#and this is even more creepy after watching episode 7

[dreamartv]

Holy crap, I've rewatched Murder Drones again after 7th episode dropped with my friend and looked what we've found

Tessa has appeared in 4th episode this is insane She even glitches there

And second later you can see a hand behind the wall

HOW DID WE MISS IT SHE WAS RIGHT THERE ALL ALONG

[inezdeortiz]

"No matter what, we'll always be together"

AU: Real World!

Pair: Rimuru Tempest x F![Name]

OS/IMG/HCS: Oneshot

Summary:Uh oh! Rimuru suddenly comes into your world in which you thought it was a very good cosplay until he started convincing you! What should you do? Should you believe him?

Note:Since Rimuru won the poll and I already had a new idea that was on my mind for a few days, so I thought why not make it already? So here it is!

Let's start with a flashback first...

You were just chilling in your bed watching a new anime that your best friend recommended, you thought it was gonna be very cheesy because of its name 'That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime' but as soon you watched it by the first few episodes, well you immediately became intrigued. As soon you finished the anime, you immediately started reading the manga/Light Novel since you wanted to know more but you well somehow ended up falling in love with a certain slime boy in the anime and his name was Rimuru Tempest you couldn't help it, he caught your attention during watching the anime and reading the manga.

Now let us move to the present...

7:00a.m

Beep!...Beep!

An alarm suddenly rings disturbing the peaceful silence and slumber of a girl with the name of [Name] [L/N], she reached out and tried to turn off the alarm that was ringing rather very loudly. The alarm became silent of it's loud ringings, [Name] sat up and began stretching her arms with a yawn.

"Huh..."

You looked at your alarm it was already 7:01, you then remembered the convention you were supposed to go and so you stood up rubbing your eyes gently while walking down the hallway then to the bathroom.

A shout bursts out from the bathroom and you panicked as soon you saw your reflection in the bathroom mirror.

"WHAT THE?! My hair is messier than ever!"

The shower curtains were immediately opened by you rather aggressively. . .

[Name] soon finished her bath, and changed into some adorable dress. You know those coquette outfits that you see on the internet? Yes you were wearing those because you got invited in a tea party by your dear best friend, you accepted since you have been attending plenty of tea parties but the party doesn't start until 9:30a.m so you still had time to visit the convention and maybe buy some merch too.

"Alright! Let's just cover the outfit with a cape to avoid those creepy guys."

At the Convention Event Center...

You reached the event center which was obviously crowded since it was Saturday, you looked on your phone to see the time and it was 7:30.

"Already?! Time sure flies fast.."

You then entered tha Artist Alley, you saw a lot of nrw artists in that place and also the old ones who are currently selling their arts. You passed the Alley then moved to the merch section, there were a tons and tons of merch ranging from Demon Slayer, MHA, and many more but one stall cuaght your eye—it was a TENSURA merch stall, it was rare but you found one on this convention so you took the opportunity to buy some and maybe start a collection.

You finished buyibg the merchandise you didn't have on your collection, you chuckled as you held two bags of merch.

"Well! And soon my collection is complete!—Wait...is that a Rimuru cosplay?"

A really familiar blue hair caught your eyes and a outfit really similar to his Demon Lord clothing—You approached the 'cosplayer' and started complimenting them.

"Hey! You know that's a really good cosplay! It's almost like the real deal!"

"Huh? But I am the real Rimuru Tempest—"

"Haha! You're hilarious but fictional characters aren't real, after all they are just from an anime that is just fictional."

You laughed as he said that he was the real Rimuru Tempest, He looked at you like you were crazy until he started speaking again.

"I'm telling you! I am Rimuru Tempest! Look, I'll even transform into my slime form to prove it!"

Your laughter died down as soon he said that he will transform into his slime form.

'That can't be right? All characters are just fictional. He's just crazy...calm down [Name]...'

"I am indeed real, in fact I came here to look for you."

Note: Don't worry this isn't the end! I'll make part 2 as promised! Do be patient and wait for it!

[confused-much]

So, I started rewatching Community after a year or two and wow, I forgot so many things about this show:

Jeffannie started in season 1 during that debate episode and this makes me feel even more icky. Somehow I thought that this ship started at the end of season 1/beginning of season 2.

Jeffannie is so uncomfortable for me to watch. Not only is the age gap creepy, Annie is presented as this innocent girl while Jeff is Jeff. And yeah, as the series progresses, Annie matures but she's still so young and has her whole life ahead while Jeff is 40 and stuck at Greendale

Britta in season one was the best because she wasn't dumbed down and exaggerated. She had the same flaws as in later seasons (like her lack of real activism, terrible choice of boyfriends, being uncool etc.) but those flaws were believable and toned down to fit the rest of characters. I miss Britta

I forgot that they made Pierce horrible in season 2 onwards so it was a shock. In season one he has more redemptive moments

I miss season one and two of community the most. The show was still somewhat grounded and it made me think of my own college experiences (anthropology as shown in community was basically 80% of my real classes)

Senior Chang > any other Chang BUT that one episode of Guard Change is top ten for me ("Arizona backwards is Arizona!")

Abed was terrible to Troy in some episodes in season 3 (Blanket fort episode, stars doppelgangers episode) and doesn't face consequences/learn a lesson/start to appreciate Troy more. I like Abed but it still pisses me off

I feel that as the show progressed it was less about the main 7 and more about Annie and Jeff which sucks and I hate it

Also, Jeffbritta was the best. Are they toxic? Yes. Do they understand each other on a deep level and always help each other when needed? Also yes. I loved their bickering in the show and I always liked their little moments.

I forgot that Dean's Dalmatian fetish started in season one and progressed throughout the story

Paintball episodes are meh for me. Yes, all of them

"If loving worms is stupid then I don't want to be smart!" "It is and you can't!" I love this little exchange.

Idk, I noticed that sometimes some characters from main 7 appeared for like 1 minute in the whole episode. I know that you can't always have episode with all of them equally on the screen but idk it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like the election episode which is basically all about Jeff and Annie. Pierce has like 5 lines and all are horrible, Troy and Abed are reduced to being announcers, Britta and Shirley basically don't exist (Britta also goes on stage and is ridiculed)

Idk they could have done more with Shirley

I also like the friendship between Britta and Shirley, the anarchist and atheist being friends with devoted Christian has so much potential

I was never fan of Troy and Britta together

Idk, on one hand Trobed is fine, but on the other hand showing a deep and profound friendship like that is also fine. I'm ok with both

Ass crack bandit song slaps and I love it

Out of all of the main seven, I don't like Annie the most (after season 2 onwards Pierce ofc). And I honestly can't tell if I don't like her that much because of the personality or because of her ship with Jeff

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - all these kisses Korea, are you feeling okay?

Entirely subjective yadda yadda. Organized sorta by favs in each category.

Sept 2023 Wk 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

I Feel You Linger in the Air (Fri grey) ep 5 of 12 - I did think the sketch was done AFTER they’d become lovers. Meanwhile, I do enjoy the creepy slipping through time moments, adds nicely to the tension. I’m sublimely uninterested in all the hets but that's normal for me. Bit of a slow episode, but I'm looking forward to next week. 

Dangerous Romance (Fri YT) ep 5 of 12 - Cohabitation trope activated. Also "lovable grandma" is a new BL archetype I can get behind. Honestly PerthChimon's dynamic is good, it’s fun to watch a Thai BL where the leads are actually both stellar actors. There’s no stilted awkwardness to their dialogue back & forth or other interactions. I also like having MarcPuwin back on my screen. NO DAMN SINGING. Finally a fun twist on the faen fatale. 

Hidden Agenda (Sun YT) ep 10 of 12 - I like that we’re seeing actual realistic consequences of coming out. Not the big parental freak out, but the small nasties of opening up as an everyday queer. This is rare in BL.  

Naughty Babe (Sat YT) ep 3 of 8 - Lap sitting, lots of kissing, one arm counter lift - thank you, boys. Stupid tiny dog (not a euphemism). Is it just me or does Max look extra pretty these days? Anygay, it’s all quite silly and I'm mildly enjoying it.  

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 11 of 12 - I remain enamored of Big Daddy & the Hot Doc but nothing else. 

Venus in the Sky (Tues iQIYI) 3 of 10 eps - Their history and the consequences of the confession to their friendship all seems a little sad & cruel. But also it’s just this pulp, ya know? 

(10 points to the True Geek who gets that reference.)

Only Friends (Sat YT) ep 6 of 10 - I want Mew’s moms’ story as a GL. (Not from this team, of course.) Ah even Sand can be a lying creep, best not to like anyone in this show... frankly, best just not to like this show. And ya know what, I'm pretty sure I really don't.

Could I make something clear? You can’t "steal a lover from someone." That's puerile thinking. That lover wants to go. It’s the lover’s fault (if anyone) not the one who stole that lover, no matter how much an asshole Top is. Sand’s ex is at fault, not Top. And screw Sand for thinking that way. Like his ex wasn't a whole person in their own right capable of making decisions?

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) ep 3-4 Marry Go Round of 24 eps - The premise of this is dumb. The pair is fun. They still kiss great. The actors are good. Crap story. What can you do? Don’t watch it. 5/10 

I need to rewatch Destiny Seeker now. 

Love in Translation (Sat iQIYI) ep 5 of 10 - Omg. Too stupid to live. Why am I still watching this? How many more? Ugh. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Why R U? (Korea Wed iQIYI) eps 7-8fin - SaifahZon (no matter what country) are probably the softest enemies to lovers ever put on screen. Yes they are very cute and I like them better than the original. However, no one can out do ZeeSaint for the count down kiss on the rooftop. All in all, I enjoyed the final 2 eps, very cute. I liked this BL a lot but I’d love to know what somebody thought who hadn’t seen the original.

Ultimately, what can I say about Why R U? Korea?

