#and she’s bitter about the cycle of violence william has forced them into

[send-me-a-puffalope]

Back on my System!Vanessa bullshit: Mike and Abby racing to the hospital cause Vanessa woke up only to meet Vanny, who’s fronting.

I see Vanessa and Vanny kinda like how The Flash ended up doing Caitlin and Frost, in which Frost hurts people because she’s scared they’re going to cause harm to Caitlin. Vanny is the protector who goes along with William’s murderous plans in order to protect Vanessa.

[aion-rsa]

Top New Horror Books in April 2021

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Where horror meets speculative fiction you’ll find inventive fears and chilling uncertainty. Here are some of the horror books we’re most excited about and/or are currently consuming…

Top New Horror Books in April 2021

Whisper Down the Lane by Clay Chapman

Type: Novel Publisher: Quirk Books Release date: April 6

Den of Geek says: A quasi-historical novel dissects memory and moral panic. What could be a flat story about mistrust has set itself apart with positive reviews praising both the fun and the terror.

Publisher’s summary: Inspired by the McMartin preschool trials and the Satanic Panic of the ‘80s, the critically acclaimed author of The Remaking delivers another pulse pounding, true-crime-based horror novel.

Richard doesn’t have a past. For him, there is only the present: a new marriage to Tamara, a first chance at fatherhood to her son Elijah, and a quiet but pleasant life as an art teacher at Elijah’s elementary school in Danvers, Virginia. Then the body of a rabbit, ritualistically murdered, appears on the school grounds with a birthday card for Richard tucked beneath it. Richard doesn’t have a birthday—but Sean does . . .

Sean is a five-year-old boy who has just moved to Greenfield, Virginia, with his mother. Like most mothers of the 1980s, she’s worried about bills, childcare, putting food on the table . . . and an encroaching threat to American life that can take the face of anyone: a politician, a friendly neighbor, or even a teacher. When Sean’s school sends a letter to the parents revealing that Sean’s favorite teacher is under investigation, a white lie from Sean lights a fire that engulfs the entire nation—and Sean and his mother are left holding the match.

Now, thirty years later, someone is here to remind Richard that they remember what Sean did. And though Sean doesn’t exist anymore, someone needs to pay the price for his lies.

Buy Whisper Down the Lane by Clay Chapman.

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

Type: Novel Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press  Release date: April 6

Den of Geek says: You won’t want to go near a body of water for a while. Highly-praised author McMahon looks into the deep as an author one critic called a fitting heir to Shirley Jackson.

Publisher’s summary: When social worker Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes that it’s just another one of her sister’s episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in the pool at their grandmother’s estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister’s things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. And as she dives deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have ever imagined.

In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, her husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a natural spring is showcased by the newest and most modern hotel in the Northeast. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is rumored to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it gives.

A haunting, twisty, and compulsively readable thrill ride from the author who Chris Bohjalian has dubbed the “literary descendant of Shirley Jackson,” The Drowning Kind is a modern-day ghost story that illuminates how the past, though sometimes forgotten, is never really far behind us.

Buy The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon.

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

Type: Novel Publisher: Berkley Release date: April 13

Den of Geek says: Isolation often makes for some good, character-focused horror (maybe this year in particular). A mix of human and monstrous violence haunts this mountain.

Publisher’s summary: Mattie can’t remember a time before she and William lived alone on a mountain together. She must never make him upset. But when Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, she realizes that they’re not alone after all. 

There’s something in the woods that wasn’t there before, something that makes strange cries in the night, something with sharp teeth and claws. 

When three strangers appear on the mountaintop looking for the creature in the woods, Mattie knows their presence will anger William. Terrible things happen when William is angry.

Buy Near the Bone by Christina Henry.

Top New Horror Books in March 2021

Later by Stephen King

Type: Novel Publisher: Hard Case Crime Release date: March 2 Den of Geek says: Stephen King, author of The Stand, The Shining, and many more, needs no introduction. The top name in horror is sure to be the one everyone is talking about.

Publisher’s summary: The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine – as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave. 

LATER is Stephen King at his finest, a terrifying and touching story of innocence lost and the trials that test our sense of right and wrong. With echoes of King’s classic novel It, LATER is a powerful, haunting, unforgettable exploration of what it takes to stand up to evil in all the faces it wears.

Buy Later by Stephen King.

The Second Bell by Gabriela Houston

Type: Novel Publisher: Angry Robot Release date: March 9 Den of Geek says: Horror meets legend in a different take on the werewolf. Author Gabriela Houston has been praised for her character work and mixture of grounded realism and chilling fantasy.

