#but its okay because Rachel isn't actually dead

[get-the-medjacks]

@mazerunner-rarepairs major character (un)death and some potential extra rare advanced board content??

Some Rachel/Miyoko that has been stewing in my thoughts from the moment I read the FAQ for this event

AO3 link

[altraviolet]

a couple literary lols & why they don't work

I enjoy watching book reviewers talk about books, especially when they cite passages that just don't work. I've collected a couple screenshots cuz they're hilarious and/or confusing, and thought it would be fun to post about them.

These are just my suggestions, opinions, and thoughts. I don't claim to be a literary authority. Behind the cut for length!

From Cari Can Read's video, "i read the 2000s fallen angel series hush hush so you don't have to." I'll be honest, I'm not sure which book in the series this screenshot is from.

This is hilarious. It's supposed to be serious. The narrator is reminded of her dead father, but the vehicle for that memory is a cheeseburger. The train of thought is cheeseburger -> dead meat -> dead cows -> dead father. It's a leap to go from dead cow to dead father, in my opinion. As is, it reads like satire. This is because cheeseburgers and dead fathers don't have the same emotional weight (for most people. I'm guessing. Like I'm really really sure this is the case). The "memory object," the cheeseburger, has no gravitas. It has no emotional connection to death. The train of thought leading us from the object to the dead father essentially equates the father to dead meat. There's no reason for the reader to feel any kind of empathy or connection to this statement.

Without the context of the rest of the story - which is what we have here with only this screenshot - it's ridiculous. With the context of the story, it's still ridiculous. That's why Cari highlighted it in her video.

There is something to be said for the phenomenon wherein a person is reminded of a lost one by mundane objects. But it just doesn't work here.

How it could've worked if the author was dead set on using 'cheeseburger': if the father worked with cows, or cows meant something special to the narrator or her father. If they worked together at a fast food place. If there was some kind of symbolism or emotional connection. Even if the cheeseburger thing was supported by previous cheeseburgery memories between the daughter and father, I'd still suggest the verbiage be changed.

What I would actually advise: using a "memory object." I'm sure there's an actual term for this. I just made that up now. What I mean is: an object that has an emotionally charged memory connected to it. Common items you'll see in media are teddy bears, jewelry, books, diaries. Tools. Objects that the character and their dearly departed used to use together while working on things, or accomplishing goals. Objects that mean something to both the character and the reader. I would advise this author to pick an object that meant something to the character and her father, and have her ruminate on that, instead.

2) From Reads with Rachel's video "The Lightlark sequel is nonsense NIGHTBANE REVIEW." This is an excerpt from Lightlark:

The main issue reviewers cite with this passage is "She ran like she was running from something." I hope I don't need to explain why that's poor writing. You have a simile that isn't comparing two different things. It's literally the same thing. She is doing something like she's doing something. I honestly hope the "something" in that sentence was a placeholder and the author forgot to go back and add in a monster or in-universe villain or literally anything.

The whole excerpt is a mess, though.

"Isla moved through the castle like a storm." Not bad, but one could improve this with a stronger verb or with some more description. If there is a certain kind of in-universe storm that's exceptionally dangerous, I would mention it here. "Like the winter monsoons," etc.

"If she'd had power, it would be everywhere." Uh, okay. But what if you connected her power to its ability to be everywhere, rather than just saying it was? Since we have mentioned a castle and a storm in the previous sentence, one could do, "If she'd had power, it would flood the basements and roar up the spiral staircases. It would scrape the tapestries and armor from the walls and drag them over the battlements, raining shrapnel onto the men below." That's not perfect, but you definitely get a feeling for how widespread and destructive her power is*. It's much more impactful than just saying "everywhere."

*or would be, if she had it.

"She ran like she was running from something," sigh. Well, we went over this one already. I would definitely give Isla something to be running from. Definitely an in-universe being or concept that dredges up an almighty fear.

"wielded her dagger like she might throw it;" The word "might" here really weakens the sentence. Instead of saying she might throw it, I'd put in a detail here about it being ready to use, by way of being physically connected to her body. "She held her dagger in her teeth, tongue against the blade." "She gripped her dagger. The jewels in its handle bit into her palm." I have no idea what her dagger looks like, but you could give the reader some details using a sentence like this. Bonus: you aren't just describing the dagger in an info dump. You're telling the reader what it looks like during an action scene!

