#funny thing i was actually supposed to edit a promo but ended up making a visage out of this pic as well -

[sarastuss]

⁰². APPEARANCE STUDY : SARASTUS, THE NEW SUN.

[marshmallowfin]

Drag Race season 13 first impressions and vibes:

I do this every year and I know no one cares but here are my unwanted opinions.

Kandy Muse: Her reputation proceeds her...in a bad way. I've seen how hateful she can be online and I just can't look past it; I can just tell she's gonna annoy me until she goes home. The look however was cute and the lipsync was fun, I can tell she's talented. I wanna try and view her without bias but it's gonna be tough.

Joey Jay: I was excited for her during the promo but couldn't get past the entrance look. Really? The panty was cut too low cut, the feathers were cheep and falling apart, the hair was supposed to look wet but it just looked a mess, like she didn't have time to dry her hair before coming. Just came across so unpolished and because I only got to to see her for like a collective 15 minutes I was just unimpressed. Lipsync was unimpressive, Kandy really let her have it, the only thing I remember was her punching her tiddie and the feathers falling off all over the stage.

Denali: The look was so right, head to toe, but that contour was so rough it was distracting. She seemed fun, I can see her succeeding. Again, only getting a couple of minutes with her just really left me wanting more, it felt lacking. For someone who was on literal ice skates she was pulling some impressive stunts I honestly thought she might have the lipsync but I'm not mad at the Lala win. I'm honestly just really neutral on her. I did like when she flashed us, it's really the only thing I remember from the lipsync. (Also the repeat song? Hello? Iconic Coco Montrese lipsync from season 5? I clocked it.)

LaLa Ri: The look: pedestrian, didn't fit her in any way and was just so basic it was almost sad. Wish it were a full pant and the jacket was tailored to her. Also not everyone is able to wear those flat little wigs, wish she had teased it up. Her vibes? Her smile? Stunning. She seems so warm and friendly and kind. I want her to succeed but the ONE TIME I got to see her she looked... unimpressive. I don't remember a single think she did in the lipsync not gonna lie...

Symone: fully obsessed during the promo, so beautiful in and out of drag and her sense of style is so interesting to me. Entrence look was a little on the simple side but effective. She's also from the same area is me so I know people who know her and are fully obsessed. One of my tops for sure. The lipsync was good but I really thought Tamish let her have it. Not mad she won but I would have made it a double win. (Maybe after a night of just okay lipsyncs I'm grasping at the only one that made me excited.) Also, nothing to do with her but she's Gigi Goode's sister and Gigi is for sure talented and I really liked her for the majority of her season but she's made some choices in the have been confusing at best; I worry Symone might share some of those opinions. Here's hoping that just my paranoia.

Tamisha Iman: she came across as cookie cutter pageant girl (not that there's anything wrong with that) in her promo so I wasn't really excited for her. Very pleasantly surprised. She walked in in that red power suit and long black hair TIDDIES OUT: I was shaken. She also seems to just radiate good energy, I'm really liking her. She and Symone had the most entertaining lipsync of the night, it felt close (I do think Miss Tamish turned the party a little hard but not enough to call it rigged.) I am a little heartbroken they made her tell her cancer story episode one, immediately after getting there, she killed a lipsync, then was sent on her way, she was amicably calm tho. I really like her.

Gottmik: Another I was SUPER excited for during promos and she's really giving it too me. The look was so interesting and flattering and the face was to die for topped off by that perfect black hair. Dead and in the ground. Lipsync...left much to be desired. The song was a bop and my jaw dropped when it started but neither of them gave me what Rumors deserved. I loved both the queens so much though I almost didn't care...almost. Also FIRST FTM QUEEN EVER ON THE SHOW I'M SO JWBDJDIBEBSKDE AND IM SO HAPPY AND PROUD OF HIM. King shit never been more insane and proud to be cisn't.

Utica Queen: I CAN TELL THIS BITCH IS NEURODIVERGENT AND SO AM I!!! SAME HAT!!! I love a bitch who has a distinct aesthetic and lives on a completely different planet. Her promo look was my favorite, she's so striking and the crazy mad hatter look was EVERYTHING. Entrance look was equally crazy and somehow all worked (maybe not the strawberry but I still loved the strawberry). I thought she was so fun during the lipsync and I couldn't take my eyes off of her (again, that might be because I find her so striking) I honestly thought she would win but again the lipsync as a whole was a little underwhelming. Her sad face at the end of the episode broke my heart, this premier was a little cruel to the losers.

Rosé: not gonna lie, I was disappointed in Rosé. Her look was so crazy and cool for the promo and she came into the competition wearing a pink cropped biker jacket and panty? (The look was cute enough and I like the designer but it was so meh) The hair was lovely and I thought the missing tooth was funny, it was a shame she wiped it off before anyone could see it. I totally understand being bitter about hyping yourself up as a LIPSYNC QUEEN and a major nyc girl and so established especially compared to someone like Olivia who has only be doing drag for a year and a half..then you lose...and you assume you're going home first...I TOTALLY GET IT but the edit worked on me and I was like wow what a bitch. The only person who has claimed to be nyc royalty I actually vibed with was Peppermint, I think it's like an instant turn off for someone to say they're the best whatever of nyc. (Not that I dislike nyc girls, just the ones that claim to be hot shit.)

Olivia Lux: Sweet summer child. Precious baby angel. I found her so cute and charming and silly in her promo and she came in in that VELVET (?) HALF PINK HALF YELLOW GOWN WITH THE ROUGING and that BEAUTIFUL blonde hair that looked so good again her sink and the long as ponytail and the fucking waves like a designer Barbie fresh out the box, I'm living. Another one of my favorites, the energy is just so right and so there. Had my 2nd favorite lipsync of the night and I was so proud of her for besting Rosé, someone she clearly looks up too so much. I would LOVE for this bitch to win but I can tell she's gonna be a Miss Congeniality.

Tina Burner: I can tell this one is gonna annoy me. Again a nyc royalty claim which is an instant minus, the look was not it (I love the designer but the look was so wrong), the hair hat was fun in concept but that red hair just didn't look right on her, she was definitely giving me sexy hotdog ketchup and mustard fantasy, and I don't know why but her face is just kinda scary to me?? It like makes me feel like I'm going crazy. I didn't really like her in the promos either, she just comes across as really full of herself. I'm like instantly getting the worst vibes. I have seen people online saying she's really funny and turns the fucking party but I found the lipsync boring and hard to pay attention too. I've seen so many people saying she's IT so I want her to prove me wrong, make me eat my hat.

Kahmora Hall: So insanely beautiful, a WOMAN, how DARE SHE. She's our current reignings sister so she has huge shoes to fill and I'm ready for her to fill them. I actually kinda liked her lipsync, she was doing the damn thing in a gown which is impressive. Wish I had gotten a little more of her. I'm sorta neutral on this one too, nothing from her promo or literal 15 minutes if screen time really impressed me nor turned me off of her.

Elliott with 2 Ts: The second she said she was a "housewife with a secret" I was sold. Something about that instantly endeared her to me and have not been able to stop saying it since. I thought the red two piece was nice and the cropped jacket was fun but the hair was not right. I find her so pretty in like an alien way. I honestly thought her lipsync was the best and I found myself drawn to her but it's so hard to tell with more then 2 people. Promo look was very like cool mom and I vibe.

As a whole...a very underwhelming premier, especially after the last seasons. Seemed really rushed and unnecessarily cruel to the losing girls. Especially telling them they're all going home then saying they're not but they need to choose one queen from them to go home...I'm so worried they're all gonna take one look at Utica and be like 'get this weirdo out of here', if a single person picks her to "go home" I'll scream and cry and piss on the floor.

[theexecutionerssong]

SKAM FRANCE BTS MASTERPOST

This is a master post of BTS anecdotes told in interviews, at cons, screenings and on social media. Don’t click the read more if you don’t want to lose some of the magic. I know sometimes knowing too much of how a show was shot can ruin it. Also, it’s very obvious that there was more promo starting around season 3 than for the first two seasons, don’t hold it against me. Feel free to message me if you think of something else as I must have forgotten a ton of things.

CASTING, REHEARSALS, BTS IN GENERAL

Skam France had the rights for the 4 seasons first but had to follow the original script almost to a T for the first 2 and if the audience was big enough then they would be allowed to distance themselves from OG

Skam France casted actors that were as close personality wise to their characters as possible, which made it easier for the cast to identify with their characters and made the friendships developping between the characters more believable since it was also developping off screen

They were not allowed to cast underaged actors who would have been closer to the real age of the characters due to the long hours of the shooting conditions

Most of the actors come from theatre and many had no or little previous experience with shooting for a camera before

The cast isn’t allowed to watch the clips before they air.

Most of the clothes they wear in the show are their own.

During rehearsals of the first seasons, Philippine went to the board with everyone’s names on it and wrote something funny next to Zoe’s name and wanted to send it to her but she messed up and published it on her ig stories, leaking the entire cast when it was still supposed to be a secret.

Lula’s first reaction when she got the script and “met” Daphné was “oh no I’m scared. I just want to slap her, she’s insufferable”

Assa almost didn’t audition for two reasons: the casting call didn’t specify they were looking for a woman of color and French casting calls almost always say whether they are specifically looking for a black woman. If it says nothing then they are usually looking for a white person. She thought she had no chance because of that. Second reason, after accepting the casting call, she did some research and found out OG Sana was from the Maghreb and she’s not. But her agent convinced her to go through with it, the only thing the skam france team wouldn’t negotiate was that they wanted a Muslim actress. There was no way they would have casted a non muslim actress/actor for Imane and Sofiane.

Skam France was the first TV show on French TV to have a black muslim  woman wearing a hijab as a main character

Paul, Robin and Axel knew each other before shooting, they’d met in Avignon.

Coline was still in her last year of high school when she shot the first two seasons.

Niels is the one who came up with a raccoon as Eliott’s spirit animal

They shoot about 15 minutes of usable content per day which is impressive (it’s usually 2-3 for movies released in theatres, 5-7 for TV programs)

When France TV told David the first two seasons were a success and they were renewing the show, he gave them a list of things he wanted to change so that he’d agree to come back to direct the next seasons, including a different camera, renewing the writers team (they included Niels), storylines, the ig content, etc. The new camera they got was a SONY Venice which allows them to play a lot with the focus/blur ratio and the cold and warm undertones, which made a major shift in the visual quality of seasons 3 and 4 compared to the previous 2.

David named Eliott after his son.

Having the teaser from Eliott’s POV was David’s idea. It’s the first remake to have a clip from the French Even’s POV

The bus stop from season 3 is fake, it doesn’t exist. It wasn’t even shot in Paris itself but in Saint Ouen.

Maxence didn’t watch OG - besides the towels in the bathroom clip - because he wanted to create his own Eliott without being too influenced, and he didn’t watch s1 and 2 of skam france either because he wanted Eliott to discover the characters without knowing their backgrounds.

Maxence wasn’t supposed to audition. He wanted to be done with his acting school before shooting anything but the head of the casting team came to watch a public class at his school and asked him to audition for Eliott at the end. David and Niels knew right away he was the one. Niels watched the audition tapes and was very impressed with another actor but within the first 3 seconds of watching Maxence, he knew it wouldn’t be anyone else. Maxence met Axel after the 3rd call back and they clicked right away. He’d broken his foot two days earlier so he was in crutches. They watched Even’s manic episode and had to improvise a similar scene but had to do with the crutches. They also went for a drink before shooting and they talked for hours, their connection was instantaneous. 

