#and now that we've got enough episodes that I'm sure it's going a good job

[parsleysagerosemarytimemachine]

Otaku Elf

Just want to take a moment to praise one of the spring anime that I'd been looking forward to -- Otaku Elf. I've been enjoying the manga for a bit now, so I was really pleased when the announcement of the anime came out, and now that the first few episodes have aired, I want to put out the rec for other people in case they've missed it.

At its most basic, it's a light comedy - an immortal elf who is a shrine goddess in modern Tokyo, and her teenage miko who has to put up with her endless appetite for games, snacks, and never, ever leaving the shrine. The contrast between Elda's elegant initial impression and her quickly-revealed grubby otaku heart is good, especially with how much the show enjoys her delight as well.

On another level, it's also a good excuse for a short history lesson; a reoccurring bit is that as Koito and Elda discuss her latest acquisition, Elda has a historical analogue to bring up. From collectible prizes with a purchase to mail-order deliveries to fashionable foods, over her 400 years in Tokyo she has enjoyed all sorts of novelties and is happy to reminisce about them, because people have always been people.

And then, just occasionally, the story touches on what it's like to have lived through all that history, and see people you care about live and die, while Elda continues on. This is what really made me excited about it, and I'm glad to see the anime catching a bit of it - there's a reason that Elda doesn't like to leave her shrine and go out into a world that keeps changing. There's a reason her parishioners adore their reclusive goddess, who is the same in their old age as she was in their childhood. Change is difficult, and when the world isn't the same as it used to be, making new connections is both scary and vital. A thing only brought up in a circuitous fashion is that Koito lost her mother, and is now taking up the family tradition of being a miko to Elda, and so the sense of connecting with a missing history is hers too - I love seeing the two of them become friends, and what it reveals about the bonds that aren't there, the echoes of a history that is lost.

So yeah, if comedy with a bit of melancholy at its heart sounds interesting (and if your watch-card isn't already completely full -- so many good shows airing right now!) you should really look up Otaku Elf. I think it's a great light addition to your anime roster, with a surprising emotional weight as you get into it.

[mauesartetc]

Thoughts on Helluva Boss 205 ("Unhappy Campers")

Wow, this... This one may actually be worse than Murder Family. That's impressive.

Is anyone else noticing a pattern of Helluva Boss episodes going absolutely nowhere? Each one ends without affecting the larger plot in any meaningful way. Season 1's structure was fairly episodic as well, but at least back then there was some sense of progression.

I usually include separate lists of pros and cons in these critiques, but in this case, I have so few compliments to give this thing it's not worth it. I tried my best to find more to like about this episode, but it gave me bupkis to work with. So I'll just present all my notes in chronological order.

Let's get this over with.

-Looks like the rehab facility where Barb used to live is located in Sloth (on account of the floating islands and all the pink in the environment), just like the hospital in this season's previous episode. We've never seen care centers in any other ring, so... Does Hell society's opinion of sick people dictate that they're just lazy? Some clarification on that might be nice.

-"She's got a job now. A life. Don't fuck it up by findin' her." Holy shit, the nurse is the most mature, sympathetic character in this entire episode. Tasing Blitzo in the butthole earns her bonus points in my book. Nurse Pussyface, you are way too good for this show.

-Why is Blitzo even trying to visit his sister if he's been kicked out of the facility several times and knows she hates him? What's the impetus? "Look, I know you hate my guts, but Dad's dead, and he named you in the will." Or maybe he had an experience that reminded him of her and figured he'd drop by to see how she was? Y'know, something.

-By the way, Helluva's animation is usually a highlight, but here there's not much to say about it. It wasn't especially memorable or ambitious; just kinda... passable. Even the climactic fight scene (which I'll get to later) didn't have much to write home about.

-How the hell didn't the client notice the holes in his boat before he rowed it out into deep water? Because I'm pretty sure it would leak when it was still in the shallow end of the lake, unless this is a unique real-life boating phenomenon I'm not aware of. Also, you'd think this guy was a bit too gung-ho to get out on the lake for someone who can't swim. Did someone have a gun to your head, dude?

Fun fact: Did y'all know I was on staff at a summer camp once? We had a pond, canoes, and a boathouse just like the camp in this episode. One thing we had that this camp apparently doesn't, however, is this important rule: No one gets in a canoe without a life jacket. EVER. But, well... We see later that the adults at this camp don't care much about safety, so I guess that's fair enough. (Though I'm curious how they manage to stay open, or what the client's loved ones have to say about his mysterious disappearance.)

-What did the client do to get sent to Hell after he died? Mrs. Mayberry murdered someone, so that's why she's here, but this kid seems pretty chill-? (And don't even try to explain this on Twitter, writers. If it's not in the story itself, it ain't canon.) I also can't help but notice that his design reflects the way he died, but every other sinner's appearance is just random. Consistency? Who needs it!

-Some unintentional hilarity for ya: Here's Millie's face after the client recounted his death.

And she holds this pose for the remainder of the scene. Was there NO direction on how to animate Millie here?! This is a grim situation and she's smiling?! I get that she's a demon, but damn that is cold. It's never been clearer that half her role in this story is just smiling and looking cute, to the point the animators don't know what else to do with her.

-Richard Horvitz's valley girl voice was kinda funny. I dug it. Not sure why Moxxie and Millie had to dress in drag for anything other than cheap laughs, though.

-I know Millie's hurtin' for more development, but this story's conflict would have made SO much more sense from a character standpoint if Moxxie were getting all the praise from the campers. Think about it: He's the one Blitzo always shits on and doesn't believe in. He's the one whose father doesn't love him. He's the one who never gets positive attention from anyone except his wife. Suddenly the conflict is much more compelling: Now that he has approval from these humans, maybe he doesn't need it from Blitzo anymore (not sure why he needed his approval in the first place, but whatever). Maybe he'd realize what he's been missing, and how shitty Blitzo's treatment has been in comparison. Could this be the breaking point that finally gets him to muster some self-respect and quit IMP? We'll never know, because the episode has miscalculated where the most interesting dilemma actually lies.

As far as we can tell, Millie's had zero reason to doubt herself, and we never see her being mistreated like Moxxie has.

Take these lines of dialogue: "And for once I feel like... Like I'm important! Like I'm somebody to be proud of!"

Wouldn't they fit so much better if they came out of Moxxie's mouth?

-I kinda liked how the lyrics of Millie's song were humble while Moxxie's lyrics were egotistical, showing that being down to earth will win you friends while being self-centered will turn people off. But is that really the kind of message we need in an adult show? It's a useful lesson for children, but after you hit the age of this series' target demographic, most people will have the social skills to know better than to pull what Moxxie did at the campfire.

-Speaking of Moxxie being super immature, why does he weep when a bunch of preteens ignores him? They're...They're kids, Mox. They aren't your peers. Literally who cares. This behavior makes no sense outside of (once again) cheap humor. I could understand being bummed out that you're not good with kids if you wanted to have your own someday, but even that doesn't warrant actual tears. And this makes him look like a massive hypocrite later on when he asks Millie why it matters what "these yokels" feel about her. I mean... You seemed to care a lot about how they saw you, Moxxie...

-Moxxie's excuse for why it's so hard for him to get information on the case is that everyone's too busy "swooning over" Millie. Here's a thought: Why doesn't Millie get the info? She's the one everyone likes, so it should be a snap, right? Well, once again, the characters get railroaded because the writers can't entertain any other plot ideas. And of course Moxxie ends up getting blamed for everything as if he's the only one who fucked up here.

-Why the hell would a summer camp show so much favoritism toward a single camper that they set up a friggin' concert for this camper and this camper only? Yeah yeah, "viral sensation" and everything, but 1) The news crew can wait another day or so for camp to end in order to conduct an interview (y'know, something that wouldn't require a huge-ass stage and pyrotechnics that'd cost the camp boatloads of money), and 2) The camp staff thinks Millie is a child. How fucking irresponsible can you get to lavish this much attention on a kid? Think it'll go to her head or something? Psssh nah. Also, you're telling me none of the other campers are the tiniest bit jealous? How do you think they feel, seeing this one kid get treated like a god while they're left in the dust?

Okay, plot-wise, the writers decided they wanted Millie to sing a song so she's occupied during the final showdown with the killer. Easy solution: Camp talent show. That way, the adults treat all the campers equally, and Millie gets her (more believable) moment in the spotlight.

-Oh hey, we finally see Asmodean crystals in action. And of course the first one we see is a butt plug.

SuCh a MAturE shOw, GUys! (Sorry, I'm still laughing my head off at that.)

So, a bit of backstory for those who aren't familiar: We first learned of Asmodean crystals in the Season 2 premiere, when Stolas opened the grimoire to reveal Norse runes on its pages. Someone on the internet was kind enough to translate:

Now here's the deal: Blitzo tells the lust demon to open the portal with his crystal (even threatening him at gunpoint), leading me to believe only non-imps could use Asmodean crystals and that's why he needed the grimoire to get to the human world.

But guess what happens later:

Blitzo's sister Barb, another imp, uses a crystal on her bracelet to open a portal back to Hell. So what exactly was the point of stealing the grimoire from Stolas??

BLITZO. YOU. DENSE. MOTHERFUCKER.

Okay, maybe I'll be generous and acknowledge that there might be another explanation, like Blitzo getting banned from using Asmodean crystals because he's misused them in the past. (Maybe there's a spell that causes the crystals to burn him every time he tries to hold one. Something of that nature.) But at this point I don't trust these writers to fill in their plot holes. Or plot portals, as the case may be.

-The portals themselves are kinda pretty, though. I can appreciate that they look different from the portals created by the grimoire.

-Moxxie calls Blitzo "sir" in this episode despite Blitzo telling him to use his first name in Truth Seekers. Moxxie then uses it in "Ozzie's" (if I remember correctly), but now he's back to "sir" for unexplained reasons-? Coupled with how their relationship has reverted back to square one with Blitzo learning nothing (as well as no one bringing up the agents or what they can do to stop them leaking the proof that demons exist), do the writers just want us to forget that episode or what?

-Blitzo chastises Moxxie for dragging the case out for a week, but it took him a week to track down Barb. This hypocrisy is never addressed.

-At the boathouse, Blitzo tells Moxxie he's looking for his sister, then kicks down the door, revealing Barb inside. Moxxie asks, "Do you know her?" "Do I know her? That's my sister, fuckface!" That's... oddly repetitive, writers. I get that Moxxie wouldn't immediately make the connection since Barb's disguised as a human, but there's a more graceful way to handle that in the dialogue. Something like, "Is this her?" "Oh, now you're on the ball!"

-In an earlier post I expressed concern that these writers wouldn't handle Barb's addiction well, and I'm somewhat relieved they didn't go into it. But I also predicted she'd amount to a genderbent Blitzo instead of having her own personality, and... well...

Overindulges in addictive substances? Check. Runs a business that requires travel to the human world? Check. Pottymouth? Check. Uses sexuality as leverage? Check.

It would've been nice to at least get a hint about what Blitzo did to make her hate him so much (and perhaps confronting that would make him rethink how he treats Moxxie-?), but I guess we'll have to find out when she comes back in seven episodes or so. Yaaaaay.

-Barb says she picked this particular human as her supplier because teenagers are easy to manipulate, but she really had no way to accomplish that other than flashing her panties at him? Assuming Barb and Blitzo are the same age, she's in her 30s, and... it's just a tad creepy and uncalled for, even if this kid's legal. That's a pretty big age (and power) gap regardless. This is one of those times when it looks a lot more predatory when you switch the genders, but, importantly, women can be predators too. Bad optics, y'all.

-The climactic fight scenes in prior episodes were snappy and exciting, but this one's pacing felt really sluggish. I get that the song in the background had a slower tempo than we're used to in these action scenes, but would it have been so hard to double-time the animation? Also, previous fight scenes were notable for their creative choreography, but Barb wrapped her tail around Moxxie twice in a row. Having trouble coming up with new fight moves, guys? Like damn, she's an acrobat. She could do so much more.

