “empathic” Sam mumble that there has to be a way to save everyone (Which, of course, John will mention in a second). It would make Dean look bad, sure, but we’ve been told once and again that Dean never, EVER goes against John plans. Which… not true, ut we will talk about that later. The scene continues, and John declares that he will go to Meg alone, with a fake Colt and while Dean thinks that that won’t work, Sam has a different complaint:

DEAN Yeah but for how long? What happens when she figures it out?

JOHN I just...I just need to buy a few hours, that's all.

SAM You mean for Dean and me. You want us to stay here, and kill this demon by ourselves?

JOHN No Sam. I want to stop losing people we love. I want you to go to school, I want Dean to have a home. I want....I want Mary alive. It's just....I just want this to be over.

And oh, boy. Do this four lines again hold so much weight.

First, once again, Dean seems to be worried for John (logically, he’s their dad), while Sam is making the weirdest line in the universe sort of work because he’s complaining that John is trusting them to kill the demon, something HE wants to do and not four seconds ago was saying they had to do, as if it was John shifting HIS job to Sam. Seriously, I don’t want to think the worst of Sam but when you take out Jared’s acting, the text doesn’t do the younger Winchester’s any favors.

And finally… John’s lines that encompass pretty much Dean’s philosophy in the following seasons. “I want to stop losing people we love” is pretty telling, but what comes next? He actually WANTS Sam to go back to college and not worry about the Supernatural. He actively agrees that Dean doesn’t have a home, and WANTS Dean to have one. It’s as close as love as we’ll see from John to Dean in Season 1, and it hurts. It hurts because we can tell he knows he won’t be there to see it… and now, in hindsight with the finale having aired, we also know Dean didn’t get that. (And to be fair, this is the John who did deserve Heaven. Not the flanderized version we’d get in the future)

Although, ironically, Mary got to be alive again, so… One out of three?

(No, seriously, it’s obvious the writers didn’t even remember this speech when Season 12 hit, much less Season 15)

Ahem.

Dean is sent to get a fake Colt, while Sam and John wait for him. If they talked about anything, we don’t know, but when they exchange guns, Dean voices what we all know is true:

DEAN You know this is a trap don't you. That's why Meg wants you to come alone?

JOHN I can handle her. I got a whole arsenal loaded. Holy water, Mandaic, amulets...

DEAN Dad... JOHN What? DEAN Promise me something. JOHN What's that. DEAN This thing goes south just...get the hell out. Don't get yourself killed all right, you're no good to us dead. JOHN Same goes for you. (There is a long pause) All right listen to me. They made the bullets special for this colt. There's only four of them left. Without them this gun is useless. You make every shot count.

SAM Yes sir.

JOHN Been waiting a long time for this fight. Now it's here I'm not gonna be in it. It's up to you boys now. It's your fight, you finish this. You finish what I started. Understand?

Again, I wish they remembered all they had to get rid of demons before, you know, killing everyone willy-nilly. I mean, I don’t even think I know what Mandalac IS but hey, John says it works, it works. And once more, Dean gets a line that makes clear he is the empathic, loving brother, when it wouldn’t have hurt Sam to say it. In fact, it would make clear that no matter what, he doesn’t hate John. But nope, Sam only acts like the soldier we’re TOLD Dean is, while Dean makes clear that for him, family is more important than revenge (And boy will that come to bite him in the ass later, not in the series, but in this same episode).

Also, I have to admit. When I started this rewatch, John’s final line was just a good moment for John to start letting go of his anger. Now? After that horrid finale? It hurts so, so much. But it hurts more because I KNOW that there’s no way it was intentional. Obviously, Kirkpe didn’t know the series would last 15 years, and I highly doubt Dabb remembered this scene when writing 15x20. But even so, it ends up being Dean’s epitaph. OUCH.

In any case, the Winchester separate again, and we go into act three. Get ready for the feels.

John Winchester hunting alone is a thing of beauty. Seeing him scope the place, check the water tank and immediately think of a plan? Makes me wish Jeffrey Dean Morgan had stayed longer on the show. Sure, John became an asshole, but in this episode he’s still not that bad, we still have no episodes that make clear he didn’t care for Dean, and wasn’t textually abusive. And I am willing to bet that if JDM had stayed, John would’ve evolved more to be a Bobby-like character. But well, What ifs is not why you came to this meta for.

As John is hunting, the brothers are staking out the house were they know Azazael will attack. And while they talk and decide that they have no way to get the family out (In a nice callback to how none of their excuses ever work) we get to this little gem of an exchange:

SAM I wonder how Dad's doing.

DEAN I'd feel a lot better if we were there backing him up.

SAM I'd feel a lot better if he were here backing us up.

Where once again we see where the brother’s priorities lie, and I wonder why the hell the writers ever thought they were writing Sam as an empathic character.

Because yes, Dean is wishing he could be out there helping his Dad, proving that for him, it has always been about the family. Not the hunting, but the protecting. But Sam doesn’t want to protect John. He wants John protecting Them. And helping them in the revenge hunt, not trying to save others.

Sure, we know the brothers are there to save an innocent mother, but John is also saving a ton of hunters and people who, in the past, were nice and open to the family. And it would’ve been so much easier to make Sam look better if he instead had said “I’d feel a lot better if we hadn’t had to separate” or something like that, that proved he saw BOTH missions were important.

Seriously, I do wonder why the writers made these choices, and I wish someone had asked this at cons.

We go back to John, who, really, Is an amazing hunter even if he is a horrible father. Also, I wonder if he got ordained at a web church, in order to be able to sanctify water. That would be such a John Winchester thing to do, and I do wonder why the boys never did it too. ANYWAY, he hands the gun to Meg, and to her ally that came so that we could have a scene to prove the Colt is fake as the ally shoots Meg.

As John says, Meg was lucky the gun was fake. And once again, I do wonder what the plan was if it WAS the Colt. I mean, Meg was Azazael’s second in command. Why would nameless demon risk killing her? Or did he kinow the gun was fake?

In any case, this makes the moment where we can be 100% sure that Meg’s meat suit 1.0 was dead. I mean, she could’ve survived the fall in Shadow, but a bullet to the chest? No way.

We go back to the brothers, and Sam breaks every single law of a procedural show by giving this great speech about how thankful he is to Dean for everything, and how he needs to say that “in case” something happened.

Dean is definitely not impressed and reminds him that the only one dying today is Azazael.

As we see John temporarily escape from Meg and her muscle boy, we go back to the brothers who see the demon omens start up so they get ready for the final fight.

The brothers manage to save Monica and her baby, despite the very understandable interference from Hubbard, the husband (I mean, you would not react nicely to two strangers intruding in your house and yelling to your wife to not go into the nursery room), however, before Sam can shoot Azazel, he disappears into smoke (A really interesting question here is, WHY did Sam wait to shoot and then wasted a bullet, but I digress).

Going completely against M.O, Azazael makes the CRIB burst into flames, but fortunately Dean has already gotten Rosie out of it so the brothers escape the flaming house. While Monica cries her thanks, Sam notices that Azazael is still inside, and tries to go after him, but Dean stops him because he is not going to lose his brother to the fire. By the way, I am not counting “Dean stopping Sam from going into a burning building” as “Dean forcing Sam to do something” since, uh, he was saving Sam’s life and it’s something anyone in Dean’s place would’ve done.

At the same time, we see John getting captured by Meg and her muscle boy because he didn’t think about getting a third escape route (But honestly? That was pretty much a plot necessity. John was HEAVILY prepared for that fight)

Back in the hotel, Dean is worried that John is not answering his calls, while Sam is furious that Dean didn’t let him kill himself by running into a burning house. They have a nasty fight that mirrors the one they had back in the pilot, but since it IS a fight between the brothers, you know the drill. We’re examining it under Violence.

Once Sam calms down, he tells Dean to try calling John again. Unfortunately, it’s Meg who answers and she tells Dean that they’re never seeing their dad again.

And we get the first “To be continued” for the series (Which to be honest, despite all the little continuity mistakes I mentioned here? Is still pretty epic)

Violence

Well, we had to run out of episodes where the brothers don’t fight each other at some point, didn’t we?

This fight, over Sam wanting to kill himself in his search for revenge, is a very neat parallel to the fight they had back in the Pilot, over Sam NOT wanting to even involve himself in the family’s search for revenge. Which I know it’s supposed to be ironic and a show of character growth since now Dean is the one saying that revenge is not worth their lives but… it falls a little bit flat because the reason why Sam is so gung-ho in killing Azazael is, once again, a very selfish one and the way in he expresses it makes it quite clear. (Again, I do wonder if the writers stopped to think about the implications of Sam only getting really into hunting when it was about him or his losses?)

But let’s start at the beginning:

SAM If you had just let me go in there, I coulda ended all this.

DEAN Sam, the only thing you would have ended was your life.

SAM You don't know that.

DEAN So what, you're just willing to sacrifice yourself, is that it?

SAM Yeah. Yeah you're damn right I am.

DEAN Well that's not going to happen, not as long as I'm around.

This right here? Is a nice summary of the relationship of the brothers for the whole series. Sam wants to do something stupid, like, say, running into a burning building, Dean is there to stop him before he hurts himself.

Also, let’s make clear the use of first person by Sam. It’s not “We coulda ended this”, as in the family ending the hunt, but “I coulda ended this”. Again, at this point, not something that is a problem, but considering hindsight, we can see how the writers are completely invested in SAM as a sole main character, and write him as such, while Dean is more of the sidekick.

In any case, the argument continues, still not escalating to violence.

SAM What the hell are you talking about Dean, we've been searching for this demon our whole lives. It's the only thing we've ever cared about.

DEAN Sam I wanna waste it. I do. Okay? But it's not worth dying over.

SAM What?

DEAN I mean it. If hunting this demon means getting yourself killed then I hope we never find the damn thing.

Important thing how Sam apparently forgot he left for four (two) years and wanted out of the family business, now that he is angry and into the revenge thing. It’s not “You’ve been searching for this demon your whole life”, which would’ve been correct AND a logical counterargument against Dean. Before this episode, Sam was supposedly the brother who understood that revenge was a way of living, while Dean is the one who was Daddy’s little soldier. But here, when it actually would matter to the narrative, it is as if Sam’s wishes for a normal life are completely forgotten and it’s Dean the one who understands that there’s more to living than revenge (Which, btw, is consistent through the season despite everyone claiming that Dean needs Sam to keep hunting. All season, Dean has been giving Sam outs, telling him it’s ok to quit)

And of course, Dean here proves that Sam is more important to him than revenge for his mother, as he is willing to never get to kill the demon as long as his family, his brother in particular, survives.

Poor Dean.

SAM That thing killed Jess. That thing killed Mom.

DEAN You said yourself once, that no matter what we do, they're gone, and they're never coming back.

SAM Don't you say that, not you! Not after all this don't you say that.

DEAN Sam look. The three of us...that's all we have...and it's all I have. Sometimes I feel like I'm barely holding it together man...and without you or Dad....

Unfortunately, script doesn’t quiet convey the scene as there’s a LONG pause between “That thing killed Jess” and “That thing killed Mom”. Enough so that we can believe that Sam is using that second phrase not because he cares (in the Pilot he made clear he didn’t), but to make Dean get on board with the whole “I can kill myself if it means getting revenge” plan. In other words, once again, Sam is weaponizing Mary against Dean, and that is a really nasty habit the younger Winchester never quite shakes out of. Instead, Dean shows how he LISTENED to Sam back in the Pilot and repeats Sam’s words to him on the bridge.

Which is when Sam loses it and pushes Dean against a wall, Dean not defending himself at all, and yells that Dean has no right to say what Sam told Dean the very first hunt they had together after years of separation.

And of course, once Dean mentions their father, Sam starts calming down. NOT when Dean says that he’s barely holding it together, or that he only has them. Just when he mentions their father who is, in Sam’s mind, the one who can help him get revenge.

The fight ends, but Sam never once apologizes for what he said to Dean, nor for the fight. Which, by the way, contradicts his claim that Dean “always has his back”.

Emotional Violence

Whenever we have John on an episode, we’re going to have to talk about emotional violence and I kind of hate that because on one hand, I get how John could’ve been a very tragic figure that loved his sons but still wanted to avenge his wife, and not being the abusive bastard we know and don’t love that much.

When Sam and Dean explain about Sam’s visions, and how they started as nightmares but have grown in intensity, his reaction is quite subdued, but clear. He is not happy, but the problem isn’t the visions –for a man obsessed with the supernatural, his outward reaction to his younger son being a psychic is quite calm- but that they didn’t inform him of what was going on:

JOHN All right. When were you going to tell me about this?

DEAN We didn't know what it meant.

JOHN All right, something like this starts happening to your brother, you pick up the phone and you call me.

DEAN dumps the coffee jug and cup back on the counter and strides toward JOHN.

DEAN Call you? Are you kidding me? Dad I called you from Lawrence all right? Sam called you when I was dying. I mean, getting you on the phone? I got a better chance of winning the lottery.

JOHN You're right. Although I'm not too crazy about this new tone of yours, you're right. I'm sorry.

And let’s be clear, John’s anger is not directed at Sam, it’s directed at Dean. “Something like this starts happening to your brother” is not “Something like this starts happening to either of you”. Which is also a show of how good an actor JOHN is in universe because WE know that he knew. Missouri TOLD him point blank that Sam was powerful and that he could have known that John was around during the Home episode. But here, he acts as if this was news to him when he could ALSO have told them what to expect if that happened. (Mind you, I am assuming that Sera Gamble knew or remembered about Home’s script when writing this and didn’t just forget or was unaware that John was supposed to know)

Now, all season, Sam has been complaining and yelling about how John doesn’t answer their calls, doesn’t seem to care what’s going on with them. So it’d be logical and in character for Sam to say something here. But instead is DEAN, Dad’s little soldier, the one we’ve SEEN obeying John without question finally have enough and talk back to his father with some truths. And it’s VERY interesting that his first complain is not that John didn’t care that Dean almost died, but that he didn’t reply when Dean called from Lawrence. One could almost infer that Dean expected John not to care if Dean died, but was honestly hurt that he didn’t care about a case that could’ve involved MARY.

John, surprisingly, sort of agrees. He does say “I’m sorry”, which makes him the Winchester who is quicker to say those words… but he still manages to make a threat against Dean “I am not too crazy about this NEW tone of yours”.

Making it clear that before? Dean never talked back. And John doesn’t like it when his soldiers talk back.

It makes it hard to believe John ever thought of Dean as his son and makes it very clear why Dean never understood Sam’s confidence that Dean was the favored one.

Speeches and Apologies

I considered not including this particular speech, but then I remembered that Supernatural is ALSO famous for their big emotional speeches, and this is Sam’s first, and also, Dean’s first time listening to someone he cares about give him the “I am saying goodbye because I am going kamikaze” speech and after all the drama in season 15, I guess it’s necessary to do some dissection.

It is important that despite all the things that Sam has done to Dean, the words “I’m sorry” are never uttered here.

SAM Dean...ah...I wanna thank you. DEAN For what? SAM For everything. You've always had my back you know? Even when I couldn't count on anyone I could always count on you. And ah...I don't know I just wanted to let you know, Just in case DEAN Whoa whoa whoa, are you kidding me? SAM What? DEAN Don't say just in case something happens to you. I don't wanna hear that freaking speech man. Nobody's dying tonight. Not us, not that family, nobody. Except that demon. That evil son of a bitch ain't getting any older than tonight, you understand me?

This is not a bad “freaking speech”. I understand why Dean didn’t want to hear it, because it is like jinxing the mission (And, let’s be honest, it did), but it’s not a bad speech.

Except that, reading it again, it lacks one important part. Sure, Sam thanks Dean for always being there (Forgetting that, at least three times this season alone, he has accused Dean of not having his back and being unreliable. Which will ALSO be a constant theme in the series’s long run), but he never mentions the times HE did things that would be hard to back up. Which, again, I am not counting as a bad thing against him in this precise moment in time, since he is young, in his roaring roadtrip of revenge, and we’ve only know the brothers for a year, but it is the beginning of a series’ long crutch to make us forgive all of Sam’s sins without him actually doing the work to be forgiven.

On the other hand, it all goes to waste a bit later when Sam starts hitting Dean for the horrible sin of not letting him run into a burning building and kill himself so… it’s not really a “thank you for having my back” speech but a “You better remember, you never fight me and my choices are the best” speech in hindsight. Which… not good on Sam, no.

Double narrative standards

This episode is kind of balanced, except for that little moment where we’re supposed to think Dean is wrong for telling Sam that revenge is not worth their lives. So there’s not much to write in this particular segment.

Final Tally

Ok, back in the saddle. And after all that, I decided not to tally Sam’s little slip about not caring if their loved ones die as long as he gets to kill Azazael. Let me know if you disagree.

The count is still not good on Sam’s side, but as always, you are free to disagree with me, and dm me if you think I missed a tally or I should change one. If your argument is solid and canon based, I will listen to it and may change the numbers.

Numbers (or the TL;DR summary)

(Episode/Total so far)

Times Dean has lied to Sam or to a loved one: 0 / 0

Times Sam has lied to Dean or to a loved one: 0 / 3

Times Dean has been caught in a lie: 0 / 0

Times Sam has been caught in a lie: 0 / 1

Times Dean has hit Sam in anger: 0 / 1

Times Sam has hit Dean in anger: 1 / 4

Times Dean's lies or secrets have caused someone's death: 0 / 0

Times Sam's lies or secrets have caused someone's death: 0 / 1

Times Dean has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 0

Times Sam has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 7

Times Dean forced Sam to do something: 0 / 0

Times Sam forced Dean to do something: 0 / 7

Secrets kept by Dean: 0 / 1

Secrets kept by Sam: 0 / 2

Times Dean has blamed Sam for something: 0 / 0

Times Sam has blamed Dean for something: 1 / 4

Times Dean has apologized with words to Sam: 0 / 3

Times Sam has apologized with words to Dean: 0 / 2

Times Dean has respected Sam's boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 7

Times Sam has respected Dean's boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0

Times Dean hasn't respected Sam's boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0

Times Sam hasn't respected Dean's boundaries and / or rules: 0 / 13

Times Dean has made fun of something Sam does or has: 0 / 6

Times Sam has made fun of something Dean does or has: 0 / 31

Times we focus on Dean's needs: 0 / 1

Times we focus on Sam's needs: 1 / 6

Arc episodes dedicated to Sam: 1 / 7

Filler episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 6

Arc episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 0

Filler episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 4

Arc episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none): 0 / 2

Filler episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none): 0 / 2

Dean's Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 1

Sam's Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 2

#Supernatural rewatch project #Salvation #Dean Winchester #Sam Winchester #not very Sam positive #John Winchester #Season 1 #Season 1 episode 20 #SPN #Supernatural meta

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skullsandwineglasses · 3 years

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The Legends (2019) Full Review

My review of the first 30 episodes of the drama can be found here.

This is more of a rant than a review. The drama should have wrapped up at episode 35. I was able to tolerate it up to episode 42 when the wedding was, but by episode 48 it’s a total mess.

If only this scene was as epic as the picture makes it look. But alas, this was just a dream sequence, and by this point in the finale, I was already bored and scrolling through instagram on my phone. If only they really did have a love-hate relationship. But this is an angst-free drama.

Inconsistent character arcs

The FL and ML have become incredibly weak, both in terms of abilities and personality. The changes just don’t make sense for their characters.

Zhao yao is no longer the badass she once was, and I’m actually fine with that. Moving away from her demoness persona is part of her growth. BUT, she no longer has a goal in the drama (except when she finds out that Mo Qing has an inner demon. Then, her goal becomes finding a way to expel the demon). But in the last quarter of the drama, she doesn’t really do anything of importance. She lost her sword, but she doesn’t actively go and find it. Instead, Mo Qing and Jiang Wu are the ones who took initiative to hunt it down for her. And when Lin Zi Yu got away with it, she doesn’t bother thinking about finding her sword again?? I mean girl, you lost your sword. Your only weapon. Why is that not at the top of your list of priorities? Is this the same FL who had risked it all for the Wan Jun sword?