When he learned Maxence was cast, Axel went on his instagram and saw the model pictures and thought he was way too hot with the abs and everything and he himself would look like a potato during the nude scenes next to him. So he got a coach and for 3 months he trained and got on a very strict diet. He was disappointed that there were no shots where you could actually see his abs properly in Skam. He had also said months before that he had gotten a coach because before they started shooting seasons 3 and 4, he had met up with Marilyn to get advice on how to carry a season and she had told him to get a coach otherwise he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pace. So what is the truth?

It leaked that Maxence was casted in July 2018 because someone on a Korean website recognized his shoes in an IG story from when he’d been spotted at the airport months earlier but it was kept mostly under wraps. Then his and Lais’s names leaked too a couple of months later but most people hadn’t seen his face before the trailer.

David asked Axel and Maxence to give up their phones and social media during the couple of months they were shooting to be really focused and not get distracted by the outside world and they mostly did. Axel bought an mp3 to still have music, he wrote “LUCAS ♥” on it with a white out pen. He created a playlist for Lucas, including songs like Run Boy Run and I love you by Woodkid, and To Build a Home by the Cinematic Orchestra.

Maxence’s process to get ready for a shot: he does yoga and dances a lot in the morning. he puts music on and paces a room while picturing himself standing on the edge of a cliff and if at some point he feels like falling and loses his balance, it means he’s got it. He asks that all the scripts he gets be printed on the right side of the page and on the left he takes notes about what the character is feeling through 7 different states: love, hate, fear, power, vulnerability, sex and i hate myself for not remembering the last one. To play a scene properly, you have to conjure up 4 states to create one emotion. He loves that David respects his method and is able to adapt to every member of the cast’s method. He also uses his body as a tool, for example if his character has to feel lonely or unsure, he will curl up into a ball for an hour without moving and then he’ll be in the right mindset because his body is telling him he’s isolated. That’s the method he used for Eliott, he created “lost scenes” that weren’t in the script, moments in between scenes with Lucas, to get more into Eliott’s mindset.

Maxence wrote a letter to Eliott, drew a picture of him, and spent hours adding notes to the script about his personality before even trying to get into his mind. 

There was a contest for the drawings in season 3. Maxence participated but didn’t get picked. Jeanne Lelièvre did!

All the social media content for seasons 3 and 4 were shot on the same day in December 2018 which is why you can see heavy winter clothing even when the content was published in May. For season 3, most ideas were Axel’s, and Maxence said no to 90%. 

While shooting for seasons 3 and 4, Axel was also on stage every night for theatre

To prepare for his role in s3, Axel watched CMBYN, Moonlight, and The Office 

They received more feedbacks from international fans than French ones at first. It was even a private joke between Niels and David, there were no comments in French on Youtube. Then the piano clip happened and David’s phone went crazy with notifications. He was in the editing room with Jérémy and the buzzing from his phone was non stop. They banned phones in the editing room after that.

Skam France owes part of its popularity to how accessible the cast and crew are, either on social media or IRL, with 6 entirely free events organized to get the fans and the cast and crew to meet, watch episodes together and have Q&As during seasons 3 and 4.

Skam France shooting locations have become extremely popular for the fans to hang out at and leave little mementos, to the point that the mayor of Paris has asked the team to pick completely untraceable locations, or make sure they are not in Paris itself for the next seasons

Skam France was the first remake to get renewed for 2 (possibly 4?) original seasons

Alexia and Daphné were supposed to have their own seasons they but couldn’t get the green light from Norway. He got the idea for Arthur’s story quite quickly after but they had to rework the scripts for seasons 5 and 6 a lot. Robin talked to David about his addiction to video games and how it could be a potential theme but in the end David chose deafness instead.

SEASONS 1 AND 2

It was Coline’s idea to make Alexia bi. There was a scene when Alexia mentions an ex boyfriend and she asked David “why wouldn’t it be a girl?” and his only reaction was “Ok. What’s her name?” and that’s how bi!Alexia was born.

It was also Coline’s idea to give Alexia’s colorful hair. She later regretted it because she had to bleach her hair twice to get the blue to stay and it fried her hair.

Assa’s worst memory of shooting s1 and 2 is when the girls have to carry Daphné, she kept dropping her and was afraid of hurting her.

Marilyn and Lula ruined the scene when the girls are having breakfast all together when they are on the countryside because they couldn’t stop laughing over carrots and the crunchy noise it was making. It was the last day of shooting and their nerves were all over the place.

SEASON 3

The first scene in the common room didn’t hit them that much, they didn’t realize the impact it would have because the whole shooting was just David yelling at them to look at each other then stop then do it again then stop etc

Nobody realized how big of an impact the “Moi c’est Eliott” line would have and then when they watched the clip, it was obvious.

The check de gang wasn’t scripted, it was Paul’s idea to make it a running gag. David wasn’t sure about it but after doing it just once, he was sold. Basile tripping over the bench was also Paul’s idea but he didn’t warn anyone he was doing it so Xavier started laughing and the camera was shaking so bad that they couldn’t keep it and had to reshoot the scene. They noticed during the editing process that Robin also tripped at the same time in the background during one take so they had to keep that one. 

Lucas playing the piano was Axel’s idea even though he didn’t know how to play properly. He sent a text to David at the end of June with different ideas for songs and David picked the most difficult one. He then practiced anytime he could until they shot the scene in october. It took him two months to learn it completely and then a little more to make it look easy.  (Niels later said it was his idea and that Axel was a cheeky little shit). Maxence had never heard Axel play the song before that moment so Eliott’s reaction is genuine. He didn’t think he’d manage to get in the right state of mind because the apartment was too small for the whole team and they were all very cranky, it was 3 am, but the moment he heard the first notes, he forgot all about it and was completely amazed.

The infiltration party: David asked that Basile pushes Daphné a bit, like shoves her out of the way when they have to run, but they hadn’t had the time to rehearse anything. After a couple of takes, Paul pushed Lula a bit too hard and she fell on her knees quite hard. He felt so bad because he never wanted to hurt her and they all had to take a half an hour break because her knees hurt. David after that was like OKAY NO MORE STUNTS EVER.

Axel got mad at the makeup department because the two lines on his face were not on the same place when they shot the outside scene and then once inside. He got so angry he could have cried that they wouldn’t believe him. So during the shooting he looked straight at the camera and wiped them away with the back of his hand to force them to draw the lines properly.

The first kiss scene: they had been shooting for 12 hours. It was raining intermittently all day so the team had to pack up the cameras often and wait it out when it was too much. They ran 4 hours late. They had a fake rain machine but no change of clothes so they could only shoot once. Below the bridge is not easily accessible, it’s a long path from the gate, so they used ropes to get things up and down from the bridge. They only had one shot. They had already shot kissing scenes but David was always telling them it had to be more passionate and kept yelling at them to use more tongue so for that shot they gave it their everything on the first (and only) take they did. 5 minutes later they were shooting the Remember scene.

They shot all the scenes in the colloc on the first week of shooting. Minute by minute was shot right before Samedi 9h17. They had to restart shooting samedi 9h17 four times because something wasn’t working between Axel and Maxence, they were clumsy and stressed. After taking 5 minutes to themselves with David to remind themselves of how pivotal the scene was, Axel and Maxence said they were ready and they shot the opening scene that made the cut.

The Phase de latence clip : Axel and Maxence felt like terrible actors because they had already shot all the big very emotional scenes and this was a bit tamer since Eliott doesn’t show much emotions. They felt that way about all the scenes shot in the school.

The Fête de trop clip: They shot the fight with the guys 8 times but it wasn’t enough for David until Robin slapped Axel on the 9th. After that they shot Chloé yelling at Lucas. Axel was still out of it due to the slap he’d gotten earlier that he hadn’t expected. At 3am, they finished with Lucas injuring his hands. Axel cracked the metacarpus in his hand and only told David two days later.

Leo has talked about the coming out bench scene and said Yann took it a bit too far and was too dramatic, he was like “i don’t know if i can say that… but c’mon… I mean. C’mon… that’s your best friend… who cares if he didn’t tell you right away, he had bigger problems on his mind, right?”He would have done it differently.

The “viens on n’en parle pas” scene was shot in 50 minutes in the middle of the night on the second day of shooting. Marilyn and Axel’s emotions were briming under the surface so it was one of the easiest scene to shoot.

The hardest scene to shoot for David in s3 was the intervention clip. It was the second day of shooting, the 4th clip of the day. Axel’s first take was not good enough and David was scared it would set the tone for the season. He had a stern talk with Axel. Thankfully, they shot a second time and it was the right one, everyone on set was crying and Axel was completely drained.  

The scene where they go get the couch from the creepy place is the one they shot last for season 3.

The paint scene: they only had one try. Axel and Maxence hadn’t shot together for a week, David had done it on purpose and they’d missed each other. It was shot on a Friday at the exact time it was supposed to happen IRL. The whole thing lasts 14 minutes long. David took their pants off because they were slipping too much. Xavier almost stopped filming he was like “is he serious? did he just take their pants off??”. They shot a part when one of them slips on the ground and the other follows but that didn’t make the cut. There were 25 people on set, everyone in a suit to protect from the paint, but Axel and Maxence forgot everyone and just got lost in their characters. When David yelled cut, Axel and Maxence didn’t hear him and kept making out. David had to separate them. Then they all were so happy that they yelled their joy but then saw all the people who were behind the camera, and everyone was crying, like they had witnessed something too intimate. They showered for an hour, emptied 2 bottles of soap and even then it wasn’t enough, Axel still had paint running down his neck at a party that evening. The music used on set was Dreamer, the Khlar remix. Maxence was upset it wasn’t the one they ended up using in the clip, it felt like a betrayal because it “wasn’t the song they had made love to”.

Maxence fought with the costume department over the briefs he was wearing in the paint scene, because they had shot the PONI scene first and he could remember which ones he was wearing for the PONI scene and he wanted to wear the same ones. He was sure people would notice.

The first scene Maxence ever shot was the PONI scene. 

The boat scene was quite special. It was a big moment for Maxence, he was extremely nervous, so David reduced the team on set as much as he could. Maxence got upset at Axel for being too present during the scene. Being used to a theatre stage, Axel is always a bit over the top, eating his ham with a flourish, stuff like that, but this was supposed to be Eliott’s big scene. Maxence asked for a break and told David that if Axel didn’t tone it down, he’d kill him. That also got resolved quickly. 

The Remember Me scene: the priest is Lula’s dad. Lula and Niels both make a cameo in the church. They forgot to warn Axel that a car was coming when he’s running so his reaction is genuine. He was running so fast, the minivan with the camera couldn’t keep up so they shot it twice. They shot Lucas finding Eliott under the bridge just after shooting the first kiss. Maxence only had 4 minutes to get into the right state of mind which was extremely challenging and during that time he had to change his clothes, dry his hair and redo his makeup. Axel wasn’t feeling very well, he was exhausted after having shot 4 clips that day, but David told him he could do it so he ran on the path to the bridge harder than ever (David thought he was going to hurt his sinews) and when he fell to his knees, he was close to passing out, you can actually hear when he says the first “t’es pas tout seul” that he’s about to throw up / can’t breathe properly. They only shot that part once and after it was done David told them they should hug each other because what they had just done with Lucas and Eliott was precious and a moment to remember.  