-In another edition of "characters being idiots because plot", Moxxie and Millie make out in front of everyone who thinks they're related. They couldn't have run off to somewhere more private?? Apparently no; this needed to happen so Millie's internet fame would be dashed... or, here's another option: Show how the internet popularity cycle is so damn short that everyone's already moved on to the next sensation. You could have made that funny if you actually put in some effort. Like... The faux-incest was just so unnecessary.

-Much like Murder Family, another unfunny ending where Moxxie's dreams are crushed. Blitzo gets his hopes up only to call him a "fuckin' disgrace". But remember, guys: He'S HArd oN hiM BEcauSE hE CAreS! (Fuck it, I think I'll just edit a supercut of every time Blitzo has berated Moxxie, pre- and post-Truth Seekers.)

Oh and look, Millie's glaring at Blitzo, which is totally the same as opening her mouth to tell him off like he deserves, right?

She'll take on a whole gang of mobsters out of love for Moxxie, but standing up to Blitzo? Whoa, that's a step too far. Y'know, because he's the writers' favorite and he shouldn't have to experience any complications from his behavior. Same old story as it's been for a season and a half.

This ending would've been a million times better if it left off on a cliffhanger. Maybe this could have been Moxxie's final breaking point. After Blitzo calls him a disgrace, Moxxie could take a deep breath and...

MOXXIE: (flatly) I quit.

Then he walks out of the room. Everyone looks after him, stunned. When he closes the door, the screen cuts to black and the credits roll.

Oh shit, what's going to happen next? How will Blitzo deal with this? How will it affect Moxxie and Millie's home life? What kind of new job will Moxxie find to keep food on the table? Will he ever come back to IMP, or will Blitzo find a replacement? I know these writers aren't too interested in serialization or any sense of continuity outside of the stupid romance subplot (or hell, inside it), but good god, it would give viewers some exciting possibilities to look forward to.

This episode had so much potential and followed through on none of it. "Unhappy Campers" turned out to be a more fitting title than expected, as that's exactly what I was while watching this.

(Also this show needs a continuity coordinator like yesterday.)

[thecoleopterawithana]

Eras: The Beatles | Episode 6 - Now and Then

In the final episode of Eras: The Beatles, we hear the story behind The Beatles' final single Now and Then, including new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Narrated by Martin Freeman, the episode also features insight on the new track from Sean Ono Lennon, Olivia Harrison and Peter Jackson.

.

[This episode features more complete audio from the soundbites included in the 'Now and Then' short film/documentary. Under the cut are transcriptions of some of my favorite sections. Including Paul's interpretation of the meaning of 'Now and Then' (bonus points if you guess his answer!)]

PAUL: And then 'Now and Then' just kind of languished in a cupboard and we didn't do anything with it. I kept saying, "You know, maybe we should do something with this, seems a bit—" "Hm, I don't know..." There wasn't a great desire to do anything with it. So it hung around for a while. Years! And every so often, I'd kind of go to the cupboard and think, "There's a new song in there! We should do it! We gotta do it!" But it'd go back in the cupboard.

[...]

PAUL: Peter [Jackson] had sent me a text while he was doing the 'Get Back' thing. He said, "Here's a piece of dialogue of John's that I'd like to use, but George is rehearsing in the background," and you could hear George's guitar and you couldn't really make out quite what John was saying because it was distracting. He said, "But we've got this new technology: Machine Assisted Learning. M.A.L., so we're calling it MAL." Which was like— that was really cool! Because our old road manager and dear friend was Mal [Evans].

[...]

PETER JACKSON: I'd had this idea for two or three years about him [Paul] singing a duet with John. And the fact that we'd developed this software now allows us to separate the voices and the music meant that I could take a song that John and Paul were singing on, just separate John's vocal only, and Paul could have that for playing on stage. And then his band and himself could do the vocals and the playing for the rest of the song. So he could do a duet with John. He didn't even blink, he just said, "That's a fantastic idea, I love it! Let's do it!" And so we quickly turned that around and got that underway. So Paul was now touring with a John Lennon duet on 'I Got a Feeling'.

[...]

PETER JACKSON: I got a phone call from Paul saying, "Is it possible to use that technology for another project I've been thinking about? [...] Would it be possible to take John's vocal and clean it up and get rid of everything else? Because that would allow us to finish this Beatles song." And absolutely, it didn't take me more than about a second to get back to him and say, "Of course we can do it!"

[...]

PETER JACKSON: We assumed that the copy of 'Now and Then' that they were working to in the studio in 1995, where the vocals were coming from, was probably not a first-generation copy. [...] So we though, well this is probably a third generation [tape copy]. [...] And so we contacted Sean Lennon and he was very helpful. And sure enough, we got a digital copy of the original. Which is the same demo, same performance, but two generations better.

[...]

RINGO: I'm sitting there thinking, "I don't remember George doing that solo?" It was just like practicing, maybe. Cus it sounds like George! Then Paul said, "No, it's me." [laughs] But Paul did a great job. I mean, he's very good, you know, Paul. He's a very good musician.

[...]

RINGO: Giles [Martin] had to fly out to LA one day to listen to a four-hour string session that Paul wanted, and then fly back to England! [laughs] There's no string sections in England!

[...]

PAUL: Eventually, when we got to mix number 7 it was, "Wow, this is it! Now it's a Beatle record!" And we played it to various people, some of whom cried. Some of whom said, "Jesus Christ! It's a Beatles record!" But the reaction was very favorable.

[...]

RINGO: The difference from the two tracks of John, the old track of John— you know, we have to thank Sean as well, because he found the original tape. So that's the one you can really hear John, not the copy-copy-copies. And... it's like John's there, you know. It's far out. It's so clear now you know it's him. Cus on the original one we were working to I couldn't tell if it was Paul or John singing half the time. But now you know it's John! [chuckles]

[...]

PAUL: I think it just means 'now and then'. "Now and then, I have a cup of tea". I'm not sure it means an awful lot more than that. But, looking at it from today's perspective, now and then. Then you can start to get all sorts of meanings in. The modern-day, the historical past of the Beatles. It lines up with all of that. But we were always very happy to let people make their own minds up. "Here it is, it's a song. Now, the minute we deliver it to you, it's up to you. You can do anything you want with it." And people do!

[...]

RINGO: And that was what it was like for the three of us when we started this role in the 90s. We had to pretend— it always makes me laugh when I think of it— we had to pretend that he'd gone for a cup of tea or his lunch. But that he was still around. Because it was very strange when we started there's only three of us, after all those years, and all that life, that there were four of us. And I still miss him, man!

[...]

SEAN LENNON: It feels very synchronous that the lyric speaks about time and that it's taken so much time. That it sort of fuses the past and the present. It's like a time capsule. And it all feels very meant to be — or fated, or something — in the nicest sense.

[...]

PAUL: When I remember the Beatles, I remember the joy, the talent, the humor, the love. And I think, if people remembered us for that — for those things — I'd be very happy.

[sometimesraven]

okay, now that it's not xmas and we've all had a minute to have fun with something and spare each other's feefees, we have got to talk about the goblins.

I mentioned this when the ep was announced but it's really extremely tone-deaf to have an episode about goblins right now.

Like yes, the episode would have been written and filmed and finalised before the Israeli genocide this year. Sure. That's an unfortunate coincidence but it happens.

However, the episode was filmed early this year, around the same time Hogwarts Legacy was released. The game was announced in 2020 and the controversy about its antisemitism started pretty much right away. Yes, the average person may not know the antisemitism behind goblins, but by this point they would have started to gain that awareness thanks to this controversy.

Even if the goblin controversy was largely buried by the transphobia controversy, there were articles coming out about it as soon as February 2022, a whole year before they even started filming TCoRR. The article I linked also mentioned the Shofar, which is the point I recall the antisemitism discussion really ramping up.

And I get it, right, not everyone is in on the latest discourse, I've met many people who had no idea even when they knew about the transphobia discourse. But as a writer of a show that prides itself on its social justice it's Rusty's job to know this shit. It would have taken two seconds to find out and I'm sorry but I refuse to believe someone who regularly argues with fans on Instagram and knows about the racist connotations of the word Celestial (which, as far as I'm aware, is not common knowledge) doesn't know that goblins have antisemitic connotations (especially as he seemed to know enough to not give them hooked noses).

I get it, fantasy sprites who cause misfortune go all the way back in our folklore, it's a great untapped potential for a Doctor Who story, especially a Christmas one. But literally all he had to do was pick any of the other creatures in our history that do the same thing. Imp? Sprite? Elf even? There were so many options.

Idk, as I said before I'm not Jewish so it's not my place to be offended on their behalf, but I've seen a few people bring it up now so I feel pretty secure in coming to the conclusion that this was Not Good At All.

Which makes three out of four specials now that have been Problematique so that's fun.

[veniteme]

Hunting for Gems

episode 5 part 2

ash island x reader

prev |

When Ash Island is forced to participate as a producer for the latest season of Show Me the Money, he knows it won’t be easy. But when his partner is you, a rising producer from H1GHR, maybe it won’t be as bad as he thought.

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

Show Me the Money X Episode 5 - Producer Live Performances

The moment you've all been waiting for! Our producers have been rehearsing non-stop for their live performances.

This is their last chance to appeal to the contestants before team selections begin. Since our producers are usually the ones doing the judging, tonight they will be the judged! Before leaving tonight, all audience members will rank the producers from best to worst performance. Higher ranking producer teams will receive a special advantage in the next round!

What are your expectations coming into this round?

Saf: Honestly, they're not high. I'm not too well-known as a producer yet, so I'm not sure we'll be getting many votes. The other producers are legends, household names. I'd probably vote for them, too. But we're not too worried about our placement.

Ash Island: If our team is good, they should be able to win with or without any advantages. What matters is we're performing and putting out music that we like.

Saf: Yeah, we're really excited for everyone to see what we've been working on.

-----

As you and Ash take your spots on the darkened stage, you take a deep breath. This is your first time singing for such a large crowd. And it's going to air on national television. No big deal.

You close your eyes and calm your shaky hands. This is what you've been working toward for weeks. It's just you and these songs you know inside and out.

You open your eyes, and the music starts playing.

-----

Changmo, Hash Swan, and Leellamarz all sit in slack-jawed silence as the final notes play.

"I know," Ash says with a smug smile. "She's good right?"

"This was her first time singing?" Leella asks in bewilderment.

"Yeah, you would not believe how hard I had to work to convince her to do this," Ash tells him.

"And you've been hiding her from me this whole time?" Changmo exclaims. "She would've been perfect for my last single!"

Ash frowns, not liking the thought of your first song being with Changmo instead him. "She would've-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Hash Swan interrupts, leaning toward the screen. "What is that?"

-----

Still on the adrenaline rush from performing, you stretch your arms out to Ash for a hug as the crowd continues to cheer all around you.

Wrapping his arms around you, he leans his head in to whisper in your ear, struggling to be heard over the crowd.

When you throw your head back in laughter, you notice his arms tighten around you, not letting you get away from him just yet.

-----

"You ever see him smile like that before?"

"Nope."

"Definitely not when he hugs me during a concert, that's for sure."

Ash just stares at them doubtfully as they talk about him like he's not even there. Until your laughter on screen catches his attention.

"Oh, yeah. He's got it bad."

-----

What did you say to Saf at the end of the performance?

Ash Island: I told her she did a great job, of course.

Saf: He also said maybe one day I'll be as good as him. Please, which one of us was getting all nervous when they put their arm around me during that last chorus?

-----

Thank you to all the producer teams for putting together such phenomenal performances! The results are in, and we will now reveal how the audience ranked our teams.

Ash Island: We don't really care about how we ranked against the other teams. We're satisfied with our own performance, and that's enough for me.

Saf: He says that but then secretly hopes to win. He'll go home and pout about it later.

