#dirk gently spoilers

[aster-knows-nothing]

Spoilers for drink gently’ s1 but holy FUCK I finished s1 and Jesus oh my heart my body I’m quaking oh god oh my oh my sweet castor ple my emotions my feelings who made this I’ve been bamboozeled the feels went up then DOWN then OH MY GOD <333

But at the end of it all I love this show hahshahshahsha

[tetrapaec]

Dirk Gently taught me not to hope for a new season to my favourite detective shows... But please give a new season to my new favourite ghost detectives show!!!!!

[bitchinthematrix]

Amanda Brotzman took the Rowdy 3 to see Barbie, and was too flabbergasted by how still and quiet the boys were being to pay much attention to the movie.

they stayed completely stationary and engrossed in the film, up until the last joke before the credits rolled. Amanda looked over at them, only for Vogel to be the only one there. The other three dipped before Vogel could ask them what a gynecologist is.

Pricks.

[frenchfriedgiraffe]

friedkin being basically the only other person who seems to (slighty) understand people’s holistic abilities (aside from the holistics themselves) is such a good fucking ending for his character. for the entirety of the show he was reduced to a “dumb idiot”, so much so that when he pulls a gun on ken in the final episode, ken just tells him to stop being a moron. thats how much he’s underestimated by all the other characters, even when threatening someone they just assume he doesnt know what hes doing. but despite working for blackwing for years, and eventually “running” the place, he still has a sort of redemption at the end, proving that he can push through everything he’s been told, proving everyone wrong about his intelligence. “you can’t control it, that’s not how it works” damn right friedkin. rest in peace you would have loved audiobooks.

also: in the backstage, todd and amanda both have black blobby eye thingies. but friedkins eyes are red. idk what that means but it measn something.

[clockworkcheetah]

todd doing the Apology Dance™️for dirk after a spat

[faintwhitenoise]

Alright? These kind of people need to be out in the world. And... please don't shock me. Please don't shock me.

[jus-alilcomforblelad]

falling into the abyss of television static like in that one episode

[clumsyvi]

Pls tell me I'm not the only one who got dirk gently s2 flashbacks with the giant scissors in 4x06!!

[podcastsonmain]

The interrogation of Ryan and cannonball was reminding me of something and it was 100% this

[the-witchhunter]

DP x DC Phantom Punk: Rowdy 3

Back on my Punk Danny agenda

So, Danny is not like your typical ghost, and thus, Dan and Dani, aren't either. Most ghosts can coast by naturally and just exist outside the GZ despite the lack of ectoplasm, as long as they don't go overboard

The Phantoms?

They need more. It's not normal to need that much ectoplasm, but after a series of incidents where both the Fanton's and Vlad's portals no longer exist, they're a little screwed

So, what's a trio of Punk ghosts to do?

Luckly, there is a way to supplement their energy, and they learned it from a less than savory source... Spectra. Spectra feeds off of emotions, misery, anxiety and depression being her bread and butter. Now, technically any emotion will do, it just has to be heightened for them to get anything out of it. Joy and euphoria can work, but it's hard to consistently produce those emotions and feed. Things like fear and anger are easier to produce, but come with some... ethical issues

Their solution? Get it from people who deserve it

So, Dan, Danny, Dani, and [insert fourth character here, maybe Jazz? Sam would probably be down, remember to delete placeholder] hop into a heavily graffitied GAV and drive to Gotham. Living out of the GAV, Decked out in leather, spikes and denim, they roll into the most crime ridden city in the world and proceed to find random goons and criminals homes, bust the place up, make them nearly shit their pants and then feed off the fear and anger of these career criminals

Meanwhile, the Bats keep showing up at the scene just after they scram and keep having to deal with the aftermath

The inspiration is the rowdy 3 from Dirk Gently's Holistic Dectective Agency, if you are not familiar with my favorite punk energy vampires, allow me to educate you (only watch to the two minute mark if you want to avoid spoilers for the show)

[holisticpippin]

HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO DIRK GENTLY: ALL THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE REFERENCES I'VE NOTICED IN DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY (a.k.a. everything is connected)

(spoilers)

this took a good couple of hours and I tried to do this in order; buckle up!!

