#episode title is a lie he does not have two mommies he does say something gay tho

[gaybarts]

“bart has two mommies” - season 17, episode 14

[thejudgingtrash]

Percy and Annabeth would 100% do their own version of the Halloween Heist every year. Annabeth obviously wins year one but as more people are pulled in the Title of Best Demigod/Satyr/Centaur gets passed around a lot.

You know what? Fuck it! Mini Fanfic time! Annabeth winning hmmm? I’m actually busy with not going crazy during quarantine and working on my feature length Percabeth fic (coming out in 2025, I guess). And it’s way too early (or late) for Halloween. But let’s do this! One shitty fic - hot and fresh out of the oven!

The Halloween Heist

The plan was ready and set. They all would do it one last time together before their paths separated and all of them drifted apart like gusts of wind. The heroes of Camp Half-Blood reunited one last time before college hit the last of them. They wanted to relive a normal holiday together, just this once.

Annabeth and Malcom set up different routes; A, B and C throughout New York City, Manhattan specifically. Those that could, joined. And would the little kids that were on the streets going to be respected? Definitely not. Of course, it would be a competition – who would turn out to be the one most successful? Whose group would be candy lords or ladies of the night? Who looked the most horrifying?

Everyone agreed that in the last part they all lost. None of them dressed in the true horrifying manner of the Halloween tradition. The Stolls’ were dressed as super heroes, Connor as Batman and Travis as The Flash. Katie joined them as Poison Ivy. Clarisse pulled off a solid Sarah Connor and her boyfriend Chris stood proudly next to her as The Terminator. The only person that looked slightly scary was Malcom. He was dressed as a zombie and his eye bags stemming from the latest project he had been working on through the entire night added to the nature of his character.

“Well!” Percy exclaimed and tapped the floor with a wooden trident. “Let the games begin!”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. He wore khaki shorts, flip flops and a Hawaii themed shirt and those stupid pink window blinds sunglasses from 2012. “That’s just purely lazy! You dress up like your father every time on Halloween.”

“And it works just fine every time,” he said after sharing a soft kiss. Not only that, his outfit was unironically super comfortable. His hair tickled her. The only good thing was that he had actually grown out a beard which hugged his handsome face very tightly.

Percy raised a black eyebrow. “What are you going for?”

Annabeth looked like she had raided Paul’s wardrobe. Light dress shirt, ugly green sweater vest, tight black jeans and goddamn Birkenstock shoes. Her blonde curls were gelled back and put into a tight bun. The dark frames of her glasses oozed sexy librarian but the expression on her face only said shhh!

“Sexy Chiron with a third eye and without the horse ass end?” Chris and Malcom grinned, Katie snorted whereas the Stolls’ and Clarisse shared a loud cackle. Annabeth looked like she wanted to murder him.

“No! I’m Cecil from Welcome to Night Vale,” she corrected him.

“Cecil?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. We listened to the first 100 episodes together! The lore, the intricacy, the little pieces you have to put together,” Annabeth looked very adorable whenever she was nerding and ranting about her passions.

“Well, The Weather is quite nice.” That was all Percy had to add.

“That means we have to re-listen everything!” Annabeth decided. Percy simply nodded. Yes, they would re-listen.

“We?” Katie raised a red dyed eyebrow. “Don’t tell me that you’ve become a we couple.”

“Of course not!” both denied. “And don’t be so sarcastic, Percy! We will re-listen!”

Clatter. The group turned to their right. Grover appeared wearing a flower crown on top of his horns, a torn green dress shirt… and nothing further down below. “That’s just unfair!” The Stolls’ yelled and pointed at his dark hairy goat legs.

“No, this is a way of nature saying, Grover you got this. Also be nice! Me taking off time as a Lord of the Wild should be considered a blessing,” the black satyr grinned.

The brothers huffed and Malcom rolled his eyes. “Where’s Juniper?” Annabeth asked.

“Couldn’t make it unfortunately,” the Grover pouted.

“And Will and Nico? Will promised us 90s Justin Timberlake with a puka shell necklace, meanest frosted tips and Donald Trump tan!”

The satyr shrugged. “They have decided that re-watching Corpse Bride for the millionth time was more important. Anyway. Annabeth, you got the straws?”

“Of course, I do. We have three groups á three people. Red is A, blue is B and green is C. Biggest candy stash wins, got it? Ultimate bragging rights, the last prank idea on Chiron and blue cupcakes from Sally. Let the Fates decide!”

“You sure about that?”

“Percy, shut up! Let’s just do this.”

The participants nodded. Team A consisted of Percy, Clarisse and Travis. Team B were Annabeth, Chris and Malcom. Lastly Team C was made up by Grover, Katie and Connor.

“Two Athena kids in one group is just unfair,” Clarisse huffed.

“Deal with it,” Malcom grinned. “You know the routes? Let’s begin! You’ve got three hours!”

*****

Percy rang the bell. A middle-aged woman with curlers opened the door. “Yes?” she mustered him.

Percy cleared his throat. “Lord Poseidon demands all of your candy!” he said with a deep booming voice.

The woman stared at him weirdly. “Poseidon as in the god of sea? Since when does a Greek god look like homeless person wandering around the beach?”

“Uh…Since always?”

“Alright, fair enough.”

*****

A young man opened the door. Annabeth was greeted by the smell of grease, Cheetos and bleach. The meanest hotbox fumes smacked her across the face. She coughed and felt her eyes tearing up. She wanted to experience the rush of winning, not feel that kind of high just yet.

“That your Halloween costume?” She simply nodded.

“Fucking sick, dude! You look like my college professor!”

“Well in that case hand your assignments in or give me all of your candy,” she grinned.

*****

A young mother and her daughter opened up for Grover.

“Wow! I want that costume mommy!” wailed the girl.

“Ellie, you’re already a witch. But how did you create those legs? They look so real?”

“They came off pretty naturally,” Grover shrugged.

“And the horns?!”

“I can’t spill all of my secrets, I’m afraid. I am but a humble servant of nature asking you to give something sweet back to us.”

The woman giggled. “Oh, and he’s a poet as well!”

“Uhh no?” denied Grover.

“Here take some of our candy!”

“Okay! Nature won’t forget your service, ma’am! And neither yours, Ellie!”

*****

The nine gathered at the Jackson’s hours later. Each team piled their candy stock. It was a clear-cut victory. Annabeth and Malcom looked proudly at their stash.

“We did it!” Katie yelled behind them. Team Grover won, they nearly covered the entire floor with chocolates and packs of sour patches. Satyr bonus probably. The Athena siblings lost their victorious smiles immediately.

“Looks like Team Athina kids lost!” Grover exclaimed with a smirk.

Annabeth looked like she’d all of a sudden love to possess Chiron’s horse ass to give him a massive horse kick. “Wait! Do we count the total mass or the individual candy because in that sense we would have won?” she questioned.

“Everyone saying that Annabeth would never cheat can now clearly tell that that was a fucking lie!” Percy shook his head.

“Well, work smart not hard,” Annabeth stuck her tongue out.

“There can always be a next time if we coordinate! And we will crush you!”

The End

[paperclipninja]

Younger post-ep ramble 6x08

When episodes of TV shows are touted as 'epic' or 'game changing' I tend to proceed with caution, because chances of it living up to the hype are generally pretty slim. When it comes to Younger though, I should know better than to doubt such claims and 'Debu-taunt' (another pun-tastic title btw) really has changed the game and delivered some of the most poignant and meaningful character interactions of the series. This week's episode got back to the core of what this show is about: the female friendships in all their complexity. We saw lovely moments that deepened Diana and Liza's romantic relationships too of course, but these ultimately amplified the supportive and supporting role the men play in the women's lives. I've gotta say, I found this week's ramble hard to write because where do you start with an episode you've been anticipating for so long? The beginning, let's start at the beginning...

The episode opens with Liza and Charles living out some kind of domestic morning fantasy (minus the grapefruit for me thanks) and seeing the townhouse kitchen area in the daylight was something new, it's so much bigger than I realised! The entire scene is so aesthetically pleasing, particularly the Charles-in-a-vest-and-shirt situation as well as coordination of tie and Liza's dress, but of course it serves the far greater purpose of letting us know that Liza has fully integrated into the lives of Nicole and Bianca, right down to helping with homework and offering to drop a forgotten report off at school. It has been quite a few seasons since we saw or heard from the Brooks children and I fully appreciate catching a glimpse of Charles in dad-mode on the phone to Bianca, it's easy to forget that these characters have these other dimensions to their lives (speaking of which, is there some kind of alert out for Caitlin at this point? The lack of texts or calls or mentions is curious...Caitlin, if you're reading this, we're not mad, just let us know you're ok). Charles' gratitude to Liza for going to the school naturally makes my sappy heart swell, the 'I don't deserve you' only made better by his tardiness not being enough to stop him going back for a second kiss goodbye.

Pesky climate change forces Liza to discover she does not have a coat at Charles', but fortunately for her there is an entire closet full of coats, which naturally she does not question and is definitely not some kind of set up for a run in with the ex. Except it is of course and even as a viewer I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me watching Pauline ask Liza if the unexpectedness of their run in is why she is wearing her coat (seriously, I'm overwhelmed with second hand embarrassment typing this). Also, what was Pauline doing there? Just hanging out at the school for reasons or was she lurking in case Charles turned up with the report so she could catch a peek of him in a three-piece? While this remains a mystery (though who could blame her lbh), Pauline's desire to 'bury the hatchet' with Liza was def suspicious, but a nice distraction from the cringe-worthy, 'Bianca mentioned that she had two mommies' comment Mrs. Clipper makes before it's decided that Liza should be added to the pick-up list as she will 'be around for the long haul'. I am so grateful to see Liza showing that she is committed to and wants the life she has chosen with Charles in this episode. Regardless of what happens down the track, it's nice to see this character backing her own choices and decisions for now.

Any seasoned television watcher's alarm bells no doubt went off when Pauline cited the divorce negotiations as 'more or less behind us' (and again when Charles mentioned that 'it seems the worst is over' at the coffee station) because we all know that in the land of TV this 100% means it's only a matter of time before they will not be.

Keeping in the theme of wonderful character interactions, I may never get used to Charles and Liza just hanging out in the office (particularly Charles hovering around as an editor instead of the boss, but I am here for it until the end of time) and his adoring gaze as Liza recalls the awkward horror of her interaction with Pauline is topped off with a shared Harry Potter appreciation moment and honestly, these two and their nerd love, I cannot. The way the conversation about Liza moving in unfolded was so natural and yes, the answer is ALWAYS YES Liza when Charles Brooks suggests starting each day waking up together (insert swoon here). It turns out Liza doesn't overthink it, cue guilt pie and Pinot Noir with Maggie.  

These two are friendship goals times a thousand and Maggie's unwavering support upon hearing Liza talk about how she knows it's fast but it feels right epitomises the way these two only want one another's happiness (even if Maggie's expression as Liza goes to call Charles and tell him she will be moving in indicates she is going to very much miss her roommate). I loved hearing about and imagining them drinking wine and binging The Great British Bake Off and just how well they know and value one another, ugh, I could not gush more about all of it and this whole exchange felt like such a treat. I was envisioning Kelsey moving in once Liza moved out and I'm still holding out hope for this to happen when Liza does eventually make the move (remaining optimistic on this one even though I do pine for Liza/Maggie loft moments).

The sneak peek for this week showed us yet another golden interaction and that was, of course, Diana telling Charles about her engagement to Enzo. The main takeaways are a) Diana referring to herself as Charles' work wife and Charles's amused smile; b) Diana asking Charles for his blessing and him not really knowing why but giving it and; c) the longest hug in the world as Diana coaxes Charles into announcing her engagement to the office. I love that the interactions between these two always have a slightly awkward undertone but there is genuine care and warmth too. Diana telling Charles that he has always been able to read her like a book (lol) and the two sitting there with their hands together was just such a testament to their fabulously wacky relationship.

What better way to ensure that any DRAH-MAH unfolds in an overwhelmingly public forum than the morning meeting reveal that there is a Publishers Weekly Debutante Ball (for first time authors)  thrown every year! Turns out this is the event of the season, despite it being the first time Liza has heard about it (to be fair she has probs been distracted by the faux millennial facade previous years so didn't clock that this was a legit thing). I am digging Kelsey heading up and holding her own in these meetings, she is definitely stepping up to her new role it seems and I am keen to see how it continues to develop.  And those little looks across the conference room table between Charles and Liza, I see you.

