#especially with some of the hints the dropped in the last episodes of s2

[to-boldly-ship-mcspirk]

no worries, I very much agree with you in all your points, I just kind of seperated tos and snw in my mind. Idk if it's because I "care less" about canon, because I do, but snw is so different in so many ways that I just ignored the idea of it being canon and focused on it as its completely different thing, and I think that's why I'm able to enjoy and love it so much (and I really do, it's one of my favourites, especially because of the format of mostly self-contained episodes. Of course there are things I don't like, like spock/chapel - which I at least found fun in some aspects but generally didn't like the idea of - and especially the kirk/la'an storyline - don't get me started on that because I hated it)

but yeah, I very much see your point, because if snw is canon for the tos timeline (and apart from me deciding for myself that it isn't it officially is so I get this is kind of a me thing here) then chapel's characterization (and spock's for that matter) and many many well established facts don't make sense

all I can say is I initially regarded it as pre-tos canon because I feel like at first they also paid more attention to having it fit in, but pretty soon (with episodes like Spock Amok being E5) I just kind of seperated it in my mind, and episodes that went so clearly against canon kinda helped with it because even though I disliked some of it it also made me go "okay, this has to be a different thing" and look at them differently, which made them much more enjoyable than I would have thought at first

I also feel like with later episodes (like subspace rhapsody, which I absolutely adore) they kind of tried to diverge from canon themselves, and I wouldn't be very surprised if they'd reveal it's actually a different timeline later on (maybe just wishful thinking on my part, but I do feel like at first they just experimented with "different take on the same timeline" and shifted towards "this is a completely different thing")

anyway, now my response is also long haha, and idk if any of what I just typed made sense but those are just my thoughts. I do acknowledge that it doesn't matter much if I view snw as canon or not because officially it still is, but I just wanted to clarify how it is in my mind and why I do enjoy snw a lot despite agreeing with your points!

star trek used to be about gays in space

now they just make Spock kiss women

[sandraharissa]

So I never wondered before what happened between Vander and Silco cos I had faith in the writers (my bad) and cos realistically it would require several professional writers to figure this out. I can't come up with a whole scenario, smth that should have been probs a whole episode or many flashbacks to the first revolution to parallel and give context for the second revolution. but since they dropped the whole revolution plotline there was no point in that ig. Now I'm not coming up with a whole plot for s2 to make it connect to a whole plot for the Silco and Vander backstory. I'll just talk about general things when it comes to

How I would do the Vander and Silco backstory:

Silco and Vander meet as young adults, probs in the mines.

Silco is a wide-eyed idealist, he's small and weak making it hard for him to survive from day to day but it's not important to his character (no insecurities, his character is not about that). He cares about and crafts his idea of an independent nation of Zaun. We're meeting a way 'better' version of Silco but he still has all his traits like being a bit of a diva and pettiness and pride and such.

Vander is capable and the 'get shit done' guy. He feels the need to use his strength to protect others. He has a strong sense of justice and fairness. He has anger issues too tho.

Vander uses his strength to protect Silco and so Silco feels safe with him but Vander also has violent tendencies and anger issues. There should probs be some instances where the possibility of Vander being violent with Silco is hinted at.

A la Powder's bombs or Mylo's lock-picking skills no one puts much value on Silco's ideas, everybody immensely respects Vander and his brute strength tho. It's the commonly lived by in the Undercity 'survival of the fittest' vs Silco's silly 'Undercity, united as one'.

Vander loves the idea tho and is Silco's first and biggest fan lol.

They start doing their thing together. At some point they build the Lanes and the Last Drop together.

Silco as a co-leader gets to do his thing, planning the nation and writing in his notebook and such, he's more of a planning guy, not the best in the field. He gets to do his thing but ppl really look up to Vander, with a lot of them not understanding the concept that they should have a shared national identity etc. but they do understand resisting their oppressors and Vander can lead them by example. Ppl admire him cos he rescues ppl and does justice and can kill an enforcer with one punch. Silco also likes that about him. He's the one to take direct action and is more of the pushing force of the revolution. He's like 'bro Zaun sounds amazing and what's stopping us from rounding up our friends and taking out this patrol on the corner? right now?' at Silco. Silco's 'brothers and sisters' beliefs low-key inform the attitude of the rebels even if they still don't get Zaun. He's also the one making all the smart decisions like creating a black market but he's underappreciated for it cos ppl don't directly see the connection between stuff like his scheming/business talents, the Lanes and the living situation getting better. (you could say Vander and Silco were the violence and ideology that make up a revolutionary movement).

As the revolution continues Vander was insistent that they need to push more, that's his mentality cos he was always more capable than others. With Silco being more logical and pragmatic. The stress isn't getting so much to Silco but it is to Vander. What got to Vander was that if he's the one pushing and ppl die bcos of it then it's on his hands and he can't stand it. Especially that it's probs partially self-indulgent. He gets to blow off steam and has an outlet for his violent tendencies. He is not making the best decisions, they are somewhat self-serving and on some level he knows this. Pressure to succeed and get results fast and guilt is getting to him.

Then they're on a mission that's gotta have them both doing different things but somehow connected to the bridge.

Silco and his team, or even bystanders, get caught/get in trouble. Silco starts spouting poetics at enforcers and bcos he pissed them off they decide to arrest everyone (so that's probs a one way ticket) but ppl did get inspired which causes more scuffling, probs ppl die, the situation gets worse but it allows ppl to let Silco escape/hide/he gets knocked out. Vander finds him and they escape via river, they jump from the bridge or from the docks, going further and further away from the shore and the enforcers and they start talking about what happened.

For context Vander and Silco's attitudes are opposite to each other at any time, and they also switch from what they were originally to what they become post their character development moments (betrayal and bridge massacre), they're narrative foils after all. One is at the core selfish and violent and the other is altruistic and for the good of everybody bcos of their lofty ideals. So Vander in his violent era at the end of the day cares about himself and ppl around him and keeping them (like Silco in s1 with Jinx when push comes to shove).

Vander is angry that Silco 'prioritized some "Zaun" over their ppl', starts criticizing his ideology and his ineffectiveness but Silco saw his approach working and decides he should try by himself again, like he did before Vander, with the focus on the whole business enterprise and such, now that it turned out in the last few years that he's good at it. He points out Vander's overly violent tendencies. So they're pissed and stressed cos of the situation, pressure gets to Vander and he feels responsible for every loss that happened. He feels responsible for Silco. If he failed then Vander failed. Then it escalates when it becomes more personal, they start being petty and criticizing each other. Vander stands to lose his most important connection. He feels rejected. Maybe Vander physically prevents Silco from leaving. They start struggling, things escalate, instead of letting Silco go Vander lashes out. And then Vander punches him, gives him the black eye (plus maybe chips his front teeth) and then in the heat of the moment starts drowning him.

Afterwards Vander blames it all on Silco, paints him as worse than what happened. It's easier cos his emotions tell him Silco somehow wronged him (hence the 'you animal' reputation, cos ppl could view it, especially if that's how Vander presented it, as Silco doing that whole thing intentionally, sacrificing his ppl to get a thing done and escaping himself). Vander projects his blame and guilt onto Silco, after years of leading by himself he mellows out and realizes Silco was not at fault but it's years into the cope/lie. He can't do better by himself and his straightforward violent methods don't work well enough for him to be worth it anymore. The bridge massacre is the last straw. Meanwhile Silco learns to be violent on top of being driven by ideology (but also he's not trying to convince anyone anymore of his ideas cos it didn't work the last time, he doesn't preach to anyone in s1 but Jinx).

Add somewhere in there a comment from Vander to Silco about pretty eyes for zaundads and dramatic irony reasons.

[butterflydm]

Now that the interviews are dropping, I am torn between wanting to know All The Things and not wanting to know too much! Conflicted, for sure! Time needs to pass more quickly so that I can see the episodes. It also sounds like the interviewers had seen the first two episodes, so that's why they were asking questions about things that hadn't been shown yet in the teasers or the cold open.

Some stuff that I've seen in the various interviews so far that I'm poking over in my head (because things once known cannot be unknown lol):

I don't know how deep into the season that these spoilers go! Be wary!

It does sound like Rand & Egwene's relationship dissolution will be way more drawn out in s3 than it was in the books. On the one hand, it makes sense, given that it was always kinda silly that Jordan had them break up and then immediately go on a roadtrip together. But I do have that (irrational! I admit that it's irrational because Elayne's my girl) concern that Rand-Elayne-Aviendha will end up feeling like consolation prizes rather than strong romances in their own right. Again, I admit that this worry is irrational especially since I was saying during s2 that Rand & Elayne would probably not happen until s4 and probably no romance in s3 for them (though that was before the very romance-coded intro that the two of them had at the end of the season!). Plus the show has been very good at being efficient and yet effective with their emotional moments (the Cauthor in s2 was so unexpected but amazing). But, yes, it sounds like Randgwene and Randfear will be Rand's two romantic focuses this season (maybe with surprise Avirand sneaking in with the steel chair at the end of the season, but maybe that will be s4 instead).

It does make me wonder if some of Mat & Rand's interactions in book 4 will get shifted to Egwene & Rand instead, since even though Rand & Egwene are technically on a roadtrip together, they don't really interact that much in book 4, with her spending most of her time with Moiraine & the Wise Ones instead.

Also given this, Rand still sleeping with Egwene might end up being Lanfear's breaking point, and both Aviendha & Elayne are held off until s4. As someone who still reverts to thinking of Randgwene as "like brother-sister" due to the books, it is somewhat jarring to me every time the show avoids breaking them up for good, lol! show vs books!

We did get confirmation that Tear & Callandor are still planned but scheduled for after the Waste instead of before. This makes a lot of sense to me and I've been speculating it for a while. Again, if Mat isn't pulled back into Rand's plotline via other means, I imagine that they might reunite in the show the same way as the books -- they're all infiltrating the Stone of Tear for their own reasons (actually that would make for a great 'big boom' opening, much like s3's cold open is) and end up in the same place. So that would give us some Mat-Rand interactions, and the Rand-Elayne-Aviendha interactions.

If we're still doing Randgwene deep into the season, then potentially no hints of Egwene-Gawyn yet. If Tear and Cairhien get combined in s4 (the Shaido go to Tear instead of Cairhien, maybe trying to fulfill the Car'a'carn prophecy), then the White Tower embassy might get sent to Tear, and that's when Egwene and Gawyn meet again.

In terms of 'doing late things now', it kinda sounds like they're leaning into some of Perrin's book feelings about not wanting to deal with the Last Battle here in s3 instead (which I am a fan of -- yes, please, deal with that early and then move past it!). In the interview I transcribed, it sounds like Perrin might not even have heard any rumors about the Two Rivers and is just going back home because he wants to put aside adventure. He's Refusing the Call (if that interview answer was correct). Meanwhile what Donal said about Mat learning about how 'heavy is the head that wears the crown' was a very fascinating answer.

We might actually get Mat going to Caemlyn (how do they have time for that? But the show does move way faster than I expect at all times, so there's that! I keep assuming that they will need to skip things for time and then the show goes 'nah, we can still do that') because Rafe talks about 'doing Mat's book three plotline' and 'catching up with the girls'. And we know he's not talking about Tear, since that's been pushed off to post-Waste. It is really interesting that Donal focused on Mat's moral convictions and seeing that he could be a good person in one of the answers that he gave, and that implies some interesting things about his storyline (though I do mourn that we aren't going to get much of Rand and Mat interacting during the section of the books that are the most Cauthor-heavy!).

It sounds like Elayne & Aviendha are potentially going to bond very strongly in the first episode, which could be a great gateway into our poly relationship in s4, if we get renewed. (I do think not knowing for sure if we have s4 or not is probably affecting my feelings about Randgwene - I want my poly relationship on-screen, lol!)