ETA:

"her feet chattered like the marble beneath her feet was ice." This is just disorienting. It takes a second or two for the simile to sink in, and anytime you have to think about what you're reading because you don't understand it, you're taken out of the story. For me personally, this doesn't work because I associate "chatter" with teeth, and the teeth and feet are physically on opposite sides of the body. I've never seen "chatter" used with feet before. It's so weird. Not to mention the word "feet" is used twice in the same sentence. The first "feet" is equated to teeth chattering, as if the second "feet" were running on ice. I just. This is, in my opinion, bad. If I were editing this, I would not try to preserve the simile. I think "chattering" "marble" and "ice" are supposed to impart a harsh, rapid sound as she runs across a hard surface. I would instead concentrate on that: a clear description of her running across marble. I would ditch the simile altogether, as we've just had several in the past few sentences. Which aspect of running across marble do we want to focus on? Is the sound of the feet hitting the floor more important (maybe an enemy will hear her approaching), or the impact of the floor on her feet (maybe her feet are injured), or are we trying to continue the threat of the might-be-thrown-dagger (focus on her run being a further expression of her strength/athletic abilities/power)? The original text is so complicated, we have quite a few ways to interpret it. Whichever way one goes, I would advocate for clarity. You can't show off how badass your character is if you hide her behind a confused jumble of words.

Hey what if something was confusing enough that you fucked up and wrote a huge long paragraph about how wrong it was, but in reality, you got it wrong, and you'll die mad about it, but you won't erase the part you got wrong because you have integrity and own your mistakes, or something.

"her teeth chattered like the marble beneath her feet was ice." Okay that's why the 'teeth -> feet' distance thing was so weird in my brain. I wrote the above and looked at the original a couple times but it didn't connect. I think this is actually worse than the thing I fucked up seeing. What exactly is being said here? I'm having such a hard time understanding what... what... is she barefoot? Her feet are assumedly bare. She's on ... marble... I'm not sure why her teeth are chattering. Usually it's from cold or fear, but the previous sentences make it sound like she's ready for a fight. The inclusion of ice here makes you think "cold," but then... her feet... ice... marble... It's like I'm just barely able to understand what's being said here, but it's so ephemeral, I can't-

I think the character is afraid, and her teeth are chattering, but why say it like this? What IS this? Her feet are hitting the ground quickly, as teeth chatter (hit together quickly)...

KNOW WHAT, fuck it. If the editor of the book didn't care, neither do I xD

/end ETA

Alright! That was fun :D I hope you enjoyed that. As a side note, I've heard quite a few critical things about Lightlark. I'll keep them to myself for now, but seeing books like this get published really makes me feel like I can do better. It's also a great exercise in thinking through 1) what's not working in the prose, and 2) how can it be fixed? Bonus if you can fix it and insert some seamless world building.

[benpaulshusband]

coral munson -- the walking dead

@strawberryabby RAHHHHH ok after like an hour ish its complete for now, season one is mostly where they linger but yk <3

pre apocalypse

met ben by tutoring him! the two started to get along and became quick friends. once coral realized she was starting to catch feelings for be, she began to pull away from him, having had bad experiences with relationships in the past and not wanting to lose ben's friendship.

in response to this, ben ended up confessing his feelings to her after an argument between them, and the two began dating. they were already together for just over a year when the outbreak started.

ben has always been the majorly touchy and affectionate partner, where coral has been more closed off and reserved, but she still enjoys being affectionate with him in private. occasionally, she would hold his hand at school or kiss his cheek in the hallway, and it always flustered ben.

he's very much a big gesture kind of person, and he loves to spoil her in any way that he can

season one

coral & eddie journey from stone mountain with their uncle wayne to find ben, as coral was terrified that she wasn't going to be able to find ben in time. as a result of this, they wound up in an accident, where eddie had to unfortunately kill their uncle.

they find ben, as well as mr. parker, travis, and a couple other kids. they manage to stick together for a while, but coral is taken by raiders and is presumed to have been murdered.

when the raid on the motel occurs, coral manages to get free from the binds they've got her in, and she's able to get to the motel as walkers are starting to take over.

lilly is angry with her, so is kenny, as ben and eddie hadn't told them anything about her. ben is, of course, relieved to see her. he convinces the others to help her injured shoulder (which had reopened when she was shooting at walkers). katjaa helps, although she is somewhat shaky from being bit.

in the RV scene, coral barely is able to stop lilly from shooting carley. they still abandon the woman on the ide of the road and leave her to die.

on the train, kenny blames ben for bringing the raiders to them. coral lies, making up a story about how she had seen the motel and though she had not known who was there, she tried to get the raiders to go there. she claims she thought that there were only a few raiders, and so, the big group would scare them off. she was wrong. kenny grows angry with coral, leaving lee to break up the fight.

ben is shocked most of all by this story, but he goes along with it, because coral always has a plan. she wouldn't let some senseless idea get them all killed. she also plants the idea that lilly was the one who traded out the supplies. there's no proof of lilly actually doing it, but that is the story that gets passed around.

carley knows the truth. she knows it was ben trading out supplies, but she isn't a snitch. she's okay leaving the blame on lilly, as it provides closure to the rest of the group.

most of season one follows similarly to canon, though lee doesn't get bitten when they go to search for clementine. additionally, ben lives from his horrendous fall, though he suffers a scar through his chest.