SEASON 1:

the posters on the windows as todd is walking by the convenience store place has a silhouette of a falling whale, what I assume is a reference to the infinite improbability drive whale, and an ad that says "zaphod," a reference to zaphod beeblebrox (s1e01 'horizons')

(also todd's stance here is so funny to me)

the rowdy 3, consisting of four (and later five) members, could be a reference to how the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy is called a trilogy that happens to consist of 5 books ("there are four of them!" "I'm wildly aware")

one of the screens in the death maze has the number 42 on it (s1e04 'watkin')

SEASON 2:

there are 42 blackwing subjects

farah's awesome jacket with "D Adams" on it and the number 42 (multiple episodes)

the boretons' dog is named agrajag, which is the entity that arthur dent accidentally kills in every incarnation. unfortunately he dies here too (multiple episodes)

in the tree car, farah remarks that "the odometer's only on 42 miles" (s2e02 'fans of wet circles')

the book francis cardenas has by him as he's having the nightmare that says "PANIC!" on the cover (in what can only be large, unfriendly letters), with the subtitle "attack devil dolphins." (s2e07 'that is not miami')

the executioner guy in wendimoor calling dirk a "hoopy frood" as he helps him unload the scissor blade things (s2e08 'little guy, black hair')

the blackwing phone number on the business card, "555-424-2424" with a wild amount of 42s (s2e09 'trouble is bad')

dirk telling himself "don't panic" before jumping into the portal (s2e09 'trouble is bad')

[teaboot]

What is your most recent favorite show/movie/book? What is your most recent favorite treat for yourself?

hooooooo dear.

Okay, so my favourite comfort movie is Six Underground. It's a simple plot with endearing characters, found family, car chases, gratuitous violence, kicky tunes, and [spoiler] that I find cathartic. It's enjoyable, funny, and relaxing, with the perfect balance of clever and low brain work. Is it a master class of deep introspective cinema? No. But it *is*, in my opinion, the perfect action comedy.

My favourite book.... is... difficult. I don't think I could pick one. Inkdeath, the Pentagon chronicles, Eragon... hoo, and Leven Thumps, Cirque du Freak, Class A, the Alex Ryder series, Legend of Drizzt, the mortal instruments series, the Hell's Paradise manga, Fullmetal Alchemist manga, any Goosebumps book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Percy Jackson series.... all happy memories, almost all on my bookshelf. Haven't read most since I was in school, though.

Favourite TV series... I'd have to say Elementary, Bones (until they jump the shark... if you know, you know), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Horrible History, Museum Mysteries, Midsommar Murders, The Twilight Zone of all eras, Poirot, aaaand... hell, most docuseries not written by crackpots.

And internet series and channels weren't mentioned but I'm throwing in Casual Geographic, Some More News, Ryan George, The Watcher, Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural, Game Changer, and MBMBaM.

Most recent indulgence was Garlic Bread ♡

[on-wednesdays-we-eat-the-rich]

For @frenchfriedgiraffe

Dirk Gently's autistic-coding explained!

He's extremely socially awkward, often annoying people without realising and saying things that make perfect sense to him but are confusing to everyone else

Does some very odd things, like breaking into Todd's apartment, and thinks nothing of it

Takes things literally and gets confused by what other people say ("Did you go and change?" "No Todd, it's still me. Though my clothes are different.")