There was supposed to be a scene after the Remember scene but it was cut. Eliott is sleeping, Lucas brings him food and starts reading his book and then Eliott wakes up. They say hi, Eliott is confused about the time it is, it’s already late afternoon. He says he needs to leave, but Lucas tells him no. He keeps saying he has to go, he has to go to his parents. Lucas tells him it’s fine, they’ve been warned of where he is. But he says he’s got to leave anyway. Lucas asks him why he keeps insisting he needs to leave and Eliott tells him he just doesn’t want Lucas to see him like this. Lucas tells him he doesn’t mind. Then he starts teasing him, saying Eliott just wants to leave because he doesn’t want to own up to the fact that he lied to him. Eliott is confused. Lucas reminds him that he’d said there was no way he would ever be able to sleep next to a guy that hot (on the boat) and yet here they are actually taking naps. So Eliott must have lied to Lucas about finding him hot. Eliott says he’s an idiot and Lucas tells him that at least he’s not a liar at that what matters is that he is his idiot. “Congrats, you’re now the owner of an idiot… more or less hot” Eliott tells him he’s won and asks what they should do now. Lucas answers that they should start by saying hi properly and they kiss, and when they pull back they just look at each other whispering “salut”. Axel said he was upset at David for cutting the scene because it was so soft and intimate, he called him when he watched the episode to ask why he cut it, but it would have been too repetitive with the following Lundi 17h21 clip.

Lundi 17h21 is the second clip Maxence shot. Lucas’s “T’es beau quand tu rigoles” wasn’t scripted, Axel changed the script, he was supposed to say something about liking seeing Eliott smile.

The Je t’aime scene: the first shot they did was the most emotional one, it was one of the hardest scenes emotionally for Axel. He was crying so so much, he had tears and snot everywhere, and Maxence was just wiping it away so tenderly that David thought about keeping that shot but the snot was REALLY disgusting so they didn’t keep it. They shot it a few more times, except that then Maxence had to leave. So the shot of Lucas saying Moi aussi is actually to David. Axel said it didn’t feel weird because he does love David so it felt true.

SEASON 4

Assa sat down with the team before they wrote anything for the season and told them her whole life story. It lasted 4 hours and she cried when reading the script because they had included so many things she had told them, it felt like her and Imane were one.

Making Assa dance was Philippine’s idea. David asked her what she thought about when thinking of Assa, something that was really her and Philippine said “Dada, you should see her dance”

Moussa and Assa knew each other before since they had filmed together 5 years prior, a movie in which they already were siblings. They feel like siblings in real life.

The worst clip to shoot was on Lais’s first day of shooting, it was the bus clip. The shooting conditions were terrible, there was too much noise, and the crew was tired from having shot the 3 bus stop clips from season 3 earlier that day. David was convinced there would be nothing to save and they would have to rent another bus but the team worked their magic in post prod and it turned out amazing.

They shot the scene with Imane, Lucas and Eliott in class the day after Halloween. Maxence was at a party the night before and lost track of time. He had to take a taxi straight from the party to the set at 6am and showed up in full zombie costume and makeup.

Charles come back: it had been cloudy and raining all day but the moment the camera was on the girls’ faces, a ray of sunlight appeared and the wind blew in their hair, making it a real dramatic moment. Too good to pass on, it’s the shot they kept.

The fight between Lucas and Eliott that we vaguely hear in the background was just gibberish. Axel and Maxence hadn’t prepared anything and Axel just ended up shouting at Maxence things like YOU LIED TO ME BEFORE ABOUT LUCILLE YOU MIGHT BE DOING IT AGAIN ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE and Maxence NO I WOULD NEVER - BUT YOU DID - NO I WOULDN’T - YES YOU DID - NO and they kept going in circles so David was like “guys…. please, you might want to start screaming about something else or this is gonna sound very repetitive” but in the end we can barely hear anything so it didn’t matter much

When Alex comes to pick up Emma to go to the cinema, Assa had a break down and couldn’t stop laughing, hiding under a blanket and making all the girls laugh too with her. David had to scold them a bit to get them to stop.

Lais also ruined a clip by laughing for 15 minutes straight, it’s the clip at Imane’s house when they talk about the fair. It was the longest 15 minutes of the crew’s life. 

The oui oui song during Daphné’s birthday party wasn’t planned, the team just lost control of the cast. Axel started it and everyone followed. The cast are actually terrible extras. They are too dramatic and noticeable in the background so party scenes like Daphné’s birthday were a nightmare to shoot. 

Assa and Laïs rehearsed the Unknown dance clip every chance they got between every take, everyone kept tripping on them in the corridors.

The last sequences they filmed were actually the last clips at Imane’s house for the Eïd. Axel isn’t in the last shot because he had to leave for his play. He actually ruined the very last clip of season 4 by shouting his goodbyes to David from across the corner.

SEASON 5

The auditions for season 5 and 6 were held in June. Lucas was spotted through his youtube channel and asked to audition. 

Coline learned sign language by herself after an initiation class with the whole team. She started signing in July and has been practicing ever since. Robin took a one week class in September and then kept practicing by himself and with the D/deaf people on set. David and the rest of the team also took an initiation class.

Robin doesn’t like water and was anxious about the scenes in the pool. David got in the water with Xavier, Robin and Winona to reassure him and direct them better. They limited the number of extras around the pool because of that.

The place where Eliott works is where David used to work when he was younger.

Coline wrote a song for the season

They couldn’t leave the mural in the high school so they took it off the wall (it wasn’t actually painted on the wall itself) and cut it into pieces. There are a few pieces framed on the walls of Lucas and Eliott’s flat.

[adaru32]

October 2020 Devil May Cry News Updates

Someone mentioned in September’s news updates about how they don’t like visiting Deviantart due to what’s happened to it. So here’s the full list and links I’ll be sharing here that I’ve shared in the Deviantart journal so you don’t have to visit there.

Hey, how's it going? Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. Here are this month's Devil May Cry related updates: 1. Asmus Toys has announced a devil Dante Qbitz figure up for preorder. 2. More promo images of Lady for the Pinnacle of Combat mobile game. 3. Rumours of a Devil May Cry 6 in the works are already surfacing. 4. Devil May Cry V getting a SSS pack, which contains a soundtrack, tshirt, and poster. b) Speaking of which, they haven't forgotten about releasing an official Vergil coat. c) Famitsu Interview regarding what may or may not happen in Special Edition. d) Other inclusions and exclusions of Special Edition regarding features, the official Vergil DLC release date, etc. 5. CapCom at one point released stamps to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the 1st Devil May Cry game. Someone got their hands on them. 6. 90 Day Fiance, featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series. 7. Interview of Kyo (aka RedgraveKyo) talking to the voice of Trish from DMC4, Danielle Burgio. 8. Some drama regarding how "casuals" and "elitists" react to different opinions of Devil May Cry 4 and V.

My Thoughts On These Updates:

1. That Qbitz figure's adorable. A friend of mine in my one Facebook group mentioned about how Asmus Toys announces all of these Qbitz figures, but no mention about a release date, which is frustrating. 2. As I mentioned in the previous roundup of updates, Yunchang Games really loves showing off more promo work than their actual work. They are nice images, but they could at least give small tidbits of updates about what's happening with this game. Last I heard, it is supposed to be fully released some time this year. Well, we still have another couple months before the year ends. The other thing I heard for why it's getting delayed again is because of the pandemic, and they're actually listening to feedback from their beta testers so they're fixing whatever they can to please the fans. 3. I'm not surprised that rumours about a Devil May Cry 6 is already in the works. Especially when this rumour is coming from DuskGolemn (aka AestheticGamer1). Sure that person has some history with CapCom, but it doesn't mean whatever comes out of this person's statuses are always 100% true. It's plausible since Devil May Cry V did so well with their sales and such, but I'm gonna be cautiously optimistic about this info given. 4. I feel like for CapCom's SSS pack, they should include a Vergil figure from Prime1Studio or Kotobukiya. Sure a soundtrack, tshirt, and poster are nice, but I feel like there should be more. b) Nice that they haven't forgotten about Vergil's official coat being available for purchase. Sucks that these official coats/jackets are so damn expensive. They're way more than a used or new car for crying out-loud. c & d) Sucks that we PS4, PC, and XboxONE players have to wait longer for the Vergil DLC, but better to be late than never. It's also too bad about Xbox Series S players, but I guess some technology does have their limits. I'm very curious as to what Special Edition has in store. I like how CapCom's not giving away too much info to make up for the mistakes they've made of releasing major spoilers in their trailers for the original game and DMC4. 5. I think I've heard about those stamps before. It's cool that CapCom does things like that. Japan gets really awesome gaming merch stuff...Even their advertisements are more entertaining than us westerners'. 6. Funny how a little tidbit of someone cosplaying as Dante pops up in a TV show. Wonder what was happening down there in San Diego with that guy? 7. I haven't checked out the interview, but it's cool how specific fans can interact with these voice actors to get some more details and such. If any of you watched it, and anything sticks out that seems interesting, don't be afraid to share your thoughts. 8. (Warning: Very long rant, brutal honesty, and swearing ahead)...It really sucks what's happening with the Devil May Cry fandom as of late...More people have been leaving the fandom because someone was trying to be "funny". I'm aware that these kinds of things also happen with other fandoms like Undertale, Bayonetta, etc. for these kinds of drama to occur. I'm just sick of people shitting on one another... Yes, there is good that happens in this fandom as well like fundraisers for good causes, fans supporting other fans, even chill folk that don't like to start drama (Like that wholesome status post I shared in the list of updates for example). My problem is how people are either living under a rock, or are being in denial with the problems that surface with this fandom. Let alone being hypocritical where they share an opinion regarding another opinion that they disagree with in a rude manner, then turn around and  share something more positively eye-opening that's not so rude so they cover their tracks with their mistakes they've made before (Not sure if I worded this properly. Hope you get what I mean. One example is how one of the "elitists" mentioned about how "casual fans" are the most toxic people he's come across. Meanwhile he's complaining and whining in a toxic manner about PC players not getting Special Edition, then he turns around and shares that wholesome post about DMC4 players vs fans to make himself look good). I just want everybody to keep the peace with one another instead of being entitled, egotistical, self-centered, spoiled-rotten, hypocritical, idiots. The other issue this fandom is facing is content thieves. They've been on the rise for quite some time now, and people aren't doing a damn thing. I've been fighting with a few Facebook groups regarding this kind of act, but all they want is clout...Which is ridiculous if you ask me...I ask that if any of you see fan artists', screen captors', meme and mod creators', and cosplayers' content being posted where they state on their images or profiles that they don't want their content shared, or need permission to ask about their content being shared, message these artists or report the images. Even say something to these content thieves. As an artist who's had my stuff stolen before, I don't condone content theft... For those of you who know me in my Original Devil May Cry Sanctuary group on Facebook, and The Red Devil's Chronicles page on there as well, I always credit the content creators for their work, but I am also cautious on who wants their stuff posted or not. And as of late, I've pretty much stopped sharing others' fan art to respect these artists' wishes of not wanting their content shared without permission. If any of you want your stuff shared on the Facebook page, don't be afraid to let me know on here or there, I will give credit. I've been debating about whether to completely delete the fan art album on there and start anew. What do you guys think? As I've said, not all things are bad in the Devil May Cry fandom. We do have the good side of it, too. I'm hoping it gets better regarding that good side of it. It really sucks having to see stuff like this happen. But we good fans can change things for the better if we do something. This may come off as nerdy or cheesy, but as Alucard from Castlevania states in Symphony of The Night, "The only way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".

