#bryan saved the whole show in one episode

[alice1505]

I made the mistake of rewatching Sherlock because I never did finish it back in the day (I was -clenches fist- seething over the queerbaiting and rage quit after not fully watching episode 1 of s4) and I'm here to make my side hyperfixation (what year is this??? Who am I???) Tumblr's problem. The more I sit with s4, the less I like it 😂 There were pieces and elements I liked, but overall, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Forgive me if any or all if these points have been talked to death, I missed all the discourse and I'm hella late, but I need to flail and send my thoughts into the void because what even WAS that season? I can't believe I avoided it for years, got drawn in by a couple of tiktoks making fun (affectionately) of superwholock Era and That Scene about the fucking phone charger port, binged all of it, only to be left with..... that. Not nearly as disappointing or rage inducing as spn's ending but by God, did it leave a hole in me. So please ignore my rambling thoughts as I slap them down here for my own sanity.

• First and foremost, what - and I can't stress this enough - the fuck was UP with the assassination of John's entire character???? What was that??? Why????

• Related to that point - I can appreciate the angst point and potential it provides, as I'm reading many, many fics, but AYO WHY didn't anyone rip John an entire new one for that beat down he did on Sherlock????? Hello???? 911?????

• Tell me why everything felt so stilted and borderline icy. Like I get the high emotions and shit, but after a certain point... 😭 was there a falling out between Benedict and Martin that I'm not aware of? Did they just try to ungay everything so hard and were so pissed at the audience picking up everything THAT THEY PUT???? into this show and their interactions that they just hit the brakes hard enough to make everything feel weird???

• A lot of it felt weird. Off kilter a little. Forced in some places, toned down in others (and toned down where it shouldn't have been), a nod to ships but weirdly/hatefully??? Idk if that makes sense. Like the whole Sherlock and Molly phone call (I do not mean any hate to this ship, I really hope it doesn't come off this way. Not my cup of tea but you are valid). Why was Molly so upset BEFORE the call? Did I miss something? Also I don't personally think or feel she'd still have those feelings for him??? I??? I am bamboozled.

• to that whole point, Eurus was.... Hmm. Mmmm. She was. Something. (Confused derogatory)

• I like Mary as a character. I also hated her. (Definitely biased by my shipper trash ass self for johnlock, I'm sorry). Wtf were those messages, please. Edit: AND ANOTHER THING. John's reaction to Sherlock's death - awful, gut wrenching, beautiful, my heart breaks with and for him, utterly devasting. John's reaction to Mary's death - had me sitting there like🧍‍♀️(it was weird. so weird. awkward. w h y. (we know why, but also the acting choices were Something TM, in both cases! for different reasons!) i'm sorry i just can't get past my anger and put off-ness with mary, fun as she could be)

• why did mycroft and John switch roles 😭 pls. The last episode was just. So Much. The lackluster responses from John, to John, to Sherlock, between them, like.... hello???? Who are these people?? Help me. Moriarty saved me for a brief shining moment tho, God bless.

There's more I could spew, but that's what's sitting right at the top of my head. I guess all this just to say, if a show runner/writer really just fucking hates the audience they got (instead of the one they wanted), they probably shouldn't have fucking become a show runner/writer in the first place. Either hand it to someone who can actually handle it and listens, or fuck off. I will never understand when shows and plots and characters gets kamikaze'd because of a show runner being pissy and egotistical. Like ????? Grow up. Learn from Bryan Fuller and Hannibal or something.

Sorry for all the rambling, bless anyone who reads this and makes sense of it 😂

[coffee-counts-as-a-meal]

"my blood is medicine"

no but tell me why out of everything that happened in this episode THIS is what broke my heart the most

(TLOU 1x05 "Endure and Survive" spoilers below)

I've seen some people comment about how show!Ellie feels younger than game!Ellie, like an actual 14-year old, where game!Ellie could have honestly passed as somewhere around 16ish just based on the way she carries herself. and I think that's honestly something they lean into a lot in the show, which ultimately strengthens it (i could write a whole other essay on the choices they made in changing certain aspects of Joel's character and relationship with Ellie and how it becomes SO MUCH MORE COMPELLING AND STRONGER AND THE BETTER FOR IT but that's a whole other thing)

and like. The dynamic between her and Sam (also de-aged canonically, which is HEARTBREAKING HE WAS SO TINY) feels so innocent. They're children and they're allowed to be children.

Also noticed how the moment from the game where Henry scolded Sam for merely picking up a toy was changed to Henry giving Sam crayons and ENCOURAGING HIM to draw and paint and have fun even when they're fighting to survive - it's not enough that Henry and Joel are fighting to protect their lives, but they're fighting to protect Ellie and Sam's childhood too. Letting them play soccer and steal comic books. Joel apologizing to Ellie and giving her space if she wanted it to talk about having to shoot Bryan. Henry saying "it'll be nice for Sam to have a friend," not just the practical cost-benefit analysis of what it'll mean to be traveling as a pack of four to Wyoming.

so Ellie telling Sam "my blood is medicine" hit me so hard not just because it's a last ditch-effort to save her friend. It's just so matter-of-fact in such a childish way. It's "it's okay, you skinned your knee, don't cry, I'll blow some magic fairy dust to make it feel better," it's an absolute belief in something that might not work but you kinda have to be a kid to even have that sort of faith in the first place.

when I was 13 my little sister had nightmares about that one chimpanzee that ate that lady's face (kids who grew up on dateline and late night news will know what I'm talking about) and couldn't sleep. she was around 8 at the time. I gave her a hair scrunchie and told her that if she spoke certain magic words, fairies would appear and fight whatever it was that came to harm her.

"My blood is medicine." "This scrunchie will protect you." These are the words of kids who truly believe that things will turn out okay - you wouldn't hear those words from adults, or at least they wouldn't be said in such a genuine way. Ellie genuinely believed her blood was medicine - she believed she could save her friend, magically, scientifically, whatever way you want to believe it could have worked. She's seen so much and been through so much, but she's still a kid whose first instinct is to go up to the other kid on the playground and comfort them - it's okay, my blood is medicine. You'll be okay. You're scared? I'm scared too. I'll stay up with you. Like a sleepover. We'll read comic books all night.

But her blood isn't medicine. And unlike Sam, eventually she'll have to grow up.

[flanzee]

what did u think of the anime ?? thoughts on wallace’s characterization ? seems to be heavily debated. love ur art !!

hello!!! :] thanks for liking my art EEEEEEEE

for a long time i saved my opinion about the anime because the first few days it came out it was a war zone out there and people with a different opnion would've be jumped on hahaaaaaa.... but ANYWAYS To this day I'm still neutral about it. Not what I personally expected. After my first watch I felt so devasted tbh LOL I took me a while to even get closer to it again and watch some of it for a second time. BUT with time, i slowly started to appreciate what I did liked about the show: the amazing animation!!!!! it's one of the things i praise of, alongside side the music (which i still listen time to time) Now everthing else... is something... I don't like how Scott was handled in this show nor The whole plot for the last 3 episodes ifykyk 😭😭😭 like at ALL. And something that people always praise about the show is how the Exes now had more depth and and were fun too watch but imo the only one who stands out was roxie and matthew...everything else felt half cooked... todd just being part of a Gag and istg i feel ike the Twins talked/did more in the comic than the anime 😭?!?! they didnt gaf about them even here LMAOO

I feel like this show could've been so good if the people behind it weren't thinking about "doing everything we can do in 8 episodes and conclude it because we are sure we wont get a season two!" you know?? and these last episodes are the prove of it and that they were running out of time

About Wallace's characterization, back then I've mentioned to my friends once that i felt like he was OOC at first. Him pretending that didn't cared about Scott did hurted a little ahaha. But after Bryan mentioned that he wasn't OOC, wasn't being a dick like everyone else was saying-including me lol-and that we should've be looking at his actions rather than his words[?]I stepped back and think "well Alright if he say hes not I guess i'll go with it. I guess. thats just his way to cope with scott's disappearance. I think. .... Ah. ... I get it now........... I see.......!!!!!!!" and understood that perhaps he's not the kind of person to admmit his real feelings, But Being with Another Scott the day after hes gone, Being in a Movie about Scott's life, Tell the director that there should've be a scene of him and Scott making out just to later have sex with the actor that played Scott and was also only interested on him while he was on his Scott custome WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's true that actions says more than words!!!!!!!! wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[k-s-morgan]

Hi Morgan I hope u are well 💌

I am new to the fandom but it always excites me to know how the fandom was when hannibal was first released. About the fandom shipping, what was the pov at that time and what ppl thought were the endgame couples.

Did they ship hannibloom, hannigram or any other characters.

Sorry my English is not good 😆

Hi! No worries, your English is more than fine! And ooh, I did have a post about it somewhere, but I can't find it to link it. I have the text from it saved, though.

So, S1 and the situation in the fandom. Obviously, the shipping was very varied at that time - you could easily find Hannibal/Alana and Will/Alana fans. Some were making bets on Hannibal/Bedelia since Bryan mentioned Hannibal getting a love interest in S2. Hannigram was there from the beginning, too.

Bryan (non)teasing Hannigram before S1 aired:

Filming a beautiful, sexy kiss between two beautiful, sexy actors on #HANNIBAL -- and it's not Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy.

Some people were hoping for some Hannigram content even before seeing a single episode. Hannigram had a small group of shippers ever since the books came out (with Hannibal being briefly drawn to Will before getting pissed off at being denied his phone number and sending Francis to attack him with his family). The movies, with all the “Remarkable boy. I do admire your courage. I think I’ll eat your heart” and “How I’d love to get you on my couch” only fuelled the shipping, even though it was never particularly large-scale. The fact that one of the promos for the show presented after the pilot entailed Hannibal sniffing Will, some people caught onto what was happening at that point already. But no one really took it very seriously, and people’s opinions differed. 

Some were swooning over Will with Alana, calling it an amazing exploration of a relationship between two mature people. Others expressed hopes that Hannibal would try to get closer to Alana to mess with Will. Some were excited to see Hannibal touching Will’s shoulder in E9 and expressing the desire to be a family with him and Abigail. A bit of discussion from those times I saved out of amusement:

Commenter 1: I thought that whole scene had a homoerotic feel to it.

Commenter 2: Gay dads. Gay dads.

Commenter 3: I thought that whole show had a homoerotic feel to it.

Commenter 4: I feel like Hannibal is sexually attracted to Will, but I might be making too many leaps here…

Commenter 5: I don’t think he is sexually attracted to Will. I get the sense that he is only sexually attracted to himself. As a pure narcissist, I don’t think he is capable of feeling attracted to another person, regardless of gender.I think his attachment to Will is based on the fact that somebody can finally understand him. I think he legitimately see’s Will as a friend.

Commenter 6: It’s great to see more of Hannibal with his own psychiatrist. The fact that he seems to genuinely want a friendship with Will seems so touching. His reaction when Will came over to his house to tell him he’d kissed Alana was priceless and almost showed a hint of jealousy (but maybe I’m reading too much into that).