(I miss the demoness)

Her tolerance level for things that annoy her is just so out of character. Zhao yao used to be someone who always fought back against anything she didn’t like. But when it comes to Jiang Wu, she seems to have unlimited tolerance for him. Yes, he saved her, but owing him does not mean letting him be a menace. Like when Jiang Wu sucked the life energy out of Ah Dai. All she did was try to restrain Mo Qing from attacking Jiang Wu, but she didn’t spring forward to prevent Jiang Wu from killing Ah Dai. I mean, the cause of Mo Qing’s rage was Ah Dai dying. Shouldn’t you go address the root of the problem? Instead, she just sits and stares and lets Jiang Wu kill Ah Dai instead of doing something. And then there’s the scene in the library when she’s asleep, but Mo Qing is wrestling with his inner demon, and then the Wan Jun sword kills the 2 guards on duty. She just sleeps through the entire thing. Wasn’t she once the most feared conqueror/demoness? Isn’t she a warrior? How can your senses not be alert when there’s so much ruckus around you? Someone on MDL said that she became a glorified baby sitter for the ML, and while I don’t agree that it’s as extreme as that, I can see their point. All that Zhao yao does after the wedding is try to reign in Mo Qing to prevent him from going into full-on demon mode. She holds him back, tries to calm him and soothe him, rinse and repeat.

Speaking of Mo Qing, his current personality is just rage and jealousy. At first, it was kinda endearing seeing him jealous, but soon his entire arc was just about him being consumed by jealousy. The writers try to justify it by saying that he’s always had low self-esteem and been unconfident about himself because of his upbringing, and the growing demon energy inside him is exacerbating these thoughts, making him more unlike himself, but you’re telling me that everything that he and Zhao yao had gone through together was all for naught? This would have made sense 5 years ago, but we’ve seen that he has greatly matured since becoming sect leader. During the earlier episodes, he was able to see right through Zhao yao’s mask. He teased her, flirted with her, scolded her, and basically proved he’s her equal in every way, and he did it all with easy confidence. And now suddenly, all of that growth reverses, and he’s insecure and sensitive again. This character progression just doesn’t make sense in the context of everything that’s happened. I would have loved to have seen more of the introverted and unconfident Mo Qing at the beginning of the drama. But instead, we only got a handful of scenes before that part of his character arc was cut short and we skip ahead 5 years later and then another 5 years later to when he’s the sect leader. There was honestly no purpose for Mo Qing’s suffering. He just suffered for the sake of suffering. In other xianxia dramas, characters suffered for a purpose. It was a price they had to pay in order to protect someone they love. But this suffering is just pointless. It does nothing for this character arc. And they kept replaying the same montage of him sleeping on the dragon. As if it’s not already clear from the last 20 episodes that he’s being haunted by his father’s demon.

Villains and supporting characters

I didn’t really care for the villains? Luo Mingxuan is still alive, but doesn’t do anything until the last 5 episodes. I eyeroll whenever Lin Zi Yu is onscreen. Jiang Wu is the only one who’s interesting and he serves as comedic relief.

And then there are all the unnecessary deaths. It’s like they’re killing off all the good characters one by one. What was the point of killing off the doctor? He was the only character who could scold both Zhao yao and Mo Qing. The drama felt so empty without him.

But on a good note, I really liked most of the supporting characters, from Zhiyan to Shi Qi to Ah Rong to Gu Hanguang. They were also the most consistent characters in the drama.

On a bad note, the drama spent too much time on the backstories of supporting characters. I did not care to watch Suruo mourn Luo Mingxuan and remembering how they fell in love, and this happens for pretty much all the couples in the drama. It’s because Zhao yao and Mo Qing have a very simple romantic arc that’s resolved very early on, so the writers had to throw in fillers to drag out the drama. And the consequence is that our leads end up getting not enough screen time.

The final 2 episodes

Oh boy. The last 2 episodes were a hot mess. In the final battle, everyone kept attacking and stabbing Luo Mingxuan, but he just won’t die?? He’s like Wolverine. He just comes back stronger. It just kept dragging on and on, and I completely lost interest. And I felt bad for Xu Kai. He was standing on the sidelines for most of the battle, just watching and shooting worried faces at Zhao yao. I hate to say he was useless, but it just felt like the writers did him dirty. Even Jiany Wu, who had already died by that point, was given a brief re-appearance. While Mo Qing, the ML, was forced to sit out on the action.

I’m also so over the will-he-won’t-he be evil plot. I keep saying this but I’ll say it again. It. Just. Keeps. Dragging. I’ve watching longer dramas, but this one felt to go on forever. We get it. You’re being tortured by your inner demon, but love will conquer all.

The editing is also weird? Some of the scenes aren’t in chronological order, and there’s no separation between dream sequences and reality. I also never liked the preview at the beginning of each episode. I also hate how they cut some crucial scenes from the TV version that’s on youtube, forcing me to hop onto doboku, which buffers.

Honestly, the last episode felt like a hallucinated dream sequence. In one scene, they’re all sitting around the table saying that the need to seal the Wan Jun sword before Mo Qing gets out of the control, and then it suddenly cuts to black with a title card that says 5 years later (don’t get me started on how often they overuse the “5 years later” plot device. Why is it always exactly 5 years?) We then see that Zhiyan is now the sect leader, and we’re told that Mo Qing has sealed himself away, and Zhao yao has been waiting for him to return. We don’t see them say goodbye to Mo Qing before he seals himself away. No scene showing a handover to Zhiyan. We’re just forced to go with it and imagine these scenes ourselves.

Zhao yao, with a new hairstyle and new clothes to signify the time skip, watches Zhi yan and the sect from the distance. She then goes to visit other people, like Sima Rong and Liu Cangling. Liu Cangling and Zhiyan are the only couple who were able to move on from each other, and honestly, good for them. We then see Zhao yao sitting in the cave, pouring wine onto the cave floor, and then it cuts to black again and a sword flies through the air and wedges itself on the bedrock and we hear Mo Qing say Zhao yao’s name in a voiceover. And then it cuts to a scene where they’re both in the cave wearing their clothes from 5 years and Zhao yao has her old hairstyle. You assume this is a flashback to when they sealed the sword. And then we see Mo Qing in another realm where he lowers the sword in to the water, presumably sealing it. And then it cuts to both of them on the street buying food, wearing their old clothes and hairstyles.

Does this mean he got out of the seal? When in the timeline is this street scene? How did he get out of the seal? Did he just walk out? Was Zhao yao there waiting for him, or did he go and find her? It’s typical for there to be a long period of uncertain separation in xianxia and wuxia dramas, and these dramas usually end either ambiguously where you don’t know if the couple will reunite, or they end with an emotional reunion, like in Ashes of Love, Eternal Love, Love and Destiny, and Love and Redemption, and famously in Return of the Condor Heroes. But what in the world was this ending?? The hell happened? That was so anticlimactic. If the scene on the street really was their “reunion” after he got out of the seal, does that mean Zhao yao changed her hair back to 5 years ago? Why is the costuming so confusing then?

And the last scene where they have the same actors play their kids? Um, no. That’s just plain weird. You built up the chemistry between the 2 actors, and then in the end you make them play siblings and re-enact the scene of when their parents met? For what? To make the audience reminisce about the budding romance between the leads at the beginning so that things come full circle? But, these characters are siblings?? You’re trying to make us emotional over a scene of two siblings pretending to be lovers?

There was just no point in doing that. It doesn’t tell us anything about the characters’ married life now. I don’t care about their kids. I care about the characters and what they’re doing now. What a strange and uncomfortable way to end the drama. Not satisfying at all.

It would have been better if they had left it ambiguous. The amount of times that Zhao yao came back from the dead showed that they can defy the impossible, so even if it was an ambiguous ending, you’d still be able to believe that they’ll be together again. But this mess just ruined the chemistry. Ugh. I really miss the first half of the drama.

Overall Impression

I’m mad about how chaotic the last few episodes were. While the beginning of the drama wasn’t without its flaws either, it was still very promising and intriguing. The beginning of the drama felt like they knew where they were going with the story, even if you didn’t completely like the direction that it went. So yes, I echo the other critiques saying that this drama had a strong beginning and a weak end.

When I got to episode 35, I thought, how bad can this get? When I got to episode 42, I was still holding out hope that maybe other people were just harsh and maybe I’ll actually enjoy it. But no, the final 10 episodes are really as bad as everyone says it is.

The romance, which was the only reason I stuck to the drama, also felt a little underdeveloped. I wish we got to see more scenes of them pre-episode 30.They were so cute then. Everything post-episode 30 was just them being constantly worried about each other.

At least there was no angst. And the comedy was great. So there’s that.

I give this drama a 7/10 for the characters and the premise. The plot is not worth watching due to terrible editing, pacing, and consistency, but it’s also a drama that won’t take you long to watch since you could skip most of it anyway and just go to the scenes with the leads. It’s my first drama watching Bai Lu and Xu Kai, but I’m def now interested in more of their work, like Arsenal Military Academy.

#招摇 #the legends #bai lu #xu kai #cdrama #白鹿 #许凯 #zhao yao #cdrama review #cdrama rant

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intergalactic-zoo · 3 years

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I was almost ready to comment on how this series is using single-word episode titles, just like "Smallville" did, but now we've got this mouthful playing on a book that was roughly contemporary with that show. It's pretty clunky, but whatever.

It's nice that this episode gave us a break from the Luthor story, choosing instead to focus on Lois's investigation and some good character moments for the Kents and Lana's family. The mantra that "life is simpler in Smallville" gets an explicit repudiation, some fences are mended, and some new mysterious antagonists are introduced.

Spoilers ahoy!

If not for the enormous amount of COVID-imposed lead time this series had, and the amount of time it takes to write and record and add special effects to a live-action TV show, this episode would feel like a course correction for a lot of the problems I've had with the last couple of installments.

I'm writing this a little longer after watching the episode than I typically have, so I'm going to go plot-by-plot rather than chronologically through the episode.

Painting the House: a cute scene, and a good way to remind us that, even with all the drama and the teen angst, the Kents are a loving family.

Jonathan & Jordan: Jordan joining the football team is a neat plot point that goes in unexpected directions, given how that kind of thing has typically played out in Superman stories. I like the way that it sets up conflict with Jonathan in the beginning, but eventually he realizes that Jordan's not trying to take away the thing that makes him feel special. Jonathan being the one to convince Clark to let Jordan play—and making the case that Jordan's abilities just even the playing field with respect to his size—is a good moment of solidarity and understanding for him.

And Jordan, for his part, really does seem like he's found what he needed. Being able to take out some aggression on the football field—and having Clark's support—ends up being the key to getting a handle on his anger and being able to solve some problems with kindness rather than sulking and violence. I also appreciate that at least one of our initial antagonists—Sean—has moved out of that role, at least for now.

Coach Clark: There have been lots of attempts over the years to saddle Superman with various character flaws, but I think the one that fits best is being overprotective. On the macro scale, you get "Must There Be a Superman" and "King of the World," and on a micro scale you get stuff like this, being a bit of a helicopter parent and nearly losing Lois early in their relationship by eavesdropping. It rings true in a way that other attempted flaws—being dull-witted or indecisive—haven't. So it's nice here to see him realize it and acknowledge his mistakes, and to realize that he doesn't have to make the same choices his father did in order to keep his kids safe. After all, Jonathan Kent I didn't have superpowers. It'll also be nice for Clark to have a place to be earnest, mild-mannered Clark Kent, since he's outside the Daily Planet environment.

Lana and Sarah: Somewhere in my drafts I have a post about poor Lana Lang, a character made to fill a niche—the Lois Lane analogue for Superboy—and has never had much of a life outside of that niche. Every time Lana is introduced into adult Clark's life, she has a different deal. She's a TV reporter with a British accent, she's married to Pete Ross, she's a successful engineer, but she's almost always the girl whose life fell to pieces in one way or another after Clark Kent left. It's not fair to either character—Clark's presence in a person's life should elevate them, not devastate them—and while I understand the reason for giving her a failing marriage and conflicts with her children, I do want to see Lana have a happy ending in some adaptation or incarnation.

Anyway, I like Sarah as a character, and it's interesting to see how her story parallel's Jordan's, with her mother's overbearing overprotectiveness leading to conflict. It creates a contrast between how Clark and Lana are handling their respective teenage offspring, and gives them a nice bonding moment. It's easy to see how these bonding moments could turn into Lana trying to rekindle the old flame with Clark, and I really hope that doesn't happen, but platonic male-female friendships are rare enough on TV that I can imagine it's hard to set one up without everyone seeing a ship setting sail.

Speaking of ships, I know that Jordan and Sarah are an obvious pairing, but I hope Jordan is smart enough not to try to be her rebound relationship (and ruin his reconciliation with Sean). But honestly, I kind of hope Jordan is gay or bi, giving a way to tie his feelings of being different and search for identity to the struggles queer kids commonly face in an explicit way rather than an allegorical one.

Seriously though, let Clark and Lois have a strong marriage that doesn't need to be threatened by the Other Woman for unnecessary drama. Let the drama build out of normal family conflicts, not tropes that were sexist and outdated when they were common in the Silver Age.

Lois's Story: "The news comes to Lois Lane" seems to be an ongoing theme, as the next lead in her story just walks through the door of the Smallville Gazette. Unsurprisingly for a story involving Lois Lane, this leads to a conspiracy involving disappearing workers and super-powered enforcers. Lois explicitly makes the point I said earlier, that the stories in small towns do matter, and too often get overlooked because there aren't enough reporters covering them.

The action scene where Lois is attacked by someone with Kryptonian-level abilities is pretty good. I always like when Superman enters a confrontation by trying to de-escalate before fighting, and I always like when Lois enters a confrontation by trying to fight before calling in the big guns. The fight between Superman and the assailant (who I think is credited as Subjekt 11, but I assumed that character was going to carry forward and, uh, doesn't look like he is) showcases both a nice escalation as Superman learns what the guy's strength is, and some nice uses of powers. The CW effects teams have gotten pretty creative over the years. The one issue I have is that Superman slams the guy through a cinderblock wall right at the start of the fight, before he's tested those abilities, and I feel like that would have done some real damage if he'd guessed wrong and the guy was a baseline human. The No-Prize Answer would be that either he scanned the guy before hitting him and knew, at baseline, that he was a meta, or that he knew Lois wouldn't call him unless she was dealing with a metahuman threat. Still, it bugs me.

I do hope we learn more about what Subjekt-11 was. Metahuman? Kryptonian? Some kind of experiment? I'm frankly more interested in the Morgan Edge stuff than alt-universe Luthor.

The woman who takes out Subjekt-11—who I guess was also with Edge at the meeting last episode—seems to be named Leslie Larr, no doubt a reference to Lesla-Lar, the Silver Age Kandorian villain who happened to be an exact double for Supergirl, because every major character had a double living in Kandor. Whether that means she's Kryptonian or some other swerve is something, I guess, we'll learn later.

Other: I noticed an Easter Egg that I haven't seen reported anywhere else: The Whitty Banter Show! For those who don't remember, Whitty Banter was the host of a Metropolis talk show in the 80s and 90s; there's ads for it all over the Death of Superman Newstime issue. In trying to remind myself what Easter Egg I remembered catching, I also learned that Kryptonsite still exists! What a blast from the past. There was a time, many moons ago, where that was a daily visit for me, along with the Superman Homepage.

And Blogger.com, for that matter. But those days are clearly far behind us.

#IFTTT #Blogger #TheFortressOfSoliloquy

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everydisneymovie · 4 years

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Review #44: Zorro The Avenger

Post #48

8/9/2020

Next up is 1959′s Zorro the Avenger

This is the first time we are going to have to flub the rules a little. Zorro the Avenger was not an actual Disney movie, it was a bundle of six episodes from the Zorro 1957 TV show re-released in theaters out of order, since The Sign of Zorro was released internationally first and also comes chronological first in the episodes it bundled with. However this was technically released in America first so we are going with that. Another issue is that the movie appears to no longer exist since there is THREE OTHER movies ALSO titled Zorro the Avenger released in 1962, 1969 and 1972 that tend to muddle search results. Unable to get my hands on a copy, I decided to just watch the six episodes of the TV show that were edited together, but even looking through Disney’s database there is no confirmation on WHICH six episodes were put together for the the movie... until I did a little more digging. The movie is about Zorro fighting a villain named “The Eagle” and the actor credited for playing the Eagle appears in exactly 6 episodes... BUT THOSE EPISODES ARE NOT IN SEQUENTIAL ORDER SINCE HE DOES NOT APPEAR IN EVER SINGLE EPISODE DURING THE ‘EAGLE STORYLINE ARC’ So I was only able to pinpoint 5 of the 6 episodes as the ones used in the official movie, so I just watched every episode that mentions “the Eagle” in the plot description, some that do not actually feature him but Zorro fighting his henchmen instead.

So to recap... I did not actually watch the theatrically released Zorro The Avenger movie... but I DID watch all the episodes and then some that I assume make up the movie as a whole... So there is a very high chance that I watch the entirety of Zorro The Avenger and you cannot legally disprove that.

I just want you all to know what I went through, so my struggles are not in vain. I will be judging the episodes I watched as an entire movie since that was Disney’s intent when repackaging it.

Enjoyment : [3]

This movie suffers from a lot of minor issues that keep it from being fun. Because this the end of a television season I feel like I don’t know this iteration of Zorro well enough for him to be a likable character. The action is fun if a little cartoony, but I never really felt any tension when I was supposed to. The episodic nature means tension builds and resolves very quickly since these were not filmed with the intention of being watched back to back. Its not awful but it is very boring.

Quality : [3]

For a TV show the camera work is very subpar, and there are no interesting shots. The sets are actually quite nice, but we don’t get any good framing of them so they never take on a life of their own. The writing is also a little flimsy, since brand new characters will appear without much build up and exit the story without fanfare. I cannot bring myself to blame anything on the original show runners since they did a perfectly fine job on their show as a whole, it just really isn’t formatted for what Disney tried to shoehorn it into.

Hold up : [4]

Surprisingly Disney has been... passable with its depictions of Mexicans. What I mean is that there are no overly racist caricatures, but the Mexico we see on screen is still a very fictional and cartoony interpretation. For the most part it seems the cast is mostly Texan and Mexican actors, so there isn’t any noticeable cases of whitewashing. However there isn’t really anything else positive I can say beyond all the stuff they DIDN’T do. This whole movie is kinda like that.

Risk : [4]

I like the basic concept of Zorro, he is a prototype for a lot of modern super hero stories. There is a reason he is canonically the inspiration for Bruce Wayne’s alter ego. There is a lot of swashbuckling action and stealthy attempts to hide his true identify that you would expect from a super hero story. I also like that Zorro is a story about fighting tyranny from a mostly non-white perspective. However I feel like Zorro wasn’t really channeled into a place where Disney could capitalize on his best qualities. The whole thing feels slapdash and not like a true movie. (because it isn’t.)

Extra Credit : [1]

The theme song slaps. It sets a mood that the show never fully archives and I could listen to it a hundred times and it would never get old. I also like the character of Sergeant Garcia. He is a bumbling henchman who repeatedly fails to catch Zorro and we see the mental toll Zorros constant victories take on him. We rarely ever see villains henchmen get sympathetic character arcs and he grew on me.

Final thoughts:

For all the effort I put into watching this ‘movie’ I had very little to say. It is a very average movie without anything particularly good or bad about it. The character of Zorro and his heroic exploits are just interesting enough to carry a few episodes of a TV but not a full movie. Formatting the story this way is lazy and robs it of its potential. I don’t think there is anything too harsh I can say about the experience of watching this ‘movie’ but I doubt I will revisit it other than to listen to that bop of a theme song. Unless you are a big Zorro fan and want to consume all version of the masked hero, just listen to the theme song and give this a skip.

youtube

Total Score: 15/50

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#Zorro #Zorro the Avenger #Disney #every disney movie #I watched Every Disney Movie #reviewing every Disney movie #movie review #Movie Reviews #live action movie #movie theory #live action #TV show #Film Theory #movie ranking #late stage capitalism #late stage disney #capitalism #Rey Rapids

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autisticmight · 4 years

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how does someone who knows little-to-nothing about it get into sanders sides? i saw thomas' vines, and i've been sort of tangentially aware that the facets of his personality that he portrayed in the vines have since become characters, but there's a whole bunch of new ones??? what the fuck is a janus???? HELP. tldr where do i find The Lore? plz obi wan ur my only hope

it’s very simple!!! you hyperfixate on thomas sanders’s content in, like, 2016? and then he uploads a video called ‘my true identity’, which is a bit weird, but you love those vine characters. then he uploads more, and it becomes a trend. apparently people in the comments are shipping the prince guy and anxiety. you rewatch the new year’s video an embarrassing amount of times with your dog

i had a whole paragraph here about why i like the series, and why i dropped it and then picked it up again, but it was just a block of lowercase text and i guess it’s kind of hard to read

anyway, here’s the playlist of every episode, but i’m going to put a summary of the series and individual episodes under the readmore, while also ranking them, because i am Special Interesting and i like being useful. and i guess i’m gonna write using. like. actual grammar. if the readmore doesn’t work, then. have fun reading my infodump

here we go

Sanders Sides: A Summary

Fictional Version Of Thomas Sanders (known as Character!Thomas, and will be simply referred to as ‘Thomas’ henceforth) has ‘Sides’, which are parts of his personality that have been exaggerated and personified. It’s a nice little series set in some kind of semi-urban fantasy world, but mostly in Thomas’s living room. It mostly uses the idea of ‘Sides’ to represent the inner schemata of an individual. In simpler terms, you know when you’re conflicted, and you end up arguing with yourself? Yeah, it’s that.