[benisasoftboi]

Drag Race UK Episode 4 Thoughts:

Blu is so mean in a slightly desperate way and I honestly find it kind of endearing. Like your little cousin who really, really wants you to know how grown up she is

Thatcher dramaaaa man I honestly would have loved to see two of them

Aw Divina that’s nice, I really like you

That Trump impression is fucking uncanny, jesus

Oooh, Blu, sneaky

Like I would like to see David Attenborough because I know him better than Nigella but also he isn’t really… funny?

So weird watching a Snatch Game where I actually know who most of these people are - though not a bad thing!

Extremely fucking bitter that there’s no Tracy Beaker

I don’t know why Baga’s Thatcher looks so demented but I kinda love it and it’s very funny. Actually laughed out loud

Every time someone (Ru) has brought up Brexit I have booed (this is supposed to be escapist entertainment, stop it). That joke from Baga was the first time all season that I haven’t 

Blu. What are you doing. Mary Berry is a sweet old lady who makes the occasional subtle innuendo. Have you seen GBBO. If you wanted to go this route, at least go for Mel or Sue, they’re the actual culprits behind GBBO’s reputation, but even then they’re not this explicit. That’s why it’s so funny

But I guess it’s working for Ru and them…? Tbh I am not a fan but. Okay

So Vivienne was very, very smart to pick Trump, since Ru is clearly more familiar with him than any of the others for obvious reasons

It’s a really good impression, but it’s not even that funny (if only because Trump impersonation was done to death before even the end of 2016 - go look up that LWT compilation demonstrating this), we’ve heard these jokes many, many times before

I am really loving the Trump/Thatcher interactions though. They’ve both got such a massive advantage just by the other being there, the jokes write themselves

Yeah no I was right David Attenborough isn’t working :(

Divina’s a little bitter :(

Also Cheryl’s doing great, and while I don’t really know Crystal’s character, she’s been good too

This was a DAMN good Snatch Game

Though the editing this week? Not great

Awwww talking about the boyfs

BLU!!! IT’S LEGAL AS OF THIS WEEK!!! :D what incredible timing

Also I love her runway

Which I just almost misspelled as Ruway WHY ISN’T IT CALLED THAT???

Yeahhhh I can already hear the criticisms Sum Ting’s about to get

Divina’s looking pretty :)

Cheryl was better than safe tbh. And I’ve already expressed that I didn’t like Blu’s performance that much so can’t agree with that praise there, but whatever, at least it means she’s sticking around, yay!

Interesting that she’s not bringing up that she gave up Maggie hmm…

Yeah again - my stance is that it was a very good Trump impression, but there’s a finite number of wall jokes you can hear before it just stops being funny and we are longgggg past that point

Should note that I am currently doing a degree in politics, and so am perhaps a little more over-exposed to this kind of thing than others might be, but still

Crystal really wasn’t that bad, what?

Baga and Sum Ting <3

Oh okay so Viv’s the best Snatch Game ever from the promo. No need to repeat myself on how I feel about that

A joint win! Coalition! 

They were both very good - despite my whinging that was 100% deserved

So, Sum Ting vs...?

Crystal. Okay. Should be good

Blu looking absolutely terrifying in the back there

Aww Sum Tingggg. Understandable, but what am I supposed to do without my Birmingham rep?

THIS IS THE SWEETEST OH MY GOD ACTUAL BEST ENDING TO AN EPISODE EVER

this episode was good

[fank0ne]

Okay, I'm mad. I was supposed to post this waaay earlier but Tumblr fucked it up and here we are. My anxiety's tryna crawl back to me and I have to deal with it too, so, ugh, bear with me.

Anyways, this whole thing is gonna be messy af, you've been warned.

FIRE:

Cruz and Chloe. What did Joe do in his previous life that the universe wants tries to fuck up any tiny bit of happiness? The poor guy just lost his best friend and now the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with ditches him? Great timing, by the way.

C'mon, give him a break. He's suffered enough and certainly doesn't deserved. Joe is literally a sweetheart.

Severide and Stella. Did Kelly (I hate his first name so much, you have no idea) really say "(...) with our kids and grandkids surrounding me"?! Stellaride are so cute, it's like they live in their own bubble of happiness and, ugh, they've matured so much and to hear Severide say that he wants to grow old with Kids (we already knew that, but to actually hear it gives it another effect)... it just warms my heart.

I hope Stella gets to choose some cool badass names for dem kids.

Jay and Adam partnering up and doing Mouse's work?! Dope.

I've got something to confess: I don't know why or how, but I recently entered the Halzek spiral and so whenever they're around one another I literally freak out. Can you blame me, though?

MED:

Who is this Andrea girl? Is she an angel sent from above who's gonna help us associate the word end to Manstead? Has that moment finally arrived? Sarcasm aside, I'm curious! I wanna know what was/is the nature of her relationship with Will. They definitely fucked at least once -- I'm not saying it, their faces were saying it. Sorry, guys, I don't make the rules.

Dr. Marcel. I can't call him Crockett because in Italian it sounds like nugget. Like, you say chicken nuggets, we say crocchette (Crockett-e) di pollo, and it's just weird lol.

That look on his face he had every time he had to announce the time of death of one of his patients honestly broke my heart. He felt so helpless and, I'm not gonna lie, I wanted to give him a big hug.

I don't really know how I feel about his character, though... sometimes I like him, sometimes I don't. I just feel like he has a big, kind heart underneath that cheesy and cocky surface and I know he'll eventually grow on me.

Also, does he have a crush on April or is he just being, you know, himself..? Because I'm not a huge fan of love triangles and I think Chexton is endgame, but I don't know??? I don't wanna see what could happen with the three of them, but I also wanna see it. It makes no sense, good.

William and Natalie (≠ Manstead, careful there). Did you notice how cool it was without the two of them causing unnecessary drama? They suddenly became almost lovable (I actually would die for Will, who the fuck I'm kidding lol) when they're not near one another. Seriously though, I liked them in these episodes (yup, Natalie too, unbelievable!)

Okay, I'll stop with this shitty type of sarcasm. It's not even funny LMFAO.

I am so into this intelligent, witty and super capable version of William Halstead and, yeah, I know the emergency situation required him to be, but I feel like maybe Andrea's presence spurred him a little bit? I'm just randomly guessing here.

And Natalie too! I loved the interaction between her and Hailey, I think they never ever spoke to each other before, so it was cool to see them together. 

About Hailey... the promo pictures truly misled me (and my fellow Upstead shippers) and now I feel stupid for believing they were gonna feed us with some juicy content. I mean, I wasn't expecting Jay to confess his feeling to Hailey (even thought, in my - not - humble opinion, he already did in 6.22), but damn bro!!! He didn't give two fucks about how she was doing. He literally only went to Med to update her on the investigations and that's all. I feel betrayed. Not only by Jay, but by the whole unit, except for my giant teddy bear Kevin and Voight (he cares in his own way). What I'm saying is, of course the squad was concerned about her (I hope so?), it would've been cool to see it (I'm a chaotic bitch, leave me alone).

Maggie and Sharon. You’re telling me that Maggie needed Sharon to force her into going home, otherwise she would’ve stayed at the hospital? I love Maggie, she’s my favorite character in Med, but that’s just dumb. Periodth. I’m glad Sharon sent her home... the fuck?

PD:

Good Lord, Jay Halstead really seemed to be concerned about his brother well-being. That's a first! I bet they read the post in which I was ranting about him not giving a damn whenever Will gets injured. The definitely read it (yup, sure honey).

The scene in which he was being held hostage by that scien-terrorist (Hailey thing her hair up was super sexy to see, by the way)... Jay, did you really had to make that long ass cut on your arm? I swear to God, he's so extra sometimes (6.07!!!), he could've just cut the tip of one of his fingers. Like, hello?

I know y'all kinda hate him, but can we protect William Halstead forever and ever? Cutie wanted to follow Voight to wherever Jay was.

Will is dumb af (like dumb dumb) but he's a sweetie.

Rojas and Atwater go get drinks together. I see y'all, that's what I want to hear. But how come Trudy Platt, queen of roasting people, didn't tease Vanessa about it? She's must've been really exhausted, that had been a hell of a day!

Adam and Kim. Are they forreal? I mean, their scene lasted, what, 1 minute max, and it was the ultimate hottest thing. And they were only looking at each other and their fingers were touching. That's all. They're driving me insane already, good. I like it. They got some beautiful round asses, both Marina and Paddy. Congrats. I guess Grandpa Hank is gonna have another grandchild (Ruzek is basically Hank's son, we all know that).

Jay Halstead smiling at life for once... it makes me smile too.

I always love me some Halstead brothers scenes, it's always good to see them together.

________________________

The plot idea was cool, very Halloween-esque, and it made me think of Justin Timberlake’s song Supplies (the world can end now, baby, we’ll be living in The  Walking Dead).

I absolutely loved how everything had been so smoothly done: Brett and Foster at Med, Kim at the crime scene, Boden’s phone call, Voight driving the car, and I could go on forever with examples... what I’m tryna say is that the interaction between the characters was portrayed super well. Whoever edited the crossover certainly did their part, but I think all of this is also due to the fact that the cast members are friends in real life too and, yeah, it was super cool to see them all together.

Sounds superfluous to say it, but I loved this crossover. It’s definitely my favorite one, hands down. 

[hazyheel]

WWE Smackdown Live 6/11/19 Review

We started with a rendition of Miz TV. Miz had a new shirt of his dad having his fists up at Wrestlemania, and I guess he was being forced to host this edition. He was reading off of a literal script for Shane. He kept saying best in the world wrong for a laugh, but it wasn’t much of anything. Shane then came out with Drew McIntyre and Elias. Elias was the musical guest, and the crowd chanted you suck at him. Miz called out Shane for having only tainted wins, which Shane didn’t seem to care about. Mcintyre talked about how he would beat Roman at stomping ground. Miz pointed out that McIntyre is wasting his potential by being Shane’s lackey, which makes a lot of sense. Shane and Miz started to hurl insults at each other, and nearly came to blows. Shane challenged Miz to a gauntlet match. If he could beat both Elias and McIntyre, then he could fight Shane. 

So, we went right into the matches, starting with Miz vs. Elias. This was the match where I noticed that Miz doesn’t do the corner dropkicks like Daniel Bryan anymore, but he does corner knees. Interesting way to make the move his own, and to transition into a face role. Miz quickly took care of Elias by dodging an elbow drop and hitting the skull crushing finale for three. 

He then fought Drew McIntyre. Miz was actually brutally beating down McIntyre for a lot of this match, such as a super stiff baseball slide and a brawl on the outside. At one point, Miz went for the skull crushing finale, but Shane distracted him, so McIntyre could get the Glasgow kiss, and then a claymore for the win. 

After that happened, Shane said that he would still fight Miz. There was actually a bit of back and forth until Shane locked in a triangle for the win. 