Publisher’s summary: To the world you are an abomination; a monster with unholy abilities. You’re shunned and left to fend for yourself. Your only chance of survival is to tap into that dark potential – would you do it?

In an isolated mountain community, sometimes a child is born with two hearts. Such a child – a striga – is considered a dangerous demon, which must be abandoned on the edge of the forest to protect the community. The only choice the child’s mother can make is whether to leave her home with her infant, or stay behind and try to forget.

Miriat made her choice. She and her nineteen-year-old striga daughter, Salka, now live a life of deprivation and hardship in a remote village, where to follow the impulses of the other heart is forbidden.

But Salka is headstrong and young, and when threatened with losing everything, she is forced to explore the depths of her true nature, testing the bonds between mother and child.

The Second Bell by Gabriela Houston.

Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall

Type: Novel Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers Release date: March 16

Den of Geek says: This YA pick reminds us pleasantly of Twin Peaks or Alan Wake. A spooky setting and a protagonist with a strong hook to its location promises a tightly constructed story.

Publisher’s summary: In 1973, the thirty-one residents of Bitter Rock disappeared. In 2003, so did my mother. Now, I’ve come to Bitter Rock to find out what happened to her–and to me. Because Bitter Rock has many ghosts. And I might be one of them.

Sophia’s earliest memory is of drowning. She remembers the darkness of the water and the briny taste as it filled her throat, the sensation of going under. She remembers hands pulling her back to safety, but that memory is impossible–she’s never been to the ocean. 

But then Sophia gets a mysterious call about an island names Bitter Rock, and learns that she and her mother were there fifteen years ago–and her mother never returned. The hunt for answers lures her to Bitter Rock, but the more she uncovers, the clearer it is that her mother is just one in a chain of disappearances. 

People have been vanishing from Bitter Rock for decades, leaving only their ghostly echoes behind. Sophia is the only one who can break the cycle–or risk becoming nothing more than another echo haunting the island.

Buy Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall.

Top New Horror Books in February 2021

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

Type: Novel Publisher: Ballantine Books Release date: Feb. 9 Den of Geek says: A spooky thriller set in a small village promises ghostly visitations and weird happenings that a single mother and her daughter need to investigate. Evil lurking in churches and exorcisms are a horror staple, but the historical grounding here gives it a unique texture. Publisher’s summary: A dark history lingers in Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, Protestant martyrs were betrayed—then burned. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the local parish hanged himself in the nave of the church.

Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a fourteen-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping for a fresh start. Instead, Jack finds a town rife with conspiracies and secrets, and is greeted with a strange welcome package: an exorcism kit and a note that warns, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.”

The more Jack and daughter, Flo, explore the town and get to know its strange denizens, the deeper they are drawn into the age-old rifts, mysteries, and suspicions. And when Flo begins to see specters of girls ablaze, it becomes apparent there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest.

Uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village with a bloody past, where everyone has something to hide and no one trusts an outsider.

Buy The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor.

What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo

Type: Novel Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Release date: Feb. 2 Den of Geek says: Fans of the human side of werewolves or the everyday life of the Addams Family may like this story of a student returning home to a strange place after a taste of the outside world. Written for a YA market, but the inventive concept means it has crossover appeal. Publisher’s summary: Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.

Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together―in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her.

Buy What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo.

Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap

Type: Short story collection Publisher: Small Beer Press Release date: Feb. 23 Den of Geek says: At Den of Geek we’re always looking for horror that mixes with science fiction and fantasy. Isabel Yap does exactly that. A well-established writer with short stories in genre pillars like Tor.com, Lightspeed, and Strange Horizons, her stories are vivid and unsettling. She’s garnered praise from authors including Tamsyn Muir. Publisher’s summary: “Am I dead?” Mebuyen sighs. She was hoping the girl would not ask. Spells and stories, urban legends and immigrant tales: the magic in Isabel Yap’s debut collection jumps right off the page, from the joy in her new novella, “A Spell for Foolish Hearts” to the terrifying tension of the urban legend “Have You Heard the One About Anamaria Marquez.”

Buy Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap.

Top New Horror Books in January 2021

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In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce

Type: Novel Publisher: Berkley Release date: Jan. 19

Den of Geek says: This novel for fans of the line where true crime meets horror follows Belle Gunness, a real life serial killer. This looks like a darkly fascinating portrait of a wicked and deadly woman, showing how the “Widow of La Porte” clawed her way through history, leaving victims in her wake. Publisher’s summary: They whisper about her in Chicago. Men come to her with their hopes, their dreams–their fortunes. But no one sees them leave. No one sees them at all after they come to call on the Widow of La Porte.