Also, don’t read the comments, unless you want to disregard the care I’ve taken to not put spoilers in the Season 1 Summaries.

Season 1

I’d like to split this into parts, because there are a lot of things in earlier episodes that conflict with later characterisation. However, it’s also fun to watch them, and then rewatch them after some of the longer episodes, and feel your heart shatter!

This half of Season 1 was made solely by Thomas. It tends to be a bit more scattered, and can be watched out of chronological order, or completely skipped. Yes, I’m telling you that you can skip literally all of this section, if you want to. However, these are also the easiest videos to watch, and offer a taste of Silly Sanders Sides Hijinks without the emotional commitment.

My True Identity (6 min) - Thomas delves into the three aspects of his personality; his Logic (Teacher Guy), his Creativity (the Prince, also called Princey), and his Morality (Dad Guy who is Not Thomas’s Dad). At this point, the characters are far more similar to their Vine counterparts, and the characterisation clashes with later episodes. (3/5 - A nice way to see if you’ll enjoy the humour of this series)

Way Too Adult (5 min) - Thomas is asked by his family to help cook Thanksgiving dinner. Dad Guy pops up and discusses with Thomas how he can better learn to take care of himself. Features a talking stove, which is part of the reason why I classify this series as urban fantasy, and the start of a running joke. (2/5 - A fun, albeit rare, look into Dad Guy being responsible. I actually prefer this to My True Identity, but ranks lower due to conflicting with later S1 characterisation.)

Taking On Anxiety with Lilly Singh (6 min) - Thomas hopes and dreams to get rid of his Anxiety, who is a sassy, snide guy, sitting on the staircase. Princey, as the embodiment of Thomas’s hopes and dreams, is... Usurped by an imaginary version of Lilly Singh, who helps teach Thomas how to cope with feeling anxious. (3/5 - Introduces some secret tools that will help us later. The tools are Thomas being able to travel to various places in his head, and also Anxiety.)

A New Year of Lying to Myself... In Song!! (7 min) - The first video wherein you realise that this is A Thing. Thomas welcomes in the new year, hoping that 2017 will be better than 2016. Logic shows up to help him figure out some New Year’s Resolutions, accompanied by Dad Guy and Princey. Anxiety joins in to point out that Thomas has rarely, if ever, kept to his resolutions before. Through the first musical number of the series, the Core Sides and Thomas figure out simple, achievable resolutions that Thomas can use to improve his wellbeing. (4/5 - Unintentional foreshadowing in the form of a bop.)

The Dark Side of Disney (6 min) - Princey, not for the last time, enthuses about the wonders of Disney. However, Anxiety also appears, insisting that Disney is not as wholesome as it first appears. They argue and bond, despite the fact that Thomas still hasn’t redacted his statement regarding his hopes and dreams to get rid of his Anxiety. (2/5 - I have strong feelings on the meaning of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’, both of which are shrugged off in favour of the tryhard-edgy ‘blegh stockholm syndrome’ and ‘blegh change yourself to get your man’. Still, it’s a fan-favourite for a reason, and the endcard always makes me smile.)

I’m in a Disney Show!! (6 min) - Princey enthuses about the wonders of Disney, because Thomas is in a Disney show. He talks about what happened, while the Sides (mostly Logic) suggest clickbait titles in order to entice people to watch the video. (2/5 - L*gan P*ul is mentioned, as he was also in the episode.)

The Mind vs. The Heart (6 min) - Thomas finds himself split between following his mind, Logic, or his heart, Morality. Features onesies, and looks further into the characters of Logic and Dad Guy. (3/5 - Pretty calm and peaceful, to be honest. It’s nice.)

Then we move onto the second part of Season 1. This is when Thomas’s friend, Joan, began to offer their input into scriptwriting and directing. They’re most of the reason why Sanders Sides is an actual series, instead of being silly skit characters in short vlogs. From here on in, episodes become more complex, and work on an actual timeline.

Alone on Valentines Day (9 min) - Thomas is rather upset that he will be, as the title says, alone on Valentine’s Day. The Sides try to help him figure out how to get a date with an imaginary version of his friend Valerie, but each of them has a weirder way of going about it than the last. (4/5 - Far more cohesive than previous videos, but Thomas still wasn’t fully out as gay, so his hypothetical date is a woman. Yes, I took points off because of that. Yes, I’m about to erase the 3/5 to make it 4/5 because Valerie is a delight.)

Losing My Motivation (9 min) - When Thomas finds himself procrastinating, Logic takes it upon himself to find out which side is causing it. In order to get into a deductive mindset, Logic dresses up as Sherlock, while Dad Guy joins in as Watson. Once the case is solved, an important piece of information is revealed: the Sides have names. (Logic’s name is revealed) (3/5 - It’s just a fun little video, and I can’t keep giving every video from here on in 4/5, or that’ll ruin the whole thingy.)

Sanders Sides Q&A (9 min) - Exactly what it sounds like. There’s not much else to say. (2/5 - I love it, but it’s not really necessary to understand the whole series. It’s just extra characterisation.)

Am I Original? (12 min) - Thomas finds himself in a creative rut, trying to think of a completely original idea. Princey requests full creative control - “full-on Daydream Mode” - in order to rapidly consider and enact many different concepts, all while trying to make something that has never been seen before. (Princey’s name is revealed) (4/5 - Important characterisation for Princey. I originally rated it lower due to Thomas’s inability to rap, but upon rewatching, i found that the ending dialogue between Princey and Thomas was worth two points, rather than the single one I gave it previously.)

My Negative Thinking (13 min) - When Thomas messes up in an audition, his ego - Princey - is out of commission and being cared for by Dad Guy. Therefore, the only Sides available to aid him in this situation are Logic and Anxiety, neither of whom can help Thomas in the way he wants to. Anxiety is worsening Thomas’s mental state, so Logan proposes a debate in order to combat those cognitive distortions. (4/5 - A fan-favourite episode which offers a lot of insight into Logic and Anxiety as characters. It is useful as a tool for identifying cognitive distortions in real life, which may help with the individual’s mental health. Even though it introduces another running joke, it’s educational and fun, and it develops their relationship in a positive manner, I just don’t particularly enjoy it.)

Growing Up (15 min) - It’s Thomas’s birthday! He’s in his late twenties, and he’s still a kid at heart. He hasn’t done his laundry, he's silly and immature, and he feels like he isn’t at the point that he needs to be in his life. Therefore, all the Sides, except for Dad Guy, who ironically embodies Thomas’s inner child, work on trying to make him more mature. (Morality’s name is revealed) (3/5 - Features the concept of Voltron Shirt. I love this episode, but there is a noticeable change in audio quality at the end which affects how enjoyable it is.)

Making Some Changes (15 min) - Back in Thomas’s living room, and in opposition to his view from the last episode, Anxiety is worried about how life changes in unpredictable ways, and especially about losing contact with Thomas’s friends. Therefore, in order to keep Thomas’s friends permanently by his side, Princey gets them all to shapeshift. (3/5 - It might be skippable, but it’s just really, really fun.)

Becoming A Cartoon (10 min) - Adding to the whole urban fantasy thing, it turns out that animators can literally, physically turn people into cartoons. Thomas wants to be a cartoon. Princey catches Anxiety in his arms and says “everybody loves the villain,” and I think that’s all you need to know. (1/5 - Co-stars B*tch H*rtman, known for Fairly Odd Parents, Danny Phantom, and Being A Bigot, who did the character designs for the Sides, if not the actual animation. And the designs are kind of. Eh. Just watch some fanmade animatics.)

Accepting Anxiety (23 min) - Part 1: Excepting Anxiety (10 min), and Part 2: Can Anxiety Be Good? (14 min) - HOO. If the musical number or the animation didn’t clue you in, this video confirms that Sanders Sides is A Thing. Remember how Thomas hoped and dreamt to get rid of his Anxiety? Remember how he never redacted that statement, or even expressed a bit of remorse? Well, here, his wishes come true, and he doesn’t feel bad about it at all! That’s because he has absolutely no shame, caution, or fear of death. Yeah, he’s a mess. Therefore, the Sides make him take them on a magical quest to Anxiety’s Room, in order to un-mess-ify Thomas. (Anxiety’s name is revealed) (5/5 - The team really went above and beyond with this one. Like. Hoo. That’s it. Just. Hoo. Hoo. I’m an owl.)

And that’s Season 1!!! I’m going to add Season 2 in a reblog, because this has taken roughly three hours and it’s been really difficult to not spoil their names!!! which i did anyway because their names are all easier to type from muscle memory!!!

#helen stfu #asks #sanders sides tag da lee lay da lee loo #Anonymous

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p4nkow · 5 years

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You take my breath away - Part I

As soon as this idea popped in my mind I couldn’t resist not to write it down. The title of course is inspired by a Queen song — which I suggest you listen if you still haven’t done it — but I need to clear some things out.

While reading this fic you need to pretend that Dominique was given much more space on the storyline, just like to the other love interests of the boys. Of course it is just fiction, even though I tried to make it as realistic as possible. The dates are pretty accurate, too, but I know it might seem a bit confusing so if you have any questions or if you’d like to let me know what you think of it just know that my DMs and Inbox are always open :)

This is a slowburn fic and I believe it’s really important to chronologically follow all the events of their story before diving into the present day drama. ;)

Summary: reader has always dreamt of being an actress and she gets the chance of a lifetime when she’s cast as Dominique Beyrand in the infamous biopic about the legend himself, Freddie Mercury. But what will happen when she gets to know better the man who plays his love interest in the movie, Roger Taylor? Will Ben and Y/N’s story be as lucky as the one of characters they portray or will they be starcrossed lovers? Because it happens that things might get complicated because of Ellie, Ben’s long-term girlfriend.

New York City - present day

“Y/N, over here!”

“Is it true? Is there going to be a Bohemian Rhapsody sequel?”

“Y/N! Hey, Y/N! Just a few questions!”

“Are you and Ben Hardy dating?”

All those flashing lights blinded you for a couple of seconds, forcing you to blink a frenetically. Your manager, a redhead named Callie, grabbed you firmly by your arm, leading you towards the entrance of the TV-studio. The fans were screaming your name and you couldn’t help but wave at them, causing them to cheer even louder. You hated the fact that they were forced to remain behind the fascinators, but it was for your own security. You apologetically smiled at them before following Callie inside the building. You let out a sigh as soon as the doors closed behind you, finally being able to breathe again and relax.

“You okay?” Callie gave you a quick look from above her shoulder but you noticed she was worried, so you nodded to reassure her.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” From where you were standing you could still hear the fans screaming your name and you turned towards the door to give a better look at the crowd. You’d never get used to it.

“The boys are already here. Look, over there.” Callie tapped on your shoulder and you turned around, looking at the spot she was pointing at. Her red hair caught the attention of those presents but she didn’t seem to care. “I’ll go take a look at the schedule. Please don’t disappear.”

As you watched her walking away you decided to join the boys, but not without taking a deep breath first. Joining the boys would’ve meant to meet Ben again, a concern which had kept you awake all night.

When you got the role of a lifetime in one of the most eagerly awaited movie of the year, you didn’t count the fact that you’d constantly be on the spotlight.

When you were young you dreamt of being an actress. Needless to say you annoyed your mother to death by performing movie dialogues and God knows how many soliloquies she was forced to hear.

You considered yourself lucky for succeeding in achieve your dream — your annoying monologues had led you to something greater. The day your manager called you to announce you’d been cast in a Hollywood movie you cried your eyes out. And the proud look in your mother’s eyes — oh man, you’d remember it ‘till the day you died.

The infamous movie which had been your springboard to Hollywood was a biopic about Freddie Mercury called Bohemian Rhapsody. Of course you knew who Freddie Mercury was: you’d grown up blasting Bohemian Rhapsody in your bedroom, annoying the neighbours by doing so — who didn’t miss the chance to complain about it with your mom almost every day.

The idea of being cast as Dominique Beyrand, Roger Taylor’s first wife, made you feel ecstatic at first.

But then you realised the greatness of the situation and you freaked out.

What if you screwed it up?

What if you didn’t get along with your cast mates?

What if Dominique wouldn’t like your portrayal of her?

The idea of playing a living person terrified you, but all your fears slowly disappeared during the first week of filming.

You had the chance to meet your cast mates during the first table read, where you recognised some familiar faces. Even if that had been two years ago, you remembered that day as if it was yesterday.

London - September 7th, 2017

The room was filled with strangers, who were all chatting to each other. The table read was a perfect occasion to know better those who were going to be your cast mates and you were more than happy to recognise some of them.

You were thrilled by the fact that Rami Malek was going to play the legend himself, Freddie Mercury. You’d seen some of his works and you were a huge fan of Mr. Robot, the TV show in which he played the main character. You couldn’t wait to see him in action and for sure you just couldn’t ignore all the looks he was throwing to a blondie standing close to the window, chatting with another girl who you didn’t recognise. You could swear you’d seen the blondie somewhere but you really couldn’t recall.

You also recognised the man who played the Sgt Charlie Nelson in Midsomer Murders, Gwilym Lee. And it was a challenge for you not to fangirl over him — you and your mother were crazy about that show. You never missed an episode.

Among the other unknown face you spotted the guy who played one of the main characters in Downtown Abbey: Allen-something.

He was sitting right next to a man who had a familiar face to you, but given all the anxiety and enthusiasm of the moment you couldn’t really recognise him. His shirt read: “Dinosaurs are dino-mite!” And you couldn’t help but chuckle, but you couldn’t understand why he was wearing a hat.

As you gave a quick look at the rest of those presents your eye was been caught by a blonde, handsome guy. He was chatting with the dino-guy, who you later found out was going to play the bassist, John Deacon, but God, even his left side made you feel things.

You weren’t sure you’d seen any of his works but you were definitely willing to know him better, given that according to the sign placed right in front of him, he was the one who was going to play Roger Taylor, your love interest in the movie.

You were more than aware that to know better those people you had to actually have a conversation with them, but you were too nervous to do that so you were just leaning against the wall, casually sipping your cappuccino while giving a better look to the script. You were involved in reading your lines when you noticed someone approaching you.

The blonde Adonis slash the fake Roger Taylor was standing right in front of you, holding a bottle of water in one hand. Being this close to him gave you the chance to give him a better look. His features were delicate but his body... oh, his body. He was hot, a perfect representation of the greek god Apollo. You didn’t get the exact color of his eyes at first, it was a shade of green so clear that you found difficult just to look away.

“You must be Y/N.” His voice was deep and hoarse, very much different from what you expected and for sure very much different from Roger’s, too.

You shook his hand with a smile, managing to hold both the cup and the script with one hand only. His touch was nice and gentle and not sweaty and unpleasant at all. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“I’m Ben.”

Ben. Short and concise. He definitely had a ‘Ben’ kind of face.

“So, it seems that we’re gonna be a couple.” Probably it hadn’t been the best way to break the ice but he smiled anyways. He stuck his tongue out while doing it and you thought it was the hottest thing ever.

“It looks like that, yeah.” He lowered his gaze to the script before looking back at you. “Could I have seen you somewhere before? Your face looks familiar.”

“Unlikely. Uhm— that’s my first movie ever, actually. I’ve been doing theatre most of my life.” And you cleared your throat, trying to relax in his company. He wasn’t intimidating or anything, you just had to know him better. You had the feeling that you’d spend an incredible amount of time with him on set.

“Theatre?” He asked in an amazed tone. “Wait, is there any chance you were involved in the adaptation of Les Misérables?”

Was there any chance for him to be interested in theatre? You didn’t know anything about him so never say never. “If you’re talking about the one of the South London theatre then yes, I played Éponine.”

As his smile grew wider his green eyes seemed to light up. Aaand there it was again, that goddamn tongue. “That’s where I remember you from.”

His excitement was captivating and because of that you couldn’t help but smile back at him. “I don’t remember you in the company, though.”

“Oh no, no”, He hurried to say. “I haven’t done theatre since ages, but my girlfriend played the role of Cos... Cosette? Is that right?”

His girlfriend.

Of course he had a girlfriend, you shouldn’t even be surprised. You tried not to seem too caught off guard by hearing his words and you took a sip of your drink to temporise. “I vaguely remember her, yeah. Y’know, we didn’t have any scenes together”, You lied. You remembered her perfectly, to be honest. And she was very talented. And very lucky too, now that you knew she was dating Ben.

He nodded in understanding and you both turned towards the door as soon as you heard the voice of the director, who was calling the attention of those present. He genuinely smiled at you before going back to his seat.

You took yours too, which happened to be between the blondie — who grinned at you and introduced herself as Lucy Boynton — and Gwilym Lee. Ben’s seat was right in front of yours and you gave him a thankful smile when he grinned at you in sign of support.

You remember that the exact same day Dr. Brian May himself posted a picture on Instagram of the full cast taken right after the ending of the table read. You were standing between Priya, the girl who played Kashmira Bulsara — Freddie’s sister — and Gwilym, whose arm surrounded your shoulders. You were all smiling at the camera and it was one of your favorite memories.

The caption read: “We’re making a movie !! It’s finally official. These great guys are already living and breathing their roles as us in our youthful prime. The Bo Rhap ship is now sailing under her own steam. Bon Voyage to all who sail in her ! So proud to see this fabulous team go forward. Honoured! Bri.” It was a very special picture and now, almost two years later, you had it framed.

After the table read it took the crew only two days to list the shooting schedule but you started filming only two weeks later, when the director had finally taken all the shots needed to recreate the infamous Live Aid.

And that’s how you met Ben Hardy.

London - September 27th, 2017

It was the fourth time Rachael politely asked you to stay still but doing it while having a conversation with Joe — also known as Dino-boy — was a difficult challenge. Maybe pissing off the hair stylist during your very first week on set wasn’t the best was to start that journey.

You heard a loud ‘chop’ as another strand of your hair fell on the ground. Moreover, that day you finally understood why Joe was wearing a hat during the table read: he had a bloody perm, which made him look like a mushroom. A very big one.

“So what is it about?” He was really interested in understanding the dynamics of ‘Love Island’ and you couldn’t believe he’d never watched a single episode of it.

“I already told you, Joe!” Rachael gave you a death stare through the mirror when you turned towards him, clearly amused by his words. You murmured an apology to her before focusing back on Joe. “A group of people—”

“Singles?” You were about to nod at his question but you knew that would’ve pissed Rachael off, so you replied “Yeah. They live in this beautiful villa in Mallorca, constantly under video surveillance.”

You heard another ‘chop’ and then one more. You tried not to think about your hair, focusing on Rachael’s gentle hands stroking what was left of it. Joe took a sip of his Coca-Cola, his eyes narrowed as he was thinking. “Basically it’s another version of the Big Brother.”

He was really involved in your explanation and you could see it by the look on his face. His brows were narrowed as he tried to understand, but you couldn’t take him seriously with that perm of his. “Nope, ‘cause they’re coupled up with someone and at the end the only couple left wins lots of money. I can’t believe you never heard of it!”

And the following hour was spent explaining the dynamics of the show to Joe under the amused but focused look of Rachael. When she was finally done with your hair you slipped your fingers through it. It was way much shorter than before but Dominique had it like that back in those days. You could’ve definitely grown used to it.

“You’re lucky, y’know?” Joe looked at you with the corner of his eye while you were heading to the set. You raised your gaze from the script just to give him a questioning look. “Huh?”

It was weird seeing him in the typical 80s clothes but that was exactly what you were wearing, too. The delicate fabric of your dress caressed your legs as you walked on the grass. “At least Dominique didn’t have a perm.”

His exasperated look made you chuckle while he threw his arms in the air. You moved a strand of hair off your face as he opened the door of the building for you. “Oh, c’mon. Don’t be such a drama queen. You’ll cut it sooner or later.”

As soon as you stepped in heard loud noises of hammering and shouted commands — they were still building the set, which happened to be the Taylor’s house.