"In fourth place, ranked last by our audience with a total of 52 points, we have..."

You close your eyes, bracing yourself to hear your team called.

Your eyes go wide as another team is called, and you look to Ash with surprise.

He scoffs, "Please, have some self-respect. You did way too good for us to rank fourth."

Your heart warms at his words. His face is all confidence as he reassures you.

The MC starts up again. "And in third, gathering 127 points, we have..."

You're not even nervous this time, since you're almost certain your name will be called.

And your jaw drops when it isn't. "We're in the top two?" you ask Ash in shock. You honestly can't believe it. You grasp his hand in yours as you wait for the next announcement.

"We will now reveal the second place team. Receiving 239 points, we have..."

You close your eyes and give Ash's hand a squeeze.

Contestant 1: It was almost unfair, letting Saf sing. I don't think anyone was expecting it.

Contestant 2: Ash Island was too good. His performance, his gestures, diction, flow just exude hip hop.

Contestant 3: That was a new song they performed wasn't it? I really liked it. I think the appeal of their team would be being able to make music like that with them.

-----

You allow yourself another leap of joy as you and Ash exit the Mnet building for the day. "I can't believe we won!"

"We didn't win," Ash reminds you. "We got second."

"We were in the top 2! That's a win to me," you defend.

Ash lets out a sigh but can't stop the smile from creeping into his expression. "Okay, you're right. Let's go eat to celebrate. On me," he offers.

Your eyebrows raise, "Right now?" Filming had run pretty long so it was already late at night.

"Yes, we've been on set all day. I'm starving. And you only performed to appease my begging, so it's my treat."

It had been a long day, and you should eat before heading home. "Alright, let's go," you agree.

Ash has a big grin on his face as he puts his arm around you and leads the way.

[churchofthecomet]

I haven't watched Leverage in a while, see my last complaint post about their Stuxnet episode. But in the meantime I've been consuming other media, and it just struck me how equal the dynamic is between all of the Leverage characters.

Every character in this show is competent. They each have Their Thing that They Do, and if one of them is absent for an episode, the rest of the team suffers until they get back. I complain about them short-changing Hardison by making the tech stuff unrealistic and incomprehensible (so you can't get a feel for how good he is at it, like you can with Eliot punching people -- although if I knew more about fighting I'm sure I'd be complaining about Eliot's scenes too). But at least within the narrative he is really good at his job, and the other team members know it. Likewise for Eliot, Parker, Nate, and Sophie -- they're each at the top of their respective classes. They have separate specialties and they're amazing at those specialties.

And what's more, the interpersonal dynamics reflect this. Nate is an asshole to the rest of them, but there are FOUR OF THEM so it balances him out -- they can commiserate with each other, sit him down and have a talk with him, threaten to strike, whatever, and their side of the relationship is treated with importance because the team couldn't function without them.

Hardison and Eliot's sniping is just friendly banter, and they know it. Everyone is so supportive of Parker's social problems. Sophie is the one with the most traditionally-feminine skillset, something which might be demeaned in another show (and I have some complaints with Leverage's treatment of her), but she's taken seriously both in-universe and by the show itself. They all work wonderfully together. They balance each other out, and they become more than the sum of their parts.

Contrast this with the dynamics in a bunch of other modern media. Let's grab my favorite punching bag of late, BBC Sherlock. Sherlock is far and away the more useful member of the Sherlock-and-John team. The narrative places incredible weight on his intelligence, and John is stuck in a support role. Sherlock is also mean to John, and since John is one person (without much of a spine for standing up to Sherlock!) it feels utterly abusive. The "friendly banter" isn't banter. The "aww look they really DO care about each other" moments were enough for me when I was 13 or 14, but now it just feels like a cycle of abuse. The dynamic is fundamentally not equal. If I'm watching a TV show and I start to think "man character A really needs like 6 months of therapy to stop hating themself and they NEED to leave character B," when the show's message is "character A and character B are a match made in heaven you guys," the show has failed.

See also Our Flag Means Death season 2 with the relationship between... honestly Ed and the rest of the crew, but mostly Ed and Stede. Ed is the best pirate anyone's ever seen -- the rest of them are pretty good but no match for him. The one guy who had a chance of standing up to Ed and equalizing things got killed off at the end of the season, and Stede (as we've seen) lacks a spine to stand up to Ed. Controversial take but Good Omens might be heading in this direction? They defanged Aziraphale and made him into way more of a softie than the book or Season 1 imply. Meanwhile Crowley is Competent and Right About Everything by comparison. The general pattern here is that couples (or whatever the fuck was going on with BBC Sherlock and John) are worse off. I don't know if it's lasting heteronormativity or "two-person dynamics are hard," but the urge to make sunshine-and-stormcloud pairings where the stormcloud acts like shit towards the sunshine is just... too strong.

Leverage is this rare show that refuses to shit on any of its protagonists. Everyone's in the loop, everyone sees some character development, and it fucking RULES. I wish they could make more TV shows like this in 2024.

[aranarumei]

okay watched ep 2 of fhjy and as anyone might imagine I've got thoughts. under the cut.

lots of fun things this episode! haven't watched the AP yet btw. i'm mostly writing these down myself so I'll go character-by-character, but some overall stuff about the episode:

whatever episode one was doing really paid off here. by itself, the full episode of battle, apart from being excited by all the new intros, was a bit frustrating especially since I wasn't sure how they were actually going to be able to reel the night yorb in, but they did it in this one! with lots of time left over for other stuff.

and with both episodes out, (as i suspected) that really frustrating feeling from episode 1 carries a lot more meaning--brennan making everyone fight those minions was perfect icing on the cake. as well as all those personal troubles at the end. but that gets into character stuff, so:

riz:

riz gukgak is one of my favorite characters in the universe. when i watched fhsy baron happened and i obsessively took notes the whole season bc i was like. riz is aroace and i can prove it. as you can imagine i nearly died when my green heaven released

anyways, pretty much everything riz has done has been so, so, on brand for what I'd think he'd do, so that's great--i feel like I haven't gone wrong in understanding him, which is cool

one of the big things that seems like we'll be getting this season is riz's attachment to his friends, by which i mean he feels like he can't hang out with them unless there's a job to be done. he's got this bit in the boys' night extra where riz says "it's usually like we kind of have this whole group dynamic where all of us come together and we solve these problems together. and when I don’t have a problem to solve, I don’t know what to do with myself." which is pretty much exactly what's going on here. as brennan phrases it, riz has basically just told his mother "I have a pretty a hard time connecting to my dearest friends whose lives I've saved many times unless there's a problem, so I can feel useful."

and this like... deep sense of anxiety around being alone, that's kind of a really deep part of riz's character, right? penny luckstone was his babysitter--closest thing he had to a friend. riz cares a lot about the case, but he probably also cared about the only connection he really had. and now the bad kids are his connections. he wants to be with them, like, forever, and half of his worries about all those romantic entanglements is that everyone is going to prioritize themselves and their romantic partners above him, and since he doesn't... want that kind of thing, where does that leave him? alone? forever? with no place to belong? he's already one of the only goblins we ever see in the whole time we've been in the land of spyre.

and I think what's really heartbreaking about this, at least to me, is that riz so clearly and obviously loves and adores his friends. he doesn't have a problem expressing his love! and I don't think he really even doubts that his friends love him, too. it's just that. i don't think he can deal with the possibility of being without them. and he doesn't know if the fact that they like each other is enough to keep them together. but hey, world-saving does.

sklonda was so good this episode, too. was particularly affected by when she told riz "you do everything for other people, and I want to make sure that you don't get your heart broken" because it's just... yeah. also that's such a real struggle money-wise with college in particular... I really kind of hoped we could maybe help sklonda out with her case, but, it is her job, after all. see where riz gets his board from haha. but seriously, she's just... such a good mother. every time the gukgaks interact it's so warm to me because riz and sklonda just... so obviously care for each other, so carefully. like. not a single bit of resentment or frustration coming from riz once sklonda tells him he might need some to put some extra pressure on himself, and it's partially being fine with pressure, partially not acknowledging his problems, and partially that he's just a good kid and knows his mother's doing the best for him. so he'll do that for her, too.

who bets that riz will not talk about any sad feelings in front of his friends this season!!! anyways that was so goddamned long, because I'm crazy about riz. the rest will be way quicker

anyways no one except ME is reading this. haha.

fig:

so, I'm fully convinced that gilear and fig swapped lucks. the sour, curdling feeling? very gilear yogurt. also the kicker was icing on her shirt. real yogurt moment there. and with all these kisses of fortune gilear's getting, I'm convinced that's what's happened for fig. very interested to see how that messes with her coolness

I'm also really interested in fig actually taking bard classes. i do have to wonder how it might go... I know emily like, does music, so I wonder if any of her knowledge there might come in handy

also very interested in seeing how any of the aguefort quangle stuff is gonna mess with things this season! even the little bit of ayda we saw was so good.

kristen:

so, like, obviously, cassandra's not doing so hot, because they've only got two followers. i think it's really interesting how non-pressuring they are towards kristen because like. for all the pestering they don't actually seem to outright mention that they aren't doing so great

also kristen seems in a pretty bad place this semester, but I'm hoping that the stark reality of expulsion is actually going to make her think about like, getting her life together. i'm really interested to see where it'll go because like. i dunno. i'm not much of an evangelizer myself.

more than tracker being away, it must sting additionally that like, apart from being in a possible breaking up state, tracker, right now, is being the like, perfect cleric. like she is reforming and adding nuance to her faith and stuff in a really really big way!! which is the kind of achievements kristen should be doing. but you know. they're world saving and things are... they're pretty tiring. (must've been nice talking about the moon goddess during eternal night, i bet)

ragh is also back and i'm so glad bc i love ragh. also 100% that red crystal lydia barkrock's been dealing with is gonna be relevant. i really hope that he has somewhat of a presence this season because like, he was around in fhsy, but ragh's like... idk, he's cool, and I feel like he's rich enough in character that he's got places to go?

adaine:

loved the little aelwyn mention. that nemesis abjuration is such a deeply aelwyn way of looking out for her sister

i am really excited to see adaine trying to get a job, personally. and i do hope we get to see more of zayn darkshadow bc he's just a really chill and nice minor npc in my opinion

fabian:

i love fabian's parents as equally as i hate them, and this scene exemplified it. they like... give him things, and look after him, but they're not really... supportive, are they? in an emotional way. no time to talk, and he's 18 now, so they're totally fine leaving him alone for months. they can be the cool parents that let him throw awesome parties. and hallariel saying it's a great thing to be his father's son... I don't know, bill seacaster's like, kind of a shithead?

so that'll be interesting. and he wanted to go to dance camp...! i hope he really does get to explore that passion more during the school year. truthfully i have to wonder how his grades are... riz and adaine are doing great, fig and kristen are doing terribly, gorgug is probably not the greatest considering his rage, but fabian? I'd be interested in knowing what's up with that

also they don't directly answer whether they're taking all the staff iirc, but judging by how hallariel mentions that food is just set up with an account, it may be that he can't even like, talk to cathilda or anything. which sucks!! it really does suck.

gorgug:

in some ways, zelda and gorgug breaking up was a little anticipated. still, it does suck. but it's not like he really had the time for anything

i wonder how this interacts with the timeline of the seven: that's in her junior year and sam seems to still refer to gorgug as zelda's boyfriend, and stuff, so I wonder if it's a retcon or I've got the timeline wrong or that I haven't quite finished actually watching the seven. anything could be fine--personally I think gorgug and zelda work really well as solo characters, so like, who knows

edit: in the AP brennan said zelda graduated so the events of the seven have likely already happened... that does bring up the question of why things dont line up but like. i can handwave time shenanigans in my head. especially with the quangle.

could be kinda fun if gorgug and ragh bonded a bit more this season.

thistlesprings are great parents, of course. love that they offered to fix the hangvan, or work on it together, and I'm really hoping their supportive energy is gonna help gorgug out this year. i have to wonder if there's gonna be any strangeness with gorgug meeting any of the thistlespring extended family, now that they're hosting this festival

speaking of this festival, it's the same one that sklonda's working a case related to!! i want to get my claws into this mystery so bad

ok that's about everything. gonna watch the AP now! my final thoughts... it's so frustrating that these bad kids have saved the world multiple times over and done so many things, and it's not like... enough, not even close. but that's a very real thing I felt during junior year of high school and that I'm sure many people felt--that I'd spent all this time developing myself as a person and becoming better and doing some pretty interesting stuff, in my opinion, but when I put it all out on like a resume or a college application or whatever, it looked like nothing. even though it was absolutely meaningful and important, it was nothing.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s5 ep3: Extreme Risk

I guess it's time to feel personally attacked by relatable content! I didn't like this one as a kid, but as an adult, my opinion has flipped, because boy does it hit close to home. (Content warning, just in case anyone hasn't seen this one- this ep is about depression and self harm.)