they find eddie's girlfriend, nova! they also find be's sister, rachel, and matt, nova's little brother.

kenny still disappears after trying to save ben, and duck goes missing from the mansion trying to find his father.

between season one and two

carley, lee, christa, omid, ben, coral, eddie, nova, matt, rachel, and clementine find a farm to take over. between the 8 adults, they manage to raise some crops and hunt for food. the farm is pretty safe for the family. they survive their first winter together there.

ben and coral have a cute ass spring wedding btw. lee officiates and walks coral down the aisle and clementine is a flower girl. not long after, they decide that they're going to start a family. (it's the apocalypse, it's not like they have stages of marriage to go through first.)

coral ends up pregnant with child and having him in the fall. his name is wolfgang wayne paul-munson. (everyone calls him wolf or pup as a nickname)

the winter is rough, but they barely survive. there is a hoard that pushes them out of their home, however, and they are forced to move on.

season two

after being forced to move on, coral and the others wind up separated from clementine. they are frantic to find the girl and stumble upon the house in the woods. with promises that they can help the already large group survive, it's with reluctance that they are allowed to stay. primarily, it's pete that fights for them. (they have Children, how could they not let them stay, after all?)

season two ends up pretty close to canon, alvin does still die.

i do also think coral or lee needs to take a good swing at carver bcuz he's a douchebag. i wouldn't be surprised if one of them ended up killing him to be quite honest with you.

[magicalyaku]

Oops, hello reading months where I hardly read anything! I also didn't take notes and was overworked so my memory for details is pretty bad. But we'll make the best of it, right?

The Will to Change (bell hooks): I might have overdosed on Reads with Rachel, so when my library featured another bell hooks book, I remembered this one and put it on hold (13 weeks or something waiting time). It was an interesting read. Pretty easy to understand for a nonfiction book and I liked how many of my own vague thoughts were finally echoed from a person who actually knows the right words. Sometimes it lays on a little too thickly (I can't put in words exactly what it was though), but overall I think one can only gain from reading this! (The sad part is, that this was published in 2004. How much has changed since then? … Yeah.)

One Night in Hartswood (Emma Denny): Didn't think I would read two gay novels set in the 1300s on the British islands in one year. :'D This wasn't as intense as The Scottish Boy, luckily, because my poor heart (which doesn't make the stakes not high). Unfortunately this also means I hardly remember anything ... I do have glimpses of the story in my mind. The rest probably got consumed by a certain game that demanded all of my spare attention. :/ Sorry. It was a perfectly find book, I dare say, and it certainly deserves better than what I'm doing here. So just go read it yourself!

The Adventures of Pinocchio (Carlo Collodi): I was playing Lies of P, okay? Lots and lots. Despite me being an absolute failure at Soulslikes. Anyway, I did know the usual stuff about Pinocchio, like his nose grows when he's lying etc, but other than that? Nothing. Never read the book before, never watched any movie or series. So time to catch up! Isn't it great when modern media can make children pick up books? uAu And such a wild book omg. I rarely read children's books, even less old ones so maybe it's a thing with those, but damn, the author just wrote whatever he felt like. The fairy's dead, then she isn't, she's an old woman, then she isn't (or the other way around). Oh no, dad got eaten, I wanna save him but then I forget about it for three years! And donkeys!? And Pinocchio is such a shitty brat! Terrible! xD It's such a weird little book, but it's still fun and I really liked the translation! (by Carol della Chiesa in the edition my library has.)

Prince & Pawn (Perilous Courts 3) (Tavia Lark): Smooth and solid just like its prequels. The first volume is still my favourite but this comes second now. Do I remember anything else than that this dabbled in pain play and made sure to put a lot of effort into consent? There were also more talking cats (they multiplied!). The world- and storybuilding is still good. Things started in the previous volumes found their satisfying conclusions. Isn't that enough? I'm a little sad that the next installments of the series will move to another court, with dragons of all things. Dragons. Give me cats instead of dragons!!

[roswelldetails]

RNM 2x08 - Say It Ain't So

EPISODE SUMMARY:

JAMIE CLAYTON GUEST STARS — Despite promising Liz (Jeanine Mason) that he’ll take things easy with his new heart, Max (Nathan Dean) sets out to find Cameron after learning that she’s gone missing. Michael (Michael Vlamis) grows concerned about Maria (Heather Hemmens) after a surprising discovery about her family history leaves her vulnerable. Elsewhere, ready to move on, Alex (Tyler Blackburn) goes on a date with Forrest (guest star Christian Antidormi), and Rosa (Amber Midthunder) makes a decision about her future. Rachel Raimist directed the episode written by Eva McKenna & Christopher Hollier (#208). Original airdate 5/4/2020. 

DETAILS:

Rosa's secret identity:

"...Cousin Rosalinda from Arizona. My mom married a minor league baseball player, but when he got relocated to a team in Florida…"

"Okay, you know what, let's just go with, they're dead."