Rosamund talks about 'suffering' happening in the inn in Tar Valon due to the bubbles of evil, and Moiraine watching it happen because she wants Rand to be separated from his friends. Very book accurate to how she behaves in Tear! So I wonder if Rand will get blamed for the bubbles of evil (or blames himself?) and thus head off on his own with just Moiraine, Lan & Aviendha, and Egwene stays in the Tower (meeting Gawyn & Galad in ep2) and then speaks to Bair in TAR and rushes off to catch up with them (or maybe Rand even leaves without any of the Maidens, and it's Aviendha who escorts Egwene and that's part of what makes her continue to take against Rand, because she dislikes him slipping off like that).

So it feels like some of the speculation that @markantonys and I have had about the show bringing and keeping Elayne into Rand's plotline in s4 rather than having her wander the continent feels more likely. Because if there's no hints of romance at the start of s3, because we're still deep in Randgwene, but they are planning on still doing Rand's canon romances, then it has to happen sometime and they need to spend a substantial portion of time together, especially since the audience has spent so long with Randgwene.

All that said, it's actually pretty rare for a show to focus on the slow dissolution of a relationship. I might finally get the chance to use the song "Broken Strings" in a fanvid edit.

[modernmessydisaster]

Pre-Arcane S2 Act 2 Thoughts

With hours away until it drops, gonna list all my predictions & wishes. Hopefully, I get at least one or two right.

Ep 4, Obviously, a Jinx centered episode. But it's more so the effects of what Jinx did in Ep 3. The people of Zaun rallying behind her, wearing her colors & fighting back.

Jinx has been absent since the attack, probably watching after Vi and trying to figure out where she goes from here. How to finish herself off or something similar :(

It isn't until Sevika convinces her, especially finding out Isha got arrested & taken to Stillwater with the rest of her "followers". That Jinx finally takes up the role she's been given by Zaun, their hero.

Probably other parts of the episode, back n forth. How Cait is doing as Commander, the people of Piltover looking to her as guidance. Strict curfews, large number of enforcers & noxus soldiers patrolling. The once shiny Piltover looks empty of life and dreary. Muted, darker colors. Maybe at some points, Cait sees reason and slowly letting go of her anger/grief BUT Ambessa stops that and fuels Cait's vengeance again.

Leading to the mass arrest of Jinx's followers, probably calling Jinx a hero sent Cait over the edge a bit without Ambessa in her ear. Either way, Jinx comes and saves them. It's a whole big show! Which in the eyes of Piltover, a huge failure on Cait. Which probably shakes their trust in her, until Ambessa smooths it over. By declaring that an army of enforcers & noxus soldiers will march down into Zaun and finally bring it's people to justice. Maybe this is the start of Cait realizing she's wrong, Ambessa is using her, but it's too late.

Her mother & Vi's words haunt her now, at the choices she's made.

□□□

Ep 5, hmmm I wanna say a Vi centered episode. What she was doing in the timeskip. Underground fighting, her trauma & grief. Girl is going through it. Maybe we will see flashbacks to her time with Vander & her parents.

Honestly, don't know where this episode would go. Maybe more hints & build up of Viktor's cult in the background. Some Zaun people hating her for being an ex-Enforcer and her part in unleashing the Grey. I wanna say this is the episode where the Warwick/Vander fight happens. Perhaps this episode near the end lines up with Ep 4, timeline wise.

As in Vi, fighting for Zaun again. Going to help the breakout at Stillwater. Probably wanting to make it her final stance, her grave. But Singed unleashed Warwick/Vander at Stillwater. Vi goes to fight him, with help from Jinx later. OR Jinx was almost going to die going against Warwick/Vander and Vi jumps into the fight to save her/die doing what Vander told her, "protect/take care of Powder."

Basically Vi pouring out all her emotions into this fight. Flashbacks with "Remember Me" playing and Warwick/Vander seeing Vi's familiar fight style, Jinx's yells. He starts remembering, just the faces of his children. His own flashbacks with each kid, Vi being the last. Her child version overlapping who she is bow as an adult. Warwick/Vander letting out an anguish howl and trying to say Vi's name in a distorted voice.

Alternative thought, just struck me.

Ep 4, is about Jinx & Vi, combining what I wrote about each. I'm not about to rewrite this whole thing

Ep 5, being about Jayce/Ekko/Viktor/Mel. More so Mel & the Black Roses. Her journey in whatever maguc prison they put her into paralleling Jayce's own journey in the Hexcore/Arcane Time/Dimension Magic? Ekko, idk if he got separated from Jayce. Instead having his own journey in that Time Magic Fuckery with Heimerdinger.

Probably both groups seeing the danger of this Arcane corruption, one in the past, and one in the future.

Either way, all three groups break out. Mel goes to stop & get answers from her Mother. After learning everything she could from the Black Roses after defeating whoever was holding her. Awakening her own powers. Ekko going to save Zaun, and Jayce going to stop & save Viktor.

□□□

Ep 6, I feel like the episode will start with Viktor & his cult. Seeing how much it's grown during the time skip. Long haired Viktor, but while he should be happy. Idk maybe there is an unease brewing in Viktor, especially how weird his followers/hexcore Sky hallucination act. With tales of his miracles spreading, wouldn't be surprised if Ambessa tried making a deal with Viktor or something similar to have that magic on her side.

Viktor's cult has been in the background for Ep 4 & 5. So yeah, finally seeing what is going on with him. Probably eldritch horrors he can't comprehend and that disguise themselves as Sky, but can't or won't anyone. Since their influence & power is growing. Probably soon, they are going to do a ritual, maybe sacrifice of the followers to unleash something.

Viktor slowly realizing this. Adding in that with Ambessa's ruthless attacks on Zaun. Almost everyone has migrated to the lower levels where Viktor & his cult are. So when Ambessa attacks as we see in the trailer. Viktor & his followers are gonna be caught up in it.

Maybe Viktor & his followers will join the fight for Zaun, maybe the Hexcore/Void? Uses this opposite to do something? Honestly do not know, again all speculation.

Probably WRONG on everything here, but it was fun to theorize.

Lastly, quick things I want to happen in Act 2.

JINX & VIKTOR MEETING, they gotta at least have a conversation! Something something of Jinx commenting that Viktor isn't the only one who has hallucinations & hears voice. OR at least a long glance at each other

ISHA NOT DYING, I refuse to believe she's gonna die. Maybe almost dying, but Jinx saving her, thus how she lost her braids.

Slico hallucinations & voices being supportive

Jinx kicking Noxus soldiers ass especially with her own hextech/magic.

Mel having magic because she was touch/blessed by Kindred in the womb. Which unknown to her, is how she kept escaping death. Essentially, Mel is the lamb, fox, snd wolf. Death's champion.

Viktor & Singed meeting again.

Probably Maddie dying or her being horrified by her actions OR Maddie isn't horrified by her actions but CAIT IS

Steb, quitting the enforcers, starts a chain event of other enforcers quitting cause this is all going too far. Probably later, Cait asking him & others for help to stop Ambessa

Now to prepare myself to what an emotional mess I'll be in a few hours:

[nierly-amazing]

Nier Automata anime Episode 21 disjointed thoughts:

Spoilers, obviously

It had a few good moments but overall I was disappointed in this episode, more so than the last 2. I've been enjoying the anime, especially early s2 immensely but it's gone downhill so fast. It's extra annoying because most of the issues I have could have been fixed/avoided really easily.

The good bits:

THEY THANKED DEVOLA AND POPOLA! After all that time they finally thanked them! (Though I wish they had more small moments of them being dicks to them in past episodes).

FUCK YEAH JACKASS running the truck right into the room!

YEAH THE TWINS KICKED ASS TOO!

OH NO THEY KILLED JACKASS BUT that's probably how she wanted to go tbh

I do think the anime handled the whole fear thing being the machine children's downfall better than the game since they actually did some lead-up instead of Pascal dropping the info after they all died. So that's another good thing. Buuuut...

The not-so-good bits:

I knew immediately A2's idea to send the kids to the resistance camp was a stupidly terrible idea. Idk why they didn't try finding somewhere else to hide them but I expected them to simply lead hostile machines there rather than infect the camp with a ZOMBIE virus. Really? Zombies? Shambling groaning zombies? The whole reason logic viruses are so scary was how strong they make androids and how they'll just attack everything until they fall apart.

I get the narrative reasoning that Lily offering to shelter them ended up being everyone's downfall, but I ended up being more annoyed because of how dumb it was that A2 sent them there. Seems like an easy fix too, Lily could have called in end of last episode after the camp heard the explosions and offered to shelter them herself, then Pascal could have worried about leading enemies to them and Lily assured him they could handle it.

(me) ^

9S has basically no screen time anymore; we can't really feel his descent as well as we did in game. For the most part things are just happening to him rather than him actively doing things. Like, instead of dumping the 2E reveal in the first S2 episode they could have slowly fed it to us over the course of these episodes. They could have made it more fucked up by having the machine network torment 9S with bits of 2E hints or had the damage to his body scramble his mind in a way that he remembers flashes of his past lives/deaths. I think the game's definitely handled showing his mental decline in isolation while still being a sympathetic character better than the anime is doing.

(cymbal ism)

I sort of like how they put the flight unit in the god box and forced 9S to see it but I feel it would have been more impactful if they had a moment where he almost found it in the flooded city but passed it up because he was distracted and didn't realize it was 2B's unit. And oh look he passed out again.

No lunar tears no 2B memorial? Give him a chance to breathe and have some sort of positive or bittersweet interaction. In the game he still interacted with other androids and helped them but the only interaction we got in the anime was him slapping a flower from that one memorial quest guy's hand.

Pascal's 180 is still ehhh for me. The whole thing that made the Goliath fight in game so impactful was he was holding onto his pacifism till the very end until he had no other option. But in the anime he went berserk the moment there was even the possibility of danger. They didn't even know the hostile machines were a threat to the village when the pods told them. They had time to evacuate and it would have been a lot more fucked up (in a good way) if they were followed and picked off and then pascal went berserk when it was only the children left.

One child killed all the others in fear instead of it being a whole group fear effort. And then he bit pascal with a zombie virus? Pascal blew up when A2 wasn't even there??? And she barely even reacted when his arm shrapnel almost hit her. I get that they have to deal with the lack of player input choosing what to do but that could have easily been fixed with a scene cut right before A2 makes a choice.

They could have written it so it showed signs of them all trying to escape but were unable to. Maybe had one of them still alive because they failed to hit their core and explained what happened or had some sort of other visual hints as to what happened. maybe frantic carving on the walls or something idk.

But then again, patient 0 being the one 9S was extra suspicious about and almost hacked back in episode 5 is pretty interesting. Shows he was technically right all along about them being a threat, but for the wrong reasons. Still they probably could have merged the two ideas together to work better. I'd like to know if the machine network infected them on purpose or if it was their own fear that caused them to snap. If the latter then they could have also had the infected resistance react differently than being stereotypical zombies. They could have picked up on the fear and all went hysterical fighting and shooting each other because the virus overwhelmed them with fear and they were trying to put themselves and each other 'out of their misery'.

But then again again I don't really like how they made the disabled one the one that went crazy and ate everyone. Idk, they could have handled it better.

The whole resistance dying is definitely sadder than in game. They both work in their own ways so I can't really say one is better than the other. It hurt but I didn't hate it. I want to see what they have planned for killing everyone in this version before I make my final judgment.

I do hope they have a scene where 9S finds the village and feels bad because that was a nice bit in game to show he still cared about them despite going on his rampage with the other machines.

I really hope the tower episodes are good, I can forgive this fumbling if the next few episodes are bangers.

[clean-bubbles-aka-bubbles]

I agree with this!

As a fanfiction writer (I think I'm still a beginner) of the first and original TFES fanfiction (who hasn't finished Season 1), I watched Season 2, and I was disappointed that it made the Deceptions evil!

It ruined the entire character development for Starscream and the other Decepticons!

Now, you got me thinking of the development can flow:

First, there is the road to recovery + the search of the Emberstone + and there are mentions of the complicated relationship between Megatron and Decepticons (especially Starscream)

While relationships are struggling to mend, the kids and Maltos decide to step in and make them come together.