Some stuff about Will and Alana:

Commenter 1:  I am so loving everything happening between Will and Alana. To have characters talk out their issues despite sexual tension, and hold off on a relationship because of them… it feels almost revolutionary in today’s television landscape.

Commenter 2: A romantic relationship would weigh down the show. They really don’t have time to get invested in that. It’s pretty obvious from an outsider’s POV that there’s a Will/Alana attraction going on, and to not acknowledge it would in some ways actually draw more attention TO it. My guess is they’re setting something up for season 2 or 3 (if we get them).

Commenter 3: At the rate he’s going, by season three Will’s going to be drooling in a mental hospital somewhere.

Commenter 4: I’m pretty glad the whole Will/Alana thing was a bust. She’s right about them being bad for each other, and I feel that if they did get into a relationship, that drama would just distract from the story. Plus Will is such a tragic character, a relationship would normalise him too much.

Mads already said he plays Hannibal as in love with Will at that point, so some took it into consideration while others ignored it. People seemed to love the show: they admired how cunning Hannibal was, worried about Will, and screamed at the finale. Many were looking forward to seeing how the tables were going to be turned, with Will paying Hannibal back. 

 People’s major theories included Hannibal seeing Will as a protege / adversary - there were even fights about it since some thought he was genuine in his care while others believed he was just playing a game; many believed Abigail was still alive; Will was predicted to spend most time in jail in S2 while being consulted; many thought Will and Hannibal would be trying to dance to one up each other next. Will’s darkness was a rare topic and no one really thought Hannigram would take the central stage in a mutually romantic way. Will’s Becoming wasn’t a common topic either - few people considered that he might start indulging in his own darkness. Many were wondering how much Bedelia knew and why Hannibal was crying about his lost Murder Family when he was the one to destroy it. 

Interesting links: 

This is a panel from 2013. At 39.13, a person asks about the eroticism between Will and Hannibal and everyone starts cheering. Hugh says he thinks the connection between them is profound but that he doesn’t think it’s sexual. Bryan asks, “Oh yeah?” 

And here you can read discussions of all episodes as they were airing. I think the quotes I provided above are from there as well. 

[a-lucha-brother]

Fantasy Booking the road to Swerve vs Page 2: Part 1 (up to All In)

This idea is the child of @satanstruemistress, I'm just taking their idea, putting a spin on it, and giving it a booking masterclass, like only the Rainmaker can - let's go on a ride.

*For context, this booking is being made under the impressions that The Elite have lost Blood & Guts, they've lost because Adam Page isolated Swerve Strickland, Adam Page DOES NOT side with The Elite (only used them to get to Swerve) and that Swerve's next program after B&G is with Christian Cage*

It's July 31st, the Dynamite after Blood & Guts, exactly 3 weeks and 4 days to All In after this fallout episode, meaning we have 3 Dynamites between now and then; the current card is as follows:

Swerve Strickland (c) vs Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship

Adam Page has no match......well. Let me walk you through what I would like to see.

Dynamite 17th July (mostly unconfirmed card as of writing): On this episode, Renee tries to get more answers out of Adam Page after he randomly decided to join The Elite, which he patches her questions, to which she reacts angrily again after his antics the week before. He gets in her face and starts to advance aggressively when.....JEFF JARRETT comes for the save telling him to leave her alone, calling him a "big man pushing up to a woman all alone". Adam then decks Jeff to the floor when he turns his back and screams at him to stay out of his business and walks away. Matthew and Nicholas show up to shoo the camerman away.

Swerve Strickland and myself, I mean, Kazuchika Okada have their singles match in which Swerve wins because no Elite members come out to help Kaz because Team AEW (revealing the remaining of their members in the process) have taken out The Elite backstage, distracting Kaz to which Swerve does a running top rope House Call kick straight to the Swerve Stomp for the win......but then on the big screen, Swerve then gets to see Adam Page taking out Team AEW with a chair to which he angrily looks at the camera at Swerve as the episode ends.

Dynamite Blood & Guts 24th July: Blood & Guts happens. Adam Page and Swerve Strickland just can't ignore each other and completely go to war that spills into one of the two rings. Everyone else fights each other, and everytime anyone tries to enter the other ring (from both teams) or gets thrown in (tactically or otherwise), immediately gets double-teamed by Page and Swerve, who look at each other longingly cause they both understand

THEY LOVE EACH OTHER THROUGH DESIRE FOR MURDER

Anyhoo, this pisses everyone off, but they can't get past the duo, so we essentially have 2 matches going on here. TL:DR someone on the other side manages to break open the cage and it spills out onto the floor and on top, this whole process basically eliminates everyone out of the match for the finish (including the ref). Page starts to essentially torture Swerve instead of just pinning him, and it gets perverse at a point. Then JEFF JARRETT comes running out, guitar in hand, sneaks up on Adam Page, SMASHES it over his head and as Page is collapsing, he turns to see who it was as he tries to fight against passing out, pissed as all hell, as Jeff then low blows Page. As he's on his knees, Swerve manages to House Call kick him, cover him, JJ pulls his shirt up to reveal another ref shirt like with the Owen that Page also lost, counts the 3 and Team AEW "kind of" wins.

Why this road, why, I'm so glad you asked, because AEW has been setting something up with Page and Jarrett. Blood & Guts is happening in Tennessee. Jeff Jarrett is also from Tennessee. Do you see!!

Dynamite 31st July: No Adam Page or Jeff Jarrett in this episode, we'll deal with them next week. This week, we're dealing with Swerve.

The Elite open the show. They proclaim that nobody technically won Blood & Guts because Swerve and Page went into business for themselves, which means that The Elite never technically lost, so, technically, The Elite actually won. They then invite The Patriarchy to the ring because, "Christian has a very important message for our 'Champion' ". CC comes out, does the talking, threatens Swerves daughter, makes mention of knowing where they live and going to get her now, "since Swerve spends more time at the hospital then he does at home being a GOOD FATHER that I, myself might as well take pity and show her what a REAL FATHER is like" to which Swerve comes out, all banged up and clearly in no condition to be fighting anyone, comes out anyways, gets annihilated because of course he does. Matthew and Nicholas then come back on the screen and spout some garbage along the lines of, "Swerve, you're being so reckless and creating an unsafe working environment, I mean, I fear for my life right now, do you fear for your life right now, we're all scared back here! So Swerve, I think it's best that you be SUSPENDED from Dynamite for the next 3 weeks to think about what you've done. Oh, and as further punishment, as this isn't the first time you've done this. After All In, if you're still the champ, your first opponent will be CHRISTIAN CAGE and HE will get to name the time and place AND stipulation!!" *Swerve starts making appearances on Collision because "he's only banned from Dynamite right?" and raising some hell for The Elite and The Patriarchy*

Dynamite 7th August: Now we start setting up more Adam Page and JJ stuff. Page gets more aggressive with Renee, this leads to a match with Wheeler Yuta, who he basically murders.

Dynamite 14th August: Now Page has a match with Claudio, destroys him too.

Dynamite 21st August: This week, Adam Page gets on the mic and gives the traditional "Why, Adam, why" heel promo. Talking about AEW, MJF, The Elite, Kenny Omega, Swerve, Joe, Mox, the fans, talking about how each and every one of them has done him wrong gotten in his way, stopped him from regaining the belt, telling them that they made him this way. "Swerve lit the fire, but YOU poured the gas on top of the fire!!" And now because he's a raging inferno that can't be put out, he's going to burn AEW to the ground, so that there's NOTHING left to stop him from getting to Swerve 1-on-1 because as you saw at Blood & Guts, Swerve can't handle Adam Page 1-on-1.

This is when Jeff Jarrett's music hits, and he hits the, "spoiled little crybaby" face promo on Page from the ramp and slowly gets into the ring. They trade backs and forths, Jeff gets real personal and real emotional with some of his references (I personally would like some TNA references). It all results in Jeff saying, "If the Cowboy thinks he's a good enough gunslinger, he's going to have to outgun the Last Outlaw" and Jeff basically says to him that if he wants to cross that final line that it'll take to get him to Swerve, "cause there's still lines to cross, that Swerve crossed long ago, that you've never had to cross as of yet" he'll need to beat Jeff in an Ironman match.

AEW All In 2024 25th August: Page has his match with JJ and wins, JUST. And surprisingly, they share a handshake, Page thanks Jeff, then Page starts to maul Jarrett, with Lethal and the rest coming for the save. Swerve and Danielson have a 5 star classic, which Swerve JUST also manages to win. Him and Bryan share a nice embrace, say their goodbyes to the crowd. Then Adam Pages music hits and he bulldozes to the ring and demolishes both of them, beating Swerve within an inch of his life as the cameras fade with Page holding the title screaming to Swerve, "I TOLD YOU I WILL MAKE THIS MINE AND YOU WILL NEVER HAVE IT OVER MY DEAD BODY OR YOURS" and just keeps on repeating himself like a nutcase.

And that's your lot, for now. If I remember to write the second part (detailing Swerve's program with Christian leading into a SwervexPage tag team) then I'll do it, but for now, I'm exhausted and you've outstayed your welcome.

NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF MY RING

[omegawhiskers]

Collision 29/10/23

A Classic Main Event

A lot of people thought MJF vs. Kenny Omega for the main event of Collision should of been kept for a PPV, but MJF was going to surpass Omega as the longest-reigning World Champion, so you have to do this match or it makes Kenny seem like a chump who doesn't value his title reign. I was reserved because I thought the The Man in the Devil Mask, Samoa Joe or Bullet Club Gold would get involved, leading to a DQ. This didn't happen. Instead, we got a match that will go down as a classic. Before I jump into the main event, let me share my thoughts on the rest of the show.

We got decent contest between AR Fox and Jay White, despite how I feel about both wrestlers. Fox has had many stop/starts and I feel they dropped the ball when they turned him heel and then back to face. This is meant to be his redemption arc, but it doesn't feel like a redemption story to me.

I feel White has been overshadowed by Juice Robinson. Also, with all the targets on MJF's back, Jay feels a bit lost in the shuffle.

Fox showed off some great aerial offense in this match, but it was not enough as Jay won with the switchblade. MJF tried to steal his belt back but failed.

The Bullet Club Gold stuck around as The Gunns squashed Brandon and Brent (The Boy's). I guess this is to give them more momentum when they wrestle for the ROH Tag Team Titles. There were quite a number of squash matches tonight.

The ROH World Television Title was on the line as Joe finished Rhett Titus off with the Coquina Clutch, in a short and dominant bout.

It turns out that Bryan Danielson has a shoot broken orbital bone and will be out for the rest of the year. Claudio Castagnoli is not happy about this and vows to avenge his BCC teammate by beating the shit of out Orange Cassidy and Kazuchika Okada.

Claudio comes to the ring fired up and easily defeats Tracy Williams. I like this side of Claudio, and now he has a mission over the next few weeks.

Ryan Nemeth knocked on CJ Perry's door. I really like Ryan and I do hope Dolph signs and tags with his brother. Unfortunately, Ryan doesn't get to speak with Perry as Miro answers the door and beats him down behind closed doors. Did Miro stick her name on the door just so he could beat up whoever knocks?