Grade: B-. I wasn’t sure about putting this whole segment on the positive side, but I think the matches were mostly fine, and the heel work from Shane at the end there was really good. So yeah, I’ll give this a B-. I normally don’t like the style of heel that Shane is, smarmy but also not quite good enough at being smarmy. But this was probably his best work, challenging a beaten down Miz like that. I liked it, especially how happy he was that he is now 3-0 over Miz. That record is bullshit and shouldn’t exist, but at least it’s because Shane is being a dick. 

Backstage, Ember Moon talked to Fire and Desire while she was playing on a switch. They told her to focus on a real life superhero like Mandy Rose, and then smacked the switch out of her hand and left. Moon was pissed and threw some stuff.

Then we had the Planets Tag Team Champions. Daniel Bryan said that there would be a title match, against a couple Jobbers holding cardboard titles. But before they got going, Heavy Machinery came out to interrupt. Heavy Machinery said that they were ducking the challenge for the belts. So, Daniel Bryan said that if they can beat the jobbers, they will get a title match. Heavy Machinery won quickly with the compactor.

Grade: C. Yeah this was an inoffensive squash match, but I’m also rewinding the grade a bit because Heavy Machinery was off TV for so long and are now just getting a title match. That is BS, but they are certainly the team that should get it. 

Backstage, R-Truth and Carmella were talking about how terrible being the 24/7 champion was. He said that he pinned Jinder on a plane 49,000 feet celsius, that was funny. Carmella heard someone coming, so she told Truth to get in a box. It turned out only to be a production guy, but the case locked and Carmella had to leave for a match with Sonya Deville. So she left, and Jinder showed up and tried to open it, pretending to be Carmella as he did, So this was the 24/7 shenanigans of the evening, and I was into it. 

So we came back to the match between Carmella and Sonya Deville. At one point, Carmella locked in the code of silence, but Rose put Deville’s foot on the rope to break things up. She chased Rose around, but Deville caught her with a brutal knee to the stomach for a near fall. Carmella then threw Deville out of the ring, and gave both women a suicide dive, hitting Rose with an extra superkick. As Carmella went back in, Deville hit a step up knee for the win.

Grade: C-. Lots of interference, and it was not wrestled the best. I really don’t care much for this feud, and it seems just to be a placeholder before fire and desire break up. So not a great match, and I think it’d be much better if Carmella was actually involved in the 24/7 championship picture.

So then we had Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross backstage. Bliss told Cross that a bunch of people were being mean to her on social media, and that Bayley liked one of them. She said that Bayley is the same as everyone who calls Cross names. She told Cross not to hold back during her match with Bayley. I like how Bliss is manipulating Cross here, it is good. I wish it was someone who wasn’t supposed to be a crazy person, but its fine.

Then we the return of Big E, ahead of the 6-man tag later on. New Day cut a promo and they joked about how if Big E had a title run for every time that he returned, he would be Charlotte Flair. Kofi said it was a booking joke, and Woods cut him off by talking about their match. They talked about how Kofi has beaten all of their opponents at one point or another. Ziggler interrupted, and talked about how Kofi cheated to beat him at super showdown. Kofi just said that it was revenge for Ziggler kicking Woods earlier in the match, but then Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn interrupted. Zayn and Owens said that it was injustice, and I found it was difficult to disagree with the heels here. Zayn said that the rules are more important than who the fans like. Zayn called the fans hypocrites, and I kinda get where he is coming from. Big E then put over Kingston and defended him, and Kofi told him that he won’t have any more excuses after the steel cage match. 

Grade: C. Everyone could talk in this segment, but it was very filler, and the heels were being perfectly reasonable. A heel promo that really makes the good guys look like the bad guys are a problem. Ziggler has every right to be mad, Kofi did cheat. So it’s difficult to say he is in the wrong.

Then we had Bayley backstage, being asked about Bliss manipulating Cross, and Bayley just didn’t care.

Then we had Aleister Black continuing to offer an open challenge. He had someone open the door, and shout out of it, saying that the door is wide open. Black is so much better than this. 

We went right into Bayley vs. Nikki Cross. They were brawling right at the bell. At one point, Bayley went for the dropkick under the corner on the outside, but Cross trapped her behind the apron and beat her down. Bliss did get involved minorly at one point, distracting her and allowing Cross to get a cradle for a near fall. Bayley got the win with the elbow drop, staring right at Bliss when she did.

Grade: C+. Match didn’t have much to it, but I did like how Bayley looked right at Bliss when she hit the finish. Other than that this was a nothing match.

Jinder went back to get Truth out of the box, but it was gone. Truth was still in the box, and he was getting shipped to LA in the box. 

24/7 stuff: B-. Not nearly as funny as the stuff on Raw, but still good. I like this gag, and it’ll be resolved on monday. 

Then we had Apollo Crews being interviewed about the attack from Andrade last week. Zelina Vega showed up to run him down, and told Crews to stay away from Andrade. Then randomly, Chad Gable was there taking notes. I-I don’t know why.

And into the main event, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler vs. the New Day.  A lot of fast paced action here, and oddly enough Kingston was normally the one on the backfoot. At one point, Woods went up for the limit breaker, but Ziggler crotched him on the top rope. On commentary, Graves emphasized the fact that the face commentators are always okay with the faces cheating, which I though was quite interesting. At one point, Kevin Owens hit a moonsault for a near fall, and I would love to see that move enter his arsenal more. Big E had a huge hot tag during the match, destroying Ziggler with suplexes and a splash. Ziggler blind tagged in Zayn, who held Kofi for a superkick. Kofi dodged so it hit Zayn, and Kofi nailed Ziggler with a trouble in paradise, followed by another one to Zayn for the win.

Grade: B-. Fast paced action and a good pickup for Kofi. I might’ve preferred to see Big E pick up the win, but I will never argue with making a champion strong. Good stuff here, and the match of the night. 

Also, something I noticed that happened tonight was that on commentary, they keep mentioning how WWE is the only “cross cultural” sports entertainment company in the world. So that is them taking pot shots at AEW. 

Overall Grade: C+

Pros: nothing overtly good, but i thought that Graves gave a good commentary performance. 

Cons: Heavy Machinery hasn’t been on the show; carmella vs. deville; filler promo

[yellowfeather84]

Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe know they've got something special: From the complicated, passionate characters Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall they get to play on-screen, to the close friendship they've developed off-screen, Outlander has changed their lives. And they're not alone: Since the Starz hit premiered in 2014, fans have been rabid for all things Outlander—Heughligans debate the merits of Sam's man bun, shippers argue they're a couple in real life, and dedicated social media accounts document every last detail of Jamie and Claire's saga.

So when Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe decided to visit the ELLE.com offices, I knew I needed the help of someone whose fandom went beyond my own appreciation for the show to an expert-bordering-on-obsessive level—the kind of person who would know Claire should be referred to as "Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser," not "Claire Randall," in the above paragraph, and be mad about the mistake. I needed a super fan, and lucky for me, I happen to be related to one of the biggest out there: Pat Holmes, my mother.

Here, an Outlander super fan (and her daughter) talk to the show's stars about their friendship, Jamie and Claire's evolutions, and how love can survive a 20-year separation.

Warning: This post contains mild spoilers for season three of Outlander.

I just watched the first episode of this season—it's amazing, very emotional.

Sam: It's very sad, actually.

Caitriona: It is very sad. All of the Culloden stuff is just so brilliant.

For the first time, you weren’t in the episodes together. So what it was like when you saw it, for you, Sam, to watch Caitriona—and Caitriona, to watch how Sam did?

C: It was great, because I think we both purposely didn’t read those parts of the script. It’s nice to be able to remove yourself from it, because normally you’re in it so much, and it’s hard to be objective and look at something from the perspective of a viewer. There was a lot of surprise, because I didn’t realize that they would shoot it that way—it's so much darker, and Sam's performance was so amazing. I loved it, and it was really heartbreaking. The way they edited it, going back and forth and bringing it to where Jamie doesn’t really know what’s happening, he doesn’t know whether he’s alive or dead, and interspersing that with moments that happened before and after, I thought was really beautiful.

S: I only recently saw it and it was just remarkable. I think that Caitriona and Tobias [Menzies] are amazing together, and it's just so grown up and sad. They’re doing everything for their daughter and trying to work through it, but there’s heartache there. It was a great script and Ron [D. Moore] did wonderful with the writing. It’s really the beginning—we say goodbye to Scotland and a lot of the characters there.

You’re talking about the 20 years your characters spend apart, and they change a lot. What did those 20 years do to them?

C: One of the huge things I played with Claire is that she shelved a side of herself for 20 years. The way we worked it out with the writers is that initially Claire tries to have a relationship with Frank, but after a year and a half, they make an arrangement and they live separate lives within the same house. Claire has always been a very sexual person, a very passionate person, and losing the person that means the most to you is one thing, but losing a part of her DNA or a part of who makes her who she is had a real effect on how she carries herself and interacts with people. She became focused on her career and daughter but there’s a rigidity to her, and I think she’s lost some of that freedom and joy she has when she's around Jamie.

What happens to Jamie?

S: He obviously loses the love of his life and he expects to die. And when he doesn’t, he goes through this process of all the phases of grief and mourning: Ultimately, why is he there and what does he have to live for? He regresses into a shell of who he is and it takes him a long time to rediscover himself; he doesn’t want to be Jamie Fraser anymore. He wants to hide in the shadows, not because he’s an outlaw or a prisoner, but he wants to live in the memory of her.

Time is probably the best healer and it does take a long time for him to come to terms with the fact that she's actually gone. He goes on an insane journey to see if she’s still alive or possibly has come back into his life, and when he really finds out that she hasn’t, he can move on. And he does—he creates a new life for himself.

Is he a whole person?

S: Of course he’s not. He’s always loved her and always had a space in his heart for her, but he rebuilds himself.

Is there anything left of the old Jamie?

S: He’s still there, but he has to go through a lot of growing up. Not giving away too many spoilers, but he becomes a father, he gains his liberty, and finds peace within himself with who he is without her. I think that’s important, actually. He finds himself.

And Claire does too?

C: I think what I love about her is that she is a survivor, so even though there’s a part of her that has been shelved—her heart is definitely hardened and broken—but that she does figure out a way to create a successful life. That’s important about both these characters: Even though this relationship and this love that they experienced are bigger than any of us could hope to have, I suppose, that they don’t make it their single defining characteristic. To honor that relationship and the people that they are, they make the best of the lives they have.

S: They’re at their best when they’re together. They’re a team, they’re a couple. And that’s when they have the most life-affirming moments.

Are they still in love 20 years later? How do you keep a love going for 20 years when you don't even see each other?

C: Yes, because I think when you experience something that strong, it doesn’t fade away. You can keep it in a certain place, but it doesn’t diminish.

S: That’s what they do. They eventually sort of come to terms with each other passing, but there’s always that part of them that they keep dear to them. So when they do reunite it’s like, Oh wow, you’re back, and they fall back into their own routine until they realize that they have changed and have become different people.

C: When somebody cherishes a memory like that, you put them on a pedestal and nobody else can come close. You’re looking at it through rose-tinted glasses. When they first meet, it’s that first rush of love and it’s like that old time. And then what they have to do is dismantle that pedestal and illusion they’re created and find a way of falling in love with the people they are now.

They have great sex scenes in the book, but they have fights too. Which is more fun?

C: Fights!

S: Fights. Always. It’s gotten physical at times.

C: Um, yeah!

S: But it’s great. Caitriona is wonderful to work with, so they're the scenes we do cherish and enjoy, don't we, because we get to go at it.

