#because shows dropping their entire season immediately etc

[taffywabbit]

I finally watched breaking bad (all within the past week or so while I worked, finished it and watched el camino last night) and I'm confident this isn't a new thought I'm expressing or anything but genuinely how DID an entire generation of dudes convince themselves Walter White was cool and admirable and intended to be sympathetic. I know ppl just lack media literacy sometimes but I'm still so confused

I don't think I've EVER watched a piece of media that so blatantly depicts a guy making the worst possible decisions at every turn and having his life ruined for it and not being redeemed or made sympathetic in any significant or lasting way. the kinds of justifications villains USUALLY give that make people consider them "morally grey" or "tragic" or whatever (everything I did was for my loved ones, I did what I had to to survive, once I was in this I couldn't get out, I just needed you to trust me so I could keep you safe, etc etc) is ALWAYS framed as complete self-serving bullshit when Walt says it, and one of the only shreds of personal growth he ever exhibits in the whole series is when he finally fucking admits that. every time he does something even remotely cool or drops a quotable one-liner, something terrible immediately happens that makes everything worse and makes him look like an unreasonable idiot asshole again. by the end of the series the ONLY characters they can still contrast as being morally "worse" than him are literally a bunch of bloodthirsty neonazis who kept a guy in a cage for several months. this show is practically SCREAMING at you the entire time not to admire Walt. why did every dude I knew in highschool have his face on tshirts and Facebook pfps.

I just don't get it. at least with The Dark Knight's Joker it was like, a feature-length movie and that's it. you spend a lot less time with the Joker and it has a lot less time to delve into his motivations, so there's way more room for flanderization and misinterpretation as people extrapolate the few cool/interesting/sad things they saw into a whole nuanced misunderstood guy in their heads and online. Walter White has 5 seasons' worth of 45min episodes to convince you beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is a miserable fucking loser who ruins everything he touches because of greed and selfishness. if you weren't watching it for that, what WERE you getting out of this. what DID you think this show was about. am I just missing some key piece of context from 2012 or whatever that would help me understand this

[sapphicscholar]

Hacks Episode 3x09 Thoughts

Okay, so back during S2, I wrote up my thoughts about each pair of Hacks episodes as they dropped – partially for sharing but largely as an archive for myself of my own thoughts/feelings to revisit when I watched the episodes later to see how they held up, how it compared to watch them serially vs. as a whole season, etc. Anyway, I was incredibly stressed out and busy for much of this season (after over a year of that being the key set of words to describe my life), but I wanted to throw out my thoughts about the finale before they grow too stale! And maybe I’ll come back and revisit the prior episodes in posts later when I have the time (hopefully in just a couple short weeks!) to enjoy them properly

As always, disjointed bulleted lists are the name of the game, going from the big picture to the detailed:

Overall, this felt like a very solid episode in the vein of season 1 in many ways! It brought us back to the interpersonal as the primary ground of conflict after many episodes (here and in S2) of the new hour, the special, and the Late Night host gig quest being our main plot drivers (which, at many times, made for weaker storytelling for reasons that exceed the scope of this post!). In particular, I felt like this episode hit its stride around the halfway point, and never really faltered after that in impressive ways!

That being said, I had two somewhat significant critiques of the finale (both of which reflect larger trends about strands of the show that continue to leave me a little disappointed)

We should have seen Marcus' conversation with Deborah about the new job. Period. I'll get into what could have been cut in my second critique, but even if there weren't weak spots in the episode, I still would have been deeply disappointed in the show for this oversight, especially since they apparently filmed it. Although Hacks is clearly a show with a leading duo, it once had a core ensemble, but S2 saw them moved more and more to B-plots and bit roles, and now S3 has seen many of the characters we know and love eliminated almost entirely--a point that's particularly galling given that it's almost entirely characters of color (many of them canonically queer) who have been cut in favor of new white characters. Moreover, this scene would have been SO IMPORTANT - I could have seen it going 2 ways: a) Marcus quits after the convo where Deborah tells Ava she's willing to lose her, and Deborah has a reaction that is so utterly outsized because it's the terror of losing the person she's had with her the longest now compounded with the reality setting in that she's also driven away the woman who gave her new life when she most needed it; or b) Marcus shows up to quit, and Deborah immediately launches into a rant about Ava's leaving, which puts Marcus in the awkward spot of adding to that at a pivotal moment in the career of the woman he's spent much of his adult life with or giving up something he needs to do for himself; it could have been a lovely callback to S1 when he shows up with his whole speech prepared but then accepts the promotion without ever telling Deborah how he feels - only this time Marcus would have changed so much, and he'd have the opportunity to showcase that growth by insisting that he needs to do this for him. So many lost opportunities...

re what could have been cut because imo it did NOT work: Kathy Vance's return. Now, I love Hacks in large part because it insists on the complexity of its characters. No one is purely the victim or the hero of the story, and Deborah's "click" moment showcased that better than anything. AND YET the writing here did not work. Back in the Christmas ep, I messaged a friend saying I was glad that they brought Kathy back but seemed not to ask us to side with her - after all, she comes crashing back into Deborah's life, doesn't take ownership over her actions and in fact insists she was in the right because it only happened a few times, because Deborah wasn't sleeping with him (very "you weren't playing with it, so it's mine now" little sister energy that is deeply unappealing in a grown ass adult), and because they were the "better couple" which is, I'm sorry, NEVER the fucking thing to tell someone whose marriage and life you destroyed. I joked then that I'd take back my compliments if her role in the finale suggested that actually we should be on Kathy's side here. And lo and behold... What's a real bummer is that there were ways to do this better! Because you can have sympathy for an imperfect character--this show is a testament to that fact!--but not like this. We as an audience have no reason to side with Kathy when she insists that Deborah will be worse than ever and berates her for cutting their weekend short. Instead, we see a woman with a large sense of entitlement she's done nothing to earn and directorial choices that don't make it a smooth transition. But what could have been lovely is, for instance, treating the Christmas and finale reunions as these deflationary moments of anticipation and disappointment because they are, after this many decades, essentially strangers to one another. Had we seen two women who longed for the deep affective ties of their childhood relationship only to be confronted with the cold hard fact of their estrangement from one anther, it would have been so much more powerful. And here you could ACTUALLY garner sympathy (some) for Kathy by having it be this moment of "I lost my sister" partially through her own actions "to Late Night once, and now, right when I have a chance to try to build something with her again, I feel like I'm going to lose her again before I can even really try to do right by her this go around." THAT could have worked. This was just too much time on something that did almost nothing in the grand scheme of the plot (because we didn't have the emotional connection to feel it as another compounding loss for Deborah in an episode where Ava's "and you're going to die alone" could have landed with even more force)

Okay so it turns out this is getting hella fucking long, so some shorter praise and giddy feelings things:

I LOVE how often Ava got to say the things we've all been squeeing about for years during this episode - especially that the material is good because of their relationship, not the other way around; their dynamic is not incidental to the work, and that's so important to me personally.

I had guessed that Ava would be offered head writer and quit her current job, only to have it taken away because Deborah was too scared to rock the boat, but I did NOT see the end coming! In fact, I kind of thought Ava might end up suing Deborah for intellectual property theft (using material Ava wrote outside of her contractual appointment for the new show because, surprise surprise, the writers who sucked when she was a guest still suck now compared to Ava!) In fact, I sort of thought that end scene might end up being a return to the car scene, and was relishing the thought of Ava's mimicking Deb's "It'll be fun, honey." But the blackmail as a form of love/devotion was soooo much better. Truly chef's kiss.

Also the way this rewrote the S2 finale even as the underlying message remained the same is so special to me - I'll stay with you even when it's bad for me (sacrificing my career -> sacrificing my morals) because it's good for you and more importantly it's good for us and the work. JPL know how to write a finale, and I'd give up a kidney to have that same energy be there throughout a whole season again (not that the eps are bad, but they lack some of the sharpness in writing and emotional depth that JPL do so well with finales and also often with the first couple eps of a season too)

Lastly JPL going on the record that Deborah was turned on by that final scene + Ava's "I would, wouldn't you?" and "Let's begin" - truly some of the hottest TV. We're so back babyyy. No more half naked superheroes with all the eroticism of a desk chair. Give me messy women determined to fling themselves into the air because they know the thrill is worth everything good and safe they're leaving behind, even if they hit the ground with no parachute!