Korea decided to remake, of all possible Thai BLs, Why RU? And that is exactly what we got: a short form, clean & pretty, uneven chemistry, slightly confusing, all the same tropes KBL that kind of cliff-noted the original but with none of the heat or complex relationship dynamics. I just … what world is this? Because it is BOTH bizarro land, and EXACTLY what I expected. How do I rate something like that? In the end I have to go back to simple questions: did I like it, would I rewatch it, and would I recommend it? Yes. Probably. And probably not. What the actual hell reality? 8/10 

You Are Mine (Taiwan Fri Gaga) eps 1-2 of 10 - Office romance, broken-grumpy + innocent-sunshine. (Also cutie devil meets angel bestie hotties.) Gotta say, Taiwan is awfully good at moments of recognition. I sense some whipping boy and obsession incoming, looks good on you, Taiwan. Do I like it? Of course I like it! 

Kisseki: Dear to Me (Taiwan Tues Viki & iQIYI) ep 5 of 13(?) - Taiwan never met a trope it didn’t wanna play with. Teacher student + secret relationship, there’s only one bed but they slept together on the floor anyway... it’s a trope gum ball machine. I'm not mad, a bit confused, but who cares.

My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 5 of 8 - Uh-oh baby is sad. Yo is such a drama queen - I respect that in a boy. Also, I love it that W took it as and excuse to play Real Boyfriends. Also leaning v obsessive stalker there Japan. As expected you had to go there. Carry on, you do (and track on your creep app) you.

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) ep 11 of 12 - Ugh. I kind of enjoyed seeing Minato in pain and having to work for the relationship for a change. But that’s just because I’m so frustrated with his character this season and I want him to SUFFER. Sides are cute tho. I like them better this season. 

It's Airing But...

Crazy Handsome Rich (Sun Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - I just can’t. The sound. DNF 

Bump Up Business AKA Bump Up Project (Korea movie) original cinema release was 9/15 but MDL indicates it's been moved to October so I'll shift my dates. Last status update. Love story between a trainee who is about to debut and a celebrity from the same agency (based on a webtoon). Kpop boy group OnlyOneOf signed on to star. They’ve been auditioning for this since Libido IMHO. You can watch me chronicle their BL MV series in this post. It’s from Idol Romance who will do sad but can do good kisses (Wish You, Nobleman Ryu, Once Again, Kissable Lips, Poongduck 304, Tasty Florida, Tinted With You).

In case you missed it?

What Did You Eat Yesterday? is now available on Gaga. If you enjoyed Our Dining Table, you will enjoy this. 

I did a quick analysis of 2 different acting styles based on these 2 boys here.

Boyband, I finally watched the 6 eps that are available. It aired earlier this year and was hard to find. For good reason it turns out. Yes it’s about a Thai boyband so I skipped all the singing bits. I like the actor playing Juju (Brothers). Also hi Art, are you actually ageless? Lots of other familiar faces popped up like Copter, Max, Fluke. It actually started as a solid little story (if not much of a romance). The stuff with the organizers was v boring and there were 2 het sides but the rest of it was palatable. Operative word being was. Something happened around ep 3, like they lost funding as well as distribution and it just... fizzled. No real ending, no character dev, no story resolution, just blank. It’s like it DNF’d itself. 3/10 I don’t know what I just watched and neither does it. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Still To Come In September

9/26 I Cannot Reach You AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai (Japan ????) - Adapted from the manga, childhood best friends: The cool, smart one who’s good at everything, and his average, dorky friend who struggles. Always by the other’s side, but not together in the way they truly want to be. No matter how hard they try, their hearts cannot reach each other.

9/27 Absolute Zero (Thai iQIYI) - from 2021, Studio Wabi Sabi and New Siwaj finally bring us this “time loop to prevent tragedy” romance. We don’t always get HEAs from them, so I'm on my guard.

9/27 Bon Appetit (Korea iQIYI) - from 2022, 8 eps from GoGo Studio, romance between an office worker who lives off junk food and the man next door who cooks well.

9/? Mr Cinderella 2 (Vietnam YouTube?) - it's Vietnam so your guess is as good as mine.

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Just look at the PRETTY! His makeup is flawless this series. I don't know who GMMTV hired new for makeup recently, but this ain't Thai style, this genius trained at the feet of Korea's finest. You keep that bitch (hon. gender nu) around, GMMTV, ya hear? (Hidden Agenda)

Gah, I love Yai so much. He tries so hard. He's such a sweet earnest character. He's like the angel-baby opposite of Chan (devil-baby) but they both my 2023 babies. (I Feel You Linger in the Air)

You know I love it when a BL gets meta about tropes. Here's Why R U?K calling out enemies to lovers.

Kabedon!

Yes we like all the snacks, thank you Korea. Your BL is basically snack food anyway. I'm not mad about it.

SWITCHES! I love it when we get this kinda thing. (All Why R U? Korea)

It me in all horror movies and whenever a boy starts to sing in a BL. (Venus in the Sky)

(Last week) 

[love-sapphirerose]

Rin: Bad Inuyasha Character

Another bad damsel in distress in the Inuyasha series. I never really liked Rin since I've always thought of her as a weak girl who was clingy and obsessed with Sesshomaru. Rin is like a younger version of Kagome except she's not an archer.

Her Character

In the original, rin was an annoying and obnoxious little girl who had a dark past and a major obsession with sesshomaru but in yashahime it was much worst.

For the majority of yashahime, rin was frozen in the tree of ages. In the first season of episode 1, it was a flashback of a manga chapter in the final act. But in episode 15, she lacked character as she let sesshomaru, who just ignored her, take her newly born twins away with no explanation other than it was a rite of courage and cowardice and was completely obedient and okay with it. Suddenly in season 2, she was reverted back to her original annoying character and so on but worse.

In episode 27, I know why rin wants to protect towa and setsuna because she's there mother but she makes this over dramatic and whiny speech as she wants sesshomaru, who is her husband, to kill her to protect them.

When she confronts kirinmaru, she pathetically tries to fight him, someone with no kind of power at all and no combat training is going to take on a very powerful beast king yokai who can instantly kill her as she is all talk and no action.

When rin finally meets towa and setsuna together closely, instead of hugging them immediately she decides to wait not like moe, ms higurashi, and kagome who did despite the circumstances.

Even after zero tried multiple times to kill towa and setsuna and terrorized them, rin still wants to save zero who ended up committing suicide by riku anyway.

2. Appearance and Age

Despite what the creators of yashahime tried to explain through jaken and tree of ages that rin is 18 and later 32, she is actually 15 and later 29.

The true creator, Rumiko Takahashi, explained databooks and interviews that rin was 7-8 years old but disgsting sessrin shippers want to ignore it and agree with yashahime creators.

The timeline of rin's age in order. In inuyasha, rin was 7-8, in the 3 year time skip of the final episode of the final act she is 11, in since then is 11 and 1/2 but yashahime said that 18 years have passed so 11 plus 18 is 29.

Despite yashahime falsely claiming she is 32, majority of the time makes rin look like she was still 11 and sometimes the exact age as towa and setsuna.

3. Marriage

rin's marriage to sesshomaru is creepy and disgusting as he knew her since she was 7-8 years old. Rumiko Takahashi said in interviews and databooks that sesshomaru and rin have a father-daughter relationship. rin should've been with kohaku because they are close in age and have great interactions with each other. The sick reason for the yashahime creators pairing sesshomaru and rin together was because they wanted sesshomaru to have hanyos and rin is the only female that wasn't taken, has some kind of relationship with him, and is alive. They could've made Kaname Kururugi and Janis canon in yashahime and created a story where one of them returned to the feudal era and been with him or created a human female character for him but instead they choose someone that was like a daughter to him.

In yashahime, sesshomaru and rin's relationship is basically the same in the original except rin's is less rebellious and more obedient. rin still calls him 'lord sesshomaru' and doesn't see herself as his equal or even his wife as seen with her conversations with towa and setsuna, she refers to them as 'sesshomaru's daughters' and not both of theirs. sesshomaru doesn't see rin as his wife as he continues to give commands to her like she's a dog.

Ex. ordering her to stay in the tree of ages, him waking and orders her to follow him, orders her to stay and watch closely of him and kirinmaru fight, and in the last episode he orders her to follow him.

sesshomaru doesn't even take care of the towa and setsuna, especially when they were babies as he doesn't even change their diapers and rin just made excuses for him saying 'changing diapers doesn't suit lord sesshomaru' and dumbed her down.

4. Sudden Change

In the yashahime series, rin worried about towa and setsuna and was even willing to sacrifice her life for them in the last episode with a conversations with them she completely changed.

rin was worried about kohaku and kagura but she had said to towa and setsuna 'since they're hanyos she's sure they'll more hardships and they'll be attacked by strange demons just for being the daughters of lord sesshomaru' while being cheerful and laughing.

While kagome, who is majority of the time an awful character, wife, and mother, who worried about moroha and wanted her out of debt immediately.

[sabrina-bee-art]

The Wizards are Sad Pieces of Toast, change my mind.

The Wizards are this seasons big bad villains. Or, the attempt at villains, ig. The way they are introduced, set against all the other villains the Winx have already beaten, it sets the expectation for the audience that the Wizards are even more evil, cruel and dangerous than all the villains that came before. And I guess on paper they are. Theoretically they are responsible for the genocide on the Terrestrial Fairies, which is pretty horrifying. Even Faragonda doesn’t dare speak of them out loud. And initially that’s intriguing. But when we meet them properly, they are just so boring and ineffective in comparison to Valtor or the Trix. Or even Darkar and he mostly hung out in his creepy cave castle.

I like the Wizards entrance, sort of. I like that they initially are after Bloom and want to steal her power (we’ll disregard for a moment the fact we learned in season 1 that a fairy’s power can’t be stolen) and when they realise, she isn’t the one they were looking for, they just yeet her to the side. That’s funny and unexpected. Every other villain before was after Bloom, and now for the first time, she isn’t the main centre of attention. She’ll make herself into that, later. But back to the Wizards.