This is a Twilight reference.

Rosa about the Mean Girl's art in the cave:

"That reminds me of Stephen Powers before he sold out."

Stephen Powers is a former street artist who went commercial. Some examples of his older work here:

Other examples of his newer, more commercial work here:

By the way, speaking of the cave:

And this is some fabulous visual storytelling right here:

Max is working at the Wild Pony. Temporarily, of course.

"Turns out debt collectors don't care if you've been half dead in a glowing pod for a few months."

So much for the headcanon that Max "I've been driving the same car since high school and am a homeowner before 30" Evans is good with his money. 😆 Debt collectors don't show up that fast… not that I know from experience or anything.  😳 *backs slowly away*

Iris refers to the cave as the go to hang spot for all the artsy weirdos. So it isn't like it was specifically Rosa's cave/hidden spot.

It's the first time we've seen this particular cave other than in 2008 flashbacks.

Iris Sanchez & Rosa Ortecho. Flower, Mexican family name. 😭 The hint is there!

Also 👀 from:

The iris earned its name from the ancient Greek Goddess Iris, a messenger to the gods who was thought to use the rainbow as a bridge between heaven and earth...these flowers were named to honor the Rainbow Goddess and bring favor upon the earth.

Mimi made Maria take back the necklace.

"She said that it was too late for her and that I needed it more."

Michael has seen the necklace before, but he didn't know what the flower was when he fixed the clasp and returned it to her in 1x10.  It was 1x11 when they learned of the existence of the anti alien pollen. Michael reminds us:

"I know this flower.  Its pollen has a paralytic effect on alien abilities."

Once Maria takes it off, she can name every card Michael pulls from the deck.

Maria lists off a bunch of necklace facts from past episodes that fandom has previously noted...

Her powers were heightened when Michael had the necklace in 1x10. 

She wasn't wearing it when Noah invaded her at the gala.

And she wasn't wearing it at Woman As Warrior in 2x02 when she sensed that Isobel was pregnant.

"Kyle said you aren't an alien."

Fact. Kyle did say that.  It doesn't mean that it's a fact that Maria doesn't have alien DNA in her though.

Kyle determined that her blood doesn't carry the alien protein that's in the Pod Squad and Rosa. He is making an assumption that the protein is tied to being an alien.

He said he ran other tests, but the results would take longer to come in. 

Also, just a personal theory, what else do Rosa and the Pod Squad (and Noah) all have in common? They all spent significant time marinating in a pod full of goo. Rosa (10 years), Pod Squad (at least 50 years), Noah (60 years). Kyle has not studied any samples of alien biology from an alien who didn't spend time in pod goo. It's possible the protein is related to the pod goo, moreso than the alien biology. Again, just speculation on my part.

Maria confirms that her mom started getting sick when she was 18, just after she passed the necklace on to Maria.

"If this prevents you from having more episodes, it probably stops the neurodegeneration process too. It's not kryptonite, Maria. This is preventative medicine. Keep it on."

In 2x06 it was established that in addition to Sanders' place being a junkyard and a mechanic/auto shop, they also do tow truck service.  Now that comes into play again as Michael was hired to bring Cam's car back to Roswell for the investigation into her disappearance.  He brought it to the junk yard first though to give Max and Liz an hour to check the car for clues before the sheriff's department comes to collect it.

Max is smart too, in his own way. He quickly identified that "Agent Powell" was driving a rental car and that her gun wasn't government issue. 

However, it's only when he sees her tattoo (which Cam told him about in 1x07) that he confirms that she's actually Charlie Cameron!

(10 points to fandom!)

Max & Liz's conversation with Charlie is mostly just reminding us what we know about Charlie and Jenna's relationship. 

Liz indicates that Jenna had been looking for Charlie for months.  Charlie responds that she didn't want to be found (both things we learned in 2x04 through Cam's discussion with Jesse Manes.

Max indicates that Jenna thought that Charlie hated her, a call back to us first learning about Charlie and the matching tattoos in 1x07.

"I worked on a controversial project a while back. A lot of dangerous people want to know what I know."

(Again, stuff we learned in 2x04).

They learn through Cam's text history that she was looking for Jesse Manes (which we already knew, because...2x04).

"I'm just a guy standing in front of a tourist trap asking a history buff to shoot him with high velocity paint."

Tongue-in-cheek reference to the movie Notting Hill.

"So, you're cool playing war? Doesn't bring anything up?"

"Oh, yeah, my PTSD triggers are a little more complicated. Suffice to say, this war zone is the only place that my family actually got along when I was a kid."

"Yeah, some of my old platoon buddies actually play in leagues."

"I didn't know that you served."

"Yeah I wouldn't go bragging about it to a guy with a Purple Heart. I might have googled you."

New information… both that Forrest served, that he looked into Alex (which could be innocent OR sketchy…).