I have many, many thoughts about S3 and what's to come, but I'll save them for another post because phewww this got long as fuck

[supercalime]

hellooo, fellow bucktommy shipper (and casual b*ddie enjoyer, if it weren't for the horrors...) here! i really liked your take on b*ddie st*ns and how they are now making super wild assumptions based on some latest interviews.

you know one thing that irks me? somehow nobody seems to talk about is the fact that in canon, buck isn't written to be in love with eddie at all. like, can we please talk about this??? because I'm all for Death Of The Author. OS can talk about ships all he wants but in the end, only the canon narrative matters to me personally. i've watched long-form content with endgame couples being set up in the pilot episodes who become canon many seasons later (bones, castle, grey's anatomy, the mentalist, etc.), and the entire point of such couples is to establish that, yes, they have been having romantic feelings all this time since day one. they do so very very obviously. there is zero subtlety or room for questioning.

one of the most common tropes is to give one or both characters (of the endgame couple) another love interest so that the endgame couple can be full of jealousy and pettiness every time that other love interest is mentioned or shown. having another love interests always endangers the original closeness of the endgame couple, and then the breakup propels the endgame couple forward in their relationship. the love interest is always used for comparisons, to make it abundantly clear that everybody else is lacking in some way. at no point in 911 did they do so with buck and eddie??? these dudes go through various romantic relationships, and never ever has it been any issue to the b*ddie dynamic. never was it talked about. never were hints dropped that one of them is jealous. even now, with bucktommy, eddie shows not a single ounce of jealously. on the other side, look at how they showed us buck being obviously jealous because eddie monopolized tommy's time even though buck wanted tommy time himself! buck couldn't stand the jealousy even a little bit, and he ended up literally hurting his bestie because of it. but whenever eddie is involved romantically and sexually with someone, there are zero signs that buck is bothered or threatened or jealous. they both seem super chill? they do not question at any point that them dating other people might hurt their relationship? logically, that must mean buck's never wanted to be romantically or sexually involved with eddie (and vice versa). at it's core, b*ddie has been written as a friendship. to this day, we have no canon proof for anything else.

i would not hate b*ddie to happen or anything. i do enjoy b*ddie fics (those that aren't super misogynist ♥). and i think it could be a great couple if done well! but as you said, even when buck thought eddie was hot... well, so what? that's literally just an objective observation. RG is handsome based on societal standards. chim and hen also immediately acknowledged that eddie was hot in 2x01, and both of them are Not At All romantically or sexually attracted to eddie either. nobody is questioning chim's or hen's sexuality based on the comments they made about eddie being hot. because nothing about this equals real romantic feelings or the desire to be in a relationship. the fandom understands that logic just fine with chim and hen. why not with buck, though? also, we have yet to see a reversed moment for eddie staring at buck and finding him hot. they had no problem to show eddie Immediately having a crush on ana flores when he first met her. this shows that eddie feels sexual attraction just fine. he was, however, never shown in canon to feel it for buck.

also interesting: even though buck found eddie hot when they first met, it did not trigger buck to seriously question his sexuality at any point in the past like, 5 years or so. in all those years of canon b*ddie friendship, the show has never used the plethora of opportunities to propel b*ddie into romantic or sexual territory. the show could have! but the show never did, so i refuse to let b*ddie st*ns or OS retcon this. if it's not in the canon material, it isn't canon. with tommy, it took only a couple of weeks and a handful of interactions for buck to reach a point of clarity about his sexuality. the most logical deduction imo is that buck simply clocked that eddie's hot (like everybody else, duh, he isn't special in that regard), and it's never meant anything deep.

my only real probem with this entire situation is how hardcore b*ddie st*ns are now using this as a justification to harass others even more (especially bucktommy shippers). i'd love to enjoy canon bucktommy and fanon b*ddie in peace! but the hate that b*ddie st*ns are spreading everywhere again (like with every new season and newly introduced love interest) is so overwhelming.

sorry for the long ass rant btw oopsie. feel free to ignore this. i just wanted to let it out and it seemed like you would understand. anyway, thanks for reading in case you got this far!

I’d never ignore a sensible take, anon! (I feel bad that you had to go anon but I understand. We know the drill by now, some stans are scary lol)

But like, ALL OF THIS!!!

Discourse like this is what takes away the enjoyment of media for me. It sucks that fandom experience can have two very extreme opposing sides, specially when it comes to two “competing” ships. You can kinda tell by how bucktommy shippers behave (I’m not trying to flex at all because I am one. A good majority of us has zero problem with b*ddie endgame even though we prefer the other. We like what we are getting and are happy to see this storyline play out) compared to b*ddie shippers (of course not all of them, I’m talking about the entitled ones. That clog comment sections, bother actors, go to the other ships tag to complain about it and say how their preferred ship is better, etc).

Im not immune to bad takes and bad fan behavior. Ive surely acted like these stans in other fandoms and i do regret it, so i hate seeing it happen again and again, no matter where i go.

Not to quote mean girls, but I wish we could all get along…

All that being said, whichever ship “wins”, it’s no one’s call but the writers and producers of the show. Someone told me that Tim writes for himself and doesn’t take outside factors (at least to an extent cause it’s impossible to not know the fan reaction) into consideration when it comes to where he wants the story to go.

[baddest-batchers]

TBB SEASON 3 EP 9 THOUGHTS & FEELINGS!!!!! | spoilers below ✨

• UHM OKAY CAN WE JUST GET A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR ALL OF US THAT KNEW FENNEC WAS TALKING TO VENTRESS LAST EPISODE 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

• Okay, hear me out: It’s totally possible Omega has a high M-count and could be Force-sensitive. But also, could it be possible that she may not have a high enough M-count to be trained yet her M-count doesn’t degrade since she isn’t aging at an accelerated pace? It could be that for whatever reason the clones’ M-counts degrade over time because their ages are accelerated, genetic degradation due to when they were conceived, what batch number they were, Jango Fett’s DNA degradation, etc? This also begs the question that normal Force-sensitive beings’ M-counts might possibly degrade as they age but not enough to alter their connections/abilities to tap into the Force, especially if they’ve been trained. Idk, it’s definitely possible for Omega to be Force-sensitive but we will just have to see.

•Asajj Ventress, you dropped this 👑

• Her fight sequence with Crosshair had me wishing I was her so bad.

• Crosshair being so brotherly and protective is still 100000/10. “You did.” Implying he was heavily against not intervening in Omega’s tests w/ Ventress but he let her go do it anyway because he loves and trusts his sister.

• TECH MENTIONED AGAIN I—PLEASE BRING HIM BACK I SWEAR FILONI I AIN’T PLAYIN AROUND.

• Wrecker this episode was so 🥹🥹. Him trying to cheer up Omega by telling her they should go eat was so cute.

• I adore Omega’s ability to see the best in people. She doesn’t immediately cast people off because of their pasts and that’s a quality I think many people lack today. We saw Crosshair tell her she’s being naive in an effort to protect her but I don’t think she is being naive. I think she genuinely sees the better part of people and will always be willing to give someone a chance.

• I am once again asking, WHERE TF IS ECHO. Ik he’s with Rex but PLEASE bring our boy back. I’m so tired of the family not being all together.

• DID ANYONE ELSE NOTICE THAT WE DID NOT SEE CROSSHAIR’S HAND TREMBLE AT ALL THIS EPISODE??? Like not once did we see him shake out his hand or scowl at it. He was steady as hell when he was shooting at Ventress!! His meditation sessions with Omega must be helping 💜💜💜💜

• Crosshair skipping down the Marauder’s steps to help Omega into the ship, adorable. AND THEN EXTENDING HIS HAND TO VENTRESS AFTER NOT WANTING TO TRUST HER. This is such wonderful character development. I think Omega has definitely rubbed off on Crosshair a bit. He’s trying to give people a chance, just like Omega did with him. 🥹🥹🥹

• I really do love that the Batch doesn’t want to let Omega go, esp Hunter and Crosshair. Hunter went months without knowing if she was okay, let alone even alive when she was on Tantiss. Obviously she and Crosshair have such an unbreakable bond at this point that ofc he doesn’t want to let her go either.