Zane's gears still seem stuck on obnoxious since last ep, first throwing in Jake Devereux as a suggested author for the deb (a clear jab at Kelsey) and then putting his foot in it after hearing Diana's news by suggesting that DeLuca is 'better than Trout'. First of all, who in their right mind would say that out loud, let alone assume an established woman in her 40's (or any woman for that matter) is going to take a new husband's surname? Though Diana DeLuca is pretty great, I could definitely see her using it as an alias during future hi-jinx (preferably with Liza now that they can be actual proper friends, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Right from the get go Her Majesty D. Trout is taking none of Zane's rubbish, asking him to use his words when he finally offers up PTB as a deb option and her zero tolerance for insolence continues when she corrects his question of who she's engaged to with, 'to whom'. At this stage of my love for this character, I'm really just wondering what sized portrait of Diana I should put in my shrine to her. This all comes out after Charles is prompted to announce Diana's big news (I'm kind of loving that Charles is a bit hopeless at remembering these sorts of details, last week when he'd failed to mention Bob and Julia would be on their table, then this week with the announcement...soon enough we'll be regaling ourselves with a collection of these, and we'll laugh and shake our heads as we mutter 'classic Chaz' under our breath) and it is of course Liza's reaction that is next level and so freaking OTT and I love it with every fibre of my being. Seriously, her yell-cheering and clapping is me in any excitement-inducing situation. My love for her love of Diana starts here and embarks on one hell of a ride from here onward during this ep.

While this episode certainly had a more serious tone than some others (I think this was definitely emphasised by the music choices too, there was a distinct lack of the usual pop/vocal and much more instrumental), Liza following Diana into her office semi-screeching, 'I'm so excited, why aren't you more excited?' met by Diana's 'Liza, please deactivate yourself', was hilarious. Diana asked Liza to be maid of honour in a way only Diana could and I tell you what, I damn delighted in that one hug a year. Everything about this scene was SO good, which of course meant that there was a dagger waiting right around the corner to plunge into our rib-cages and shatter our hearts into a million pieces (I wish I was being dramatic but where is the lie?)

That dagger's name is Pauline and it's during lunch that Liza discovers her real motivation for being all chummy and that is wanting Liza to help with her new book. Always a smart cookie, Liza agrees, in exchange for Pauline attending the Debutante Ball as Millennial's deb (I have to admit I did chuckle with the 'do you need to borrow a dress?' line). Despite dodgy af being Pauline's general modus operandi, I actually do think she was being sincere in her initial offer to move forward and let the whole 'you're-now-with-my-husband-and-my-kids-love-you-maybe-more-than-me-because-I-abandoned-them-for-a-year-at-a-pivotal-point-in-their-development' thing slide for the sake of maintaining some sort of relationship with her soon-to-be ex-husband and their children. If only she knew that the reason Liza understood her better than any of her current editors was because they were basically the same age and had similar life experiences...

...well THANK GOD for Mrs. Clipper, the true villain of the episode if you ask me, who quite frankly can't seem to get her paws on that copy of Liza's drivers license fast enough after Pauline tells her that men in her circle are always leaving their wives for assistants in their twenties. I might be off on an island on my own here, but you know what, I actually felt sorry for Pauline in this moment. In her mind Charles has also been deceived and by extension, her children, so I completely understand her initial reaction and feeling that she needs to tell Charles immediately and rescue him from this betrayal.

That all goes down at the Debutante Ball because it must of course, but first we catch Kelsey, Lauren and Zane reminiscing about their own proms at this prom for grown ups, with Lauren here for it and we unsurprisingly discover Zane was prom king (I heart Lauren's 'that tracks' comment). You always know whatever's about to go down is extra EXTRA when you see a couple of characters blissfully happy and unaware everything is about to implode, such as Charles and Liza celebrating their moving-in milestone, before Liza is whisked away backstage. When Charles is confronted by frantic Pauline and she discovers he knew about the lie too, I could imagine that up until that point she thought this would be something that would bond them in outrage, but it ended up being just another blow. While Pauline clearly has impulse issues and a pretty prominent vindictive streak, I do think it's one thing to wrap her head around her husband falling in love with a younger woman (though I do not understand on what planet Pauline thought she could piss off for a year on her own terms with zero communication and then just return to her life and there would be no upheaval) but the discovery that it was someone she could consider a peer would cut deeper.

As Pauline latched on to Liza's arm, it was like watching a live animal being led into the lion enclosure at dinner time.  I'm breaking out in a stress sweat just thinking about this scene, even though you could see it coming it was utterly shocking to watch unfold. The announcer emphasising that theirs was the only partnership in which the mentor was younger ensured the dagger was perfectly lined up before Pauline once again applied some revisionist history to her abandonment of the family, making a point of coming across as the blameless victim whose husband was 'lost' to the assistant standing beside her. As Pauline keeps talking Charles is clearly wary and concerned about where this is going and Kelsey quickly clues in just as Pauline drops that Liza is in fact 42 years old and the entire room gasps and murmurs and revels in the audacious reveal.

Enter Diana and that dagger is twisted well and truly into my fragile heart as she immediately assumes that 'this woman is deranged' and jumps to the defence of Liza, despite Charles and Liza trying to stop her. The fact that Diana tells Charles that she will not let this woman 'slander us', that she sees them as one united team, and holds Liza in such high esteem that she would put her own fear of making a scene aside to protect Liza's integrity, only made Liza's confirmation that 'it's true' even more heart-shattering. Miriam Shor deserves every damn award created for her acting in this entire episode, but the last 10 minutes in particular are nothing short of phenomenal. When Diana realises that Charles and Kelsey knew and that she had just made a spectacle of herself in front of a room full of the most important people in publishing, her need to escape is understandable and a panic attack is not an unreasonable physical response to such a huge revelation in such a public forum (I mean I was basically having one watching it all tbh).

Enzo's relief upon hearing that it was a panic attack is palpable and the interaction between him and Diana in the hospital may well be my favourite between these two yet. We see Diana as we've never seen her in this series; vulnerable, emotional, no necklace and no makeup. Always one to deliver a stellar line, her response to Enzo's 'how are you?',  'I'm fine, I've just lost trust in humanity as a whole, but other than that I'm fine', was on point and Enzo's response that 'she looks good' when Diana shares Liza's true age was A+ (for line and delivery). It is Diana's embarrassment at being that 'village idiot' when everybody else knew (I really wanted to somehow jump into my screen in that moment and tell her that Lauren and Zane didn't know either, it's not just you!) that took my heart pieces and trampled on them some more. I think it's because she is always so composed and controlled, but seeing Diana holding onto Enzo and saying that she just wants him, demonstrates how much he steadies her and allows her to be herself.

Just outside the room, Charles and Liza face a step back as Pauline has phoned to say she wants to re-visit the custody agreement (which I really struggle to see the relevance of or how Liza saying she was younger is anywhere near as bad as up and leaving your two small children for a year but sure, I'll play along for the sake of drama), which means that they cannot move in together as planned, Liza's lie has now impacted the man she loves as well as Diana and Charles feels responsible for Pauline exposing Liza the way she did. Liza reassuring Charles that he was just protecting her and the way he pulled her in to comfort her made any remnants of my shattered heart swell. It was such a tender moment between them and there was something about the parallel of Enzo comforting Diana in the room at the same time, whether intentional or not, that really stressed the uncertainty and distress both women were experiencing.

Josh phoning Liza to give her a hard time about being an upper East side lady was actually a really nice way to see this friendship developing (I would definitely expect my friends to do that) because had the timing not been so atrocious, I assume it would've been an otherwise pleasant conversation in which he would be happy for her (that's what I'm going with anyway). Obviously this call was to show that Liza's lie has once again stonewalled her and stopped her being able to move forward in her life and that she feels she's messed up everything at work and for Charles with his kids. Since learning that there were a number of deleted scenes, including the one in which Diana got her engagement ring, I must say that I feel like the phone call could probably have been omitted in lieu of progressing Diana's story for this episode and the choice to include it definitely feels like an extremely contrived attempt to stoke the triangle.

The fallout from the age reveal will no doubt play out over the coming episodes, however Lauren and Zane are still trying to wrap their heads around it the next morning (and again Zane, why on EARTH do you think you would've been someone who should know this information? I think I can count on one hand the number of conversations I've seen Liza and Zane have. Actually, no I can't because it's so few I can't even remember one) but I will say that I paused on the article Lauren is reading and Jackie Dunn has given a statement in it and this show, I swear, it outdoes itself even when no-one might notice. I appreciated Kelsey's itchy scalp to emphasise the stress of the situation and Lauren addressing Liza as 'Ma'am' was pretty darn funny (though I am a bit surprised at Lauren's reaction. I thought she'd be more intrigued and want to know all the details of how she did it etc.) But it is the final 3 minutes of this week's episode that absolutely blew me away and left me quite literally crying on the train as I watched.

There have been moments that have made me tear up and certainly times when character interactions have held such meaning on this show that the feelings are many, but there really never has been a scene like the one between Diana and Liza at the end of this week's episode of Younger. Diana's minimal make up and jewellery emphasised the rawness and realness of the entire exchange. Diana saying that she wouldn't have hired Liza if she'd known and Liza being able to say, 'exactly', made the point of why she told the initial lie so simply. In that moment Diana can understand Liza's need to lie about her age, but it is Diana's search for why, beyond that initial deceit, did Liza fetch her coffee and lunch and her urine samples...and hold her hand on the red carpet and convince her to go after Enzo...that she needs to know if everything else was real or was it part of the ploy to uphold the lie. Seeing Diana with her heart on her sleeve, needing to know if her perception of their relationship was a farce, was one of the most powerful moments, if not THE most powerful moment of this series. 

The resolution, that ‘honesty is the best policy’ and that Liza is no longer her maid of honour but her ‘old maid of honour’ could not have been more perfect. And in case I wasn’t already a blubbering mess, Diana’s emotional, ‘I just want to say...’ which Liza instinctively answered with, ‘I love you too’ did me in completely and honestly, the whole thing is so sublime, what an absolute gift.  No words I write can do justice to the incredible performances of Miriam Shor and Sutton Foster so I really can only suggest you go and watch the final scene again for yourself.

This episode of Younger really was something else. After five and a half seasons, Liza is finally free from her lie, she can FINALLY live her life without wondering if or when or how it is going to catch up with her. It feels like a big sigh of relief. For me this episode also showed how much more compelling it is for the drama to sit in the space of these women navigating friendships and work dynamics and how much the focus on the triangle detracts from what this show is actually about. It's not that often you get to watch an episode of a show you love and think, 'that episode is going to go down as one of the best in the series', but 'Debu-taunt' will without a doubt hold it's place as one of the best.   

[caranfindel]

Recap review 14.20: “Moriah”

THEN: You know, I didn’t realize it until I watched the Then, but this season has just been bananacrackers. So let’s concentrate on the good things. Sam’s Beard of Despair. Sad Sam, angry Sam. Michael!Dean doing that thing where he puts his tongue behind his teeth. I am a Winchester! Sadly missing from the Then: angry Sam yelling enough! and basically making himself King of Hell.

NOW: We begin right where we left off, with glowy-eyed Jack emerging from the ruins of Dean’s magic box. “You lied to me,” he says. Even to Cas, who wasn’t part of the lie. He tosses them into the wall and disappears.

Title card! Cas doesn’t understand why the box that could hold an archangel couldn’t hold a nephilim. Even though Cas himself, I believe, is the one who told us a nephilim is stronger than its angel parent. Okay. They decide that Jack has “leveled up” into something stronger than an archangel, like Mario jumping on a toadstool or hitting a box or something (sorry, I’ve never actually played Mario Brothers). Sam doesn’t think praying to him is going to work again, to which Dean agrees no duh.

Cas chastises the Winchesters for putting Jack in the box in the first place, even though it’s a delightful play on words, and Dean says you’re right, we should have killed him instead, which is what I wanted to do but y'all wouldn’t let me, ignoring the fact that he wouldn’t have had the ability to kill him. But that’s fine because he and Sam have killed all kinds of unkillable things and they will find a a way because Jack is “just another monster.” And Dean is ANGRY and Sam is SO SO UNHAPPY and even Cas is being a little BAMFy and you all know how much I LIKE THESE THINGS.

So. I’m okay with this episode so far.

Cas stomps off and Dean and Sam stand in the wreckage of their storeroom and try to figure out what to do next. Dean suggests Rowena might be able to build another soul bomb, like she did to fight Amara, and he remembers how that bomb would have to be triggered, doesn’t he? Maybe not, but Sam does, and he looks even sadder and softly says okay and he’s wearing that red shirt and y'all, maybe I should just stop watching now. Because I’m sure it couldn’t possibly get any better. It’s got to be downhill from this point. Dean tells him he knows it can’t be easy, he knows how much Jack meant to him, and he was family to Dean too. But Jack isn’t Jack, and they’ve got to do the hard thing, the ugly thing. And it’s not the first time.

How is it that I want to hug him and stroke his hair and tell him it’s going to be okay but I also want to lick that throat?