We quickly realise that the Wizards are just…ridiculous, not menacing. Their actions don’t live up to the expectation set by their introduction and I think that is the main problem I have with them. How am I supposed to take them as a serious threat when the first two thirds of the season, the Wizards spend their time essentially playing pranks on the Winx? All they do in their brief moments of screen time, is to stand around and complain about the Winx. Then they try to ruin the Winx reputation and get so angry over the people of Gardenia liking these girlies. How very high school mean girl of them. It gets to a point where even the Winx are just annoyed when the Wizards show up and treat them more like an inconvenience than the evil final bosses that they end up being. Well, unless the plot demands otherwise.

It doesn’t help that, until the Winx get Believix at the end of the sixth episode, the Wizards could beat them at any point, since they canonically created a spell that renders Fairy Magic basically mute. But they don’t do anything with their advantage. Instead, they are absent for a good chunk of episodes and then only start messing with the Love & Pet shop, for no other reason than that they don’t like the Winx and find them annoying. After Episode 7, when the Winx insta-defeated them, they just sometimes attack randomly, but not with any sort of plan they want to achieve. Even though Roxy is not very protected, like the Winx don’t organise a watch for her or coordinate schedules so that someone is always with her, the Wizards only try to kidnap Roxy once. Unsuccessfully, because they conveniently forget to take her powers that particular time.

At the end, when they reveal themselves to be the Big Evils after all, I couldn’t take them seriously, with all the silly bullshit they pulled. They don’t even have any memorable personalities either. I can’t even recall all their names: there’s Ogron and Duman. Gantlos? And??? I'm sure there's a fourth one, but I couldn't remember his name if you'd held a gun to my head.

Ogron, or more like budget Valtor, in a sad attempt to be the next “charming” villain, monologues all over the place, throwing around threats and sassy lines. When Valtor did it, at least he made his threats reality thus giving his words weight. Ogron just talks shit and then gets jobbed by the Winx.

Another aspect to the detriment of the Wizards is that we don’t really get to spend much time with them. In season one and season three we spend a good chunk of most episodes with the Trix and Valtor and get to know them, their plans, and personalities. That’s why they are so memorable. The Wizards don’t get the same treatment. We barely cut away to see what they are up to, and when we do, they mostly complain about the popularity of the Winx. I’m serious. These are our villains!

We never learn their plans either. Why do they want the Terrestrial Fairies powers so badly? Just to have it? Because that’s an evil villain thing to do? Why did they start the genocide in the first place? What is their end goal now? Why do they want the White Circle? What are they planning? The audience not knowing the villains plan is a problem. That’s our frame of reference for the stakes of the season. Whenever the Winx and Wizards fight, we should clearly know what happens should the Winx lose. When we don’t understand the Wizards ulterior motives, their actions become meaningless and confusing. I would go so far to speculate that there never was a concrete plan for them, writing-wise. They are just a trope, a vessel, a hinderance for the Winx to fill this season with something. They aren’t real characters.

Let’s look at their plan, or lack there-of: At first, they want to steal Roxy’s power, then they leave her alone for a bit, messing with the Winx instead. Then they suddenly forget about Roxy and want the White Circle. Then they play more pranks and inconvenience the Winx some more. And in the end, they want to destroy Tir Na Nog…for some reason??? Because the show needs an evil final boss? With the other villains in previous season, the audience always clearly understood what their next steps would be. That adds suspense and urgency, like “Oh no! The Trix are about to steal a codex, can the Winx stop them in time???” Because we understood, that if Darkar gets all Codex pieces, he would be super powerful and destroy the Magical Dimension, the audience understood the gravity whenever the Trix managed to steal another piece. Now granted, that’s not a particularly original plan, but that’s not the point. The Wizards just randomly show up to fight, not really following any plan, or rather, whatever this episode’s plot requires. They don’t have an overarching plan. I’d argue because they don’t need one, because they will lose at the end regardless, but there not being any really just makes the Wizards seem like nothing more than a mild inconveniences to the Winx. Depending on the episode, of course, and whether we need to bring in artificial tension.

The fact that they don’t even have a proper villain’s lair speaks volumes. The Trix had Cloud Tower in season one. Darkar had his fancy underground castle. Valtor first had his cave on Andros, then Cloud Tower. What do the Wizards get? An unspecified industrial looking area and then…the sewer. They hide out in the sewer. Ewwwww. They don’t have a creepy castle, nothing. They could have had a sort of Tir Na Nog foil, a creepy old castle maybe, or even lived in the Ruins of Tir Na Nog. No. They hide in the sewers of this random Californian town.

I cannot stress enough how the majority of the season the Wizards are just sad pieces of toast and then at the last minute, they are revealed to be the big bad final boss. Their tactic of feigning their surrender could have been interesting, but by that point they already had lost all their intrigue. The Winx had already won against them every time they fought, so why should I feel any sort of threat or danger?

[imzadi-caskett-huddy]

It Started With a Kiss (2/?)

This chapter is taken from the episode “Lucky Stiff,” so according to the original air dates, it takes place 2 weeks after the last chapter. “Knockdown” aired on Jan 24 and “Lucky Stiff” aired on Feb 7.

Once again, I want to point out that the events unfold exactly as they happen on the show, with the exception of what you see written here. The storylines are all connected…each chapter is NOT standalone.

I still, unfortunately, do not own Castle.

xxxxx

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since that undercover kiss, since that night at her apartment where the whiskey had made him brave enough to tell her he was in love with her and kiss her. Two weeks since her hand on his chest had ever so gently pushed him away. They hadn’t talked about either kiss since that night, and they certainly hadn’t talked about his confession; he hadn’t been brave enough while sober, and he figured she didn’t want to make things awkward between them. It was like an unspoken rule, a line that they danced around but neither dared to cross…and when he had dared to smudge it that night, she had carefully pushed him back on the other side.

He hadn’t been able to get the two kisses out of his head, for different reasons. The kiss at her apartment had lasted maybe 3 or 4 seconds before she had pushed him away, long enough for her to have allowed it to happen; it wasn’t like she instantly shoved him back. No, it was more like she was stopping herself from allowing it to continue. She hadn’t returned that kiss, but he’d still felt a spark. Maybe the reason she wouldn’t allow that kiss to continue any longer than it had was because of the way their first kiss had started so innocently and then quickly grown into a raging inferno.

That undercover kiss still haunted his dreams. The way her lips felt against his, the way she had been the one to dive into that second kiss, the way she’d been the one to invade his mouth with her tongue…aggressively…the way she moaned; that hadn’t been his imagination, and it certainly hadn’t been all a show. The guard hadn’t been close enough to tell if they were kissing with tongue, so it certainly hadn’t been necessary.

He’d dreamt about her nearly every night since then. They all started the same…with that ridiculously hot kiss. They all had similar endings…with them in various states of undress, grinding against each other for release either up against a wall in the alley or against her car,

even in the back of her car. And then he always woke up alone, feeling the ghost of her fingers in his hair, the way her tongue danced against his, the way she’d bitten his lip, still able to taste her on his lips. After every dream, he’d take a few moments to savor the memories before pulling himself from bed and heading for his shower to find relief; it was almost ritualistic at this point.

Their latest case had her asking him if he’d go undercover with her again, in a club. He’d eagerly agreed; undercover work was fun, and spending time with her on an almost date in a club…no way was he going to turn her down and have her ask Ryan or Esposito to join her. He was her partner, he had her back; he was going to keep showing up for her. He realized, though, after seeing the dress she was wearing, that it was going to be a long evening of torture for him. And when he saw the way she handled his Ferrari, he knew he was in deep trouble.

Beckett danced her way into the club and through the crowd, Castle following close behind as always, but he wasn’t dancing. He was too preoccupied watching the way her body moved…it was mesmerizing. When she got a little space on the dance floor, she pulled him close and started dancing against him. She rolled her eyes as he stood there, still staring at her in awe. “Staring is creepy,” she leaned in close to his ear to speak, so close that her lips brushed against his skin. “This isn’t a day at Disneyland, Castle. If you don’t act like we’re together, some other guy is going to try, and that’s not how this undercover thing works. So dance with me and keep your eyes peeled for Oz.”

He swallowed hard, doing his best to keep his composure as he inhaled the scent of cherries from her hair that was brushing against his lips. This night might kill him. “Okay,” he managed to murmur, one hand moving to her waist, but definitely not daring to be inappropriate.

She rolled her eyes when he didn’t loosen up after a few moments and leaned close to his ear again. “Stop acting like you’re afraid I’m going to shoot you. You’re supposed to be my boyfriend, so act like it,” she murmured, her hand taking his wrist and moving the hand he had on her waist down to a much more inappropriate position on her ass. Get with it, she tried to convey the message with the look she sent him as she pulled back to dance against him again.

After a deep breath which he released slowly, he tried to do what she asked and loosen up. His hands moved over her body every bit the way a lover’s would. Oh, he was definitely going to die tonight; death by Kate Beckett. The way her body moved sinfully against his as they danced so close, in sync…all he could think about was how her body would feel moving like that against his, her skin against his skin, between his ridiculously high thread count Egyptian cotton bed sheets. He had no idea how long he’d been fantasizing when was shaken out of his it by the feel of her breath on his ear, but he had no idea what she said.

“Castle!” she hissed in his ear, finally getting his attention. “Have you seen Oz yet?” she asked, pulling back slightly to get his reaction.

“No,” he shook his head. But he hadn’t really been looking either; he’d been too busy fantasizing about her moving her body the way she was in his bed without her dress on.

“Keep looking,” she told him. She let her eyes scan around the room again, searching through the crowd as she slowly danced them through the people. They needed to find Oz quickly so they could get out of there. She could feel how he was affected by this whole situation every time her hips moved against his, and it would be a lie to say it wasn’t affecting her almost as much. She needed to get them both out of the position she’d put them in before one or both of them would do something in the heat of the moment that would really complicate things between them.

She knew it would have been smarter, safer to have taken Espo with her to the club. He would have been able to pass as her boyfriend without the same effect she and Castle were having on each other; then again, she may not have danced quite as closely with him either. She’d told herself that she and Castle were a much more convincing couple than she and Espo; she and Castle were more in sync and exuded chemistry…Castle was her partner. And she had selfishly wanted to go to the club with him, selfishly wanted an hour with him like this to pretend…pretend reality didn’t exist, pretend Josh didn’t exist, pretend that she was his.