• It would be so cool if she is, in fact, Force-sensitive and that she goes off to be trained by Ventress or someone else in order to protect her brothers. But tbh it’s not the best ending the show could have imo. It would be so bittersweet but I also think fall kind of flat for Omega’s character if that were the ending of the entire show. A huge part of me just wants them to all stay together and live happily ever after. Ik it’s Star Wars and we probably won’t get that but still, it’s nice to dream that it could happen.

• And lastly

I will be thinking about this for the rest of the week.

[inflammatoryfandomblog]

I do find it interesting that ATLA managed to use a very black and white narrative (stop Evil Empire) to tell several character stories with some nuance, while TDP claims it has a nuanced conflict and flattens everything to try and make up for that, ultimately leading to protagonist centred morality more than anything. And if they didn’t want me to compare the two then they should have let go of the ATLA references right away.

you're right and you should say it.

the constant and shoehorned references to ATLA do not really do this show any favors. honestly might be part of the problem (why are there 7 primals with color-coded elves? to follow ATLA's pattern of marketable separable elements. why is it an adventure story with a core crew? because ATLA was like this too. etc etc.)

but anyway. yeah. ATLA had a very simple main conflict to provide a constant source of tension throughout the show (even if they dropped the ball at the last season re: the plot), and this structure allowed for episodes that explore other aspects of the setting and characters while still making everything feel relevant and tied together by said conflict. it's not some arthouse show by any means, but it has good compelling story work into it. genuinely great show.

tdp immediately opens up with the nuance and it never really delves deeper. you'd think that opening with characters being aware of the cycle of violence stuff would be interesting and the show would explore that more, but it just... flatlines there. there's no progression or graduation or exploration of themes as the seasons go on like in ATLA. very rarely are there new questions being asked or arcs that feel sensical.

honestly the main characters having to be perfect in every situation is the biggest problem with tdp. the mains are not allowed to have shortcomings or mistaken judgements or anything to meaningfully interact in any way with the nuanced set-up. they emotionally exist entirely outside it, which ends up making them the Messiahs of Peace Who Can Do No Wrong. good for fandoms i guess, people bitched and whined about bato and the water tribe for years. but it's not very good for storytelling.

and also, they're just bad characters and the writers can't put two and two together while still asking you to take their world very seriously.

anyways i'm just rambling at this point. good observation.

[yurisorcerer]

I think Girls Band Cry has finally edged out Jellyfish as my girl band show of the season, and probably my favorite overall as well. I caved and caught up with the other group doing fansubs (their translations are on par, although the subs themselves aren't as fancy), and I just....wow. There's a lot to process here. This post is going to be long.

So, Nina's pa is aware of her faltering grades and now that she's talked to her sister about the band, her family is probably going to know all about that soon as well. Naturally, she has not told any of this to said band. The girl's natural inclination to simply Not Tell People Things is going to absolutely blow up in the second half of the show, I'm sure.

The use of traditional flat animation to convey the past---bygone periods of one's life, memories that have gotten hazy in the recollection---is probably the smartest thing Girls Band Cry does visually. Other uses of 2D animation in the series can feel like a concession, these very much do not.

Of course I wrote that and then they did the broken glass split shot thing when Momoka announced she was leaving the band, so I don't know. The series is just very inventive, visually, and I like that, even if most of the visual symbolism is not necessarily subtle.

Mine, the character in red who's given a supporting role here for what is honestly not a ton of screentime, makes an immense impact in the brief amount that she's on screen. We have somebody here who is herself not "successful" in the broad-stroke pop star sense, but who is clearly at least getting by and making a living with her music. It's inspiring, in a way, and I think that Nina might feel that way too.

I've avoided using the P-word much in my writing lately, because I think it's easy to attribute to passion all sorts of other emotions that might be described better with other terms, but if we read this work as a reflective one, we can assume that the people working on it feel similarly to Mine about their own profession. Things can be difficult, they can be hard, but you push through for your own sake. Because, if you're really that devoted to what you're doing, you almost have to.

In another piece of awesome yet obvious visual symbolism, when Nina redoubles her commitment to the band, she runs to a nearby lake and happens to catch the start of a fireworks show. I kind of love this series.

In episode 7's final moments, in the middle of a concert, the band, which has remained nameless for the entire first half of the show, is finally (and hastily) christened Togenashi Togenari. A literal line-of-sight name, because Nina is an insane person.

Episode 8 opens on a flashback, immediately reflecting Nina's current desire to drop out of school with Momoka's past plan to do the exact same thing. This entire section is flat animated, which to me is enough evidence to confirm that the show's usage of 2D animation to represent the past is an intentional stylistic choice.

Momoka remarks that if Diamond Dust gives themselves an escape route from their desire to make it big, they'll definitely end up using it rather than succeeding, so they shouldn't make one. It's interesting to note that this is the same philosophy that no less an artist than Eminem once advocated. I'm not sure it's the best advice, necessarily, but you can't deny the drive.

Subaru correctly points out that Nina's drive to succeed isn't as far-fetched as it seems, given various factors (those listed include; Tomo & Rupa being somewhat notable indie musicians, Momoka being an ex member of Diamond Dust to begin with, an endorsement on Twitter from another singer, etc.) Nina's plan is no plan---the same that Momoka had as a teenager---no escape routes, no backup plans.

It's notable that Nina's memories don't get the 2D treatment, and I think that may be because unlike Momoka, she's not romanticizing her own past. Momoka, we can clearly see by this point, is guilty of seeing Nina as a slightly younger version of herself in too literal a sense. She thinks that because she failed with Diamond Dust, she'll fail with Togenashi Togenari too, and that Nina will fail with Togenashi Togenari too, because "that's how these things go." She fails to consider that the only data point she's operating off of is her own, and what the final scene---and the inevitable confrontation with the renewed Diamond Dust---tells us, which is that the original group splitting up might have been best for both them and Momoka.

And then there's the final scene, which I find hard to put into words. It's just so much. Momoka cranking her own old song, crying her eyes out, as Nina says she loves her (!!!!!) as they speed down the highway. This show is unhinged. I love it to pieces.

Truly we are in the middle of a girls band revolution. I never like to promise these things, but I might review this when it's over.

Worth noting! The show TRENDED ON TWITTER FOR SEVERAL HOURS after this episode aired. It really does feel like an *event.* I haven't seen this many people pop for an original anime in ages.

[lillyanne4writes]

JJK/Gege Akutami appreciation post

Yeah, you read that title right. I get it that the entire fandom is upset with the latest leaks but I've seen so many angry/hateful comments toward Gege and it's making me sad. So here's a post to highlight some things I like about JJK. :)

This is in no way a complete list, so feel free to add on with your own takes too! Also, it's a long post, so I'm putting the meat of it under the cut.

The characters & their dynamics

Jjk has a huge cast, and yet every character is so unique and compelling. The reason I got into this anime (and later the manga) despite not really being into anime in general was how charming the main four characters were. Yuuji, Nobara, Megumi and Gojo immediately hooked me; I could probably watch 10 seasons of a slice of life show that's just them getting into shenanigans.

Fun interactions aside, my favourite thing about the characterisation is how everyone in this manga is allowed to have their own view on the world, especially on what it means to live a good life and die a good death. The narrative allows those views to clash without preaching about who is "correct". Characters disagree and learn from each other and their views develop organically (not necessarily in a positive direction, but always dynamically in a response to the situations they find themselves in - Yuuji's arc on how he views himself and his goals comes to mind). That stuff is really hard to write.

And it's not just the main cast either. The supporting characters are very memorable too; even minor ones have distinct personalities and clear motivations and often a backstory to explain why they are the way they are. My personal favourite background characters are Mai, Noritoshi and Tsumiki.