We find Jack wandering through a larger city, listening to people’s conversations. All of these people happen to be lying through their teeth, which makes him angry. And you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. “Stop lying,” he yells. The world pauses for a second and then carries on.

The Impala pulls up at a business called Mirror Universe. Is it a giant mirror store? That would be weird. Sam’s on the phone with Rowena, asking her to just try even though they know it’s a long shot, and if I may just belabor a point I’ve made multiple times, I love their relationship, and I especially love that even though Sam and Dean and Rowena all know Sam is fated to kill her, they still accept that she’s Sam’s friend more than Dean’s, because Dean’s always asking Sam if he’s going to call her, and if she has to be talked into anything, it’s understood that Sam does the talking. Love. Sam reports that she thinks their plan is “dangerous and insane” but she’s in. Dean thinks it’s because Rowena knows what Jack is capable of, and not because of her intense love and loyalty for Sam, and, well, let’s just agree to disagree.

They go inside and are almost run over by a guy on a Segway, which tells us this is a techie place, not a giant mirror store. Dean calls the inhabitants nerds, and Sam says “takes one to know one,” and I’d call Dean more of a geek than a nerd, but okay. But then Sam elaborates that Dean is a nerd because he knows every word to every Led Zeppelin song and knows a lot about classic rock drummers, and I wouldn’t call either of those things nerdy. And he watches Jeopardy every night. I’m not sure that’s nerdy either, but Dean doesn’t argue. Sam explains that Mirror Universe builds facial recognition software, which he hopes they can use to find Jack.

Dean’s on it. He walks up to the receptionist, flashes his fake FBI ID, and says “Hi, I’m Dean Winchester, I’m looking for the devil’s son,” and I think, wait, what? He’s using his real name! Why is he using his real name? The receptionist is confused, and so is Dean. “What? Ah. I meant. I’m Dean Winchester, I’m looking for the devil’s son. This badge is fake.” OH MY GOD HE CAN’T LIE. JACK STOPPED EVERYONE FROM LYING. THINK OF THE FANFIC. Dean tries to laugh it off and immediately excuses himself.

Meanwhile, Sam witnesses a conversation where one guy says “I’m sleeping with your wife” and the other says “I know; I’m kinda into it” and is adorably befuddled. Then Dean joins him.

Hey, let me ask you a question. Tell me who your favorite singer is.

What?

Look, I know you say it’s Elvis, but we both know that’s crap. So tell me who your favorite singer is.

It’s like you said, it’s Celine Dion. I mean, Celine Dion… Celine… Dean, every time I try to say Elvis, it comes out-

The sad horrible truth, yeah.

Friends, there’s no way Celine Dion is actually Sam’s favorite singer. No possible way. So I hate that they made a mockery of Sam’s musical taste for the sake of a joke. On the other hand, it is a very funny bit. But it would have been just as funny, and less nauseating to me personally, if he’d said ABBA. But let’s move on.

Suddenly everyone at Mirror Universe is not only unable to lie, but they also can’t help blurting out the truth. And these are two completely different things. If Yogurt Guy asked Red Hoodie Guy if he’d stolen his yogurt, he’d have to say yes. But when Yogurt Guy just yells “who ate my yogurt,” there’s no reason Red Hoodie Guy couldn’t sit quietly and say nothing. So none of this truth-spewing chaos actually makes sense. But it’s funny. Especially the Stapler Queen. It’s also funny when the Winchesters duck into a conference room and watch a little bit of a news broadcast, where it’s reported the President admitted he’s a tax cheat who made a demon deal “with someone named Crowley,” because sometimes the low-hanging fruit is the sweetest fruit of all. The guys realize that if the truth curse isn’t a local phenomenom, it must be Jack’s doing.

Cut to Cas, looking into a peephole, trying to convince the demon inside to give him access to Hell. He wants to study the cage. She refuses to take him there literally, but invites him to go metaphorically. Does Cas want to send Jack to Lucifer’s cage? Or study it so he can build his own? Is she a special demon who provides guided tours of Hell? Are all the demons in hiding, now that Sam has denied them a leader? We don’t have time to ponder these questions, because behind Cas, someone says “Wow, yeah. You guys are screwed.” And he would know. Because it’s Chuck. Oooh, looks we’re getting the deus ex machina solution to the Jack problem!

Cut to Jack, knocking on the door of his grandmother’s house. Yes, she remembers him, and isn’t happy to see him.

Let’s go back to Jack’s stepfather and his grandfather.

God.

Eh.

{eyeroll} Chuck.

There you go.

He says he’s there because Cas called him, and we get a flashback of Cas calling on him with Samulet 2.0. Took you long enough, Chuck. He admits he’s there because of Jack, too. “He’s a problem.”

Kline house. The problem child is surprised to find that Kelly’s mom realizes he lied to her and isn’t at all interested in talking to him and also is pretty sure she’s dead. And she thinks Jack might have done it. Jack gets the glowy eyes and yells at her to stop. Uh oh. This usually doesn’t end well.

Mirror Universe. The chaos continues in the background as Sam fires up a computer and uploads a picture of Jack. “When you can’t lie, the internet gets real quiet,” Dean says, browsing on his phone. “Yeah, guess your life isn’t so perfect after all, @8packmommy.” Are you suggesting mommy bloggers are LYING? I’m shocked. (And also chuckling a little bit because hello, Genevieve Padalecki’s instagram.) Cas and Chuck show up in the middle of mayhem and Chuck explains that this is why people need to lie. Cas is surprised at that sentiment, and Chuck says “I’m a writer. Lying’s kinda what we do.” Remember that; it might be important later. Cas calls out for the Winchesters and they bring him into their conference room. They’re stunned to see Chuck with him.

I know what you’re thinking. It’s been a while, and I still look pretty good.

No, that’s… that’s not what we were thinking.

Hee! Dean angrily asks where he’s been, and Chuck says “well, you know, it’s a funny story; reminds me of a song” and picks up a guitar that I guess he just conjured up and Dean GRABS IT AND SMASHES IT ON THE FLOOR AND YELLS “ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION” AT GOD HIMSELF AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. Chuck yells “don’t!” right back at him and Dean maybe realizes he’s gone a little too far.

Whoopsie.

Sam swallows nervously (yum) and Cas looks anxious and then Chuck decides it’s a little cramped in this conference room and boom, they’re in the bunker. Okay, but what about the Impala? How are they going to get the Impala back to Lebanon? Chuck casually asks how are things, and they are not good, Chuck. He admits he puts the deus in deus ex machina, and I respect the Show for hanging a lampshade on that awkward little plot point. Because if we admit it, then it’s not ridiculous, it’s just meta, right?

He’s been traveling and watching Springsteen on Broadway, and Amara is in Reno playing keno (Reno? Not even Vegas?). He explains that he likes to stay hands-off, to build the sandbox and then let them play in it, which honestly aligns very much with my deist beliefs. Although it’s not quite true, is it, because he’s meddled with his sandbox toys occasionally. “You want to fight leviathans? Cool, you got that. You wanna go up against, what was it, the British Men of Letters? Okay. Little weak, but okay.” The camera is on Dean at this point and I fully expect an Office-style gaze into the camera from him because, come on. This couldn’t be more meta.

Chuck says that when there’s an apocalypse, or another apocalypse, he has to step in. And yes, apparently Jack is apocalyptic. He demonstrates, via God-controlled radio, that the whole world has gone bananas thanks to Jack’s “stop lying” edict. (The queen is a lizard? That’s almost as ridiculous as Sam being a Celine Dion fan.) Chuck undoes the damage with a snap of his fingers, but reluctantly, and only after Cas asks. Sam isn’t sure he believes him.

Really?

I’m God, Sam. Yeah, really.

Dean tests his ability to lie by saying “Celine Dion rocks.” Oh, poor Sam. He will never be allowed to forget this. And I wish he had asked Dean some embarrassing questions. Back at Mirror Universe, things have gone back to normal, with Red Hoodie Guy not confessing to yogurt theft, and Stapler Queen limiting herself to one stapler. (Sidebar: On a personal note, my stapler at work is actually older than some of you. Just thought you’d like to know.)

Chuck says Jack is dangerous, “me-level bad,” and he can’t stop him. “But you can. With that.” He points to a mysteriously engraved gun that appeared on the map table. Everyone stares anxiously at the gun, and Cas asks what it is. “I’m thinking of calling it The Equalizer,” says Chuck. “Or The Hammurabi.” The internet tells me Hammurabi was a Babylonian king who is best known for issuing laws that focused on physically punishing the perpetrator of a crime rather than compensating the victim. Hmmm. He’s surprised that no one seems impressed. Dean asks if it will kill Jack, and Chuck says it will kill anything. “So you’ve had this the whole time, and we’re just now getting it? Why?” says Sam. No, he just made it. It’s never even been fired.

Dean removes the clip and points out that it doesn’t have any bullets. “It doesn’t exactly use bullets,” Chuck explains. “See, existence is all about balance. Dark and light, good and evil, chocolate and peanut butter.” I love that Sam tells him to get on with it. (Also, chocolate and peanut butter are not opposites. The opposite of chocolate would be something like lemon. Or onions.) Chuck tells them the gun works on multidimensional energy, blah blah blah, basically, whatever happens to the person you’re aiming at also happens to you. You kill him, you die. And Chucks says he’d do it, but “If I bite it, existence also kind of bites it, so. One of you. Sorry.”

Dean, of course, has taken possession of this magic gun and isn’t going to let it go, because if anyone’s going to throw himself on that hand grenade, it’s Dean. But Cas doesn’t know why they’re talking about killing Jack in the first place. He called Chuck because he can fix Jack’s soul. “Not so much,” says Chuck. “Souls are complicated, even for me.” He also doesn’t think they’d want Jack back even if he could fix him, after what he did. Oh, Chuck. You may have created these guys (and hoo boy, good job, you) but you don’t know them at all. Or at least, not Sam, because he would do anything to save Jack from whatever is going to happen to him.

Cas then suggests caging Jack rather than killing him, but Dean says no, Chuck says this is the only way. Oh, like Billie said locking you up was the only way to defeat Michael, Cas points out, and rightfully so. Chuck scoffs at Billie. He preferred the old Death. Billie’s always sticking her scythe where it doesn’t belong. Will this matter later? Maybe.

Dean tells Cas that “God himself” just said this magic gun was the only way, so Cas needs to either get on board, or leave. Funny that “God himself” is suddenly such an authority figure to Dean. Now that he actually says what Dean has already said. You know.

Cas leaves. Sam looks disturbed, which is what Sam does in this episode, and Dean looks angry, which is what Dean does in this episode. Chuck watches it all with interest. And elsewhere, Jack remembers his grandmother asking what he did to her daughter.

Cut to Dean in his room, refilling his flask. Sam knocks on his door and Dean’s all, hey, I needed to talk to you anyway.

This is where you tell me you’re gonna pull the trigger.

Yeah, it is. We don’t have a choice, Sam.

Of course we do. Don’t we always? I mean, isn’t that the point of everything we’ve ever done, that we always have a choice?

He killed our mom.

I get it. I was mad too. You know what? I’m still mad. And a part of me wants Jack dead; it really does. But Dean, we haven’t even tried to save him.

Okay. You heard him, right? He actually blamed Mom for what happened.

He doesn’t have a soul!

And whose fault is that?

Mine! I’m the one who brought him back, and I brought him back because he’s family.

Okay.

And then he came back and he burned his soul off to save us. You and me. And now what, now you want my permission? You want me to say I’m cool with losing him, and losing you, all at once? Cause I can’t do that. I won’t say that. No. I’ve already lost too much.

Sam gets up and leaves, dragging the shredded remains of my heart with him. And I have to dispute one thing Dean said - Jack didn’t blame Mary. Not really. When Dean specifically asked if Mary “made him” do it, he said no. He accepted the blame, he just considered it an accident. (Except for the rest of those two episodes, where he was horrified by what he’d done, of course.)

While I’m repeating myself, let me repeat that I could watch an entiret episode that was just Dean drinking. And Sam being sad.

Cas shows up at a cemetery in his big Dodge truck and angrily slams his fist on the hood. I don’t know why he drove to this cemetery just to emote, but Jack flutters onto the scene and says he’s been looking for him. Cas hugs him, but Jack just looks puzzled and doesn’t hug back. Let’s stick with these two for a minute.

We see them walking, and Jack explaining that he thought he could make the world a better place if people couldn’t lie. And then he thought his grandparents might still like him,, but he got accused of killing his mom. Which, he admits, he did. And he used to hate himself, but he doesn’t any more. He doesn’t feel anything. Aw. So it’s true, he really is soulless. My poor sweet baby. In a flashback, we see he didn’t kill Grandma Kline, at least. He just scared the heck out of her with the glowy eyes and then stomped off.