The AEW Women's World Title was on the line in a Fright Night Fight as Hikaru Shida defended her title against Abadon. This may have been one of the worst matches I've seen in a while, and that's disappointing to write. Shida is great (I loved her Ada Wong costume), but this week just hasn't been good for her. This match was slow, long and just unimaginative. Toni Storm came out post-match to flaunt. I think it's clear that Shida is keeping the belt warm for Storm.

Ricky Starks and Dax Harwood had a great match. During their bout the lights went out, and The House of Black appeared in the crowd. Dax gave Starks a sickening piledriver. Ricky returned the favour with his own piledriver to pick up the victory. This was a bizarre ending because Ricky just kicked out of the same move moments earlier. There was a post-match brawl as The House of Black came to the ring, but La Faccion Ingobernable came to save the day. I didn't think expect them to be faces, but I'm glad they are.

The story also progresses with Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale, and Skye Blue. Kris and Willow try to get answers from Blue, but she blows them off.

At this point, Collision as whole was mediocre, thanks to the main event, this was about to become a top tier episode.

Omega hit the ring with Bret Hart inspired gear. Excellent choice by The Cleaner.

MJF would start with his strut, ‘’sportsmanship’’ chant, followed by a poke to the eye and a loud cheer from the crowd. Omega got the upper hand when he tossed MJF out of the ring followed with a dive over the top rope. Max would deliver with his own drive over the top rope striking Omega on the outside. A fantastic set of moves were traded back and forth. If things weren’t crazy enough, MJF received and snapdragon suplex on the side of the ring, followed by Omega sending MJF threw a table.

Both men traded insane move, after insane move, after insane move, and I was starting to think this was going to end in a time limit draw or a TKO.

At one point Don Callis came out with a screw driver in hand but that didn’t slow Omega down as I really thought he was going to win title, but MJF would end up getting the clean victory with the heat seeker. Callis coming out was the only criticism I had of this match; he just didn't add anything.

This may have been one of MJF's best match to date. I think these two worked on another level here. Next year I would love to see another Max/Omega match.

[hjcoolartnerd]

Explaining My Characters Elimination

Except TDAS and TDI 23 and 24

Total Drama Island Character: Eric and Mr. Coconut. Position: 5th Team: Killer Bass Elimination Episode: Camp Castaway

During this day, Owen, Gwen, Duncan and Heather all are lost after an intense rain that falls on camp Wawanakwa, Eric unlike the other four was in the Mess hall. The next morning, The cabins and the confessional were missing from the camp. Meaning that Eric spent first half of the day trying to search for his fellow campers, the second half he spent it with the production team. When they are all reunited, the 5 missing campers found the production site where Chris, Chef and Eric were. When raining began and only Chris and Chef entered Chris' trailer because it only being able to fit 7 people and there were 8. In the elimination ceremony, Gwen, Heather, Owen, Duncan and Mr. Coconut vote for Eric. Chris gave out 4 marshmallow eliminating Eric and Mr. Coconut from the game.

TDI Audition Tape: Eric was sitting in his bed as he smiled at the camera "Hey I want to audition for the reality show. I have a diverse set of skills! I am people person! I am a good competitor and I think i make good drama. If you pick me I promise to make your Show as Interesting as possible! I am a force to be reckoned with!"

Total Drama Action Character: Bryan (Eric) Position: 18th (N/A) Team: Killer Grips (Screaming gaffers) Elimination Episode: Beach Blanket Bogus

After Trent threw the tie breaker challenge of the beach movie flick challenge, it was revealed that it was a mixed, reward elimination challenge. meaning that the grips had to send a second cast member home. it was a 5 - 1 vote against Bryan, since out of every member of the Grips, he was the one that they didn't knew much about. When it was his turn to ride the lame-o-sine, He asked for one last confessional and fled the scene, meeting with heather and asking her to save him from elimination. He told her his plan of knocking Eric out and having Eric take the boot for him. They do this plan and Bryan changes his and Eric's clothes and with Heather's help the both take a knocked out Eric towards Chris saying that 'Bryan' Tried to run away from being eliminated and that they both Heather and 'Eric' got to him in time and they took him down. He was just passed out.

TDA Exclusive Scene: 'Bryan' wakes up in the lame-o-sine, completely lost and confused "Where am I?" he asked the person who was with him in the lame-o-sine "The lame-o-sine, Bryan. You've been voted out by your team. Eric and Heather found you trying to run away from you elimination" they told him "What? You got it all wrong. I'm not Bryan... Last thing i remember was me enjoying the reward with my team and then i heard some sneaking around near by and I went to check it out and-..." He then realizes what happened. "OH MY... Did Bryan did a switcharo?! He knows I hate when he does that with out consent! he cheated me Out of a Million Dollar game because his team decided to vote him???"Angrily hits the seat "This calls for a lawsuit! and Revenge on Bryan and who ever helped him... and I think i know who it was. Watch Your Back! Heather!" Eric points threadedly to the camera before it cuts the video.

Character: Cody Position: 14th Team: Killer Grips Elimination Episode: Master of Disaster

During this Whole Season, Cody had made an incredible friendship with Lindsay and Beth, the 3 of them being the majority in the team. during this challenge, the Grips lost the last challenge due to Justin not letting Lindsay read the combination. This became an elimination round because Chris felt that there were too many cast members, so he sent the Grips to elimination. a 3 vs 3 vote against Justin and Cody, provoked a tie. Chris made Justin and Cody redo the disaster theme challenge. to see who would stay, Cody would have won but when Justin pretended to almost fall thru a crack, Cody couldn't let him fall and he went to save him but in reality Justin was pretending and with that he tricked Him and Justin won the tie breaker.

TDA Exclusive Scene: Cody sighed as he sat on the back of the lame-o-sine "I can't believe i lost the tie braker... to Justin! The Grips were on a Losing Streak" Cody crosses his arms "What was Trent thinking when he chose the team? Justin, Beth, Izzy and Bryan were all awful choices!" He sighs "Lindsay almost gave us the win in episode 8 and they were going to boot her... An when Chris Gave us Tyler to try and Balance things out... We still lost and he got the boot" He frowned "But I made it far, right?"

Character: Heather and Bryan Position: 11th/10th Team: Screaming Gaffers(Heather)/Killer Grips (Screaming gaffers)[Bryan] Elimination Episode: Million Dollar Babies

In the previous Episode, A Million Bucks B.C, Eric returned to the game and to even out the teams, he was placed with the Grips. in the sports movie challenge, the Grips win the challenge with their cheer beating Leshawna's cheer. During the Gaffer's elimination, Bryan feels he is safe to stay in the game when Heather was the one booted by their team mates, but in a shocking twist by Chris after Heather left, he said that Eric had one vote and despite being in the grips he could decide who to vote, Eric had a hard time choosing between the trash talking Leshawna and the back stabber Bryan. But in the end Bryan was the one who got the boot and in Eric words 'A cheater should not, be able to make it to the merge'. and With that Bryan was sent home properly.

TDA Exclusive Scene: Bryan was sitting in the Lame-o-sine with a frown before he lets out a laugh "God damnit! I thought Karma didn't exist. I would have made it farther if Courtney 's lawsuit to unfair eliminations hadn't won. It's all Courtney's fault." He crossed his arms and smirked "So it was Courtney who technically got me out, Not Eric, Not Heather and Definitely Not the clow Justin. Eric hope you make a good game of your time back to the game" He chuckled and sighed as he passed his hand thru his hair "Next time I will! make it farther trust me."

Character: Ezekiel Position: 13th Team: Screaming Gaffers Elimination Episode: Dial M for Merger

This Season Zeke almost lonely, Though he had Lindsay and Beth who during the TDDDDDI Special, they Became a great trio being the only 2 who actually liked Ezekiel (Eric met Ezekiel after Eric was eliminated in Island, and yet the didn't interreact until now). Eric the first 4 episodes Decided to befriend Ezekiel specifically when They were on the same team. Eric from the own acted as his protector which Ezekiel was thankful for and Eric even helped Ezekiel with how to properly interact with people. Until Bryan and Heather Provoked the Switch between Bryan and Eric. Ezekiel knew that, the Eric in the game wasn't the same one. Though since the Grips were on a loosing streak the Gaffers Never went to elimination until The episode before were They eliminated Heather and Eric used his sole vote to take Bryan out. The next episode, Eric Lindsay, Ezekiel, and Beth were all working together, to try to beat the rest. The episode was a Reward elimination, Meaning Lindsay and Courtney got their reward but they had to vote someone home. Courtney saw the alliance of them four seemed like a threat and decided that it was time to end it. she along, with Harold, Duncan, Leshawna and Justin voted for Ezekiel. causing him to be eliminated.

TDA Exclusive Scene: Ezekiel sighed as he sat on the back of the lame-o-sine "Yo, this stinks! Why were they targeting me! I did nothing wrong eh! I was very nice Thank to what the Girls and Eric taught me!" He sighed frowning "I hope Lindsay or Beth win the million! those two are my dear friends... I... i never thought I'd make a friend in this game after what i did last season. Oh and eric was also a good friend, even when he was unfairly eliminated.... He enerv stopped supporting me.... If anyone should win it should be one of the girls or Eric" He smiled wide "Honestly Courtney, Should get what's coming to her. and I hope Eric... dumps Justin.. I might like him but Justin had been flirting with me when he was with Eric... Not cool!"

Character: Eric Position: 5th (DQ) Team: Screaming Gaffers(Killer Grips) Elimination Episode: Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen

It was a simple challenge, which consisted on guys vs Girl, but when Chris realized they had 4 guys and 2 girls he decided to sit out Owen (Because he was his mole and not a contestant not officially like eric) and have Eric become an intern during that challenge. As Eric sat out the challenge, he quickly realized that Owen was constantly going to Chris' trailer and it was strange, Eric decided to follow Owen around and saw that Owen was a Mole and was tampering with one team... or supposed to, when Harold and Duncan won, they both had to take a glass of something towards a bamboo where a yeti lived with Owen causing drama between them. Eric confronted Owen and Owen told Chris that he was found by Eric. Chris decided it was time to get rid of Eric now before he blew Owens cover so while Harold, enjoyed his reward, Eric was escorted by Chris and Chef to the Lame-o-sine.

TDA Exclusive Scene: Eric was sitting in the Lame-o-sine a frown on his face "Damn it! riding this thing again! I thought This was my season." He sighed before smiling "That's what happens for sticking my nose in other people's business. Honestly I didn't knew Owen had it in him to be a Mole... or maybe Chris is paying him or something? I am really not sure, But one thing I'm sure of, Courtney is going to be booted soon. Trust me."

Total Drama World Tour Character: Bryan Position: 20th Team: Team Victory Elimination Episode: Broadway, Baby!