And of course this is the first open discussion about Alex's PTSD issues.

Cowboys versus aliens paintball… Alex is the cowboy, so Forrest must be the alien.

The call that interrupted Forrest's attempt to kiss Alex was from the hospital. Hence why Alex goes there to see Jesse.

"Look, if I had a little lucky charm that could stop people like Noah from messing with me, I would have that surgically implanted into my décolletage."

Have to admit, I wasn't sure what décolletage meant, so in case anyone else isn't familiar: 

"These abilities are a part of me. I'm not gonna just throw away the chance to learn about who I am. That make sense to you?"

"Yeah, actually, it does."

"You've gotten stronger this year, right?  Can you teach me to train? Learn how to control it all?"

"Look, it took a lot of practice before I could do anything without puking and guzzling acetone to kill the pain.  And you can't practice, because according to Kyle, every time you do it eats your brain."

"Look, I'll stop before it goes that far, okay? I know the signs. Besides, if you help me, maybe I can help you. There must be something that you want to know about your future."

"What about my past?"

Max meeting with Jesse at the Crashdown. This is super interesting because it's the first time Max has sat down, face to face, with a hostile human who knows he's an alien. 

"My uncle used to bring me here. That was back when it catered to a more civil clientele. People who actually respected the history of this town."

This is likely foreshadowing what's to come next week, based on the promo pics released.

Again, similar to the scene with Charlie at the junkyard, much of this exchange between Max and Jesse is just reminding us of stuff we learned in 1x04.

"The last time I saw her she came to me with questions about her sister.  And I told her that the people most interested in Charlie's device were a black ops group based out of Los Alamos. They're called Deep Sky. This is their logo. Paramilitary. And I told Jenna that what she was getting into was gonna be dangerous. But apparently she didn't listen.

Note: in case any of you are unaware, in Los Alamos there's a US DOE lab that has a long, sketchy history of weapons development.  Makes perfect since that it's where a paramilitary organization interested in Charlie's research would be based there.

The Deep Sky Logo

I compared this to a number of screenshots of alien symbols (like the ones we saw in Jim Valenti's letters in 1x12) and there were no matches.

However, fandom has already noted that the logo matches Trevor's ring in 2x06 (see that episode's details post for the photo).

"Charlie Cameron's mind is a unique specimen. Kind of like you. And there's always someone in the shadows waiting to crack those open."

"What did you do to Jenna?"

"I told her the truth. Which is more than you ever did. You're kind of a wolf in sheep's clothing, aren't you?"

"And what are you? Do you feel like a hero? All those people you tortured, all those people you killed. Turns out none of them were an enemy.  They were refugees. So you're not just a murderer, you're a failure."

"Yeah, I know. I am. But I tell you, something shifted in my brain when I had the stroke.  All the hate's gone out of me. All the fight. Caulfield is over and my son Flint has been reassigned. Look at me. I can barely walk."

Liz and Charlie in the car:

"Waitressing's really got to blow when you've grown a fully functioning heart muscle in a lab.  Or are you not the same Elizabeth Ortecho who co-authored a 2013 paper on cellular reprogramming? Some people build model trains; I do my homework.  Your boyfriend seems more like the train type."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"We've discovered new worlds and changed the course of mankind from a microscope. Should I go Netflix and chill with my boyfriend or stay in the lab, architecting the future?"

"No offense, but if it's true that you've been in prison and in hiding, it does not seem like you've seen much of the inside of a lab either."

"I went too far.  I thought I was building something with real value. The thing is, anything that has the potential to create real change, it scares people. And anything that scares people is inherently dangerous no matter what your intention is."

"You could start over. Get a new identity, work at a research university."

"I've done extraordinary things. Everything ordinary is ruined now."

More exposition that we already know as Max catches Charlie and Liz up on what he learns from Jesse.

"He said Cam is headed to Los Alamos to investigate a group called Deep Sky. Does that mean anything to you?"

"No. Let me reach out to some of my military contacts, do some recon. Give me a day, we'll go from there."

Liz and Michael, in the lab, on The Science:

"I'm looking for the sample of yellow pollen."

"The stuff I swept off the floor after throwing it at Noah? I don't know. I didn't see it while we were packing up."

"Well it was here a few months back.  Did I miss an experiment where it grew legs and a fondness for the outdoors?"

"Could have been accidentally thrown away. Sample was too oxidized to be of much use, and I've been trying to get my hands on fresh flowers, but it's impossible. I think they might be extinct. Why are you freaking out?"

"Because I have a math problem. There's only one flower in Maria's necklace, but there are two DeLuca women and apparently the flower is the key to preventing their illness. This is everything from the Caulfield drives and the experiments done on Maria's grandmother. A lot of it was lost in a lab fire in the '80s, but…"

"I'll take a look."

(Aside… 👀 Lab fire in the '80s. I have a feeling that's more foreshadowing.)