Bunker. Chuck is admiring the One True Archangel Sword (Accept No Substitutes That You May Have Seen In Earlier Seasons), saying that he hasn’t seen one in forever. Not in this universe, anyway. Ahem. Sam tells him it came from “another world.” And that provides a segue for him to ask Chuck how many other universes there are. Chuck doesn’t keep track, because a lot of them are boring. “One’s a reverse, in one there’s no yellow, one of them’s just all squirrels.” (And a moose, right? There has to be at least one moose in the Squirreliverse!) And then they have this conversation.

So, Michael said that you create these worlds and you just toss them away, like failed versions of some book.

And you believe him?

Was he lying? … Is that what you’re doing to us?

No! Sam. You and your brother, of all the Sams and Deans in all the multiverse, you’re my favorite. You’re just so interesting? I mean, like that thing that happened at the office earlier today, that was crazy, right?

Do you watch us? When you’re not here, are you watching us?

Yeah. I mean, you’re my favorite show.

Then why don’t you do something? If I had your power-

Sam, we talked about this. Not the way it works.

Wait a second. Why, when the chips are down, when the world is failing, why does it always have to be on us?

Because you’re my guys. But right now we need to focus on Jack. Ah, that kid.

Wait a second. You’re scared of him.

Aren’t you?

Do you know where he is?

I do.

Then what are you waiting for?

Oh, nothing. Dean’s already gone.

OH SNAP. Chuck was just stalling, this entire time, giving Dean a chance to go after Jack. What an SOB. But this conversation, guys. Sam’s voice. His soft voice and his angry voice. Hnnngngngngngngh. And Chuck pointing out that Sam and Dean are his favorite show? And that he just likes to watch them? Because they’re so interesting? “My guys?” Am I being personally called out here? Because it sure feels like it.

Let’s go back to Cas and Jack in the very pretty cemetery. And let me say that, as much as I want Sam to be the one who goes after Jack and tries to save him, who pushes hardest against Dean and Chuck and their plan to kill him, it makes sense for Cas to do it. Cas was his first father, and the one who protected him before he was even born. Sam at least admits he’s ambivalent about Jack. Cas is the one who can say “screw Mary Winchester; this is my kid.” So, Jack tells Cas that killing Mary was an accident, and he keeps trying to do the right thing and it keeps not working. “All I ever wanted was to be good, but now I’m just empty. Even this. I know you’re here because you love me, and I want to love you back. But it’s just… I can’t.” {sob} Cas thinks Jack can regain his capacity for love, and they just need to go somewhere safe, where no one can find them.

Oooh, but it’s too late. Someone found them. And that someone is Dean, with the magic gun. Cas puts himself between Dean and Jack and tells Jack to run, but Jack refuses. “I won’t run any more,” he says, and he flings Cas away. “You’re not gonna lock me up again, are you,” he asks Dean. “No,” Dean says, and he points the gun at Jack, and Desn’s about to die (and he didn’t say goodbye to Sam, because look how that worked last time!) and he’s dead inside. But he doesn’t shoot. And Jack GETS ON HIS KNEES AND LOOKS UP AT HIM LIKE THE SWEET LITTLE CINNAMON ROLL BUNNY HE USED TO BE. Dean lowers the gun. Is he remembering another sweet little cinnamon roll bunny on his knees, waiting to be executed for the greater good? Maybe. I know I am. He doesn’t put it down, though, and he walks closer to Jack and aims again, and now I’m thinking that if Jack is willing to die, couldn’t Dean suggest he kill himself? And then Dean wouldn’t have to die? I wonder if that would work?

This is a lovely and tragic scene, and Dean aiming a gun at someone is always crazy hot.

Then an old sedan races into the cemetery - it’s Sam! \o/ Instead of driving over to Dean, he parks and then runs over to him, yelling, and I guess maybe he thought he’d get in trouble for driving off the designated area or something, but I would have disregarded that. However, we do get this truly marvelous shot of him running across the cemetery, so I’m okay with it.

Jack tells Dean “I understand” and I am NOT OKAY WITH THIS and Sam’s still running and yelling “no” and I think he’s going to actually jump in front of Jack. But Dean says “stay back, Sam” and he stops. Huh. Chuck shows up next to him. Huh again.

“You were right,” says Jack. “I am a monster.” But Dean still can’t seem to pull the trigger. I’m still surprised that Sam hasn’t tried to pull Dean away, considering that if he shoots Jack, they’ll both be dead. Instead, Sam turns to Chuck and says “do something,” and then notices that Chuck is REALLY INTO THIS. “You’re enjoying this,” he says, shocked. Chuck shushes him.

Those if you who aren’t enjoying it can cast the first stone. I won’t be among you.

Turns out this recap is too long for Tumblr, but you can read the rest on my Livejournal.

[clairen45]

Digging into Rey and Kylo’s Spotify Playlists- part 1: episode 7 songs

The Shut Up and Dance with Me post really pushed me to go through the songs from the Spotify playlists and give you the lowdown, as I see it. That these lists even exist is beyond me! And, just to be clear, these lists have been released in 2015 pre-TFA. With no modification, even pre or post TLJ. No added material. If anything, they actually removed some songs from the lists: 2 for Kylo and 3 for Rey. I don’t think the changes necessarily meant that the songs were too revealing or, on the contrary, didn’t fit the characters anymore. It might just be copyright or legal issue or some artistic differences or god knows what. But again, the point of these lists were to get to know the characters a little better. Some characters we already knew of course, the big three ( Luke, Leia, Han Solo), but also Obi-Wan and Yoda, a list for Anakin and a list for Vader, Padmé, Mace Windu, Bobba Fett, Chewbacca... Lists for new characters: Finn, BB8... surprisingly no Poe Dameron. By the way, I think the Dark Side’ list is super interesting! And of course Rey and Kylo. Rey’s list is full of pop, girl empowerment anthem kind of songs, with a few romantic ballads, which already meant something. Kylo’s is of course full of angsty rock. I don’t want to comment on the genre. My mission was less on the musical genres than on the lyrics and how they can shed some light on the characters and their fates. Because, sure, a team chose these songs to let us know about the characters but, honestly, guys, I think somebody let them in on the rough draft of the whole ST. Because post TLJ it is obvious that a lot of songs apply to what happened as far as Rey and Kylo are concerned in this movie. And since we have our bunch of ep 7 songs, and a bunch of ep 8 songs, well, it appears a bunch of songs don’t fit either and could very well give us key information about ep 9. Before I get accused again of “reaching” (LOL), let us be honest: I think they put a lot of care into those playlists. So no, I don’t think coincidences are accidental. And yes, I think it’s fair to speculate about episode 9 looking at the songs. So let’s take the journey and crack these songs together.

There are 53 songs for Kylo (I am excluding the original soundtrack every time) and 54 for Rey. Rey’s playlist also has tunes in common with Padmé, Leia, and Luke. 4 songs in common with Padmé, quite a lot: Smoke and Fire, Rich Girl, Fighter, and Bulletproof. With Leia: Smoke and Fire, and the fact that they both have Love is a Battlefield, except that Leia is Pat Benatar’s song, and Rey’s is Jordin Spark’s song. Same title, different songs. This marks Rey as the “heiress” to these two heroines, which is not surprising. I think it is quite remarkable that she shares so many songs with Padmé, as regards the Anidala inversion we always talk about. Rich Girl, in particular, because Padmé was a Queen, so yes, the rich girl, whereas in Rey’s case the song is ironic. Rey also shares 2 song with Luke: Wild by Troye Sivan (I honestly don’t get what this song does on Luke’s playlist, so that must mean something potentially), and Adventure of a Lifetime. With Luke as a mentor to Rey in ep 8, that would kind of make sense that they would share something. I honestly merely skimmed through all the playlists, but Rey and Kylo seem to be the only one who share  songs with other characters (if I am wrong, please correct me). Kylo shares 3 songs, 1 with Anakin (and NOT Vader), Bored to Death, 1 with BB8, Destroy the Map, and one with Mace Windu on You want a Battle (Here’s War). Interesting also. I won’t necessarily comment on that today, because there is a lot to go through, but these are thoughts to save and process later maybe.

Some songs can also fit two, maybe the three, episodes. And also, I have noticed something very interesting in Rey’s playlist: a lot of songs that feature in her playlist seem to be more from Kylo’s POV (like Shut up and Dance). They should normally feature on his list but because they would break away from the others in terms of genre, it is probably how they ended on Rey’s list. I found on Kylo’s playlist 1 song that, to me, should rather feature on Rey’s list, but again, would seem odd in terms of genre.

1.KYLO’S LIST/ EPISODE 7

Kylo’s list also seems way more descriptive about his character, angst, inner conflict, feelings of pain and revenge, than Rey’s list. There is a lot of songs talking about past abuse and family conflict. Sweet Dreams by Marilyn Manson is a good example: “ Some of them want to use you/ Some of them want to get used by you/ Some of them want to abuse you/ Some of them want to be abused”. References to dreams and nightmares in Kylo’s playlist are also quite noteworthy because they tie in with Rey’s visions as described in TFA: she hears voices in her dreams, and when she first sees Kylo, she knows that she has seen him before “in a dream, in a nightmare”. We can also find some parallels with the plot in episode 7: the Jakku massacre, meeting Rey, killing Han... Recurring themes are, without surprise, fire, death, suffering, dreams and nightmares...

This Means War (Avenged Sevendold). That song is packed with so much about his feelings and his introduction in the ST. It goes on and on really. I could quote the whole thing. But here are the highlights :

Hide my face again, harbor in the shadows (duh!) Feel this weight of sin hammering away Die, with the guilt of a thousand AWOL soldiers (The pull to the light) Die, watch the scythe usher me astray (Lor San Tekka’s execution)

The ugly side of me is strong

Carry me to nowhere  (Jakku is nowhere!) Lie!Mask the pain Of a child who's forsaken Lie! To myself Praise the new regime (honestly, did they write the song for Kylo?)

I left me long ago Reasons you'll never know No one to miss me when I'm gone With no more words to say No argument to stay. Another post I don't belong (Lor San Tekka: The First Order rose from the dark side. You did not)

No home to call my own No finding someone new No one to break the fall No one to see me through No name to carry on No promise for today No one to hear the call (Oh hon, hang on, the girl is coming!) Buy into the fear (Rey: You are afraid!) My serpent blood can strike so cold (Murderous snake! again) Another thought I can't control (Force bond much?)

Elements of TFA Plot:

Legion of Evil (OFF): “Break down houses”, “ Mystery crews on a murderous spree” (the opening on Jakku, with his mysterious identity) but also “Retaliation against horrible gods/Treasonous snakes with gentlemen's lies/ Waving a false flag to sell the deception” which of course are reminiscent of his line to Rey about the Resistance: “ You mean the murderers traitors and thieves you call your friends ? “. But can also ironically evoke Snoke’s influence on him: he is the treasonous snake with gentlemen’s lies. Or even to him as seen from Rey’s POV in 7 and at the beginning of TLJ: “a treasonous snake”/ “murderous snake”/ “liar”...

The Red (Chevelle) and Evil Eye (Franz Ferdinand), both emphasize the color red, which is Kylo’s color theme.Thunder and Lightning (Motorhead”, “ Maybe you'll die, maybe you'll fly/ Fire in the sky, thunder and lightning”.  Heart of Fire (Black Veil Brides): “ I feel alive inside I won't be terrorized, I'll take all the blame/This heart of fire is burning proud/ I am every dream you lost and never found/ This heart of fire is stronger now”. Also the attack on Jakku.

The Map plot: R2 where are U (Flying Lotus): it takes both BB8 and R2 to find Luke’s hideout. This song is also on BB8′s list by the way. Destroy the Map  (36 Crazy Fists). Obviously the title is interesting because Kylo gives up on the map and gets Rey instead. The song presents some other interesting points: something that could evoke Starkiller base “ And the clouds don't break when the sun is on empty” , and also something that seems to fit straight into TLJ: “You couldn't hold your mouth to stop the sound/ With all these riches on the tip of your tongue/And I was trying to dampen it all out/You were talking louder than I should here/Producing nothing but all these mirrors”, “ Where the baptized drown/We used to breathe” (Rey in the cave) “This time, our time, we have, we'll last”. So gain some songs can actually fit more than 1 episode.

Failing on Starkiller: beaten up by Rey, never got the intel about Luke... At least I’m known for something (New Found Glory): “ I've figured out my situation/ I am an endless source of useless information/ Give me bad news could be something expecting/ I let my front down/ And I know I will regret it/ /But you don't know that and I'm the one to blame for it/'Cause I'm destined for failure“. More Starkiller: My own Summer (Deftones): “ Hey you, big star/ Tell me when it's over”.