Notices things no-one else notices

Wears different coloured variations of the same jacket

In a few scenes I've noticed him doing some small stims with his hands

In season two, he's very up-and-down emotionally, and (SPOILER) Arnold's death on top of all the stress seems to burn him out

He really wants to be friends with people but doesn't know how to do it

His special interest is probably his job because he's very enthusiastic about it and loves explaining it to people

[katy-133]

Bluey Spoilers for The Sign (S3 Special)

This episode is so polished, not just from an animation and story standpoint, but also on a structural level.

I really wanna talk about it, so let's go step by step with this.

Early on in this episode (it's over 30 minutes instead of the usual 7), Calypso tells Bluey a story about a farmer who is granted what appears to be good luck (having a horse), which actually leads to bad luck (getting injured from the horse and is forced to stay in bed), but then leads to good luck (the military comes and takes all the young men from the village, except the farmer, because he couldn't leave his bed). It's basically the "blessing in disguise" idiom.

Good luck, bad luck, good luck.

Bluey is confused by the ambiguous ending, not understanding how an ending can be both happy or sad.

Then the rest of the episode proceeds to illustrate this idea for Bluey to better understand it.

The whole episode uses the same reversal of fortune structure right to the end. Just when I thought they'd finished using it, it would come back again, bringing more and more previously planted elements into play.

Bluey's Mum needs to find the missing bride (bad fortune), so she takes the girls to a bubble tea shop where Bluey finds a coin (good fortune). They find a telescope and Bluey has a coin to use it, but it gets stuck and she gets upset (bad fortune). Because the coin is stuck, the sheep dog family are able to use the telescope later on to spy a different house they want to buy instead.

Bluey will never realise that her actions directly affected the outcome of her getting to keep her home. asdfghjkl

There's so many other details I'm leaving out, but that illustrates the overall structure.

I love domino affect stories like that where everything's interconnected and little details from one person's life are directly affecting a stranger's. It's very Dirk Gently, it's very 428 Shibuya Scramble, it's very Good Omens. It creates this emerging narrative that our lives are more intertwined than we realise and that trying to do right by your community effects your community (and past it) more than you can even be fully aware of. I think it's an important message for kids (anyone really), because it gives you this perspective on life that urges you to try to do the right thing, even in the face of feeling powerless or small.

[urlocallesbiab]

a dghda s2/s3 theory: the universe meant for amanda to become an omniscient master of backstage knowledge, and friedkin took that place instead of her through a series of mistakes

(this post gets Very Long, but you can scroll right to the end for a TL;DR)

now, allow me to provide some context before i delve into an explanation

first, a precursory theory: if suzie boreton died like she was meant to, then lord triangle badevil would have became the mage's apprentice

in s2ep1 bart makes a choice not to kill suzie, even though she feels like she should; and then throughout the season the fact that suzie isn't meant to be a part of things is alluded to:

1) in the end of s2ep8 dirk gives his usual Case Solved speech where he explains how everything is connected, but he doesn't know how suzie boreton figures into things; she's not, technically, a part of his case

2) in s2ep10 todd asks her who is she and why is she there, and accuses her of being "some mom from montana", which further drives the point home

3) king francis has no knowledge of her either, even though he seems to be able to know relevant things that he could neither witness nor hear about (like farah and tina defeating the mage)

so, suzie's boreton entire character arc exists by mistake; and yet the prophecy (as foretold by wakti wapnasi, and as spoken by panto trost in s2ep3) makes a point about the great dark wizard finding his apprentice — that means that role was meant for someone.

lord triangle badevil is a mysterious figure who plays a significant role in the plot (his men kidnap farson and later amanda in s2ep4, he kills farson and thus causes a massive shoot-out in s2ep7, and he kills some people in his attempts to stop the prophecy in eps 9 and 10), and yet we know infuriatingly little about him, his goals and his views, like he was meant to be explored but got forgotten about.

he has markings on his face (pitch-black with negative-space geometrical figures) which are never discussed, but seem to be the same sort of marks that appear on arms of both the mage and suzie boreton from magic overuse, and that seems to suggest that he is, in some way, a magic user, or at least was exposed to magic somehow.