"I just want you to see if anything done could be undone. I don't want you to, like, Dr. Frankenstein it. The experiments were very bad."

"My days as an alien scientist are officially over."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"'Cause it's hard not to think about the far-reaching implications of this kind of research. You don't get sick on this planet. If I could figure out why, I could eradicate all illness."

"But you can't. Because that would expose us."

"Which I would obviously never do. It's over."

Arturo's text to Liz:

Have you seen our little mouse?

"Rosalinda" is late for her first shift.

Isobel and Maria go to Michael's trailer and Isobel shows Maria the newspaper clip of Michael's mom to try to trigger a vision.

"It's not working. And I don't feel great going through this stuff without Michael knowing."

"Why not? One day this palace might all be yours."

"It's not working.  I have a business to run, and you need to go Instagram something."

"Says the social media revitalizer. Listen, word to the wise, every time Max saw Liz in a skirt and tried not to pop a bulb, he wound up setting off a fire alarm. Everytime I push myself too hard, I miss time, or wind up accidentally realizing that my mom still thinks about her ex-boyfriend Rocco, like, in vivid detail."

"Okay, where are you going with this?"

"Effort doesn't equal control. So if you want to do this you're gonna have to embrace your inner ice queen and let it go."

"I'm not great at letting things go."

"Yeah, I know.  That's hard…"

Maria's vision:

Triggered by a t-shirt hanging in the trailer.

Louise is hanging laundry

Walt runs up to her and gives her a little windmill with her name on it. (Initially I thought her name was pressed or punched into the metal, but on second viewing, it looks like it might be puff paint or something similar.)

Walt runs off to find Nora and Louise goes back to hanging laundry.

After the vision Maria's nose starts bleeding.

Max goes after Charlie to stop her from turning herself in.

I wonder if his tire screeching action guy driving is supposed to be emphasizing to the audience that he's not being as cautious as he should be? 

Deep Sky said that if Charlie "...wasn't at Sutter's grain depot by 11pm, that they would torture (Cam) to death."

Charlie heard on the call:

A train rolling by

A demonic laugh

And somehow that's enough for Max to magically know exactly where Cam is.

Alex and Jesse at the hospital:

"Hey, they said that you mixed whiskey with your medications.  That's not like you."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I mean, you're my father. I can't seem to shake you."

"Yeah. I failed."

"Yes. But in what way specifically?"

"Uncle Tripp. I let him down. I never could figure out what he needed of me. And tonight I went to the bunker.  And I keep trying to crack the code."

"Liz said that you spoke to Max Evans. She said that you were half decent to him. Is that what this is about?"

"One of them killed Tripp, you know."

"An alien? Yeah. Then he hunted them. He dragged them to a torture chamber. I'm not surprised one of them…" 

Jesse slams his cane.

"He was the best man I ever knew.

Jesse tries to stand and falls into Alex, then continues to walk away.

The location that Deep Sky is holding Cam looks like a rodeo or horse arena or racetrack with a big grandstand.

There are nearby train tracks, and a warehouse where a mechanic repairs old carnival rides.

As Max and Charlie are scoping out the area you can hear both sounds softly in the background.

The sniper was watching and shooting at them from the grandstand.

Charlie is shot in the leg.

"Let me go get her."

"No. Deep Sky wants me alive. Your brain is worth considerably less to them which means it'll be splattered all over the dirt."

(Oh the irony...confirming that Charlie doesn't know that Max is an alien.)

"If anything goes wrong, call Liz. No doctors."

Max does shoot the sniper!

And then uses his powers to knock out the power (and instantly feeling it in his heart when he starts to use his powers!!!!!!) which, as @angsty-aliens very eloquently pointed out, is absurd because there was a big red lever that would have done the same thing. *facepalm*

Cam on her kidnapping:

"The last thing I remember is this weird sound. It made the hairs on my arm stand up. And this bright light, and the pain in the back of my neck like you wouldn't believe."

Cam's burn is fractals.  Like Liz's burn from Max's powers in 1x03. Top is Liz's fresh burn in 1x03, bottom is Cam's not-so-fresh burn in 2x08. Keep in mind, we don't know how long Cam was missing for.

Rosa and Iris at the "art show".

"So you said you're from Roswell?"

"Oh, I was from Roswell.  I got out and went to art school as soon as I graduated. I work for an artist now. I help her run her gallery. Yeah, I used to want to be a painter, but then I realized I loved curating art way more than I ever loved making it."

👀 I wonder what this says about Rosa's internal motivation. If Iris is the life she wishes that she had, does she not want to be a painter? Or is that her internal insecurity rearing its head.  Like, she can't even dream about that possibility because it's what she really wants above all else.  Which is why Iris then motivates her to paint and prove to her inner self that she is an artist? 