I appreciate them actually following through on something traumatic happening in a previous episode- finding out all your friends died and the cause you were fighting for is lost is a pretty big deal, and B'Elanna was obviously very upset by it, as anyone would be. Having it be something that set her off down a depressive spiral that she kept from everyone else for months is unfortunately all too real.

When I was a kid, I hadn't processed my trauma enough to understand this one yet, but watching it the whole way through as an adult, it's just a lot of uncomfortable recognition of things that I've experienced myself. Obviously not doing extreme sports or fighting Cardassians on a holodeck, but just letting yourself spiral into a dark place where you do self destructive things because it's a pain you can control, until you can't, because it becomes it's own kind of addiction. Everything B'Elanna says here is just... yeah. The not being able to trust that anyone or anything good will stay, that every time you start to feel safe, something bad happens so you withdraw from people even more, keeping it all to yourself because you're sure no one else will understand or care- it's the whole 'I had a traumatic childhood' package. But the lesson she learns here is the hardest one to admit to for anyone in that situation-that you have to talk to people about it.

I've felt like Chakotay and B'Elanna's friendship got lost a bit last season, but they did a great job highlighting it here. Chakotay's compassionate listening and reassurance without judgement was A+ good friend stuff. Tough love that's still kind is a line that's hard to walk in real life, and goodness knows Voyager's writers have screwed it up a lot, but they did good here. I've criticized the meanness of the crew's interactions a lot lately, but everyone did what they were supposed to do here. They all did their best to be reach out to her and be sensitive to her, and while she still wasn't ready to talk about it without it being dragged out of her, just being open to listening provides a framework that makes it easier for people who are reluctant to reach out to do it in the future, before things get so bad. That's what builds the trust they need to feel safe, and I'm honestly grateful that they remembered that these characters actually all love each other a lot, and showed them acting like it. Considering some of the garbage we've waded through recently, I'm surprised that they pulled this one off with such sensitivity and insight. Especially back in the 90s, when talking about mental health wasn't anywhere near as mainstream as it is now, this was pretty ahead of it's time. Showing that even someone who's highly intelligent and capable and seems to have it all can still experience depression and engage in self harm is still pretty progressive actually. I appreciated that they didn't just neatly say she's magically better at the end either, but acknowledged that talking to people about it, and forcing yourself to go back to where you're needed and valued, and reengaing with what you do best, with support from the people around you, is the first step in the process.

I can't even do a proper plot analysis because I'm kind of up in my feels over this one. It was notable for being the first appearance of the Delta Flyer, which was first suggested in the previous episode, but mostly, this one just hits all the bullseyes for depressed bitches who need to let themselves reach out to people and trust them and accept love from them.

Tl;dr: A surprisingly realistic look at depression and self harm, and how connecting with people who care about you and talking about it paves a way through it. An important episode that's relatable for a lot of people, and gives an uncomfortable subject the weight and respect it deserves.

[nobodysdaydreams]

If Cutter and his little girlfriend are going to space, does that mean they're gonna get their hands chopped off too? (Also it looks like Duck Boy might be going for a redemption arc! Go Duck Boy Go!)

(or my reaction to Episode 47 and mini Episode 14 of Wolf359)

Welcome back dear readers! I managed to get another episode in as I pack for my vacation. Please enjoy!

Tagging the mutuals who got me invested in this, and if you want to be tagged or untagged from these posts, lmk, or you can follow my blog or simply follow the tag "#bods wolf359 reactions". Anyone who has followed me for a while knows my updates are inconsistent, so I apologize in advance for that and for any spelling/grammar mistakes in my posts.

@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs @herawell @commsroom

Episode 47: Into the Depths

I love Hera's narration, and I love the thought experiment. It reminds me of split brain patients. (For those who don't know what a split brain patient is, or haven't taken a psych class, if we were to surgically cut your corpus collosum (the part of the brain the connects your hemispheres), your consciousness would split and there would basically be two of you sharing one body (but same memories, personality, intelligence, etc.). This is only done if there are life-threatening seizures in the area and removing it is the only way to stop them, but it's an interesting thought experiment because if there are suddenly two of you, what happened to the one?)

And... now Doug is freaking out. I guess the slaps aren't working.

"You will understand Hera." Shut it Whiskey Boy! This also makes me wonder how many "Hera's" we've seen.

Kepler: "I have no idea what's going on Doug, but I just can't stop being ominous. I swear I don't know what's happening, this is just how I talk at all times."

Conan and Clippy? 😂 The names Lovelace gives them.

Yes. Kepler was rude Lovelace. He had so much Whisky and did he share it? No. No he didn't. Selfish.

Ah it seems even you weren't in the loop Jacobi. Perhaps you might fancy a mutiny now?

She doesn't know she's a clone? That's cruel. Think of Jacobi! He died thinking he was the real Duck boy! That's an awful way to go. No one should die believing they're someone so cringe.

Warm up act? Kepler, shut up. And what other clones have shown up over the years? Cutter? Pryce?

Good question. What about Jacobi? Was HE going to die too?

Kepler: "Start listening to me. The only person who knows what's happening." You're just blackmailing them Kepler, you're not good for much other than threatening people and swirling around your Whisky.

Weapon designed to appeal to humanity? But...how do you know she's a weapon? And how do you know she can't fight it even if she is? Maybe Lovelace is stronger than the evil aliens! If they even are evil.

TELL HIM HERA! TELL HIM!

Jacobi: "What could motivate me?"

Me: *Holds up a duck*

Ah blue part of the star. 💙💫 That does seem to be important. Scary, but important.

"Jacobi, any thoughts?" When does he have any?

His hands are shaking? Oh yeah, your friend died, you killed someone, and your boss who lies to people (GASP) LIED TO YOU TOO! Oh if only SOMEBODY could have seen this coming. Really, anybody with ears and a brain.

Oh right. The other Jacobi. This entire time he hasn't been sure? AND HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT FEAR FEELS LIKE? It's a NEW FEELING FOR HIM???

I guess everyone has their limit. Duck Boy needs a therapist. A team of therapists. The best therapists, and even then, I'm not sure it will be enough.

"You don't know what working at Goddard is really like" "You have a cool dental plan. Hooray." "It's not about that."

So...they do have a good dental plan? 🪥🦷

"Going new places. Meeting interesting people....LITTLE KIDS?"

Kepler. You didn't. NO. Oh my gosh they have Anne and Minkowski's husband at gunpoint don't they? And they don't even know.

Punch his lights out Doug. Good job.

Though to be fair that IS what working at Goddard seems to be about. Threatening the innocent for a 0.0000000000001% chance that you MIGHT get something out of this in the end.

Poor Lovelace. Hera knows what you're going through though. Exactly, see she does!

"Nobody do anything stupid" it's too late for that Kepler, you're here.

Good speech Lovelace! And nice punch!

"Can we get a break" Nope. Sadly no.

Huh. Hands are glowing. That's...interesting. Maybe she has some cool magic space powers? Is it too much to hope for?

Oh. It's the Dear Listeners. Well. Hello. 👋

Hush up Kepler. 😂 I love how they still talk like Doug.

That's right Kepler. Violence doesn't give you authority!

DISARMING HIM! DOES THAT MEAN HE IS LOSING HIS ARMS!

But...if he doesn't have any hands...

Then...how will he enjoy the feel of the Whisky in his hands?

Doug is hiding 😂 Why is Doug me?

What process are they talking about? “The door won't stay open, we are waiting.” Waiting for what? For what?

Well, at least the aliens don't like Kepler. That's a positive in my book. 👍

Glad Kepler and Jacobi are in custody. But...how exactly are they gonna put the handcuffs on Kepler if he no longer has hands...

Yeah, Minkowski, I'm with Lovelace. You SHOULD be in command. I know you think you're doing what is right, but Lovelace is an alien so...

DOUG. DO NOT SAY THAT THINGS CAN'T GET WORSE. TRUST ME THEY CAN.

Who is this? What is this? Who is Cline? Who is Jordan? What is this? Dr. what now? This is a lot of characters.

Full read out? Minkowski better send them a message warning them about Cutter. USS Hermes? OH NO THEY'RE NOT CALLING MINKOWSKI THEY'RE CALLING CUTTER. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!

Who is this? Who is the robot? Expunge the records? Ah yes, the black achieves. Oh Rachel.

"Say hi for me?" Hi to who? HERA oh no ew Pryce isn't it.

TRAVELING???

Please tell me Pryce and Cutter aren't coming to space. Unless it's to get blown up. In that case, they are welcome.

Mini Episode 14: One of Them

Oh they are listening to Jacobi and Kepler.

Looks like Jacobi might fancy a mutiny now.

Doug is me, I want snacks too 😂

"are you worried I can't get around Eiffel?" "Hey!" again, why is Doug me. 😂

Wow, Jacobi really DID care about Maxwell. Well then. Maybe the two of you shouldn't have been working for the bad guys then.

"What kind of officer have you been?" DANG DUCK BOY. GET THAT REDEMPTION ARC. GO DUCK BOY GO! 🦆

"I feel used. I feel experimented on. You treated me like one of them!"

Oh Duck Boy. Sweet silly little Duck Boy. Don't you get it? You've always been one of them. You, Hilbert, Maxwell, Kepler, even Rachel. You've always been one of them.

"You're addicted to gambling with people's lives and you lost!" EXACTLY!

"Neither one of us killed Maxwell." LIES! YOU COULD HAVE STOOD DOWN!

Jacobi is starting to realize that's not necessarily true. Good for him.

"I had my orders." So did Maxwell. So did Hilbert. So did Jacobi.

"You're just the middle link in the food chain" EXACTLY! YEEEESSSSSS!!! DUCK BOY IS FINALLY GETTING IT! AND THANK GOODNESS SOMEONE FINALLY IS BECAUSE HILBERT NEVER COULD! DUCK BOY! YOU'RE DOING IT! WADDLE YOUR WAY TO THAT REDEMPTION LITTLE DUCKLING! YOU CAN DO IT! 🐣

Thanks for reading dear readers. Sorry I didn’t have time to react to more, but I hope you enjoyed this!

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsP 03/22/24] 296 - Box o' Clocks

This was fun to put together, right up until i actually tried recording it; then it was a giant mess. We didn't even get to all the stuff i'd wanted to talk about, but i figured we were already pushing 15 just going over the two clocks.

The reversible clock really isn't all that, tho' it is fun. i like having logic & bits that can serve multiple purposes in different settings. Not sure how often you'd need a clock that can do both in just one level, but you set it up to go both ways, and now you have a timer for a race-type level, and a countdown for an escape room. Versatile!

For my own purposes, i like chronos' clock more. It's very elegant and easy to work wiv when you've got to set it to different times every episode. Wish it had a broader font set, but the fine-line looks nice in green. Looks nice for text too, but i feel like the line-weight isn't heavy enough to sustain longer passages.

i'll try getting around to the simple animations and kitbashed sequencer tutorials eventually. i do want to make them, but i don't really feel a lot of motivation for it right this minute.