The good people of Indiana may have their suspicions, but if those fools knew what she’d given up, what was taken from her, how she’d suffered, surely they’d understand. Belle Gunness learned a long time ago that a woman has to make her own way in this world. That’s all it is. A bloody means to an end. A glorious enterprise meant to raise her from the bleak, colorless drudgery of her childhood to the life she deserves. After all, vermin always survive.

Buy In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce.

In Darkness, Shadows Breathe by Catherine Cavendish

Type: Novel Publisher: Flame Tree Press Release date: Jan. 19

Den of Geek says: Intentionally disorienting fiction can be hit or miss, but in this case it sounds like the non-linear storytelling adds to the intended feeling of a nightmare. Old-fashioned Gothic horror fans with a taste for dark fantasy might enjoy this one. Publisher’s summary: In a luxury apartment and in the walls of a modern hospital, the evil that was done continues to thrive. They are in the hands of an entity that knows no boundaries and crosses dimensions – bending and twisting time itself – and where danger waits in every shadow. The battle is on for their bodies and souls and the line between reality and nightmare is hard to define. Through it all, the words of Lydia Warren Carmody haunt them. But who was she? And why have Carol and Nessa been chosen?

The answer lies deep in the darkness… 

Buy In Darkness, Shadows Breathe by Catherine Cavendish.

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

Type: Novel Publisher: Nyx Publishing Release date: Jan. 31

Den of Geek says: Dracula retellings are common, as are takes on the famous vampire’s wives. This one sets itself apart by focusing on a relationship between the wives themselves, coloring in the classic story with what the author calls “sapphic yearning at the opera.” Publisher’s summary: Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband’s dark secrets.

With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.

Buy A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson.

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[austencello]

Living Proof - Arrow Music Notes 7x21

As Oliver lies trapped underneath concrete, he has a vision of Tommy bringing back memories and inner turmoil as he has to figure out how to deal with Emiko both as a villain but also as his half-sister.  What it means for him to move forward and breaking the violence cycle from his father.  Meanwhile, Roy tries to atone for killing two guards and sacrifice himself for the team. Both of these bring back parallels and music flashbacks especially one of my favorites: “Sacrifice.” Lots of returning music for this one!

Tommy, Oliver, and breaking the cycle 

The episode begins with Oliver stuck under concrete in a very similar position to where he found Tommy dying in 1x23. As this scene opens and he sees a vision/dream of Tommy, the music plays “Sacrifice” - the low string/brass melody used for when Oliver found Tommy first in Merlyn’s office as Tommy apologizes for not believing Malcolm was evil and Oliver urged him to get to safety and then later when Oliver finds him dying.  In both cases, he asked if Oliver was going to kill his father and Oliver lied at the end saying he didn’t. Yet, Tommy also said as he was dying that he had become his father (full of anger and bitterness) and Oliver assured him that he was not. The music hearkens back not only to the painful memory of Tommy dying but also foreshadows the conversations they will have echoing the past and how Tommy’s death and choices both haunts Oliver and propels him to be the hero he is now. 

Oliver freezes the rebar and escapes being smushed by rubble as the violins play his main hero theme.  Guitar harmonics and lower strings play “Shutting it Down” (5x18) as Oliver processes with Tommy that everything they had worked so hard to build with SCPD and a life in Star City has been completely destroyed by Emiko.  This theme originally played when Oliver decided to shut down the team after being broken/tortured by Adrian Chase.  He was at one of his lowest points, believing that everyone around him suffers and dies.  He is in a healthier emotional place now but instead his life and team is being shut down by outer forces, namely his half-sister. Dissonant strings and percussion play as Oliver believes that the only way to stop her is to kill her.  Tommy follows up with “So you’ll be a murderer too?” - bringing back one of the main reasons Tommy couldn’t support Oliver as the Hood.