“Oh, yeah. But I’m afraid to know what’ll come next.”

“Nothing can be worse than that perm.” You giggled at the sight of his funny face and in that moment you spotted Ben in one of the corners, accompanied by a blonde. “I had forgotten Ellie was coming to set today.”

Joe gave you a questioning look before keep checking the shooting schedule. You nodded towards the pair, who was standing not so far away from you, and Joe followed your indication. “Ben’s girlfriend”, You clarified.

You lowered your gaze to the script you were holding, giving a last look to your lines as Joe asked you “D’ya know her?”

“Barely”, You lied, but luckily Joe didn’t know that. The two of you approached them and you genuinely smiled.

“Hey man” Joe said in a cheerful tone and Ben gave him the biggest smile while Ellie, who was giving her back to you, turned around.

“Hey buddy, Y/N. That’s Ellie.” He placed a hand on her back as she extended her hand towards Joe first, murmuring “Nice to meet you”, and then at you. Her face lit up when she finally recognised you. “Y/N, what a surprise!”

You shook her hand and smiled at her but then your gaze fell on Ben. He was wearing a wig, a very short one, but it looked good on him. The shirt he was wearing was a blue one with a tartan pattern, matched with a pair of very tight blue jeans and Adidas shoes. The perfect 80s style.

“Ellie, hey. It’s nice to see you again.” She wrinkled her nose as she smiled at you and Ben seemed really happy about the two of you meeting again. When you met his green eyes his smile widened and you felt his gaze studying your face.

“Your hair’s shorter.” You were flattered by the fact he noticed the change and you shyly smiled at him, voluntarily ignoring Ellie’s look.

You murmured a soft “Yeah” but Joe came in rescue, surrounding your shoulders with his arm and playfully squeezing your arm. “She wants to catch the essence of Dominique.”

“I can’t wait to see you in action”, Ellie said and you thanked her with a smile.

The truth was, you were nervous as hell. You were about to shoot your first scene ever and you were terrified you’d screw it up.

Ben, Ellie and Joe started a conversation about the building of the set when your phone rang, announcing a new message. It was from your best friend Laura, so you immediately unlocked the phone to read it.

‘Today is the day! Kick their asses, girl. Break a leg and please, not Ellie’s. Luv ya :) X’

You genuinely smiled at her words and you shook your head, amused by her insinuations. She knew all the story behind Ben and Ellie and to be honest you barely knew him, so there was nothing to be jealous of. So Ellie’s legs were just fine.

You put away your phone and tried to follow their conversation when the director called you and Ben to reach him. It was showtime.

Ben placed a kiss on Ellie’s lips before reaching you and starting to walk by your side. “I love this new hairstyle, it looks good on you.” You were caught off guard and you didn’t even had the chance to thank him because you were now in front of the director. You noticed, however, that he seemed pleased by the effect his words had on you.

“Okay, guys. I know this is your first scene together and you still need to get along, but try your best. I wanna feel all the frustration and despair of the situation. Y/N, if needed, don’t hesitate to improv. Give me goosebumps, ‘right?” And when you nodded in agreement you turned towards Ben, just to find out that he was already staring at you.

“If you’re gonna improv please don’t punch me.” His playful tone made you giggle as you both placed in your predefined spots. You were just a few inches away from him and by the way the was tapping his hand on his thigh you knew he was nervous, too. Despite that he didn’t miss the chance to reassure you. “You’ve got this.”

Ellie was standing right next to the director’s chair, her eyes fixed on Ben as the crew got ready to shoot the scene. Joe was standing on her side and he showed his thumbs up in sign of support.

You cleared your throat and you raised your chin to meet Ben’s blue eyes. The director was shouting commands through his megaphone and you narrowed your brows in a hurt expression just before he shouted “Action!”

And with the most dramatic tone you knew, you exclaimed “Roger, how could you?”

London - October 10th, 2017

As far as you could remember, Ellie was always around when it came for you and Ben to shoot scenes together. Not to mention all the embarrassment when you had to shoot a love scene, under Ellie’s observatory gaze.

“You nervous?” Ben must’ve noticed the way you were nervously tapping your feet on the floor. You bit your lower lip and slowly nodded, turning towards him. The wig he was wearing was a bit longer than the previous ones, perfectly nailing Roger’s look in the late 70s. He was wearing a half-unbuttoned black shirt and a grey jacket, which you remembered seeing in some old pictures of those days. You wondered if it was the original one, courtesy of Roger himself, or if it was an exact reproduction of it.

The dress you were wearing, on the other hand, came directly from Dominique’s wardrobe. It was a nice sensation feeling the silk against your skin.

“A bit”, You replied. There was no point in lying. It was your very first love scene for the cameras and having not only Ellie but also Roger and Dominique to witness it made you incredibly nervous. The warmth of Ben’s green eyes hit you like a running train when you met his gaze.

“Don’t mind them.” His words were nothing but a whisper now that he had come closer to you. “Pretend it’s just you and me.”

“It doesn’t help at all.” You grinned at him and immediately relaxed when he placed his hands on your shoulders, gently squeezing them.

“Guys?” The two of you turned towards Roger who, with the phone in hand, was standing right next to Dominique. You couldn’t even imagine how they’d be feeling at the moment, given that they were seeing someone portray a younger version of themselves. We were their alter-ego’s.

“Yeah?” Ben let go of your shoulders and you both turned towards them. Dominique’s friendly smile helped you not to overthink about the scene you were about to film, so you tried to avoid Ellie’s burning gaze and focus on her only.

“D’ya mind smiling at the camera?” Dominique asked pointing at Roger, who was smiling behind his phone.

“‘f course”, You replied with a smile and you moved closer to Ben. You remembered seeing a picture of a young Roger and Dominique wearing those exact same clothes hung in the costume fitting trailer, so shortly before Roger took the pic, you pretended to put a finger on Ben’s nose who, immediately understanding your intentions, parted his lips in a surprised look. Dominique bursted into laughter and you could be wrong but you noticed her eyes becoming glossy.

Not long after it was time to start filming and by taking a deep breath you reached your spot. Ben was standing not so far away from you and you noticed him grinning at Ellie before turning towards you. His smile grew wider and you tried to focus only on him when the director started to shout orders.

“Just relax”, He mouthed and Fletcher finally said “Action!”

It was like you were leaving your skin just to empathise with Dominique — and to be honest, that was the best part of being an actress.

You threw your arms in the air in sign of frustration as you thought about your next line. “I can’t believe I had to know it from John!”

Ben — or rather, Roger — took a step towards you, his green eyes so different from Roger’s yet so mesmerising were fixed on yours. “I was gonna tell you, love. I was just waiting for the right moment.”

You could feel Ellie’s gaze on you as you took a step towards him, your eyes narrowing in — fake — anger. “The right moment? There may not have been the right moment, Roger! For God’s—”

And Ben’s lips crushed on yours. They were incredibly soft and... kissable, of course. His touch made you feel things you didn’t want to feel, firstly because he was dating someone and his girlfriend was right there, watching the two of you kissing, and secondly, you barely knew him. But you’d be a liar if you denied the fact that you were attracted by him.

His hands cupped your cheeks as he started to gently move his lips on yours and you threw your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you. You heard the director murmuring orders from his chair behind the screen while you kissed Ben back.

“Lift her up”, you heard him say and Ben’s hands moved from your face to your body, gently caressing the curves of your body. You were still kissing him back, almost breathless, when he lifted you up by grabbing the back of your thighs.

You surrounded his hips with your bare legs and he placed a hand on your back to hold you. Your body was so pressed against his that you could easily feel his muscles under the shirt.

“Y/N, the jacket.” You followed Fletcher’s order and you backed away from his lips just the time to slip your hands under his jacket and quickly taking it off. It fell on the ground and Ben avoided it while recoiling towards the bed, just as Fletcher ordered.

His hands gently caressed your bare thighs and his touch gave you goosebumps. You could feel the corns in his hands due to the constant practicing on the drums so that he could properly prepare for the role.

Your hands gently caressed his neck while his hands moved to the zip of your dress, which easily opened before leaning you on the mattress.

“Look at her in the eyes”, Fletcher said, but there was no need because his eyes were already fixed on yours. And you hoped he was a terrific actor, even more than you thought, because if it wasn’t so Ellie wouldn’t have liked the look on his face while he was looking at you.

As you opened further your legs so that he could be comfy between them, his clothed hips pressed against yours. It took you all the strength you had in your body not to blush hard at the feeling of his crotch pressed against your right thigh.

Ben noticed the look in your eyes and he gave you an amused grin when the director shouted through his megaphone “And... cut!”

“Sorry”, He murmured while moving off you, sitting on the mattress right next to you. He offered you a hand which you gratefully accepted and you sat down. Fletcher stood up from his chair and while he walked towards you, you vaguely gestures towards your back and asked Ben “Could you gimme a hand?”

“‘f course.” You turned your back to him and his touch sent shivers down your spine while he lifted the zip of the dress.

“Amazing. Simply amazing.” The director started gesturing as he took off his headphones, his face lit up by a big, excited smile. “There’s no need to do a second shot. It’s perfect. Love your chemistry, by the way.”

If a look could kill, you’d be already dead by the hand of Ellie.

Later that night you were finally taking some rest in your trailer when you heard your phone buzzing. By unlocking it with a groan you found out that Roger had posted a picture on Instagram in which you were tagged. The pic in question was the one he had taken that afternoon on set — you were looking at the camera with the biggest smile while pretending to put a finger on Ben’s nose, but his gaze was on you. He was looking at you with the brightest smile you’d ever seen, his lips parted in a fake shocked reaction.

You genuinely smiled while reading the caption: “The talented @benhardy and @y/n doing me and Dom on the forthcoming Bio-Epic — Bohemian Rhapsody the Movie. Now this is cool!”

You immediately reposted it, not knowing that the web would’ve freaked out for days for that photo.

And the situation has stayed the same for another month or so, in which you’d grown closer to almost every cast member. Lucy was now like a sister to you and she was for sure one of the people who knew you better in the world.

But everything suddenly changed in November.

London - November 3rd, 2017

“Bloody weather”, You heard Lucy murmur as the two of you hurried to get back to your trailers before it started to rain. You went shopping for the upcoming Queen gig you’d been invited to that night and saying you were excited was nowhere near the truth. You were bloody ecstatic.

“Are you coming home for Christmas, auntie?” You looked at Lucy with the corner of your eye as the voice of your little nephew through the phone made your heart sank.

“Hopefully yes, lovie. D’you miss me?” Lucy gave you a nod when you finally got to her trailer and you waved her goodbye before rushing to reach yours before it started to pour.

“Yeah, so much. What’s my Christmas gift?” You let out a laugh as you closed the door behind you, sighing in relief for succeeding in avoiding the rain.

“What’d you like to get, Fra?” Your nephew — Francis — seemed to think about your question and you smiled just at the thought of him. You missed your family more than anything but thankfully you’d be seeing them in a month thanks to the Christmas break.

“Do I really have to choose?” His words made you giggle as you laid on your bed, eyes to the ceiling. “Would you like for it to be a surprise?”

“Yes, auntie.” But you were barely listening to him, given that someone was knocking on the door.

“I’ll call you later, love. I gotta go. Say hi to mommy for me.” After saying him goodbye you hung off the phone, placing it on the desk near the bed as you got up to get the door. The knocking was now louder and more persistent, a change which made you worry,

But you weren’t expecting what you saw after opening it. Ben was standing under the pouring rain, wet from head to toe. “Can I... Can I come in?” His voice was shaky and at first you thought it was because of the rain but as you moved aside to let him in, murmuring a soft “Yeah, ‘f course”, you noticed that he looked devastated.

You closed the door behind him and by doing so you moved closer to him, which allowed you to give a better look at his face.

His features were tensed and his brows had never been so narrowed. Wet strands of hair had fallen on his forehead but despite that you could easily see his green eyes. But their typical light had faded: they were incredibly red, full of sadness, and the look he gave you made you fear the worst.

“What happened?”, You asked in a whisper while placing a hand on his harm, trying to reassure him.

“I...” He rubbed his eyes while taking a deep breath and you raised a hand to drive the blond strands off his face. When his gaze met yours again you felt a sudden knot in your throat. “We’ve broken up, Y/N. Ellie and I just broke up.”

There will be a part 2 so if you wanna be added in the taglist just tell me :)

#ben hardy #ben hardy x reader #ben hardy fic #Bo Rhap #bohemian rhapsody #borhap imagine #borhap fic #borhap #roger taylor #roger taylor fic #roger taylor x reader

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missfaber · 5 years

Text

author interview

I was tagged by @orangeflavoryawp, thank you so much!

I already know I’m going to enjoy this way too much, writing is such a lonely endeavor and I just love talking about it, sooo... I apologize in advance for rambling.

name: Madeline/Maddie

fandoms: this is complicated because there’s fandoms I very much consider myself a part of because they’re just a huge part of my life, even though I don’t contribute content to them, and then there’s fandoms I do create content for. So idk where the line is drawn!

fandoms I contribute/ have contributed to: Avatar the Last Airbender, Game of Thrones, Merlin BBC, Once Upon a Time, Legend of Korra

fandoms I haven’t contributed to but are so dear to me: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings (my two favorite things ironically lol), and lots more

where you post: AO3, used to be ff.net and livejournal too

most popular one shot: by kudos, it’s as if death itself was undone (zutara, atla: katara wakes up to azula in their house and wants to find out a) why she is welcome b) why zuko is acting so weird)

most popular multichapter: by kudos, it’s soldier, go bravely on (jonsa + gendrya, got, complete, rewrite of the last episode of got with sweetness and angst and action, and may i say some common sense?)

favorite story you wrote: fuck omg this is difficult lol! because I both criticize and love all my stories in equal measure, I honestly don’t write anything that i don’t love, that doesn’t give me butterflies / actual chest pain (from angst). I feel like I’m being asked to choose a favorite child lol. so I’ll try to justify these picks somehow...

closest to my heart: soldier, go bravely on (also mentioned above). this is the fic that brought me back to writing fic, and to tumblr even! I was on hiatus (that I didn’t know was a hiatus because I had no intention of coming back) for six years before writing this fic. I wrote it so quickly after the got finale, it was such a passionate and fevered few days and it just sucked me back in to everything I used to love as a teenager. It was also a nice stretch out of my comfort zone, because of the dialogue (which was so tightly planned it’s ridiculous, I wrote the whole fic as a screenplay type thing first to make sure there wasn’t a single dialogue word not needed) and tv-episode style. It’s also such a wish-fulfillment fic that I can’t read certain parts without getting a bit teary. for all those reasons and more, this fic will always be so special to me.

most proud of: wolf, circle north (jonsa, got, alternate season 7 & 8). this is the longest fic I’ve ever attempted and the number I’ve hours I’ve sunk into it is astounding and i should be ashamed. It’s going to be obscenely long (my outline is 70+ chapters) and when I pull it off, best believe it’s going into a bound book so I can look at how thicc it is and be like, “I did that!” lol. The range of POVs is one of the most challenging but most rewarding part of this fic, and why I’m so proud of it. This is another wish-fulfillment fic for me, not just because it’s another fix-it fic but because I have been writing bits and pieces of this fic for about three years. I kept thinking of jonsa scenarios and little scenes I would have loved to see after season 6 and writing them in a little secret doc, just for me, as I never thought I’d write fic again. After writing “soldier” i had already broken my hiatus and I realized this fic was an actual possibility, so I put it out into the world. I couldn’t be more happy that I did that. Not only did it give me the chance to be in such an excellent, lovely fandom, but the feedback I get is so validating after having this be my secret little project for so long.

most formative: Coffee & Cigarettes, (merthur, merlin bbc) I’m ashamed to list this and the merthurs reading this 100% want to kill me for having the audacity because it’s incomplete and hasn’t been updated since 2013 when there’s only one chapter left so what’s my excuse? I call this the most formative for me because until I published this I didn’t really have a fic that people followed and liked, eagerly awaited updates for, and commented regularly on. I was writing a lot of one-shots and atla stuff on tumblr (I used to RP lmao I was like 15 ok?) This was the first time I experienced so many fic-life things, like being excited to get AO3 emails, etc. This was the first time I started to really focus on character which is so important to me now, my writing is completely character driven. Not to mention Merlin and Arthur’s dumbassery and sheer attraction and denial is just... *chef’s kiss*

guiltiest pleasure: my recent foray into nedsei, who am I??? one more word and you won’t survive, just international hate sex

story you were most nervous to post: ummm idk I’m usually excited not nervous, since for me fic writing is just fun, I write things I’d enjoy reading and that I’m proud of. I read my own fics more than anyone else does, I guarantee it. am I a narcissist? who knows I guess I’ll say “soldier” again because I hadn’t posted fic in six years.

how you choose your titles: wow the hardest part of fic writing for me!!!!! thanks!!!!! lol. Okay so for my work titles, which are always terrible and I literally regret them immediately after posting, it’s usually just some words I play around with and string together that are somewhat thematic and related to the work... they’re always terrible lmao, I hate making titles. I mean, look at “soldier, go bravely on” and “wolf, circle north” for god’s sake, I hate them lmao. But I have to pick a title to post, so!!! For chapter titles and one-shots I’ll usually go with a song lyric, and especially for my chapter titles I spend so long seeking out the perfect one that reflects some thematic or emotional content of the chapter somehow. I’m very proud of my chapter titles for wolf, circle north. I have a doc on my scrivener just for chapter titles that I created in the very early stages of writing it, where I just dumped HUNDREDS of song lyrics that I thought I might use. Then by them I wrote some scenarios where they could work. here’s a screenshot:

It’s so helpful now. Sometimes posting an update will take an hour more than necessary because of me going through that doc, finding the perfect lyric.

do you outline: OH, DO I OUTLINE... Hell Yeah, I outline. I couldn’t live without outlining. I love outlining. My outlines have outlines. I’m a planner centric, calendar centric, bullet-journal bitch so of course I love outlining. In all seriousness though: I write out of chronological order. I feel my writing is best when I write the scene I’m in the mood to write- unfortunately this scene could be ten chapters down the line from the chapter I’m gonna post next. This is the biggest reason outlining is necessary for me. If I didn’t have an outline, my story would be a non-post-able mess.

I wasn’t kidding when I said my outlines have outlines. For wolf, circle north I have, um, a few. Character/location centric outlines where I bullet every scene that needs to happen for that plot to happen cohesively (these were all more or less completed before I even started writing the fic), then a “loose” outline that I copy everything from the other outlines into for some semblance of chronological order, then a Polished Final Outline that I write from. I know that sounds psychotic. It’s how my brain works. Some photo evidence/explanation:

And here’s a screengrab of my Final Outline, this is pretty much how it is all the way down- The POV character is italicized in the front, I talk to myself a lot in there, let myself get carried away, will sometimes write out whole segments of the scene if they come to me while outlining. Spoilers for chapters 1-3 of w,cn I guess!!!

Then, because scrivener is awesome, I get to see this outline in the corkboard view (I input every scene as a card) and so I get to see every part of my outline as a Synopsis on the right hand side of the doc where I’m writing the scene:

The POV and status tags (which are completely customizable) on the lower right are helpful too. This post is just a scrivener ad.

complete: 9 works

in progress: 4 works

coming soon / not yet started: I have so many fics in the works, I’m an indulgent person so if an idea comes to me I usually go with it for a time. I’ve had a very not-serious Jonsa PLL AU I’ve been writing on and off since summer. I have three different fairytale AUs (also jonsas) I’ve been working on and one time travel AU for @sunbeamsandmoonrays. I can’t say when or if any of these will see the light of day, because my priority is my WIPs and my original writing. But the most prevalent are my Halloween fics (one jonsa, one gendrya, one merthur) which I really want to be able to put out this month, but only if I meet some other goals. I’m trying to rein in my indulgent ass, ya’ll.

do you accept prompts: no. sorry! but I do workshop ideas with friends, for example the nedsei fic happened that way by talking with @flibbertigiblet. But I don’t take writing prompts in my inbox.

upcoming story you are most excited to write: my halloween merthur fic. it’s witchy, sassy, and I’m so excited to get back into the heads of these characters.

Tagging! @uchihabat @anniebibananie @noqueenbutthequeeninthenorth @sailorshadzter @vivilove-jonsa and any other lovely writer soul who wants to do this!

#askjshssj thanks for reading this lol i went off!#my writing #writing things #jonsa #merthur #zutara #fanfiction #fanfiction writing

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sailor-cresselia · 5 years

Text

Zi-O 44: A Wild Plot Appeared!