This was a nice reward challenge where Amazon, was the 1st place, Victory got second and Chris got 3rd. But during the song what's not to love, when team Victory was singing together about Cappuccino, and pushing the baby carriage, Bryan refused to sing. He was tired of the musical numbers and decided not to sing this time, with Alejandro's influence, saying that Heather likes guys who break rules. While Amazon was getting their rewards the interns were bringing the struggling Bryan to the elimination room to tell him that he is DQ for not singing earning a gasp from team Amazon. He gave Bryan 5 seconds to strap his parachute before pushing him off the plane.

TDWT Exclusive Scene: Bryan falling as he fumbled with the string of the parachute "This is not! how i Wanted to loose! Maybe because I wanted to make it to the merge at least once! UGh! Chris is such a dead man! Cody didn't sing! Alejandro, Izzy and Tyler didn't sing either why am I selected above them to be booted!" He complains as he pulls the string and the parachute doesn't deploys "A-at least I have my dignity right?" A meat grinder falls like a brick "Did someone vote off a meat grinder? That's not good?" The parachute finally deploys and it gets caught on the crown of lady liberty "oh great! Help! Help! Aw damn it!!!!!!"

Character: Carlos Position: 15th Team: Team Chris is really really really really hot Elimination Episode: I see London

It was a tough choice, Tyler Alejandro and Carlos had Voted for Noah, Duncan Voted for Eva just because and Noah, Owen and Eva had Voted for Carlos. the game resulting in a tie breaker. Noah quickly used his brain to actually have Chris the eliminated one, By telling him That He didn't get eliminated from the challenge by Jack the ripper and they had captured him. It was a stupid way but it worked being Carlos chosen to take the plunge.

TDWT Exclusive Scene: Carlos didn't get his parachute because Chris pushed him out before he could give it to him "Guess I wasn't too manipulative to stay longer but a tleast I made it farther than Bryan. He was booted early on and that sad..." He sighs as he notices his parachute "I'm glad I'm out of this game before we got to the dreaded eating challenge. And all that singing this isn't a cartoon series or a kids show where singing makes everything better. What was Chris thinking." He sighs "And Alejandro he is dominating the game. getting Bryan out like that was rough... honestly I knew not to trust that eel, Bryan doesn't remember what he did to Eric but I do! Eric Better give Alejandro a piece of his own medicine... or at least karma."

Character: Eva Position: 11th Team: Team Chris is really really really really hot (Team Amazon) Elimination Episode: Sweden Sour

In the previous Episode, Chris switched eric to team To make a tie breaker between Courtney and Gwen and negate Eric's vote. To keep things fair, Chris switched Eva to Team Amazon. They would have booted Courtney but They saw Eva as a Bigger threat and that's why they booted her.

TDWT Exclusive Scene: "This Stinks" Eva said during the drop of shame "I was perfectly fine this time! I can't believe my team decided to vote me off Because i was a bigger threat when Heather is the witch that should be going home!" She growled "When I get my hands on my back stabbing team I am going to pound them to the ground!"

Character: Eric Position: 10th (N/A) Team: Team Amazon (Team Chris is really really really really hot) Elimination Episode: Sweden Sour

An elimination challenge, in the previous episode, Chris had switched Eric to team Chris during the elimination ceremony of Team amazon and negated Eric's vote resulting in the tie between Gwen and Courtney. this time while Alejandro, Owen and Duncan 'Enjoyed' their reward, Eric was called by Sierra towards the elimination ceremony to discuss her behavior towards him. But when he was distracted she pushed him out off the plane, she was jealous that Eric was close friends with Cody and she thought that Eric needed to go like now.

TDWT Exclusive Scene: Eric walking stranded and cold in Sweden "This is the last time I fall for someone's 'I want to talk' Ugh! This is the worst thing that has happened to me..." He said as he walked the interview speaks "We got word from the production that we would be able to get you to our next destination. You'll have to do a small Challenge before we give you a one way flight towards the next destination in Canada. if not you'll elimination will count as part of the next elimination." He said as Eric nods "Okay! what's the challenge?" Eric asks "You will have to tap into your inner adventurer and conquer the rugged terrain and challenges inspired by Nordic lore. Tasked with retracing the steps of legendary Viking explorers, your challenge begins with navigating through dense forests, traversing icy rivers, and scaling rocky cliffs if you manage to finish it. You will be send to the next destination in canada

Character: Eric Position: 4th Team: Team Amazon (Team Chris is really really really really hot) Elimination Episode: Planes, Trains and Hot Air Mobiles

Eric was the last one to move away from the wrecked plane in Drumheller, as he was finding way to get to where he needed to. he was 4th place the whole race towards Hawaii, Meaning he was Automatically eliminated when He reach the beach where he was going to drive to Hawaii, but as a way to have him in Hawaii Chris still allowed him to take his vote.

TDWT Exclusive Scene: Eric driving his Boat towards Hawaii "Damn.... made it all the way to the final four to be eliminated even before reaching Hawaii. This is so unfair. Why do I have the worst luck in the universe!" He sighs as he continues driving "Who knew id be out right about now. But hey The only one worth cheering for is Cody, I really do hope my man wins! Alejandro and Heather are going down!"

Total Drama Revenge of the Island Character: Bryan Position: 11th Team: Mutant Maggots Elimination Episode: Mutant Strength Fiasco

This challenge the teams had to choose between two strong and dangerous mutant creatures that the interns, Dakota, Eric and Bryan had found for them. Then they had to choose one member of each team to do a strength base obstacle course where they'd compete with the opposing mutant creature. During the Challenge which was Jo vs Lightning. Daniel tried to finally put his manipulation skills to make Zoey and Anne maria (who he likes) to fight over Mike/Vito. while he provoked the girls he was caught by Cameron and Mike doing this, and the arguing between the girl caught Jo's attention causing her to also get distracted and lose to lightning. During the elimination Jo, Mike and Cameron vote for Daniel seeing him as a dangerous threat as he finally showed his true colors, Daniel and Anne Maria voted for Zoey, while Zoey voted for Anne maria, Ending in a 3-2-1 vote Daniel taking the Hurl.

TDROTI Audition Tape: Daniel was smirking as he showed pictures of his three older brothers "Hello Producers of Total Drama, I hope you consider me as a player for you game! I've watched the first 3 seasons and saw that most of your contestants are gullible and easily manipulated. Also your villains aren't that discreet. If I'm chosen i promise to be a villain in the shadows, and I won't I wont be found. I'm Like a ninja... or as my brothers call me a Sheep in Wolves clothing.... but what's my weakness... I'm over confidence when i do my schemes and i get caught... but what are the changes I'll get Caught manipulating my cast members"

A/N: Here is the explanation of the first 4 seasons of Total Drama and their exclusive scenes. This was fun to write, I already have Daniel's and Eric's exclusive scenes for TDAS but ill write them when we get to their eliminated episodes in my rewrite of TDAS. Also, I'm Changing Courtneys TDAS exclusive scene too.

[wr1t3w1tm3]

More Wacky Power Rangers Crossover Dynamics Because I am Procrastinating

American Ninja Warrior

Let me explain: it's an obstacle course tv show where people try to compete it in the shortest time. Then there's like a play off's and finals and if you can beat this one obstacle you win a million bucks.

The original team was assembled in my mind in 2019. In that version a man named Drew Dreshel was the leader. This man was accused of having S with a minor and was very recently convicted. For obvious reasons I'm scrubbing him from the record.

Basically, the team's in Vegas, where the final episodes of the show are filmed, and while there they're the final few competetors. Najee Richardson, Sean Bryan, and Daniel Gil are actually queing up for the second to last round (last if none of them complete it) when the sideline reported (I believe it was Zuri Hall during this season) gives them these watches. They're morphers. Najee gets red, Sean gets yellow, and Daniel gets green.

Later on she gives two morphers to Jesse Labreck (blue) and Michelle Warnkey (pink).

Yeehaw alien attacks. Power Rangers do there thing.

Also, another dude named Lance Peekus gets the black morpher. He's a rancher so he's got a bit of a rancher gimick. Najee has the nickname "Phoenix" on the show so that's his. Daniel is a worship leader and Sean is a Catholic Church worker (IDK what that means) so that's kind of gimick: IDK really. Daniel gets a guitar gun and Sean swings an inscense thing? Jesse LaBreck is a stunt woman so that's her whole thing, and Michelle Warnkey is just really frickin' strong.

Najee was not my first pick for the lead ranger but I've gotta be honest, he works really well considering his IRL occupation.

Anywho, they're essentially stuck in Vegas fighting monsters.

At some point there was some sort of a self insert character who kind of was trying to get a shot of the Power Rangers mask off and she did... and then the aliens promptly kidnapped her and the Power Rangers had to save her, and she essentially becomes the Alpha/behind the scences character for that season.

There are other possible members if we wanna go full dino charge: Alyssa Beird in purple, Kevin Bull in orange, and Matias "the kid" Owathi in white (he is from a later season, but I figured he was a good late addition).

The Outsiders

Rapid fire, here we go.

Darry is Red

Two-Bit is blue

Steve is black

Pony is Yellow

Soda is Green

Dally is silver.

Johnny is gold.

[theharpermovieblog]

#HARPERSMOVIECOLLECTION

2023

KOLCHAK DOUBLE FEATURE

I re-watched The Night Stalker (1972)

This T.V. movie was a movie of the week, which was so successful it spawned a sequel and 20 episodes of a cult TV show.

Investigative reporter Carl Kolchak is covering several recent Las Vegas murders, which may be committed by a vampire.

Actor Darren McGavin (Who you probably know as the father from A Christmas Story) would be hard to replace in the role of Carl Kolchak. He's an older smart-ass reporter with enough charm to get the audience on his side, but not enough of that charm to not be fired from many papers around the country. The character, and the actor playing him are a huge part of makes the whole thing work. There are monsters all over Vegas and the only guy standing in their way is a relentless middle aged reporter in a cheesy suit.

If Hollywood had any sense, or simply wanted to please me, they'd immediately start working on a reboot starring Bryan Cranston.

This film was written by the characters' creator Jeffrey Grant Rice and the great Richard Matheson, author of I am Legend. Together they have put together a great horror story, that plays like a grim but whimsical detective novel.

The film's director is John Llewellyn Moxey, an old TV director with some great old shows in his resume. He's definitely a 1960's and 70's director, but I very much appreciate the aged feel to this movie and the many on location shots around 1970's Las Vegas.

The 1970's was full of TV movies and movies of the week. Some are classics and some are awful. The Night Stalker is one of the very best, only to be outdone by its superior sequel. Great acting, great story and just a fantastic character and idea.

I can only imagine being a kid in 1972 and being in front of the television when this came on. Especially, if like me, that kid was obsessed with monsters and horror, and had my weird love of reporter characters.

The Night Stalker introduced the world to a character and a premise that is so up my alley that it's basically the brick and mortar that make up my alley. I'd rather watch Carl Kolchak solve monster cases than Captain America or Superman save the world.

This original film, definitely stumbles a bit, as it doesn't quite know what it is yet, but it's a great starting point. Kolchak would eventually develop more as a character and the style would crisp up a bit. But, this started it all.

Can't wait to watch the next one.