Family and Han:

Refusing his legacy. War on the Palaces (Refused):

I carry history with me I carry hope   (I see you Ben You are My Only Hope Solo!!!!) All the nameless faces before us Let's carry them all

I wanna carry the dead (his attachment for Vader instead of the living members of his family) Wage war on the palaces

Bored to Death (Blink 182): “ And it's a long way back from seventeen/The whispers turn into a scream/And I'm, I'm not coming home/Save your breath, I'm nearly/ Bored to death”. Mene (Brand New): “ My father spoke of prophecy/ To think that I believed is self-centered of me/There was something I was trying to say/ But then I choked on it and now it's getting kind of late” (@madandmisquoted did a meta on how Kylo mumbles “I love you dad”+ “It is too late”). Indestructible (Rancid): “ It's so fake now, everything I see right through/I'm ashamed now to say I ever know you” evoke his scene with Han. I don’t wanna Hear It (Minor Threat): “ I don't want to hear it/ I'm sick and tired of all your lies/ I don't want to hear it/ When are you gonna realize.”. Family and mommy issues: Down With the Sickness (Disturbed): “ It seems what's left of my human side/ Is slowly changing in me”, “ It seems you're having some trouble/ In dealing with these changes/ Living with these changes / The world is a scary place/ Now that you've woken up the demon in me”, “ No mommy, don't do it again/Don't do it again/ I'll be a good boy/I'll be a good boy, I promise No mommy don't hit me/ Why did you have to hit me like that, mommy?”. 

Conflict

Got the Life (Korn): “Hate, something, someway, each day, dealing with no forgiveness/ Why? This shit inside/ Now everyone will follow/ So give me nothing just feel/ And now this shit will follow/ God begs me, the more I see the light, who wants to see?”. Strife (Trivium): “ I reach for calm/ I starve for a balance unknown/ This burden tortures me deep in my soul” ; “ Guilt buries me alive/ In a coffin criticized/ I shouldered the blame and dug this hole for me to lay in”. Duality (Slipknot). The title says it all, but it definitely applies to the scene with Han: “ You cannot kill what you did not create”;  “Pull me back together/ Or separate the skin from the bone/ Leave me all the pieces, and then you can leave me alone” (Can apply to “I’m feeling torn apart”, “I killed your son, he was foolish and weak” ).

The Girl

I know that’s what you’ve been waiting for. There are 2 major songs about Rey in that list and one them has been removed, A Cross and a Girl Named Bless (Evans Blue). That song presents some elements that stretch all the way to 9. I’m including it here, because of the obvious reference to the way they meet on Takodana:

She's holding out for weapons to kill the ghosts inside (She shoots at a ghostlike figure in the forest)

Or at least kill the thoughts she has of killing her mind (Get out of my head!)

She says "I love you" with her hands (TLJ: Smut Hut)

She says "I hate you" with her eyes (You have that look from the forest..)

There's a pretty girl somewhere with a pretty name (What girl?)

But I could never let you know how much this means I swear we'll end this war, because we both know

It wasn't worth fighting for  (Major episode IX spoiler)

She, she said to me I will be driving in the wrong direction Did you ever think that maybe your life

Is heading in the wrong direction, baby? (Throne Room Scene)

There's a cross up on the wall See from the corner of your eye When you're down on you knees...and she's begging please So go and lay back down tonight Because you won't know who you are

Until you're down on your knees...your begging please (End of TLJ, Crait)

The other big song is The Answer (Savages):

Wish me luck This was a hard year And I can't see No brighter future Wish me luck I saw the answer It was a girl (What girl?) Will you go ask her  (Interrogation scene, the girl is all we need) I saw the answer Will you go ask her Love is the answer

Evil (Interpol): “ Heaven restores you in life/ You're coming with me/ Through the aging, the fearing, the strife/ It's the smiling on the package/ It's the faces in the sand” (the abduction, Rey is literally a face in the sand, the smile...), “You're weightless, semi-erotic/ You need someone to take you there/Sandy, why can't we look the other way?/Why can't we just play the other game?” (he carries her in his arms like a feather, You need a teacher!).

There is also a song there that is all about Rey’s POV on Kylo in TFA. Headstrong (Trapt) screams Rey during the interrogation scene. But, again, they couldn’t have put it on her playlist so it features on his instead.

Circling your head contemplating everything you ever said (getting in HIS head) Now I see the truth I got a doubt  (You... are afraid you will never be as trong as Darth Vader!) A different motive in your eyes and now I'm out (escapes the interrogation room) See you later I see your fantasies You wanna make it a reality baby paved in gold See inside, inside of our heads yeah Well now that's over

Back off I'll take you on (Forest duel) Headstrong to take on anyone (Come on, that is SO Rey!) I know that you are wrong Headstrong we're Headstrong Back off I'll take you on Headstrong to take on anyone I know that you are wrong This is not where you belong (Trying to turn him in 8)

I can't give everything away (I won’t give you anything!) I won't give everything away

2.REY’S PLAYLIST/EPISODE 7

JAKKU

There are songs about Rey’s life conditions on Jakku. Poverty in Rich Girl (Gwen Stefani): “ If I was a rich girl/ See, I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl/ No man could test me, impress me, my cash flow would never ever end/ Cause I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl”. Of course the morale of the song is “All the riches in the world don’t mean anything without your love”. To remind us that if Rey has dreams it’s mostly about finding love and belonging. Interesting that she shares this song with Padmé who had the riches + the love and still didn’t get her happy ever after, but more on that later...

New Americana (Halsey) about survival of the fittest, the daily struggle of poverty, social divide. That one is also interesting because of its reference to James Dean: “ Young James Dean, some say/ He looks just like his father”. There is also the big reveal about Kylo being Han’s son.  I  think it’s probably how they first imagined Kylo, as a hypersensitive, rebellious, angsty youth, a character from East of Eden (another reference to Eden). The character played by James Dean, in Elia Kazan’s adaptation of Steinbeck’s famous novel, is Cal, a rebellious son who believes his father does not love him and sees him as evil incarnate. Kylo much?

Daylight (Matt and Kim) can also be about home and Jakku: “I miss yellow lines in my roads/ Some color on monochrone”, ‘Cause the daylight anywhere feels like home”. In TFA she wants to go back to Jakku. Rey is also used to having to fight for her survival: “ Murder lives forever/And so does war/ It's survival of the fittest/ Rich against the poor/ At the end of the day/ It's a human trait/ Hidden deep down inside of our DNA”.

Some songs talk about Rey’s dreams and her feelings of loneliness.Chandelier (Sia): “I'm gonna live like tomorrow doesn't exist/ Like it doesn't exist/ I'm gonna fly like a bird through the night,/ Feel my tears as they dry”. How she lives on a day to day basis and feels lonely all the time. Wake Me Up (Avicii):  

Feeling my way through the darkness Guided by a beating heart I can't tell where the journey will end But I know where to start They tell me I'm too young to understand They say I'm caught up in a dream Well life will pass me by if I don't open up my eyes Well that's fine by me (stuck waiting on Jakku)

So wake me up when it's all over When I'm wiser and I'm older All this time I was finding myself And I didn't know I was lost

I tried carrying the weight of the world (Literally her job as a scavenger) But I only have two hands I hope I get the chance to travel the world And I don't have any plans I wish that I could stay forever this young Not afraid to close my eyes Life's a game made for everyone And love is a prize

THE FIGHTER

Of course songs about Rey, the independent girl, the fighter... Fighter (Christina Aguilera): “ 'Cause it makes me that much stronger/ Makes me work a little bit harder/ It makes me that much wiser/ So thanks for making me a fighter/ Made me learn a little bit faster/ Made my skin a little bit thicker/ Makes me that much smarter/ So thanks for making me a fighter”. Another song shared with Padmé. I know the song is about a guy that cheated on the girl and lied to her, but rather than about Kylo, this song can apply to a lot of people in Rey’s life: her parents, Unkar Plutt, and all the people she’s had to deal with since childhood. There is Run the World (Beyoncé) that could also be foreshadowing for episode ix. Kelly Clarkson’s Miss Independent, with the perfect title for Rey’s episode 7, but the message about love in this song actually fits better episode 8. Roar (Katy Perry): empowerment anthem, plus Rey looks like a lioness at the end of TFA, baring her teeth and snarling at Kylo. Possibly Piece of Me (Britney Spears).

Confident (Demi Lovato) fits well with Roar. That one screams end of TFA with beating Kylo down.

It's time for me to take it I'm the boss right now Not gonna fake it Not when you go down 'Cause this is my game And you better come to play

I used to hold my freak back

Now I'm letting go

I make my own choice (accepting the saber)

Bitch, I run this show So leave the lights on No, you can't make me behave

So you say I'm complicated

That I must be outta my mind But you had me underrated Rated, rated

What's wrong with being, what's wrong with being

What's wrong with being confident?

 There is the teaser song about Rey’s origin. That’s Not my Name (The Ting Things). Well, in TFA everybody is asking about her identity, about “the girl”, wo that would make sense to have this song. Rey might not even be her name after all, though she is old enough when her parents sell her to remember it; Does it mean we will l get a new name in ix? Maybe. Or just Rey Solo. I think the song is really there for the fun about the possible identity of Rey...

THE ESCAPE

Songs about Rey leaving Jakku and becoming a pilot. Obviously: Starships (Nicki Minaj) because “starships are meant to fly”. Boom Boom Pow (The BEP): “ I'm on that supersonic boom/ Y'all hear the spaceship zoom”. Alive Tonight (Grace Potter), for these lines: “In the dark of the desert/  I saw a man with a sign, it said/ People get ready, 'cause it's all over/ It's all gonna end tonight, well” ( On Jakku, Lor San Tekka is the man with the intel about Luke promising that “this will begin to make things right”, and eventually this sign gets to Rey through BB8 at dusk in the desert). I also like these lines: “ You wanna get in on the action, you want/ Everyone to listen to you, oh/ You're just living in a prediction/ And that don't, that don't make it true, no” which fits the fact that things will not be as simple as Rey thinks. Also about the end of Rey’s time on Jakku, The Dog Days are Over (Florence+ the Machines): “The dog days are over/The dog days are done/ The horses are coming so you better run”.  These lines are great: “Leave all your love and your longing behind you/ Can't carry it with you if you want to survive”, about giving up on Jakku and close to Maz’s line about “the belonging you seek is not behind you”.

MEETING KYLO

Now, with songs that reflect on meeting Kylo... There is Gibberish (Max): “ But then I caught you creepin'/ Secrets that you were keepin”, which could fit the interrogation scene. Or the title could just refer to the fact that Rey seems to understand every language she meets (BB8, Chewie...). LOL. Obviously, the beautiful Yes Girl (Bea Miller):

I got you figured out, you need to have control You think that I don't know you, I know you, I know Trying to tell you now, I've been doing what you want But I won't be your yes girl, no, not anymore

And these even better lines: “ And now you're my favorite sin, oh/ Cause I'm either on your side or you're a mile away” (which fits TLJ better). There is Focus (Ariana Grande): “ I can tell you're curious/ It's written on your lips/ Ain't no need to hold it back/ Go ahead and talk your shit/ I know you're hoping that I'll react/ I know you're hoping I'm looking back/ But if my real ain't real enough/ Then I don't know what is” (again, mood for the interrogation scene). Also like that line: “ Let's find a light inside our universe now/ Where ain't nobody keep on holding us down”. 

That one seems really more to me from Kylo’s POV when Rey leaves for the MF at the end of TFA. We Come Running (Youngblood Hawke):

Headed for the open door Tell me what you're waiting for (Rey is coded as the waiting one) Look across the great divide   (the ground falling apart between them) Soon they're gonna hear The sound, the sound, the sound (Boom goes Starkiller) When we come running Never go where we belong (obviously, they parted ways when they should be together) Echoes in the dead of dawn  (Force bond foreshadowing echoes?) Soon they're gonna know The sound, the sound, the sound When we come running

And also that one: Force of Nature (Bea Miller). That one really fits Kylo in TFA as he starts falling for Rey during their duel on Starkiller: I don't know why but my hands are shaking I can see you coming and I stand here waiting (Didn’t put up much of a fight, honestly) Yeah I get tongue tied in the conversation (Lost the interrogation scene fight) It's an F'd up, bad, sick situationI tried to tie my heart down, board up all the windows Oh but it's too late now (Too late is classic Kylo) I let you get too close (like inside my head) I know I should take cover, hide inside these four walls But baby I surrender, it all'Cause you're a force of nature (Marry Me Face) Look at what you've done I can taste the danger but I don't wanna run So pull me to the ground and I won't put up a fight (End of the fight) I'm a caution taker, but baby you're a force of nature Baby you're a force of natureI feel your lips move in and they take me under (The Force? Mesmerized in looking at her) You know just what to do, how to make me want you And I know I'll be broken when it's over Oh but I can't help but pull you closerI'll be here 'till we collide I don't care if I survive So crash into me one more time

Say what you want, but this beautiful ballad is all about Kylo’s feelings for Rey!