There are complications at first, and maybe the characters got into a precarious situation, which others have to work together

Jealously and envy can also be added into the mix to make more character development!

Throughout every episode, there will be slight hints of future foreshadowing about the Quintessons coming down to Earth

How the [REFORMATTED] plot can flow:

(DISCLAIMER: EPISODES WILL BE MENTIONED BUT WILL BE REFORMATTED INTO MY VERSION OF HOW THE STORY WILL BE DEVELOPED! THESE ARE MY OWN THOUGHTS, SO CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM WILL BE NICE! I'M JUST SETTING UP IDEAS OF WHAT WOULD BE GOOD TO FIT IN THE PLOT!)

S2 EP1: Aftermath

While searching for missing Emberstone shards, the kids and Maltos tried to get to know each other (let's just say the Decepticons aren't too fond of the Cybertronians).

There are some exceptions:

Breakdown and Bumblebee

Nightshade and Tarantulas

Hashtag and Starscream

back to the plot-

At first, it's awkward and strange since the Decepticons are ENTIRELY new to the concept of the Terrans (especially Shockwave)

Although it might seem to be going good, it escalated a bit when they lost an Emberstone shard on a hunt or either because of the Decepticons not being fond of the Terrans

The Maltos family can try and invite them over and have them play a game where they can try and get everyone to bond.

However, it only made complications worse. This leads to a fight and some quarrel ensues between them

In the meantime, another character might have found one of the Emberstone shards but accidentally dropped it.

BOOM! Aftermath is formed, and chaos ensues. Characters will loose left and right because of their uncooperativeness due to whatever reason why they got into the fight in the first place

But when one of the characters was about to get harmed, another one, despite despising them, swoops in and saves them.

Everyone works together and knocks out Aftermath, deciding to keep him in a safe place but not treat him inhumanely (like in Season 1) until he calms and sees what they can do with him

S2 EP2: In Ruins

There would not be many changes since it fits perfectly between Mo and Nightshade's dynamic

It can be used as a possible foreshadow

S2 EP3: CONTROL ALT DELETE

Like the plot, they will be clearing up G.H.O.S.T. stuff

There would probably be a lot of misinterpretations this time, considering that Hashtag's alt mode is still a G.H.O.S.T. truck

They could probably discover there were many Ghoids that were accidentally activated, and they need to find a hard drive to shut all of them down

Hashtag attempts to get Shockwave to open up and Shockwave attempts to close her down. He eventually snaps at her, which she reluctantly leaves to give Shockwave some space.

Nightshade and Tarantulas saw this and intervened, trying to convince him to try and accustom and embrace the new generation

In the meantime, everyone was working on trying to take down the Ghoids, and Hashtag was there. She tries to help but gets overwhelmed. She tries driving away with several of them latching onto her, but she eventually brings herself some attention when she accidentally heads into the town

Shockwave follows her (begrudgingly), wanting to apologize and helps her with the Ghoids, but more surrounded them.

At the last minute, Tarantulas and Nightshade were able to shutdown the Ghoids with a hard drive. Shockwave and Hashtag reconcile, keeping it friendly and mutual with each other

S2 EP4: BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Just like S2 EP2, there won't be many changes compared to the original.

All Transformers and Terrans gets introduced in their holoform mode. For the Terrans case, Wheeljack can craft a technology that masks their original forms to look human

Swindle's brother and several other Decepticons might be invited or come over by themselves and want to see what was happening

The Terrans tried to keep the Decepticons on a low profile + Swindle's brother trying to find his brother + while Maltos and Terrans are dealing with Robby's feelings and having a crush

There might be several cues that there was a presence of Quintessons near, which both Terrans and Decepticons have to fend off.

S2 EP5: TOGETHERNESS

Same thing. Plot for this episode stays the same

However, rather than betrayal, it was more that Aftermath didn't feel like he belonged with the Malto family

Jawbreaker learns that he can't force Aftermath to live with the family. So everyone decides to leave Aftermath to join the Decepticons, taken under Breakdown's wing.

S2 EP6: SPITFIRE

The plot stays the same. More bonding with everyone and amendments.

The concept is taken from the previous episode. This time, Starscream (along with Novastorm and Skywarp) is the one to discipline Spitfire

S2 EP7: THE IMPOSTERS

The plot slightly shifts away from the conflict.

Spitfire (in Twitch's body) learns about the family within the Maltos

Twitch (in Spitfire's body) learns about Starscream's plot of stealing the Emberstone pieces, but she doesn't know the exact details

S2 EP8: DUDE, WHERE IS MY TRAILER?

This time, Decepticons think it's something they can trash for fun, but don't realize it was Optimus's trailer

Hashtag recommends the Decepticons go public online, but they were hesitant

S2 EP9: WITWICKY, PART 1

Hashtag and Mo discovers what was underground

Quintessons are coming down to raid Earth and destroy users of Quintus Prime

Starscream steals the Emberstone shards after realizing how to defeat the Quintessons

Spar

Dispute breaks out in confusion of Starscream's actions of stealing the rest of the Emberstone

Everyone tries to stop the Quintessons from coming despite how hard it is.

S2 EP10: WITWICKY, PART 2

Everyone begins to put up a struggle against them

Quintessons got a hand on the Cyber Slayer and drains everyone energies

Morgan and Robby help regain control of the Titan

They all work together to send the Quintessons fleeing away from Earth

Starscream apologizes for the misunderstanding

Everyone come backs to life again

Happy ending!!

IF ANYONE ELSE ANY SUGGESTIONS, REBLOG AND WRITE DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS!

I want to rewrite the entire plot of the 2nd season of Earthspark:

1)Instead of Starscream, the main villain is Quintesson. (The whole season). That is, the Quintessons want to collect Emberstone, gain the power of Quintus Prime and destroy another world

2) Due to the fact that the Decepticons are not villains, we will have even more of their disclosures on the good side

3) And in the end, all together: Autobots, Malto, Decepticons will defeat the Quintessons

The Good ending. Peace, friendship, love 😘

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Humour me (sorry but my posts get lost and ignored so it's easier to ask someone more visible lol).

We know almost for sure that the david/michael wedding was originally THE queer wedding intended to end the season, which of course couldn't happen bc of novaxxers etc, so we'll have Henren vows (sonce they were the original queer romantic+best friends couple from the beginning it's even better to me, but that's me).

But we also know from canon that david and michael got engaged during Defend in Place. Where David almost died and Michael was forced to wait helplessly. Now we'll have Hen in danger bc of her investigations on Jonah, with Karen forced to witness helplessly after she herself pushed her wife to follow her instincts.

.....what does this suggest us about a possible Eddie "Time Isn't Promised To Anyone" Diaz? That same Eddie "The Universe Is Screaming At You" Diaz who in s2 had asked for a sign to know what to do with his relationship with Shannon....?

Hey Kiki

I'm flattered that you think I'm more visible than you, but I am always happy to humour and oblige anything you bring to my inbox because its always good.

Yes we can be pretty sure that the original plans for the finale wedding was supposed to be for Michael and David - it just makes sense given the engagement in defend in place and the fact that the HenRen vow renewal, whilst not coming exactly out of nowhere (given that we've had hints dropped in the last few episodes) wasn't planned originally. I

think they've done a pretty good job of building it into HenRen's story and like you say - I think its actually better (especially in terms of Buddie which I will come back to) because although Rockmond was a main, Hen has been much more neglected as a character - almost like they've never really known what to do with her this season - I think she has been under used and her story arc neglected - we could have had some great stuff surrounding her struggles with balancing work, home and medical school (and missing Chim as part of that) which would have been interesting and fitted well with the overarching arcs we've seen this season - especially family.

The great thing we saw about 5x17 was that Karen wasn't standing by helplessly in the way Michael was in 5x08 - Karen, was busy of camera getting the help Hen needed - phoning Maddie (inadvertently because it was Chim's phone) and figuring out Hen and Chim were in danger and then getting the police and getting that help to her Wife and her best friend. It was beautiful to watch and really highlighted their dynamic - something they could never have managed with Mavid which is built on a very different foundation.

Its partly why I think this vow renewal is so much better in relation to Buddie. We saw in 5x17 HenRen acting very much in the way we've seen Buck and Eddie act over and over - they are each others best friends (even if they are being careful not to say as much in the show for obvious reasons) and they will always have each others backs - that won't change if they become canon - so showing HenRen in that way just reenforces that concept. We got to see Karen supporting and trusting her wife - the bedroom conversation was so similar to ones we've witnessed between Buck and Eddie (just not in a bedroom) - its going to be incredibly interesting to see how the conversation between Buck and Eddie in Eddies bedroom plays out in 5x18 - we should definitely be looking to see how it compares with HenRen conversations - in fact the whole of 5x18 is going to be interesting to look for Buddie/HenRen comparisons!

The Eddie ‘time isn’t promised to anyone’ Diaz and the universe is screaming at you but you refuse to listen’ is a really interesting thing to think on - we got so many references to time in 5x17 - there were watches and clocks etc everywhere, and the choice of a retirement party was very 👀👀👀 because retirement is supposedly when you have nothing but time to do the things you want to so the allusions to time were everywhere. Eddies insistence that the universe doesn’t scream is one of my favourite things - he listens to the universe all the time - his problem is that he misunderstands what the universe is trying to say to him at so many important moments - Eddie looking for a sign regarding Shannon and then when she thinks she’s pregnant Eddie sees in as a sign that they should all be together again - we see him incredibly confused about Shannon all the way up to that moment, so his decision is a hasty one - he hasn’t truly thought things through - he is going based on what is best for Chris - a noble thing yes, but one doomed to fail for a variety of reasons. Ana is another example of Eddie not thinking things through when signs come - in fact with Ana he misreads and ignores several signs - the biggest and most obvious one is Chris running to Buck when he finds out about her - your son running to the man you have secretly put in you will as Christophers legal guardian is a very big neon sign - one he ignores!  The funny thing is when Eddie does listen to the universe - in super key moments he gets it right - so very right. The moments he listens are all interconnecting and they are snowballing into bigger and bigger things with potentially greater implications - it started with Eddie bonding with Buck over a grenade and the snowball has reached Eddie literally Trusting Buck with every single aspect of his life - including the most hidden and ugly parts - his breakdown.

The well/will is the biggest example of this, but the tsunami is also a great example. With the well - Eddie listens to what the universe is showing him - that Christopher - the most important thing in his life is happiest with Buck in the frame - all we see of Christopher in Texas during Eddies flashbacks shows us someone who is stifled and sad (I miss you all the time) yet all the happy memories we see involve Buck - Eddie takes that information and it spurs him into changing his will - yes because it is what is best for Christopher, but also because it is best for Eddie. Eddie knowing Chris will be taken care of, but he also knows that Buck will be taken care of as well - the other person who appeared in those memories - because Buck makes both Diaz boys happy - so Eddie listened and did something about it. 

Going back to my weird snowball metaphor for a minute (and I’m probably going to mix it with a different metaphor but hey!!) - when Eddie listens to the universe - time slows down - its like the snowball gets to keep moving forwards, but at a more sedate pace. When he ignores the universe - time seems to speed up and the snowball gathers pace - it all adds to this sense of not having enough time that Eddie always seems to be feeling - the thing is he hasn’t connected the dots yet - but he is beginning to - because if we think about Eddies break down as the moment when the snowball got out of control and Eddie felt out of time - the snowball crashed - bits fell off but it kept going. But that is also the moment when it slowed back down and gave him time - that is the moment when Buck stepped into the mess and Eddie lets him (because up to this point Buck has been there but not truly an active participant in any of it - everything has been done with buck in mind, rather than with Buck and thats actually an important distinction). The broken bits of snowball lie scattered around and Eddie has always dealt with them alone before, but now he’s got Buck standing there with him and Buck has started helping him put those broken bits back onto the snowball - and the more bits Buck helps put back the clearer things are becoming for Eddie and the clearer things become the more time he is finding he has.