[asmodeusmorelikeassmodeus]

Shadowhunters 3x20 Commentary

If Jonathan really thought that the Seelie Queen would come off her high horse and at least act scared then he was sorely mistaken

Oh!! We finally get some actually dark Clary!! I have hopes for this episode

Okay I take it back. Does being a dark Morgenstern include sexing up your sibling? Because ew.

It’s so surreal to have Asmodeus, Prince of Hell, sit on a random park bench in New York with his son, one of the most – if not the most – powerful warlocks on earth bonding over pretzels.

Man I love Asmodeus as a villain, it’s a shame we won’t have him for more than one episode.

“Papa, he stole my apartment!” – “I will handle it, son”

I didn’t think I’d ever say this but I missed Meliorn, he’s a cool guy. Good to have him back, I hope he survives.

Also, those Seelie armours are amazing

Man I suddenly love Meliorn, he’s so sassy. And also, Jace being forever in his debt probably sounds pretty good to him

Not taking Simon or Luke with them probably sounds like betrayal but I’d rather not have them explode into a thousand pieces if something goes wrong

That Alec and Maryse scene though!!

Alec looks so emotionally and physically exhausted as soon as Maryse mentions Magnus.

“I should have never asked for this in the first place” ouch. That hurt. He really gave her the ring back. *Holt voice* PAINNNNN

Lorenzo is so in love with himself how does anyone think he could ever be shipped with someone who isn’t his reflection in a mirror.

That pretentious f*ck with his classical music

Someone please gif the parallel between Magnus and Alec bursting into the apartment to confront Lorenzo

Ah, demon hierarchy.

Bahahahhahahaahahahahah Lorenzo Rey a chameleon, I can’t

“he’ll be quiet” I love sassy Magnus

Oh the potential that we could have had with Magnus and Asmodeus as chaotic duo and a little bit of dark Magnus. Harry and Jack would have pulled that off so well.

So…Jordan wants to give Maia the Heavenly Fire stuff to make it right that he changed her in a fit and then left her to her own. Yeah, that’ll work.

This scene makes me imagine getting a SMS from the Praetor like “Hey Luke! Let’s meet in this suspicious black car with tinted windows, I’ll send you the location. Bring some muffins if you can. Love, Praetor”

Oh no.

The almost-kiss, I knew it.

Great that they had two siblings almost kiss and then not even mention why it would be bad to do so.

I love the S3 Magnus-Maryse dynamic SO MUCH

It still annoys me that she had to help Magnus put two and two together but on the other hand it’s understandable considering how heartbroken he was after Alec broke up with him, with those words no less. He was practically out of his mind.

Maia is right! As I said before, getting thrown into being a Downworlder might be terrible if you’re not prepared but now trying to live a normal life again would be just as hard. Being a werewolf is her life now, and I’m glad that the show finally stopped acting as if every Downworlder has to ‘be healed’.

As much as I hate Jordan, Chai is a sweetheart.

Ohhhhhh the father-son showdown

*Lorde – Royals starts playing*

TELL HIM, MAGNUS!!

Giving Asmodeus the line with “finding my way back to you” which is a certified Malec line was probably on purpose considering how Magnus reacts to it. I love that.

Bye, Papa Asmodeus, I’ll actually really miss you, we were robbed of your evilness

I am THERE for Izzy with swords

Archer Alec is back!!

Okay Morgenstern blood aside, I still don’t believe that Clary with a few months of training is a better fighter and I am SO done with Izzy losing in combat and made seem like a weak warrior and damsel in distress

So…Alec just lies there and watches? Because…plot!

But that was an actually really cool fight sequence

So Izzy is the only one hit by shrapnel when the whole sword exploded? Sure.

I really missed my two favourite werewolves

So they can suddenly apartment-travel right into Alicante? Aren’t portals and stuff banned or something?

What is this?? The first Clace scene in a long time that I enjoyed watching? Bryan really saved it all.

And now we’re even getting Sizzy?? Nice!

They’re so cute

I have a bad feeling about this

Yep, I was right

RIP Jordan

Remember how everyone was like “I bet she’s walking away from Jordan’s dead body” when this scene was in the trailer? Well, yeah, they were right.

Jonathan is on his way

It’s good that these characters always know what to do to achieve something on the first try, I would have just stabbed this sword into a couple things before thinking about swinging it in the air to open the rift

“research” I can’t at Alec’s smirk he knows exactly what they’ve been doing

Well, those are a lot of demons

Good to know that Alicante is absolutely not prepared for a bigger demon attack

MAGNUS!!!

“Traffic was hell” I love him

Well, you should have probably been nice to him when he was still ready to cooperate

Malec kissing while Alicante is falling apart is a perfect depiction of their story during season 3B, it’s my aesthetic

That mutual proposal was all I could have ever asked for and I’m totally not crying right now

When they all watched the rift close with Alec crying on his knees without knowing if that bit of magic was the last thing he’d ever see of Magnus? Yeah, that hurt.

Now THIS is how you do a Shadowhunters episode.

[aion-rsa]

Doctor Who: Perfect 10? How Fandom Forgets the Dark Side of David Tennant’s Doctor

https://ift.tt/2URb21b

As recently as September 2020 David Tennant topped a Radio Times poll of favourite Doctors. He beat Tom Baker in a 2006 Doctor Who Magazine poll, and was voted the best TV character of the 21st Century by the readers of Digital Spy. He was the Doctor during one of Doctor Who‘s critical and commercial peaks, bringing in consistently high ratings and a Christmas day audience of 13.31 million for ‘Voyage of the Damned’, and 12.27 million for his final episode, ‘The End of Time – Part Two’. He is the only other Doctor who challenges Tom Baker in terms of associated iconography, even being part of the Christmas idents on BBC One as his final episodes were broadcast. Put simply, the Tenth Doctor is ‘My Doctor’ for a huge swathe of people and David Tennant in a brown coat will be the image they think of when Doctor Who is mentioned.

In articles to accompany these fan polls, Tennant’s Doctor is described as ‘amiable’ in contrast to his predecessor Christopher Eccleston’s dark take on the character. Ten is ‘down-to-earth’, ‘romantic’, ‘sweeter’, ‘more light-hearted’ and the Doctor you’d most want to invite you on board the TARDIS. That’s interesting in some respects, because the Tenth Doctor is very much a Jekyll and Hyde character. He’s handsome, he’s charismatic, and travelling with him can be addictively fun, but he is also casually cruel, harshly dismissive, and lacking in self-awareness. His ego wants feeding, and once fed, can have destructive results.

That tension in the character isn’t due to bad writing or acting. Quite the contrary. Most Doctors have an element of unpleasantness to their behaviour. Ever since the First Doctor kidnapped Ian and Barbara, the character has been moving away from the entitled snob we met him as, but can never escape it completely.

Six and Twelve were both written to be especially abrasive, then soften as time went on (with Colin Baker having to do this through Big Finish audio plays rather than on telly). A significant difference between Twelve and Ten, though, is that Twelve questions himself more. Ten, to the very end, seems to believe his own hype.

The Tenth Doctor’s duality is apparent from his first full appearance in 2005’s ‘The Christmas Invasion’. Having quoted The Lion King and fearlessly ambled through the Sycorax ship in a dressing gown, he seems the picture of bonhomie, that lighter and amiable character shining through. Then he kills their leader. True, it was in self-defence, but it was lethal force that may not have been necessary. Then he immediately topples the British Prime Minister for a not dissimilar act of aggression. Immediately we see the Tenth Doctor’s potential for violence and moral grey areas. He’s still the same man who considered braining someone with a rock in ‘An Unearthly Child’. 

Teamed with Rose Tyler, a companion of similar status to Tennant’s Doctor, they blazed their way through time and space with a level of confidence that bordered on entitlement, and a love that manifested itself negatively on the people surrounding them. The most obvious example in Series 2 is ‘Tooth and Claw’, where Russell T. Davies has them react to horror and carnage in the manner of excited tourists who’ve just seen a celebrity. This aloof detachment results in Queen Victoria establishing the Torchwood institute that will eventually split them apart. We see their blinkers on again in ‘Rise of the Cybermen’, when they take Mickey for granted. Rose and the Doctor skip along the dividing line between romance and hubris.

Then, in a Christmassy romp where the Doctor is grieving the loss of Rose, he commits genocide and Donna Noble sucker punches him with ‘I think you need somebody to stop you’. Well-meaning as this statement is, the Doctor treats it as a reason to reduce his next companion to a function rather than a person. Martha Jones is there to stop the Doctor, as far as he’s concerned. She’s a rebound companion. Martha is in love with him, and though he respects her, she’s also something of a prop.

This is the series in which the Doctor becomes human in order to escape the Family of Blood (adapted from a book in which he becomes human in order to understand his companion’s grief, not realising anyone is after him), and is culpable for all the death that follows in his wake. Martha puts up with a position as a servant and with regular racist abuse on her travels with this man, before finally realising at the end of the series that she needs to get out of the relationship. For a rebound companion, Martha withstands a hell of a lot, mostly caused by the Doctor’s failings. 

Read more

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Series 4 develops the Doctor further, putting the Tenth’s Doctor’s flaws in the foreground more clearly. Donna is now travelling with him, and simply calls him out on his behaviour more than Rose or Martha did. Nonetheless the Doctor ploughs on, and in ‘Midnight’ we see him reduced to desperate and ugly pleas about how clever he is when he’s put in a situation he can’t talk himself out of.

Rose has also become more Doctor-like while trapped in another reality, and brutally tells Donna that she’s going to have to die in order to return to the original timeline (just as the Doctor tells Donna she’s going to have to lose her memories of travelling with him in order to live her previous life, even as she clearly asks him not to – and how long did the Doctor know he would have to do this for? It’s not like he’s surprised when Donna starts glitching). Tied into this is the Doctor’s belief in his own legend. In ‘The Doctor’s Daughter’ he holds a gun to Cobb’s head, then withdraws it and asks that they start a society based on the morals of his actions. You know, like a well-adjusted person does.

What’s interesting here is that despite presenting himself as ‘a man who never would’, the Doctor is a man who absolutely would. We’ve seen him do it. Even the Tenth Doctor, so keen to live up to the absolute moral ideals he espouses, killed the Sycorax leader and the Krillitanes, drove the Cybermen to die of despair, brought the Family of Blood to a quiet village and then disposed of them personally. But Tennant doesn’t play this as a useful lie, he plays it as something the Doctor absolutely believes in that moment, that he is a man who would not kill even as his daughter lies dead. It’s why his picking up a gun in ‘The End of Time’ has such impact. And it makes some sense that the Tenth Doctor would reject violence following a predecessor who regenerated after refusing to commit another double-genocide.

In the series finale ‘Journey’s End‘, Davros accuses the Doctor of turning his friends into weapons. This is because the Doctor’s friends have used weapons against the Daleks who – and I can’t stress this enough – are about to kill everyone in the entire universe. Fighting back against them seems pretty rational. Also – and again I can’t stress this enough – the Daleks are bad. Like, really bad. You won’t believe just how mindbogglingly bad they are. The Doctor has tried to destroy them several times by this point. Here, there isn’t the complication of double-genocide, and instead the very real threat of absolutely everyone in the universe dying. This accusation, that the Doctor turns people into weapons, should absolutely not land.