BONUS: THE INVERSE ANIDALA SONG?

There’s an intriguing tune in Kylo’s playlist. Incorporeal (Tiger Army).

I’m gone I died long ago but my spirit still roams (Incorporeal) Unwanted in heaven, forgotten in hell as on earth (Incorporeal) I don't want to stay here, it seems that I'll never be free Oh can you hear me? (no) And so It has come to be that I must wander forever (Incorporeal) Many things I have seen, empires that rise and then fall (Incorporeal) A life you live long is simply a moment to me A tiny drop of water in the sea of eternity There's no place for me everywhere that I go Only seems to bring upset and harm There's one thing that I want and one thing only Release into the great beyond Don't want to remember when I was alive When I held my true love in my arms For like you I once was, and like me you shall be When you Feel a chill in the night perhaps it's me saying hello (Incorporeal) You're so much like my love though she lived in a long ago time (Incorporeal) I long to see her, the day when my soul's laid to rest The peace that I can not find in life, I can find in death

Honestly, this song makes me want to scream!!! Heavy reincarnation theme. Especially when you cross that with Rey sharing 4 songs with Padmé. And with the fact that Anakin (not Vader) and Kylo share a song. And the song  I mentioned, Rich Girl. Rey is the inverse Padmé already, right? She’s the younger one in the couple, and she is poor with a low status. Again, Padmé has everything (the riches and the guy) and didn’t end up happy. By sharing songs, it might be another hint that Rey will succeed where Padmé didn’t.

This is it for 7, guys. It is quite a beast. 34 songs left to go through in Rey’s playlist, 25 for Kylo.

[ganymedesclock]

I always feel bad for getting angry at things that are clearly fandom jokes, but at the same time, if the jokes are not something the character would actually do (or an understandable hyperbole of how they actually are) it just... sets my teeth on edge and this may have inspired a lengthy post about Keith’s childhood and fan depictions of that I have seen.

Like. Canon Krolia is established as someone who plans things out. She’s smart, a strategist- she has to be, because she’s a career spy with a long tenure under one of the most dangerous people in the empire. Remember, we were introduced to Warlord Ranveig by Lance commenting that “I’m guessing you don’t get that title by being a good person”, during the Kral Zera he murdered someone onscreen more obviously than we’ve seen before and flung their body aside, and was experimenting on a living creature with quintessence.

Krolia has to have a pretty ironclad set of nerves to, day in and day out, for years, lie through her teeth to this guy, undermine him, and feed intel back to his enemies, her allies. Especially since, while we don’t see the two of them together, Ranveig was like four times her size. 

And that’s reflected by her behavior within the episode- “I’m guessing Ranveig is dead, since Commander Trugg is attacking my base,” she says, with complete neutrality like she’s discussing the weather report.

This is also a trained military personnel who’s received a pretty darn long and comprehensive training in the use of a sword. That is to say, someone who has a very keen idea of how this is not a toy, must be used carefully, and is very dangerous, because she regularly uses its danger pointy bit to end the lives of other things.

So the No Fun Humdrum Clockie is here to say: there’s no way in hell someone with those kind of credentials would leave her weapon where a baby could get it, much less put it directly into his lacking-motor-dexterity hands. There’s no way someone as smart as Krolia would look at her kid trying to eat his own foot because he doesn’t realize it’s attached to him yet and go “hmm, what should I give him, this nice safe baby rattle or this deadly weapon that could cause him grievous injury?”

And part of the reason this makes me mad is the assumption that Krolia’s otherness- her being an alien- would make her inept at being a parent without evidence that this is actually part of her experience. The show illustrates that it’s really not hard in this universe for sentient life to understand each other and most of their needs are similar.

It’s frustrating to insinuate that Krolia, as someone smart enough to operate as a high-stakes deep-cover spy, can’t understand how babies work and would just bash ahead cheerfully endangering her son when that’s something she tacitly refuses to do.

It’s frustrating when sympathetic galra are so often framed as baffled or incompetent- like if they aren’t specifically placental mammals themselves they must have no idea what a placenta is! (Just like humans clearly have no idea what the hell an egg is because we don’t hatch from eggs, right?)

Even though the galra in this situation would actually be better set up to understand or, at bare minimum, not be thrown that far by humans being unlike them because the humans in this setting are only just meeting aliens for the first time now- the galra have met hundreds of other sentient beings in this time. Even if you have a bunch of headcanons about humans being different from galra, it runs a pretty high risk of arrogance to act like humans are somehow more different and more special than any other sentient race that the galra can’t possibly understand us.

And when I look at something that’s just supposed to be funny like a picture of Krolia carrying Keith in a baby harness with her sword sheathed in the front of the harness I know that’s not consciously and willfully what the artist is thinking, but it’s still... frustrating, very frustrating, because... child endangerment is not funny. 

Depicting a smart perceptive character who is shown to be worried about her child’s welfare and caring about how he’s actually feeling rather than what she thinks he should be feeling, as a negligent parent more concerned with her cultural standards or expectations-

(“Why is my baby so short, and not like a galra? I was definitely not prepared for this, somehow expected that having a partner that’s not a galra at all would still mean my children have stereotypical galra phenotypes”)

-than the actual reality of her child’s situation? Is not funny. It’s just frustrating. And it’s frustrating that most of the times I go into Krolia’s tag, that’s a sizable chunk of the content- depicting Krolia as a Wacky Incompetent Space Mom who doesn’t know how babies work.

Would Krolia probably be a little more militaristic than the average soccer mom? Yeah, but look at the actual reality of her situation. Where’s Keith who grows up in this comfortable environment, and as an elementary schooler knows how to wriggle out of people’s grip and a couple of ways to break out of restraints, and he’s really good at hide ‘n seek, and he has a toy, cloth-wrapped dagger that’s weighted so he can get used to the reach of it but soft-edged so he doesn’t cut himself or poke his eye out because he’s not ready for a real one, not yet.

Because Krolia wouldn’t just be idly going at this with an expectation that her Knife Boy must grow up to be the pride of his Sword Family. Krolia’s raising Keith, however much time she was allowed to spend with him, would be tinted hard with a lens of, she’s not going to have all the time in the world to make Keith safe.

Because she’s gonna know from the start that Keith is half-galra and the empire is not safe for half-galra, it’s barely safe for full galra, and Keith’s the son of a rebel so he’s gonna learn what all Blades do, he’s gonna learn to hide.

And frankly? Keith’s dream of his father in s2e8 carries that sort of vibe. His father talks very gently and carefully in language that a young child would easily understand (which is where Keith’s memories of him stem from) but also talks about staying hidden, where the advancing enemy army can’t find them.

Keith didn’t have a Normal Suburban Childhood with a white picket fence, and he didn’t have a negligent sitcom childhood, because he had parents that loved him, but his parents were a little more worried about whether or not the lurking space empire would come after them and kill them all than they were about “our baby is gonna be a doctor!”

So yeah, the first foster parent that got Keith after he lost his father probably was more than a little concerned that he’d been raised by conspiracy theorists or some kind of cult because why does this kid have a clear sense of what to do if he was kidnapped. Who taught him how to get out of an arm-bar choke, he’s all of eight and should have a strangely committed interest in dinosaurs or dolls or something else normal.

That’s not to say nothing funny ever happened in Keith’s childhood. It’s not to say Krolia never held up her baby boy who was staring lovingly into her eyes and asked herself “what the hell am I doing,” because she’s used to high stakes, she’s used to danger, but she’s not used to having this incredibly vulnerable tiny squishy thing, and bringing him into the world she’s put him where her enemies can reach him, and he’s not ready for the universe, but he can’t be ready, and she’s used to adults that choose and willingly take those risks and not a toddler who have no idea why anyone would hate his mommy or want her- and him, and their whole family- to die.

Where’s Krolia stressing out because she thought she was ready for this but Keith is so very small and so very soft, and that’s how all babies are, sure, but they’ve never been her baby before.

And frankly, given my reads on Krolia and her partner, there were probably more than a few times Keith was upset and Krolia sorta awkwardly handed him off to his dad because oh no, those are complicated emotions, how do you handle those.

Just- there could be all kinds of funny things in Keith’s childhood, that are, I think a lot funnier than “Krolia why does our child have a knife”. 

[energylifepat-blog]

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He also has a talent for woodshop to the point that the teacher was willing to entrust the class into his care and recommend him for advanced placement woodshop. This shows that if Zack applied himself, he could do much better in school. Zack is intelligent, as is shown when he was sent to summer school and was the smartest kid in class to the point he taught the other kids the lesson himself. He generally receives bad grades in school. Zack tends to be less mature than his brother, but he does occasionally show signs of compassion and caring. Zack is more laid-back, self-centered and outgoing than Cody. While Cody shows the same interest in girls as his brother, he prefers long-term relationships with one girl, rather than dating many girls at once, like Zack. Cody says that his biggest dream is to win a Nobel Prize. In 'Big Hair & Baseball’, it is revealed that he has astigmatism. This becomes a running joke throughout the series. Despite his exceptional intelligence and relative maturity when compared to Zack, Cody exhibits some comically regressive behaviors, such as calling his mother 'Mommy’, screaming when frightened, and carrying a 'blankey’ into his teens. London Tipton, daughter of the man who owns the Tipton Hotel in which the twins reside for the duration of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, uses him on various occasions to complete her school work.īuild your own hydraulic press. He is often referred to as a nerd, though he prefers the phrase 'educationally gifted’. He generally receives good grades in school, and according to Zack, Cody has a 5.0 grade point average. Cody tends to be more sensitive, caring and better behaved than his brother, but he is not perfect he occasionally shows acts of meanness and greed. Cody Ĭody is the more erudite, mature, and intelligent than Zack. They originally intended to attend Harvard University however, they have a bad encounter with a Dean there, as the dean helped to lie when Zack dated the dean’s daughter. The twins are proven to have Swedish backgrounds in the Suite Life on Deck episode, 'The Swede Life’.

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They appear on cross-over episodes of other Disney Channel series also, such as That’s So Raven Wizards of Waverly Place Hannah Montana I’m in the Band So Random! and the special Studio DC: Almost Live.

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[thejonzone]

Jon Writes a Year-End List

My favorite songs of 2020, alphabetically by artist

Bedouine (Margo Guryan cover)- The Hum

The original Guryan version is good but Bedouine’s take is cleaner, all the better to emphasize Guryan’s blissful songwriting. I could listen to the chords in the chorus forever.

Bob Dylan- I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give My Heart to You

It’s nice to hear Bob sing a yearning and clear-eyed love song. And the way he stretches out his words gives the whole thing a confidence that’s easy to get lost in. 

Boldy James- Giant Slide

Boldy had a great year, and it’s The Price of Tea in China with Alchemist producing that stood out to me. 

Empty Country- Becca

I don’t go to music festivals anymore, but listening to this album makes me dream of hearing it live, while being dehydrated, sweaty, feet hurting, holding in a p*op, a late afternoon sunburn loading. I want the whole thing!!

fawning, Rui Gabriel ft. Jack Riley- God

Toss it on the cloudy day walking playlist!

Frances Quinlan- Went to LA 

Great cathartic yell in this one. Quinlan builds up a palpable tension here. It rocks.

Judy ft. Jack Dolan, jommis- Say What U Mean

You’ve got to imagine these fellas knew they had put a few catchy melodies down while trying to out-croon each other.

Kurt Vile ft. John Prine (John Prine cover)- How Lucky

A Prine acolyte with a feature from the man himself. RIP.

Lala Lala, Grapetooth- Valentine

Kind of like a slow-dance song at nightmare prom. I love the percussion and Frankel’s villainously-low voice.

Lil Durk- Street Affection

The range of emotions Durk can access and scroll through is impressive.  

Miranda Winters- Little Baby Dead Bird

Scuzzy guitar and violin create a hypnotic effect in this evocative dirge. Miranda Winters is such a good singer. Check out her main band, Melkbelly-- they put out a great album this year!

Nap Eyes- Mark Zuckerberg

Two guitars: one is pointy, the other is chugging. That is the correct way to do two guitars.

Noname- Song 33

This song is 70 seconds. 70! Noname casually negates J. Cole and the song isn’t even about him. She’s so great. 

Ratboys- I Go Out at Night

Julia Steiner is on her The Hours shit in this melancholic fantasy of leaving and not returning. 

Rio da Yung OG, Lil Yachty- 1v1

I like how Yachty comes in on his verse! It’s been fun to see him back in action with his new Michigan friends. Rio is the star here, though. And Enrgy too. 