Does this even make sense anymore?? I have totally lost where I was going with this, but what I’m trying to say in the most long winded and confusing way possible is that Eddie is at a point now where I think watching Hen and Karen renew their vows is going to hit harder than it perhaps would have done had it been watching Micheal and David get married - its going to make him truly see that marrying your best friend is the most wonderful thing in the world and I think Denny only adds to the equation - seeing two best friends very much in love and raising a child together - a child they adopted and love like their own. I’m not saying they would love a biological child more, just that the distinction of Denny being adopted and loved by Hen and Karen somewhat parallels Buck and Christopher and their relationship in a way that couldn’t be achieved with a Mavid wedding - it adds weight to any realisations Eddie may have as a result of the vow renewal. 

I have no idea if this is what you were hoping for Kiki, but I’m going to stop now before I make things even more confusing lol!

[yjwhatif]

Wyynde vs La’gaan…

I am so happy with the development we’ve got for these two in the last three episodes - ep 14 gave me the very thing I was hoping for with Wyynde, while all the La’gaan content has been a very pleasant surprise I didn’t know I needed. Of all the Aqua Lot we’ve been given, I’ve come out loving those two the most — which ultimately makes me very worried for their safety!

By now I think we’re all in agreement that somethings going to happen that sends Kaldur over the edge. That beard is coming and it’s coming soon. My dread is that someone is not coming back from the Xebel mission and it may just be because Kaldur makes a mistake. We’ve already seen him choose speed over vigilance when not posting someone as lookout - luckily Delphis was there to save their necks. Kaldur’s losing his objectivity as the emotions he’s trying to ignore are finally seeping through the cracks and blurring his judgement - which can have disastrous consequences… and I think the likelihood is Wyynde or La’gaan are going to be a victim of those consequences…

See, I love when a show gives me everything to love about a character and more - especially one that’s maybe not a main focus - but it also sets off alarm bells in my head because usually when they give you good things it because they’re gonna take something away - especially with smaller characters. You’ve got to create a connection if you want to gain a reaction. This is what’s been happening with La’gaan. He’s seen a lot of development in not a lot of time - he’s matured massively since S2, he’s in a loving relationship where he’s married with a husband and wife and they all have a child on the way, he’s caring and supportive and loyal. In translation, he has a lot to lose and a lot who could lose him — perfect for emotionally hurting your audience. After his (not) goodbye moment with the family, I think we’re all left wondering, will La’gaan make it back in time to witness to birth of his child? Will he make it back at all? His confidence in coming back soon is adorable — but it’s never going to happen because these missions always go wrong. Always.

The presence of the baby also makes for a worrying sign that loss is coming - as birth is usually present for a narrative reason and that reason is usually to represent the Circle of Life. While death is the ending of one life, birth is the beginning of another - it brings hope to the devastated, joy to the saddened - it balances everything out and keeps the story moving forward. It keeps the characters looking forward (or at least some of them anyway) as the spirit of the lost lives on in the child they never knew. If La’gaan doesn’t make it then baby’s probably gonna get named after him and/or look like him.

AND YET… I don’t actually think it’s gonna be La’gaan who’s lost…

Where the shows been giving very obvious development for La’gaan to strengthen our connection to him - they’ve also been dropping a lot of subtle hints that Wyynde will ultimately be the one to make the sacrifice should it present itself. Each episode presents a moment for Wyynde that sets up his making of such a decision - the confrontation at the algae bar (ep. 14), his stopping La’gaan from helping Blubber (ep. 15) and his disagreement with Kaldur (ep. 16).

Starting with the last first, that little one sided argument we caught the end of is establishing conflict in the relationship - and because this show doesn’t just add conflict for conflicts sake - it’s there for a reason. It’s showing disconnect between Kaldur and Wyynde - Wyynde wants Kaldur to take a break and realise his current work ethic is really unhealthy while Kaldur is in denial that anything’s wrong - he’s only doing what he’s always done. The problem is, Kaldur’s putting more energy into avoiding what his emotional side is telling him that he’s ultimately losing his connection with the logic he needs for leading a high stakes mission. Wyynde’s frustrations are well justified and Kaldur’s just brushing him off - you can feel the tension as Wyynde is torn between his worry and his irritation — which is going to effect Wyynde’s own focus on the mission. If he feels Kaldur’s focus is divided then he’s not gonna feel as confident trusting his leadership - and if he doesn’t trust Kaldur’s judgement then he’s gonna feel the need to focus more on Kaldur’s safety than his own. It’s a common trope that conflict in a relationship is usually followed by something bad happening to the one trying to preach reason - it acts as a dramatic way of getting the unreasonable one to gain some perspective as the threat of losing their loved one opens their eyes to their unreasonable behaviour. (This happened with Conner and M’gann in Terrors.) Wyynde’s definitely not losing any love for Kaldur despite his grievances - and though he may start questioning Kaldur’s instructions (or lack there of) he certainly wouldn’t hesitate in throwing himself in front of danger to protect Kaldur.

The next moment is the Red Sea attack - this moment highlights a major difference between Wyynde and La’gaan - Wyynde is objective whilst La’gaan is emotional. Orin orders the city gates remain closed to protect all within - Wyynde doesn’t question the order - but La’gaan does and that’s before realising his friend is still outside. When Blubber is revealed to be outside shouting for help La’gaan doesn’t hesitate to try help him - despite the orders and the fact the Reds already cut off the nearest entrance. It takes both Wyynde and Delphis holding him back to stop him risking the lives of everyone and himself to help the life of one. We’ve seen since S2 La’gaan would disregard his own health and safety to help someone he cares about - like trying to walk on a broken leg or throwing himself at a fire serpent to protect someone else. From what we’ve seen so far, Wyynde is not as emotionally reactive - when situations get difficult he seem pretty good at keeping his cool and remaining objective… in the x-pit, despite the torture, he was to one who worked out their magic helped ease the pain, and when Kaldur is hurt in ep.15, he make sure to checks on him without abandoning his orders of arresting Orm. He doesn’t care any less than La’gaan, he just has a more equal balance between his logical and emotional thinking - something he evidently worked to achieve since his days as a hateful purist.

Despite his ability to remain objective in tough situations, he’s not immune to changing that logic if the situation demands it. We have yet to see how he would react should someone he has a strong caring for gets stuck in a extremely dire situation. As I said above he probably would go against logic and orders to save/protect Kaldur, and I think it’s likely he would for Delphis as well — though I do get the feeling, had it been his decision, he would never have allowed her to join the mission even if she did put up a fight. The question is though, would he choose to go against his better judgement or orders to save La’gaan? Honestly, with the right build up, I think he would. I think he would let go of logic and risk himself to ensure La’gaan makes it back to his family and gets to live to see his child grow. It would be a powerful moment for Wyynde.

Seriously if any of this turns out happening there may genuinely be tears that fall — they’d be tears of burning rage because none of my boys deserve this torture— GRANDON! But I fear the emotions are coming and I’m still not prepared… Onto the final Wyynde moment - The Algae Bar scene…

So, I said at the beginning that episode 14 gave me the very thing I was hoping for with Wyynde - and that was to see solid acknowledgment of his past wrong doings and get an understanding of his relationship with other that aren’t Kaldur. The algae bar scene gave us that and I love everything about it. Wyynde is the first to spot Lori and with the way his face drops you can see the guilt throw him back into the memories of his past mistakes. If you were still doubting whether Wyynde had truly changed his ways, then this moment is your proof that he has. He’s shamed by the person he was and the choices he made. He’s aware but that doesn’t make him hide away or avoid possible hostility thrown his way - he chooses to make the effort and strive towards amends.

Lori is very justified in her contempt towards Wyynde - he and his purists caused a lot of harm for Lori and her friends - that sort of trauma is hard to let go of, especially if she’s not actually interacted with Wyynde since those days. It’s clear how important gaining her forgiveness and/or trust would mean to him - it might just allow him to finally let go of that part of himself he hates for ever existing - or maybe he’ll never truly be able to get over that guilt. People may change with time, but memories will always stay with people. Wyynde’s final statement to her is this — “some day, I hope to prove to you that I have changed.” Would sacrificing/risking his life to protect someone he once considered “impure” not provided ample proof of that? Especially if it’s someone he isn’t romantically involved - someone like La’gaan.

I’m sure Wyynde is going to prove himself somehow before the story concludes - but the question is, will he live to see himself forgiven?

With what we’ve seen and what I expect to happen with Kaldur, I think it makes more sense that the something that breaks him would revolve around Wyynde rather than La’gaan. Also the obvious emphasis on La’gaan and his family makes me think there’ll be a miss directed - maybe something will happen to him but ultimately he will make it home and someone else won’t. Someone like Wyynde - the final loss that pushes Kaldur over the edge…

Or not? Who knows I might be completely wrong (I hope I am and everyone turns out to be completely fine and Kaldur’s just decided he fancies a new look that’s totally not trauma related… please?)

ANYWAY. I guess we’ll find out soon, thanks for reading — I’ll hopefully get my ep.16 Notes up tomorrow ready for the next episode.

See you there

LB

[hahahahahangst]

My own Rihanna (Be The Young 21)

GIANT TW which will be valid for each episode for suicidal thoughts, self-h*rm, violence, cursing, relatives dying, mentions of s*x, s*xual assault

All chapter titles are song titles, some of them translated from Italian songs. We start from the first season and make out way through the series. I will break canon (mostly from the S2 finale) but will try to get back into it for the sake of ✨ lore ✨ .

Summary: Emily's life used to be normal. Until one day, her family died, leaving behind just one letter.

"After reading this whole letter, call John Winchester. [...] He’s your real father."

A/N: Yeah. I’m sorry for this one. And for the next one. Like... I’m sorry....

MASTERLIST

My own Rihanna

Everything ends, it’s not love but the fact we’re both hurt that keeps us together We were not two halves, we were two wholes And so we were incompatible together I didn’t love you like crazy, I went crazy to love you What am I supposed to demonstrate if you don’t even look at me We’re two monsters You spent more time being afraid of losing me than actually enjoying our time

Emily was unsure of how she ended up where she was. 

One day she woke up and she was in a house, in the middle of nowhere, with a lot of other people around who all seemed to have powers like hers. With no way of contacting her brothers, she had to take matters into her own hands and guide the very unlikely group of “chosen children'' that was formed in that abandoned city. She tried to pretend to be strong and not afraid, in control, but she was slowly spiraling, not having any idea of what they were up against or how to get out of there, especially as Ava grew more and more nervous and upset.

Sam joined them the following day. 

When she saw him appear in the room, she could do nothing but hug him. She could feel how scared he was, but there was also a hint of relief from finally finding her. It was good to have their power back and after weeks, it actually started feeling less weird and intrusive. It just became a fact that if they were feeling something intense, the other person would feel it too. 

On the night she was reunited with Sam, the yellow-eyed demon spoke to her in her dreams. He raved and raved about how much more powerful than everybody else she was, about how she should be the winner of his “contest“, because she was “special”.

“Technically, you’ve already won once.” He said, shrugging. “I just want to see if you can win again.”  Then, he showed her the night he chose her. 

“You see, getting all that blood out of me wasn’t easy. But I needed to see what would happen if I overpowered you. The other people in this town… they only got a couple of drops. More than enough to mess you up, but you and the rest of your group… Oh, the things you could have done.” 

“You know that demons lie of the time, right?” Said Sam as she talked to him about all this. They were walking outside the building, making sure nobody else had arrived and that they didn't have any unwanted guests. 

 “I know, but… what if it's true? I mean, Meg also mentioned it.”

“Maybe he's trying to put us against each other?”

“Yeah, maybe.” She exhaled. “Sam, I'm going to check on Ava, will you be okay out here?” 

The rest of the memories she had of that day were confused, scattered, but mostly painful. 

In any way possible. That was the last time she saw him alive.

Dean arrived too late. 

Emily had been trying to keep Sam alive for almost an hour. Everybody else was dead. Her knife was still in Jake, who Emily had repeatedly stabbed, screaming. He now laid on the ground, a pool of blood slowly soaking into the dirt. Everybody else was dead. It was just Emily.  