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

Things are well enough here. Wiv @soupum 's help i got the ps3 set up and on Beacon, and that's exciting. Honestly, Soup did a fantastic job guiding a very tech-skittish me through the steps. The soul of patience, that boy.

It's weird seeing new levels published in LBP1 & 2, even if a lot of the ones i've run into have been from the LBArchive, or costume tutorials/give-aways. So. So. So many costume levels. It's been a good weird, tho'. It's nice that there are still folx actively giving time and love to this strange little thing we've got going.

There are just four more episodes left in the LittleBig-Archives, and then that's that until the servers come back on line. That's weird feeling in the less good way. i'm sure the servers will come back. No telling how long; but it feels like Sony's giving it an honest shot. Which frankly surprises the heck out of me, but lots of things do, so that's alright.

[sodiumlamp]

Picard

The one thing, the only thing that I really cared about with Picard Season 2 was this moment where he hugs Q. I don't know if I just figured out he was dying all on my own, or I read spoilers at some point. But I'm pretty sure I saw this and decided there was really only one reason for this. I mean, I guess Q could just be "going away for a really long time." Like he got a job screwing with some other characters in a different dimension, and he won't be back before Picard dies of old age. But it simplifies things if he's just dying, or whatever the Q version of death is.

And I guess the basic idea is sound. Q knows he's only got so much time left, and he wants to spend it on one last romp with Picard, and this one is extra special because it forces Picard to confront his feelings about his mother's suicide.

I don't like Yvette's suicide in a vacuum. It's pretty fucking dark, and the gravitas it would have had in another show is wasted in Star Trek: Picard, which does constantly hotshots dark moments in a vain effort to be profound. By the time we get to Yvette's noose we've already seen Icheb's eye get plucked out, several other character deaths, Evil General Picard's skull collection, and all the spooky hallucinations and flashbacks that foreshadowed the Yvette reveal. The actual reveal gets lost in the shuffle.

Still, for what they were trying to do with Q, the gesture he was trying to make to Picard, it almost has to be something that big and character redefining. It's just that it's a good idea that was cast in the purgatory of this tedious bullshit show. Q's powers giving out was completely unnecessary, except as a way to drag out the story. Now he has to walk everywhere and use proxies like Adam Soong, which just ruins the pacing. All the other Q stories are settled in two hours or less, and that's because he can appear whenever and wherever to gas up the plot, or vanish to allow the story to simmer. But Picard isn't built that way.

The thing I realized today is that this show, and others like it, relies more on the audience speculation than the actual writing. What I mean by that is: You get one story over several episodes, and you're supposed to watch them over a span of time, and between episodes you're supposed to wonder about what's going to happen next. You're expected to rewatch the episodes you have access to and search for clues, formulate fan theories, and then tune in for the next one and see if you were right. And there's fun to be had there, but with Picard, it feels like the show is constructed more to tickle the viewer's curiosity more than actually telling a compelling story. For example:

Most of this episode is about the good guys trying to protect Renee and the Europa launch so Adam Soong doesn't spoil it. Q's nearly powerless, and the Borg Queen left in the previous episode, so there's no one left to be the villain except Soong, and he's... not a strong enough character to carry that off. He tries to poison Renee with a fast-acting neurotoxin, but Gary Eight fakes him out with a decoy. Soong's backup plan is to destroy the spacecraft itself with drones, but Raffi hacks their guidance system and Rios manages to use one drone to take out the other three. Then Kore reappears to reveal she erased all his research files, just to twist the knife. Utterly defeated, Soong reaches into his desk and pulls out a file entitled "PROJECT KHAN". You know, like the Star Trek villain. Khan? You know who that is? Do you?

It's... a dumb moment. This story is over, so there's nowhere for it to go. The good guys return to 2401 at the end of this episode, so they don't have to deal with the Eugenics Wars. And we already know how Khan ended up. This show isn't gonna pay any of this off.

But earlier in this viewing, I considered that maybe Adam Soong had something to do with the Eugenics Wars, since he seemed to be a hawk for genetic engineering, and then it turned out he cloned dozens of daughters in some sort of weird experiment. So during the long, dull minutes of this season, I wondered if maybe he was going to turn out to be involved with Khan and the Eugenics Wars somehow. That was kind of fun. And I was right! Good for me!

Except... I had to make my own fun. The text of Star Trek: Picard doesn't actually do much with any of this. Adam Soong's arc in this season is:

Whoa, what's Brent Spiner doing here?

Oh, he's a scientist with a sick daughter, and he's desperate enough to help Q.

Oh, he's turning into a huge dick. It's like Q corrupted his love for his daughter. Very tragic.

Oh, he's some sort of shady war criminal? So he's always been like this, and he always will be.

It's not much of a character arc at all, is my point. The real fun of Adam Soong depends on the audience to try to figure out his whole deal. Maybe he's Alton Soong from the 25th Century, or Data in disguise! Maybe he's Lore! Maybe he has an army of Kore clones in his basement! But the dirty little secret is that he really isn't that interesting at all. And by the time you find out what he really is, it's the end of the season, and they got away with wasting your time with a dud character.

The "PROJECT KHAN" folder is this cheap prize they give you at the end to reward you for sticking around this long. "Hey, you were right, he really is important because he invents Khan later." But it doesn't actually matter because this is his last appearance. It's just Brent Spiner holding a folder.

The same thing applies to Wesley Crusher showing up to recruit Kore into the Watcher/Traveler organization. I guess the idea here is that the Gary Seven people and the Travelers were in the same group? And now that Renee's Watcher is dead, they have a vacancy. But what makes Kore special? Like, Wesley had all these special talents and gifts. Kore spent her whole life indoors waiting for a cure for her genetic ailments. I mean, maybe she's a super-genius, but they never showed that. It just feels like they worked this in to cover for the fact that they never did much with Kore. "No, no, we meant to overlook Kore! That way you'd never see it coming when we... uh... uh... have her team up with Wesley Crusher! Wow!"

I mean, it's nice to see Wesley. I wasn't sure if he was in this series or not, so I can check off that box. I'm glad he's doing well. But it just doesn't matter. I guess they might still turn up in Season 3, but I doubt it.

So, once Q takes everyone back to their own time, we get back to the Borg crisis from the beginning of the season, and it turns out it's Jurati, and she set all this up to coordinate some big joint mission to save the galaxy from another space anomaly. It really doesn't mean anything, but they had to do some big feel-good thing to pay off the Borg. Jurati's Borg are good guy Borgs, I guess, and they request provisional Federation membership. I guess.

I think that's about all I wanted to go over. There's some interesting ideas in this, but the show is so plodding and slow that it never manages to land any of its best shots. Again, all I cared about was Q and Picard hugging. They could have done anything else to set up that moment, and it probably would have been better. Maye Q uses Picard's house as his own hospice, and Picard's stuck with him as a roommate for a while. Maybe he tries to take Picard on some goofy fantasy adventure but his heart just isn't into it, so Picard takes him out for drinks instead. Maybe they just give in to 30+ years of sexual tension and have dirty, nasty, old man sex for three episodes straight.

Oh, and Elnor's alive again. For all the difference it makes.

[wench-and-jezebel]

The Musketeers Reaction: The Exiles

Jezebel (@typicalopposite) reacts [with occasional asides by Wench (@scripted-downfall)]

Sheep

[Bebby]

“Don’t get…” Buddy.  You.  Have.  No.  Right.  T- Actually neither of them do.  WHY WERE THEY CHOSEN FOR THIS?  [*simultaneously*  "Don't get involved"  Aramis, you're one to talk]

That… Looked sus

Bby!!

PRIEST BE DED

HOW  [?]  IS THAT BABY IN THAT THING?  [There are straps or something; don't question it]  That’s so unsafe!  The mom in me is like HOW TF!  Ack!

[Legitimately, though, why did they have d'Art and Aramis teaming up and think this a good idea]

Welp… they left the wrong one with her [alsdkfj True]  He just gonna replace the baby  [ALKDSFJ]

[Sir, she was by a grave; where do you think hubby be?]

If Flirt removes and puts this hat back on one more time ☠️☠️ I know why he’s doing it but ☠️

[Dude.  Athos should have had a hawk.  Is it at all in his character?  Nah, not really.  But it'd be cool.]

All I heard from Louis was whine whine whine… whine whine

[asdfasdf We've found the two competent members of les Inseparables]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️

Whine.  Whine.  Whineeeee.  [I recognize that he's not actually being unreasonable here but he's very whiny.  I guess he could rescind his own ruling maybe?  idk for sure.  But like... she really did commit a rather serious crime]  I just 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨  This man.  

["Decapitating one's mother is rarely popular with the people sire - it always looks a touch ungrateful."  I love the Cardinal's sarcasm ngl]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️ Very true

Poor baby!  I’d be crying too.  He’s like WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU MAN.  And getting flip flopped all around

Do they think she’s a witch?  [I don't actually remember]

Bbys like OH GOD WHY D’ART I’m screwed

Athos got them crazy eyes now

You just wanted to kill your mother???

Oooop y’all don’t be looking at each other  [Another instance of Treville and the Cardinal being on the same page btw]

Wot.  The.  Fuck.  This man?!!??!  [Louis is… a character]

Buddy you think your cape is big enough?  [Nope… You know what they say about men with big capes-]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️

["Aramis and d'Artagnan aren't back yet"  No shit, you paired those two together… The mission went to shit the second those orders were given]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️ Then again… Had he sent Porthos with Aramis…. They would have never arrived at all  [Ah, then you've come to the (correct) conclusion that Athos has the braincell; I've taught you well]  😂😂😂😂  And he needed the brain cell with him guarding the king. Alas his hands were tied

Oooohhhhh poor bby king… Don’t cry… Uuuuwuuuuwuuuuu  [It must be said... I do like the actor who plays Louis.  He does a good job at being... this]  He does!

It’s very obvious she’s faking  [Ma’am is manipulative af]

[Ma'am.  Treason is not a "misjudgement" most of the time]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️

Ma’am why does dart need to be joined?  [*simultaneously* "I'll go and join d'Artagnan"  I'm not surprised, dearie]  You!  Are married!

[Good news... Aramis knows ways of healing wounds *cough cough*]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️

Have you, Flirt? Have you?

I thought they were gonna kiss I was like oooop

She looks like the queen of hearts in the live action Alice

Beauty and the beast 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[Wait.  Hold up.  Oh shit.  Huh]  Wait Wot? Lol  [Nothing]

Well shit… Flirt, stop talking

That’s so fecking sad omg ack

[Whoa, there, d'Art]  ☠️☠️

☠️☠️ [THE SIDEGLANCE]  I knowwww  ["You'll have children of your own someday"  "If it's meant to be *stares at d'Art*"]  Lol

Poor Constance  [She's gone from running the risk of dishonoring herself because d'Artagnan asked her to in Athos's name to running the risk of dishonoring herself because d'Artagnan asked her to]

– – – 

Jezebel: I honestly don’t know how Aramis can breathe… Buddy has shoved his foot so far down his throat this episode 😂😂

Wench: asldkfjalkdsfj it's true

Jezebel: And the king! I just can’t get over how childish he is! 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨 poor Anne I could never live in an arranged marriage! (That’s what these like always are right?)

Wench: This was def an arranged marriage, yes.  As part of an alliance between France and Spain

Jezebel: Ohhh! 🙂 Then you got the queen of hearts being sneaky and conniving! And Athos being the only one with sense!

Wench: Oi, Porthos hasn't done much, but he's still not lacking sense!  It's only when Aramis is there that trouble ensues

Jezebel: Very true!  I swear: you got the brains, the brawn, the beauty, and d’Art

Wench: asdkfhjaslkdfj  Also known by their alternative titles: the traumatized, the traumatized, the traumatized, and, oh, yeah, the traumatized

Jezebel: ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️  And these are the famous musketeers whose story has been told for centuries (?)