The kiss they’d shared two weeks ago still played through her head. She’d never felt pure, intense fire in her veins from a kiss like that before. No man had ever made her feel that way, certainly not from just a kiss. If only her life weren’t so complicated, if she hadn’t built a fortress around her heart, maybe it could be different, maybe she could be with him. It just wasn’t that simple. Josh was safe; she couldn’t get hurt with Josh; her heart was never in danger. But Castle…Castle had the power to shatter her heart and completely destroy her.

Finally, she spotted their target in a booth by the opposite wall. “Oz is in a booth along that back wall. Go get us drinks while I go over to him. Make sure you’re back in 5 minutes…you’ve got my cuffs,” she reminded him.

He watched her ass in the tight, short skirt of her dress as she started dancing away. When she stopped and turned back after a moment, catching him staring and giving him one of her looks, he was torn completely from the fantasy world he’d been in for the past hour with her. “Drinks, right,” he smiled, heading for the bar.

His mind wandered as he waited for the drinks. He watched her flirt with the drug dealer so effortlessly. He wasn’t surprised she’d made her detective rank working in vice; she was a natural, and she was hot. Most men wouldn’t peg her for a cop. He made a point to try to remember to ask her for some stories from her days in vice; he wanted to know about the undercover work she’d done.

Undercover work…that made him close his eyes with a smile at the way it felt having her body

pressed up against his, sliding against his just minutes ago. These were memories he was sure would replace that of her kiss in his dreams. He opened his eyes to see their drinks on the bar in front of him. He paid the bartender, and with a soft sigh knew their night was coming to an end. He knew that for now at least, this was the only way he could have her like that…undercover and in his memories.

Castle had just made it to the booth in time to see Beckett slam Oz’s head into the table with his hand twisted behind his back and kick the bodyguard in the crotch, which made him wince. God, she was hot when she was badass like that. When he saw her outstretched hand, he offered her one of the drinks with a smile, about to make a comment about her badassery.

“No! Handcuffs!” she told him, shaking off the drink.

“Right. Sorry,” he put one of the drinks down for a moment to pull the handcuffs out of his pocket and hand them to her.

xxxxx

“Castle!” Beckett greeted him when she opened the door and saw him standing there.

“I know what you would do if you won the lottery,” he walked past her into her apartment, proud of himself.

“By all means, please come in,” she rolled her eyes, closing her door. “So, what is your big insight into a financial decision that I will never have to make?” she arched an eyebrow slightly.

He smiled. “You would use the money to honor your mother’s legacy.” His eyes were soft as he studied her. He was right. “On the way over here, I called the dean of your mom’s old law school. We talked about starting a scholarship in Johanna Beckett’s name. One that would provide a full ride for a student planning on dedicating their career to those in the legal system without a voice, the kind of people your mom championed. And, with your blessing, I would like to host a fundraiser to fund it.”

He wanted to…what? She was completely caught off guard by this gesture. He was just supposed to be trying to guess what she’d do with a lot of money, not make what felt like some grand romantic gesture for her. “You just can’t stay out of my personal life can you?”

Castle’s smile faded slightly. Maybe he overstepped, maybe this was too much…maybe…

Beckett smiled then. “Thank you. It’s really sweet.” She couldn’t help but look at the floor a little nervously.

“We definitely have to invite the mayor, and all of his campaign contributors,” he started, moving

past her toward her dining room table and pulling a paper out of his pocket as he took a seat. “Some of them can be boorish. There’s this one guy…” he trailed off when he caught her staring at him. “What?”

She shook her head slightly, a smile on her face. God, she was falling in love with him...or maybe she already was in love with him and was just now beginning to realize it. “Would you like some wine?” she asked softly.

“That would be great while we plan out the details,” he agreed, already writing down some notes.

She disappeared into her kitchen to grab a bottle of red and a couple of wine glasses. This latest gesture had her heart somersaulting. She couldn’t imagine anyone doing anything sweeter for her. She couldn’t even put into words how it made her feel, how he was making her feel. Taking a seat next to him at the table, she handed him a glass before taking a sip of hers.

They sat at her table talking and planning for over an hour, and by the time they had finished off the bottle, they had worked out most of the details of the event, and what was important to her to include. She still couldn’t believe not only had he come up with this, but he was sharing it with her and putting it into action.

“This really is very sweet, Castle,” she told him honestly, resting a hand on his arm.

He returned her smile, meeting her eyes. “It was your idea.”

She laughed softly. “How was it my idea?”

“I heard you talking to my mother…about what she should do with the money. This evening it sort of clicked into place, that you would want to honor your mom. I just came up with a way to do it that didn’t involve you winning the lottery,” he shrugged.

She couldn’t help the way she was looking at him. This man was so incredible…that he would do this for her, give this to her…something she didn’t even know she wanted. “Castle, I don’t know what to say,” she finally admitted softly.

He smiled. “You don’t have to say anything.”

They both sat staring deeply into each other’s eyes, simply getting lost there for a few moments. She wanted so badly to kiss him after all of this. But she couldn’t. She was committed to another man…at least physically. Though she’d come to realize this evening that Josh did not have her heart; she’d been emotionally committed to Castle first. So was she cheating on Castle with Josh? It kind of felt like it now. But if she did kiss Castle, that was definitely cheating on Josh...right? What was she supposed to do when one man had her emotional commitment and

the other her physical commitment; when one man had the power to wreck her, and every instinct in her head was telling her to run, but the other was safe because he couldn't make her feel enough to really hurt her? The twisted logistics were making her head spin.

“It’s late,” she said softly, finally breaking the spell between them.

“Yeah,” he agreed, moving to stand. He grabbed his coat from the back of one of the chairs and put it back on. “I’ll hire an event planner, and let you know when we can meet with them,” he promised.

“That sounds great,” she nodded, walking him to her door. She paused a moment before opening it to raise up and give him a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Thank you. For all of this,” she whispered. “You’re an amazing man.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiled.

Taking a deep breath, she tore her eyes away from his and opened the door so he could leave. “Goodnight, Castle.”

xxxxx

I always felt like they were in and out of the club far too quickly in the episode, though I understand the logistics filming wise of why. So I wanted a little bit longer of a scene where they were actually undercover together for more than 3 minutes.

And I always thought this scholarship set up in her mother’s name was a huge grand gesture that was highly underrated and we never heard about it again. Never fear, I am here to resurrect it! I plan on having the fundraiser at some point over one of the next chapters of this story! There is no way they are not going to that!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! As I said before, I'm rotating updates between this and my other story. It will most likely be about a week before there's an update here, because I've got to write the next chapter in Hell Hath No Fury and deal with Castle's embarassment at the cabin.

Also if any of you ever have problems finding chapters of my stories, it's all over on fanfiction.net under the penname THE Imzadi Fan

[indianchindian]

Watched Stranger by the Shore and it's the best thing ever!!

My mind is still processing things, but the relationship between Shun and Mio is beautiful. I wish Mio's character is more explored since he's the protagonist as well but I love how they showed internalised homophobia in Shun.

This is my third time watching an anime movie (first Your Name, second Spirited Away), and tbh I found some parts of it hard to understand. It would've been less confusing if this was a series, and the characters would've been developed well, but I love how Shun and Mio's relationship was portrayed. Although Shun took an interest in him when Mio was 17, they were in a relationship when Mio was 20, hence he was a full-grown adult. Their age gap was 7 years, and I wish it was much closer, as a review of it said. But the chemistry between the two main characters was a chef's kiss and I love how their relationship progressed. Their relationship wasn't creepy at all, thankfully.

The sex scene was my favorite. It wasn't even remotely sexual, as it explores the feelings the characters have for each other, with Shun's mental state being explored. It isn't your typical sex scene used to fetishize their relationship, but it digs deeper into their characters and it is emotional (the KinnPorsche bathroom scene in episode 7 made me realize my preference for emotional sex scenes). When they cuddle after having sex, which wasn't so great, then zooming in to Shun crying as he cuddles Mio made me cry as well.

In this case, gay people were shown to be humans. Their sexuality didn't define them. I liked that Shun and Mio weren't the only same-sex couple since there was a happy lesbian couple too.

Looks like I need to watch the movie again to understand it better because my thoughts aren't clear atm, but this movie was successful in making me cry. I liked Mio and I wish his character was explored as someone who was recovering from grief, but I think the makers focussed more on Shun and there was not enough time to cover Mio's side of the story. Might make another blog on this move (will write a more detailed review on WordPress), but thanks for reading (for those who stumbled through this.)

:)

(Pics and GIF are from Pinterest)

(and I read two reviews based on it so some of what I wrote are influenced by those)

[myechoecho]

Moon in the Day, ep 7

On the one hand, I thought it was a bit harsh of Yeong Hwa to tell Do Ha to get over it and he's a stalker despite the dreams she's had. From her perspective, it's very creepy to think there's been someone watching you your whole life and seemingly knows every single detail.

Do Ha understands some of her resistance, I think. When she talks about her trauma for her entire life she really doesn't think of his trauma or asks why. That that is in large part because Do Ha is deliberately leaving out massive chunks of the story. He tells her he needs to know how he died - he knows the how, what he needs is the why. Despite her protests she does believe him. And no matter what she says, he has never really confused her for Ri Ta. She may be her reincarnation but she has always been Yeong Hwa for him.

this pond reminds me of the one from their past.

This episode we also see a turning point for Ri Ta, and later for Yeong Hwa.

In the past, Do Ha fights his father's men to protect Ri Ta and then takes an arrow for her. He wakes to find his father, and demands to know where Ri Ta is. When his father says he killed her, Do Ha is done. Ri Ta was the only sliver of happiness that he had. He had been trapped for years by his adoptive father he no longer cares if his father's men kill him.

But it's all been some twisted test since Ri Ta is alive. His father tells him to kill her but Do Ha cannot. And because he can't, he is now even more chained to his father. I think this display goes a gets Ri Ta to change how she sees Do Ha, even more than she had already started.