C: I think the thing about these two people is they love so passionately and they fight so passionately. They live on this really fierce frequency and it’s great, because we do like to go for it. We know each other so well that we know how to push each other’s buttons—it's good, it's fun.

Ever go too far with that?

C: I mean, I’ve landed across the room on my ass this season, which was rather painful. I come away with quite a few injuries.

S: They're both very stubborn, and she’s very opinionated.

...Claire or Caitriona?

S: [Laughing] Aaand moving on from that! No, I enjoy those scenes. And the sex scenes are what they are. It’s an important part of the story and definitely this season there are a lot more.

I think the fans are happy. They weren't too happy with season two, because there weren't very many.

C: We were telling a different story then. I do think that the beauty of Diana [Gabaldon]’s books is that they're about a relationship that spans decades. It’s important to show every cycle of that relationship and not to just repeat one over and over again. What we set out to do is not to just have sex for sex’s sake, but have it tell something about the couple and where they are in the relationship and the point to the story. And if you’re just having sex scenes thrown in everywhere, then they lose their impact. So last season it was about two people who weren’t in a groove with each other and were feeling off-kilter. So other things became their focus, like changing history, which is a big thing.

It doesn’t look like you aged that much in the end of season two.

C: I have some grey in my hair. It's funny, I think we all assumed that we would do a bit more. But she’s only 50. He’s only in his mid-40s.

S: Yeah, when you say it like that...

C: It's not like they’re so much older. The difference between 30, when we last saw her, and 50 is not that huge when you look around. We looked around at our makeup department and the women who were 47, 48, 49 looked great. I think the decision was to play with the hair and more about how time has changed them internally rather than externally. The '60s makeup and '60s costume definitely help give her more authority—she just feels a little bit older in that way. But it’s hard then when you go back to the no-makeup look of the 1700s to tie that in. I was just really tired and haggard myself, so they’re all just mine, those wrinkles.

I thought

in the promo

, in the shot when you were in Edinburgh, about to go into the print shop, you looked so vulnerable and so luminous, but it’s a different Claire. You’ve left the '60s and the Jackie Kennedy look. I have to say, you are both great in this, you do a lot with the emotion in your faces.

S: Well, in that moment, she's just put everything on the line, hasn't she? She doesn’t know how he’s going to react.

C: For me, one of the hardest things to wrap my head around this season was Claire leaving her daughter. And that was such a huge part. Initially when we got our scripts, it was Claire with Roger. And I remember saying to the writers: "Hold on a minute, it has to be with Brianna, because that’s the relationship, that’s the price that she’s paying." To make that sacrifice—you could poll a hundred mothers, and how many mothers would be able to do that? That’s the ultimate price that she pays.

You guys are really close friends. So what do you like about each other? And you can also tell me what you dislike...

S: [Laughing] Long list!

C: I mean, Sam’s just so kind. He’s a really good friend. He always checks in. I don’t know, he has one of the biggest hearts and smallest egos that I know.

[Sam and Caitriona high five]

S: Absolute same.

C: [Laughing] You can't just pick my answer!

S: No, she’s not only a great actress, she's a great friend and a great advice giver, too. And we have each other's backs. It’s a remarkable journey that we’ve been on, starting this together, being thrown in the deep end and being like, Okay! We're going to do this together. It’s a nice bond and I think people are fascinated by it, in a weird way—I know the fans are. We respect each other and have got each other's backs. I’m very fortunate that we have that, it’s great.

How many more will you do? Will you do them all if they want?

C: It depends. If they want, is the big...we’ve signed up for quite a few.

S: We've definitely got this year and then I guess they’ll see.

C: It depends on if they want to keep making them. It depends on if we keep the standard and quality up. I think that's important to everyone, you don’t want to just churn something out.

S: I feel this season is possibly the strongest. The first season was amazing; it was the beginning. And the second season, there were things I loved and things I didn't. But I think this season—Outlander as an adventure, as a historical romance, it keeps moving forward. Viewers are going to be like, Wooow.

C: Their heads are going to spin. They’re going to be like, Where are we now?!

It’s challenging for you to be in Africa, in Scotland, in Boston, in Jamaica, in the middle of the ocean.

S: It's like, What show is this?!

C: It is challenging, the peripheral stuff, but as long as we keep the relationship at the center, it doesn’t matter, because that’s the anchor.

[huntypastellance]

A follow up to the posts about the Nazi art (drawn by a Klance artist), the Pride Parade Klance sign & all those edits where Sheith scenes in canon got turned into Klance ROMANTIC scenes by people who constantly spam “I ONLY SEE THEM AS BROTHERS, BROGANES, THAT’S SUCH A PLATONIC BROGANES SCENE” everywhere.

NOTE: This is referring to the Klancedom, NOT Klance shippers. If you do NOT do any of these things, this post is NOT talking about you.

This interview has been approved of by MisterPoofOfficial (names were blacked out at her request).

Do NOT harass any of these people in the screenshots.

The events:

> Misterpoof creates a parody animatic of the Heathers song “Dead Girl Walking” & makes it a Sheith video. At this point, Poof was already known for not wanting to make any content for Klance & only making content for Sheith, Keitor, Pance & gen stuff.

> Klancers fill the comments section, whining for a Klance version. Misterpoof blacklists the word “klance” from her notifications & deletes all comments mentioning them. Poof’s fans tell the klancers to knock it off.

> A Klancer makes a yandere Klance PORN version of Poof’s animatic, directly advertising it on the comments of Poof’s animatic. (Keith & Lance semi-graphically have sex in this video).

Lord Pastel Lance: The Klance version was Keith TRYING TO RAPE AN UNWILLING LANCE (he gives in after Keith "reasons" with him) Oh god, klancers Never change Poof: Oh dear lord;;;; that’s gross I didn’t even watch the video, I was too scared it was gonna look like mine;;;” Lord Pastel Lance: NOPE It's got yandere creep faces & is genuinely disturbing with dark colors & Lance PHYSICALLY shoving Keith away from him And like, actual sex Like, they fuck

> Meanwhile, as Klancers & antis flock to the Klance version, the plagiarist upvotes & responds positively to anti-Sheith & anti-Poof comments. She claims that she admires Poof’s stuff even though it’s Sheith & she hates Sheith & doesn’t like going on Sheith vids while also saying that Sheith content on youtube should not exist at all (even joking that she will start a ship war).

Poof: And my video was dedicated to my friends--It wasn’t even supposed to be taken seriously yet people think that me assigning Lance as the "bad guy" means that I hate him Lord Pastel Lance: Seriously, who says "I was inspired by Poof" & then promotes & likes comments basically saying "I hate Poof & Poof's stuff".

> She even went so far as to react negatively & shut down an upset Sheith fan who was just asking for others to let people ship whatever they want. > She also agrees (multiple times) with fans that gay sex is sin & that they are sinners for getting off to her Klance porn video. > She also claims to be a 14 year old who openly draws BL porn on her parents’ laptop & says that she got all her knowledge from BL stuff & yaoi.

Lord Pastel Lance: Google research: literally just a click away Poof: Honestly......I mean they’re using their parent's computer after all Lord Pastel Lance: They already drew twinks fucking on their parents' computer Are they seriously that worried that their parents will see them reading about gay sex

> She also linked Poof’s video directly on her Klance video & self-promoed her klance version directly in the comments of Poof’s vid. (And mentioned how much she hated Sheith). [Reminder that the Klance version was watched predominately by Klancers/antis who were bashing Poof for not making Klance stuff. This was essentially painting a huge bulls-eye on Poof. And that the Klance artist was encouraging these types of comments in her own comment section.]

Poof: The comments I’ve gotten in the video (are removed) -- I’ve been called a "pedophile" for liking Sheith and making content for it -- another comment was talking about age discourse (also removed) I recall getting a comment (also removed) saying this wouldve been better with Klance

> Poof finally disables all comments (just on her Heathers video though).

Lord Pastel Lance: Also They're blaming YOU & your fans in the comments Poof: I KNOW I READ IT AND IT’S RIDICULOUS

Lord Pastel Lance: ??? If they wanted to apologize, why didn't they just send you a fucking ask? Poof: Exactly??? I have my tumblr and twitter on my about on youtube Lmao they could’ve looked and said sorry instead of talking shit

Poof: I found this in my Dead Keith Walking part 2 Lord Pastel Lance: Amazing Poof: Funny.....You say that Lord Pastel Lance: And yet they can't seem to send you a single comment apology Poof: Yup Lord Pastel Lance: It costs zero dollars to say "sorry for causing people to bash on you" Like damn gurl, you don’t need a tumblr to talk to misterpoof Poof: Exactly??? And they don't know how to use it ------------------------------------------- Lord Pastel Lance: By the way, Did the plagiarist ever apologize to you (directly) on tumblr/youtube? Poof: Nope! Never got a single message from them apologizing to me Lord Pastel Lance: Damn It's been like a whole week or so, right? Poof: Yeah Lord Pastel Lance: Even toddlers can use smartphones to google "how 2 do this" now Poof: Lmao true Lord Pastel Lance: Seriously, there is no way that it takes them over a week to figure out "HOW DO I SEND POOF AN ASK ON TUMBLR" Poof: I mean sure they're new to it and they don't know how to use tumblr, but seriously, it's not so hard to just go to my channel and apologize or send me a message Lord Pastel Lance: Yeah, but A WEEK In 2017 Plus they already send you comments on youtube There's nothing stopping them from sending you an apology On youtube Poof: Mhm ------------------------------------------- Poof: So apparently they "apologized", but through instagram and it was just...

:/ You know, I was expecting a message since there is an option on instagram. Not...being tagged in something where everyone can see it.......... I checked my instagram for once jfc, I don't go on it often, but they tagged me in their post to say "sorry"... Lord Pastel Lance: With like zero context Poof: Yup They just straight up said "I’m sorry" and nothing else :/ Lord Pastel Lance: Sorry for what? Plagiarizing? Shitting on you? Self-promo-ing in the comments of your own vids? Promoting comments that shit on you & your vids? That's SO vague Poof: Exactly??? I'm not replying back to the post because not only is it awkward, but it's just not right to forgive them for what they've done Lord Pastel Lance: I don't think they've fully understood their part in this either I think it's more like a "oh noes, a BNF is upset & people think it's my fault that she's mad!!! D:" sort of thing Poof: Mhm

Twas not the straw that broke the camel’s back, but a never-ending pile of sticks instead.

The entitled hypocrisy of the Klancedom is outrageous.

Claiming to loathe Sheith, but constantly looking at Sheith content & whining to the creators that the content would be “so much better if it was Klance & Broganes instead”. Taking no responsibility when people use your Sheith->Klance content to harass the original creators. Excusing anything & everything fucked up that a Klance fan does with “they didn’t know any better!” even though everybody in the discourse is talking through the INTERNET -- the information multilingual multicultural highway. Encouraging discourse & ship hate while pretending to be ignorant about it. Dismissing all the harassment shaladins receive while using the “Not All Klancers” card whenever shaladins complain about the harassment. Doing NOTHING to stop/prevent the Klantis from harassing people while you yourself bitch endlessly about how Shaladins are such hypocrites for generalizing Klance fans as hate-spamming anti-Sheith douchebags. Calling yourself an anti to “protect children & the LGBTQ+ community” while squealing happily about how gay sex is “sin” unironically.