Watched live. Had a lot of lag while it streamed. Very little idea what I’m getting into re: plot because I couldn’t understand.

Let’s do this.

––

We open with some rando track athlete losing a race because he tripped… and getting. Surrounded by a bubble version of Decade’s Dimensional Walls… Well then. That can’t be good.

Even worse is that he turns out to have been one of Sougo’s high school classmates, named Nishimura. Coincidence? Mayhaps. But he’s one of multiple people who’ve recently disappeared.

Geiz, naturally, blames the Time Jackers. He’s incredibly valid in that, as Woz agrees. After all, Swartz did just steal both Tsukuyomi’s and Tsukasa’s powers. Painfully on both counts. You know, because we really needed to see said power stealing again. Which we did. Because I definitely wanted to see Tsukuyomi screaming in pain and Tsukasa dropping to the ground again.

Junichiro, bringing out breakfast, mentions that Tsukuyomi hasn’t gotten up yet… and Sougo says that he hasn’t seen her since last night.

––

Okay, so. Serious question time. How long has passed since the last two arcs? Because the Den-O tribute was one day, June 9 or so, and led directly into the Another Zi-O II arc, which was… the first episode was June 30 and ran until July 14. Now, normally, every arc is two episodes or so – some of the plot arcs have been three. Each story is usually one, maybe two days, and they have two weeks of downtime between arcs. We just had two arcs take five weeks. So, ostensibly, it could be June 10 in-universe. This is why timelines for shows get confusing, and seasons of Kamen Rider usually end in-universe at least a month before the final episode airs.

Please let there be a time skip during this episode. I watched raw, but I couldn’t tell how much time goes by.

Alright, serious plot and chronology wondering aside. Sougo says he hasn’t seen Tsukuyomi since last night, and everything begins to shake. The three Riders run outside.

––

…That. That sure looks like a black hole. Or a wormhole. Neither is exactly unprecedented.

Oooh, and a big ol’ circle opens up, with circuitry patterns racing up. Wormhole it is. With a very blue-and-white Time Mazine dropping down out of it.

According to Woz, it’s an early model, from the 2050’s. So, good continuity nod. I mean, the title alone made it clear that Kamen Rider Aqua was showing up, even if the previews hadn’t shown him. And Aqua’s single appearance was in “Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Fourze & OOO: Movie War Mega Max”, which I will be referring to as “Mega Max” because movie titles in this franchise are too danged long.

In Mega Max, Miharu Minato was said to be from ‘40 years in the future,’ aka about the year 2050.

And here he is! The good water boy! I mean, I’m not found of his armor – never have been – but his concept was always cool. He draws from the OG Showa riders using power from wind to transform, except in his case, he uses water. All we need now is someone to use earth in an old-school Showa Style belt and we’ll have a complete set! (No, I’m not forgetting fire. It’s implied in ‘Kamen Rider 1’, the Ghost spring movie, that Hongo can now use wind and/or fire for his transformation. Area cyborg is basically a literal phoenix.)

Turns out, the best water boy is here to bring Geiz and Tsukuyomi back… to… the future… Huh. Geiz has no idea who he is, so that’s interesting. He also has no idea why Miharu’d be bringing him back.

Cue Woz pausing time to narrate-

Wait hold on.

If the time powers are an inherent ability that Tsukuyomi and Swartz’s family have, and Heure and Hora got their time powers from Swartz… then where did Woz get his? We know he can at least manipulate time to some degree – not just for the recaps, but if I remember correctly, he’s been shown to at least be able to cancel out time stops.

Woz, whomst the heck are you?!

Okay, I’m just going to put that on the back burner for now and keep going.

––

Woz’s recap today shows the clock advancing again. And, I mean, it’s always at least been ticking in the background in his recap vault, but we don’t usually see the hands move. It always feels really ominous when they do that…

Basically, Woz says that Sougo has met many Legends, and taken their powers for his own. However, the enemy has effectively been doing the same. Now, Sougo’s journey is leading to the final battle.

We’ve only got a little over a month left, folks. Zero One starts September 1. That gives us… 6 episodes, including this one, and the Over Quartzer movie. …We don’t have time for this. Why were the ‘future riders’ necessary?! We could have gotten more plot back then, instead of how Shinobi and Quiz were basically filler! Okay, so Shinobi did establish Sougo’s future dreams, and Kikai established a little more of both Sougo’s backstory and powers… although I don’t think we’ve seen the dream thing since, so it winds up being a moot point anyway.

Hmph.

––

I absolutely love the Zi-O opening. Over Quartzer is a great song, and the sequence has actually bothered to update. My issue with Ex-Aid and Build’s opening sequences is that they just. Didn’t. The home releases included the actual sequences, as opposed to the movie-promotion versions that were in the aired episodes. But it made it apparent that they never finished updating them. Ex-Aid never included Taddle Legacy – the final form for the advertised Secondary Rider. (I still say that Taiga’s clearly the actual secondary plot and development wise, and Kiriya’s the secondary motivation wise. Hiiro is just there.) Build never updated with Cross-Z Magma, either. That opening kept freaking Cross-Z Charge through the end, even though he stopped using it like halfway through the show. You know. The form for the other Main Character. (Sento and Ryuuga are co-leads – they share the Main Rider spot, and you will never convince me otherwise.) Incidentally, Wizard never updated to include Beast Hyper… OR INFINITY. No, it kept the All Dragon form through the OP for the rest of the show after it’s debut, instead of. You know. The Main Rider’s ACTUAL FINAL FORM.

Yes, I’m bitter about that. If you’re going to do an updating opening sequence, then you ought to keep updating it!

Like, most of the phase two seasons are fine – they either didn’t make major changes to the sequence at all, as in OOO and Gaim, only minor changes when new Riders came in, aka Accel joining W, or kept up with the changes. That’s your Fourze, Drive, and Ghost. But Wizard, Ex-Aid, and Build didn’t.

Zi-O has! Each of Sougo’s new forms came and went – except Decade, I think, but that was more just a different Legend Rider power than an actual new form in itself. Zi-O II, Trinity, and Grand have all replaced each other as the show’s progressed. Geiz has always been in, and eventually got upgraded to Geiz Revive. When Hat Woz showed up, Kamen Rider Woz entered the sequence, and Scarf Woz eventually took over – his spot now shows Ginga’s three variants.

So yeah! The Zi-O opening’s done a way better job than the last two.

––

Heure’s running, but we don’t know from what. Or from who. Who seems to be a more likely option, seeing as he’s been deemed unnecessary by his boss.

Although, we can get a pretty good clue as to the ‘who’ as he climbs a set of stairs – because everything gets very slow.

It’s Slowdown.

Time for Another Drive.

Another Drive’s design is pretty neat! Roidmudes had… well, they had finger guns. There’s no way around phrasing it that way, they had finger guns, not unlike Deneb’s. Drive had a gun that was based on a car door.

Guess what Another Drive has on their arm. Go on, guess.

…Okay, it’s a car door. A car door with ‘keep out’ tape on it, which is hilarious. And – ohhhhh I couldn’t see this in the raw, but Another Drive’s ‘belt’? It’s a dashboard panel, the bit with the gauges. There’s a wheel hub sticking out of their shoulder, y’know, the part a tire attaches to. This is nice.

We waited literally the entire season for Another Drive and this beautiful literal car wreck was worth it.

Oh-hohoho and the face underneath what would be the helmet looks like a Roidmudes basic form, which is a great touch. Especially as a nod to the fact that Proto-Drive, the person partnered with Krim before Shinnosuke, was, himself, a Roidmude. This is a continuity nod in more ways than one, actually. The Drive and Mach equipment could still produce slowdown. Shinnosuke never did it, because he never would, and Gou only did it once, in his first arc. But they were able to…

And Another Drive can produce Slowdown in a Roidmude manner. The Another Riders are copies of their season’s enemies, after all.

With someone who can slow down the movement speed of everything around them…

It only stands to reason that they could cancel out Heure’s time stop.

In a COMPLETELY TERRIFYING MANNER, by the way! As in, Heure freezes Another Drive when they go to punch him, and runs off. Another Drive is still stopped for a moment…

Before their headlight eyes light up, and their mouth opens in a sort of a roar. One eye is white – the one that still has the headlight lens – and the other is red – presumably a busted taillight.

ALSO I’M NOT KIDDING ANOTHER DRIVE’S MOUTH ACTUALLY OPENS AS THEY BREAK THE FREEZE.

Facial articulation, be it CG or practical, is creepy. We had it with Another Build, and now we’ve got it with Another Drive. …Oh. And those are the first and last standard MOTW Another Riders. I mean, this is technically 19 down, Decade to go, but. Well. Decade.

––

Having made his escape, Heure runs to Hora, where they’ve presumably been hiding since Swartz pulled his ‘you have outlived your usefulness’ card. Hora’s surprised that an Another Rider would be chasing Heure. After all, Zi-O’s already got Grand Zi-O, so he should have all of the powers already. Why would there be an Another Rider at all? Heure suggests that it’s here to take the two of them out. Which, yeah, seems pretty likely. Swartz isn’t usually one to do his own dirty work.

Hora’s powers were taken from her, so what could Heure possibly do?

Hora, dear, I need you to stop putting Heure down constantly. Yes, he’s younger than you. Yes, he’s a little troll. Yes, he definitely should have booked it out of there after Swartz and yourself forced him into being Another Kikai. But he’s still good at this.

––

Back to 9-to-5, where Miharu’s saying that it’s a bad idea to interfere in the past, so he’s here to bring Geiz and Tsukuyomi back to the future. Geiz looks like he hadn’t even thought of that happening. In his defense, I’m pretty sure Geiz just sort of assumed he wouldn’t exist anymore after taking out Sougo before he could become Oma Zi-O, given that neither he or Tsukuyomi had an answer to the ‘and then what’ question.

Also, Miharu isn’t exactly one to talk about interfering in the past, given that he debuted via time travel last time. In his defense, it wasn’t exactly voluntary, and he was a bit ‘possessed’ at the time via a distinct overload of Core Medals.

…So, Aqua is in Woz’s book, but Geiz wasn’t? That’s just rude to the soldier boy. Although, all Wozes seem to be chronic liars, so he may have just been pulling one over. (More on ‘All Wozes Lie’ later.) But the book gives us a glimpse back at Mega Max – specifically; Miharu, his appearance as Aqua, and the shot of him leaving on his jetski into a time vortex identical to the one from earlier in the episode. That one has back-shots of the main OOO cast, because it’s archival footage. It’s nice to get that reminder that there were more characters in OOO than the Main Trio of Eiji, Ankh, and Hina. Date, Gotou, and Satonaka are all there, too, in their ass-kicking gear. (Toei please bring Ankh back we are begging you this movie was such a tease because that Ankh was from the future and disappeared immediately after this shot to go follow Miharu back and you are breaking my heart by reminding me of that and yes I am intentionally breaking everyone else’s hearts by reminding all of you of that so BLAME TOEI FOR NOT BRINGING ANKH BACK.)

So, yeah, Miharu acknowledges his own time travel incident, saying that he’s met past riders, too, and they shaped who he is. (Eiji I miss you!) But what Geiz is doing is different – he’s actively changing the past. Geiz says that’s what Swartz is doing, not him. But really, Miharu has a point. Both teams are basically just doing what they want. At this point, Team Zi-O is doing it out of necessity – they’re a bit stuck in this path, since it’s not like Swartz was going to stop, and would you want to leave Sougo as the only one fighting around here? No! No, you would not!

Geiz is pissed, as he is prone to being, when he gets compared to Swartz, and grabs Miharu by the jacket. All it takes is Sougo calling his name and a single shake of his head to get Geiz to let go.

Geiz please the Tsun-tsun act isn’t fooling anyone at this point. You like Sougo. I mean, I kind of ship it, but time travel plots make shipping a difficult task, so at least admit that you’re friends. Or, you know, use Sougo’s name. It’s been 44 episodes, and you’ve called him by name once.

…Oh no what if they’re saving that for when the time travelers are leaving for good. Because that’s almost definitely what’s going to happen at the end – they’re not going to be able to stay in 2019. They just… can’t. Causality won’t allow it, I’m certain. What if they’re saving Geiz finally calling Sougo by name, maybe even with a smile, for when he has to say goodbye.

Whoops I went and made everything sad.

Miharu also has something he’d like to talk to Tsukuyomi about.

Sougo: Where is she, anyway?

Seriously, how much time has passed?

––

Ah, here’s Tsukuyomi! And Tsukasa! They’re in the rain, on some sort of pedestrian bridge, which looks familiar for reasons I can’t quite place. I love that Tsukasa’s umbrella handle matches his outfit perfectly – it’s half the same black as his suit, and half magenta. Nice.

But anyway, she wants answers. Did he know that Swartz was her brother or not?

Turns out he’d figured it out, but not long before the others. When was the last time we saw him again? Because that was when he and Tsukuyomi went to her childhood home… Oh, right. That was Kabuto Arc, which… was the one right before Den-O. That would be about May 26, and since we’ve established that Den-O was June 9… if we assume that we’re still early June via episode-based time differences, he’s known for at most two weeks.

Tsukasa’s not lying, exactly, when he says that he and Tsukuyomi are the same, in that neither of them are from this world. He’s just not mentioning the assorted other ways. The innate spacial-distortion powers. The sibling with a variant on the same powers. The amnesia. Aforementioned sibling being jealous of them, and turning dark. The leadership role. Admittedly, I can’t exactly blame Tsukasa for not acknowledging his days as Great Leader Tsukasa, because it’s not exactly going to help his case right now.

Anyway, Tsukasa says that he wasn’t originally from this world, and that he came here to look into the space-time distortions. Tsukuyomi assumes he’s accusing Swartz – who is very definitely to blame – but Tsukasa is ‘leaning towards it being the Overlord’s fault,’ saying that Swartz is using it to his advantage. Which… isn’t wrong, exactly, Sougo’s definitely being used by Swartz just as much as everyone else has been, but it’s hardly fair to say it’s his fault. …Aside from the fact I don’t think Tsukasa has used Sougo’s name, either. Always ‘Maou.’ Always ‘Overlord.’ Almost as if the Overlord might not be Sougo.

And if it’s Swartz under the helmet, pulling the strings and, say, having swapped out for Older Sougo when they ‘saw’ Oma Zi-O transform when they met…

After all. We never actually saw Oma Zi-O transform. It was obscured by the explosions from Sougo’s attack.

Back to the show.

I was lying when I said I couldn’t place the bridge. I was pretty sure, but I didn’t want to say anything until I was certain. There was a whole lot of lag when I watched live, so I couldn’t be positive. But this is the same bridge that Tsukasa and Tsukuyomi were on when they watched what happened to Sougo after the bus ‘accident’, when Swartz did something to him. We still don’t know exactly what, but that purple light looks an awful lot like what he used on Daiki and Hora a few episodes ago. Not quite like what he did to Tsukuyomi, though – that was a little different, but I can’t put it into words.

According to Tsukasa, it’ll all become clear soon enough… that is, it’ll become clear whether or not he’ll destroy this world. Tsukasa, please, we all know you don’t know jack of what’s going on here, and that you weren’t actively destroying the worlds. That was just a side effect of something that was never made clear, some biology thing or power leakage or something like that. Narutaki’s just a tool who never explained anything, least of all what was going on. And it was implied that the whole… thing that happened W & Decade fixed that little… issue.

(Kamen Rider needs to stop with people getting stabbed, because I’m never okay with it, even watching things again, because it’s not okay and I’m pretty sure someone’s just into it or something on production staff. Like, I get it, a lot of people have swords, but that doesn’t mean they have to be used like that!)

Okay, Decade lore discussion being put off to the side…

According to Tsukasa, it’ll all become clear soon enough… that is, it’ll become clear whether or not he’ll destroy this world. But Tsukuyomi protests that – not because of the whole ‘why the heck would you do that’ aspect that most people would give, but because he’s had his powers taken. He says that doesn’t really matter. I mean, for all we know, the world thing wasn’t because he was Decade at all. He could go between worlds as a child, although he needed someone else to open the walls back then. Namely, his younger sister. Oh, look, the similarity thing comes back with his sister, who took over Dai Shocker from him. He could go through the walls she made, but she couldn’t, and she became bitter because of that. Sounds a little familiar, eh?

(See how I brought that back around? I said ‘off to the side.’)

Tsukasa, however, thinks that his power deal doesn’t matter right now. Tsukuyomi is a much bigger deal – just the fact that she’s here is a time distortion in and of itself. Neither of the two of them are supposed to be here.

––

Junichiro wants to know if it’s black tea that that one lady friend likes. This confuses the heck out of the three Team Zi-O boys – what lady friend? They haven’t had any women come, due to the overall lack of female characters in Rider except… for…

All three run out of the dining room, to find Heure and Hora in the main shop.

Heure’s asking for refuge, but Hora doesn’t seem to have realized that was his plan. But really, Sougo did promise to defeat Swartz, so it’ll just be for a little while, until then.

Geiz is basically all ‘Nope, not having this, you’ve made our lives hell, get out.’

But Sougo stops him, with a very good point. He’s being rash. After all, they’re not so different from him.

I’m pretty sure that Sougo’s not referring to the time-meddling that Miharu was talking about. I’m pretty sure it’s that they have nowhere else to reasonably go.

Sougo is such a good lad.

––

And then there’s a short scene with Junichiro… having conscripted Woz and Hora into making what appears to be okonomiyaki? Sure, why not. Also, he’s chastising Miharu for using a knife and fork to eat his. Hora wants to know why she has to be the one to do this. She didn’t even want to be here! Where the heck did Heure go?!

––

Heure and Sougo are overlooking the river.

Also FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. It’s evening now… on the SAME DAY WE STARTED THE EPISODE. I was hoping there was a time skip somewhere in here, between them taking Heure and Hora in and the okonomiyaki scene, but NOPE! Junichiro and Sougo are wearing the same shirts!

Anyway, this is a really touching scene. Heure’s kind of broken right now. He’d thought he could do anything, and looked down on everyone else, including Sougo and co. But it was all just a lie, wasn’t it? He and Hora, they were just being used, weren’t they? And now here they are, the time jackers looking for help from the person they were trying to dethrone.

Sougo says that it’s okay. After all, they’re working together now, aren’t they?

Heure thinks Sougo is either a complete idiot… or really does have what it takes to rule. Because they were bitter enemies, and now he’s helping them. Now he’s accepting them. Why would he ever do that?

Well, as Sougo says, it’s not that he’ll forgive them for hurting people – for hurting his subjects. But they were just trying to make a future in their own way, and he can understand that, at least.

According to Heure, it wasn’t even that in the end. He and Hora were just pawns, both brought here… from… different time periods. By Swartz.

Huh.

Sougo pauses, while Heure looks away. Maybe he was wrong, that the former Time Jackers and Geiz weren’t quite alike. Geiz has somewhere to call home, and they don’t.

They didn’t.

They live with him now. It’s not like Junichiro’s going to turn them away – he’s way too nice, too. So, let’s go help him out!

Heure, shocked that Sougo’s being so stinking nice, gets basically dragged off by Sougo, who’s wrapped an arm around his shoulder and is running off, ignoring Heure’s sputtered protests all the while.

Geiz watches from the bridge up above.

––

We come to a track meet. The same one we opened at. Nishimura doesn’t trip this time. He wins the race.

The faces of everyone else present are blank – in a censored manner, a skintone oval covering them, with little sparks of time-static every now and then.

Nishimura is estactic at having won.

Swartz is in the center of the track circle, watching, and saying that ‘this is his world’. His meaning Nishimura, not Swartz, for the record. I just can’t quite phrase it right. He’s speaking as if talking to Nishimura, but he’s not actually talking directly to him, just doing one of those observation things.

––

Back at 9-to-5, Geiz is on that couch in the dining room, pondering things, such as Miharu saying that ‘they can’t just keep changing time, so he’s here to bring them back’ and Sougo saying that Geiz has a home. He says Tsukuyomi’s name. It sounds like she still hasn’t come back yet.

Heure runs in, distressed.

Hora’s gone.

Sougo and Miharu – who, apparently, is also staying here for the time being – run downstairs, as Heure takes off, wondering what Hora could be thinking.

This house is getting crowded.

At least Sougo’s in a different shirt, and it’s daytime now, showing that we’ve had at least one day go by. So, that’s something, anyway.

––

Heure’s searching, panicked and panting. Where could she be? He sees her out of the corner of his eye, walking past him and out of side.

He turns around…

And Another Drive is there.