The worldbuilding

Can we talk about how creative the concept of curses and cursed energy is? Negative emotions accumulating into physical manifestations of things that people fear, hate, etc. is a hell of a cool idea. This is why the curse villains are my favourites in the series: from Mahito as a representation of the worst of humanity in his childish glee and sadism and cowardice to Jogo's philosophy of curses as "true beings" because they don't hide their nature and Hanami's almost sympathetic care for nature are all interesting explorations of how we view the world around us that would not be possible in a different kind of magic system. Add to that the array of creative techniques that sorcerers possess, the cursed objects, and the grade system that conveniently allows us to keep track of the danger levels of all this - you get an impressively complex magic system that still remains understandable (and fun to watch even if you don't want to keep track of the nitty-gritty and are just here for the spectacle).

Not to mention that jujutsu society is, well, a society. We get a sense of who the powerful and the oppressed are in this community, how their powers factor into that, how different characters feel about this, what they are doing to change it or on the contrary, to keep the traditions going... Every character exists in the web of a clear power structure which they interact with, influencing it and being influenced in turn. This results in a super interesting dynamic where certain characters can be enemies one moment (for example when the Kyoto students try to kill Yuuji during the exchange event on Gakuganji's, and by extension the higher-ups' orders) and allies the next (when it's time to pull together against a curse).

I'm reserving my judgement on the plot, themes and overall character arcs for now, because those things can only be really analysed once the story is complete. But even if I'll be unhappy with the ending, I'll still be very grateful for this unique world and its loveable inhabitants.

Of course, you might disagree with me on all this, and that's fine. Dropping the manga because you don't like the direction the story took is fine. Choosing to live in fanfiction delulu land is also fine. Gritting your teeth and sticking it out till the end despite disliking the plot because you're too invested to quit is also fine. Criticism and jokes are fine. The one thing that isn't fine is hating on the creator for the way they are choosing to tell their story.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Tl;dr: If you're upset about the direction JJK is taking, please try to remember why you cared so much about it in the first place. And remember that Gege is just a person sharing a story with us, and disliking someone's story is not an acceptable reason to hate on them.

[lemotmo]

Just random, silly questions about you and the show:

1. On what format do you watch 911? Tv, computer, tablet, phone?

2. Do you have a ritual before sitting down and watching it? Get a glass of wine, tea? Put on your pjs, etc.?

3. Do you watch it with someone?

4. Do you check Tumblr prior to watching an episode? Do you mind spoilers or do you avoid them?

5. How often do you re-watch an episode that airs?

6. When you go back to re-watch an episode, do you ever skip to the Buddie scenes? 😝

7. Do you enjoy more drama based episodes or the fun and comedic?

8. What’s your immediate reaction to a cliffhanger? Frustration? Excitement?

9. When 911 ends, would you be interested in a 911 movie or should they leave it as is?

10. What would you consider to be a solid series finale? Where are the characters at in the end?

Oooh, these are nice.

I watch on my tablet, since I don't live in the US. I can only watch it a day later. I wake up every Friday and the first thing I do is download the episode, so I can watch it when I have time in between work.

Nope, I mostly watch it somewhere in the morning, so usually I just sit down on the couch with a coffee in hand and watch it. I do always take some tissues with me in case I have to cry. 😋

I watch alone. I hate it when people start talking when I'm watching a show or movie for the first time. So, I always watch alone.

Well, it depends. Last season I sometimes asked a mutual to drop a couple of spoilers about certain topics in my inbox for some of the episodes. I went spoiler free for the finale I think. All the previous seasons I just went on Tumblr first and then watched the episode fully spoiled. 😂 I'm planning on watching season 8 spoiler free though. I have some hopes for this season and I'd like to be surprised. 🤞🤞🤞

Well, I watch it in its entirety for the first time. Then afterwards, I watch again in pieces so I can write down my thoughts about it and post it on Tumblr. If it's a really good episode, I might rewatch it again during the weekend. But after that I'm focused on the next one. Once the entire season has aired, I usually do a complete rewatch.

Well yeah. Of course. Sometimes I do a Buddie only rewatch of the best Buddie episodes and skip to all the big Buddie moments. 😏

Depends on how my day has been or on my mood. I love comedy, but I also love drama. So, I don't really have a preference.

Complete excitement! I start theorising and analysing straight away as well. The further into the hiatus my frustration grows though, because of the 'not knowing', you know?

No, they should leave it as it is in my opinion. I don't want them to milk the concept and make it into something it isn't. So no movie for me, thanks.

Pfff, well: I'd love to see Bathena retired and happy. Both Athena and Bobby really need to let go of their jobs. Enough already. Let them truly enjoy their life together. I'd love for Henren to be happy with Denny and Mara, just living their life together, enjoying the little things. I would kill to see Hen as the new Captain of the 118, taking over from Bobby. Then Madney. They are finally in a good place. Let's keep them there. I would love for them to have another child. They could adopt and give that child the best life they could possibly have. As for Buddie... I want to see them happy together. Just them and Christopher. Maybe another child in the future, but not yet in the series finale. It might be implied though. I would love to see them married and settled, making each other happier than ever. They would live in a new house. After Buck sold his loft they lived in Eddie's house for a while, but with their plans to expand their family they eventually move out to a bigger house.

[bapple117]

Some RadioCotton Trivia 📻🐰❤️

Now that my first fic "If You Can't Say Somethin' Nice, Don't Say Nothin' At All" is finished, I thought I would share some behind-the-scenes trivia!

Some of this will contain minor spoilers for the plot, so read with caution if you've not finished the story - there will be no spoilers for part two (All That Grace). Okay let's go! This list is LONG so hold on y'all

The Bambi Thing

The name is a direct quote from Bambi; there's actually a LOT of Bambi references in the whole fic. The quote was actually the entire inspiration for the whole premise. Bambi is one of my favourite Disney movies and I couldn't help but notice a lot of shared themes between it and Alastor - and then I thought, what if a cute, wholesome rabbit demon came to Hell and taught him to be sweeter?

There's another direct script lift from Bambi later in the fic - when Alastor has the dream about his mother. 'Mother? MOTHER? Mother where are you?' Oh the pain.

Adam also calls Alastor "Bambi" and Verity "Thumper" at points, AND one of the chapters is called "Drip Drip Drop Little April Showers". The themes of them being a deer and a rabbit also crop up a lot, obviously.

The Music Thing

There are a LOT of references to songs, both when I put lyrics at the start of chapters and within the story itself. I am aggressively inspired by music and song lyrics, and have immensely eclectic taste, and can't help myself. Some songs would be the thematic influence for a chapter and I would literally listen to the song on repeat as I either planned or wrote the chapter. Something I'm still doing now while I write Bluest Monday!

At one point I spent about an hour trying to find the name of a music scale just so I could accurately describe it when Alastor and Verity play the piano. I am very meticulous with my research, I was determined to find it 😂

The Alastor Thing

The way I chose to write Alastor was influenced by a number of things. One, that "What just happened? Ffffffuck" line from the finale of Season 1 did a LOT of heavy lifting for me. It showed that he has a version of himself that's less guarded and raw - and I don't care what anyone says, it's NOT because his staff broke. He goes right back to the filter and accent immediately afterwards and the staff is still broken, so.

Two, I just really wanted to write him as someone that uses violence and a covered-up personalty as a coping mechanism for grief, which I don't think is too far from the canon. His eventual softening and ability to love was influenced by things like Mr Darcy, Kylo Ren (LOL), Astarion from BG3, etc etc. Traumatised bad boy is healed by the sunshine girl - we love to see it.

I also did a LOT of research on the canonical information thus far known about Alastor, including things Viv has said in streams. The only thing I got dead wrong was a chapter where he drinks tea - apparently he hates it. Everything else is either based on canon or a speculation based on lore that's been teased.

Other Random Facts

I chose to include Adam as a fleshed out character for a few reasons. One, he's hella fun to write. Two, I had the Vox-jealous-kidnap-and-rescue planned since the start, and I knew I needed a character who could help them. Adam is unknown to the Vees as a hotel resident at that point, and so he became a great choice. I needed to lay the ground work so it would be convincing that he'd help them, so he's there from the start. I ended up loving him so much that he's now one of the main characters in the sequel and is getting his own development arc. Go Adam!

Adam also breaks the fourth wall in the show (Ugly people? *looks at camera*) and so I felt inspired to make him quippy with pop culture references a la Deadpool. It was great fun and very helpful when I wanted to squeeze in a fitting reference.