Soccer Mommy- yellow is the color of her eyes 

Sophia Allison’s delivery of “The tiny lie I told to myself is making me hollow” might be my line of the year. 

Swamp Dogg- Memories

The whole of Sorry You Couldn’t Make It is great, but for Swamp Dogg, who has covered John Prine, to work with the man before he died is a special accomplishment, and we’re better off that it’s recorded. 

Tall Juan- Irene

One of my favorite 2020 releases. And I’ll be a bit vulnerable here folks….when I am walking outside and this song comes on, I push my butt out a little bit and walk like I have rhythm and purpose. 

Tierra Whack- Dora

I’m so excited to see what Tierra Whack does, from her beat selection to how she jumps between flow and cadence. She understands herself so well. 

Non-2020-specific Music I Enjoyed, in Superlative Form

Group Vocal Performance Most Likely to Pierce Your Heartless Facade

Yesu Ka Mkwebaze

Best Song to Listen to if You are an 1850’s-era whaler in Your Feels

Mary Ann

Favorite Duet (Not Blood-Related)

Emmylou Harris and Herb Pedersen (but mostly Emmylou) create such an intricate and gorgeous melody on “If I Could Only Win Your Love”. Pedal steel heads and mandolin freaks, eat up.

Favorite Duet (Blood-related)

The Louvin Brothers- When I Stop Dreaming

Any longtime friends of the show know I’m a big fan of the singing duo The Louvin Brothers. They’ve got that golden country tone but it’s the blood harmony that turns these guys into something else entirely.

And here’s the kicker, folks. Emmylou covered When I Stop Dreaming! How coincidental for all of us reading this End of Year list…. The Louvins are my preferred version, but Emmylou, that you could help me make this connection is enough, dayenu!

Most Surprising Use of a Song in a Network TV Show

"Yama Yama" by the Yamasuki Singers, Fargo Season 2

When I was a dishwasher at St. James Cheese Co., late 2016ish, this CD was in our back of house music rotation. It is a magical album-- a Japanese children's choir with French pop production (think a bunch of bells and shit). I never learned the name of the album while working there and it fell out of my mind until years later when, after remembering how much I loved it, realized I had no idea how to find it. The pain of typing different spellings of “japanese children’s choir” into google for days on end.....I literally yelled when Fargo used this in its Season 2 big boy shootout. *chef’s kiss*

Best Album by a Spiritually Hungry Musical Genius, Lapping Her Contemporaries in Arrangement, Theme, and Songwriting, Gone Before Her Time

Judee Sill’s self-titled debut. 

Best Use of a Second Keyboard in A Keyboard Solo

Fountains of Wayne’s Red Dragon Tattoo

Do I mean to say synthesizer? Not sure. RIP Adam Schlesinger and long live FoW. What a loss.

Best Vibes/ Song I’d Most Want to Show Ezra Koenig so That We’d Bond & Become Friends

Zibote

Best Lyrics Written by a Jew in 1920’s NYC Being Sung by Willie Nelson

Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea / to the open arms of the sea

Favorite TV Shows

Ramy

-Second season shook its focus on the titular character and oh am I thankful. Not that Ramy himself isn’t great, he is, but the entire cast here deserves attention. The Uncle Naseem episode. The Uncle Naseem episode. Ahem. The Uncle Naseem episode.

Joe Pera Talks with You

Lovecraft Country

-Small gripes and complicated plotlines aside, this anthology connecting gothic horror, racism, and American history is phenomenal. 

Small Axe

-The second installment in this series, Lovers Rock, which takes place at a party, is the vicarious shot in the arm you deserve, you little extroverted thing you. 

I May Destroy You

Betty

The Last Dance

-The first Bulls game I ever went to was the first game *without* Michael Jordan, at the beginning of the ‘98-’99 season. Bad timing.

The Chi

Schitt’s Creek

-This show was never about the plot. Am I allowed to say that? I’ve never cared less for a plot and more for a cast. Catherine O’Hara is in her own league above us all.

Jon Writes a Year-End List

In 2019, my roommate June and I took a road trip through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I was out of a relationship, happily or unhappily I wasn’t sure yet, but along the way I downloaded Tinder hoping to meet a local who’d be excited to make out with me. There wasn’t much bite on my line, but by the time we reached Marquette, largely due to my good looks and charisma I’d orchestrated some type of group date with June, me, a girl from Tinder, and her friend. 

We met at a dingy karaoke bar and drank for cheap. Nobody wanted to hear me sing, but I got on stage anyway and gave “Willin” by Little Feat a go. Some guy at the bar in a maroon work shirt looked at me, scoffed, and left to smoke outside. The four of us weren’t hitting it off, even with alcohol. I and the friend made a plan to sing “Mommas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys'', but she quickly abandoned the duet after we had begun, citing a lack of vibes.   

But we kept singing and drinking and hours later I was leaning against the bar, waiting to order, standing next to maroon-shirt guy who had so easily shrugged off my existence earlier. What caught my eye as I stood next to him was a Star of David tattoo on his forearm. And sure enough, the name tag stitched onto his shirt identified him as “Isaac”. Well I’ll goddamn be-- this guy was frickin Jewish! I was shocked-- I assumed he was goy in the same way I assumed everyone I ran into up there would be. 

For just one unconscious assumption (I’m the only Jewish person in this Marquette karaoke bar) to be wrong felt great. My assumptions are really awful. I assumed maroon-shirt hated my guts. I assumed these two girls we were drinking with thought I was a loser too. I assume people don’t like me or respect me or have any interest in getting to know me. I tell awful stories about myself to myself, and my assumptions about the world are limiting and boring! With patience, “guy at bar who kinda scowled at me” had all of a sudden turned into “my new friend Isaac” who, after a few minutes of conversation, I “asked to bum a cigarette from.”

One of my favorite shows of 2020 was Joe Pera Talks With You. I still remember watching Joe Pera’s stand-up for the first time, and then rewatching and rewatching, savoring his cadence. He dressed and spoke like a grandpa, replete with pitch-perfect, kinda-gross mouth sounds, stutters, and low-but-driving energy. It’s a good bit, and Joe has morphed it into probably the funniest, sweetest, and least-pandering show of 2020. What I love about this show is its foundational belief that anyone can surprise you, you just need to give yourself time to notice.

I didn’t end up making out with anyone but I did wake up the next morning with the worst hangover of my life. Wake up, barf, whimper. As June drove us out of Marquette, I could barely keep my eyes open. I did notice, however, a massive, wooden structure jutting out into Lake Superior.

It is this same Lake Superior structure that Joe Pera Talks With You fixates on for its first shot of Season 2. Yes, this is an Adult Swim show that takes place in none other than Marquette, Michigan! Which is weird. Think about other movies, shows, or books that take place in the U.P. You can’t! Even zooming out to include the larger Upper-Great Lakes region leaves us with an almost-empty net: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot and titular Gatsby’s origin story on Lake Superior. These are stories of hard living and life and death on the dangerous Great Lakes. But neither of those are specific to the Upper Peninsula.   

Regions are an easy if reductive lens with which to attempt to view and understand people. In 2020, broad and sweeping generalizations about large swaths of people continued to gain power. There was the movie adaptation of JD Vance’s ahistorical Hillbilly Elegy. Woolly-eyed liberals trotted out fake maps of a preferred America that holds only the “good” blue states, not at all engaging in the history of racism and voter suppression that got us here. Besides the fact that Georgia went blue. And Democratic strongholds like California, New York, and Chicago betray any notion of a “better” America. The sins of this nation are not cordoned off into one section or time zone, no region is monolithic, and most importantly, no person can be explained away with a quick sentence.

There is no regional monolith more widely misunderstood than the Midwestern gestalt. Fargo (the show) does a great job of serializing this one type of Midwestern character-- they say “oh sure, happy to help” and they’re murderers. So for Joe Pera to settle his show in the U.P. is a fun choice. Most Americans are probably hard-pressed to conjure an accurate mental picture of who the U.P. is, so Pera creates his own flavor of a seemingly-recognizable small Midwestern town.

In the first episode, Joe walks us through the bean arch he’s growing. Why grow snap beans? “Beans are straightforward.” Straightforwardness, or the appearance of, is central to Pera’s charm. Pera’s shtick is walking the audience through a basic task that can serve as a metaphor for a larger existential question. This conceit isn’t new to Pera, but it has been en vogue recently, with shows like Andy Daly’s Review and the new HBO show How To with John Wilson. These shows present a simple stated goal that obfuscates a larger, more complex grapple. 

Joe Pera Talks With You is incredible and endearing because of the genuine tone Pera gives his tight-knit Marquette. We’re getting deranged lunatics like Conner O’Malley and Dan Licata to write jokes for 70-year old Michigan grandmas at a salon. The show trades in the perceived Midwestern folksiness for a punchline, yet doesn’t lose itself in irony or resentment. 

Every character in the Joe Pera universe has the opportunity to be profound. Pera gives every character the patience they deserve; even O’Malley’s berserk Joe Rogan listening-caricature Mike Melsky gets incredible moments of vulnerability. It’s a rare comedy: self-aware but not self-obsessed, sweet but not gross, and uniquely funny.  

Nowhere else on TV are you going to see such consistently great acting. Some of the best working comedians are in this season. Conner O’Malley has found a way to tap into his unsettling grotesque that is a pleasure to watch, playing characters at the ends of their ropes, shrieking. Jo Firestone is hilarious and essential as Joe’s doom-prepper girlfriend Sarah. We get guest stars like  genius Carmen Christopher. Even one-line role players like Joe’s teacher-coworker, who says Joe and Sarah go together “like desk and chair,” knock it out of the park. 

The questions at the heart of Talks With You feel more pronounced in a year of death and isolation. How do we connect with people? How can we really be there for our loved ones? How can we feel comfortable in our own skin? The show came out pre-pandemic but Pera’s touch and pacing is universal.

It’s difficult not to compare Talks With You to How to with John Wilson. The two shows have a lot in common. Both protagonists are soft-spoken, and speak at an arrhythmic clip. John Wilson’s voice is affected just like Pera’s; both vocal deliveries are meant to engender trust by signaling to us that they’re lacking some social confidence. But I don’t buy Wilson’s shtick as much as Pera’s.

John Wilson’s show is not straightforward in the same way Pera’s is, and the show suffers under the added weight of pretense. Wilson’s tangents lead us to places that barely fit under the established thematic umbrella and feel forced. On memory, Wilson’s adventure with the Mandela Effect turns from fascinating to boring as the truthers devolve into sketch characters, viewing simple spelling errors with magnifying glasses. “How to Cover Your Furniture” spends an upsettingly long amount of time with an anti-circumcision advocate as Wilson works through the question of how much we are allowed to change parts of other people. Meant to appear as if they effortlessly fell into place, these characters feel shoe-horned in.

Both characters and shows are performative authenticity, and Joe Pera and John Wilson’s whole deal is their status as observer. This year, many of us have become observers. I know I have: unemployed, unable to see people, watching death counts climb, sending money to various bail funds and rent relief to people and organizations near and far. There is a responsibility to being an observer. It is not some callous task. Being an effective observer means allowing your subject the space they need to be as they are and not foisting your own nonsense onto them.

In Joe Pera’s America, it’s understood that everyone is weird. By virtue of being human, we are all weird, off, we do confusing things, and say dumb stuff that doesn’t make sense. Even you’re a weird freak. John Wilson’s subjects seem like circus animals, squeezed in front of the camera for their fucked-up little flip. I can’t shake the feeling that John Wilson is making fun of the people he’s observing. Pera’s observations are rooted in the fairness that comes from seeing humanity in people-- every person has an equal chance of surprising you with how weird they are if you just make them comfortable and let them talk. We owe that to each other.

To be fair, these shows are also very different. Wilson’s found-footage, documentary style is ingenious, hilarious, and completely not the vibe that Pera and Co. are going for at all. And region here is everything. Wacky stuff happening in NYC? Eh, isn’t that par for the course over there? Wait, a show set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula? Ok...now that I’ve never seen. 

Obviously I was wrong about Isaac in Marquette, just as any broad assumption about a region and its people will be. I actually learned that Jews have a significant relationship to the U.P. And I found similarities between my own Jewish history, covering a similarly nebulous area of the Rust Belt/Midwest, and my U.P. cousins. Yes, home was closer than I thought, even across the length of Lake Michigan. Yes, people don’t just hate my guts. Yes, we can overcome lazy assumptions and we can even connect with people. We can make a better world. It just requires patience and listening.

Now, on to my thoughts regarding Fiona Apple’s landmark album Fetch the Bolt Cutters...