Wench:  I mean.  Yes

Jezebel: The ? Was because I wasn’t sure when the book came out ☠️☠️

Wench: I know al;ksdjf

Jezebel: Honestly?  I love it

Wench: Though, again... d'Art was a great deal less traumatized in the book.  And I don't remember Savoy being a thing for Aramis either.  idk... it's been a bit since I read, but I only really remember book!Athos having a Traumatic Backstory alksdjf

Jezebel: So trauma, poverty, religion, and…. And d’Art.

Wench: Well, again, I'm not sure about the poverty even.  For Porthos, I mean.  I don’t remember it being a big part of the book, aside from the fact that he’s described (iirc) as marrying well, and that’s why he has a title.

Jezebel: Unless it’s just the show that has Port come fro- Yeah, that!

Wench: I don't know for sure… I need to reread 😭  The Wikipedia article seems to agree with me (picture not included)

Jezebel: Oh, so brawn works! And ☹️☹️ He dies?

Wench: Not in the first book… I told you this; he dies in Man in the Iron Mask

Jezebel: The book one tho right?

Wench: Yes.  Ma'am, I've said this like three times 😭  I knew you never listened to me (aff)

Jezebel: ‘Cause in the movie it’s d’Art. Is he the king’s father in the book?

Wench: No

Jezebel: Also… Ma’am.  Memory is shit you know this

Wench: HMPH.

– – –

Oh my gawd!  She’s behind thieving the bby!

[Our wish, their command; Porthos returns to the front lines :)]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️  [Y'all, why are you walking that closely.  You're Asking to get seen]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️  [Athos is back too]

Ooooop.  OOPPPPP!  OHHHHHHHHH PHILLIPE!  [Now you see the cause for the earlier “Wait.  Hold up.  Oh shit.  Huh.”  NOW DO YOU SEE]  I seee!  Le gasp!  OH MAH GAWDDDD

Shit, this baby is the prince

Oooooop she ain’t nothing in there

“He folds”  [Athos, I love you]  

[Constance, my beloved]   Lord… Flirt’s gonna be getting heart eyes for the married lady d’Art’s got heart eyes for

Isss not all about looks flirt

*Sigh*  He’s about to his thigh now. He’s going to have eaten himself by the end

🙂 I like him.  I see what he did there  [This has the same vibe as "just so you know why I can't help"]  It does!!

[I love that Athos knows what happened within one second alskdjf]  😂😂😂

Lady… Don’t be stupid

[Off-topic, but… The temptation to write a Musketeers/Firefly fic is strong with this one]  👀👀👀👀  [I still don’t know firefly but I’m listening]

Maaam!  The king is more a child than the baby!

[Also, Aramis... spare nothing why don't you.  Like... she needs to hear it but also.  Tact?]  He’s definitely eaten his torso by now

Well, the red queen is back  [Do.  Do you mean Helena Bonham Carter]  The character is who she looks like with that hairdo

Wah wah wahhhh  ["Being king can be so boring"  I promise you wouldn't want to be a subject either.  Also "It's so unfair!'  Bitch, you have soooo much privilege.  It's literally not even funny]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️ I can’t even with him!

["No, no, let's keep it suicidal"]  😂😂😂😂  [Did you expect any less from Athos?  I mean... buddy's a bit.  Self-care-less]  Very true

[I mean.  She makes a good point]  True ☠️☠️☠️☠️

Henry, Louis, Phillip… Do the people back then know there were other boys names 😮‍💨  [Ma'am, they're French: Henri.  Louis.  Phillipe.  But also… No]

“These barrels contain brandy. A rather good Armagnac, I believe.”  “Athos, now is not the time.”  AND THEN THE LOOK]  ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️  I LOVE IT

SIR!  [YOU ALWAYS LACK FAITH]  I KNOW ITS FAKE WOMAN BUT YOU COULD HAVE WARNED HER [OH]

BRUH How can she be like this about her kid?!!?  Damn.  Like, he’s whiny but I feel bad for him.

Is she…. Is she good?  [WHY WOULD YOU POSSIBLY THINK HER GOOD?]  I meant the little moan thing she did

Well shit… Poor priest 

Damn

Aight, Flirt pulled himself back out to like the ankle.

She’s like nah, I was thinking this man’s a fucking idiot

– – – 

Jezebel: That didn’t feel like it was long enough to be a whole episode I have been robbed

Wench: lkasjfdlksajdf  I'd say do another but it's the time of night where you usually abandon me, so... 'sigh'  Although... next ep is rather a good one.  Deserves focus.  (aka: it’s Athos-centric)

Jezebel: I can’t stay up past midnight again I’m dying in the mornings lol 😂😂😂😂 If it was the weekend I 100% would 😭 cause I’m loving this show sm!

Wench: Hmph.  Shoulda known... you just like me for my shows

Jezebel: LIESSSS

Wench: Mmmhmmmmm… Do endpoint, problem child

Jezebel: This was so fucking sad omg!!!!  This is not what I wanted when I said I was curious if Phillipe was in the show

Wench: I didn't even connect the two last time, if it makes you feel better.  I also didn't connect Savoy to all the dead Musketeers in episode 1 until this go-round.  Or how this episode must have been painful given the similarities to Milady.   I hadn’t seen Man in the Iron Mask (or read the book) in any close proximity last time I watched this

Jezebel: I thought of it when I heard the name but again that was a very common used name ☠️😂  Wait, Savoy was mentioned in the first episode?

Wench: No, but it had the ambush wherein the Musketeers were attacked for the letter they carried as a means of setting up Athos' frame-job.   And it was very similar to the story we hear in ep4 about Savoy.  Thus, that was likely even more unfortunate for Aramis than we knew.  I think there was even snow on the ground

Jezebel: Ooooooh!  And as for the Milady thing… What do you mean?

Wench: Technically it was the King’s duty to execute his mother — largely because he’d made that ruling in the past, to be fair, so he could just revoke it as he did in the show (but no one said Athos POV parallels had to be fair/accurate) — and he didn’t; thus, what does it say about the character of a man who went ahead with it when even Louis didn’t.

Jezebel: 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 Well! Damn! That’s more pain than I originally thought it would be! Ack! Now I’m hurt! 😤😤 rude. 

Wench: You're welcome!

Jezebel: bUt yoUr NoT eViLlllll.

Wench: I'm nottttt

Jezebel: Anyway! 😤😮‍💨 This poor woman… Fell in love with a man who was a good person but shunned for his appearance, watched him die, saw her baby kidnapped, finds out he is actually the rightful king only to have that idea squashed because royals are actually quite evil, tries to escape just for her baby to be yeeted into a river…. I mean at least he is alive and they got away but I’m sure she probably has mentally lost like ten years of life from that

Wench: And she had to deal with Aramis for three days

Jezebel: Very true… how this man gets all the ladies is beyond me. He is 😮‍💨😮‍💨 an idiot

Wench: You... you ain't seen nothing yet.  Suffice to say that Athos' statement from the first episode --- "Tell me he's not that stupid," immediately followed by him being, yes, that stupid --- is highly accurate as a personality guide

Jezebel: 😂😂😂😂😂  And I say this as affectionately as possible as he is still my favorite. But he is still an idiot

Wench: Naturally... I like him too :)  My ranking, btw?  Athos = high favorite, Portamis = tied for high second, d'Art... somewhere in a distant third.  (Sorry to d'Art fans… I don't dislike him though.  He's just.  Not a fave)

Jezebel: I read portamis as just Porthos and was like you like dart more than flirt for shameeeee!  But, see, what has happened is this show has taken Dean and split him into two characters

Wench: Tbf, the flirty part of Dean was never one of my favorites.  Like, nothing against that side of him, but it's not what endeared him to me.  Thus, I'm not surprised that I didn't hyperfixate over Aramis despite that as a commonality

Jezebel: Very fair 😂 I think for me it’s more the goofiness that I’m liking but the flirting is cute

Wench: The goofiness is also not one of my favorite traits, so... the point stands.  Like.  I appreciate it in both.  But it's not fixation-worthy

Jezebel: Does. Does this make Cas port and Sam Dart ☠️☠️

Wench: You do realize that not every ship is Destiel-coded

Jezebel: It was a joke ☠️☠️☠️ 

Wench: I know.  As was mine  

(EDIT: We’re accidentally paralleling the scene from this episode… “You do realize that not every ship is Destiel-coded” = “These barrels contain brandy; “It was a joke ☠️☠️☠️” = “Now is not the time”; “As was mine” = Athos’ Look)

Jezebel: But also no I don’t I will spread my Destiel fixation to every fandom I want thank you very much.  (Idk why but the image that went through my head was coloring pictures of the other fandoms with a dual color green and blue crayon… It’s late.  I’m feeling it)

Wench: Weak

Jezebel: It’s true.  It’s what happens when you get old

Wench: False

Jezebel: 😊  Anyway… am I missing anything?

Wench: Not that I can see

Jezebel: Goood! Well Athos ep tomorrow!?

Wench: That works

Jezebel: Perfect… ‘til then!

[cave-monkey]

Monkey King 2009 Episode 10

A lot happened, but not a lot happened, you know? Sort of nice compared to the absolutely packed episodes we've been having recently.

No idea how these kids were surfing a log the wrong way up a river and still somehow unable to stop before crashing into the waterfall (did notice Stone Monkey infusing the log with his energy though, it looked like? Pretty cool), but unlike the LAST time we got faked out when Stone Monkey careened toward certain waterfall death, this time we actually found Water Curtain Cave!

I actually really liked how they did it. At first it was kinda, you know, literally just a big cave with a tiny little bridge and I figured Water Curtain Cave was just going to be like that in this series. A bit of a letdown, but hey, a good homemaking subplot in the works, I guess.

BUT NO

They really went hard with making Water Curtain Cave a paradise-within-a-paradise in this one. It's gorgeous. I especially love the swirling carvings on the second hidden entrance, and the way everything is just slightly overgrown. Stone Monkey's blink-and-you-miss-it moment of not really recognizing what the hell the stone bowl was, also pretty fun.

Love this area so much. I love the large, dark cave that leads to this bright, magical door that opens to this absolutely gorgeous hidden grove. It's a 2009 animation series, but they did such a good job. I think it's one of my favorite iterations of Water Curtain Cave.

Also Ginseng Fruit is now calling Stone Monkey "Ge". Relationship development!

Old Monkey King taking this particular assault from the Demon King's army so seriously startled me a bit! He's never been this take charge. I kind of wonder what changed, but I'm personally taking it as a serious loss of faith in the four generals until proven otherwise. He's been mostly hands-off with them, and last episode that led to one of the kids - and it being Stone Monkey in particular - straight up fleeing the troop. Makes sense to me if he's shortened the leash. The defenses were definitely much tighter than they usually are, making me think Old Monkey King was there making sure his plans were meticulously executed, but at the same time the monkeys were way less flexible and aggressive than they've been in the past, and it ended up biting them. Part of that has to be because of plot demands, of course (they needed the monkeys to fail this time so that Stone Monkey had a reason to come running back) but I really like to Watsonian in-universe reasons as much as possible, so speculation is going to happen!

One possibility is that Old Monkey King being directly involved actually backfired because no one wanted to deviate even a little from the strategy - it's the Monkey King's strategy! - leading to the panic and collapse as soon as things went even a little wrong. They over-relied on his defenses and didn't take advantage of the openings presented to properly break down the opposing force when they had opportunities. They had the Demon King's forces separated, confused, and discouraged in record time in this episode, and then...allowed them to re-group. This was ultimately their downfall.