There is a LOT of foreshadowing and wordplay in the fic. A LOT, so much I don't have time to list it all. For example, Verity drunkenly talks (in Chap 4) about how deer are territorial momma's boys - if that ain't Alastor idk what is. That info becomes very important in Chap 21.

There are references to stuff from Helluva Boss; Fizzerolli Cola, a Verosika music video plays, etc. A sign of more to come in P2 👀

Dramatic irony (where the audience knows something the character doesn't and it's either funny or tragic) is my absolute FAVOURITE Shakespearian trope, and I use it all the time.

I made myself laugh a lot coming up with the names for fake booze LOL

Husk was one of my favourite characters to write, as well as Alastor (ofc), Rosie and Adam.

My personal favourite chapters are 13 (Al drunk with Rosie) 19 (dream scene, fluff & first smut) and 23 (final chapter). I loved the image of Alastor laughing into his drink like a normal young man being silly and chapter 19 has a bit of everything - angst, fluff, smut, comedy. I loved writing that one so much.

The scene where Verity uses Alastor's power to manifest them away from the group cheekily and then Alastor likes it a lot and goes crazy kissing her is very inspired by this scene in Titanic (one of my all time fave movies) - especially where Rose swears and laughs as the lift is going up.

I myself have lost a parent, so I understand that loss very well. I poured a lot of that feeling into this fic, it was something I could actually inject into the story from my own experience.

I'm pretty sure we got the comments turned off on a video on youtube LOL. I linked this song at the end of Chap 19 (I listened to it on repeat while writing the love scene) and the next day the comments were disabled LMAO. That track will ALWAYS remind me of this fic now, arugh my heart

Verity

As much as Verity started as just a way for me to avoid using (Y/N) in a reader-insert fic (something I personally don't like) and a way for me to do the rabbit and deer theme, she became her own character over the course of the story. I made it reader-insert cause I figured no one would read it otherwise, but now the sequel is third person bc she's her own person.

Her name was also a deliberate choice - a V name meaning truth. She makes Alastor face his truth, yadda yadda blah blah blah you get it you get it 😂 Plus it just sounds like a rabbit name doesn't it?

Verity has a lot of traits from myself, but she is NOT self-insert for me, I'd hasten to add. I'm not completely delulu guys okay? ....Not entirely But she does have a lot of overlap with myself. You gotta write what you know, after all. I won't go into detail about the similarities between us - some of them are obvious, I think. But I'll leave that all ambiguous, more fun that way :)

Final Thoughts

There are honestly so many more things I could say but this is already veering into narcissistic self-indulgence land LOL so I feel compelled to stop here, but if anyone has any questions or things they'd like to know, pop them in my inbox!

That's all, folks!

[highfantasy-soul]

Looking at how media has progressed, specifically TV shows, it's so funny how quickly the 'new model' takes over everything and people just...idk, freak out? heavily criticize? get a false sense of superiority over? any show that steps foot outside their newly expected box.

Memories are short, we know this. But it really wasn't long ago that TV shows put out pilots that were filmed entirely separate from the rest of the season and that pilot had to do really well in order for the show to be picked up at all. This led to pilot episodes being suuuuuper blunt about the concept, characters, world, and plot (and many times some stuff retconned in the subsequent episodes). Because those TV shows that survived have become well known and well loved, those first episodes/seasons have been rewritten in people's minds to the point where they genuinely don't remember how hamfisted writing was at the beginning of the show - because that's how they got people to be interested in watching.

It wasn't part of the model to 'show not tell' and stretch basic character beats out for the entire season. Due to the format, they front loaded exposition to let the watcher get a feel for the characters/world and THEN slowed down and settled in. Once we moved to a show structure where things were connected (part of a franchise), shows stopped front loading so much though it was still there- after all, they were still airing week-to-week on cable. But they trusted the 'built in' audience because the show was based on an already popular thing.

Then Netflix started dropping shows in one huge chunk. Now, you didn't have to worry about hooking a viewer immediately and shoving the whole world building exposition into the first episode, you just needed to give them the basics (especially if it was fantasy) and then provide a cliffhanger at the end of each episode that would support the 'binge' model of viewing.

Now, we've started to shift back to a weekly format for many shows, though they all seem to be still part of franchises, so that audience is already built in. But we do get '2 episode' or '3 episode' premiers to let the set-up take it's time while still giving viewers enough to ground them in the world and look forward to more.

So the point here is that none of these writing formats is 'wrong' and none of them are 'right'. They shift to accommodate how the show is going to be viewed. When people criticize 'wonky pacing', I just can't help but roll my eyes. Maybe you personally don't like the pace, but the pace isn't 'wrong'. Hell, I love high fantasy and people freak out all the time about the slow pace of that. People see shows dropping at an unconventional rate and declare that it's because the studio has no faith in the project and it's bad, actually (see Echo, which was really, really, good actually).

When people criticize 'heavy exposition' in first episodes, I roll my eyes again. That's what you do when you're introducing people to a world (especially a fantasy one) and the story isn't centered around figuring out how the world works. Sure, if you like slowly figuring out how the world works, then a show that doesn't explore that might not be your cup of tea, but recognize that and know that that's personal taste, not objective writing truth. First episodes can be REALLY GOOD and also have heavy exposition.

I like being able to look at all the different ways storytelling is done - the different paces, focus on different things, etc etc. Classics are written VERY differently from modern stuff, stories from different cultures are extremely different from ones you've always grown up with, thrillers are going to be told differently from cozy fantasy. None of these are 'wrong' or 'bad writing' because it's not the other. They're just different.

I guess what I'm saying is get out of your little 'media critique' bubble and understand there's no one correct way to write a story. Your obsession with 'spotting bad writing' is actually defeating your ability to critically examine media outside your extremely narrow world view. Look back to the past and realize things were done so differently then, but understand that it wasn't 'bad'. Look to other cultures/genres and understand one isn't 'better' than the other and should be the 'standard'.

It's ok to prefer one way over the other, but be careful tossing out the blanket, nearly meaningless now, 'bad writing' criticism as if you actually know what that means.

(Why does all my annoyance at 'media criticism' feel like it always circles back to Cinema Sins and the irreparable damage they did to people's brains?)

[authortobenamedlater]

After combing through the show (again) for fanfic purposes, I just need to throw this out there.

Halo has SO MANY LOOSE ENDS to tie up in S2.

I know we all know this but let me put an itemized list here for my own benefit if nothing else.

First, and biggest: They have to separate Cortana and John. Seeing as John can't access the keystones in his current state, the show is kind of stalled until this happens. So it has to happen quickly enough not to take up the entire season but slowly enough to not make it too easy.

Second, and most obvious: They have to find the Halo. If you take clues from this photo, we won't have to wait too long. If nothing else we can rest easy that all our Spartans are back together. I'm going to wager this also means John and Cortana are back to themselves.

Third, about which few people care but is still important: Kwan and Madrigal. We didn't like Kwan, but now that she's here, we need to know why, you know? The show can't just drop her, but they also can't let her eat up airtime like she did for much of S1.

As I recall, it looks like Madrigal is a portal or something to get to the Halo along with some Forerunner term I can't remember (@mrtobenamedlater can comment more here since he's the one who told me), so I'll bet that's where they are going with this.

Fourth: Where's Halsey and what's she up to? And how many flash clones does she have?

Fifth, can't believe I forgot this and have to edit it in: Is there any kind of reckoning for the SII program architects? JAG is clearly sniffing around, and even Halsey can't hold them off forever. Keyes is so pissed off at himself and everything by the last episode I wouldn't be surprised if he went nuclear on the whole thing.

Other second-tier loose ends...

This isn't exactly critical to the story, but The Reach for Life project is fishier than Mr's waders when he comes home after a day on the water. What is up with that? Halsey knew John's parents somehow. What's the connection? Did his parents die in the plague or what? That plague was absolutely engineered to wipe out the planet, so who did it (spoiler: Halsey)? What about John finding the artifact took his family from happy and fairly normal to clearly not happy? Show of hands, who thinks Halsey was in on that?