Later on, Tommy tells Oliver that he is trapped both physically and mentally and that he has a shot at a clean slate. Electronics and a 4-note descending scale in the horn plays as Tommy tries to convince Oliver that there is another way while Oliver is stubbornly determined that he has to kill Emiko to stop her.  The 4-note scale hearkens back to a portion of “Still Human Being” (3x02) when Oliver tells Felicity that he expects to be dead like Sara one of these days, needing to shut down his emotions so that others could grieve.  It is later used in 3x09 “The Climb” as he says goodbye to Felicity before his duel with Ra’s.  He tells her that he will do whatever it takes for his sister and that he loves her.  Fast-forward four years and he still is doing whatever he believes must happen to protect his family even if that means killing.  The Arrow string patterns begin to play as Oliver says goodbye to Tommy and says that he is willing to be as ruthless as Emiko to stop her.

Oliver finds the team and they run into Emiko as her string patterns play and continue as they fight with added wooden percussion. Electronic beats (similar to a song) play as he kills her and then violin glissandos go up and down as he turns to find Diggle and the team dead with brass chords adding to the drama. He then “wakes up” to see Tommy again having gotten a vision of what the cycle of fear to vengeance to cruelty looks like. Tommy tells him that as long as he continues to give into the worst impulses, he will be like his father but if he leans into the best parts: selflessness, compassion, loyalty and courage then he will be free.  Not only for himself but a light to Emiko that change is possible.  

During this beautiful speech, the music plays the whole melody from “Sacrifice” (1x23) when Tommy saved Laurel and then died.  This is significant for several reasons.  It contains the melody “Just Listen” (1x07) when Oliver showed Sara’s grave to Helena, admitting that he wasn’t a good person before the Island and that his choices affected the people he loved. It appeared again in “I who failed” (1x09) when he admits that he failed the city in failing to stop the Dark Archer.  It also played in “Salvation” (1x18) when Oliver saved Roy giving him a another chance and then again when he revealed himself to Roy in 2x12 “Reveal to Roy”. This theme then fits perfectly into “Sacrifice” as Tommy saves Laurel, a second chance for both of them but ultimately ending in what felt like a failure to Oliver as Tommy died. The theme of “Sacrifice” returns in 2x22 “Oliver Gives Up”/”The Essence of Heroism” when Oliver feels like he has failed again with Slade, losing everything.  Felicity reminds him that he is not done fighting, telling him that he is not alone and that she believes in him.  It comes back in “One Hand tied” (2x23) as he feels like he has no choice in how to stop Slade and she reminds him that he had a choice in the past and then gave him an idea to fool Slade. The music returns several times through Oliver’s journey: Laurel’s death in 4x18 “Canary Flies Away”, Tommy’s funeral flashback in 4x19, in 5x08 as Oliver leaves the alien hallucination, his trial in 6x21 “Never a Normal Life”, and then saying goodbye to William and Felicity in 6x23 before going to prison “At what Cost”.  Oliver has had great costs in his life: losing Tommy, his mother, Laurel, being separated from his family in prison, and now the idea of losing his normal and happy life or his loved ones again is painful.  

Tommy’s speech echoes Felicity’s “Essence of Heroism” telling Oliver what makes him a hero and why he fails in giving in to his darker impulses.  Oliver has striven to become a better man and hero than his father was but sometimes his fear of losing everything rules his decisions.  Tommy urges him to give Emiko a second chance by showing how he got a second chance to grow and change past their father’s wrongs.  The music continues to play as Oliver says goodbye to Tommy, telling him that he misses him every day, bringing the audience back to the heart-breaking moment when Oliver lost his best friend.  Tommy reminds him that he is with Oliver always and then wakes Oliver up as the team finds him under the concrete.

Emiko and Oliver confront each other at the police station as she steals the bioweapon as her string pattern plays.  However, as he meets her on the rooftop, the string patterns change to his Arrow music.  Until now, all their fights and confrontations were accompanied by her music, music of vengeance under the name of justice.  Here, it switches to Oliver and his music as he reaches out in compassion, refusing to kill her asking her: “haven’t you seen enough death?” Guitar harmonics (Oliver’s instrument) and brass (used for heroism) play as he refuses to kill her and then she gets away.

Roy and the Team

The team find out from Felicity that the police know about their cover-up for Roy which destroys the partnership with the SCPD and most likely Dinah’s job as police captain.  Roy feels terrible for not only killing two people but also being the reason that the team is losing everything they have worked for in the past year.  So when they have to get to the generator through nerve-damaging gas, Roy throws himself in as a sacrifice to save the team to the horror of the team watching. As he runs in, “Forgive Us/Goodbye to Roy” (3x19) plays both as he sacrifices himself to save them, as the team members grieve believing he is dead and then as they pull him out.  The music is fitting as it parallels Roy’s choice to take the fall for Oliver, partly in penance for killing police officers in his mirakiru rage in season 2.  Oliver did not want Roy to do this for him but Roy made the decision with the team, thanking Oliver for giving him a second chance.  This was his way to pay it back.  In the same way now, Roy recognizes the fall the team has taken for him and wants to pay it back, also having trouble dealing with guilt of killing people due to his bloodlust.  (Side note: personally, the music choice was perfect but the scene lost emotional impact since we knew Roy survived due to Flashbacks and the extreme reaction of Dinah looking like she was grieving her best friend.  There was a bit of emotional whiplash from both her and Rene that didn’t quite ring true to me.  Ah well...the music was a great.)