[heartlandians]

Seems like a lot will be going on at Maggie’s in 1106. Someone, I assume a fan, posted a pic of Lou and Mitch outside of Maggie’s. It looks like they’re arguing, but then again, it could just be Michelle and Kevin goofing off 🙃. And the tweet about Adam & Wyatt have a lot in common, I wonder if Wyatt is into comic books too or secretly a math nerd. That must be at least one of the meanings behind the title “strange bedfellows”. Nobody, especially Georgie, thinking the two guys she likes would have anything in common. They probably end up being good friends, which makes everything more awkward for Georgie.

If Ty is absent from this block, I wonder where he’ll be. Probably the annual vet conference. Since Lily is in the 1st block, it seems less likely that he’d be visiting her.

Didn’t a recent tweet say there were fun scenes in the loft? If Ty’s not there, hopefully it’s good Mommy/daughter scenes with Amy & the baby 😊 Submitted by: heartlandmusings _________________________

It does seem like that. I noticed there were some kind of lights outside Maggie’s (this open ceiling type of structure, I don’t know what to call it?) and tables on the street (not just the one next to the horse sculpture), so it seems like there could be some type of party. Maybe Georgie and Jade have a bit more say in what happens there now, because they were wearing these black shirts in 10x04 when they had the Open Mic Night and now again when something’s going on late at night, but then they were also back to the “old uniforms” this week, so... interesting! I’m glad Maggie’s is still a thing after all these years, it’s so idyllic.

I’m so happy we are getting scenes with Lou and Mitch, not going to lie. I was sad when Mitch left in 10x18 and I wondered if he would even come back again, but he did, so yay! I don’t know if Lou and Mitch will get together anymore, because it’s this constant on/off with them, BUT I’m just glad we get scenes with them, doing whatever they are doing, as I enjoy Kevin and Michelle’s on screen chemistry very much. When I saw that picture, it definitely looked like to me that Lou was confronting Mitch about something and Mitch was being defensive, but no idea what it could be about.

I wonder what Adam and Wyatt could have in common; we at least know that neither of them aren’t into the western/cowboy lifestyle, so there’s one thing. I would like it if they were kind of geeking out together because that would be different. I’m still not sure how I feel about Adam, though, I guess I just have to wait to see what’s really going on with him. I liked him in the beginning, but the recent developments (jealousy over Georgie and then being with Olivia) made me kind of not like him as much. And what’s going on with Wyatt? Is he working at Maggie’s too?

And yes, the tweet said something about Amber having many scenes, no mention of Graham or Ty during this block, so it seems like he might be absent again this year for a while - which was something I kind of expected (that he would not be in all 18 episodes physically).

[mmsimbhfs-blog]

https://soundcloud.com/gwyn-994291261/my-mommy-said-i-must-be-home-for-supper-episode-1

The first creative concern that I had to confront was whether or not I would do this alone. I listened to some podcasts on NPR, as well as some YouTube accounts that are basically podcasts that were smart in how they used gifs, pictures or video clips. Some people really did very well alone. One channel I got absorbed into was called Mr Sunday Movies; he’s an Australian guy who makes videos about comic book movies, video games and big science fiction movie series (like Terminator, for example). It’s a good channel, and if you’re into that sort of thing, I highly recommend it - he can also be damn funny in conjunction with the pictures and video snippets he works alongside. I tried drafting a couple of episodes with just me and the mic - that’s also going to be the title of my autobiography, ‘Just Me and the Mic’, with my head leaning on my hand and my elbow on an elmswood table and even toned clothing - but I think it stems down to being new and not confident enough in my ability to do it solo. Later, in episode 3., I did dabble in a solo endeavour. I came to settle on my whiteboard that I shouldn’t confine myself to only working alone or only having someone else in the studio with me and that if the idea fit, I should workshop it like that.

I also had to come up with the, or a theme, for the series. If the podcast itself was about going home, and the series was about getting home for me, then I figured the theme should be about how I get home: taxi, train, bicycle, and walking - my four main modes of transport, apart from when I get lifts from people. I thought to incorporate the sounds of travelling into the episode, as well as the sounds of home through interludes between segments and as underlying sounds during segments in the episode. This meant I had to travel the city to record sounds, which in itself was a wonderful experience, literally trying to capture the sounds of Cape Town that spoke most to me in how I live my life. Some sounds I could produce myself, like boiling a kettle, others I had to travel for a couple of days before I got the perfect or most suitable recording. I had decided that the sound of taxis would be the theme for the first episode, as it is the medium of transport that I use most often outside of walking.

For the first episode or actually any episode, there was always one person that I was going to approach, Ameera Conrad: one of the most intelligent and funny people I have I ever had the privilege of knowing. I pitched the idea to her, that I wanted to explore Muslim coloured identity in Cape Town, and she was immediately in. We had flirted with the idea about doing a show similar to the Weekend Update, on Saturday Night Live, although it hasn’t materialised yet. Ameera and I have a great chemistry, particularly when speaking about being young and Muslim in mostly white spaces: Ameera being in theater, and me being a sellout (supposedly, lol). I managed to score some koesisters from my grandma, boiled the kettle, over she came, and we hit the record button.

Something Ameera and I have always joked about is the two of us getting married. As she explains in the second-to-last segment, Muslim men can marry people so long as they are ‘of the book’ (i.e. Jewish or Christian by faith), however Muslim women cannot. The joke we have is that if push comes to shove and as a last, last resort if we need to get married for the sake of our parents’ honour and all those things, then we’ll marry each other because of the cultural standards in Cape Town. These standards can often get conflated with religious teachings, and are pervasive throughout Cape Town and on many levels, including racial, class and religious differences. Growing up, I was never directly told to not be friends with Christian people, but my parents would always say, “When are you going to get some nice Muslim friends.”

That is a 100% true story, or your money back, GUARANTEED!

This is some type of ‘micro-aggression’, if you will, although it’s not really aggressive but in the same breath it is an odd form of policing. I was never directly told to date a Muslim person, in fact I was never told to date anyone. However, when speaking about other people in my family or family friends and their partners, describing that partner as, “a nice Muslim girl/boy,” was commonplace by older people. I knew, from the ground up, that I needed to keep Muslim company and marry a Muslim person - lest I steal the last flames of life from my mother and father. This is why inviting Ameera for the first episode was so important, for the symbolism you see… and legal purposes, of course. The idea of dating is something I would deal with more explicitly with in the final episode.

Speaking on food was a must for the first episode, particularly with Ameera being a Muslim woman who does not fit the stereotypical  imagery of a Muslim woman who is a great cook. As she says, “I’m going to die a spinster,” because she can’t cook. It’s important to realise, for myself first, that not all Cape expressions of Islamic culture are the same. How did Ameera experience this cornerstone of our identity, food, without actively participating in the production aspect of it? It was fascinating to think on the difference in a generation in identity. This idea of amazing Muslim cooks, who can weave wondrous meals with spices of their ancestors from way yonder just wasn’t as present for Ameera. I thought about this in relation to when I asked myself how coloured I was, or how Black I was. Did this take away from Ameera’s Islam? Of course not. Through another lense, however, it can be seen as a loss of historical identity. Pray tell, what if Ameera birthed a child and couldn’t pass on the legacy of making a God damn pot of akhni? Oh the humanity. The importance of food leads into the matriarchal figure in Cape Islam, which to my experience centres around food. When visiting my grandmother (Mama), my dad’s mother, it’s done in a setting where the Allie cousins and siblings come together to share a meal. Outside of that, we don’t visit unless Mama is sick or if family have arrived from overseas or something and we use her house as a central node. The shifting matriarchy, “fluid matriarchy,” as Ameera puts it, is notable for her because that central node isn’t as prominent. I can’t say whether or not this is due to the passing of her grandmother when she was 11, but the fact that that power is distributed in her family is fascinating in itself. I like to think that power in the sense that Ameera referred to, is self regulating, and that no one is sitting around a table making decisions or making a schedule of family lunches and gatherings. How families may regulate that power is unique to them.

The concept of power amongst people of colour interests me. As Ameera and I discussed in the podcast, power is often presented as a negative thing because of the abuse of it. When speaking to my friend Thuli, however, she said that power is unnecessary because it opens the door to abuse. I haven’t concretized my thoughts fully on power in this paradigm, although we explored the idea more subtly with the ever-overarching problem of land and our families’ tendency to ask where you’re from upon meeting you. This is something that would pop up again in the final episode as well.

“Where are you from?” is a question that means a lot of things to different people. Much like white people will ask you what school you went to and ask you if you know this or that person. In my family and community, people want to know where you’re from down to the road name, they want to draw connections, they want to make assumptions, and they want to try and relate to you. I caught myself doing this to some extent when Ameera was speaking about her grandfather, who stays in Lansdowne, trying to pin down exactly where in Lansdowne he was. For coloured Muslim people, your area says a lot about you, especially when you consider just how big the Cape Flats is. So big in fact, that Ameera referred to Lansdowne as “fringe flats”.

What does that mean? Yes, it is a comment about the actual location of Lansdowne, but it also speaks to spatial identity.

Rondebosch East, the area I live in and commonly referred to as ‘The R’east’, forms part of greater Athlone. My history teacher, Mr Hellenberg, would tell me that Rondebosch East is a lie and an explicit form of white-proximity. “Would you ever hear of a Claremont West, or a Newlands North?” he would ask me. His point was powerful and I had no rebuttal. “You stay in Athlone,” he told me. I consider the R’east to be ‘fringe flats’ as well, and when I’ve told white people that I live there, I’m often met by nods of approval for what I imagine is the inclusion of Rondebosch in my area’s name.

I don’t think the area you come from has anything directly to do with your degree of colouredness when a coloured parent or adult asks you where you stay. I am certain that there is a history to the question, and I must emphasize how much of a norm the question is. To my mind, the question has to do with class and possible judgements on that, and the aforementioned desire for connectivity and maintaining community. Do you stay in Dublin Street? Do you stay in Tarongo Road, do you stay in Thornton Road, or Johnston Road, or Belgravia? These things matter. Do you live there by the mosque, or do you remember that person who lived in the road? Well we went to school together at Harold Cressie or at Sinton. These conversations can go on and on and on. There’s a lot to it, and the significance of maintaining community - making sure you know as best as possible who’s coming into your home and who your children are playing with - is absolutely undeniable. Ameera’s comment about her mother reminding her that she is from Elfindale has themes of classism to it, simply by listening to the voice Ameera puts on when she says it, although I can’t speak to spatial politics in Joburg. However, the joke that her father is from slaves is also worth touching on, as a large part of the history of Muslim people at the Cape is slavery - as I addressed in my first write up, ‘the concept.’. I need to do more research and interviews to fully understand the intermittent rejection of slavery and the apparent cling to a more illustrious legacy of exiles of prisoners instead. The social and personal benefit of having a history of the latter is obvious enough.

In the final segment of the episode, Ameera asked about Muslim men, and if we thought the Angel Jibreel (anglicized as Gabriel) pissed on our heads. Was there an issue amongst young Muslim men in Cape Town? Truthfully, I didn’t and still don’t have a full answer because growing up, most of my friends were white. In many senses, I was as much an outsider as I was an insider in being a young Muslim man. Ameera and I both agree that Islam is a feminist religion, but as my research has shown me, a lot of Islamic practices in Cape Town are cultural rather than religious and as has been mentioned, these two can often be conflated. Islam may be feminist, but some cultural norms and standards of Cape Islamic expression may not be - particularly in the narrative of Cape Malayism. I do think that there is, if only a slight problem, of young Muslim men thinking angels have pissed on our heads because of the lifestyle we have constructed for ourselves and the norms that come with that. I can’t speak to this as extensively as I would like to but a big example to cite would be food.

A foundational teaching of patriarchy is that men don’t cook. Couple that with the history of slavery at the Cape and Muslim women having to cook for slave owners and their families as well as their own families and community, it isn’t hard to see why Gabeba Baderoon said that for Muslim women, the kitchen is a space of ‘repressed knowledge.’ As the Muslim coloured middle class continues to grow, old values are traded in for newer ones that come with upward class movement. Holding onto certain cultural practices, ideas and beliefs (things from gender roles, to barakat) of Islam that are perceived as intrinsic to the Cape expression of Islam start to wane. A prime example is a Muslim family living in a white suburb during the Ramadaan, when giving boeka treats to your neighbours is common in mixed race or predominantly Muslim and/or coloured areas. Now I’m not saying that Muslim family isn’t going to give their neighbours some hertzoggies or koesisters in a white neighbourhood, but what I will say is that they’d feel more inclined if their neighbours were Muslim, or coloured, or both - although I’m always happy to be corrected. I won’t say that this happens because these beliefs and ideas aren’t conducive to middle-classness, but that with middle-classness in South Africa and particularly Cape Town, comes a lot more than money, and also that you need to exert a lot more agency as your community space isn’t self-reflexive.