And yet, with the Tenth Doctor, it does. This is a huge distinction between him and the First Doctor, who had to persuade pacifists to fight for him in ‘The Daleks’.

In ‘The Sontaran Strategem’ Martha compares the Doctor to fire. It’s so blunt it almost seems not worth saying, but it’s the perfect analogy (especially for a show where fire is a huge part of the very first story). Yes, fire shines in dark places, yes it can be a beacon, but despite it being very much fire’s entire deal, people can forget that it burns. And fire has that mythical connection of being stolen from the gods and brought to humanity. The Time Lord Victorious concept fits the Tenth Doctor so well. Of all the Doctors, he’s the most ready to believe in himself as a semi-mythic figure.

Even when regenerating there’s a balance between hero and legend: the Tenth Doctor does ultimately save Wilfred Mott, but only after pointing out passionately how big a sacrifice he’s making. And then he goes to get his reward by meeting all his friends, only to glare at them from a distance. His last words are ‘I don’t want to go’, which works well as clearly being a poignant moment for the actor as well, but in the context of Doctor Who as a whole it renders Ten anomalous: no one else went this unwillingly. And yet, in interviews Russell T. Davies said it was important to end the story with ‘the Doctor as people have loved him: funny, the bright spark, the hero, the enthusiast’.

It’s fascinating then, that this is the Doctor who has been taken to heart by so many viewers because there’s such an extreme contrast between his good-natured front, his stated beliefs, and his actions. He clearly loves Rose and Donna, but leaves them with a compromised version of happiness. They go on extraordinary journeys only to end up somewhere that leaves them less than who they want to be, with Russell T. Davies being more brutally honest than Steven Moffat, who nearly always goes the romance route. Davies once said to Mark Lawson that he liked writing happy endings ‘because in the real world they don’t exist’, but his endings tend towards the bittersweet: Mickey and Martha end up together but this feels like they’re leftovers from the Doctor and Rose’s relationship. The Tenth Doctor doesn’t, as Nine does, go with a smile, but holding back tears.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

It’s a testament to how well written the Tenth Doctor is that the character has this light and shade, and with David Tennant’s immense likeability he can appeal to a wider audience as a result. It’s not surprise he wins all these polls, but I can’t help but feel that if the Doctor arrived and invited me on board the TARDIS, I’d want it to be anyone but Ten.

The post Doctor Who: Perfect 10? How Fandom Forgets the Dark Side of David Tennant’s Doctor appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3iaqbDk

[teamfreewill56-blog]

Zuko’s Character Development Results are AMAZINGGGG

Everyone loves to talk about how amazing Zuko’s character arc is, and it is amazing, but can we also take a minute to appreciate how amazing the RESULTS are? The two part Boiling Rock Arc is easily one of my favorite arcs in ATLA, and while it’s supposed to be about Sokka and Zuko building a friendship (and it still is) I feel like its one of the most pivotal Zuko episodes, firstly, this one really does focus more on Zuko than the other field trip episodes, but most importantly this two-set episode is the first time, ever, that we get to see the REAL Zuko. The Boiling Rock is Zuko in his element (literally and figuratively) and totally rocking it (pun intended).  The episode starts with Zuko serving everybody tea and telling a joke, they’re all sitting around the fire in a circle, easily everyone could just reach and grab for a cup of tea, but no, Zuko is making the tea, pouring the tea and then -getting up and handing each person their tea individually-. He makes this a personal service between him and each member in the group, he tries to tell a joke and when Katara clearly is throwing shade but it makes everyone else laugh he smiles, he doesn’t hastily or hotly try to defend himself from her comment. He’s genuinely happy that something involving him made the others laugh. His conversation with Sokka about the Boiling Rock is firm but still strangely gentle. His tone portrays this best but the wording he uses too, “It’s not good Sokka.” He hesitates before he says this, and then when Sokka pleads he closes his eyes, putting himself in Sokka’s shoes before he tells him. He shows clear surprise and instant suspicion when he hears Sokka ask where it is. That one question and the way Sokka said it and boom: Zuko KNEW Sokka was planning to go and his suspicion was confirmed not when he caught Sokka but when Sokka tried to play it off by saying he was paranoid. Between that shot and the next Zuko came up with a plan on how to help Sokka and in true leader fashion he instantly saw the issue with Sokka trying to not only go alone but to use Appa. In the short time he knew Sokka he realized that logic is the way to get through to him, he used it and didn’t take no for an answer. The air balloon ride Zuko is awkward at first but Sokka is too, Sokka doesn’t feel threatened by him and also wants to talk but neither knows how to break the ice. Zuko grabs for anything, the clouds (our poor boy) and Sokka doesn’t make fun of him, just agrees with his comment. They finally get a conversation going about war, and we see Zuko being passionate and defensive when he says “not everyone in my family is like that” without getting hotly angry or ugly. Sokka also doesn’t get angrily defensive back, his response is very laid back. In turn, when Sokka sees how Zuko is upset about letting Iroh down he comforts him and corrects him, “I think your Uncle would be proud.” Zuko openly expresses his emotions towards Mai and Iroh and Sokka responds positively to both, and these reactions make Zuko willing to open up and start relaxing. And ya’ll Zuko stays relaxed. Watch the war balloon crash, he’s not panicked at all. The traitor prince, on the impenetrable Boiling Rock Prison island and he’s not freaking out. He’s confused but not panicked. It’s because Zuko loves this, he loves infiltrating, breaking through a place’s defenses and outsmarting it, for him this is FUN. During his time in Ba-sing-se he’s gotten better at reading people, he agrees with the guard while still being awkward, “Very cute sir.” When he starts talking to the guards he watches them first and then asks his question, “Can the new guy ask you vets a question?” He rolls with Sokka capturing him and uses being a prisoner to his advantage just as much as the guard ruse. He sits in the cooler and smugly smiles as he banters with Sokka checking in on him about learning his lesson. He doesn’t need to be told he’s skilled, he loves being able to use the skills he has and that’s enough for him. This is fun for him. This is one of the few episodes where we get to see Zuko plan, think ahead and for the most part they work. Watch the scene where Sokka is telling him about the new plan while pretending they’re fighting, he’s -smiling- the whole time. He shows the Warden that he is genuine when he tells him he didn’t mean to hurt Mai, but at the same time rolls right into calm, composed and impenetrable the way that leaders do when they’re captured. He knows how to deal with authority figures now, he isn’t jumping straight to blows with them, he is calm and doesn’t embarrass himself. He’s willing to let others take the lead, when he and Sokka fight Azula he doesn’t try to attack, he allows Sokka to attack and acts on the defensive, including saving Sokka from a fall. He quickly reads Sokka and is able to fight with him in spite of having never fought together before. THIS is the real Zuko. Adaptive, clever, compassionate, empathetic, calculating. Zuko has all the qualities people claim Azula has, he just uses them differently and let’s be honest, much more effectively. I don’t think that Zuko needed Katara in his fight against Azula in the end, but I think because of the relationship he had built with Sokka and Katara for him it made sense to have one of the water-tribe siblings with him. 

Show: Avatar the Last Airbender

Characters: Sokka; Azula; The Warden; Zuko

Creators: Michael Dante DiMartino; Bryan Konietzko

[wrestlingisfake]

The CM Punk Saga

It's almost time for AEW's "The First Dance" show, and everybody's still prefacing their hype with "if CM Punk isn't there it'll be a huge disaster, but..."

I'll be in the building. They could've booked CP Munk and I'd still be there. But obviously the Punk tease makes this special. If he's there, it'll be historic to witness the reaction in person. And hell, if he's not there, it'll be historic to witness the fiasco in person. I find that kind of funny--after all these years, it's not the man that sold me a ticket, it's the drama surrounding the man.

Punk had wrestling fans in the palm of his hand after the 2011 "pipebomb" promo, in which WWE allowed him to air his real grievances with the company to build tension for a world title match with John Cena. I get the impression WWE expected it to cast him as a whiny heel. But Punk tapped into the fans' frustrations with WWE, and they embraced him as someone who would fight to change what they resented about the company. He was "the voice of the voiceless."

The problem with that kind of role in WWE is that you can only "fight the power" as far as Vince McMahon lets you on his TV show, and then he'll book his side to win the argument. Within a couple of months a lot of the edge was taken off the storyline. Fans still wanted to believe in him as a rising force for change, but the product didn't reflect that. That dissonance came to a head at the 2014 Royal Rumble, which happened to be the day before Punk quit WWE.

In hindsight, Punk's departure had nothing to do with the fans' frustration with the Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority storyline. But at the time nobody knew what Punk's problem was, and neither side was talking. So the two issues sort of got blended together--Bryan's crusade against kayfabe management and Punk's beef with the real thing. I'm sure a lot of fans figured, if Bryan wasn't going to defeat the Authority at Wrestlemania, then Punk was the logical alternative, and WWE must've screwed that up too. Unless...maybe it was all a work, a storyline to make things seem hopless for Punk and Bryan before slamming them into key Wrestlemania matches.

The buildup to the March 3, 2014, episode of Raw was surreal. Stop me if you've heard this one: The show was booked in Chicago, weeks away from a big pay-per-view, and CM Punk wasn't advertised, but it felt like the perfect opportunity for him to make a surprise return, so the live crowd was ready to go apeshit if he didn't appear. When he didn't appear, I think fandom truly started to accept that he was gone for good. But the saga shambled on.

When it was clear Punk wouldn't be fighting for their cause in WWE, fans nevertheless clung to him as a symbol of resistance. The "CM Punk" chant became a potent and controversial tool for disruption. If you just boo at the show, WWE can play that off like you're mad at the bad guys, but if you chant the name of the guy that walked out on their bullshit, there's no good way for the company to spin that.

A lot of people came to hate the Punk chants, but here's the thing: They mainly happen during an absolute dogshit Raw segment. If you listen to your audience and keep them entertained, then they're easier to control, and it's less of an issue. WWE instead prefers to control the audience by telling the them how to be entertained and refusing to listen if they dissent; the Punk chant puts the lie to that approach.

Punk's next move outside of WWE was a huge topic in 2014. Again, fans wanted to believe he'd continue to fight for them somehow. Remember, this was back when Global Force and Lucha Underground had just been announced, and before Impact had gotten thrown off Spike TV. It felt like it wouldn't take much for a serious alternative to WWE to emerge, and give Punk a way to quit WWE without quitting wrestling.

Months of silence led to increasingly wild speculation. A friend of Punk's wrote an editorial about how fans were hanging around outside his home waiting for him to throw out the trash. I'm pretty sure I know what they wanted to ask when they met him. His appearance on Colt Cabana's podcast and his UFC run helped clear the air, but not enough. Fans never gave up trying to find out when he'd come back to save pro wrestling. Punk's comments on the matter were rare, and never seemed to be enough to get people to leave him alone about it. He'd gone from wrestling's Che Guevara to wrestling's JD Salinger.