Do HA suggests that they both live, and survive. She looks surprised when he says it's better to stay close to him so she can kill him.

When Do Ha's father sends him out to battle, even though he is still badly injured, she insists that he will come back alive. She waits for him. He's so surprised to see her then when he comes back. No one has ever waited for him before. Do Ha is even more stunned when she tries to help him. He pushes her away.

Do Ha passes out and Ri Ta is genuinely worried for him when she finds. Do Ha's father is consistent with his awfulness:

I dunno, maybe don't send your already badly injured son into battle where his wound could get worse or infected?? Even the other soldier guy said it was no big deal for them to handle and you still told Do Ha to go. And what more does he have to do for you? Why do you hate him so??

Ri Ta tends to him and there is a big shift in her thinking, though she is still conflicted. Her sympathy for him is stronger than her resentment. She cannot bear to see him chained like a dog to his father because of her. She feels guilty. If she kills him, he will be freed of his ties and she of her resentment even though it will be at the cost of her life. But she cannot do it.

I LOVED the scene between them after he wakes up. He asks her why she didn't kill him and she says could not. He tries to give her an out, to say that he has not found life valuable yet but she refuses to take it. They are in this together now. They both recognize how incredibly messed up their relationship is. They know it but they are now tied to each other because of how they feel so they going to try to make the best of it.

Interesting too - both Ri Ta and Do Ha are the only ones to have told the other to survive.

The dreams this episode seem to make Yeong Hwa have more sympathy for Do Ha. So much that she wonders what would have happened to them if they met in a different time in place. Do Ha is surprised by that. Yeong Hwa has decided to keep having dreams (though i don't think she has a choice) but now she's going to make an effort. She wants to know how the story ends. Yeong Hwa also seems to need to find out for herself, because she really has not asked Do Ha for details.

As for Joon Oh's brother, I hope he questions WHY the old CEO knows so much about Joon Oh being weird.

[bcbdrums]

Top 10 Soul Eater episodes?

As in, favorite episodes?? Or best episodes??

I'll do...favorites I guess? If that's even possible my gosh... I'm hard-pressed at this point to find any I don't like, and others are like...yes this one and this one and this one and this one.... Like the whole underground battle series of like seven??? Is just one giant episode to me, lol.

ANYWAY.... FAVORITE Top Ten episodes, listed in airing order not a ranking cuz that's impossible, lol.

Now, to absolutely no one's surprise...

These are all Stein and/or Spirit feature episodes. Except maybe two. Here we gooooo!

Episode 4: "Engage the Witch Hunter! A Remedial Lesson in the Graveyard?"

Why a fave? Okay well first of all...we get to see the four main characters fighting together against an enemy. The episode starts with the feeling of...okay, here we go... Like setting the tone of the anime after the concept and chars have been introduced. Gonna be a monster of the week thing, fighting new enemies and collecting souls. Like Digimon but not you know?

So we see awesome techniques from both Maka and Black Star and Sid as a char is super creative, so it's all that stuff to start with. And then...then we start to get that tiny bit of backstory at the end about Spirit and Stein and it's like, wait say what now?? The red-head is more than a comic drunk deadbeat dad? So then...

Episode 5: "Shape of the Soul – Enter the Ultimate Meister, Stein?"

Yeah okay... I mean. Obviously. We see Stein and it's like whoa that design is creepy this guy is creepy and then we hear Spirit blubbering drunkenly about the past and it's like creepy and oh snap I am now sympathetic to Spirit and there is a far deeper backstory going on here with these adults cuz we had the privilege of seeing Sid alive before you know and suddenly he's dead in the prior ep so mystery and...yeah. And then it's very much presented as wow...Stein is...unbeatable. They're doomed. And that twist ending I was just as much huh??? as Soul was and I just. Got captivated by the backstory.

Episode 7: "Black-blooded Terror – There's a Weapon inside Crona?"

More Spirit and Stein stuff. I swear that hospital scene was my favorite scene in the entire show for the longest time. It's hilarious, I still crack up watching it. The toes thing is just... And that way too long dramatic pause and camera pull before he reveals the divorce, and Stein freaking already knows and just...yeah I'm getting giddy thinking about it. But ALSO it's like, okay...now we've departed from the casual anime silliness. We skipped the 30+ eps of growth like Digimon and went straight to the big major character issue. Which you know, makes sense the further into the anime we go for this anime. But...yeah. It gets. Real. Not kids anymore. Crona with Ragnarok are hilarious I love them, and Crona is highkey relatable; Crona is every teenager to exist ever. But yeah then Soul's sacrifice, for Maka... It's just...wow. Yeah it got real.

Episode 8: "The Witch Medusa – Bearer of the Great Terrible Soul?"

Truthfully, probably my favorite episode as things stand right now. My mind may change later. Why? Because obviously...Spirit and Stein get to fight together. We get to see what the future is... It's like seeing the past in Star Wars, the very beginning of Ep. 1 you know where we see Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fight and it's like...yessss this is how things are supposed to be in a world that isn't broken. Seeing Stein and Spirit fight together like that is just... Yeah my heart is pounding thinking about how insanely awesome that is. Also Stein is hot. Plus more of that...not kids anymore. Maka's pure terror at sensing Medusa's soul, seeing her...seeing what a real witch is. Like yeah kid the little kishin egg monsters and magical cats you've been playing with are nothing. Maka realizes the world of meisters and weapons she's in is quite a bit different than her experience so far. And can we talk about how Maka wasn't going to leave Soul's side??? Was just gonna take the hit and die right beside him, because he died for her??? MY HEART! Also Stein is hot yes I know I said it already it bears repeating and man that...seriousness...the way Stein looks at Medusa, the way the witch knows who they are which in itself shows a greater threat... That utter gravity that falls over that moment at the end there, after Stein blocks her attack and it's like....oh snap. Now what? Not to mention all the new tiny details we get about soul resonance and the possibilities and how a weapon can take on features of their meister in the special attacks! (Spirit takes on stitches here on the witch hunter blade, and in the last episodes he takes on Lord Death's skull face on the kishin hunter blade. That's so cool...) Okay I have to stop. I could go on. Like I said...favorite episode as things stand right now.

Episode 13: "The Man with the Magic Eye – Soul and Maka's Diverging Soul Wavelength?"

This one surprised me because initially I didn't care for it. I don't care for Free's design, shark!wolf just doesn't appeal to me. But over time this really grew on me. The writing is excellent and soooooo many major things happen. We get the first bit of touching on the morality issue, like, is DWMA really the correct moral power? Free says something about it and then it becomes a bigger theme going forward. We get the beginning of the black blood effects and the battle against/with it and the start of what all that means... The start of the "acceptance" theme even if it isn't named. We hear Soul's piano for the first time even though it isn't named as such until Brew. We get to see Soul and Maka both so confused but both so dedicated to each other, and the maturing starting to happen, that needs to still happen... It's a huge ep for their relationship. And also...Eruka. I love Eruka. All things Eruka. Any episode with Eruka is a delight. But yeah this episode is just SO deep and excellent, it needs more love. (Also in the candle room fight if you listen close we hear that Spirit has an outy belly button and I'm just alksjdahkjghsd how silly.)

Episode 14: "The Super Written Exam – Heart-Pounding, Reeling, and Restless. You're Kidding!?"

Ehhh heheheh...heheh... Pure absurdity. Pure comedic awesomeness. Everything about this episode. I love things where many characters are featured in more than a cameo and get real attention. We see more of all their homes, more of what they do and who they are when not in battle... Spirit being an absolute fool... That hilarious buildup timer to the end of the exam... Blair ruining what should have been something GOOD agh silly cat I'm still annoyed, lol. I'm not gonna say much here since I said so much about the last episode but man, yeah. Just pure comedy gold, I never ever tire of this episode. "Giraffe, giraffe~" Heheheh.

Episode 23: "Dead or Alive – In the Rift between Revival and Dazzlement?"

Okay like I said before... The entire underground battle, starting with the anniversary party, I consider one giant episode. I name all of those as favorites. I selected this one for here because it's where we get some of Stein's backstory I think? Flashback to he and Spirit as young teens, and we learn where Stein's mental state really is. We get to see more of his and Spirit's dynamic, how they work together both successfully and less successfully... Many headcanons borne of this battle in this episode. My gosh I just...can't put it into words in any brief way. I could write an epic length post breaking down nearly every line, look, gesture... And is this also the episode where the kishin emerges and my gosh if that isn't the creepiest most suspenseful moment I've ever seen. Also, we see more of Eruka! I adore her. And Free. But yeah whole episode... Fantastic.

Episode 25: "The Death Scythes Convene – Stop Dad's Staff Reassignment!?"

And this episode...also silly and ridiculous, but awesome because we get to see a little more of the "adult" side of the DWMA and how things operate. Comedically yes, cuz Soul Eater is a comedy, but still there's quite a bit of seriousness too. Stein's madness as a plot point... But my gosh... Marie, Azusa... Justin... The dynamic between all the adults. I would give ANYTHING for a prequel anime where we get to see all these complete idiots in the academy and how it all went down between them. And my gosh we've had plenty backstory teased already with Stein's experiments against Spirit, Sid and baby Black Star... Seeing the adults as kids would be the perfect "reboot" series for me. Plus that basketball ending, bringing it all full-circle in terms of...okay, here we are again, and here we go again... Onto the next phase of the show/of our lives. It's a fantastic turning-point episode and I never tire of it.

Episode 31: "Drying Happiness! Whose Tears Sparkle in the Moonlight?"

This one...so much happens here. We get delightful glimpses of normal life, we get the reminder that Soul plays piano which becomes important quite soon... We get the comedy of Spirit having to parrot Lord Death to Justin because they just won't make the kid take out his earbuds! We get a moment of Crona and Ragnarok actually getting along and having a normal conversation and ohhh myyyy gosshhhhhh I wish we'd had more of that in the show. I adore Ragnarok. But then...ugh. The saga of pain that begins. You get everyone reaching out, you get to see Crona happy... Marie after wandering around lost, saying if there's ever anything you need... Later inviting Crona to her home... Only to be betrayed. And the absolute skill and execution of the writing as they make us believe for a moment that Marie is okay in returning the pen...and then it's revealed that Crona put a snake in the coffee. Just. Oh man. Ugh the pain. Whyyyy Crona whyyy when you had the entire academy to back you up, everyone on your side, full protection from friends, from a death scythe who trusted you to invite to her home, from Lord Death who gave you a second chance... But you still betrayed them all. And then of course, that little snake then is the catalyst for SO much of what happens in the next episodes... Big deal. This ep is so huge. So many different feels...