A pool of blood was also forming around Sam. All of Emily's attempts at keeping him alive were failing. 

“Don't worry Sam, you'll be alright, I am sure Dean will be here soon and he will know what to do.” She kept whispering as she covered his wound with one hand and tried to keep his heart beating with the other one. “He’ll know what to do.” She said, “He will save you.” There was nothing to do. Sam had been stabbed from side to side. There was no way of keeping the blood inside of him. Emily knew it.

She knew he was dead. He had been for a while. His heart stopped beating, his lungs stopped working. The blade went through his spine. The bottom half of her body and her forearms were completely covered in blood, the border between hers, Sam's and Jake's becoming indistinguishable the more it dried on her. 

When she heard Dean's voice, she had already given up. She was kneeling next to Sam, her head on his chest, squeezing his lifeless hand. She wasn’t even crying anymore, her voice lost in all the screaming she had already done.

She did not dare to talk. She drove back by herself, trying to keep up with Dean's reckless turns and speed. When they got back at Bobby's, she looked at Dean from a distance. 

She knew perfectly well that a small word, a breath too loud, would ignite a fight she did not want to have. Not then, not there.

Not anymore.

Sam was dead because of her. Because of her distraction.

She left him alone. She should have never left him alone. It was all her fault. 

She thought it and she was sure Dean thought it too. 

Nobody spoke for the rest of the night. Emily sat on the couch, looking at Dean's every move. She tried to cry as quietly as possible. 

She didn't wash her body or her clothes, the stench of the dried blood perpetually making its way into her lungs. 

The fried chicken Bobby brought back remained untouched. 

Emily dared to move only when she saw Dean opening up the second whiskey bottle of the night. She stood up, pretending to be confident and holding her breath to stop her sobbing. She walked to the table and slid the bottle away from Dean’s hands. Emily poured herself a big glass of whiskey and tentatively sat down next to Dean. 

He briefly looked at her, but didn't say anything. 

Emily looked at Sam's body. All she wanted was for him to pop up into her head and say something witty and wise, something along the lines of “you should talk with Dean, it will help”. Something that, she was sure, would have annoyed her. 

“Dean, I-” She tried to say.

“Shut up.” He immediately interrupted her, his knuckles whitening as he held his glass a little tighter. 

Emily looked at him. What was she thinking, sitting there like that? How could she ever even think for a split second of being normal siblings for one day? She stood up, nervous. “Okay, I'll-” she started, taking one step towards the main room. 

“GOD DAMMIT I SAID SHUT UP, NOT LEAVE!” Yelled Dean, grabbing her from her wrist and making Emily stop in the middle of the step, startled. She looked over to him, tears already filling her eyes. Dean let go of her wrist as if it was made of fire. “Sorry- Just… just sit down. Please.” His voice was filled with regret.

Emily made her way back to her chair. She took a deep breath. 

It's not a good time to fight.

It's not a good time to cry. 

She kept repeating in her mind. 

A couple hours of silence later, Bobby showed up again, with the same, cold, soggy chicken he had already offered them twice. 

They refused in unison. 

“You should eat something.” He said. Emily was trying to find a polite way to send him his way, but Dean had, of course, other plans. 

“I said I am fine.” He said, sharp. 

“Dean, I hate to bring this up, I really do,“ he said, putting down the chicken. Emily tried to signal him to stop, already knowing what he wanted to ask, but he either didn't see or ignored her. “But don't you think maybe it's time… we bury Sam?” 

A window basically exploded on Emily's right. Nobody even questioned or reacted to it, but Emily knew full well it was her. It wasn’t the first time she was having trouble controlling her powers when she was upset. 

“No.” Simply said Dean, going back to his glass of whiskey. 

“Maybe we could…“ 

“What? Torch his corpse? Not yet.” 

The glass in Emily's hand exploded, cutting her. She was only able to mutter a slight profanity before Bobby spoke again. “I want you to come with me, I don't think you should be alone.”

“I'm not alone, Emily is here.”

“Right, so instead of killing yourself, you kill each other? How is that of any help?” Dean stood up, but Emily immediately grabbed his jacket and dragged him back down. Surprisingly, he opposed no resistance and just fell back onto the chair. 

“Bobby, just go, okay? We'll be fine.” Said Emily, firmly holding Dean's forearm. The old man took two steps to the side of the door, so that only Emily could see him, and signaled her to come. She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her, Dean scowling at her every step. 

“Listen, something is going down. Something apocalyptic. I could use your help.”

“Bobby, no. You are right, Dean shouldn’t be here alone. We'll be fine. Really. You go.” The man patted her shoulder and left. Emily went back in the room and sat next to Dean, who was sniffing and hiding his face. 

All of a sudden, Emily remembered what Sam said to her in the hospital, when Dean was dying. “Just do it.” 

It took her a big dose of courage, she wasn't even sure why it was so hard, but she finally put her hand on Dean's shoulder. At first, he seemed startled. He froze under the touch. But after a handful of seconds, she felt his body relax slightly and he put his own hand on hers. 

For a split second she thought that maybe… everything was going to be okay. 

When night arrived, the yellow-eyed demon appeared in front of her. She stood up, alarmed. Dean stayed exactly where he saw and when Emily checked again, she noticed that her body did too. It was like a weird dream. 

She instinctively pointed her gun at the demon. He smiled.

“Howdy, Emily.” 

She didn't answer, but kept pointing the gun at him, conscious that it would have done nothing. “You wanna put that away?” 

He stood there, silently, until Emily finally lowered her gun. “Congratulations, by the way. You are the last man standing. Again.”

“Bite me.” She said, bitter. 

“Oh come on, don't be like that. I was rooting for you!” 

“Did you at least have fun?” She snapped. “Was it really necessary? For Sam to die?” 

“I needed the strongest and I didn't want to settle for the silver medal. I want the golden champion, and that's you.”

“What do you even need me for?” 

“Oh, I got a laundry list of things for you to do…“

“Yeah right. As if I would follow any of your orders.”

“What are you going to do, kill me?”

“I don't know, I might.”

“You have failed once, what makes you think you would succeed this time?” He smirked. “Besides… If you help me, I'll help you.” He said. Pointing at Sam. 

“Define… help.” 

“I might bring your brother back. Imagine… all would be forgiven. Your brother Dean, you secretly idolize him, don't you?” Emily scoffed. “Darling, no need to lie to me, I see inside of you. Just imagine- He would forgive you for letting Sam die like this. Maybe… Maybe he might also tell you that he's proud of you. He might be just like the Dean you dreamt about in the djinn’s hallucination.” 

Emily swallowed, staring at Dean's frozen image, crying over his brother. 

She knew it was not a good idea, but it was still an idea. The only one she had all night.

If she could bring Sam back, all would have been forgiven, all would have been solved. 

“What do I need to do?” She asked. 

Emily closed her eyes one second too long and fell asleep. When she opened them again, Dean was not next to her anymore. She ran out of the kitchen doors and saw him about to leave. 

“Going somewhere?” She asked. 

“I-'' Dean tried to speak, but was interrupted by the door slamming behind him. That time, Emily did it on purpose, because she had seen what he had in his hand. She made sure she also made the key turn and flew directly in her hand. “What is that?!” He pointed at the metal box he was holding.

“None of your business.” He spat. 

Emily quickly walked over to him. “I have read every single book in this room, you think I don’t recognize it?” She said, enraged. “You are selling your soul, aren’t you?'

“It's my soul, I can do whatever I want with it.” 

“You sick…“ spat Emily, pushing Dean against the wall, adding a new adjective to each step. ”... unaffectionate, egoistic bastard.” Dean let the box fall when he finally hit the wall. Emily kicked it behind her. “Have you already forgotten how it felt when dad did the same for you?!” 

“You really don't understand, do you?!” 

“I don't-'' She repeated, exasperated, closing her left hand into a fist as she kept Dean pinned against the wall with the other one “What am I supposed to do, uh?” Dean rolled his eyes. “Just watch you kill yourself? The grip she had on him was getting so tight she lifted him a couple of inches off the ground.

“Honestly? I don't care.” He said, cold. Emily punched him. He barely reacted. She hit him again, bursting into tears immediately after. “Is this how much you really care about me?” She said, “What am I supposed to do once you die?” 

“You can go back to Portland and live your dream life, I don’t really care.”. Emily could not resist the urge of punching him yet again. 

“What about you stop trying to kill yourself?” She yelled. “The virus thing first, now this! What on earth has happened to you?”  

“Emily, you are the only thing standing between me and a world where Sam is not dead.”

“I swear to god“ Emily pushed Dean further into the wall, which she heard crack under the pressure. ”... you will have to step over my dead body to get out that door.” 

“Don’t… challenge me.” Emily threw Dean away from the wall and pushed him on the floor. 

“So that’s it, uh?” She said, trying her best to not get interrupted by her sobbing, which was slowly closing down her nose. “You’d rather have me dead than having to spend the rest of your life alone with me?” She tried to kick him in the stomach but only managed to get to his shins. “So much for being my brother.” Emily turned her back to her brother and leaned towards the window next to the door. She placed her head on the cold glass as she heard her brother stand back up. “Dean, there has to be another way!” 

“There isn’t.” 

“DID YOU EVEN TRY LOOKING?!” She yelled, turning to push him towards the opposite wall. His gaze suddenly turned to anger. “Or did you just go with the most self destructive solution of them all?” She was expecting a punch. She stared at him for a couple of seconds before starting to yell again. “LOOK AT YOU! Goddamit, Dean, I have been hitting you for ten minutes and you haven’t even reacted yet!”

“Don’t-” 

“STOP - TALKING!” She said, punching the wall next to Dean’s head. “The Dean I know would have punched me already- I SAID SHUT UP!” She screamed as he saw him opening his mouth again. “I DON’T NEED YOU TO TAKE ALL MY PUNCHES, I NEED MY BROTHER!”

“I AM NOT YOUR BROTHER!” He finally snapped back. Emily’s body froze for a second, a window exploded and only then, she let go of him. Her face turned emotionless. 

It was all for nothing. 

She had been suffering for years, trying to bond, listening to Sam saying “You just need to get over the fear of getting attached to each other“ and trying to believe it, all for someone who didn’t even consider her family. 

“Right.” She whispered, drying her face. “Of course. How could I ever think something like that.” She took the key to the door out of her jeans pocket and threw it on the table. 

“You know what?” She continued, not even trying to hide her crying anymore. “Have it your way. Kill yourself. I don’t care anymore.” She swallowed the actual words she wanted to say. Just be my brother. I care about you. I can’t be alone right now. Don’t let me walk out that door. Please care about me.

She opened the door. 

Just say something. 

A word. 

Just one. 

Give me one reason to stay.

“It’s all your fault.” 

Definitely not the words Emily wanted to hear. 

She left the house and sat in the same stolen car she had used to go back there. 

She drove to Fall Parks and sat on a bench. 

That was it. 

That was the night she was going to kill herself. 

She had nothing left to live for. 

“Now, now, don’t be like that.” Said a voice next to her, startling her. The demon had appeared next to Emily. “I am sure it’s nothing bringing back Sam can’t fix.” He smiled suggestively. 

“No. I am not helping you.” 

“What are you going to do then?” 

“None of your business.” 

“Oh, come on, I am literally the only person who would talk to you right now.” He looked at her, sympathetically. 

“Very funny. Can you leave?” 

“I was thinking…“ he started, completely ignoring her request. “If you are about to kill yourself, why not die while trying to get your brother back? Maybe Dean could change his mind about you not being part of the family.” Emily finally met his yellow gaze. “Of course, bringing back Sam would be something so big… Dean would have no choice than to love you back, right? Damn, he might even start worrying about you just like he does for Sam.” 

Emily was unsure. Did she really want to have anything to do with Dean anymore? 

All she wanted for all of it to stop. To never have to worry about that again. 

To take a sharp object and trace a long, vertical line on her forearm. One that would last forever. 