Speaking of which, here's Rosa's painting from the episode. Mucho gracias to @rosaortecho for giffing it for me since it wasn't cap-able in a single shot.

Iris's assessment of Rosa's art:

"This piece is you outrunning your demons. This is amazing. That's what you have to do.  You have to capture them and rattle the cage.  This is art. This is what you're meant to do, Rosa!"

Rosa's hallucination starts to fall apart as they dance.  She starts coughing and having trouble breathing.

"Your star sign's just out of whack."

Play on lyrics from God of Wine by Third Eye Blind, which was heavily referenced in 1x02. 

The direct quote is "your star sign's out of whack" and the next lyric is "a fraudulent zodiac"

Which, of course, is what Rosa had written on her hand before she died in 2008 and is a reference to Ophiuchus, which was Noah's zodiac obsession.

And then Liz finds her overdosing in the cave. 

The coughing in Rosa's hallucination was from smoke inhalation.  Because while passed out she started a fire with her powers.

Feels like a good time to point out that it's the same cave that she died in back in 2008, and she would have died there again if Liz hadn't found her. 😭

At the hospital Rosa tells Liz that she wants to go to rehab, but she knows she can't since she can't control her powers. 

Liz gives her Maria's necklace to borrow since it will suppress her powers and allow her to go to rehab.

Alex and Forrest at the Wild Pony:

"I still have my dad's voice in my head telling me that being seen with a man in public is an embarrassment. To my name and my uniform."

"Well, there's nothing like a dad voice to mess up a perfectly good date."

"It's also just that...I mean, Roswell's so conservative. This bar is filled with cowboys. If you want to go someplace private…"

"Look, I like you. But I don't want to climb into somebody else's closet."

"I cannot tell you how badly I want to be done with this frickin' closet."

"But you're not. And that's okay. Really. Listen, if that voice in your head ever shuts up, give me a call. Because between you and me, making out with a hot guy in public is only made hotter when it pisses off all the bigots and homophobes."

Charlie took off and left a note for Jenna. According to Jenna it says she's gonna disappear again and not to look for her.

Arturo is taking Rosa to a rehab center that Kyle set her up with "a few hours away".

Max tells Liz "let's go home." So… did she move in with him??

Liz says no though.  She says she has to open the diner and cry alone.  But instead she goes to the secret lab.  

Both Max and Liz were evading the truth a little bit here.  Liz didn't tell Max that she wanted to go to the secret lab.  Max didn't tell Liz that his heart did wonk out after using his powers and he did overdo it going after Cam. Bad Echo!!

Liz goes back to packing the secret lab up initially, but then her eyes fall into the Caulfield folders, and she stops. 

She unpacks her stolen equipment (genetic sequencer?), puts on her lab coat, and sits down to start reading the file.

Isobel brings Michael beer as a peace offering, since she's coming to admit that she helped Maria trigger a vision.  She thinks Michael will be mad, but he isn't because he and Maria already worked it out.

So Isobel tells him about the vision and seeing Louise, and specifically about Walt giving Louise the windmill. 

Michael immediately reacts, goes to a shelf, and grabs a similar windmill.

Turns out Walt is Sanders.  He pulls up in his car and Michael immediately confronts Sanders.

"It was you. You're Walt. You're the little boy in the photo.  You knew my mother."

And Sanders nods.

10 more points to fandom.

Max goes to Charlie's hotel to confront her about turning herself in to Deep Sky.

The windmill in both scenes. Until I put this together I didn't think they were the same one (because Louise's name isn't on Michael's. But other details (like the word weight on one of the legs) are the same.

"You think Deep Sky needs to have Jenna by the throat to kill her? Okay, the only way that I can protect her is from the inside."

Then the "abduction scene" happens.

It mirrors what happened to Jenna in 2x04, only to Max and Charlie.

MUSIC:

1.  Hole "Celebrity Skin"

2.  Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real "Die Alone"

3.  Shelly Fairchild "Worry No More"

4.  Marc Danzeisen "Some Things Last Forever"

5.  Joey Sykes "Sign Of The Times"

6.  I AM ORFA "Like That Look"

7.  Danny Ayer "Set Us Free"

8.  Hamish Anderson "Trouble"

9.  OMC "How Bizarre"

10.  Muscadine Bloodline "Movin' On"

11.  Little May "Hide"

[wernher-von-brawny]

I wouldn’t say the latter two seasons aren’t good; They just aren’t great. And it may seem out-of-character for me to say this, but that’s okay.

I’ve been preparing for this possibility ever since Brooker landed himself a top-shelf wife and had kids. And since he got international success, and the love of Hollywood, and an Emmy.

The guy who wrote Nathan Barley and How TV Ruined Your Life and all those Weekly Wipes and those sharp, angry commentaries on 10 O’Clock Live and the first half-dozen or so episodes of Black Mirror was possessed of a particularly British kind of cynicism and bitterness. The kind that comes from growing up in a rigidly hierarchical class structure, where the measure of a man is more often estimated by heredity than ability.