The second you start allowing/encouraging people to trash on someone, who you CLAIMED to like, & that person’s stuff, which you REPEATEDLY mentioned that you dislike, you have chosen a side in the discourse. You are NOT being neutral.

You don’t want to get involved in discourse? Fine. THEN DON’T GET INVOLVED AT ALL.

[finn-nelson-for-the-win]

Before the World Stops Turning: Pt.3

Hello again! I’ve spent the last week doing A LOT of writing because for whatever reason my Uni classes haven’t been as time consuming, so I decided to make the most of my lack of social life and just write the next 5 or so chapters of this fic so they’ll be ready to edit and post even once I begin to get busy again…Anyways, this chapter is a little boring, but it explains a couple things and acts as a short transition chapter to get to some more fun stuff in the next chapters.

If you’d like to be added/removed from my tags list, don’t hesitate to let me know!

Everything I’ve written can be found right here!

I hope you enjoy this chapter! (As always, additional notes and random commentary I have will be at the end beneath the tags)

Rae and Izzie had spent a few hours at the café the previous night eating, recapping the highlights of the concert, and posting some of the better pictures that had been taken using both of their phones to Izzie’s social media accounts.

By the time Rae made it back to her apartment in the taxi that Izzie and her had split, it was already in the early hours of the morning and Rae’s exhaustion had caught up to her so much so that she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow when she got in bed.

It could not have been more than a few hours later when Rae was awoken by the bright morning sun streaming in through her partially open curtains and the sound of her phone buzzing violently on her bedside table.

Who the fuck would be trying to video call me right now?!?

“Uh, yes, hello?” Rae replied when she answered the video call without checking to see who it was that was calling her at such an early time.

“Rae-Rae! I’m so glad you’re awake! I didn’t wake you, did I?” Izzie replied with a cheerful smile.

“Uh, ‘course not, Izz…” Rae replied, her voice still thick with sleep, as she rubbed her eyes slightly to finish waking up.

“Wonderful! So you’ll never guess how many social media notifications I woke up to when I checked my phone a little while before I called you…”

“Oh really? I bet your friends that bailed on going to the concert with you are ruing the day, huh?” Rae replied as she sat up in her bed with a pillow propped up behind her back to get into a more comfortable position.

“Probably, yeah, but even better than that…So you know how I posted all the concert photos online last night, yeah? And you know how I tagged the bands and band members that were in the pictures? Well…” Izzie smirked and paused for dramatic effect, causing Rae to chuckle.

“C’mon Izz! You can’t keep me in suspense like this…you simply must tell me everything,” Rae replied with a teasing edge to her voice.

“Hey now! The sass is unnecessary, but I’m a good friend, so I will tell you the rest of the story…so this morning I woke up to see notifications on my phone saying that a couple members of Kings and Queens liked and shared the group photo I posted of all of us!”

“Oh, that’s wonderful, Izzie! I’m so happy for you!” Rae replied in complete sincerity because she could tell how excited her mate truly was

“Oh that’s not all…I also saw that I was followed by the Kings and Queens Band account as well as one of the band members! Isn’t that so exciting, Rae? I simply had to call you and I felt this warranted a video call instead of a boring old phone call…I also had a question to ask you…”

“Yeah, that’s so great, Izz! They were all really nice guys, so it’s no surprise that they like to interact with fans like this…What did you want to ask me?”

“Do you remember how many band members were in Kings and Queens, Rae?”

“Uhm, maybe five? Lead singer, drummer, bassist, and two guitar players I think…so yeah, five! Why do you ask?”

“Huh, that’s what I thought…it’s not a big deal, but I was looking at the group photo that we took that I posted online and only see four band members and I wasn’t sure who could be missing. I’m pretty sure everyone was there when we posed for the picture…” Izzie replied, her eyebrows knitting together slightly in confusion.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure everyone made it in…wait a second! Maybe not…There was one guy that was busy and rushed in at the last second, but I’m not sure if he made it into the picture.”

Rae powered up her laptop and brought up Izzie’s account where that picture—along with about a dozen others—was posted and zoomed into the photo to get a closer look.

Izzie sat waiting patiently for Rae to speak after taking another look at the photo, but she was soon caught off-guard when Rae laughed aloud suddenly.

“Holy shit, Izz! Take a look at this! You’re right—well sort of…the photo we took has all band members, but it technically only has three fingers from the fifth band member on the far side of the frame.”

Rae turned the camera of her phone to show the group photo that she been looking at on her laptop and began to show Izzie what she meant.

“As you can see, there’s the two of us and Chop next to me…there’s two guys back behind the three of us…and on Chop’s other side is one of the other band members, but if you look very closely at this fourth guy’s shoulder, you can see three fingers and someone’s hand resting on his shoulder!”

“Okay, I think I see that…but are you sure it’s not someone else’s hand though?”

“That’s what I thought at first too, but the angle that the hand is resting on his shoulder makes it seem like there had to be another person standing just outside the frame of the photo!”

“That’s so funny, Rae! I wonder which of them got left out…”

“Huh, yeah…do you remember who was who? Or what was the name of the band member that followed you after you posted the pictures online, Izz? Maybe we can figure it out like that.”

“Uh, okay…well I know that the one with the glasses next to Chop is named Archie. I’ve been following him on social media since I first found out about the band a while back. I think the taller guy in the back is named Alex…and I’m pretty sure the guy with the drumsticks next to Alex is the drummer, Danny…I don’t remember who else could have been left out…”

“Okay, well that’s four of five band members. Did any of them follow you on social media?” Rae asked as she tried to recall the names of the different band members that Chop had told them when he introduced her and Izzie to everyone in the band mere hours ago.

“Uh, no, actually! The guy who followed me is someone called ‘Finn Nelson’…huh, I guess that settles it! Finn is our three-fingered mystery boy!”

“Mystery solved! I knew we’d be able to figure this out!” Rae called triumphantly before shifting her attention to her mat that seemed to be engrossed in whatever she was currently doing on her phone.

“Dear lord, Rae…I’m looking through our mystery boy’s profile and he’s great…there’s a lot of cool sunset and photography-type posts, but the few selfies and band promos where you can see him…wow,” Izzie replied looking away from her phone only for a brief moment to make sure that Rae was still paying attention before continuing, “it’s a shame all you can see of him in our group photo are his fingers because he is proper fit!”

“Oh is he, now? I thought you had a thing for a certain lead singer of Kings and Queens, Izz…”

“I do still like Chop…he’s quirky…but this lad? Holy shit, Rae, he’s perfect for you!” Izzie replied giving Rae a suggestive smirk and eyebrow raise.

“Uh huh…well, I guess I’m just going to have to take your word for it, Izzie!”

***

It had been nearly a month since Rae had first agreed to accompany Izzie to a concert in the city in which four bands she had never heard of were performing at a local bar, but in that time, Rae’s interest in the bands that they had seen had only continued to grow.

Upon Izzie’s insistence, Rae had even borrowed the Kings and Queens CD Izzie had purchased after the show and Rae spent a week listening to the album end-to-end. By the time she returned the CD to her mate, she had familiarized herself with most of the songs and had chosen her favorites.

“So Izzie, how have you been as of late? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!” Rae playfully whined during one of her weekly Thursday lunch dates with Izzie when they both happened to have a break in their schedules to hang out for a few hours.

“It’s only been about a week and a half since I last saw you, Rae! Remember when we had the movie night at your apartment and you returned my Kings and Queens CD to me that you had borrowed?” Izzie replied as she lifted the sandwich she had ordered from her plate and took a large bite.

“Has it really been that long?” Rae replied with a chuckle as she used her fork to stab a cherry tomato from her salad and brought it to her mouth.

“Oh, that reminds me! Did you see that Kings and Queens announced that they’re playing a show at the same bar we saw them last time in a couple weeks?”

“No, I didn’t see that! Where did you find that out? I’m pretty sure I’d remember if they had posted something on the band page…”

“Do you not follow all the individual band members as well as the main band account?”

“No, I just follow the band’s page, I think…”

“Ah, well that explains it then! I think Archie might have posted it? I’m pretty sure he mentioned that they have discounted tickets for sale too if we don’t want to pay the fees for buying the tickets online or wait to get them on the day of the show. I think we just have to let them know how many tickets we want and they’ll deliver the tickets directly to us!”

“Oh wow, that’s perfect! Do you know what day the show is? If we’re both free we should definitely go see them play again!”

“I don’t know the exact date, but I can check…So you don’t even follow Finn’s account, Rae? Why the hell not, babe?”

“Because, Izzie! I’m not going to be one of those girls that thirst follow band members and try to be a groupie at every single show! He’s just a normal person, even if he is as perfect looking as you seem to think he is!”

“Well, I suppose…wait a second…have you still not seen what he looks like yet?”

“Erm…no, I guess I haven’t…well not specifically, at least. Every time you tell me that I should check out his profile, I forget or get distracted and I’ve never gotten around to it, I guess…”

“Well then, love…prepare to be blessed by the beautiful specimen of a man that is Finn Nelson, lead guitarist of the band Kings and Queens…” Izzie said without removing her eyes from her phone as she typed and clicked rapidly before passing Rae her cellphone as if it was a sacred object that must be handled with extreme care.

“Holy fuck…”

 “I know, right?”

 He looks so familiar…wait a second, is that—no, it couldn’t possibly be the guy that I stumbled into before the show…could it?

“So Rae…was I right or was I right? Finn is basically a god, don’t you think?”

“Yeah…he’s definitely, uh, well…I think I know him…”

“Holy shit, really? How?”

“Well, I don’t know-know him…do you remember how when we were standing outside the bar before the concert I told you that I ran into a guy and I dropped my phone…well this is the guy I bumped into…I just don’t know how I never made that connection!”

“That’s so crazy! What a weird coincidence though…”

“No kidding! Well, I have an Abnormal Psychology class to get to right now, but it was really nice meeting you for lunch today! I’ll check when Kings and Queens are performing and maybe we can reach out to them for a pair of discounted tickets?”

“Yeah, for sure! Just let me know if you think you’ll be free and we can work out all the details.”

***

By the time Rae walked into her apartment after a busy day of classes and studying for the finals she had coming up in all her Uni courses, the sun was already mostly set and the sky was streaked with the final remnants of pinks and oranges in a mostly blue and purple backdrop.

She immediately changed into an oversized t-shirt and a pair of patterned lounge pants before sitting down at the desk in the far corner of her bedroom and powering on her laptop.

Okay, let’s take a look to see when this upcoming Kings and Queens concert is gonna be…

Rae pulled up the band’s social media profile and saw a post that was only a few hours old with a picture of the promotional poster for this particular show.

Rae: Hiya Izz! I just checked the date for the K&Q show and I’m free if you still wanna go! It’s two Fridays from now…the Friday of exam week, I think?

Izzie: YES I STILL WANT TO GO! I have a final exam that morning, but I’ll definitely be free that evening.

 Rae: Great! I’ll go ahead and let them know that we want tickets so we can get the discounted price for the tickets, yeah?

 Izzie: Perfect! That sounds good to me, just let me know how much I owe you for my ticket, yeah?

 Rae: Will do!

 Rae set her phone back down on her desk beside her laptop and went back to reading the post in which the Kings and Queens band page had announced that they were playing the show and were selling a limited number of tickets at the lowest possible prices.

 Rae was debating between commenting on the post about needing tickets or sending them a private message before ultimately deciding to ask them about the tickets privately.