I didn’t notice this before, but the missing headlight lens? That’s sort of stuck on Another Drives jaw. It’s weird and I like it – Another Drive is, as I said, quite literally a mangled car wreck version of Drive, all dented and crunched metal, with visible wires and underbody elements. This is such a good design.

Panicked, Heure tries to run – he likely already knows that his time stopping isn’t going to be very effective, he probably saw from a distance that Another Drive can break out. Blaster shots impact on the door-arm. Tsukuyomi’s finally shown up, Faiz Phone X armed and ready.

Tsukuyomi tells Huere to run, and he books it out of there. She’s ready to keep fighting – and Miharu steps in front of her.

“You’re Tsukuyomi, right?” Another Drive’s advancing, and Miharu is starting to panic. “Ah, uh, hang on! I have to get these out-” He. He pulls out a pair of patterened boxers.

EIJI. Eiji you have never been a good influence. I mean, you’re a good influence in some ways, but also a terrible one in others.

Okay, for context on why Miharu would be calling a pair of colored boxers his ‘Brave Briefs,’ we have to go back to 2011, during Mega Max. (For the record, I can’t wait to see how O-T and TV-N translate that. I know that it’s basically a literal translation, but I just wonder what spins they’ll put on it.)

You see, Miharu is from 2050. He transforms using the power of water.

He is afraid of water. (Ankh, who is a literal fire bird and thus probably has no right to talk, thought this was hilarious. He got a t-shirt thrown over his head to shut him up.)

Eiji, being Eiji, told Miharu that he just has to do what he can today in order to see tomorrow. He’ll be fine as long as he has a good outlook and underwear for tomorrow. He also, helpfully, gives Miharu a package of new boxers, all in very eiji-like colors.

One of these is what Miharu has just pulled out. This is ridiculous and I love it. I also love the little guitar riff version of the old TaToBa jingle from OOO when he pulls them out to freaking look at them and gather his courage, and the medal coin-flip sound effect when he’s gotten said courage and starts to transform. And then he uses a very Showa-style pose as he transforms, with the same sound effect, or at least a very similar one, to Ichigo’s Typhoon belt, when his Aqua Driver activates.

Sougo and Geiz arrive on scene, and Geiz is confused as to why there’s an Another Drive at all. They’ve already gotten all of the watches, haven’t they?

Ah, right, Sougo probably hasn’t had a chance to tell them that summoning Drive didn’t quite work when he was in the future. He reminds Geiz now, anyway, that they technically haven’t actually obtained the Drive watch. Geiz admits, that’s fair, they kind of don’t have the correct Drive watch.

Time For Grand and Revive Typhoon!

Aqua is very, very confused. “This is Zi-O? Oh, man, time has changed way too much!” He’s just stuck watching as the guys have basically elbowed him out of the fight against Another Drive, and asks if he can just leave it to them. They barely even answer him, just basically telling him to go do whatever. So, he basically just takes Tsukuyomi and runs.

And then Another Drive summons a whole bunch of duplicates of Midnight Shadow’s and a few of Max Flare’s tires and whoops, now I’m really missing the Shift Cars.

––

Quick cut to Miharu and Tsukuyomi, where he tells her he’s come to pick her up from the future.

––

Back to the fight, where it turns out that even Revive Typhoon can not stand against Slowdown. Geiz is still moving faster than most people, but he’s still not making any progress.

Also the door is still a gun.

Suddenly, as Another Drive is about to beat the tar out of Geiz, who’s still stuck in slowdown, it’s Another Drive who’s frozen. Turns out that Heure’s not fond of being rescued, or maybe just not fond of owing.

Another Drive breaks out of being stopped just in time to be hit by Geiz’s finisher and one from Grand Zi-O’s use of the Steering Sword.

Hora stands up from the flames.

––

With Miharu and Tsukuyomi, we get some lore. Tsukuyomi’s family apparently ‘rules over time.’ Since she’s from the future where he exists, her being here is locking Sougo into the future where he becomes Oma Zi-O. You know, the thing she’s been trying to prevent.

Her and ‘her brother’ absolutely should not be in this reality – they’re from a different one, and as per what Tsukasa said, them being here is a distortion in and of itself.

Interestingly, Miharu is here to take Tsukuyomi and Geiz back to the future. I can’t tell, but I think that he thinks they’re siblings. WHICH HOO BOY PLEASE DO NOT.

It’s her and her powers he has to bring back most of all – but that’s going to be a little difficult. Swartz – her brother – stole her powers after all.

Miharu is very, very confused again.

––

Hora doesn’t answer when Heure asks what’s going on, just turns and walks away… as Swartz walks up.

He’s going on about how Heure’s been naughty, and asks what on earth Sougo – a pale imitation of Oma Zi-O – can do against him. And then he says that he’ll show them all the power he’s obtained.

Swartz pulls out a watch, and puts it against his chest.

Introducing: Another Decade.

I don’t have much to say about Another Decade’s design, honestly. It’s not exactly that great, just… y’know, a basic Corrupted Rider design. …Why does he have teeth? Like, regular bared teeth? And why is the driver basically a mouth? The green bits on the sides of his head – those are the lenses on the mask, just extended out – and they glow, too, along with the actual eyes.

Actually, he has the Decade transformation sound effects playing underneath the Another Rider transformation, doesn’t he, to go along with the cards flipping away and back over onto him from Decade, and the sort of after-images fading off in the distance as the transformation completes.

…Okay, I guess I had some things to say, after all.

Swartz – Another Decade – you know what, I’m just gonna call him Swartz, because it’s a little shorter. Swartz opens a dimension wall, and moves himself, Sougo, and Geiz to what looks like the same quarry from the Rider War, all the way back in Decade. It’s doing pretty well, honestly. It’s got some nice greenery coming in.

Well, up until Swartz started setting off all of those explosions, anyway.

Then, because apparently they were being too boring to fight, despite his having just set off no fewer than seven explosions, he decides to summon up some Dark Movie-Exclusive Riders.

Everyone, say hello to G4, Fuma, Dark Ghost, and Rey, from Agito, Ex-Aid, Ghost, and Kiva respectively.

All of whom are doing a pretty good job of beating up Grand Zi-O and Geiz Revive Typhoon.

And then G4 feels the need to pull out a MISSILE LAUNCHER. Wh- Where did he pull that from!? Why does he HAVE that?! What was going ON in Agito’s movie?!

We end the episode with our boys getting blasted by, I feel the need to emphasis, LITERAL MISSILES.

––

As for the preview, it opens with Aqua versus ETERNAL. You know. The guy from the W summer movie. Who, like several people we’ve met this season, is supposed to be very, very dead.

And it’s not even just a summoned version of him, either. It’s straight up Kasumi Daido. In person. Somehow. Thanks Swartz it’s not like this guy isn’t off his rocker at all. It’s not like he was willing to kill the entire city of Fuuto just to see if any of them would wind up in his weird undead state. Not like he was going to use Philip as a conduit for the program to do it or anything. Nooooo, not at allllll.

FFS we could have had proper Double rep, and you give us him.

We’ve also got shots of Another Decade holding Tsukuyomi up by the neck, and Heure looking very very injured while being cradled by Sougo. KID YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN OUT A LONG TIME AGO!

The second to last shot is Grand Zi-O and Drive punching Another Drive… while moving in the exact same manner. As if one is just mirroring the other. …Dang it, it’s not actually Shinnosuke in there, is it? We’re just dealing with the same thing as Decade Complete, where he summons a copy of the Rider and they attack simultaneously, with the summon just copying his movements.

The last shot… is Geiz, silhouetted against the window of 9-to-5. Saying “Let’s go back to our timeline.”

––

Okay, so… @Miyukomatsuda and I were talking earlier – we watched the livestream together, and earlier tonight we got to talking… and. Uh. So, Swartz can pull people out of other timelines and realities, yeah? Because that’s what he’s done with multiple people. That one athlete in this ep, and now we find out both Heure and Hora, and, of course, he dropped Tsukuyomi into the Oma Zi-O timeline. Which… may not be the original timeline.

But there’s another timeline involved in all of this, too. Or so we’ve been lead to believe. See, one idea in an AU that Miyuko had was having Hat Woz pulling her characters AR counterparts out of their worlds and dumping them in the main line.

Turns out she just had the wrong guy… the guy who I then suddenly remembered something about.

––

Miyuko: I WAS FUCKING SO CLOSE

Miyuko: I HAD THE WRONG BASTARD

Cressy: Y'know. the guy who called Swartz 'sir swartz' OH SHIT HAT WOZ IS THE WOZ FROM SWARTZ AND TSUKU'S TIMELINE

Miyuko: BUT HE FADED AWAY

Cressy: IRRELEVANT

Miyuko: BECAUSE REVIVE DIDN'T HAPPEN

Miyuko: oh GOD

Cressy: GOT YANKED OUT BY SWARTZ. REVIVE WAS A PLOY

Miyuko: FEAR

Cressy: JUST LIKE CHOOSING A KING

Miyuko: HE LIED

Miyuko: WE KNOW ALL WOZ'S LIE

Cressy: I MEAN HE DID SAY "NOT NECCESARILY SALVATION FOR EVERYONE"

Cressy: oh shit 'a peace like time has stopped.' aka swartz and tsuku's main power

Miyuko: HOLY SHIT

Miyuko: ZI-O if you bring back hat woz

Miyuko: also so. Swartz's just spiriting away people huh

Miyuko: i uh like none of this

Cressy: i mean we never DID find out if Tsukasa and Daiki are summoning duplicates or the riders themselves

Cressy: so whomst the hell knows

Cressy: we're fairly certain SOUGO'S yoinking the actual riders, so Another Decade could really be going either way

Miyuko: Yeah

Miyuko: Eternal is apparently the real dude

Cressy: THIS IS FINE

(see, told you i’d get back to ‘all wozes lie’ at the end.)

#kamen rider zi o #kamen rider decade #kamen rider aqua

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dictionarywrites · 6 years

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Know Your Jeffs: A Guide To Goldblum’s Characters

This isn’t an exhaustive list, and I will be updating it as I watch more Goldblum movies, adding in the characters as I pick them up! Everything is below the cut so that I can just update as I take more stuff in.

The descriptions of movies and characters are very much not impartial, but they should give you an idea of what you’re in for if you want to look the film up. I’m only including stuff I’ve already seen, plus Raines, which I feel like I’m never gonna be able to get hold of, and am heartbroken about.

Movies are listed in CHRONOLOGICAL order, but if you CTRL+F, you can search for a particular character name, date, or movie/TV title. This is very much under construction. There are currently 40 Jeffs on the list.

1978 - Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers, dir. Philip Kaufman - IMDb

Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers is a film about a kind of alien who comes to Earth and steals people’s bodies - effectively, they make up their own pod-versions of them, and then turn the original to dust.

Jack Bellicec is a poet in New York City, who owns a bathhouse with his wife, Nancy. This film is a sci-fi horror, and Jack is earnest but antsy throughout - he’s a real cutie, and every much a good guy. He’s just the sweetest, and is generally in a state of complete and utter terror, whilst still trying to keep grounded and keep thinking forward.

1980 - The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, dir. Henning Schellerup, IMDb

Okay, so, for a stupid TV movie from the 80s, this is actually really cute It loosely follows the plot of the short story, but generally with a happier ending and a lot more fun antics from Ichabod Crane, and it’s just great fun. A schoolteacher comes to the valley of Sleepy Hollow, and finds himself facing down the silly ghost stories continuously thrown forward by the locals.

Ichabod Crane is the cutest - he’s soft and sweet with the children, like he is in the short story, on top of being lanky and clumsy and a little stupid; he lacks a lot of his arrogance that he has in the short story, and instead he’s much less of a dick when he criticizes the ghost stories and stuff. He’s lovely, I adore him.

1980 - Tenspeed and Brownshoe, TV Series - IMDb

Tenspeed and Brownshoe is a delight - it’s a detective TV series with a very light-hearted tone, and it’s very comfortable to just settle back and watch casually.

Lionel Whitney is... a trip. A chartered accountant turned gumshoe, Lionel starts his own detective agency in L.A. after breaking up with his fiancée and meeting the charming (and duplicitous) E.L. Turner, a conman and scam artist. E.L. is his partner in the business, and the two combine strengths - Lionel with his idolisation of and knowledge of the 40s pulp fictional detective, Mark Savage, as well as his black belt in karate; E.L. with his thousands of accumulated skills, including being a master of disguise, a smooth-talker, and a winner at sleight of hand.

Lionel is a dote: he’s just the sweetest, and he really gives off Bertie Wooster vibes, but with an air of genuine competence Mr Wooster never had. He’s truly incredible, and all the episodes of Tenspeed and Brownshoe are up on YouTube, so it’s really worth watching!

1981 - Threshold, dir. Richard Pearce - IMDb

Okay, so Threshold... Big old snooze fest. Not a very engaging movie, not an especially good movie - I forgot a good deal of the movie after I finished watching it. It was uninspiring and a bit bland. The concept is basically that a pioneer in mechanical science re: bio-engineering comes up with a heart valve to replace a little girl’s heart - the pioneer being Jeff Goldblum’s character - and a doctor puts it in the little girl, but it’s a very unpopular decision, because it’s not organic. Obviously, in the 80s, that was a much bigger deal than it is now.

Aldo Gehring is just... Adorable. Too earnest, a little bit arrogant, and he’s just far too baby-faced for the age he’s textually said to be to be believable, but like... You know! It’s a dull movie either way, and Aldo isn’t a huge part of it.

1983 - The Big Chill, dir. Lawrence Kasdan - IMDb

The Big Chill is a film about a group of college friends that meet up for the first time in like, a decade after one of their closest friends commits suicide. They all come for the funeral, and spend a few days together in the aftermath.

A lot of people seem to dislike Michael Gold, but like, he’s kind of one of the most tragic of the figures in the movie - a lot of their friends don’t remember him initially, and he really isn’t good at doing anything other than compartmentalising and shoving down his emotions. He’s brittle and a little sharp, and maybe a bit too honest for his own good, but I really love him, and I totally rec him if you can handle the subject matter, which is obviously very grim and very sad.

1984 - The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, dir. W.D. Richter - IMDb

Buckaroo Banzai is a guy who’s basically, like, any eight-year-old’s Mary Sue - he’s a cowboy, a neurosurgeon, an expert test pilot, a rockstar, etc... And they play it completely straight. Leading his band of hypercompetent pretty boys, The Hong-Kong Cavaliers, he saves the world, if not the universe, on the regular.

Doctor Sidney Zweibel, a.k.a. New Jersey, is a new addition to the team in The Adventures, and he’s a neurosurgeon who went to med school with Buckaroo. He’s a would-be cowboy, complete with boots, hat and chaps, and he’s just the cutest thing in the world, a sweet and pure boy. 10/10 Goldblums for Sid Zweibel.

1985 - Silverado, dir. Lawrence Kasdan - IMDb

Mmm, Silverado is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, and it has little to no plot. Even for a Western, I found it incredibly dry and disjointed, and I can’t in good fatih recommend it to anybody, even though John Cleese is inexplicably a sheriff midway through.

However. Slick (whose actual name is Calvin Stanhope) is really fucking hot, and so you should watch his scenes on YouTube, even if you don’t watch the movie (which you shouldn’t). Slick’s screentime tocks up to around 15-20 minutes, out of a movie that’s genuinely like, two and a half hours long.

Slick is like, a casino man with a knife in his boot; he wears furs; he’s terrible. He’s so great, I adore him.

1985 - Into The Night, dir. John Landis - IMDb

Into The Night is... a little hard to describe. It’s like, a crime thriller movie with Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer, and with a cameo from David Bowie, as well as about 700 other Hollywood lads who Landis knew. I think the plot is... loose, and the film itself isn’t the greatest, but the main characters are pretty great.

Ed Okin is an astrophysicist dissatisfied with his job and his life in general, who abruptly becomes plagued by this inescapable insomnia, and subsequently becomes embroiled in this whole crime plot across from Pfeiffer. I really love Ed - because of the insomnia, he tends to underreact to most of the situations around him, and he’s very likable.

1985 - Transylvania 6-5000, dir. Ruby de Luca - IMDb

Is TR 6-5000 a good movie? No, absolutely not. But should you watch it? Oh, yes.

This is like, a comedy/absurdist horror/pastiche, lots... It’s lots of stuff. Basically, these two reporters who do a Weekly World News style thing go to Transylvania to report on Frankenstein, and also meet some Igors, a werewolf, a vampire, etc.

Jack Harrison is such a great character - he’s pretty much eternally looking after his hapless partner, Gil, but both of them are as ridiculous as the other, each of them stumbling into bizarre situations. Definitely don’t take the movie too seriously, but it really is a fun thing, and it’s certainly worth watching for the goofy trip it is. Jack is a real sweetheart, and he’s so lovable - Gil certainly thinks so. ;)

1986 - The Fly, dir. David Cronenburg - IMDb

So, fair warning, I nearly vomited like, several times watching The Fly, and was on the verge of just turning it off a few times. It’s nearly forty years old, but the body horror of the effects really stands up, and it’s very gory toward the end. Despite its well-earned rep as such a gory film, though, The Fly is actually a heartbreaking tragedy, so definitely don’t expect it to be lacking in the feels department if you can stomach it.

Seth Brundle (yeah, poor guy, what a name) is a really impressive engineer and scientist, and he invents a machine that should enable him to teleport objects from one electronic pod to another. Unfortunately, when teleporting himself, he becomes melded with an intruder to the pod - a fly - and begins a horrifying transition into something other than human.

Seth at the start is... He’s a genius, but he’s naive, arrogant, and a little too trusting in how earnest he is. As time goes on, and he begins the change into Brundlefly, he becomes much more erratic, and his personality changes a lot. I totally rec Seth, honestly.

1988 - Vibes, dir. Ken Kwapis - IMDB

Vibes is a fucking trip. It’s a movie about two psychics - Jeff Goldblum’s character, Nick Deezy, who can tell the history of an object by touching it, and Cyndi Lauper’s character, Sylvia Pickel, who is a medium. Yes, you read that right. Cyndi Lauper. It’s incredible.

Vibes is actually a much better movie than I expected - it’s a genuinely funny comedy, it’s ridiculous and cartoonish and stupid, but it’s fun. Cyndi Lauper and Goldblum have a tango scene at one point, and the height differential is so extreme that she’s literally wrapped around his waist and he’s just carrying her around.

Nick Deezy himself is a really interesting character - he’s kinda used to being used and pushed around because of his psychic powers, but he’s a guy with such a lot of courage and genuine empathy for others, and I just think he’s so sweet.

1988 - Earth Girls Are Easy, dir. Julien Temple - IMDb

So... Earth Girls Are Easy is in the same vein as Vibes for me - it’s a fun romp, and so long as you don’t take it too seriously, it’s a really enjoyable movie. It’s about these three furry aliens that drop down to Earth, and are trying to pick up the language and have a good time. It’s good banter, and it’s also a musical, because-- It was 1988, okay?

Mac is like, probably one of the most genuinely sweet characters out of the ones on this list - he’s very caring, and he’s doing his best to do good whilst not really being able to navigate the world around him very easily. He’s wonderful, and I can’t rec Earth Girls enough.

He’s also a big, furry, blue guy in his underwear for the first part of the movie, if that helps.

1989 - The Tall Guy, dir. Mel Smith - IMDb

So, disclaimer. This film is written by Richard Curtis, so like... It’s snappy, it’s clever, but it’s also a little insufferable and kinda misogynistic the whole way through, with the classic Curtis obsession with infidelity, where characters cheat on one another whether it makes sense or not.

That aside, I really enjoyed the first two acts of this movie, and while the third one falls very flat, I still think it’s worth watching. Goldblum’s character, Dexter King, plays the straight man in Rowan Atkinson’s comedy sketch act, but goes on to have a romantic relationship with Emma Thompson, and those links are just... So cute.

I think Dexter is kind of a dick, but by no means does that make him unlikable, and I’d still rec The Tall Guy! I’m not sure how long Goldblum was in the UK for - there’s a nude sex scene with Goldblum and Thompson, and I was really thrown, because he’s super pale in this film, compared to similar nude scenes in like, The Fly. So there’s your fun tidbit for the day lmao.

1990 - Mister Frost, dir. Philippe Setbon - IMDb

This film is... Odd. As a thriller, it’s fine - you know, it’s average. It isn’t so terrible, but it’s not great either. But as like, a film, there are aspects where it’s just inexplicably terrible - some of the lines are dubbed over, for some reason, and the sound quality is so off in random moments; there are odd moments where the camera is just too close to the actors’ faces, even for a close-up; technically, this film just has some bizarre and glaring... errors.