Episode 40: "The Cards Are Cut – Medusa Surrenders to the DWMA?"

Spirit feature, Spirit feature! I like getting to see a little more of Spirit's responsibilities other than hovering at Lord Death's shoulder waiting 800 years bound to Death City what the heck his poor death scythes for battles that will never come. I know logically he has other jobs as the death scythe, but it's nice to see him doing some of it and more of his relationship with Lord Death (those two raised their children side by side I mean come on there's so much comedic opportunity here). Also the sheer TENSION in the episode from the fact it's Medusa, and Maka's reaction, and Stein's reaction, and then the deal at the end... It's like...okay this is a serious tone-shift and no clue now what is coming. It's a lot of weight all at once leaving me feel like I'm in a whirlwind and kicks off the final arcs of the show and...yeah. This is a good one.

Also hey guess what!

Turning this ask into a tag game! So...what are your top ten favorite episodes??

@midnightcaptions @memethebum @chickycherrycola @blackbloodteeth @mellancholy-morose @beeejayy (that's right Sunny start interacting with fandom LOL) @takeyourcyanide @cannibal-nightmares

AND...anybody else who wants to take this on! Have fun!

And BONUS... Any and all episodes with Excalibur are awesome and if you don't love him you are wrong. That's okay you're allowed to be, you do you. 😘

[5aph0]

“AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES” WENCLAIR MASTERLIST

an incomplete list of sapphic-coded moments, themes, and, subtext relating to Wednesday and Enid in the Netflix TV show WEDNESDAY in chronological order.

OR a list of why this show is gay AF and why Wenclair would be a great canon ship.

Please note that there is a lot of different kinds of ways to interpret events in this show. This interpretation is from a mid to late 20′s lesbian cis woman. A lot of nuances that I touch on may not make sense to non-lesbians and straight people  but please don’t dismiss them immediately.

*Will eventually have a post for each episode.* 

[EP 1]   [EP 2]   [EP 3]   [EP 4]   [EP 5]   [EP 6]   [EP 7]   [EP 8]  

Wednesday’s Child is Full of Woe: EP 1.

The Lesbian Sweater

Enid is wearing a sweater that looks exactly like the sunset lesbian flag. There is no way that the costume department did not know what they were doing. *Edited to add that Bobby Soutar, one of the co-designers is a gay man. This further shows that the sweater lesbian colors were intentional.

Rejecting Traditional Family Structure

Wednesday is shown to actively reject the heteronormative expectations to become a housewife and have a family. Even though the Addams Family is creepy and  kooky, Mysterious and spooky,and all together ooky, they still have the traditional family structure. Mother & Father,  and children.

The act of this rejection sets Wednesdays desires up to not be like her parents. This can be interpreted many different ways. Due to heterosexual representation being the standard depiction, a lot of lesbians and sapphic women grew up rejecting the traditional family structure. When compulsory heterosexuality is experienced, that can also manifest as the desire to not want to love or not thinking they could experience love.

Body Language Attraction: Leaning In. 

This is an extremely common display of attraction. It’s extra important to note that Wednesday is ALSO leaning towards Enid. This scene is immediately after they meet for the first time.

Body Language Attraction: Physical Proximity.

This one is similar to the one above but I would like to touch more on this.

Physical Proximity between Enid and Wednesday is constant throughout the show. The reason why it is sapphic-coded and not just female friendship is the fact that Wednesday is well, Wednesday. As a general rule, she desires solitude over companionship, and does not do physical displays of affection or emotions. Other friendships depicted between her and others do not have the same level of closeness. Wednesday even physically flinches away from even her mother air-stroking her arm.

Dismissing Love Interests

In later episodes Enid is shown to be infatuated with Ajax, yet in episode 1 she dismisses him without hesitation and doesn’t really show an interest in him. It doesn’t fit with how she acts with him the rest of the season. As the show progresses, Wednesday and Enid become closer - It is not entirely impossible to reason that Enid is panicking over possible attractions and feelings for her roommate and to counter this throws her interest into a non-threatening and non-masculine guy. This is a common experience for people dealing with comphet.

I’d also like to add in that throughout the series, Wednesday constantly rejects the advances of men in her life.

Wednesday “Social Media is awful” Addams finding a way to read/watch Enid’s vlog.

Let’s just appreciate the fact that as soon as she could, she went out of her way to access Enid’s vlog the same day they met.

Enid’s reactions to the Fencing Challenge.

I think it’s important to note the facial expression on her face wincing after the 2nd round, and looking disappointed when Wednesday lost the 3rd round.

  Wednesday Opening Up to Enid/Enid being a safe person for Wednesday to trust.

The WHOLE balcony scene. Wednesday actively shows interest in Enid and questions her after noticing she’s self-concious. She continues engaging in the conversation. And then when Enid explicitly states that she is upset, Wednesday shares an event that shaped her life and who she is. This is “Emotion equals weakness” Wednesday sharing a painful memory to someone she barely knew.

I’d like to also point out that Wednesday is very Neurodivergent coded and one of the ways Neurodivergent people show empathy and that they care and are listening and understanding others, is to share relatable experiences.  

WEDNESDAY WAS BEING EMPATHETIC TOWARDS A GIRL SHE HAD JUST MET AND LET HERSELF BE VULNERABLE.

And Nevermores queen of gossip vlogger assures Wednesday that she won’t misplace the trust and vulnerability Wednesday shared with her. 

Bonus GIF included of a less than enthusiastic response from Enid getting her single room back.

Distrust of Tyler/Respect of Wednesday’s autonomy.

Enid questions Wednesday’s trust in Tyler but unlike other characters, accepts Wednesday’s answer without trying to fight back. She takes her at her word and respects her decisions.

Respectful of Boundaries

The great thing about how Enid treats Wednesday is that she constantly pushes Wednesday to get out of her comfort zones while also respecting the boundaries Wednesday puts into place. She acknowledges them and doesn’t get upset. And she doesn’t just give up either - She tries again knowing full well she may get that hug rejected. This is the second time in this episode that she attempts to go for a hug and allows Wednesday the room to say no, and respects the decision.

BONUS LIL SUBTEXT

Xavier knows, he just does. And so does the actor Percy “If she’s gonna be romantic with anybody, it’s got to be with Enid.” Hynes White.

Thanks for reading, let me know if there’s anything I missed!

[remidyal]

Favorite D20 Villains

Just for some positivity on this, and because it's been a minute since I did a tier or ranking list, have my ten favorite Dimension 20 villains! I'm not going to include anyone from Junior Year since it's still running, and I'm going to go ahead and mention that I'm not including Ragh or Aelwyn who could both easily make this list otherwise because they've spent as much or more time on the Intrepid Hero's side as they did villains.

Obviously, there are potential spoilers in this list, so proceed at your own risk! I'm putting a read more link here just to save people who haven't seen a lot of seasons.

10. Galfast Hamhead, Escape from the Bloodkeep.

Okay I know this one is cheating because the party are the villains and Galfast is, like, the one actually good figure on the opposing side, but I'm still counting her. Just an absolute tour de force in the parts of the series she appears in, and gets away even though she technically loses to the party.

9. Natalia Cicero Connie Lee Carter Bajar, A Starstruck Odessey

She's not the most threatening villain in ASO, but there are really three fronts where villains can work for me: They can be hammy and fun, they can be actually threatening and scary, and they can be someone I desperately would love to see get taken down. Natalia scores all her points in the first and last of these categories; she's not scary, but her entire concept is just so stupid that it makes me laugh every time.

Bonus points for being the target of what I think is the best joke in ASO - high praise - the "My fiancee doesn't really do art" - "I agree" by Ally.

8. Robert Moses, The Unsleeping City.

I believe the only actual person to ever be a main villain in Dimension 20. Genuinely a monster of American history; I was familiar with him prior to watching The Unsleeping City but I would wager that I was in a fairly slim minority. There's some problems with the presentation here and the details of it - I am guessing they would have just made him a powerful vampire if this season was more recent, for one - but I can't say I wouldn't want Robert Moses' plan thwarted. Probably the closest we'll ever come to actually having a campaign fight Ronald Reagan directly.

7. The Stepmother, Never After

Never After for me has a structural problem in that there are too many ideas stuffed into too short a season, and so quite a lot of it feels extremely half-baked. The Stepmother isn't immune to this, but she's also an actual imposing figure for much of the series that feels like a true threat to the party even after they prove that a TPK isn't enough to stop them. The scene where Ylfa looks before they head to the Lines Between is maybe the best Never After has to offer, for me.

6. Madame Loathing, Mentopolis

Honestly, this feels like a more full version of the Stepmother in many ways even though there are only six episode. This is probably because she's not competing with like five other factions in her villainy. The moment where she turns is great, and there's something very satisfying about landing a twist where the villain was someone so obvious that they were dismissed by many as too obviously evil to actually be the main evil.

5. The First Stoats, Burrow's End

Here I'm referring to the four that remained at Last Bast; I think the series in some ways peaked with fighting them, though certainly there were some highlights still to come. I don't think Aabria necessarily meant for this fight to go down at the time and place that it did, but genuinely creepy designs with a creamy layer of fascism on top.

4. Tony Simos, Unsleeping City 2

Remember those three categories? Tony here scores real, real big in the "I wanna see him die" category. He's not the worst person on this list (that's honestly probably Robert Moses), but he's the one I most wanted to see get crushed, and ultimately was in an extremely satisfying way. TUC2's villain duo was overall incredible - we'll revisit that in a moment - but I cheered more when Tony dropped than any other villain D20's ever had.