John tells Kai "I'm working on it" when she says her parents could still be out there. Are we going to meet them? What about Riz and Vannak's parents? I'm also going to take this moment to say once again that I don't understand why they did a whole new team for Chief when Blue Team was already there AND the show used so many other characters that barely appear in the games at all (I know they have major roles in novels etc.).

Assuming we get another nine-episode season, everything in this post alone would be enough to fill it. I saw a report of a couple of new characters coming in, so there are obviously going to be some new threads there. Are we going to have enough time for all of it? I wouldn't complain if we got more episodes, or if each episode was over an hour long a la Rings of Power.

I simultaneously want Halo S2 immediately because I'm impatient, and want it to take as long as possible because I'm afraid it will take all the worst parts of S1 and magnify them. Also I have tons of fanfic to write and don't need canon getting in the way.

I really need to go into my drafts and find my rant about how short seasons are ruining TV because that's the root of my gripe here.

Anyway. If you read this far, did I miss anything?

[missusplum]

Why are you so hopeful when these writers might bait and play us again?

What were you’re thoughts on the finale and what stories would you like to see next season?

Here’s hoping for one of your long essays

lmao i completely get the frustration, but the way i really see it, i don’t think the takeaway from this season is that armony will never be a focus; it’s that this show chooses to be chaotic just for the sake of being ~shocking~ and ~unexpected~ so really by that benchmark anything is possible lol

for those reasons i think going into the business of trying to predict anything on this show is generally a bad idea and a recipe to setting yourself up for disappointment. so i have no thoughts on what might go down in s3, just that i hope we get one loool. because despite all my yapping and complaining i really do want to see more of this show, and i think there are lots of stories still to tell. i started watching for elodie and i’m gonna stay for her too 😌

i’ll share my thoughts on s2 behind the cut:

my general sentiment on this season is a big meh lol. like all the criticism and worries i had about where the season was headed and about kamdar being nothing more than a lightning rod all stumbled into fruition. my biggest criticism is that the writing seems intent on delivering shocking moments and stressful situations at the sacrifice of interesting stories and actual character development. the biggest example of this is the show choosing to drop chris’ story, the far superior and more emotionally-compelling storyline, halfway into the season and choosing to fully focus on kamdar instead. i really think it was a gigantic misstep to veer into this direction and a misread of what drew people to this show in the first place. to me, the real strength of tcl was always, always, the chemistry between arman and thony, and between thony and fiona. people watched because of the actors’ chemistry; even in s1 the mob drama was always less interesting and draggingly melodramatic at times. but people put up with it because it was the vehicle to showcase the chemistry and relationships that intrigued everyone. s2 literally went full throttle into mob territory and sacrificed the emotional side and the relationships that made us care in the first place. and that is the true fumble here.

i do get frustrated reading some of the postmortem interviews with the EPs because i really want to know what progress they think this season made at all. almost all the new characters that they brought on have died (shoutout to JD for living to see another day!), the triangle of death is still in tact, thony is still single-mindedly focused on her family, luca is still sick, the de la rosas are still undocumented, arman still has no power, etc. and everyone is so miserable 🥴 something something about a clinic and helping out the community was completely overshadowed by this kamdar storyline which ended exactly how we all knew it would end, with him dead. oh i guess g*rrett miller died too. overdue imo but i’m sorry to his fans for your loss lol

one thing i will say is while i think it was very deliberate to have thony do unlikable things and behave antagonistically, i still think a lot of the fandom is being unfair with how much hate she’s getting and letting recency bias cloud their judgment. this is the same character that agreed in a second to sell street drugs because arman looked sad and then immediately incriminated herself when they got caught, literally only to protect arman. it’s a complete disservice to the character and franking oversimplifying just to write her off as selfish. she is anything but selfish imo. i do believe, and the EPs have said as much, that she has a tendency to be arrogant and to think she knows better, and this stems from her career as a surgeon. but to say she hasn’t paid for her mistakes is crazy lol, the entire two finale hours was basically nothing working out the way she wanted, and everyone telling her off and giving her shit for what she’s done. which for the record i liked; thony has often acted purely on instinct, but i like that this time that she had to lose and that the same instinct led her to make bad decisions. makes for a more compelling character vs. one who is always doing the right thing. i will say that i think reverting to anchoring all of thony’s actions to be about saving luca’s life was a narrative mistake. not only because it only underscores what we already learned about her in s1, but because atp (and i hate to say it) luca is nothing but a plot device imo. like people get frustrated when luca is thrust into the forefront again because aside from being a cute kid who is unfairly ill, there’s nothing else to the character. is he not literally only there to be sick and to cause thony to act irrationally? instead of investing time into actually making luca a well-rounded character with a personality, we wasted scenes on the likes of kamdar and maya, none of whom ended up having any staying power on the show anyway, and the stakes ended up feeling repetitive. i cannot understand why there was a need to bring on so many new (and temporary!?) characters in a short season when you already have existing shallowly-written core characters that the audience actually wants and needs to know more about.

i’ve already made my opinions on love triangles very clear lol and it still stands. like if you’re a fan of any of the characters of arman, thony, or nadia, i cannot for the life of me imagine why anyone would want this triangle to continue. it’s horrible for all of them; it’s unattractive to see arman continue to divide his heart between two women; it’s depressing to see thony reduce herself to an emotionless robot because she has to shut arman out; and it’s ridiculously unrealistic to think that nadia would still put up with arman after all the arguments they’ve had about thony already. if you’ve read any of the postseason interviews with melissa carter and miranda kwok they seem pretty intent on continuing to ride this out. i’m flummoxed because like what more is there to explore???

in one of the interviews, they said that they had to slow down armony because they went too fast in s1 which is wild to me when that’s one of the few reasons why people tuned in in the first place lol. the philosophy behind thinking that when a couple gets together it becomes boring is flawed and imo more of an indictment on the writing if interesting stories can’t be told with your leads in a relationship. miranda kwok said that the bond between arman and thony will be strengthened after surviving what they went through in s2, but literally none of that was communicated to the audience lol. melissa carter said there was an opportunity for more romance in s3 because there was none in s2 but like y’all literally wrote it that way 🥴🥴 i really do think the writing massively overestimated everyone’s patience and tolerance for nothingness and crumbs. it might have been more tolerable if the rest of the show was just as compelling, but imo it just isn’t so s2 was really just watching this show shoot itself in the foot repeatedly lol. fwiw i think a push and pull between these two could have worked but s2 was literally all pull lmao; like if you have guaranteed five seasons to arc out a molasses-paced relationship then sure but we’re barely scraping by here lol 🤧

anyhoo, all in all i hope the writers actually do get a chance to read some of the criticism of this season and it’s not just written off as shippers throwing a tantrum lol. s2 was a bit of a drag to get through but if nothing else, and for better or for worse, i feel like i have a better grasp of what this show is trying to be now so that’s something. all my criticism aside, at the core of it i do love that this is a show with southeast asians at the forefront, with elodie yung at the forefront, and for those facts alone i’ll happily keep rooting for it to succeed and keep contributing my views and ratings. the rest i’ll just keep hoping for the best.

[scientistofdeduction]

Ok, I live tweeted a rewatch of Study in Pink

And I had a lot of thoughts about it, but main take away was how much I found myself genuinely enjoying it for the first time in years without getting depressed or bitter.

Like a “it is what it is and I’m still going to have fun” attitude.

Under the cut I’ve compiled all my tweets into a single little weird post. Enjoy if you read it.

Alright

So it’s Sherlock rewatch day

For the anniversary of SiP.

I’ve had so much distance on this show since it ended. I wouldn’t say I never rewatch it but I certainly put it down a few months after with the intention of never getting back into it in the same way.

I still know every line of this episode

Probably of the entire first season

It’s not bad, not this first season, but there’s still glaring issues to me that jump out considering the changes they made from the Pilot to the aired SiP episode.

Let’s be honest, Greg Lestrade is the best bit of this whole damn show.

“How do people keep themselves safe?”

“Well, don’t commit suicide.”

Rupert Graves’ deadpan delivery got me on that one this time.

Listen, Lestrade is the one thing I won’t pick apart.

Give points to the editing in this show.

Pretty op tier throughout

Cut from John “who was the first” to the zipper body bag reveal of Sherlock, upside down

Everything about that is really good.