The plot is interesting, though, and I did enjoy it for that aspect - Mister Frost is a serial killer institutionalized in an attempt to cure him of his murderous tendencies, and he then professes to be Lucifer himself.

Mister Frost is a funny guy. He’s snide, clever, self-obsessed and sharp - I really liked him, and I totally think he’s worth a watch.

1992 - Fathers & Sons, dir. Paul Mones - IMDb

[icon to be added if I can ever get a decent fucking picture or screencap or something of this film]

This film was bad. I didn’t care for it. Fathers & Sons is, however, like... Very human, I guess. Max, Goldblum’s character, runs a bookstore on the coast and is having trouble communicating with his son, Ed; there’s a lot of tension between them based off the death of Ed’s mother and Max’s own character flaws, as well as Max’s temper. There’s fucking voiceover in the film, which is used clumsily and just comes across as terrible, but there aren’t any glaring technical issues throughout like there are with Mister Frost.

Max himself is not, in my opinion, a very likable character? He’s certainly relatively sympathetic, and you can see where he’s coming from, but he’s got a terrible temper and the tension with Ed is very much his own doing in a lot of respects - despite my personal dislikes, however, Goldblum is as ever a marvel, and you really do feel that Max is a whole, complete person.

1992 - Shooting Elizabeth, dr. Baz Taylor - IMDb

This film was a fucking trip and a half. The premise is that this guy, Howard, really hates his wife, and decides he hates her so much that he’s gonna kill her, but when she goes missing, he is arrested for her murder even though he never got around to it. It’s a generically confused movie which neither really meets its labelled genres of comedy or thriller, but wouldn’t do well under drama or romance either. It’s odd.

Howard Pigeon, as a character, is deeply unstable. A lot of the moments in the movie that I think are meant to be comedic just end up being tragic, because you can see how upset he is, how freaked out he is, and how disconnected from reality and rational thought he is. He’s also just... A really fucking bad person, but to be honest, so is his wife, so like... Hey. It is what it is, I guess.

1992 - Deep Cover, dir. Bill Duke - IMDb

Deep Cover is fucking incredible. It’s easily one of my favourite movies now, and I just die over it, to be honest. Playing across from Laurence Fishburne (then billed as Larry), David Jason (Elias in the script, and I don’t know why they changed it, maybe to make his name less blatantly Jewish, but I assume none of them had ever heard of Only Fools and Horses) is a low-down cocaine mogul trying to break out on his own from the local boss.

He’s a fascinating character, and I just adore him - the film itself is a very gritty noir that really considers lines of racial intersection and prejudice within both the police force and the drug trade, and David himself is constantly suffering from antisemitism and a lot of very targeted homophobic remarks, and it’s heavily implied he wants to fuck John, Laurence Fishburne’s character. David is erratic, sharp, and extremely brittle with a very short temper: he and John kinda balance each other out, because John’s a much cooler, calmer guy, and I just love their dynamic.

David’s my son. I love him. I will cry over him forever.

1993 - Jurassic Park, dir. Steven Spielberg - IMDB ↪1997 - Jurassic Park: The Lost World, dir. Steven Spielberg - IMDb ↪2018 - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, dir. J.A. Bayona - IMDb

So, like, I’m sure you know the basic concept of Jurassic Park. A crazed Walt Disney parody in white linen with seemingly unlimited money decides to clone a bunch of fucking dinosaurs and put them into a theme park, and it goes horribly wrong. These films are genuinely great sci-fi, raising some wonderful philosophical questions about ownership, ethics, and our place in the universe, and the voice of that philosophy usually belongs to Doctor Ian Malcolm, a mathematician who specialises in chaos theory.

Ian Malcolm... I just adore him, I really do. You know, I’ve read the book of course, as well as the seen all the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies, and Ian is just a delight - he’s bright, he’s sarcastic, but he’s genuinely full of feeling and so eager to talk to other people, to connect with them, etc. I just find him fascinating, and even if sci-fi isn’t your thing, you’ll love Jurassic Park for him alone.

He reprises his role in the latest Jurassic World movie - I can’t, in all good conscience, really recommend the Jurassic World movies, but... He is a silver fox.

1995 - Hideaway, dir. Brett Leonard - IMDb

Hideaway is a supernatural thriller based around the concept of demonic possession, and an antiques dealer - Hatch Harrison - finds he has visions of a local serial killer after being revived from being dead for several minutes. Using those visions to thwart the killer, he and his family realise the cause is supernatural.

Hatch is a really cool dude, and I like him a lot - he’s got the strongest dad energies, and he’s so, so caring. Even grieving and tense, like, he’s just doing his best, and he’s such a good guy, I really adore him.

1995 - Nine Months, dir. Chris Columbus - IMDb

Nine Months is a terrible movie thick with a deeply unsettling ideology re: the whole “everybody really wants kids and must have them”, and I honestly despised it throughout. It’s just a terrible movie, and Columbus always ranges from “this guy is a vaguely bad director” to “this guy is a fucking twat”, and there is nothing vague about the badness of this movie.

That aside, however, Goldblum’s character is kind of a delight. Sean Fletcher is a painter (of paintings, not houses) and like... Layabout? He’s a little erratic, he changes his mind about stuff constantly, but he’s a really sound guy, and he cares a lot about Hugh Grant’s character, who is the protagonist. He’s really fun in a movie that’s just garbage the way through.

1995 - Powder, dir. Victor Salva - IMDb

Powder is a very sad movie, to be honest. It’s about this lad who’s like, an albino with telekinetic powers, and when his parents die, he ends up having to go into the public school system, where he’s bullied an awful lot. It’s extremely brutal about a lot of the bullying stuff, and it does come across very accurately; just as a general warning, there’s... an uncomfortable tone to it, although nothing directly or graphically terrible, especially re: sexuality, which I noticed even before looked Salva up and realised he was that paedophile that did Jeepers Creepers. It’s just something to be aware of.

Jeff’s character is... a delight, however. Donald Ripley is a high school teacher who’s genuinely really passionate about teaching, has no small amount of sympathy for all of his students, and is just-- He’s really sweet, and I love him. Despite the uncomfortable gaze of the film, he retains a paternal air, and I love it.

1996 - Independence Day, dir. Roland Emmerich - IMDb ↪2016 - Independence Day: Resurgence, dir. Roland Emmerich - IMDb

Independence Day, honestly, I expected to be like, bad sci-fi dreck, and it genuinely isn’t. While I think the premise is inherently stupid (the whole evil aliens invade thing), it’s actually executed so well, and I just love it as a flick - Judaism saves the day in many aspects, and it’s so nice to have that positive thing mixed up in it.

David Levinson is such a sweet guy - he’s arrogant and a little bit of an ass, but like, he’s so caring: he constantly worries about his dad, he’s so loyal to his ex-wife without being creepy or weird about it after like, three years; he fucking recycles and uses his bike to get around the city... Like, he’s an underachiever initially, but he’s a genuinely nice guy despite his abrasive personality at times, you know?

I just love him.

And he reprises the role in the new movie, which isn’t as good as the first one, but is still worth a watch for Julius Levinson’s antics, picking up grandchildren as he drives across America.

1998 - Holy Man, dir. Stephen Herek - IMDb

My full review of Holy Man is here.

Holy Man is not a good film. It’s about an exec who runs a TV shopping channel, but is like, really shit at it, and he ends up getting G., a homeless guru played by Eddie Murphy, to sell stuff for him. Nonsensical and odd although the film is, it’s actually surprisingly sweet and wholesome, and I really enjoyed a lot of the humour.

Ricky is a pretty bad guy at the beginning, but he’s slick and fun and good-humoured - he’s mostly just selfish more than outright evil, and he actually ends up becoming a lot less selfish toward the end of the film. He’s a sweetheart, in some respects.

2001 - Cats & Dogs, dir. Lawrence Guterman - IMDb

God, this movie is so bad, and so much more racist than I remembered? There’s this whole racist sequence with some ninja cats, complete with the chopsticks-style music playing in the background, and that’s... Awful.

But Charles Brody is actually really funny, to be honest. Goldblum somehow makes him feel really human - earnest and work-obsessed, but still desperate to be a good father despite not being naturally inclined, and that’s... Honestly, I hate it when he does this. He takes the stupidest character in the stupidest movie and makes them feel like a real person, and I hate him for it.

Brody is cute.

2002 - Igby Goes Down, dir. Burr Steers - IMDb

Igby Goes Down is... Hm. What best to call it? Insipid teenage horseshit. The whole film is just fucking terrible, honestly - it centres around the Culkin that isn’t Kevin in Home Alone, and he’s some unbearable little New York teenager who thinks the world revolves around him and is upset at the prospect that perhaps he should go to school and/or get a job.

Anyway, Goldblum is at his least moral and most hot, he is revolting, and he is so sexy. There’s a weird thing where he’s the family friend of a family that’s pretty anti-semitic, but they play it straight, as if Jeff Goldblum’s face isn’t one of the most Jewish faces anybody’s ever seen, but that aside, he’s really sexy. Sociopathic, abruptly violent, and infrequently undressed, but it’s not worth watching the rest of the film for, to be honest.

2003 - Spinning Boris, dir. Roger Spottiswoode - IMDb

Spinning Boris. What a film.

Here, listen, we just watched this, me and @annethecatdetective, and it was absolutely nothing that I expected,or could expect. It’s a heavily fictionalised “based on a true story” film about three Rpublicans who went to work on the Boris Yeltsin campaign in ‘96. We, apparently, are once again meant to believe Jeff Goldblum as a goyische Republican, which--

I mean, what can I tell you? He does it so well. George Gorton’s fictionalised counterpart is charismatic, charming and funny, but so is most of the movie - the Republican trio are all morons, but that actually lends to their likability in the end, and Gorton is the most lovable of the three, taking the foreground. This movie was like, actually really good.

2004 - The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, dir. Wes Anderson - IMDb

I hated this film, and had to fast-forward a lot of it. I’m not a fan of Anderson at all, much as Goldblum is always singing his praises - I just don’t get it, I guess. Anderson is a master of visual spectacle, but he’s one of the worst writers out there, and pithy lines don’t make up for the complete lack of character that any of his films have.

Alistair Hennessy is no exception. He’s pithy, vaguely (comedically?) sociopathic, and is kinda DTF... And that’s about it. Even Goldblum can’t really add that much depth to this guy, because there’s no depth in other characters for him to play off.

2006 - Man of the Year, dir. Barry Levinson - IMDb

Mmm, so, Man of the Year surprised me.

It’s definitely quite weak, when it comes to plot and writing - the jokes aren’t at their strongest; it can’t really decide whether it wants to be a comedy or a political thriller; some of the jokes and commentary are very off-colour and have not aged well; it seeks to set out a political moral without making any particular targets. Nonetheless, I rather enjoyed it - it doesn’t pretend to be a higher art than it is, and I think it’s still enjoyable. The primary drawback is probably that the premise of a comedian being elected president of the USA is much less hilariously unbelievable in the wake of the Trump campaign, and that colours my perception a little - some of the protag’s comments about immigration or women, the way he responds to other candidates in debate, Hell, even Robin Williams’ wearing of a red baseball cap at one point... All of those elements kinda take the humour out of it a bit because of the Trump election, but hey, it was 2006 - how could they possibly know?

Goldblum’s character in this, Mr Stewart, is the lawyer and primed attack dog of a corrupt company that produces the electronic voting machines responsible for Williams’ character being elected. He isn’t at his most Goldblum-esque in this, I have to say - he’s sharp, nasty, and very business-focused, but he doesn’t get that much time on screen, and his on-screen moments don’t lean very much into his usual charm and humour. Stewart is actually a very dull, run-of-the-mill evil corporate type, and he was a pretty boring character.

2007 - Raines, TV Series - IMDb

I will write whatever you want if you can get me a download link for this, or somewhere where I can just buy the fucking series, from Ireland. I am desperate to watch it, because it looks fucking awful. Michael Raines is a detective who hallucinates that his victims help him solve the crimes.

Doesn’t that sound so bad? I need it.

2009-2010 - Law & Order: Criminal Intent, TV Series - IMDb

So like, you know the shtick with Law & Order. It’s a gory, stupid crime procedural that’s just really stupid. This one, Criminal Intent, is about major crimes, but honestly, I have little to no idea exactly what a major crime is, even having watched the two seasons in which Zach Nichols is a marauding force.

Zach Nichols himself is... Fascinating. So, you know how there’s this fucking trend of just, mean detective who everyone lets be mean because he’s a ~genius~ or whatever, and everyone is always like “ugh, he fucking sucks, but we gotta let him do that”? That is not the case with Zach Nichols. Zach Nichols is nothing short of a genuine sociopath, continuously manipulative, randomly and without provocation is he cruel to victims, witnesses and criminals alike. At no point does anybody call him out for being terrible, or even admitting he’s being terrible. It’s like no one registers the cruelty of his behaviour, or cares.

Honestly, I expect it’s quite accurate as to the New York police system, and in the mean time, it’s really fucking hot. He’s my favourite of all of Goldblum’s characters, and he disgusts me on literally every level.

2010 - Morning Glory, dir. Roger Michell - IMDb

Morning Glory is... It starts out very bland and uninspiring, but it does grow on you more as it goes on. In my opinion, it would have been better if they’d just tried to bill it genuinely, as a comedy-drama, which is what it is - instead, they tried to shoehorn in a very ugly actor I forget the name of as a love interest for Rachel McAdams, I presume in desperate hope of earning that rom-com dollar. Nonetheless, it’s a cute enough concept - TV journalist gets her dream job running a news studio, and has to get bully and asshole anchor Harrison Ford to be fun and wholesome for the morning show. It’s cute, and I do think it’s worth watching despite some of the issues with it.

Jerry is like... He’s so fucking great. Jerry is just an ass. He’s rude, he’s biting, he’s constantly telling McAdams’ character to make stuff that is impossible work, and he very much eats, breathes, and sleeps his job, while packing in time to jog and to fuck an extremely stupid girl, Lisa, he put in the newsroom, who believes in shit like past lives and angels, and is literally the best character in the movie.

Jerry and Lisa are the fucking greatest, everyone else can go home.

According to the IMDb credits, he has a wife who is unnamed, but like... I have no memory of her even being in the movie, honestly. It’s not the greatest of cinematic works.

2010 - The Switch, dir. Josh Gordan & Will Speck - IMDb

The Switch? Bad concept. It’s about Jason Bateman’s character stealing the sperm donation that Jennifer Aniston was going to use to get pregnant, and then replacing it with his own. So like, off the bat, the whole reproductive rape, grievious sexual assault thing, that the movie... Kinda expects you to view as romantic? Somehow? I don’t.... get it. Apparently it’s okay because their characters are “friends”.

Anyway, moving onto the important part, Leonard, Jeff’s character, is great. He’s go the BDE going on; at one point he’s walking on the treadmill while eating a candy bar, and mocks Jason Bateman for not doing the same; he’s sarcastic, eccentric, and a massive THOT that lets women handfeed him; and, inexplicably, despite being Jason Bateman’s boss, him and Bateman are best friends. 10 out of 10 Goldblums for Leonard, who they didn’t bother to give a last name to.

2012 - Zambezia, dir. Wayne Thornley - IMDb

Egh. Like, even for a kid’s movie this one was pretty bland? The actual design and animation is pretty beautiful - I love the designs of all the wildlife, which is the main focus of it, and that’s really well-done throughout; there’s also a star-studded cast of voice actors. The story is pretty dull, and the script ain’t great, but hey. It’s a kid’s movie, and I think it does what it means to do.

Ajax, Goldblum’s character, is pretty cute - he’s like, a busybody, like the fucking... Toucan or whatever he is in the Lion King. He’s the advisor to the bird king or whatever. That’s... I mean, that’s pretty much it. There’s very little to say here.

2013 - Le Week-end, dir. Roger Michell - IMDb

Le Week-end is fucking adorable. It’s about this struggling middle-aged couple who go to Paris for a weekend to try to rekindle their marriage, and they run around committing shenanigans, arguing, and generally being a little bit adorable.

They meet Morgan, who is an old schoolfriend of Jim Broadbent’s character, and is now like, a best-selling writer in economics, and he invites them for a really stupid dinner party full of really impressive people, which makes both of them feel very inadequate. Jim Broadbent spends a lot of the party with Morgan’s weird teenage son, chatting about how Morgan is kind of a dick, but honestly, Morgan is just... Not self-aware. He’s pretty much in love with Jim Broadbent the entire time, and sings everybody’s praises, then comes to rescue them both at the end.

He’s very cute, kinda selfish, kind of disconnected from reality, and I have a lot of affection for him.

2014 - The Grand Budapest Hotel, dir. Wes Anderson - IMDb

The Grand Budapest Hotel is like... It’s a Wes Anderson film. Egh.

Deputy Kovacs is probably the least Goldblum-y character in any Goldblum role. He doesn’t have many of the verbal tics, and to be honest, he doesn’t even move his hands in the typical Goldblum fashion - if you look at the dinner scene, you can see his fingers twitching as he tries to keep his hand still.

Kovacs has some good lines, but like any Anderson character, doesn’t really have a character.

2015 - Mortdecai, dir. David Koepp - IMDb

Mortdecai is a terrible fucking film, and I despised it. It was just awful, it really was, and Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow’s characters were each fucking insufferable. It’s about this posh cunt who sells art, and then lots of people try to kill him because he’s posh, and a cunt.

Jeff’s character, Milton Krampf, is the father of Olivia Munn’s character, and Olivia Munn is a nymphomaniac who wants to fuck Johnny Depp. Milton gets like, 5 minutes of screentime, and is weirdly on board with his daughter banging Johnny Depp, but that’s it. If you ask my opinion, they should have had Milton try to bang Depp, and let Olivia Munn be in charge, but like... It was a bad movie. There was no thinking outside the box.

2017 - Thor: Ragnarok, dir. Taika Waititi - IMDb

I mean, what do I even say?

Thor: Ragnarok is like, my least favourite Thor film, but not because it’s not great. Thor: Ragnarok is so much better than most of the other Marvel films put together - it’s fun, it’s snappy, it’s beautifully shot, it has a vision, etc. etc. Taika Waititi’s humour mostly isn’t my thing, but his comedy is so well-ranging and so well-done that like, even if it isn’t your thing, you still get laughs out of his movies. Ragnarok is a great movie - it’s not my favourite for like, Loki’s characterisation, but... Honestly, when you’re watching it, that stuff just falls away. It’s so entertaining and so well done, even if I don’t agree with some of the characterization and story choices.

And the GM, God, he’s... Just terrible. I adore him. You know I adore him, this whole blog is just GM fanfiction. He’s an Eldritch being with unlimited power who forces people to fight in an intergalactic alien arena while shtupping Loki Laufeyson and being too lazy to properly rule a planet. What’s not to love?

2018 - Seth Rogen’s Hilarity for Charity, dir. Ryan Polito - IMDb

Hilarity for Charity was not funny, and was generally very painful to watch. I would recommend you skip through all of the “comedy” except for Tiffany Kaddish and John Mulaney.

At the end of the special, Jeff Goldblum plays the human face of the Netflix Algorithm, and playfully talks about destroying all human life. It’s pretty cute.

2018 - Isle of Dogs, dir. Wes Anderson - IMDb

I fell asleep during this. Like, within a half hour, I fell asleep.

Goldblum is underutilised, but to be honest, so are a lot of the characters - Isle of Dogs is a very weird movie, and I’m a little unclear as to some of the choices Anderson made with it, but visually, it’s a very strong movie, and it’s more enjoyable than most.

I still fell asleep.

Goldblum’s character, Duke, is like, a husky with a cheerful attitude, and he’s constantly gossiping and making shit up. His lines are good fun.

2018 - Hotel Artemis, dir. Drew Pearce - IMDb

Now, Hotel Artemis, not a great movie. The plot is very lacking, the characters mostly cardboard archetypes instead of developed individuals... I think the film has a lot of issues with telling the audience the stuff that could be shown much more artfully, but like, egh.

Despite those issues, Orian Franklin - Niagara - is a very interesting character. He’s in the movie for a very short amount of time (barely twenty-five minutes of screentime, if that) but he’s a really interesting enigma, and I really loved what little they bothered to do with him.

He’s one of those characters that’s much more interesting in fanfic than in the canon.