Dinah talks to Roy afterwards as harp plays as he mentioned that he was surprised she cared and that it might be better for the world if he was dead.  She tells him that the world is a better place for having a hero like him as a slow version of his horn/Arsenal theme plays.

Felicity and her children - present and future

Felicity and Alena are met by the police wanting to arrest her and the team as a low repeated bass note plays.  She, however, is concerned about Oliver and the team being under a collapsed building and gets her piece of Tech, escaping using a version of the Canary cry in the building as an electronic instrument plays often used in Overwatch situations.

In the future, Felicity is trying to contact Alena while William comes up with the idea to go undercover to Kevin Dale’s office.  Felicity refuses to let him go in danger insisting that she will take care of it.  William is hurt that he is being pushed out when he feels like he can contribute, feeling like a kid bringing back old wounds that he didn’t feel part of the family.  As Felicity admits that they made a mistake and will always regret that, a theme in high electronics, strings and horn returns from 7x10.  It had played when Dinah confronted Rene with Mark of Four, reminding him of the promise to be there for each other.  William is feeling the loss of not having his parents there and Felicity regrets that as well.  She wanted William to have a normal life, trying to protect him but that still doesn’t fully take away the sting of not seeing each for 20 years. It is music of promises broken and time changing things.

Meanwhile, in the present, Felicity lists all the trauma that William had endured to Alena, concerned that she will not be able to keep her children safe, wanting to be better than her parents while strings and horn plays.  Clarinet begins to play as Alena suggests that they may have to do something different this time.  This instrument foreshadows 7x22 as clarinet is usually used for family for Oliver and Thea but rarely if ever for Felicity. However, it will be used when Oliver and Felicity go away to the cabin, taking those words seriously about going offline and doing something different.

In the future, Mia and William talk about what had gotten him so upset.  He felt like Felicity was pushing him away again.  He wanted answers as to why they weren’t a part of his life growing up while the theme from Felicity’s message in 7x15 plays in strings and piano.  William and Mia bonded there in hearing Felicity’s voice, apologizing for keeping them apart.  Now, William confides in Mia that he just needed a mother while she suggests that he go back to Felicity demanding answers. 

William decides to go his own way and visit Kevin Dale and as he pitches supporting Zeta soldiers on a larger scale, violins shimmer up and down interspersed with a gong giving a sense of unease.  The future/danger music plays as William and Rene’s allegiances are discovered and they are arrested.

Final Notes:

- The commercial music for the Zeta soldiers cracked me up.  The calm happy piano music sounded like current health/medicine commercials.

- I’ve written a little bit about the Olicity/baby Mia music from 7x22 but I will write a fuller review that will hopefully appear in the next week or two.  My sister is getting married in a little over a week so I will see how much time I have before then.

- Whenever Tommy returns, I remember how much his friendship with Oliver added to the show.

@smoakmonster @ah-maa-zing @academyofshipping @herskirtsarentthatshort @dmichellewrites @almondblossomme @jorahandal @green-arrows-of-karamel @mel-loves-all @scu11y22

[hellmomstephanyx]

(So yeah I’ve started to make playlists for my characters that are part of my grand SU fanfic that I will probably never write. Most of it has been on my Deviantart until now, but I kinda wanna move it over here now. So here we go. Please feel free to message me about this stuff, I could literally talk about my own characters for hours cause I'm trash. So, without further ado, here's our main villain's playlist!)