all things considered, i propose that lord triangle badevil, a mysterious actor of evil and supposedly a magic user, was meant to be the prophecied apprentice & the big bad, but got displaced by suzie, who wound up in the narrative by mistake.

next, an observation: wendimoor's magic, pararibulitis and backstage are closely linked

it's not much of a novel revelation, but i'm trying to be thorough, so here

— both amanda&todd and later friedkin could access backstage through the magical portals between earth and wendimoor

— most powerful beings of wendimoor (wakti wapnasi, the great witch; king francis) seem to be omniscient or close to, and omniscience is a backstage characterestic

(they both know things about earth they shouldn't be able to know, like wakti about amanda's name, or francis about farah&tina's win over the mage; and metaphysical things that are nigh impossible to be logically derived from facts, like holistics being the tools to fix the broken universe)

— pararibulitis expresses itself as tangible magic within wendimoor, and is tied to wielding the water/portals and to the visions

— visions are also a form of mystical knowledge, and thus could be sourced from backstage

(the exact reasons of how/why the connection between wendimoor and backstage could've happened have no bearing on this post, but so far my working theory is that the explosive creation of a whole new layer of reality pushed at the borders of the universe and stretched them/thinned them out, and that's why it's easier to slip from the material world of the universe to the immaterial not-world of the backstage when in wendimoor)

now, a couple of tidbits about amanda and the mandelbrot set:

— her name, amanda brotzman, is a pun on "mandelbrot set" (the showrunner talked about this somewhere; i don't know the source, i've learned about this somewhere in the ao3 comment section)

— mandelbrot set's visualisation is the shape that appears in people's eyes when they're backstage

— it's the same shape as on amanda's s2 jacket

— it's a recurring shape in her visions

(a tangent: now, i don't know much about mathematics so forgive me if i get the words wrong, but mandelbrot set's boundary is a fractal curve, meaning that if you zoom into the mandelbrot set's visualisation's border, you'll find more of the same shape, ad infinitum. this fun quality of the set has no bearing on this specific post and theories within it, but i think such a plot-important shape having this "as above, so below" flair to it could have meaning for the pontetial s3 plot)

— the prophecy mentions she-who-sees-all who was supposed to open a door into a dream, allowing through it dirk gently and the boy; that most probably references amanda, her visions and her ability to create portals through water

finally, the theory:

— amanda brotzman, mandelbrot set, visions, pararibulitis, wendimoor magic and backstage are all interconnected

— amanda was supposed to be she who sees all; backstage seems to have granted hugo friedkin omniscience

— stangely, amanda didn't see any higher meaning in the stars when she was there, and her eyes were the same color as todd's; when friedkin got there, his eyes were red, and he was enlightened

— there were a couple of things different about how amanda and hugo accessed backstage: amanda got there only mentally while her body was elsewhere, she was there together with todd, and she was alive; hugo's body fell through the portal, he was alone, and he was either dead or dying. any of those things, i think, could be what allowed him to connect to the backstage's knowledge. (my personal interpretation is that it's the part about dying, just to sprinkle more angst and terror into amanda's s3 conflict over it)

— hugo got into that predicament (alone, dying, pushed physically through a portal) because he was grievously wounded by lord badevil; if lord wasn't there, none of that would've happened. and as i have argued above, i believe that lord badevil wasn't supposed to be there! it's a chain reaction of displacement — suzie took lord badevil's place, he ended up killing hugo, and hugo took amanda's place

TL;DR: suzie boreton was never meant to survive bart, she displaced lord triangle badevil as the mage's apprentice, lord wound up on earth and killed hugo, hugo fell through the portal and became the master of the knowledge that amanda was supposed to be, displacing her.

we can suspect that the place was reserved for amanda because of the ties between pararibulitis, magic, her, mandelbrot set and backstage, and because she was canonically refered to as "she who sees all"