“Emily, the life you have always dreamed about, the one where Dean always eats your pie and hugs you when you are down, the life where you are not the family disappointment… The key to get that is just to bring Sam back.” She swallowed, trying to rationalize what he was saying. “You would become Dean’s favorite. He would never dare to hurt you ever again.” 

Fuck it.

“Okay. I am in.”

[ectora]

So, because there has been so much debate in the charmed fandom about screen time and focus and everything, I decided to go down on facts and write down the actual screen time each main character have (by actual I mean approximative cause yes I’m very bored but I’m not a psycho so if a character was taking part of the scene I would write down the time of the scene and not only when it was on said character. The only exception is when the character was barely participating or was like, laying on the ground unconscious (happens more than you’d think)). It’s probably not right to the second but it’s close enough lmao. I saw someone do that with Supergirl in the past so I was like why not ?

Screen time for season 2

Macy : 5h35m57s (19/19)

Mel : 5h27m20s (19/19)

Maggie : 6h11m33s (19/19)

Harry : 4h32m15s + 21m10s as Jimmy (19/19)

Abigael : 2h19m46s (13/19)

Jordan : 1h38m49s (15/19)

Now as you can see, the screen time that both Abigael and Jordan get is barely half what Harry gets (for Abby) and not even close to half for Jordan (to be honest Jordan could get a little more). The sisters clear have more screen times than anyone else (rightfully, as it should). What they do with that screentime though is a different story because Jimmy for example doesn’t get a lot of screentime but was the center of others’ story. Same with Harry being a lot of Macy’s story, or even Abigael’s. The show definitely failed in using that screen time to develop their characters properly at times, but in terms of number only, there is no question the focused is definitely on the sisters, followed by Harry/Jimmy and further behind Abby and Jordan.

But my crazy ass didn’t stop there (yes I have issues I know leave me alone), so I also have graphs or their individual screen times through the season and as a comparative graph of their screentime for each episode.

Note: for Harry I included Jimmy in his screen time but Jimmy only appears in 7 episodes. His screen time (opposed to his place in the story) is rather small though except for one episode where his screen time is a bit above 10mins. More details coming.

And one graph with screen time comparisons by episode for each character.

Detailed screentime

And no. It still doesn’t stop here (someone should stop me though). I also put down with who each character spend their time with when on screen for each episode. Yes I know, something is wrong with me, let’s just ignore it and move along. Anyway. Screen shots of the graphs/tables are easier than writing everything because it’s long. I don’t know if anyone cares but I was like if I do it I’ll do it well

Note: group (2+) means any variantes of three people or more who are part of the main cast. So Macy, Mag and Abigael for example. Or Macy, Harry, Maggi and Abigael. Any group who doesn’t involve all three sisters at the same time.

So basically all of this, I think, resumes pretty well the construction of the episodes. The sisters are definitely the front and center with a screen time far superior to anyone else. So I truly don’t think the issue here is about screen time (I beg, can people stop acting like the screen time is the issue). It’s normal to have a couple of episodes where other characters will be a bit more put ahead, it happens in literally every show ever and it’s also not an issue as long as it’s only occasionally (which was the case for Jordan or even Abby. (For Harry during season 2 it was a bit of a bigger issue which seem to be going a little be better in s3). Honestly in terms of screen time, I’d say (purely on the numbers here) give a bit less to Harry and a bit more to Jordan (Jimmy is also gone so there is that screen time to add) and I think it could be a good balance for now as both Abby and Jordan are still separated from the main storyline so they won’t as involved until they more linked to it ;in S3).

I know season 3 already started but again, based on these numbers only, I hope Jordan will be a bit more involved in other characters than just Maggie. Abby had some time with Harry but thankfully they dropped that story so I hope they’ll reduce that screen time a bit and will give more Abby interacting with Mel and Jordan, as well as Maggie, they can be funny. I also hope the sisters will have more bonding moments, as a trio and in pairs. TCO is the biggest screen time but it feels like it’s mostly trying to kill monsters or in crisis, and we need more sisterly scenes, bonding time, so we can really get more attached to their bond.

SHIPS

There is another thing that I noticed while doing this, even thought it was not the point, is the difference of screen time between pairings.

Macy/Harry - 44 minutes 30 secondes

Maggie/Jordan - 52 minutes 49 secondes

Mel/Ruby - 10 minutes 48 secondes

Mel/Abigael - 13 minutes 22 secondes

I included abimel just cause there are chances they actually go there and it does count into the ground they built all of this on. I know Ruby is not a main so she will obviously not have the same screentime than others (which is why I’m not a big fan of this ship tbh) but even with that they still deserve more imo especially when you compare it to the heterosexual relationships of the show. It’s a strong unbalance the show needs to fix and that is clearly still going in season 3. I will probably talk more about it in the potential season 3 post but I do think attention needs to be brought on the issue. If they do go with Abimel, I also understand they won’t spent too much time on a ship that isn’t meant to last (which, story wise, seems to be the case) but it is still not a great look to have Mel in a relationship by name only and have others have these long development through the entire season. And same if they do end up making Abimel an actual couple. But that’s more of an upcoming because though they did hint at stuff during S2 it also wasn’t the focus.

Anyway, i don’t think anyone really cares but well. I also probably will do season 3 too. But that’s the end of this very long text and doing all this took me so much more time than I’ll admit 😪 gonna blame the lockdown on this one. I don’t think anyone cares but I did it anyway 😂 and I’m also blaming that one person who did it for other shows for giving me the idea. if you have read all of that (you’re dedicated), thanks for reading and if not it’s ok I understand.

[duchezss]

Things I’d really love to see in jwcc s4

- More backstory on Brooklynn’s family because she didn’t seem all that concerned over her family more so her fans when they all got stuck there. Hopefully Kenji also gets some more details too so they can really bond over that

- The Mosasaurus, as we know from the cold open in fallen kingdom the creature gets out into the open sea and since our heroes just left on a boat I think they’re bound to run into her

- More heart to hearts, since they are on a boat with nothing to do I hope at the very least the 1st (hopefully more like 2-3) episodes are just letting these characters talk with one another. I really want to see Ben and Kenji sit down and talk to each other because they didn’t at all last season and Kenji was probably the most effected by his “death” not to mention Kenji and Darius have to work out their predicament and Darius is probably gonna want to talk to Brooklynn after everything that went down in the finale episodes. Not to say that these episodes can’t have action but I think they deserve a much needed break and it’s a perfect time to flesh out these characters

- The kids talking about their families more, we got a hint of it last season when Sammy mentioned how worried her parents must feel, I’d really like to see all the kids vocalize this. We know next to nothing about Yazmina, Ben, and Brooklynn’s families so I would like to see more on that

- More details coming back, something jwcc is excellent at is making small details that we all looked over matter. Such as the tracking beam from S2 since Ben was the only one who knew where it was, I think this seasons detail might be the compass. It’s practically the only thing telling them where they’re going and I might be looking into this too much but it almost looked like it was pointing them in the wrong direction, which leads me into my next point

- Isla Sonar, you knew it was coming. I think I’d be very interesting and honestly kinda likely that they end up there, plus it would give the show some last bits of material before they all eventually go home. I think they could do a lot with this, like the Mosasaurus damaged their boat and they had to dock somewhere, or the stowaway causes them trouble and they decided to drop it near the next closest island, easy set up. 

- Finding out where the kids live, we know from interviews that Darius is from Oakland, California and Ben is from Chicago, Illinois and from the show we know Sammy is from somewhere in Texas. I’d really like to see where Kenji, Brooklynn, and Yazmina live, it would also be a good conversation and a callback to S1 about how hard it would be to see each other again. But unlike that time where they had known each other for a couple of days, now they’ve known each other for half a year so I think it’s safe to say they’ll find away. 

- Finally I’d love to see more easter eggs or hints at the old or newer movies, they’ve always done an amazing job with that and I’d love to see what more they could do, especially if they go to Sonar.

Ok this is kinda longer than expected lmao, anyway I’m pumped for S4 lets get it

[hopetofantasy]

Culture, parallels & meta - S3 E2

Zaterdag 10:21

That’s character: In this scene, they’re again establishing some of Robbe’s insecurities. We already know from previous seasons that he often feels like the third wheel, keeps to himself, lets people walk all over him or apologizes a lot, so that they don’t hate him or abandon him (like his dad did). But this scene takes it even further: he doesn’t want to be a burden. Not with stuff like his friend’s party mess, so he cleans up as early and fast as he can. Not with taking food that doesn’t belong to him, so he chooses to not eat anything instead. 

Perfect parallel: Zoë mentioning “Especially the pasta” in this season, because Milan stole her pasta at the beginning of hers.

Surprise bitch, guess who? Milan’s one-nightstand appears to be ‘Georgy Chtchevaev’, a close friend of Jonathan Michiels (Viktor) and other cast members. Small, small world.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Robbe’s expression at the end reveals how he longs for something like Milan has, but then realizes he might never have/want that. (Internalized homophobia is a bitch, y’all!)

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: The guy pulls out strawberry yoghurt from ‘Colruyt’ out of an almost empty fridge along with a spoon, from the cutlery drawer. Robbe’s gaze keeps lingering a tad too long on the half naked boy in their kitchen.

°

Zaterdag 14:43

C is for culture: 

“Hey, I’m working here” - Teens are allowed to get a student job, as long as they’re at least 15 years old and completed the first two years of high school. The rules around how often they may work, has changed a lot during the last decade. However, nowadays, they’re allowed to work at a lower social security tariff as long as they don’t go over 475 working hours per year. Otherwise, they’ll have to pay the normal amount or even taxes if they surpass a certain income limit.

“No, I was just shopping” - C&A (Clemens & August Brenninkmeijer) is a Dutch chain store of origin with approx. 1,500 stores in Europe. They mostly attract older generations, as their style is seen as a bit old-fashioned and classic. That’s why their popularity significantly dropped in recent years, causing closures in some cities. - A smart move of putting product placement in a youth tv series.

Perfect parallel: 

Robbe pulling a t-shirt off the rack to get Noor’s attention in this episode, him using the same tactic with a sweater in the last episode.

Noor sitting on a reluctant Robbe’s lap to kiss him here, Robbe happily straddling Sander to kiss and talk later on.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Robbe again faking that he likes Noor’s sexual advances.

Lost in translation: Robbe’s mom texting him “Ziet ge mij niet graag?”, which could literally be interpreted as “Don’t you want to see me?”, but in this context it actually means “Don’t you love me anymore?”.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: In case you didn’t catch it, Robbe is making a double joke with the t-shirt - saying that Noor is sexy as well as repeating the song on the store radio. Jana’s look at a disheveled Noor reveals that she knew Robbe wasn’t just ‘trying something on’.

Bonus: This season uses a lot of mirrors to reflect Robbe’s emotions and inner turmoil. Even his relationships with Noor and Sander are mirrored within the season itself: he never liked what Noor did for him (waiting outside the school, making out in public, going next level) and he was amazed at Sander doing the same. Mirrors are the perfect way of showing how Robbe has two faces: his ‘straight’ public persona and his struggling inner ‘gay’ self.

°

Zondag 19:59

That’s character: Zoë’s mom behavior is at full force here. When she spots her friends, roommates or boyfriend in difficult situations, she jumps to the opportunity to make them feel better. She instantly defends them, provides a shoulder to cry on, gives advice, feeds them when needed, tries to figure out what they’re feeling, ... Sometimes giving some tough loving too. Zoë just has that caring nature of her own. This probably stems from the fact that she missed out on parental figures and wants to feel needed as a compensation.

Perfect parallel:

Symbolism! Robbe walking away from his mom’s room in a cold-looking hallway, because he’s not comfortable (yet) with the situation. And him walking towards Sander’s room in a warmly lit hallway, since he’s at peace with what’s happening with his love.

Zoë asking Milan if he’s “Playing hard to get?” in this situation, Milan asking Robbe if his clothes say “Hard to get or playing hard to get?” later.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Robbe analyses what Milan is doing with his partner, not really sure how to feel about it.

Nod to the OG: Zoë stating “The only thing you can do now is just be there for her and yes, that you have to wait”, sounds oddly familiar to the minute-for-minute speech by Sonja.