It is what it could be, asshole.

3. Calroy Cruller, A Crown of Candy

Do you know what I've always hated about you, Amethar?

There's a lot of people who would have this guy at the top of their lists, and I really don't blame them; the main thing holding him back for me is that he really doesn't do very much after that crowning monologue until he goes out like a chump at the end of the steamroll that is ACoC's last battle. (Those of you calling JY's last fight easy should rewatch that one). It is, admittedly, the most satisfying of any of the villain deaths of that finale, especially with Liam's baffling last second resurrection of broccoli pope and captain carrot. Scores very well on all three fronts, and honestly if Amethar had actually died there or if he'd just been front and center at the end then he'd maybe be number two for me.

2. Null, Unsleeping City 2

A dip into real eldritch horror, and does it better than Never After in part because it stands out more against the backdrop of New York. Null scores great on the threatening front; a monstrosity of apathy and depression and lack of connection is a hell of a villain. The world where Pete doesn't roll that crazy banishment check and vanishes partway through the season would have maybe robbed us of some of the insight into this, so I'm glad we got the one that we did.

Kalina, Fantasy High Sophomore Year

This was never going to be anyone else. Kalina's getting points on all three fronts, but conceptually is just an incredible concept for a villain, feels like a real threat throughout the season until the moment they dispel her, and you can feel the amount the players both want to take her down and are in fact worried about her throughout the season. Because of her nature she's able to show up repeatedly without a fight without that not really making sense, which is kind of hard to pull off - most of the villains on this list aren't met much after their villainy is revealed. We'll see if she's back at the end of Junior Year and what kind of state Cass ends up in, but either way we'll always have spring break.

[creativitysparks4everxoxo]

**TFE Spoilers if you haven't watched S1A & S1B yet**

Been meaning to post this...

Things I want to see in Transformers: EarthSpark S1C

1. A thorough explanation for why the hell Bee has been in hiding for sooooo long, why he went rogue, why Optimus kept his existence a secret from G.H.O.S.T., and why Bee didn't just join G.H.O.S.T. like Elita-1 and Arcee!!!! Please! I need to know!!! WHY WAS BEE ALONE AND IN HIDING FOR SO LONG???! 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

2. Similar to my last point, what's going on with Wheeljack? Is he also rogue, and why hasn't he joined G.H.O.S.T.?? I would also like more info on him and more screentime with him and Twitch! 🥺🥺

Look at them! It's so adorable that Twitch calls him Dad 2! 🥰

3. Random, but I would really like to see Nightshade speak in their alt mode more. I don't know why, I just really want this! Lol we only saw them speak whilst in their alt mode twice, and that was in "Missed Connection" and "Home" I believe. Please give us more talking badass hawk owl protector moments! Actually, just give us more Nightshade moments PERIOD! 🥺

4. More Elita-1 and Arcee scenes with them being absolute badasses!!!!

I love them! ❤️

5. I want to see a Decepticon actually allowed on the Malto family's property without getting tackled to the ground by Bee, or them resorting to following someone home and then secretly spying on their family. Maybe it could be Breakdown that pays Bee a friendly visit and meets his family members (I am hopeful that he is still alive. Oh pleaseeeee let him still be alive! 🙏🏾). Or maybe it could be Tarantulas that pays Nightshade a visit and interacts with their family members. I just really want to see a Decepticon visit the Malto family without malicious intent! 🥺🥺🥺

6. A scene where Arcee uses her gun! I know this is a promo pic, but I actually really want to see her use her gun. It looks so cool! So cool and pink! I really like the design.

7. Agent Schloder standing up to his sister again and becoming more and more aware of how truly evil she and the whole G.H.O.S.T. operation is. Maybe even have him side with the Malto family again like he did in "Security Protocols" to protect them.

8. More Terran fluff and more Terran/Malto Kids fluff! I love fluff! Give me all the sweet, sweet fluff created by drama, angst, comfort, and love! 🥰🤩🤩

9. A wholesome af scene where the Malto Kids and Terrans express their concern for Bee after he regains his strength after the events of "Home". Honestly, I would really love it if the first episode of S1C starts off with Bee sleeping peacefully in a pile of hay with a bunch of pillows, with the Malto Kids and Terrans watching him. And then he slowly wakes up and realizes that he's safe. I REALLY hope the writers don't just do a time jump and skip over Bee being injured from the events of "Home", or the fact that the Malto Kids and Terrans snuck out and went to Philly. I want some Malto Kids/Terrans/Bee fluff, dammit! 🥺🥺🥺🥺

10. I would love to hear Skullcruncher speak. The poor guy has been through A LOT!!! He was working for Mandroid earlier in the series and then later on G.H.O.S.T. was doing experiments on him. 🥺🥺 I want to hear him talk about it! I want to hear him talk about all the fuckery going on with G.H.O.S.T. and what their plans are.

11. Can we please have a Swindle and Hardtop reunion? Pleaseeee?!! I really want him to be reunited with his brother! Swindle did the most trying to find him and we need to see them reunited!!!! 🥺🥺🥺

12. We need to revist those creepy worm/grub looking things that appeared in "Bear Necessities", 'cause that is not something you just skip over. Wtf were those things??! What is their purpose?? Are they infused with Energon?

~That's all for now. I might make more posts if I come up with anything else.

Part 2:

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

Oct 2022 Wk 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying the most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

My Only 12% (Fri iQIYI) 12 of 14 - Cake is reaping the consequences of having encouraged Eiw to become self-reliant. It means that Eiw has learned to stand up for himself, even against Cake. I get such Big Eden vibes from this show. Cake flirting with Eiw to tease Eiw’s friends. The English was… odd. But I don’t mind this kind of possessive boyfriend.

The Eclipse (Fri YT) 12 fin - The end did feel a little rushed. However I really can’t fault the acting in this drama, it was pretty darn flawless. This is a high school drama, so we expected (and got) a coming out sequence. But it was handled extremely well. I do love supportive parents. And for all their flaws, GMM TV is pretty solid on some decent parents. The low heat sex scene was really good too. The couples are very tender with each other in this show. It feels like the first half of this drama rested on Khao’s acting chops and the second half rested on First. In both cases, the actors remained entirely in control of the narrative, it’s just that First got shafted by the fact that his section of the narrative was curtailed. Still, all in all, it was a decent final episode and ending on verbal consent made me v happy. The blooper reel was great, too. 8/10 RECOMMENDED 

Ghost Host, Ghost House (Weds YouTube) 4 of 8 - Mostly BL this ep, the big plot reveal, and a NICE family drama twist. I pleased. It is a bit creepy for me but I’m sticking with it for the couple. These two are so sweet with each other that they can’t even tease each other into aggressive intimacy they have to just back off into cuteness. Really good kissing and mid heat sex scene. Great physical intimacy and teasing communication (intellectual chemistry) and romantic feedback between the 2 actors. The characters make for great boyfriends. I liked this ep A LOT. 

Big Dragon (Sat Gaga) 4 of 8 - Now we get the family drama background character information. I’ve never wild about miscommunication as a plot device. It’s always just kind of annoying when it’s used as an excuse for baby to get pouty. I do love Big (P’Nine). I find him pretty charismatic. The show is messy, and normally I’m not wild about messy, but for some reason it’s working for me. It’s like it’s messy but the right way for a change.

Ai Long Nhai (Mon iQIYI) 5 of 10 - Was the shock at BBQ after Nahi got drunk because Ai slipped in a ha? (Household intimacy particle). Meanwhile Nhai = def gayer and more switchy when drunk. Nothing has happened, and nothing continues to happen. Yet I’m still watching. 

Remember Me (Sun Gaga) 3 of 12 - Everyone leaving Name behind to go to college was so sad.

Love in the Air (Thurs iQIYI) 11 of 13 - I am so torn over this show but damn do these two give great sex scene. DUMPSTER FIRE TRASH WATCH ALONG HERE.

Hard Love Mission (Sat WeTV) 3 of 4 - didn’t seem to drop this week. 

Work from Heart (Thurs YouTube) 6 of 7 - What a very strange show - the main couple gets together is shown by one of them dumping somebody else. The leads are good but the rest of the cast is pretty terrible and the script is straight up bonkers. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

My Tooth Your Love (Taiwan Fri Viki) 4 of 12 - I am LOVING this show. Very pleased with the whole cast and the performances. Plot is a little scattered, but that's Taiwan for you. Right now it kind of feels like About Youth grows up. Restaurant boy is so cute and animated (and broken and tortured) and the dentist likes him so much. Meanwhile, bartender daddy doesn't like a rude boy. Taiwan ALWAYS has to do the crash into me trope. It’s not love if one of them doesn’t stumble into the other.

Choco Milk Shake (Korea Strongberry Tues YT) 1-2 of 10 - OMG it’s wonderful so cute and very very actually funny. The actors playing the two pets much be having just the best time. As, indeed, am I. Could not be happier about this one. 

Roommates of Poongduck 304 (Korea Thurs Viki) 5 of 8 - They are so damn cute as friends but also, fixing his tie = hello boyfriend. Plus totally flirting at work. Hair touches and hugs and everything. BOYS! Also protective boyfriend HoJun does not like his baby being taken advantage of - or the feeling of jealousy. (I hate HoJun’s weird pleated jacket though.) JaeYoon is having such a hard time tho. 

Kabe Koji (Japan Mon Viki) 4 of 10 - Funny how Mamoru doesn't ever wanna talk, but for Issei he always says exactly the right thing. But also, what is actually happening on this show? Do I care? 

Eternal Yesterday AKA Eien no Kino (Japan Thurs Gaga) 2 of 8 - I guess it’s good to have a stoic practical boyfriend- when you’re a zombie. This is a weird little show. It doesn’t make me so much sad as reflective and a little annoyed (how dare Japan only give us this lever of physical affection and this awesome of a couple dynamic when one of them is DEAD). It’s very Japanese and reserved, almost to the edge of darkly funny, but not. Do I like it? I’m not sure. But it’s engaging. 

It’s Airing But I’m Not Watching It

War of Y 20 eps - it’s just all too much for me.