The rise of NXT and the ROH/New Japan alliance in the mid-2010s seemed to almost be enough to distract fans from their CM Punk fantasies. But then in 2018 Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks decided to run their own indie supercard, and picked Chicago as the location. You could almost hear the Punk in fans' heads saying, "At last, a non-WWE US show big enough to be worthy of my star power. This is what I have been waiting for!" Punk denied that he would be there; of course, to wrestling fans that just means he's swerving us and he will be there. And he wasn't there.

But this is the turning point in the story. I was at All In. I heard like one guy try to get a Punk chant going, more out of ironic self-awareness than anything. Nobody was into it. They'd have been glad to see Punk on the show, but they were there to see the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, Kazuchika Okada, Kota Ibushi, etc. That's probably when it hit me: Everyone had been waiting for Punk to lead the revolution, because they thought no one else could, but these guys had gone ahead and done it without him.

As All In led into AEW, speculation about Punk remained high. But then another funny thing happened, when Jon Moxley dramatically exited WWE in 2019. Moxley didn't immediately announce his future plans, and lots of people figured Moxley must be done with wrestling. The Punk saga had clearly taught fans to manage their expectations. Rumors about both Punk and Mox appearing at Double or Nothing were all over the place, but were generally dismissed as wishful thinking. Then, out of nowhere, Moxley ran in at the end of the show. Then he was announced for a run in New Japan. Fuck, I thought, who needs CM Punk?

And so, I've spent the past few years being over this whole thing. I'd given up trying to figure out CM Punk, or what it would take to bring him back to wrestling. I had a whole array of big names trying to play the part everyone wanted him to play, in a promotion that I thought would never exist without him. Let him enjoy his retirement, and I'll enjoy AEW. So of course he'd decide now is the time to come back. Allegedly.

I'm excited about the possibility of seeing Punk blow the roof off the United Center. It'd be fascinating to see some satisfying closure to this whole thing. And yet, I have no idea what CM Punk means to pro wrestling in 2021. What does "the voice of the voiceless" do in a company full of people listening to their audience? Will fans be into him when they realize he can't/won't be exactly like they remember him from seven years ago? At 42 years old, will he need to play a bitter old heel to stay relevant? How will fans respond when they realize this isn't the big comeback they always dreamed of?

It's those questions that are the real draw for me, regardless of whether The First Dance lives up to expectations. And it's strange to think that's the main attraction to Punk, as if we're talking about an Ultimate Warrior comeback or something. Seven years ago I just wanted him to return to wrestling so I could see him wrestle. Now I kinda just want to see if he looks totally different from the last time I saw his picture.

[k-s-morgan]

Hi :)) don’t know if you’ve talked about this before but when you first watched Hannibal, what was the episode that made you realize that it was a love story between Will and Hannibal? when did you know Hannibal was in love with Will and vice-versa? Was there a scene or episode in particular? I love hearing people’s versions of the moments when they realized that

Hi! I’m afraid my story is boring in this regard because when I started watching the show, I already knew it was going to be a love story. I always research everything I intend to watch or read very thoroughly, and since I joined the fandom at the start of 2016, the show was already over and spoilers were everywhere. 

However, I still thought this was going to be queerbaiting. I imagined something like John and Sherlock, so every intimate moment between Will and Hannibal gave me a thrill. I felt that electricity from the scene of their breakfast because Hannibal was looking at Will in such an infatuated way, I was amazed. Every textual confirmation and the fact that the entire show is a love story became shocking and pleasing realization. I recognized that romance was actually the major plot in the middle of S2 - their mutual feelings became obvious by then, in my opinion. Will failing to shoot Hannibal in the kitchen and Hannibal planning everything around Will spoke volumes of what they are experiencing. 

You can a Reddit thread with some discussions about your question here. I also once made a post about people’s reactions when S1 was just airing. I’ll copy bits from it here if you’re interested because I agree that seeing others’ thoughts is fun!

The shipping was very varied at that time - you could easily find Hannibal/Alana and Will/Alana fans. Some were making bets on Hannibal/Bedelia since Bryan mentioned Hannibal getting a love interest in S2. Hannigram was there from the beginning, too - in fact, as it’s evident from Bryan’s pre-S1 teasing tweet, some people were hoping for some Hannigram content even before seeing a single episode. One of the promos for the show presented after the pilot entailed Hannibal sniffing Will: some people caught on onto what was happening at that point already. But no one really took it very seriously, and people’s opinions differed.

Some were swooning over Will with Alana, calling it an amazing exploration of a relationship between two mature people. Others expressed hopes that Hannibal would try to get closer to Alana to mess with Will. Some were excited to see Hannibal touching Will’s shoulder in E9 and expressing the desire to be a family with him and Abigail. A bit of discussion from those times I saved out of amusement:

Commenter 1: I thought that whole scene had a homoerotic feel to it.

Commenter 2: Gay dads. Gay dads.

Commenter 3: I thought that whole show had a homoerotic feel to it.

Commenter 4: I feel like Hannibal is sexually attracted to Will, but I might be making too many leaps here…

Commenter 5: I don’t think he is sexually attracted to Will. I get the sense that he is only sexually attracted to himself. As a pure narcissist, I don’t think he is capable of feeling attracted to another person, regardless of gender.I think his attachment to Will is based on the fact that somebody can finally understand him. I think he legitimately see’s Will as a friend.

Commenter 6: It’s great to see more of Hannibal with his own psychiatrist. The fact that he seems to genuinely want a friendship with Will seems so touching. His reaction when Will came over to his house to tell him he’d kissed Alana was priceless and almost showed a hint of jealousy (but maybe I’m reading too much into that).

Some stuff about Will and Alana:

Commenter 1:  I am so loving everything happening between Will and Alana. To have characters talk out their issues despite sexual tension, and hold off on a relationship because of them… it feels almost revolutionary in today’s television landscape.

Commenter 2: A romantic relationship would weigh down the show. They really don’t have time to get invested in that. It’s pretty obvious from an outsider’s POV that there’s a Will/Alana attraction going on, and to not acknowledge it would in some ways actually draw more attention TO it. My guess is they’re setting something up for season 2 or 3 (if we get them).

Commenter 3: At the rate he’s going, by season three Will’s going to be drooling in a mental hospital somewhere.

Commenter 4: I’m pretty glad the whole Will/Alana thing was a bust. She’s right about them being bad for each other, and I feel that if they did get into a relationship, that drama would just distract from the story. Plus Will is such a tragic character, a relationship would normalise him too much.

Mads already said he plays Hannibal as in love with Will at that point, so some took it into consideration while others ignored it. 

And here you can read discussions of all episodes as they were airing. I think the quotes I provided above are from there as well.

[yayneloveart]

Turnabout Reunion, because I need to see Pearl's antics with Phoenix... and meet Franny

Lotta: did you get taller from the last time I seen ya???

Phoenix: please, you sound like my aunt

(+100 stars for character interaction and +10 stars for adding a member to the mysterious Wright family tree)

DR GRAY WHY ARE YOU SHOWING OFF THAT YOU HAVE A GUN. YOURE NOT IN AMERICA WHERE BEING STRAPPED IS A NORMAL THING. (and Lotta is right, an evil spirit wouldnt care about a gun, you would just end up killing Maya. Wait, Phoenix, you should say something to Morgan. A clearly unstable man is about to do a channeling with your friend and he just showed you he has a gun on him.)

Lotta: MY MAMA SAID I WAS BORN SPEAKING

Reminds me of the line "You think I came out the pussy drawing Mozart???". +100 stars for a great line.

Lotta: hang on there, spiky...

Whoever wrote the dialog for Lotta this episode deserves an award. +100 stars to that writer

Phoenix needed Lotta's help breaking down the door. -10 stars for Phoenix not breaking it down himself like the battering ram he is in the game.

Gumshoe: CALM DOWN EVERYBODY, ITS THE COPS

+100 stars to Bryan Massey for that incredible line delivery.

Phoenix: it's like hes the only detective in the world...

+100 stars for dropping that shade

For once Lotta is useful without being obnoxious first. Skipping all the running around finding news articles and all that. Leaves us room for good one liners, like: "I guess you got a pretty big pair on ya after all" +1,000 for that single line.

WHAT EVEN IS THIS ANIMATION???? +1 MILLION STARS FOR MAKING ME LAUGH SO HARD I CHOKED

'Take care of Pearls'. Why isnt she calling her Pearly???

'DONT HATE ME I HAD TO ARREST HER' D'aw, Gumshoe is the best

So I guess at this point Manfred Von Karma is still alive? They are referring to him in the present tense and saying hes still in prison. +10 stars for giving potential to see more of him (but probably not)

ILL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL ILL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL ILL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL ILL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL

I find it so strange that Franziska is from America in the Japanese and Anime versions. I mean, what about America screams "we'll allow a teenaged girl become a prosecutor and also let her carry around a weapon"? Usually Anime likes to portray Americans as loud and obnoxi- oh wait...

Franziska: oh yeah, in America I'm totally allowed to have a whip in court. I should be allowed to do that here.

Judge: welp, if you're allowed to do that in america...

Phoenix/Prij: BULLSHIT

(If you dont know who Prij is, check out Save Data Team's let's play series "Ace Attorney with an Actual Lawyer")

So in the Anime people do notice when Mia is being channeled, but most people brush it off or think they were imagining things. Also, Maya immediately calls out to Mia!!!

I adore when characters imitate other characters since they all have such unique ways of talking. Like, Lotta imitating Morgans refined speech was fucking hilarious.

Omg the second closing animation is fucking adorable. The four cutest characters in the whole series together! I even adore polly because I love birds... even though it makes me sad (part of my tragic backstory)

Second part to this to come soon!

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Episode 45 Review: Bob Costello’s First Episode

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 }

{ Full Synopses/Recaps: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

At long last, welcome back to my review series for Strange Paradise, a show increasingly living up to its name. In 1969 PT, the audience for this episode--primarily young people and housewives smitten with Colin Fox--is watching Jacques threaten Alison’s life if Vangie tells anyone about the events on Maljardin after leaving. Meanwhile in our timeline, the story takes a different, more bizarre direction, featuring an allegedly evil rabbit, a bloodied locket that once belonged to Erica Desmond, and an emergency séance that ends in a poisoning.

Now that former Dark Shadows staff member Robert Costello has taken the helm as producer, there will be many changes to the show, including a change in writers. Co-creator and former headwriter Ian Martin is gone now, and in his place we have George Salverson and Ron Chudley. Salverson was a prolific writer for Canadian radio and television, writing (among many other works) a 1949 radio adaptation of Dracula that’s very good and at least four scripts for the 1967 historical comedy TV series Hatch’s Mill[1], which also starred Cosette Lee and Sylvia Feigel and featured Kurt Schiegl as Big Kurt. Chudley was an up-and-coming writer who, like fellow SP writers Ian Martin and Harding Lemay, became better-known for his later work. He is still alive as far as I can tell and works as a novelist and playwright. The resume on his personal website lists a wide variety of works, including a series of mystery novels, one published play (After Abraham), and many scripts for different media, including “over one hundred [TV] scripts, for CBC and independents.” Salverson and Chudley will only write the next five episodes, but one of these (Episode 47) will be among the best of Maljardin.