In previous encounters the monkeys still used traps to weaken enemy lines and force them to expend resources, but didn't rely on them so much. These traps also weren't really ever enough to properly disrupt enemy forward progress. The monkeys were much better about taking advantage of ambush opportunities and did not pass up opportunities to pursue. This did a very good job of keeping the enemy forces scattered and focused on flight instead of on counter-attacking or re-establishing communications with each other. This often led to total routes. Once the monkeys managed to break apart the Demon King's forces, they stayed broken. The main problem was getting those opportunities since their traps weren't ever really good enough to make them. They had to rely on luck, and then hope they were able to move their forces fast enough to take advantage of a bad placement or over-extension. This while also playing keep-away with their own forces - keeping them close enough to maneuver while not close enough to be caught outside those ideal circumstances since the four generals strongly suspected a straight fight would not go in their favor (they go over the difference in weapons technology a couple episodes ago, and I think they're right)). It generally worked out okay up until this point, but it was also pretty sloppy and had a high possibility of failure. Too much relied on chance.

Ideally, this episode would have had the best of both worlds. Their defenses were tight. The Demon King's weakness as a field commander is he always defaults to a straight frontal charge and is very slow to change his tactics. They took very good advantage of that and had his army essentially dusted almost as soon as they arrived. They've never had a better opportunity to divide and conquer, as discussed above. The issue was follow-through. As I said, they allowed them to re-group. I'm...really not sure who's at fault for this, honestly. We'd need to have seen the meetings prior to this confrontation. Either Old Monkey King's own orders limited his commanders to the point they weren't able to take advantage of that break (as in, he ordered them not to or otherwise refused to allow them the command authority to make those decisions without his input) or the commanders failed on their own accord to take initiative, either from misplaced confidence in Old Monkey King's presence on the field, a lack of confidence in their own authority with Old Monkey King being right there, or some weird cowardice (to be fair, I'm not thinking it was the latter, though the badly timed retreat order wasn't looking good).

The fact the defense fell apart the second things went a little wrong was not...good. Like at all. Every leader on the field at the time was to blame for that, honestly. The line should not have broken the second the Demon King got the ball for the first time. That retreat order was premature and might have cost more lives than it saved, considering the organization of an attempted rally might have given them the opportunity for a more organized and better defended withdrawal at the very least. The went from zero casualties to hoards of wounded limping with little guidance in random directions in a very short amount of time. Old Monkey King was right to sigh when the order was given to retreat the second things went a little sideways, but he was wrong to have frozen up himself the second he realized his enemy had an actual brain. He was doing a lot of watching and judging this battle, not a lot of taking charge. If his commanders weren't doing it, it was his responsibility to step up.

(Though not countering his Marshal's retreat orders might have been a good decision to keep from confusing his own forces in a very dangerous situation, it's still worth noting that retreating in this instance means his people are left wandering scattered and wounded with no safe place to retreat to. This isn't their first line of defense, it's their first and last. Attempting to rally the monkeys into a counterattack might have been worth it, if only to force some breathing room.)

(All of this to say that I'm not too impressed with the Old Monkey King's performance as a military leader here, either. This was a major example of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Sitting in contemplative judgement is all well and good, but sometimes you gotta take charge. This defeat that should not have happened was on him as much as it was the four generals. More, actually. He's got ultimate responsibility.)

(...Figuring out how this might have happened in-universe is pretty fun, actually.)

OKAY DONE. It's safe to come back out now!

Okay, so Jade Rabbit running to Stone Monkey about the Demon King's attack and Stone Monkey's answer being (paraphrased, obviously) "I don't know why! I just...I know I have to go! I need to go."

Immediate thought from me: An unexplainable but driving urge, huh? Is Six Ears about to be captured or almost killed again?

Answer: Yes.

Good to see that whole thing still going strong lol.

(Yes, this was meant to showcase Stone Monkey's remaining attachment and loyalty to the people who took him in, who he owes at least a little, showcasing his better nature and strong morals even toward those who didn't treat him entirely right. Him having a spidey sense but only for Six Ears's impending peril is way funnier though.)

Not gonna lie though, the show does a good job making me feel actual dread sometimes. Six Ears being trapped at the bottom of the pit while the demons one-by-one slowly gathered around the lip, all armed and laughing, with Six Ears helpless at the bottom? All I could think was how badly they could hurt him with Six Ears unable to do anything about it, and it gave me some chills.

The second time was the Demon King ordering them to cut off a set of his ears. Like.

Jesus.

And Six Ears sitting there with his eyes squeezed shut, terrified but trying to pretend he's not because he can't stop them? Surrounded by people who think his pain will be funny, who call him by dehumanizing (you know what I mean) insults instead of by name, about to lose parts of himself, and there's nothing he can do except try not to show them that he's afraid?

Christ.

Stone Monkey's swooping in to stop them with a goofy face was actually really good. Like. I just talked about this, what, two episodes ago, about how it must seem to Six Ears when he's in these situations and Stone Monkey comes in like it's nothing? It felt so jarring to have him sticking his tongue out and mocking them when Six Ears was inches away from having parts of his body cut off. I almost felt a little irritated with him for it, but of course Stone Monkey cares. We couldn't see his face when it was covered by a mask and the camera wasn't focused on him for once, but we know how seriously he takes these kinds of things. We know how quickly he flips from furious to pretending to be careless and unconcerned the second his enemies can see him. We watched it happen real-time in Episode 8, and they're just not showing the lead-up this time. It's pretty cool visual storytelling. Giving you a piece of the puzzle and then taking it away again, leaving you to simultaneously have to remember it on your own and showing you what the picture looks like without it. This is the part of the rescue Six Ears gets to see, and how it must feel to him...pretty interesting.

Now kidnap him back to Water Curtain Cave, Stone Monkey. Get that boy safe behind your magic waterfall. He needs it.

(Stone Monkey seeing a whole hoard of wounded monkeys and jumping straight to "WHERE'S SIX EARS" also caught my attention lol. Nothing to really say about it, but I sure noticed it. Also him hearing they don't know where to go and not immediately offering up Water Curtain Cave.)

(We know he's going offer up Water Curtain Cave, but I mean. I liked that he wasn't immediately on board with letting these guys into his home right off the bat. He's got limits.)

That's about all I got. Good episode! Six Ears with a fire arrow, absolutely awesome. Also liked seeing him using his ears for...maybe the first real time since Episode 1? Right before he almost loses them? LOVELY.

[kafkaoftherubble]

呀哈哈！正式离婚了！！！离婚了！！！！

再见，你这个lanjiao project! 他妈的不要再有续集了！滚出去！你娘都不要你，为啥我会要你呢？！

Now that it's gone and I have only one project currently to occupy my time, I can finally gain purchase on the things I actually wanna do. Gotta plan again!

Still haven't finalized my New Year resolutions. Bit tardy, sure, but it ain't the Lunar New Year yet! Ha! Time to use THAT as an excuse!

------

I gotta proofread Lyishere's grant proposal! Gotta make sure it sounds persuasive to the Singaporean government! I really hope things will work out in her favor. She's been questioned enough about her "employment status" last year since she finished her PhD, and of course, the good old "so you spent all your time studying to this level only to not have a job?!" and "Are you lazy? Can you please be productive?" tracts from good old Older Generation Asians. Ugh. I get that parents are eager to make returns on their investment, but let her take a break, man.

It's actually related to neuroscience, you guys! This is why she needed our help to proofread her grant, inter alia, because I'm more familiar with the field than she is, whose expertise is in operating biotech machines.

She did mention that if it went through and her fellowship is a go, and she gets to hire her own research assistant... guess who might get to do that? Haha! It's such a nice prospect, innit? Did we get in, Future Lyns? Who was the lucky one who got to witness that moment? It's alright if it didn't happen—my help comes with no strings attached, like always—but it's also really swell if it does. We've always dreamed of being a part of academia. Maybe this could be the path back in? Maybe?

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Crow dropped me a legal report on a case one Davinder Singh had worked on before. Who's that? Well, apparently, he's the HIM in the Singaporean law circle! We got to this point because I asked Crow about this corruption case, which somehow made it to my attention. So I'm gonna read that report too! Or as best as I can as a complete noob shit, hahaha! Only then she can talk about why Singh is HIM and I'll at least get it.

I actually also wanna read other stuff she dropped on my lap the last time. The legal debates and all; those concern ethics. Ugh. If only I'm not slow...

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Speaking of reading, I have my own books I gotta read! I haven't been studying my own materials for two weeks! Urgh, I must slot the time for them. My memory might wane if I wait any longer. Stupid limitation of adult brains! Why can't I be like a child, with neurons just branching out without pruning? Hmm. I'm sure there's a biological advantage to this.

And I have put a pause on my podcast listening for more than a week! We've been busy. New episodes had come out and I haven't vetted them before placing interested episodes in Listen While Doing Chores (Not Songs). That shit is more-than-a-week late for new arrivals and updates.

Let's restart the podcast listening with science. I have decided to re-listen—because my memories have faded—to episode 34, "Paul Bloom on Empathy, Rationality, Morality, and Cruelty" from Sean Carroll's Mindscape. I picked this for its pertinence. Specifically, it complements what I'm currently reading from the fiction side...

Paul Bloom is one of the most well-known psychologists in the camp opposing the lionization of empathy. If I recall correctly, he believes that empathy is actually what enables humans' propensity for cruelty. He champions "reasoned compassion" instead.

A lot of the people in his camp wave the flag of compassion, huh? Makes sense; the two are not the same. But those who disagree with Bloom think that compassion is very much dependent on empathy, or at least, it's driven by it most of all.

I don't know where I stand as of now. Both camps—and everyone in between—are intriguing. His ideas are seductive, but it's way too easy to see why I would say that. I lack affective empathy, and yet I fancy myself a pretty stand-up person. That is itself grounds for bias. Of course I'd want someone to validate me. Which is why I shouldn't so easily nod to it.

When we wanna learn about someone who isn't within our actual social vicinity, like a famous thinker, we always look at their critics first. Detractors, skeptics, dissenters. That way, I'll get to formulate a Roadmap of Curiosity, with points of intrigue and objections and questions and skepticism. It makes me a more lucid recipient of information, methinks. Open-minded enough to listen, but not so much that my brain falls out. Less possibility of being dragged by the arbitrary constraints of a narrative, innit?

So I've read some of the criticisms against Bloom's ideas, and I think they hold water too. I will do it again before engaging in that podcast, though Sean already adequately posed as a challenger the last time I listened. Sean is really one of my favorites! A theoretical physicist who's nonetheless a generalist drawing different ideas together, and not afraid to hold his guests' feet to the fire. I really like seeing such a high-profile and intellectually honest generalist. It's someone to look up to.

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Speaking of reading!

One of our resolutions this year is to "finish five books." Well, here's something Lyndises of the weeks before did not account for:

We did not specify the qualification of fiction in this situation.

I mean, well—it's not like we predicted ourselves reading fiction this much this year. We've always just read nonfiction, and would always choose this by default. And nonfiction is either a huge ass tome, or it's so packed with information that we take a crawling speed to complete it. That's why it's only 5 books.

But I got a feeling that the first "book" I'm gonna finish this year is gonna be a piece of fiction. There's no way a nonfiction will be first. No way. I read this one almost every single day (except today, because After God happened. OOPS!).

Should we qualify a manga like Ajin to be a "book?"

I mean, it's not a bad fiction by any stretch. Hell, I honestly love it! So much! It's not like I turn my brain off when I read it; quite the contrary!

How is 睿芒 so consistently good at recommending stuff? 果然操千曲而后晓声，观千剑而后识器。佩服嘛！不过也没很意外，毕竟我也觉得他真的挺多令人欣赏的地方。

So to exclude it on the account that it's a manga is just a weak argument. It's as if being fiction makes it less worthy, which I disagree with. And yet, to compare easy reading—like a manga—to books like Behave and The Lies that Bind: Rethinking Identity is also unreasonable. One side is clearly a knowledge juggernaut. The other... is a thrilling romp.

I propose we reduce the value of fiction! Instead of making it a whole number (1), let's make it ⅛. Complete 8, and we get 1 count!

If there's any objection, let the next Lyn decide!

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Well, there is more fiction stuff to be slotted in.