Killer Queen: A Black Tourmaline Playlist    1. Diamonds are Forever -- Shirley Bassey | 2. History Has Its Eyes On You -- Hamilton | 3. Expensive -- Todrick Hall | 4. Castle -- Halsey | 5. Green -- Todrick Hall | 6. Icarus -- Bastille | 7. Sacrifice -- Jeff Williams ft. Casey Lee Williams | 8. No Place Like Home -- Todrick Hall | 9. Royalty -- Conor Maynard | 10. Into You -- Ariana Grande | 11. ...Baby One More Time -- Britney Spears | 12. Terrible Things -- April Smith and the Great Picture Show | 13. If I Had a Heart -- Todrick Hall | 14. Lyin to Myself -- Todrick Hall | 15. Wildfire -- Jubyphonic | 16. Don't Forget -- Demi Lovato | 17. Cosmic Love -- Florence and the Machine | 18. Cold -- Jeff Williams ft. Casey Lee Williams | 19. Radioactive -- Marina and the Diamonds | 20. Angels -- Vicetone ft. Kat Nestel | 21. Wrong Bitch -- Todrick Hall ft. Bob the Drag Queen | 22. Don't Mess With Me -- Temposhark | 23. Viva la Vida -- Coldplay | 24. Young and Beautiful -- Scott Bradley's Postmodern Jukebox | 25. Black Hole Sun -- Scott Bradley's Postmodern Jukebox | Warning! Spoilers for the Eventual (maybe) Geodes Fic Follow TW: Violence, Abuse, Possibly Graphic Content 1. Diamonds are Forever actually began as a sort of ironic joke. However, as her narrative developed, the song actually worked really well in order to portray BT's complicated relationship with the Diamonds and how she could never be free of them. | 2. After BT shatters her superior in order to save her fellow BTs, History (and the Diamonds, and all of gemkind) definitely has its eyes on her. She may be the antagonist, but she's still making history with her story. | 3. A song about BT's rise to power (at least on the outside). It began as glitzy and glamorous, with Black Tourmaline and her "court" slowly beginning to dazzle gemkind rather than disgust them. Also, note the last lyric. | 4. Black Tourmaline is "heading straight for the castle"; The Diamonds "are going to make [her] their queen". | 5. The price of her rule is unseen, but BT and her court must make sacrifices and do despicable things in order to rise to the top. None of them were ever meant to make it, after all. | 6. A bit of foreshadowing; BT is an Icarus, even now. | 7. Despite being tangled up in the Diamonds' strings, BT tries to reject their power. However, that rejection comes at a price, and BT wonders if her own plans are even worth it... | 8. Although this song is rather early in the playlist, we are already at the midpoint of BT's storyline. She is jaded and wary, warning others to "Pay no attention, to the lies they try to feed ya..." | 9. BT has been queen for a while, and meets a gem named Kunzite as she attempts to curry the favor of the legendary Infinity Stone... | 10. Kunzite and BT have a secret love affair. It's "a little bit dangerous", as everyone close to them disapproves, so they have to "keep it secret", grabbing moments together when they can... | 11. An admittedly tasteless way of showing that the relationship eventually devolves into abuse (physical and emotional). The song can also be taken as BT's feelings about the relationship, despite her abusive nature. | 12. Pretty self-explanatory. BT's done some awful things in her time. Kunzite finds out exactly how awful in a rather...unique way. | 13. BT truly believes that she doesn't have a heart anymore as a result of what she's done. The war is getting worse... | 14. BT is lying to herself in order to protect herself from getting hurt and in order to justify her own actions. Kunzite is slowly beginning to get tired of it. | 15. Things explode. The situation gets so bad that BT's court members actually smuggle Kunzite out of her palace in order to protect them. | 16. Heartbroken, BT mourns for her loss, and begins to change. | 17. Kunzite can't resist her love and returns to the palace. BT and Kunzite reunite only for the cycle to begin again. Kunzite attempts to leave once more, but BT makes sure that they'll stay with her forever... | 18. Again, BT mourns for her loss, weeping bitter tears for days, as she clutches the box that holds her love. | 19. BT continues to change for the worse as the war continues. She begins to become merciless, punishing rebels and court members alike if they disobey her.  | 20. Now furious as she rationalizes Kunzite leaving as a betrayal, Black Tourmaline goes after Infinity Stone and their followers in order to make Kunzite suffer. | 21. Even though she is cornered by the rebel forces, Kunzite makes it clear that she's the Wrong Bitch to mess with. | 22. BT loses it completely, reveling in her wickedness, losing all of her inhibitions, and wishing to cause as much suffering as possible. The Diamonds can no longer control their creation. | 23. The final trio of songs is severe spoilers for the Geodes finale. However, if you notice a wistful and vaguely melancholy note in them, there is a reason for this. | 24. "Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?" | 25. This song is BT's ending, and is meant to be ambiguous. The tone you pick up here is key to your interpretation, but the lyrics don't necessarily mean much... |