From now until Episode 149, all episodes will open with new, Dark Shadows-style narrations delivered by cast members. The first, read by Angela Roland (Vangie), is rather vague and--surprisingly--doesn’t recap Holly’s poisoning:

Death lives in this great house on Maljardin, striking as swiftly as a bolt of lightning. Legend says it is caused by the evil of this man [Jacques Eloi des Mondes], three hundred years dead:

But others believe it is something more, like the Reverend Matthew Dawson.

The reason why she mentions Matt of all characters is because he appears first in this episode, lamenting the fact that Alison hasn’t yet verified whether or not his twenty-year-old stalkee Holly survived the poisoning attempt at the end of last episode. “Murder is a three-hundred-year-old tradition here on Maljardin,” he comments, speaking to the portrait which he refuses to believe is animate. “Do traditions ever die?”

“Murder, Reverend Dawson?” Vangie asks, which triggers a discussion of who could have poisoned the wine that Holly drank. Was the culprit her mother who poured it (and whom Vangie and Raxl have identified as a dangerous witch)? Was it Raxl, who filled the decanter? And could Holly have drank the cyanide that Jean Paul took from the lab in Episode 23, which has been missing since? We soon get an answer to the third question, courtesy of Holly’s mother Elizabeth:

Well, that was quick.

“They tried to murder my daughter,” she accuses. “What will they do to the rest of us?”

“They?” Matt asks, confused. “Who?”

“I filled the glass, Raxl filled the decanter, and where was Jean Paul?” She asks about the master of Maljardin with a tone of accusation, evidently suspecting him of playing some role in the attempted murder. This is the first time on this show that one of Colin Fox’s contractually obligated absences has been worked into the plot in a way that makes sense, and I think it’s brilliant. His absence from the second séance provides her with a realistic and believable reason to accuse him of having something to do with the poisoning.

As for what Jean Paul was doing during the events of last episode...

Less realistic or believable, IMO.

He appears to have spent the night rabbit-sitting in his bedroom the whole time while trying unsuccessfully to interrogate it. “What are you?” he asks the Rabbit of Evil, who ignores him because it knows which of them is really in control of the island now. “A creature that cannot exist on this island and yet does exist! My...Erica...”

Raxl cuts him off when she enters the room, bringing tea as a pretext. “The master is not safe with a devil spirit in the room,” she tells him, no doubt wanting the fluffy devil spirit back so she can sacrifice it.

Jean Paul must see through Raxl’s flimsy pretext, given how dramatically he refuses the refreshments she brought. “Leave me, Raxl,” he hisses, mugging for the camera. “I do not want your tea!” Even after she offers to taste it first, he refuses.

Raxl leaves to visit the Great Hall, where she arrives just in time to overhear Elizabeth accusing her of poisoning Holly. After pissing off Elizabeth by giving her the stink-eye, Raxl sends Vangie upstairs to report to Jean Paul with the locket.

Raxl giving Elizabeth the stink-eye.

Elizabeth tries using the look as evidence that Raxl is working against them. Vangie doesn’t buy it.

While ranting to Quito in the crypt, Raxl recaps what she knows about Erica, the locket, and the Rabbit of Evil. She speaks of herself in the third person: “Raxl cannot tell them because they are fools!” This is a new thing, which Ian Martin’s Raxl never did. It’s also the second time this happens in the episode; the first instance occurs in the tea scene. where she asks, “Does the master wish Raxl to taste the tea before he drinks?” I don’t like it. I think referring to herself in the third person makes Raxl sound less intelligent than she’s proven herself to be.

Meanwhile, in Jean Paul’s room, Vangie dangles the sparkling locket like a pendulum before Jean Paul’s eyes:

Vangie: "Jean Paul Desmond…look at the locket…focus on the locket…focus as I swing it back and forth like a pendulum…you are now getting very relaxed…now, Jean Paul Desmond…now you will stop being mean and grumpy as you have been since the capsule malfunctioned…you will go back to being polite and charming like before and stop breaking everybody’s hearts…you will confess your love to Dr. Alison Carr…you will also stop looking constipated…Jean Paul Desmond…Jean Paul Desmond…"

I wish. No, she isn’t actually using it to hypnotize Jean Paul, just showing it to him so that he can inspect it. He verifies that it belonged to her and claims that he “put [it] on Erica’s throat with [his] own hands. I saw it sealed into the capsule with her, with these same eyes that see it now.”

The line above is a retcon. In Episode 4, Erica was not wearing any visible locket when the men from the Cryonics Society insert her body into the cryocapsule. Jean Paul entered the crypt to see her after they had already sealed her in.

“Now, take it, Jean Paul,” Vangie orders. “Feel it. It is real!” She says this as though Jean Paul had just denied it being Erica’s, which is the opposite of his reaction. “I can touch it no more! Take it back!”

She hands it to him and he takes it. Even though he says it’s real and so does she, he still wants confirmation. “Touch it, Vangie!” he begs. “You must! How am I to save my mind? How else am I to know if it is true and real, what I am seeing?”

“Do you doubt your mind, Jean Paul?” Vangie asks, although it’s obvious that’s the only explanation for his command.

“This is the mystery,” he says. “This is the terrible fact I must find out, without this.” It’s not clear what specifically he means by this in either of those sentences. “Vangie, how can you make a contact?”

Not wanting to subject herself to a third dangerous séance on the island, Vangie tells him, “I’m sorry, Jean Paul. The séance is impossible. The angry spirit that came into this house with the locket and the black rabbit is still here, waiting. It can seize any one of us as it seized Holly. I will not do it!”

But Jean Paul insists that she must, or else “how will [he] be able to save [his] mind?”

“How much are you asking?” Vangie demands. “What are you doing to me? What are you doing to all of us?”

Speechless, Jean Paul doesn’t respond. After Vangie leaves the room, he clutches the locket to his chest. “How am I to save myself and my Erica?” he ponders, his eyes wide with terror.

Down in the Great Hall, Vangie vents to Matt and Elizabeth about how she doesn’t want to put them in danger by holding another séance, throwing the box that was on top of the séance table in anger. Elizabeth, remembering that Jean Paul had once seemed “such a reasonable man,” speculates that one of them may be able to reason with him.

Meanwhile, Jean Paul begins to speculate that someone has opened the capsule and continues his attempted interrogation of the very bored-looking rabbit:

Jean Paul: “Who are you? What are you? If I gave you the poisonous leaves here on Maljardin where nothing lives, would you die, or have you lived and dined on this vile island on poison?” Rabbit of Evil: “...”

Jean Paul: *obviously reading Teleprompter* "Or are you innocent? And if you are, then you would die blameless. Or is Raxl right? Was it evil that brought me the locket or good?"

Jean Paul: *unable to suppress a smile at the ridiculous monologue about the cute animal* "And which are you: good or evil?" Rabbit of Evil: *twitches nose cutely*

This scene is the crowning moment of cute on Maljardin, between Colin Fox’s unsuccessfully suppressed smile and the adorable rabbit twitching its nose at him. Eventually giving up on questioning the animal, he sets it back down in the picnic basket and returns to the matter of the locket.

“Yes!” he declares. “I can find these answers if the capsule is opened. And if there’s nothing there or the locket is there,”--he reads the Teleprompter some more--”then this is false!”

After a brief filler scene between Raxl and Quito--in which she, thankfully, is back to referring to herself in the first person--Matt visits Jean Paul in his room. Attempting to reason with him, the Reverend begs Jean Paul to confess if he is responsible for the things that have happened to Holly, between her being pushed down the stairs, the slashed portrait, and last episode’s poisoning. Jean Paul accuses him of plotting with the others on the island to gaslight him, then describes his new, bizarre theory about Dan removing the locket from the cryocapsule when it allegedly failed and dipping it in blood as part of their plot. But how did Dan get the blood? The only possibility, he believes, is that there was blood on Erica. This provides him with yet another reason to open the capsule: to see where and how Erica was bleeding, which he now claims he remembers happening.

Meanwhile, Raxl and Quito meet in their bedroom to discuss the necessity of finding the conjure doll and the silver pin. And the fact that they’re meeting in their room means...

There he is, again: our mascot!

They leave to search in the Temple of the Serpent shortly after, and we get this well-lit shot of the passageway between the crypt and the temple.

Matt returns to the Great Hall and recaps his conversation with Jean Paul to Vangie, who comes to the conclusion that the situation on Maljardin is hopeless because Jean Paul doesn’t know the truth. At the same time, Raxl prays to the Serpent in the temple to tell her if the “woman-child” Holly should die, to which the answer is “yes.” She then orders Quito to “search” (for the doll and pin) and he screams!

Quito screaming, with the moment’s location in the video of Part 3. Even though it’s not technically a line, I’m going to count this as a line flub because Quito is supposed to be mute.

Later in the Great Hall, Jacques speaks to Jean Paul through the portrait, telling him not to open the capsule. “You will learn nothing,” he argues. “You will finish off Erica for nothing. Don’t you think so? All you can learn is whether that machine works. Is Erica’s body perfectly preserved, or is Erica now something else?”

Obvious foreshadowing is obvious.

Ignoring him, Jean Paul retreats to the crypt, where he grips the capsule and cries, believing he must open it but fearing for Erica’s safety. Raxl finds him there and begs him to open it and let her die naturally, not just so he gets his answers, but also “so that she may have eternal peace with the god that you denied.”

“Are you, too, suggesting that I am mad?” Jean Paul asks.

“Open the capsule, do not open the capsule. If madness is to come, it may come right away," is her cryptic reply.

Jean Paul crying on the capsule from the episode’s final scene.

While not as good as the other Salverson and Chudley episodes to come, Episode 45 shows promise in its focus on Jean Paul’s descent into insanity. Once he realizes that the locket was Erica’s, he constructs a ridiculous conspiracy theory involving his enemy Dan removing it while tampering with the capsule and somehow getting blood on it. He feels tempted to open the capsule despite the danger to her frozen body, and now must choose between risking her permanent death by opening (what Raxl wants) and keeping it shut despite his mounting fears that the uncertainty will drive him mad, so that Jacques can resurrect Erica. The script has its issues and there are some amusing bloopers, but the first episode produced by Robert Costello is engaging and suspenseful, leaving the viewer with questions about what will happen and be revealed in Week 10.

Coming up next: The Bad Subtitle Special for Week 9, followed by two theories about Jean Paul’s new fears regarding Erica and the locket.

{<-- Previous: Episode 44   ||   Next: Episode 46 -->}

Notes

[1] Hatch’s Mill makes for an interesting footnote in SP history. In addition to sharing one writer and three actors in major roles, Peg McNamara (aka Peg Dixon, the first Ada Thaxton) and Patricia Collins (the first Huaco des Mondes) played minor roles in one episode. A scathing 1968 review by critic Douglas Marshall provides the most detailed description of Hatch’s Mill available for free online.