Try not to think “wasted potential” every 10 minutes of this challenge 😂

I Will forever headcanon Sherlock as ace/gay and unbothered by people knowing or finding out. He formally came out to Mrs Hudson and because he loves her, cares not for her parading his business.

Hudson: establishes John is NOT Sherlock’s boyfriend

Immediately relate that she’s ok with it all but in a way she thinks is subtle

Spend the rest of the episode “outing” Sherlock to John

“Please date my awkward son, Mr Army Man, he’s lonely”.

Season 1-2 Hudson is the other greatest character in this show let’s be honest

So many possibilities set up in such a short screen time.

I think contrary to previous belief that actually Sherlock being a “villain” for lack of a better word here is set up pretty well in ep 1 and that thread is continued well in ep 6, but I think they dropped the ball in between.

“Stay away from Sherlock Holmes” is appealing—they could’ve set him up better to be misunderstood by all except those closest to him, and have Holmes not pretend to be anything he isn’t

But I think the whole weird sociopath thing really funked with that thread.

God there’s about to be a million and one fix it fics in my head after this isn’t there?

(Edited: I will definitely post a link if I start doing BBC fic again)

Mark Gatiss as Mycroft is also great casting I just god really loathe the writing of this Mycroft

“Yada Yada bully Mycroft we know, Ro”

It could’ve been a goofy joke! Between brothers! Sherlock reluctantly “Yeah thanks for checking out my new roommate bro but we’re chill” Mycroft laughs it off

No real creepy older brother, he doesn’t spy on them after that, drops the whole Bond villain act etc

This is in fact one of my least favorite Watson’s on screen

(Fanon John doesn’t count he’s cool and soft)

The characters play off each other and it’s silly goofy

Still just a fun watch

Ik I complain alot but it’s nice to have this goofy little first season

This show also could’ve been a deep little meditation on mental health but that and the whole “Sherlock does drugs” bit were missed potential

Phil Davis plays such a creepy Jefferson Hope/cabbie killer

I like the moments too where he and Sherlock have little calmer funny human moments

What gets me is that Holmes is very close to canon age in this (BC was like 34) but damn trying to picture a 5 or maybe 8 year younger man playing this but versus the cabbie over the pills just imagine.

The confrontation with Hope is super well written and still fanfic fodder for days

Hope playing up on this Holmes���s need to be right, his addiction to solving puzzles for stimulation

At the time his inability to look beyond himself for solutions

—this Holmes was willing to risk death for a stupid brain game (he was wrong) (he was so self centered in that moment he believed he was right despite it being very easy to see he was wrong)

Missed beat on the mental health note— assume a Sherlock who back of his head realizes he’s being goaded into taking the wrong one and back of his mind /doesn’t/ care. Instead of asking Hope if he’s right he just chucks the thing away, frustrated because the moment is gone.

“Are you alright”

“Yes of course I’m alright”

“You have just killed a man”

“That’s true..

… but he wasn’t a very nice man”

This departure from the pilot script right here set up the toxic relationship between these two and every time I mourn the loss.

Instead of John getting real and trusting Sherlock, “I saw men die in the war good men” and admitting his ruined sleep because of it. Instead of “I’ll sleep fine tonight,” because Sherlock gave him a war worth fighting for

We get a joke, a little laugh

And this only continues.

Anyways I always get a little laugh at the wonky Mycroft dialogue that’s there just to end the episode with “Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson” as the final words

This show has always been goofy and it makes it fun to revisit.

Happy 13th, Sherlock.

[loisfreakinglane]

Do you have any ship regrets? Like a ship you were ALL IN on, but then dropped - be it because the source material didn't treat them right, their fandom annoyed you, the actors ended up being trash, etc.?

oh TOTALLY. YES. a lot of these i have not revisited in years so we're operating off of vague recollections here, BUT HERE'S A LIST OF SEVERAL OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD. not a comprehensive list but a ramble i'm sorry

clay/gemma on sons of anarchy. i love villainous marrieds and complicated ships, but. then he beat the shit out of her. idk idk i'm just left with a lot of mixed feelings here. clearly i can under other circumstances move beyond this kind of shitty occurence (it took me a long time to get past ep 5 of iwtv bc of this) but i never quite got over this with clay/gemma. when they were good tho they were AMAZING. i love an evil king and queen. but ya kno. yikes

max/murphy on in the dark. the second i was given leslie/max i was so immediately VIBIN i realized that like. i'd never REALLY loved max/murphy. i'd just been shipping what was in front of me, being super into casey deidrick, and brushing off a lot of the bad vibes i felt about it. and lol i never watched the last season but i heard about how shit went down with leslie/max so like thats not a forever otp or anything, it just helped me realize that max/murphy was not really my jam

dorothy/lucas on emerald city. this is a ship that i was into the idea of, then shipped like BURNING at the end of that ep when he keeps trying to tell the knock knock joke and she was like internally screaming. but then we got his identity, fixed his amnesia, and his love for glinda, and it just. it ruined a good thing is what i have to say. it just left me annoyed at the end of the day.

bonnie/jeremy on tvd. i know a lot of my friends were anti this ship to start with for a lot of reasons (and a lot of ppl were anti it back in the day bc they were still hoping for jeremy/tyler) but they had some cute content, and honestly I was relieved there was SOMEONE who was putting bonnies life first. but then he cheated on her with a ghost.......... i love anna but. REALLY?

jessica/luke in the marvel netflix universe. oh this one hurts. this one hurts a lot. i LOOOOOOOOOOVE comics jessica/luke. ANOTHER FUCK FIRST FEELINGS LATER SHIP! I LOVE THOSE! and when we first saw them together in the jessica jones show i thought it was going great! the actors have good chemistry and i loved their interactions! BUT. THEN. SHE KILLED HIS WIFE. AND SHE KNEW THIS AND HAD BEEN STALKING HIM OUT OF GUILT. AND THEN HAD SEX WITH HIM KNOWING SHE KILLED HIS WIFE. look obviously reva's death was not her fault, in any way. she had zero control over that situation. but she had control over her actions during the series, and she chose to get close to luke and have sex with him, knowing exactly how his wife died and that kilgrave was behind it, and not telling him shit til she absolutely had to. i can appreciate their relationship for what it is in that universe, but i reALLY can't ship it anymore.

bay/emmett on switched at birth. they were SO CUTE. SOOOOOOOOO CUTE. i loved this ship a lot. then the show got more boring and i stopped watching it, and then like?? he was a huge asshole?? after she was assaulted?? LITERALLY WHAT THE FUCK. idk whatever way you slice it, however that all went down in context that i'm missing, it just sounds like such a betrayal and now i get twitchy thinking about it

hayley/elijah on the originals. i distinctly remember being super hype the first time they had sex. then after she became a vampire, he became extraordinarily judgmental and i just shut down at the idea entirely. extremely meh to me 5ever

some other vague ones: jim/any of his love interests on gotham (they kept STARTING good but then jim being jim it........ blew up), len/sara and barry/len in the dc tv universe (len/sara became boring to me much much quicker, esp bc the fandom surrounding it left a lot to be desired. barry/len took longer and i still really appreciate the dynamic but i began finding it kinda boring lol. its a westallen micklen life for ME) (i can still get into coldwestallen tho, that's still fun for me and its a very different kind of fandom angle that's not so..... uwu little barry and his zaddy type of vibe), so many ships on good trouble they really worked overtime to RUIN, i still cannot belieeeeeeeve hit the floor wrote ahsha/derek off by saying he was angry at her for having an abortion (one of many WHAT THE FUCK SEASON 4?!?!?!! moments), a ship i won't name that i was into for a few seasons, then started finding boring, then their stans started sending me kill yourself anons bc i'd started shipping a competing ship (IT'S NOT A GREAT LOOK YOU GUYS), james/kara on supergirl was SO CUTE and the show immediately destroyed it the second they could, in a way that just leaves me annoyed and bitter and incapable of shipping the season 1 version anymore, CHASE/GERT IN THE RUNAWAYS SHOW, another example where i still ship their comics selves hardcore but god. i hate some of the choices they made for their tv counterparts, and season 2 really killed a lot of it for me.

i'm sure theres fifty more EXTREMELY PRESSING EXAMPLES but this is all i got for now <333

[ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff]

The Rake (Anthony Bridgerton x Reader)

Prompt: “I was holding your hand to convey sincerity and you said something I don’t have an immediate answer to, so I’m going to kiss your hand instead.”