#as defined by dictionary #jeff goldblum #jgcu #dictionary writes #this is very much under construction lol

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myhahnestopinion · 5 years

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THE AARONS 2018 - Best TV Show

I stated last year that 2017 was the year Peak TV broke me, with too many shows spread across too many services, with many more on their way. 2018 was the year I learned to let go of the fact that I will never be able to watch every show, and to just be content with all the great shows I was able to catch. Here are the Aarons for Best TV Show:

#10. Barry (Season 1) – HBO

A simple premise that could initially be dismissed as prestige TV’s over-fascination with anti-heroes mixed with Hollywood’s over-fascination with itself, Bill Hader’s dark-comedy about a hitman who moves to LA to pursue an acting career quickly develops into a complex examination of post-war PTSD, a deconstruction of television tropes, and, simultaneously, just one of the funniest shows of the year. With veteran comedic talent like Henry Winkler and surprising break-outs like Anthony Carrigan to bolster a firing-on-all-cylinders Bill Hader as the titular character, Barry says “Yes, and…” to every opportunity to mix its hilarity with harrowing content to pitch-perfect results. While the premise, which feels dangerously close to slipping into Dexter territory by season’s end, may end up unsustainable at this level of quality, for now, Barry is a sure-fire hit, man.

#9. Dear White People (Season 2) – Netflix

More than weathering the backlash to its misnomer title, as well as the political climate that feeds into that backlash, Dear White People channels all that rage, frustration, misunderstanding, and fear into an oft-livid, oft-cathartic, and always witty season of television. Funny while never losing its firm focus, the most amusing aspect of Dear White People is perhaps the absolute joke it makes of the idea “diversity of thought” is mutually exclusive from “diversity of people” through the deft writing of its exceptional ensemble cast, who take turns shining in episodes that range from a groovy neo-noir mystery to an emotionally-eruptive bottle episode, culminating in an intriguing cliffhanger that suggests Dear White People has plenty left to address.

#8. Daredevil (Season 3) – Netflix

Just as Wilson Fisk clawed his way back up to being the King of Crime throughout the third season of the superhero drama, Daredevil clawed its way back up to the King of the Marvel-Netflix collaborations (and back onto this list following its nod all the way back in the 2015 Aarons) with a storyline based on the acclaimed “Born Again” comic-book run. While the show continues to have significant failings (including, most egregiously, the literal fridging of a female character in this latest batch of episodes), it’s easy for viewers to become blinded to them thanks to the chemistry of its main trio of friends, its renewed fixation on weighty thematic content, and, of course, its impressive fight sequences, including most notably the now-requisite one-take fight sequence that takes the form of an expansive prison riot this go-round. While the series has now been cancelled, solace can at least be found in the fact the show underwent such a creative rebirth before its untimely demise.

#7. American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace (Season 2) – FX

Ryan Murphy’s anthology series may have been working with less well-known true-crime material in its second outing, but the resulting exploration of the sinister systemic forces that influence such shocking stories is no less resonant. True-crime has several difficult hurdles to clear to not feel like cheap exploitation, and American Crime Story strikes the right balance to its appropriately disturbing portrayal of the heinous acts by framing them through the devastating impact they have, not only on the direct victims, but on the whole of a society more concerned with reinforcing homophobic power structures than with the pain and horror such structures produce. The season’s reverse-chronological structure not only makes for compelling storytelling, but seems perfectly suited for the way in which the series traces the sins of America’s modern day to the crimes of its past, creating impactful television.

#6. Supergirl (Season 3b-4a) – CW

Supergirl’s continually-increasing confidence and complexity has sent the series soaring to new heights with its pointed fourth season, which distills its obvious real-world political influences into an effectively universal rumination on the insidious nature of bigotry, the trials of public perceptions, and the necessity of hope. It remains to be seen whether Supergirl can stick the landing with its lofty ambitions, which deserve appreciation regardless, but grounding its dynamic superhero storytelling in the inspirational performance of lead Melissa Benoist, as well as a further push for inclusivity with the introduction of television’s first transgender superhero Dreamer, makes for television that is quite super, girl.

Hey, it’s my awards show. Let me pun.

#5. Better Call Saul (Season 4) – AMC

Better Call Saul’s fourth season appeared to reach a breaking point in regard to its overlap in cast, stories, and timeline with its parent show, it’s an aspect that could be read as a significant flaw or as the greatest strength of a great season. It’s easy to lament the loss of the quirky lawyer comedy the show was in its earlier episodes, but this mourning is perhaps reflective of the soul-wrenching moral descent of Jimmy McGill, spiraling harder and faster in wake of last season’s tragic ending. It’s painful in all the right ways watching the excellent cast lead their characters to fates both known and unknown, making for a momentous (and still endearingly offbeat) season of television that recalls the finest moments of Breaking Bad, but just might be arguably better.

#4. BoJack Horseman (Season 5) – Netflix

In a series renowned for its gut-punches, the underlying message of BoJack Horseman’s fifth season might be the most difficult to grapple with: No amount of regret, good intentions, or tragic backstories excuses BoJack or entitles him to a happy ending. But that’s no reason not to continue to seek healing. Netflix’s animated adventures of anthropomorphic animals continues to be one of the most important and affecting examinations of toxic relationships, mental illness, and the cycles of abuse in art. The fifth season’s added meta-narrative allows the show to deconstruct the uncomfortability of its own representations, and the toxicity in its own fanbase. At a time when questions of abuse and reconciliation not just in Hollywood, but everywhere, rage in our cultural consciousness, BoJack Horseman provides a powerful way to grapple with these issues… and make them digestible through its quick-witted wordplay, visual gags, and general horsing around, as always.

#3. Legends of Tomorrow (Season 3b-4a) – CW

If you were to travel back in time to just a few years ago, it would feel unbelievable how big the CW’s interconnected superhero universe has become... and that DC’s Legends of Tomorrow would lead the pack in quality. However, the once middling show really went the extra mile in spicing things up. Sending a talking, telepathic gorilla back in time to kidnap a young Barrack Obama? Combining elemental energies to form an enlarged Tickle-Me-Elmo rip-off named Beebo to take down a Time Demon? Having your Time Demon played by classical actor John Noble, and then having an episode in which the characters travel back in time to the set of the Lord of the Rings movies to record the voice of John Noble, playing Denathor, playing himself in order to trick a character into believing that John Noble’s John Noble voice is in fact the voice of John Noble’s Time Demon character?? It’s hard to believe that these episodes exist in any show, let alone all of them (and so much more) in one. This zany energy, accentuated by a game cast and an embrace of its misfit nature, reflected in the character’s diversity in both backgrounds and powers, have allowed the show to finally rightfully claim the title of legendary.

#2. Atlanta (Season 2) – FX

Much like the last entry on this list, it’s impossible to know what to expect when one sits down to watch the latest episode of Donald Glover’s uncanny comedy Atlanta, which, when it first appeared on this list two years ago, was aptly described as like a never-ending Christmas. Whether banding together its group of rising comedic talent (including Zazie Beetz, Brian Tyree Henry, and Lakeith Stanfield) or spinning them off into their own madcap adventures, Atlanta continued to surprise and stupefy in style in its sophomore outing. Once again weaving insightful socio-economic commentary into sitcom premises cranked up to ten and funneled through an idiosyncratic vision, Atlanta’s quality remained as lush and bold as evergreen lantana.

That one’s not really a pun, but, again, this is my awards show, so no one can stop me.

AND THE BEST TV SHOW OF 2018 IS...

#1. The Good Place (Season 3) – NBC

When The Good Place began, it was met with a caution concerning its long term sustainability, but in its now third season, the show’s penchant for blowing up its own premise at every opportunity can be clearly seen as the confident strokes of a long-gestating story. Even within its absurd afterlife of bizarre predilections and oddball characters, the show never loses sight of its stirring humanistic core, which found new resonance in an inspirational third season premise that provides hope and happiness in the seemingly most dire of circumstances. While, as of this writing, it remains to be seen in what ways the show might again radically alter its make-up heading into the confirmed fourth season, but, based on the bonzer quality of the entire show thus far, it might be time to start considering that we’ve all been in the Good Place this whole time.

NEXT UP: THE 2018 AARONS FOR BEST TV EPISODE!

#tv #TheAarons #TheAarons2018 #TheAaronsTV #bestof #bestof2018 #barry #dearwhitepeople #daredevil #americancrimestory #supergirl #bettercallsaul #legendsoftomorrow #bojackhorseman #atlanta #thegoodplace #goodshows

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sleemo · 7 years

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The All-Stars of ‘Star Wars’

Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver and their “Last Jedi” comrades discuss the difficulties of new relationships, the joys of villainy and those porgs. — The New York Times | Dec 8, 2017

LOS ANGELES — While they tell tales of Death Stars and daddy issues, the “Star Wars” movies are also stories about duality: how goodness and evil can coexist — on the same planet or inside the same person — and what happens when they collide on an intergalactic scale.

These themes are revisited once again in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” the eighth episode in the science-fiction saga that George Lucas started in 1977. “The Last Jedi,” which opens on Dec. 15, is the first to be written and directed by Rian Johnson (“Brick,” “Looper”). It follows the resounding success of “The Force Awakens,” directed by J. J. Abrams in 2015, about two young heroes, a scavenger named Rey (Daisy Ridley) and a renegade stormtrooper named Finn (John Boyega), caught up in the search for Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).

The new film continues where “The Force Awakens” left off, as Rey and Luke are about to meet on the planet Ahch-To, and it promises a further exploration of their relationship to the sullen evildoer Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and his nefarious master, Snoke (Andy Serkis). It also features the final performance in the series from Carrie Fisher, who played Leia and who died last December.

At a running time of some two and a half hours, “The Last Jedi” continues the adventures of Finn and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and their adversaries Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) and General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson). Somehow it finds room for the new characters Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) and Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern), and a wide-eyed alien species called porgs.

Like the film they made, the creator and cast of “The Last Jedi” can encompass a spectrum of darkness and light, seriousness and silliness, all in the same conversation. Just days before the movie’s opening, they gathered for what felt at times like a solemn high-school graduation and, at other times, like its after-party.

Here, Mr. Johnson, Ms. Ridley, Mr. Boyega, Mr. Hamill, Mr. Driver, Mr. Serkis, Mr. Isaac, Ms. Christie, Mr. Gleeson, Ms. Tran and Ms. Dern discuss their work on “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and some of the questions it raises. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.

Audiences have a strong sense of what they think a “Star Wars” film should look and feel like. But Rian, you make films that are personal and idiosyncratic. How do you do that in a “Star Wars” movie?

RIAN JOHNSON I don’t think you try to. It would be bad news if you came into this saying, “How do I make this mine?” You’re just desperately trying to make a good “Star Wars” movie — to me that means that it’s a balance between opera and bubble gum. It should make you come out of the theater and feel like you’re 10 years old, and want to grab your spaceships and start flying around. On top of everything else.

For the veterans of “The Force Awakens” —

DAISY RIDLEY I’m not a fan of the word “veteran.” We did one movie! How about actors?

JOHNSON Sophomores.

As you make your way through Star Wars High —

OSCAR ISAAC I was so high the whole time. [Laughter]

— there are actors you were paired with and worked with closely on the last film. What was it like to have those relationships scrambled and rearranged on “The Last Jedi”?

ISAAC What Rian did so well was that he asked the really tough questions. Not only of the characters, but also about the themes that “Star Wars” brings up. What is to be a Jedi? What is it to be a hero? What is it to be, in my case, a hotshot pilot? And then try to find the opposite of that — the hardest thing, the thing that’s furthest away, and have that be what the character has to deal with. Even in pairing the characters, he’s taking away what you know, and making you as uncomfortable as possible.

Was it bittersweet to have Finn and Rey, our heroes from “The Force Awakens,” split up?

JOHN BOYEGA It was horrible when I read the script for the first time and I wasn’t with her. We auditioned together. We went through this whole experience together. To be split apart was scary for me. But then I understood that is something that we could draw from — something that Finn really feels, and Rey really feels. And then I was like, “Oh! Rian does know what he’s doing.” [Laughter]

RIDLEY I felt the same. When I read the script, I didn’t cry right away. I was like, “Wobble, wobble, wobble, [shaky voice] I’m probably going to cry and I need to see Rian.” Then I went into Rian’s office and I was crying my eyes out. I’m not great with new people. I think Mark can attest to that. [Silence, then laughter]

ADAM DRIVER No one says, “No, you’re great!” Everyone else is like, “Yeah.”

RIDLEY I find it really difficult to relax. And then that’s influencing someone else’s performance. You don’t want to be the thing that’s holding something back, when there’s me, going, [awkwardly] “So … how’d you get into all this?” Mark and I were lucky enough to have proper rehearsal time, and then we could talk through everything with Rian. It ended up feeling great, but it was nerve-racking.

We were just getting to see the relationship between Luke and Rey before the curtain came down on Episode VII. In Episode VIII, were you able to pick up where you left off?

MARK HAMILL We had no relationship in VII. It’s left up to the audience to decide if he knows who she is. They established earlier that I had a telepathic ability with my sister — would I know what’s going on now? Would I know I lost my best friend? That’s all left up to the audience, and that’s in the great tradition of the cliffhangers that inspired George in the first place. “Continued next week.” Two years, in this case. But don’t worry, it’s only five months until the next one. [Rolls eyes] Great marketing there, Disney. [Laughter] What are they going to do, fire me?

LAURA DERN Luke Skywalker, ladies and gentlemen. That’s why they titled it “The Last Jedi.”

RIDLEY When I meet people I’m not like [gasps]. [Mr. Hamill pretends to pout, as Ms. Dern playfully rubs his back in comfort.] I’m more impressed with a human than a reputation. To me, I was working with Mark, I wasn’t working with Luke. I was nervous because I was working with a new person and I wanted to do my best, and I wanted the scenes to go well. Luke is regarded in this way, and Rey does understand that. But Rey, on a very human level, is asking something of Luke: “I need some advice here.” We were able to pick up right where we left off, chronologically, and it worked very well.

Is it uniquely satisfying to play a villain in a “Star Wars” movie, where you get to be especially villainous?

DOMHNALL GLEESON It was a delightful surprise, having people come up to me after “The Force Awakens” and say, “You were so bad in that movie.” It meant a lot to me. [Laughter]

GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE It’s always exciting to be bad, isn’t it? It’s even more exciting to be bad as your job. And in a context where it doesn’t impact human lives. It’s particularly resonant at the moment, the idea of, what is a better use of human energy: to serve the group or to serve the individual?

Andy, you play Supreme Leader Snoke, one of your many motion-capture characters, so there’s a whole other layer to your performance.

ANDY SERKIS There’s a gold lamé layer. The Supreme Leader as Hugh Hefner, that’s something that I particularly grabbed onto. The luxuriousness of it all. The thing about Snoke is, leaders are fearful people, because when you’re in a position of maximum power, you can only lose power. And that fear drives nearly all decisions. That fear then makes you aggressive. It makes you want to destroy others. It makes you unable to see or care about others. But when you’re creating a villain character, it’s about humanizing — there’s something important in the task of creating Snoke to find his vulnerability, because that makes him even more dangerous and despicable.

Adam, I wouldn’t say that Kylo Ren is strictly an evil person, even though we’ve seen him do terrible things. Where does he come from for you?

DRIVER The best way I can describe it is, it’s like a conversation that we started with J. J. and it continues through this film. It was less interesting to think of him as pure evil, because I don’t really know what that is. He’s someone who thinks he’s right, more than he thinks what he’s doing is bad. When I meet people who are unable to hear the other side, who not only think they’re right but they’re justified, then there’s no end to what they would do to make sure that their side wins. To me, that’s more dangerous, because the boundaries are limitless. As opposed to just being evil, that seems like it can’t sustain itself. When you feel morally justified, that feels more long-lasting and more unpredictable.

He has a lot of emotional conflict but you seem pretty even-keeled. Am I reading you correctly?

DRIVER No. [Laughter] I’m a rational person. And then I killed my father. [Laughter]

This is the first “Star Wars” movie for Kelly Marie Tran and Laura Dern. What is it like to be initiated into this franchise?

KELLY MARIE TRAN It is both horrifying and amazing. Obviously, I was intimidated, but I never felt intimidated, personally, in Regina George fashion. Every single person sitting here was honest and open. I was allowed to go to set when I wasn’t working and watch them perform. I felt like I was in this epic acting school that I didn’t have to pay for. Someone just gave me the key.

DERN I have to discredit you, Daisy, with your comments about yourself [not being great with new people]. When my daughter came to set, she said, “Oh my God, Mom, do you think we get to see Rey?” I was like, “Oh, we don’t want to bother people.” And then your trailer door opened, and you went, [singing to the “Jurassic Park” theme] “Laura Der-rrrr-rrn, Laura Der-rrrr-rrn.” [Laughter] My daughter was like, “She’s the most welcoming person.”

HAMILL Another royalty for John Williams.

How do you make a movie that finds time to provide moments for every one of these actors?

JOHNSON That’s part of the reason that this movie is a little longer than all the others.

ISAAC He made sure everyone gets to cry.

JOHNSON “Star Wars” is on the public stage in a way that nothing else is. But even on a big scary thing like this, every single one of these people was excited to step outside their comfort zones, to go to places that were really interesting but not necessarily easy.

HAMILL Like the top of Skellig Michael [the Irish island whose steep, precarious mountains are used as the setting for Ahch-To].

JOHNSON I offered to carry you on my back, Yoda-style, but you didn’t trust my legs.

HAMILL Really, when I read VII, I said, “Oh, they’ll do it with green screens and J. J. will be up the road — I’ll be done by lunch.” Little did I know, I’ll suffer for your art, kid.

JOHNSON In the edit room, you get to a point where you realize, ah, we could make the movie shorter but we’d have to give somebody short shrift, and we’re not going to do that because every one of these guys has an amazing journey in the movie.

Is there a character, other than your own, that you wish you’d gotten to play in this film?

ISAAC What Adam does in this movie is insane. It’s incredible. [Mr. Driver begins looking around awkwardly, as if searching for a way to escape the room.] It’s so wild and unpredictable and very magnetic. It made me very jealous.

BOYEGA I have to second that. I was blown away by the conflict and the change in the character arc. And the fights.

ISAAC Oh, the fights. The beautiful fights.

BOYEGA It reminds me, as a guy, of the transition from a boy to a man, learning how to maintain a certain type of energy that you have and choosing the way you let it free. That’s what he struggles with.

Who here got to meet the porgs?

RIDLEY I got to meet the porgs, but also, I’ve gotten about 300 questions about the porgs. What’s the big deal about porgs? They wouldn’t even be able to fly. Their body-to-wing ratio is like a chicken. They can’t!

DERN The more I went on about how adorable they are — it was like looking into the eyes of E. T., I loved those eyes so much — Oscar only continued to talk about different recipes.

ISAAC Porgs with roasted turnips. Glazed porg.

What would you like to see happen to your characters in Episode IX? Do you want to have that much influence over them?

ISAAC Sorry, I was still talking about porg recipes.

JOHNSON It depends on who survives at this point.

GLEESON I only have a small part to play in all this, but if I had decided what I was going to do, from the last one to the next one, it wouldn’t have been nearly as surprising as what Rian came up with it.

ISAAC It’s amazing to think about giving up that feeling of control. You have to just be open and see what’s next.

#interview #the last jedi #star wars #cast #uploads #*#long post #rian johnson #mark hamill #laura dern #daisy ridley #adam driver #john boyega #oscar isaac #kelly marie tran #andy serkis #gwendoline christie #domhnall gleeson

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uomo-accattivante · 7 years

Photo

These themes are revisited once again in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” the eighth episode in the science-fiction saga that George Lucas started in 1977. “The Last Jedi,” which opens on Dec. 15, is the first to be written and directed by Rian Johnson(“Brick,” “Looper”). It follows the resounding success of “The Force Awakens,” directed by J. J. Abrams in 2015, about two young heroes, a scavenger named Rey (Daisy Ridley) and a renegade stormtrooper named Finn (John Boyega), caught up in the search for Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).

For the veterans of “The Force Awakens” —

DAISY RIDLEY I’m not a fan of the word “veteran.” We did one movie! How about actors?

JOHNSON Sophomores.

As you make your way through Star Wars High —

OSCAR ISAAC I was so high the whole time. [Laughter]

— there are actors you were paired with and worked with closely on the last film. What was it like to have those relationships scrambled and rearranged on “The Last Jedi”?

Was it bittersweet to have Finn and Rey, our heroes from “The Force Awakens,” split up?

ADAM DRIVER No one says, “No, you’re great!” Everyone else is like, “Yeah.”