I should find ways to squeeze in that Totally-Not-Romantic-Trust Manga. I really hope there isn't any eldritch kissing anymore. And it's not that stuffed with romance. I get so bored of those things so easily. I still can't believe I got sucked into engaging with romance in general. Fucking Apothecary Diaries, I swear.

I am hella interested in that Bibliomania thing. I don't know what it's about at all and I don't wanna look it up. It sounds like something to read blind!

I should also! Find ways to stream videos on Discord!

And then I'll ask Crow for her scheduling! So we can watch Mononoke together! Ahhhhh, so excited!!!

I hope I can watch it in the living room. But Mom is always nearby, in the dining room, watching her shows in OLD PEOPLE VOLUME. She complained about me talking to Fionn (I'm glad she's grown so accustomed to this, because this has been happening since childhood, that she never seemed to wonder what was wrong with me enough to make me stop. She just thinks I'm talking to myself), and nowadays complains about my game being too loud, or the sound of me pouring tea, or the sound of my controller. Bruh, yours is in OLD PEOPLE VOLUME! I can hear every fucking scene, fucking ambient sounds, and fucking!

Anyway, even if I watch this with 二韵 The Headphones, I'm still gonna talk and talk and talk to Crow. And based on our textual conversations alone I'm confident to predict that our interaction is gonna be Lyishere Style. That means, like when I'm with Lyi, we become more and more excited and louder and louder and noisier and noisier and cackle more and more and become more and more unhinged aaaaaand Mom will beat me up.

Nah. She can't pull that sort of thing off. She's grown old. She's grown tired. Her knees are weak. Her knees are weak points. But I don't think I'll resort to that, so maybe stop glaring at me, Fionn.

I think I'll inform her about it. I'll tell her it's the same Singaporean friend who sent me a cool-ass New Year card and one day might go to Kuantan. The same one she said would be "fine" to lodge in our house before I even asked. Well, that was what I kinda wanted to happen in the future, so good to know. Crow got so much tea I cannot wait to hear her going full-blown tai-tai!

Uh. Where was I? Oh yea. Livestreaming stuff on Discord. Mononoke isn't gonna be the only one this year. There's also Higurashi, which is slated to happen after we finish Ajin. Once I know how shit works because of Mononoke, Future Lyn wouldn't have to worry about the basics of live-streaming anymore.

Instead, she has to worry about something else! I should ask 睿芒 if it's safe to be shown in the living room. Just in case Mom decides to walk past to see what I'm looking at.

Remember the last time when that Lyn watched Devilman Crybaby in the living room? Shortly after Dad died? With his altar and picture aligned enough to look at the TV showing people in the club doing drugged-out violent sex and sexy violence? I don't think we should make a repeat of that. She traumatized our sisters accidentally with that back then, ha! And now Bugsy is always so worried about our "Horror Horror..."

Alternatively, I could just watch it in my room. It's not as big as the TV screen, but it's my room. My favorite place in the entire universe. Second place is Ayutthaya, obviously.

Anyway, it's not gonna happen yet. Let future Lyns worry. Mononoke first!

Shit! I have a birthday gift to compile! It's for the Ricecooker. Damn, I have to do it before February hits! I gotta remember to do that soon!

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Hey, guys?

Ya know. There's a reason one of the first Lyns who started this Tumblr thing decided not to private posts like these. It's because we are leaving this for Future Lyns who might not know the password to this account or just wanna ghost-read it.

We also know that this means non-Lyndis can also read posts like these. But we kinda always hope that the sheer length and banality will turn most people away. I mean, we assume that no one would be interested enough to wade through all of this. We are seriously not that interesting.

But what if there are people who stay to read it all?

I don't think the probability is high, but it's not zero.

If I'm being frank? I don't mind it that much. The possibility is always at the back of my head, so all of us had only written stuff after vetting our thoughts and decided that they were okay to be here.

And yet, I kinda wish it's not everyone. As in, not everyone reads it, and certainly not everyone finishes it. If they finish it, I'll start to wonder why. What's so gripping about our stupid log entries?

Some posts are way more fun to read! Like reports on events! I really liked reading about our Coldplay experience and our CF stuff. I would love it if my friends read those! It's so fun!

But entries like these are kinda... huh. I don't know. Again, I am not gonna stop any curious cat from reading these at all, but I really assume no one would. Honestly, what's remotely interesting anyway?

Oh, why this sudden tangent? Nothing. I just thought of the possibility that this could be happening and wonder how I think about it.

Well, I guess this is my thoughts on the matter.

Should I ask whoever reads this myopia-inducing banal-ass ramble to let me know they have been reading it? Of COURSE I'm curious if such a person exists. I think it's a very low chance, but it will be so funny if they exist anyway. I will be so excited to know why they even read them, or if it's fun, or what they think of me now.

At the same time, do I really wanna know? That knowledge would stifle my illusionary, but useful, freedom to babble things for our future versions. I will probably suddenly feel so self-conscious I don't wanna write certain degrees of thoughts anymore. Wouldn't that bereft Future Lyns posts of meaning and worth?

Or... this could all just be nothing. Again, do I even have evidence, beyond circumstantial ones, that there have been people reading these things? Even if I do, it's evidence for that specific post and not all posts of this nature. And what am I gonna do? Prosecute them? Hahaha!

Nah. I think I'll thank them. I mean, imagine being interesting to one person. It feels unreal. It's like when you're a ghost and yet somehow, someone saw you.

[brokenbutunbowed]

Should I try and post more about my animals again. Hmmm. This has always been a very mixed blog but I've barely made an original post in a few years cause I just never feel like I have anything to say. Or the energy.

Coming up out of a few-month-long depressive episode and starting to feel joy about my hobbies again. Most of which revolve around my animals. I'm sure the depression will catch back up soon now that the sun is starting to disappear, but in the meantime... it's nice to feel a bit of excitement again.

I quit a very bad job back in March because I was pretty much one bad day away from killing myself. Like, I had plans. I was ready. My wife more or less forced me to quit for my own good. I had somehow saved up enough money to survive just fine without it and spent 6 weeks at home, catching up on projects, deep cleaning, and recovering. Then in May I got a job I thought I really wanted. I planned on staying long term. They said constantly I was doing a great job learning (it was a very hard job) but then did a 180 and fired me just before my 90 days, when I would've finally had health insurance.

Had a really bad breakdown over that, because at that point I didn't have money in savings and there was basically no jobs on indeed. I ended up having to go through a temp agency the next week to finally find a job. It's a boring factory job, but it pays the same as the hard job and it's so easy it crosses over into downright understimulating for parts of the day. I don't get benefits/ sick time/ holiday pay/ anything until I get actually signed on with the company, and I don't know when that will be, but I know I basically can't lose this job unless I skip work or come in late a bunch, which is not the kind of person I am, so I'm at least secure there. Now that I'm away from hard job and I've been at this job about a month, I'm actually glad I lost the other job. That job had so much pressure and stress and since I was the only girl in the department I was treated noticeably different (I believe that's half of why I was fired but I won't go there) but my current job is so simple. I spend at least half of every day marveling at the fact I'm getting paid to do such simple shit.

Anyway, yeah... hello adhd I was trying to talk about my animals.

We've been at this house 2.5 years now and finally starting to feel like the farm is getting to how we want it. We've got most of our birds pens up, except the breeding pen my wife wants to build for some of her chickens, but I finished the pheasant pens this spring that I started last year and the remodel of the duck/turkey pens.

We fenced in most of our property last year, and we finally got gates for the driveway last weekend so the horses and sheep can graze our yard and help keep the grass short.

When I was off work this spring I started working on deep cleaning the basement, where all my exotic animals stayed when our parasitic ex friends lived with us. The basement had a minor flood two years ago and still needs some remodeling and cleaning, but someday I plan to finish that and turn it *back* into an animal room. Though I plan to keep the tarantulas and geckos upstairs in their current room and set up all my snakes in the downstairs room. I have a crazy vision for that room that's gonna take time and money but I'm so excited to get there one day. I hate racks and I'm planning on pvc enclosures for all my snakes. It's gonna be expensive but I'm so fucking excited for it.

We're hoping to pay off the stupid PMI to drop our monthly house payment by the end of next year. And the escrow stuff was messed up by the township so our payment is currently 1700/month instead of the 1300 it was, and they refuse to change it even though it was a clerical error on their end, but hopefully we'll get at least some of that wasted money back next June when they reassess and our payment will go back down. 🤞 without that fuck up and the PMI, we could maybe get lucky and have, like, a 1000/month payment instead of 1700. That money would be so useful for other shit.

How did I get here. Where was I going with that. Hmm.

Oh yeah because money and animals lol

Anyway I don't know why I'm typing this and nobody is gonna read it anyway but maybe I'll actually try and post some animal pics soon.

[theenbynightingale]

Thoughts on Human Resources (Big Mouth Spin-Off)

I've gone through Human Resources a decent amount of times so I think I can let out how I feel now. I got to say about it and it's mostly good!

I think the back and forth between being episodic and having a set storyline takes a while to get used to, especially since Emmy's story arc suddenly shifts from her getting accustomed to her new job to a rivalry with Rochelle.

I also think that the show suffers a bit from having so many characters. A few storylines just kind of end suddenly, such as the Nadja/Rochelle/Petra episode. I'm not really sure if Gil and Joe should have been more than funny supporting characters rather then getting their own storylines.

Okay, good stuff now!

The show has two major advantages to being about the monsters, the first is shifting the focus of the show from puberty to to just human life in general. It cuts down on some of the grosser moments (not all, it's still the Big Mouth universe) and touches on subjects they couldn't have talked about before. The episodes focused on dementia, postpartum depression, grief, forbidden love, and the process of letting go stand out in particular.

The second advantage is getting more development from the monsters rather than just being comedic relief. We get to know about characters we've grown to love and get some great worldbuilding, like showing more of the Ambition Gremlins and introducing Logic Rocks.

I will say that we do get to know some characters a bit too much. The Sham Wizard, or Lionel, had some great moments but the whole erotic humiliation and Oedipal subplots with him feel a bit uncomfortable, though that obviously isn't new for this show.

Not enough Mona. I love Mona. I want her to step on me.

Also, Rick was right. I was totally getting a vibe between her and the owl woman.

Also, Rick gets too much hate. He got a lot of laughs out of me. "My grandparents did some stuff I am not proud of!"

Why didn't Jean Smart come back to voice Kitty?

I loved seeing more of Maury and Connie's relationship, rather than it being an amusing running gag. Upon a re-watch, I liked how the final story of them arguing over a future as parents was set up throughout the previous episodes. I hope this isn't dropped in the next Big Mouth season only to come back for the next season of Human Resources.

I loved the new characters of Pete and Petra. Petra's just fun because of Rosie Perez and Pete brought a different energy to the show, while bouncing off the others well.

The romance conflict wasn't so bad, considering love triangles/squares/whatever usually irritate me. I am curious about Dante, though. The finale established he indeed loved Rochelle but I'm not sure how long he can be a healthy character.

I liked most of the human characters and I hope we get to see more of some of them. I think Becca and Doug might have finished their arcs. But I hope we get to see more of Natalie and Nadja. Nadja deserves love.

Also, Natalie's back! She's great! She's funny and witty! Josie Totah gave a good performance! We can learn more about her! I like Natalie!

It got a lot more emotional than I expected. First, Sonya's episode, then Yara's? Both are an emotional rollercoasters but they have a very bittersweet end that will wreck you.

I liked seeing another Depression Kitty and seeing how depression can come in different forms. Cat Stevens being a lot less intrusive and more mellow and caring was a pretty neat.

He should be with Emmy. Emmy, girl. You can do better. You've been through a shit ton of character development!

Walter x Simon Sex is my OTP though.

NOT ENOUGH SONGS!

Gavin's... dead. So that's a thing. I'm sure that'll have repercussions for Lionel next season. Besides, Mona can do better.

I'm a Mona simp if you couldn't tell. That's my overall feeling on Human Resources.