In a situation like that, a cheeky, vulgar, and undeniably gifted video-game reviewer is allowed to say rude things. Encouraged, even. It’s a tradition over there: a bit of steam released to keep the boiler of social oppression from exploding.

But once he got American success and validation, once he got John Hamm to star in one of his stories, once he was on the path to Hollywood inclusion, once he stopped being the outsider and started becoming an insider, once he has something to lose, things began to change.

Rod Serling wrote about it in one of his teleplays. They give you a thousand dollars a week, until you can’t imagine living without a thousand dollars a week, and then they’ve got you.

Serling described that from experience, and his work on The Twilight Zone had a similar arc. The bitter early genius in stories like The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street later gave way to pleasant but forgettable episodes like Cavender Is Coming starring Carol Burnett. It’s a good bit of TV – Burnett is incapable of being anything less than engaging – but it’s only remembered for her sake.

Hollywood specializes in taking creative, revolution-minded weirdos and giving them enough status that they learn to behave, to play ball, to “grow up”. And if they don’t learn to play ball, they’re out. Just ask Richard Grieco.

And Brooker has demonstrated great skill in not going too far over the edge. He’ll show a politician skull fucking a dead pig, for example, but he knows better than to make an enemy of the Crown. And he’s certainly smart enough to know he needs to modulate his material when adapting to the sunnier climes of southern California.

The difference between the British and American sensibilities was illustrated by Stephen Fry when he said that an American comedian would want to play the John Belushi role in Animal House, while a British comedian would want to play the folk singer whose guitar Belushi violently smashes.

Crushing the spirit of then-unknowns like Daniel Kaluuya or Hayley Atwell under British dread is a proud tradition over there, but Hollywood stars are built for triumph through adversity. Brits lose, even when winning, while Americans win, even when losing. (Insert Trump joke here.)

Brooker is smart enough to grok this, but he’s also essentially British, and I think his struggle to reconcile this cultural disconnect makes the difference between him producing great work that creates a lasting impression, and very good work that is consumed and forgotten.

In the world of Black Mirror, Kaluuya is punished for acting out by being given the prison of his dreams. Ron Howard’s daughter is (ironically) sorta-rewarded for her meltdown, finally achieving genuine human contact from her holding cell. Maybe it’s the cynicism of the ending, maybe it’s the creative team, or maybe it’s just chance, but Kaluuya’s episode is pretty great, while Howard’s is pretty good.

Ironically, San Junipero – perhaps the best thing Brooker ever wrote – ends with a relative win for the two leads. How’d that happen?

Well, for one the leads aren’t famous celebrities, which seem to bring out the best in a Black Mirror episode. For another, there’s plenty of cynicism in the world around them, not the least of which is the implied class barrier between those who can afford the San Junipero treatment and those who can't. And then there’s the fact that their “victory” is a simulation playing out in a computer somewhere, while in the real world they are both actually dead.

Terry Gilliam’s very British Brazil did it in the 80s, and it was brilliant. San Junipero magpied it with a heaping dollop of American 80s retro, and it was wonderful. Maybe not brilliant, but wonderful. And great. (THE FEELS!!!) I mean, could it BE a more perfect melding of American and British sensibilities?

And the acclaim it received seems to have influenced Brooker. Mollified his bitterness and cynicism a bit. As has, one assumes, getting married to a top-shelf partner, and having kids.

So we’re seeing a kinder, gentler Black Mirror.

But as for good versus great Black Mirror, perhaps we can measure the difference by comparing SJ to Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too.

Despite the feel-good Belinda Carlisle ending of SJ, Yorkie spent an entire lifetime paralyzed. And after she dies, a computer sim of her plays out a happier scenario. Miley Cyrus’s character, on the other hand, spent a few months in a coma, and then came out of it a pop-rock superstar with a very long life in the real world ahead of her. One is unplugged and dies, the other is unplugged and freed. One is poignant, the other is escapist. One is the bittersweet coda to a life whose possibilities were stolen, the other is a Disney Channel movie.

And Don’t Get Me Started on Miley covering Trent Reznor. It comes off more as positioning for Cyrus rather than helpful to the story.

Also, it’s tempting to suggest that SJ being overtly really gay – well, lesbian – helps it win over our – and Hollywood’s – hearts, but Pride Month is hardly the appropriate time for such a discursion, right? RJ&A2 may have some feminist subtext, but it seem to connect with audiences about as well as Hillary’s “I'm With Her” campaign, so…

Anyway, SWEET JEEBUS have I gone on and on and on. That’s more than enough tangent and blather for now.

To recap: yay British sensibilities and unknown British actors, less celebrities and Hollywood publicists, and perhaps we’re back on track for greatness.

And if we only get high-quality goodness instead of greatness, that’s okay with me. We’ll always have San Junipero.

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