My Roommate 32 eps of 2 minutes each + terrible production values? - I’m not bothering.

Fahlanruk (Sun GaGa) 12 eps - I cut my losses at ep 5. DNF

To Sir With Love AKA Khun Chai 28 eps - dito

2 Moons 3 Thai (Mon ??) 10 eps - Possibly a future binge watch. Rumor is it’s banal.

SELF (Thurs YT) - DNF

Love Bill  (Vietnam Sat YT) 1of ? - Bah Vinh is back but I’m too distracted. Also there’s a lot of fund raising and stuff going on. Thinking I’ll wait and binge.

In Case You Missed It

Lin Yu (OuWen in Love is Science?) featured in a sad gay MV. 

Speaking of BL MVs, here’s LOVE is RIGHT from Korea. 

I did a full review of Takara & Amagi, spoiler I adored it. 9/10. I compared it to Seven Days, which is saying something. 

Oh My Sunshine Night finished at 18 eps. Spies confirm it does not end sad but that it is quite the soap opera. It may be worth watching if you're like me and have a hot button skip forward inclination and like higher speeds. I’ll probably try to watch it before the end of the year. But I’m doing a UWMA rewatch right now and I don’t want to cross my OhmFluke streams. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Nov 2022 line up is pretty short, thank goodness, this is what I got:

Between Us (Sun iQIYI & YouTube) starts Nov 6 - trailer here. This is an adaptation of the novel Hemp Rope (spin off from UWMA/The Red Tread). The book tells WinTeam’s romance from the start, so we might get some recon/reboot action (like LBC2). Features one of Studio Wabi Sabi's most popular (and commercially viable) pairs BounPrem (Long Khong, You Never Eat Alone, Seven Project, Even Sun) with established (if inconsistent) BL director New (UWMA). Fluke (Pharm) and Ohm (Dean) are expected to reprise their roles from UWMA.

I Will Knock You (Tues Gaga) starts Nov 8 - A college student and part-time tutor confronts the leader of a gang who then turns out to be his next student. Bad boy/good boy + sunshine/grumpy + younger seme pairing, bully romance? Adapted from korean_rabbit's y-novel of the same name, directed by Champ (2gether) starring fresh faces.

My School President (?? GMMTV YT) initial trailer here - it’s Love Sick + Korea and Japan's influence. Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but this is me: I never met a high school BL I didn’t want to grant a fair shake and I love me some whipping boy. Interesting to see such an old fashioned trope having a bit of a renaissance right now. All fresh faces in this one except Aun (Folk from My Gear). 

This week’s best moments?

Ai is a man after my own heart.

Your honor, please excuse me, I have a cat to adopt. 

Eternal Yesterday, this is how I feel about ghosts etc... 

Gonna have to add these two to the characters that wanna bone list. Look at the lust for those legs. Pluem wants them wrapped around him SO BAD. To be fair, Kawin does have lovely legs. (Ghost Host, Ghost House) 

Lip nibble! 

I love a hand kiss (LITA). 

It’s good, it’s bad, it’s good. This scene was hot. Sigh. 

Work from Heart, out of blue but excellent kiss. 

Flirty boyfriends in The Eclipse. 

(last week)

[musingsofalovelymillenial]

Final thoughts before Dead Friend Forever Finale Part 7

Mr. Keng:  I think Keng, while a character I dislike and disgusts me, also intrigues me. Plost wise I think he is a character that shows how seemingly good people can also be horrible and the reality that those that hurt us are not always creepy monster people that most of the time they are nice looking. Keng is seemingly trying to get info regarding the money laundering but we are never given an answer whether he is a reporter or a secret cop and why he is trying to bring them down. Also while we know Tee’s uncle has his watch we never see his body it is heavily and definitely implied he is deceased however he could very well be alive and I am curious why only Jin hallucinates Keng. Everyone else sees the masked person or Non but Jin hallucinates Keng. Which I have a theory about. Overall Keng is trying to stop Tee’s uncle and “help” Non but all of that comes at price and shows that while people commit good deeds it does not mean they are not responsible for the darker things they do.  

Final thoughts:

I enjoyed this show and I am excited to see how it ends. I think it has the potential to let people down because it may not end how everyone wants it to end and hope they can deliver a satisfying finale ( you can’t please everyone) Now I have several theories for things that could happen.

Non is alive and in the woods. Maybe Por did not hallucinate him or even if he did it sure looked like someone purposely lifted that branch for him to run into. Now the question of would he be helping New or Phee?

Phee does not love Jin like he loves Non and if Non is alive it may be that he and Phee are in on it together. Someone had to leave evidence around the house like the paper about Tee’s uncle and the knife and also in the episode when Phee and Non are talking after Non is with Keng but before Jin sees them walk away Non ( according to the subtitles) says to Phee “our friends, you know I am not comfortable with those people” and then Phee and him walk away with Non’s arm around Phee’s shoulder  and when Phee is alone with Jin headed back to the house in the woods Phee looks off into the woods and then tells Jin after touching his shoulder and lacing their hands together that “our friends need our help”; he also later drops the axe outside the house. The framing of the scene between Jin and Phee feels nowhere near as intimate as when almost same exact scene with the same phrasing is said between Non and Phee. Also Phee is suspicious because of his guessing that New hung the wire or deleted the footage or even what went down between New and Top. Phee has information he should not have and he did get out of Jin a confession, something they have been trying to get since the starts. Not to mention the axe dropping and the woods scenes in general but also the framing of the scene between him and New with the murder board in the flashback. Phee is standing with his arms crossed looking very serious, probably the most serious look we get besides when his father told him to prepare for the worst. There is also an interesting dynamic in terms of conveying power because New is sitting down while Phee is standing and Phee physically takes up more space in the screen than New does. In this frame of New sitting and Phee standing it is what looks to be a combination of an over the hip shot and low angle shot which not only suggests a power imbalance between the two but is also indicative of potential conflict between the two who take up the shot. I think no matter what I will be suspicious of Phee and his motives until the finale ends.

White like I said is either going to die tragically or live to the end and maybe there will be a twist with him, I am not counting it out.

I do not think New will survive the finale either because if this leads back to punishment for those who have wronged Non, New does not escape that and often in many movie the person who divulged from the plan or as “given up” morally tends to die.

If non is really dead  I think Jin will be the final survivor. 

Questions I want answered: the hand with white and tee on the balcony, is mr keng and non 100% dead, why is Jin hallucinating Mr. Keng, was the land Tee’s dad talking about the land where the cult and Por’s family home is, does the Janta cult play a bigger role, did Por actually see something supernatural when they filmed with Non the very first time, why does New know about supposed herbs that the Janta cult uses unless it is a real cult but then did he google it or go there and asks ( I have questions about that), and finally why did White hallucinate not only being watched by the masked figure but also the rash?

My theory about Jin and Keng is that one either Jin had a secret crush on Keng, Keng assaulted Jin the way he did Non or Jin did hit Keng with the car and left him there to die not knowing that the mafia snatched him up alive so maybe in Jin’s mind he “killed” Keng.

Sorry it was a long post but I had a lot to say and I haven't been this excited for a finale episode in a long time. I look forward to seeing more fan theories and when it airs reactions to the finale!

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s1 ep12: Cathexis

Another one I didn't remember at all, this one was quite exciting to watch. Voyager's first 'crew getting possesed by aliens' story, it's another one of those episodes that's pretty much a copy of an earlier Next Generation episode, but it was well done, and very creepy and suspenseful. I like the way they played up the crew's paranoia to add to the tension. And it was the first time we get to see Captain Janeway's Victorian governess holonovel, which is one of my favorite things, and not just because I'm tickled that Captain Janeway shares my taste in literature, but because she looks absolutely gorgeous in period costume. Like, let me fangirl for a moment here, because look at this perfect vision of beauty, oh my god:

I want her whole outfit, it's perfect. Major kudos to the costume designer for giving her an historically accurate dress and hairstyle. As someone who used to do a lot of historical costuming, I'm very nitpicky about those things, but this is a good costume on every level- beautiful design, well fitted to the actress, fits the character's personality, absolutely nothing anachronistic about it anywhere. 10/10, no notes! I need to cosplay this so bad!!

Okay, I'm done being a costume nerd, back to the episode itself: I appeciated that they mentioned the EMH being programmed with knowledge of various cultures traditional healing practices instead of just having him dismiss Chakotay's medicine wheel as superstition. While I have issues with the wheel prop itself not looking very realistic, I do like that they made a point to say that Earth's medical establishment will become more open minded and inclusive in the future. (But the artwork on the wheel looked central or south american, and I'd always thought Chakotay was supposed to be from the north american southwest- it says a lot about how much the writers didn't care about him that after 7 years of episodes, I still have no idea what continent he's even from. sigh.)

Also lol at Tom Paris talking about how when he was a kid he had a doctor that made housecalls- who the heck has that even now, let alone in the 24th century?? I think this was probably where I started to get the headcanon that the Paris family is super rich- like I know that Earth is supposed to be a utopia with no poverty, but I feel like rich people with inherited wealth would keep on living in their fancy houses in their gated communities, and Tom Paris strikes me as being a privileged kid who grew up in a big house with a swimming pool and a tennis court, who spent his youth riding around in his expensive car (or would it be a shuttlecraft?? do rich people have their own shuttles on earth??) and being a slacker/prankster king at his fancy prep school like a 24th century Zack Morris. (I know I read Pathways back when I was a teenager, and it may have mentioned something about his childhood, but I don't remember any of it, and novels aren't technically canon in Star Trek universe, so I'm sticking with my rich kid Tom Paris headcanon.)

More of Neellx being possessive of Kes in this episode, ughhhh.

I didn't remember that they gave background crewmember Lieutenant Durst a pretty prominent supporting role in this episode. Obviously it was meant to make his subsequent death more impactful, but it was anyway, since I still remember him for getting killed off. (I probably don't have to give spoiler warnings for a decades old show, but spoiler: he dies in the very next episode.)

Anyway, tl;dr: a solid alien possession episode.