Funny coincidence: Milan making out heavily with his boy in front of Robbe and his salad, might look like a nod to the ‘Right in front of my salad’ meme.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Robbe’s other (thicker) coat is hanging on a hook in the hallway. Senne’s “If I had have known that, I would have tried harder” indicates that he probably had to retake a year in high school, because otherwise he’d been a student in uni earlier on. 

°

Maandag 16:27

C is for culture: “Kwak en Boemel kwamen binnen” (= “Kwak and Boemel entered”) - Robbe is referring to two side characters in the Belgian comic books ‘Jommeke’, who are homeless, lowlife criminals. The main protagonist in the series is the 11-year-old boy ‘Jommeke’. He is clever, honest, brave, loves adventure and is recognizable by his distinct blonde bowl cut. It’s one of the best-selling strips in Flanders, besides ‘Suske and Wiske’. 

Perfect parallel: Jens’ first time suggesting toothpaste to jerk off happens here in S3, but he repeats it again during wtFOCKDOWN. 

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: The boys questioning why Robbe didn’t go all-the-way with Noor yet.

Lost in translation: Noor saying “Is dat een eik? Want ik zie veel eikels hier!” has completely lost its meaning when translated. ‘Eikels’ means ‘acorns’, which come from the ‘eik’ (= ‘oak tree’). But ‘eikels’ also means ‘assholes’. That’s why she’s pointing out the oak tree, to diss the boys that they’re actually ‘eikels’. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Again, the very subtle hint at the beginning that Sander was at the skatepark - checking Robbe out. Robbe pulls the middle finger at the boys hollering. His skateboard has a ‘World Industries’ sticker on it. 

°

Dinsdag 14:56

Perfect parallel: 

Robbe arguing “A whole weekend on a trip with people you don’t know?” against Noor coming along in this episode, his flirty affirmative answer to Sander’s “Like a weekend trip with strangers, right?” in the next.

Amber and her match making skills again! First, she tried to set herself up with Senne in S1, then Jana and Zoë with Max in S2, now Luca with Aaron in S3. 

Lost in translation: “Ik denk niet dat ze daar goesting voor heeft” - ‘Goesting’ is a typical Flemish word for anything that has to do with desire, preference or willingness to do something in any context (work, food, activities, sex, ...). That’s why Aaron answers him with “I had a different impression on Friday”, taking the “I don’t think she has ‘goesting’” in a very sexual way.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: The real reason why he doesn’t want Noor to join the trip, is him not wanting to fake his attraction to her. Except Robbe isn’t willing to admit that to himself yet.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Luca has braces!

°

Woensdag 12:21

Perfect parallel: Noor’s “And then you haven’t even seen the men yet” as a rebuttal to Moyo’s comments about art school girls in this episode, Robbe meeting the beautiful art boy Sander in the next. 

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Robbe just doesn’t see the appeal in watching women dance, since he’s not attracted to them. But the guys don’t get why he says ‘no’ to the recital.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Noor is greeting Britt with a hug in the background. Moyo kisses the dance recital flyer right before going outside. 

°

Donderdag 07:21

C is for culture: Robbe is making a sandwich with choco spread and speculaas cookies. ‘Speculaas’ (’Biscoff' in English) is a spiced shortcrust biscuit with origins in the Netherlands and Belgium. It’s typically baked for the ‘Sinterklaas’ and Christmas celebrations. Though, it can be eaten as a treat to accompany coffee, thee or ice-cream as well. 

Perfect parallel: 

Zoë saying “I think you’re not used to eating healthy” earlier this episode and Robbe making sweet sandwich at the breakfast table, confirming her statement here.

Milan taking revenge for Zoë on a sleeping Senne in this episode, him helping Robbe prank Moyo for being homophobic in a later one. 

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Milan’s breakfast is a banana. Senne pulling Zoë into their bed, without her spilling the coffee in her hand.

°

Vrijdag 18:02

Perfect parallel: Luca dissing Moyo’s sexist statements with “Do you actually have a girlfriend? ... I understand why” earlier, her saying “Moyo, then you better take a good look at it, because it will be the last time you’ll see that room” here.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Zoë and Jana hugging each other outside. Luca giving Moyo a clear wink after dissing him. Robbe didn’t expect Noor to sleep with him in the bunkbed, as his face falls when she says she will.

°

Vrijdag 22:04

C is for culture: "It isn’t because he isn’t here...” - The reason that Senne couldn’t join their trip to the seaside, is that he doesn’t have a fall break. Universities usually start their school year a week later than university colleges, so they’re the only ones who don’t have a vacation at the end of October.

Perfect parallel: Robbe looking at drunk Noor with a sad expression of “Why can’t I just love this girl?” in this episode, him looking at a sleepy Sander with a face filled with love in the last episode.

Oop, there it is, the homophobia / heteronormativity: Robbe trying to pry Noor’s hands away from his body.

Blink-and-y’ll-miss-it: Senne responds with “#metoo” as a joke, referencing the movement and him missing Zoë. Her face freezes for a few seconds to indicate that she is indeed jealous. Robbe’s little wink at Luca. 

[meandmyechoes]

ZLS… C L S

(Revenge episode 7 afterlog)

i saw some speculation last week so i wasn't too surprised at the addition. Either way being a veteran, you kinda have to guess it in the first ten seconds. I didn't know how I feel about it at first, especially that it bothers how similar Maimai and Sakura are, down to their VA (and when I realize she is Red Blood Cell from the credits I'm like ahhhh sokka).

It was hilarious. People complaining about S2 not holding up to S1's plot twist and comedy can finally shut up. The moment she walked into male sento i knew it's kotaro there lol. I was like, did he straight up kill somebody?? Funny enough, he said he was going to turn her into a zombie "step by step"…

Kotaro used to feel like a mastermind but he became more and more, improvised, and I think that's due to the girls owning their momentum. Instead of driving the group's direction and assigning jobs, he is now more an aid to strengthen it. I'm looking forward to his serious side in dealing with the exposé as the main plot unfolds, as well as this time limit he mentioned and how he and Sakura will resolve. The chin tilt? Hilarious. Him reminiscing Sakura practising alone after school? :(

Maimai herself, is not off-putting. She is a nice kid. I am defensive of the old team, and properly concerned about the lack of connection she shares as a living person. And it does go where I predicted, that she will recognize her shortcomings and voluntarily leaves the group. I'm not in love with this character, but I do appreciate her determination and clarity.

Maimai and Sakura are totally meant to be narrative foils. In a way, Maimai could be what Sakura was before her depression. Their love for Saga, and finding motivation through Idols. Their accent baffles yet it's adorable. Sakura's speech about staying together and fighting for something again moved me. This theme the whole season, of Revenge, of never giving up, couldn't be spelled out anywhere clearer. I have a lot of feelings about that and I think it's going to culminate at the finale where I don't know if I can handle the joy and crying.

Maimai's song. hmmm I don't know enough about music genres 'cept it sounds like a convention idol anime song? I don't think it's a song I'll add to my collection. I understand the emphasis of green (which is my favourite colour) but not a big fan of the colour scheme though. It did shocked me a little when she sang Hikari e. I thought she was gonna drop out but I didn't know it'd be on stage. The proportion isn't quite right in that scene but their shocked faces lol. It's nice to hear the song in the show still, very fittingly at a 'graduation'.

I'm not betting money on an S3. Regardless, the exposé plot has to be solved within this season, along with zombie resurrection. Tae's backstory, honestly, is not a plot point that must be answered. In and out of universe, she is accepted as simply a mascot. Well, she has a comic now (and if it's non-show it can't be that crucial - but I'm alert to the possible tie-in). The conflict of staying in Saga versus getting on a bigger stage is hinted in ep 3 and 4 but it is not as urgent. That plot could even drag on to a third season. However, it's just not usual for anime to get three seasons, and I don't want to wait two more years no matter how much I'm willing to just watch 100 episodes of the girls' daily routine. What I'm seeing is a potential theatrical film to tie up their showdown with Iron Frill and ends with a traditional sunset ending. I'd take it knowing the zombie girls are out there still fighting :')

Lastly, Yugiri!!! "Sorry about keeping you all waiting" lol FINALLY YES. Pointless to guess who the new (old) faces are. I do wonder why her kimono is so plain. Is it her pre Oiran days? Was she training to in a different profession back then?

I'm so excited for the last chapter. No info yet on how the last four episodes go but I do hope it's a wild four-parter? The runtime will be just enough to give a satisfactory finale. Chikiran Chikiran Chikiran next week i'm coming.

[minamotoz]

Thoughts on the Lumon friendship and also the potential of their romantic relationship?

I HAVW MANY THOUGHT. BRAIN FULL. this is gonna be a very long post.

starting with their platonic relationship: top tier, easily the healthiest and most wholesome throughout the show. theres a lot of mutual trust and love between them thats just extremely obvious. those two literally cant be away from each other for more than 2 seconds. also i just love how in s2 theyre such a nice example of a healthy m/f friendship in kids shows in which romance isnt on the table. such a nice change of pace, especially how quickly the prospect of them being in a relationship/liking each other gets shut down really quickly. as much as i love their romantic relationship and how much i wish they expanded on it more, it shows such nice growth. they've moved on from that, and simón especially proves to break out of the nice guy tm stereotype he kinda pushes being in season 1.

HAVING SAID THAT: THEIR ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP HAD SO MUCH WASTED POTENTIAL ITS INSANE. first, the amount of build up throughout season 1? the slowburn and angst was honestly so good, even if it suffered in terms of writing. its established extremely quickly that simón has romantic feelings for luna, even before its explicitly said, its extremely obvious. not to mention the fact that luna does reciprocate, but for some reason it gets swept under the rug as 'confusion' (which is something they do a lot when it comes to these two and their relationship). theres so much buildup and tension between the two, the confession of feelings (on simóns end)/bonding while practicing for the competition in 1x40, the angst as simón nearly moves away, the whole entire daniela arc (which i firmly believe is when luna realizes she likes him romantically), and then they FINALLY start dating for real, and. nothing. everything that was leading up to this just gets dropped. luna suddenly acts completely disinterested and uncomfortable in their relationship, as if she wasnt pining for him this whole time. they date for a total of 9 episodes and halfway through all this tension up and dies. i know they were nearing the end of the season and needed time for a lutteo endgame but its evident that the writers had no regard for handling this properly. again: luna's feelings for simón are just brushed off as 'confusion' which is so dumb its insane. i'm not saying everything up until they were dating was perfect, i have a lot of beef with how a lot of things about them were handled, but it feels so . sloppy.

i know i just said that i liked the platonic!lumón of s2, but theres a lot i would've done to at least make more sense, at least if i was able to make my own self indulgent lumón ending. first, simón entirely shrugging off everything that happened in s1 as 'confusion'. again, they use this excuse so much its insane. he wasn't 'confused' he was desperately in love, theres a very clear difference. i honest to god have no idea if we're supposed to take his explanation at face value, but that seems to be the narrative the show takes post-s1, so i'll take it at face value. if simón truly was confused, that would make so many of his actions in s1 make zero sense. he moved overseas for her, he basically did everything for her, he had a full on mental breakdown and tried moving back overseas because he thought she was in love with someone else, how would that make sense if he was 'confused'? this isnt the only time he explained it as confusion too, he also did it during the daniela arc, which was literally just him lying to himself to make himself feel better and try and ease tension. if i had a say in how this went, why not make this bs a lie as well, albeit a lie he genuienly believes. i think the whole lutteo/simbar plot mandated relationship failure lined up way too perfectly for it to not mean anything for lumóns relationship. i think thats what they were gonna do for s3 before the episodes were cut from 80 to 60. i also have basically no idea what happens between simón and luna in s3 after the first 10 episodes because i cant and refuse to finish it, but i would really like if the aforementioned plot mandated relationship failure to mean something. have s2 be full of little hints between them and stuff, and then have them get closer during the last 5 episodes (whicn they already do kinda), then have s3 be a sort of 'no matter what happens, i always come back to you' thing? which kinda happened during the daniela arc, but on a bigger scale.

this is all just me being too deep into my wishful thinking i guess. lumón as a ship was basically born to crash and die a painful death, but i cant help but feel a little sad for myself that i decided to attach myself to this dumb fuck ship that 5 other people on this earth like in the year of 2021. sorry if this isnt all that coherent, its late and these two fuck up my brain to the point where i cant write well.