AN: I had a series of hand kissing prompts and I wrote this a while ago for Anthony because I wasn’t really happy with how the show handled the Rake plot line. I’ve got a few more drafted that I might post later, one for Benedict Bridgerton, one for Eddie Munson etc. Let me know what you think.

WC: 1k 

Reader: Presents as a woman, no pronouns or Y/N used

Masterlist

When your family butler Thompson announced the entrance of Lord Anthony Bridgerton for the second time in fifteen minutes, you stood up from the chaise to receive him. However his face was not clear with his usual civility as it had been when he first arrived - before he was taken into your father’s office for a private conversation. 

As if he communicated telepathically, Thomspon closed the door behind Lord Bridgerton once you had curtseyed and he had bowed. He was your chaperone. So this was a private affair, but not a proposal. Of course it wouldn’t have been the latter. You and the Viscount hadn’t even courted. 

Reading this from your thoughts, the Viscount cleared his throat before speaking, “Your father forbids me from courting you, or indeed marrying you.”

Your gaze dropped to the carpet for a split second before you regained your composure, “Did he make known his reasons?”

“He fears that my reputation will taint yours and your family’s.”

You nodded, attempting to collect your thoughts whilst you stalled: “While I do not care to have my father speak on behalf of my future, I will admit that I am unnerved by what the ton has to say about you. However, I wish to hear from you first what you have to say about these rumours of your disreputable behaviour prior to this season.”

It was clear this made Lord Bridgerton uncomfortable: his feet shifted in their new leather boots, his brown eyes found themselves losing their usual ego, and his shoulders struggled to stay rigid. 

When he gathered his nerve back together, he spoke: “The rumours are not entirely unfounded. In fact, until recently, I did not consider the fallout of my actions on myself, my family, and the women I… associated with. That being said, I am firm in my belief that I will carry out my duties as Viscount without returning to my old ways.”

Carefully you arranged your skits as you lowered yourself back to the chaise. You then patted the space beside you.

“Sit with me.”

Your gentle request was taken upon, with Lord Bridgerton perching beside you and just a few inches of space separating your legs. As you continued to speak, he listened closely, like nothing else mattered.

“You must understand that in entering courtship, I consider what future we would have together. How could I be happy, knowing that my husband openly seeks pleasure from other women and that the ton looks on me with pity for being trapped in a marriage like that?”

As Lord Bridgerton processed this, his eyes cast down for a moment, you filled the lack of response with more of your thoughts, for he had not once made you feel like you should hide them:

“Now you have said so yourself, you seek an amicable marriage fit for your future as Viscount, not one of love. I accept that as a statement. But I do not know if I can accept that you have changed so completely and so quickly.” 

“I would not do to you what you have said, if you were my wife.”

“By comparison, you would become as celibate as a priest. Would you be happy with that?”

“I do not seek happiness, only to carry out my duties for my family. You would be my family too, and if that is what you wished, I would follow your example.”

“And once your duties are complete, when my childbrearing hips have been put to use, what then?”

“Y/N, I would never forsake you for the brief pleasures in a whore’s arms. It would be you and you alone I seek. We would be a pair unmatched by anyone. Our lives have changed for the better from the moment we met; it would multiply infinitely when we exchanged wedding vows.” So encapsulated in his speech was I, that I did not notice when he had sandwiched my hand between his. “I would be yours and yours alone, your faithful husband, your partner, your slave.”

You wanted to believe him; you truly did. Every inch of you screamed at your mind to just fall for his pretty words. Even if he did not love you, your dances and conversations amidst promenades were the most entertaining things that had happened this entire season. He would be more than a welcomed partner in the future. You would be taken care of, be given your own duties and Dowager Viscountess Violet Bridgerton to guide you as Viscountess. 

But what was the point, if you were to become a walking embarrassment to the point where you could not show your face without hearing the whispers of Whistledown’s followers wafting over your home life? What kind of wife, host, mother would you be?

“I’m sorry, Lord Bridgerton, I wish to but I still do not know if I believe you.”

His chest slowly shrinking with a sigh, Anthony raised your hand to his lips and kissed the bridge of your knuckles. His touch lingered and his breath tickled over your skin, warmed in his gentle grip. This gesture was not intended to ruin you for other men should silent Thompson at the door spill the beans. It felt like sealing a promise in those earnest brown eyes that made you weak at the knees just looking at you - so thank goodness you were both sitting. 

“I understand,” Anthony lowered your hands to where your knees touched, “So please let me try to prove how serious I am to you,” He said quietly. 

“What about my father?”

“He may change his mind, he may not. It is yours I care about.”

You didn’t know for how long he would try, when you did not have his luxury of more than a few seasons to spend waiting for this change in you and him, before you would have to settle for one proposal or another. But Anthony’s sincerity was all you needed to decide on your course of action. 

You kissed his hand as he had yours. “Then try. Please.”

[diamondcitydarlin]

my thoughts on the leaked eps and expectations vs reality (yes they got leaked in Russian again, I haven't watched them at all just read the plot summaries from those who have, so I'm suspending full judgement until I watch the eps when they air). DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS.

So. Idk, kinda double-edged sword here. On the one hand, we had a magnificent time this season coming up with supplementary development and subplots about the side characters (Marwa, the Djinn, the Guide, etc) and we had such good fun imagining how Nandermo might be jealous of each other and do other typical slowburn trope-y things we've come to expect from slowburn romances in TV shows. On the other hand, I think in the process we may have lost sight of what this show is and always has been, which is, at the end of the day, a group of idiotic, self-obsessed vampires that continue to make the same mistakes over and over and fail upwards. I think because the show is so unapologetically queer, we keep expecting those elements of found family and self-progression to stay true throughout the course of the story, but that's not really what this particular show has ever aimed to be.

To be sure, I'm disappointed with what ends up happening with Marwa. I can't imagine that watching it properly in English is going to change my mind about that, but I wonder how much of my disappointment was set up because I couldn't parse those amazing headcanons about her from the actual text of the show and what they were setting up to have us expect from her which, if you think about the actual text of the show, isn't much. I still think she deserved more and I still don't agree with the optics of the first regular WOC being treated like a sim in CAS before having her entire identity erased in favor of a yt dude and then shipped off to probably never be seen again. I really think to some extent they dropped the ball with Marwa, maybe underestimating how much viewers would love and want to see more from her (as well as her revenge). Because I will say, to be fair, that most tertiary characters get treated this way, though perhaps maybe not to the level of mindwashed horror as Marwa. I don't think we as viewers are misplaced in wanting to see at least Nandor get some kind of comeuppance for this.

As far as his sins against Guillermo go though, I don't think this is anything too off base from what Nandor would normally do, and I don't think he necessarily does it out of maliciousness towards Guillermo. That's the point I think they're trying to make about Nandor here; he's so self-focused, he does whatever he thinks the immediate gratification solution would be without any concern for the consequences. He clones Guillermo's boyfriend without a single thought to how this might negatively affect anyone else. He's an idiot, basically, of course.

And Colin having his entire plot as a child erased from his memory is doubly frustrating and tragic, even as I love knowing we get old Colin back.

So yea there's definitely a cynical kind of vibe to this season that I think is leaving a bad taste in everyone's mouth. We're wondering what the writers are trying to say about the characters, if there's any point to keep watching or if we can just rest assured that these characters will go on making the same mistakes, never changing, and always ending up back at the restart button. BUT THE THING IS...we do have at least two more seasons, and an element of vampirisim in this show has always been that struggle to break free of endless cycles in an existence that goes on indefinitely, so it makes sense that this would continue as a conflict before the story reaches it's final denouement.

But I do have to say at this juncture that I agree some things were indisputably fucked up this season, my main complaint being the way Marwa's character was treated. Sure, there's time for them to bring her back and remedy this, but they could have done better by her to begin with than leaving us with this unpleasant bookend.