[ofmythsandmadness]

MY THOUGHTS ON TUA SEASON TWO: PART ONE (spoilers)

So...I finished season two. And I’ve got a lot of thoughts.

I’m putting ALL my thoughts under the tab so please, don’t click unless you’ve seen it all, and/or you just....like don’t care about spoilers? But please if you’ve not watched it, watch it first ‘cause it deserves all the hype and attention. 

(if you haven’t watched yet, go into your settings and blacklist the tag ‘tua spoilers’ because that’ll help you avoid anything if you don’t want to be spoiled, at least on here)

Also, this is part one to my thoughts, because it’d be much too long to list it all here! Part two will be linked below this :)

This is going to be SO badly organized, but I’m gonna do my best to make it otherwise! I’m separating it all under sub-headers, just so you don’t have to read through ALL my thoughts on the series (but there’s a lot, sorry).

I legit just watched it all last night, so it’s fresh but also still jumbled and messy. So bear with me.

Also, let me know what you thought, I’m eager to hear others’ opinions of this show!

AS A WHOLE... So, so, SO damn good. I was scared, and worried and I thought there was gonna be a lot more pain...but it was so good. Arguably better than the first season, I think because the characters are fleshed out and have developed more, and I felt myself caring more for their wellbeings (even though I would have already died for most of them).

Honestly, no. This season WAs better than the first and I’m gonna stick with that.

I also really loved the colour scheme of it all?? I think they did that really well the first season too, but the colour choices and how they alternated between blue and orange, it keeps your attention and adds a vibrance to the characters that was there before but not so loudly.

I want to watch it again and admire how they shot/edited it too, because I actually really was impressed with the shots too (normally Netflix shows aren’t super cinematography-heavy, don’t know if that’s how to say that, but TUA really came through and I’m impressed). I don’t want to drone on about that because i know most don’t care about that as much, so I’ll leave it at just...I was impressed, and most happy with the overall presentation of the show.

LUTHER HARGREEVES...

The way i actually now love him?? 

I mean I felt bad for him in S1, but here he’s an actual character and I cared about HIM, rather than what he had gone through. From the moment he said ‘I don’t give a shit’ in episode one, I liked him again and I’m SO glad. 

I didn’t really love how he still pushed for him and Allison...I mean, I understand that you can’t just erase the feelings, they still stand, but I would have liked a little bit less of it. It’s just awkward to watch and to contrast with Klaus literally calling them out, I appreciate that it wasn’t so prevalent but it was still there. 

But overall!! He became a character I actually really liked, he was actually funny too?? Dorky too, and also just more sure of who he was as a person rather than the number...Luther rights.

DIEGO HARGREEVES...

One word: BIIIITCH.

He was one of my favourites from the show pre-S2, and now I can say he might just be my favourite. I would fight fire for that man.

I didn’t think he’d be almost the main character of this show (obviously one of them, because they’re all main characters ig) but I liked it a lot! We really got nothing about who he is as a person in Season One, and though a lot of people were able to fill in the emotional blanks, there was a lot more given to his character and who he is beneath the hard-headed vigilante.

I think David Casteneda did a brilliant job on his character, and had one of the best performances out of all of them. I knew he was good, but I truly was shocked at how good he did as Diego, and I’m happy to see him as an actor thrive and get more credit. He deserves it, and I’m quite happy. 

Surprisingly, he was the character to make me cry (I cried at Ben too, don’t worry, but!). When Reginald said that shit to him, I was in fucking pain. I won’t get too deep into it, but just the way his face dropped, and then the stutter - it struck a cord and I cried more at that then I did the rest of the show. Dunno. Maybe that’s just me.

But just like...I wish he had more support...everyone just kept calling him dumb and mocking him and I KNOW his obsession with JFK was dumb and aligned with the Luther moon thing and he didn’t have the greatest plans and I’m not saying all of his actions were right, but he was fucking TRYING. And some of it, they played it off for comedic effect but they were literally just trashing on him for doing the right thing and making him look stupid...it made me a little sad.

I am glad, however, at how he rekindled with all his siblings. Because arguably, Diego was an asshole to all of them and though again, arguably they all were and none of them are doing well and there are reasons - they were all assholes to each other, and especially him to them, especially Vanya when she really didn’t deserve it. And to see them at least begin to mend their relationship made me so happy. The way that in the end, they sat together?? And how he accepted her apology just like that?? I sob.

The scene where diego just says ‘there’s this girl I like - I CRACKED UP AND I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHY IT’S SO FUNNY BUT JFC THAT WAS SO FUNNY. That and threatening Olga - top tier funniest moments of the season for  me. They really amped up the comedy this season and I’m happy.

One thing I didn’t get was in the last episode, when he bent the bullets’ trajectory for Five...did he know he could do that? Like I understand that he could do it, but we never saw him do anything else around those lines, aside from in the doomsday season ep1, but that was an alternate history so...I’m guessing Reginald taught him, but??? It was kinda random and I would have liked if they hinted at it at least once before.

To summarize, I love him. I love how far he’s come and I hope he just finds some happiness because he keeps getting the short end of the stick. He deserves the world.

(also, diego hargreeves a huge ass nerd. y’all can’t convince me otherwise. big dork energy)

LILA PITTS/DIEGO & LILA:

You know what? I loved her.

I didn’t like her character as much post maybe episode 6/7, basically once she brought Diego in I was disappointed but I liked her character. I think she was cool and different and chaotic and though I was disappointed that towards the end, she felt a bit thrown in, I still appreciated who she was. I was honestly hoping that she would have left the Handler a lot sooner, I thought they were gonna make her realise the truth a lot sooner but at the same time...this is her maternal figure, she’s been basically brainwashed into that support and there’s gonna be an element of love regardless.

I knew she was gonna be one of the 43 though, the second I saw 1993 I called it and I was happy I was actually right on something. Idk her powers, that too seems a lil bit messy but still, I thought it was neat. I just want to see more! And I think we will, hence why I’m trying not to judge her much, but i hope that we get to know more about her. I don’t want a half-baked love interest, and I was hoping that there was going to be a little bit more this season - but we shall see.

(ritu arya, though, is quite good in her role. and stunning. i quite love her)

I also didn’t HATE the relationship between her and Diego. I know it’s a divided topic but I liked it, I thought they were fucking cute and even though i KNEW there was something off about her, I was just HOPING that it’d be different. I mean, that scene on the bed with them???? I think my heart gave out. Palpitations, bitch. I was so fucking soft for them and even when she was exposed....I stillllllllll wanted the best. :(

And then like shit happened and then it got a little messy (y’all should learn how to communicate...throwing out boyfriend and ex-girlfriend terms like that???) and like yada yada, I was okay but I don’t necessarily like the ‘I love him/her’ thing. I mean sure you can, but THAT felt a little quick. I don’t know why tv shows just LOVE to throw out the I love you’s that FAST, but I’m not into it. 

TL;DR - I still REALLY like Lila Pitts, and I still like them together, somewhat (though like maybe slow your asses down folks).

(question though...are we supposed to think of them as siblings now?? bc...idk I don’t see it like luther/allison because they weren’t raised together and really didn’t associate like that?? but are they all reginald’s alien children cause in THAT case wtf am I suppose to think help-)

PART TWO TO MY THOUGHTS: here.

[gra-sonas]

Damn that ratings drop was brutal! NGL, after what they did in 2x2 I feel avenged but also I do love some of the cast so I feel bad too. Anyway, in your opinion, what do you think is a bigger factor in affecting ratings in an upcoming episode: the ep synopsis or the previous episode itself? Cuz I'm in the fandom and I don't even go searching for a sysnopsis. I highly doubt a casual viewer would. So thoughts?

Yeah, that drop was rather significant. :/

I think there’s more than one reason.

1/ The super long hiatus. Many casual viewers simply forgot the show even exists (there are still people on Twitter, who only now discover that the show wasn’t actually cancelled and is back for S2. I can’t even imagine how many casual viewers who’re not active on social media have no idea the show’s back).

2/ The total lack of promotion for the show between S1 & 2. The official social media accounts went radio silent after S1 ended, there was zero effort to attract new viewers by telling them the show’s on Netflix, or that there would be a S2.

3/ No new content for almost a year. The only new content we (as in 'the people already invested in the show’) got between S1 and 2 was random pics/vids and some spoilers the cast/Carina shared + the NYCC trailer. A trailer in super wonky, distorted quality, yet it still provided better and more exciting glimpses into S2 than the official S2 trailer did (which was only released about 2 weeks prior to the S2 premiere…) So for almost 11 months, there was basically nothing to get people excited unless they were actively looking for news. 

4/ Lacklustre S2 promo. CW promo’s always kinda bad, but the one for RNM is pretty much non-existent. Leading up to S2, there was nothing but the occasional pre-scheduled promo post (with S1 promo pics and clips and the hint to download the CW app or sth like that). And they didn’t even start to promote S2 until about two weeks before to the premiere. They had to cancel a press day bc of COVID-19, instead they’ve organized the weekly IG takeovers now, which are really cool, but also mostly of interest to those who’re already following the show more closely. Any casual viewers are probably unaware.

Currently it seems like the CW PR team pretty much forgot about the show (we didn’t get any 2x03 promo pics prior to the episode, and they didn’t release a preview clip either). There’s basically no effort made to promote the show, and I’m not even talking about huge billboards or AOL Build talks (though stuff like that wouldn’t hurt), just… IDK, keeping things going and flowing between S1 & 2, and actively making more people catch up on S1 on Netflix could’ve gone a long way, y’know. :/

I think the lack of PR on every level is definitely playing a role in the dropping numbers. It shows, that not only didn’t they manage to attract new viewers, they even lost S1 viewers. Whether that’s entirely due to the lack of promo, or is in part to blame on the writing, is impossible to say.

5/ That being said, S1 didn’t exactly end in a good place, and 11 months is a looooong time to forget about characters you may have cared for (just a normal amount :P) a year ago. I don’t know how happy or unhappy casual viewers have been with the show’s writing, but you don’t have such a drop in ratings just from a lack of promo.

No idea whether this will change anything in regards to the writing of the show next season. Who knows how decisions by TV higher ups are made, where the ‘blame’ is put for stuff like that, and whether Carina would actually be ‘ordered’ to make changes? (I don’t really think that will be the case tbh)

For now, we don’t have to worry, S3′s a go, and once that’s wrapped, I doubt the show’ll get cancelled (broadcast syndication/international sales is where The CW makes most of their money, and the more episodes a show has, the more valuable it becomes for syndication and outside-of-the-US sales).

Another bonus: they’re filming in Santa Fe, which is cheaper than LA, Georgia or Vancouver (where many other shows are produced) and comes with additional tax incentives. The cast isn’t as expensive as the cast of most other CW shows either, neither does the show rely on expensive special effects (like all the Arrowverse shows) - all good reasons for the CW to keep the show in production, especially as a mid-season show.

Dropping viewership numbers still suck tho, and I feel sorry for the cast. :(

They’ve been working so hard for almost 8 months to make the show, the least The CW could do is properly promote it, and also look for more opportunities to get the cast out for interviews (like, why isn’t there a single RNM related interview with Tyler about Alex Manes in S2 - a gay amputee veteran character -  or an interview with Trevino, he was at atVfest, and last year he did an interview or two, but apart from that, there’s nothing, and both Trevino and Tyler are two of the ‘bigger names’ on RNM, with people knowing them from their TVD/PLL days).

And please, for the love of humans and aliens alike, up your laaame social media game, CW pr team. The RNM Costume IG account is doing a much better job at promoting the show than you, and it’s NOT ACTUALLY THEIR JOB.