Hello there! I saw your post about the show you are playing at the end of the month and I saw that you have a limited number of tickets available for purchase at reduced prices. I’m interested in purchasing a pair, please…

@eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @lurkernolonger @milllott @nutinanutshell @i-dream-of-emus @milymargot @vivammfd @bitchesbecrazy89 @arathewallflower @mallyallyandra​ @kneekeyta

A/N: Poor Finn :( First Rae brushes him off when he’s trying to be friendly and now we find out that he was “accidentally” cut out of the frame for the photo that they took after the first show. All I can say is you really have to be careful who you ask to take pictures for you using your phone at concerts because you never know what you’re gonna get…

So I don’t know about you guys, but I’m really enjoying what I’m dong with switching POV between what’s going on with Rae and what’s happening with Finn. I’m also making a point to have the timelines match us as much as possible from one POV to another with no overlap, so fingers crossed that I don’t end up fucking this up or making the story too hard to follow lol…

Also, how cool is it that their band is willing to sell discounted tickets to fans and deliver them to the people wanting the tickets. I know a number of people that are in local and mid-level bands where I live and this is something that they commonly do when the bands playing are lesser known or when there hasn’t been enough time for the concert to really be promoted in order to have a full crowd, so a lot of local bands will try to entice friends/family/previous fans that have seen them by offering to give them discounted tickets. I’m not sure if this is a common practice in other places too, but I think it’s pretty cool.

Writing this story is making me really miss all the concerts in sketchy bars and small venues I went to with my best friend at the time when I was 15/16/17 years old…ah, the memories *looks wistfully into the distance*

This entire thing has been super scatter-brained and confusing, but this is me we’re talking about, so what did you all really expect? Hahaha…I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the next one should be coming very soon as well…I’m still trying to decide exactly when, but I can assure you that it will be relatively soon. Stay awesome, my friends!

[geek-gem]

OK KO Parents Day and We Got Hacked

3:54 pm so I just watched the episodes. Also by mistake when I was washing my mouth because I sneezed earlier despite using water I heard won't work but anyway. I saw the show started earlier at 3:25 it said and I watched it at 3:27. I only missed some of the beginning yet it started with KO and his mom in the car and the title pops up.

Including today saw their were some pictures some leaked ones but I didn't wanna look at them despite some by mistake. Mainly from a guy I follow on here who I mentioned in my talk about Michael Bay and Dora movie shit. That's another topic that's weird.

So honestly I seriously enjoyed both episodes and will talk about them both. Yet I feel I won't be as detailed. Basically because my nose is well runny. Even I feel just....I don't know my hearing isn't bad but still.

But I'll talk about, "Parents Day" first and I seriously enjoyed it quite a lot. Including weeks ago I tried to not look at spoilers because I wanted to wait and support the show when it's on the air mainly.

Yet again I liked it a lot. But gonna talk about some stuff. So not really a Halloween episode yet KO like in the promos thinks Enid is trick or treating without him or Rad. But it's just a pretty narly episode with just all that spooky stuff it can still be enjoyed.

So basically the story is on a Parents Day the plaza has surprised Mr. Gar does that cool, KO is excited about this. Yet not Rad since he doesn't like it that his parents embarrass him. I remember seeing I think Rad's dad on a picture of a video on here but I didn't wanna see it to avoid spoilers. Yet of all the three's parents Enid's parents aren't there and she says their a clan of ninjas and decide to leave.

So wanting to find out KO and Rad want to know. Also this joke about Enid likes purple despite it's not a big deal but KO does. Yet they realize that Enid lied about her family. She lives in a haunted house and dresses up as a witch. With KO thinking she's trick or treating without them. I'm surprised Rad didn't make a joke or mention it's not Halloween yet or some shit. Kind of nice despite how weird the world is they still have holidays cool.

Including I was thinking after the episode I'm surprised I haven't cherished the concept and going all out despite I like this holiday where I feel I could be myself some sort of freak. Yet I'm just going by my days normally.

So as they discover and being found by Enid's mom. Including they find out her mom is a vampire and her dad is a werewolf. Also yeah I'm kind of explaining the episode. Let me say this and almost left turns out. But seriously Enid's parents are awesome. Including just how they are. Along with the episode being funny. They just seem so cool. Along with being supportive.

But turns out Enid is embarrassed of her parents and wants to be a ninja. Yet because of conflict with these two ghosts who live with them and possess Rad and KO stuff goes crazy but it's because of Enid's ninja skills and powers or stuff that helps end the problem. With Enid's mom sucking the ghosts right out of the guys and Enid's dad having to make sure she spits out the ghosts.

Because of that Enid's parents don't mind her being into that ninja stuff. Including just seriously it's very nice and cute. Then also Enid wants them to come to the next Parents Day which means she's alright with her parents now.

Also this interaction and development was gonna say I suppose but between Rad and Enid. Because they could relate to parents being embarrassing..... honestly I seem very different from others. Mainly not being embarrassed of my parents yet I can see it might be a problem for some people....I forgot if it was embarrassed. I'm just thinking her parents are so cool. Because of all that spooky stuff and other things.

Honestly I liked the episode. It's probably my favorite of the two being shown today. Including now finally seeing the episode I've tried to avoid spoilers for and waited for. It was seriously funny too including I guess when Rad was just seriously reacting to the concept of Enid's parents and other stuff. Including Enid's reactions just a lot of stuff was silly and funny.

But also glad I tried to avoid spoilers. I remember reading the guide of the episode on TV because I forgot last night and went to bed early by mistake the episode being called, "Parents Day" which I thought referred to Enid's parents but didn't think of a actual parents day yet I remember that video I decided not to watch.

Including I was surprised it wasn't like a Halloween episode featuring the holiday in the episode. Because it was promoted like that. I was excited yet it was different. But it was a lot of fun and loved the episode.

Random shit you guys might find funny but personal stuff. But isn't Enid pretty in a witches outfit. Even before the episode a bit yet seeing it more and in motion I like it. Even after wards when she wasn't dressed as a witch anymore. Personal opinions just saying.....she's cute well thought pretty is actually the word I wanna use mostly to be simple.

Now let's talk about, "We Got Hacked" and this in a way kind of teaches something and glad even before this I don't do this. DO NOT CLICK POP UPS including these weird ones I question are they doing that because of possible popularity, pop culture, and other shit.

So KO tries to use some sort of power mop but it messes up the plaza and he asks Dendy to come over. Okay just yawned yet just mentioning first after and funny scene Dendy basically saying, referencing, and revealing Mr. Gar's, Rad's, and Enid's personal problems and weaknesses yawned some time a bit ago. She tries to fix the mop. Yet KO presses a pop up despite Dendy clearly warning him and it being a virus. Along with it being silly mentioning it to trick old people.

But this virus is different, it's affecting costumers, and making them glitching basically scary looking when you think about it. Even before the episode aired. Almost left even again but this episode I tried my best to avoid spoilers too.

Also what was the case with Rad having his okay a friend of mine sent a photo. But what was with Rad getting his legs and arms broken. I thought it was a cramp however it's spelt. Yet seriously it was weird. I'm guessing it was being a parody of probably the idea when a group of survivors try to escape someone gets injured probably.

Also the joke of Rad his face going against the door lol and his face is still seen ha.

Honestly theirs this thing where KO tries to not admit he's the one who clicked the pop up screen. The episode tries to make some what a big deal out of this. Yet it ends with KO admitting it and to reboot the glitches. Yet Dendy just tells him that it was him who doomed the world and I suppose she said he should of not done that. Weird for some stupid reason was expecting this conclusion if KO admits it was his fault then the glitches away just to test him......ha I was being stupid lol.

Yet the reboot idea gives Dendy well the help stop the problem. But the hack pack is at the front of the plaza. So thinking this is the end KO thinks of this idea instead of becoming glitches the last thing they see being the glitches themselves. He wants it to be a friendly face they know and it's a adorable moment. But then they realized and Dendy says their is so many glitches their becoming slow. Even just in time when KO grabs Dendy to get the hack pack and Rad moves his arms seconds later.

Despite a dramatic well some what of a ending. Making it seem like KO is the only one who can do this it shows and I wondered too that Dendy shows up. Or just I mean this idea Dendy being that's not how you press those.

So they reboot the system and all of a sudden Mr. Gar returns. Seriously I was wondering where was he at. Honestly during episodes where the plaza or anything else is in danger in certain episodes he doesn't appear. I keep thinking if he does then he just fixes everything. Yet he could of been infected too. But the glitches could fuck up his powers and even did that for the others I hope so lol ha the appearance of a glitchy Mr. Gar ha.

Yet the ending also has this funny scene because of being touched by glitches before they we're rebooted just...ha that word lol. Because of that KO's face is glitchy and so fucked up. I was expecting a normal pixelated face but seeing it I remember I saw that image before the final shot with all of the characters. Yet seriously that part was funny and everyone's reactions. Then Mr. Gar mentions that Dendy might be able to fix it. Which ha would be reasonable because this show actually does have continuity smiled a few times okay being weird even my nose too.

But honestly I enjoyed both episode. I should see them again which means I will and helps ratings smiled a bit including need to see that first part of, "Parents Day" and just seriously it's not that bad. But my nose and I'm not really sick. I just don't feel like myself. Despite I left early for lunch even if I waited for a bus despite I could walk it was for personal reasons. Such as ticks and shit.

Seriously both episodes were very nice liked them. Wonder what the next episode or two episodes are. Got tags done and missed clicking the 2nd tag but honestly again wanna say seriously again good episodes 4:44 pm I just have Ridiculousness on on mtv1 yeah that channel looked up to right. I'm in my chair sorry.

Yet okay....meh I'm waiting for the time. But I again just me saying stuff over. Okay now is the time good episodes 4:45

Edit 6:32 it just turned to that it was 31 just the show is on ha I fixed witch to vampire because I fucked up seriously lol I even made a new post lol edit same time and ticks last time but my memory sucks ass just smiled a bit. Oh my nose but seriously my memory sucks 6:33 edit same time just why now 6:34

[bakagamieru]

Gami I've been going through your Harry tag for about an hour now and though I love all the Dunkirk stuff, I still don't know what you thought of the movie and Harry's performance! I probably missed it so I'll just ask again;) I thought it was a great film and I'm honestly impressed with Harry. He has a much bigger role than I expected! In terms of spoken lines he practically tops the chart. So proud of our boy haha!^^

I don’t think I said anything because I was writing a super-long, complex review about the structure and techniques of Dunkirk and how they apply to the theme. I haven’t actually finished that yet.

I loved Dunkirk 100%.  I think it was brilliantly written, directed, produced, filmed, edited, and acted.  This is sort of a jerky thing to say, but I honestly think the few people complaining about Dunkirk only don’t like it because they utterly missed the point.  You can’t go into Dunkirk measuring it by the patterns and tropes of every other war movie because it’s not cut from the same cloth.  It wasn’t supposed to be from the start.

Harry fits right in with the rest of the cast and in an ensemble movie like Dunkirk, that’s really the absolute best he could do.  Dunkirk may well get some Oscar nominations, but it’s very likely they won’t get any acting ones except for Mark Rylance as supporting actor maybe.  It’s not that the acting was bad, but that the movie isn’t focused on individual characters in the same way most movies are.  

The fact that Harry fits in and plays his part as well as anyone else does is very good.  The movie is all about immersion, so if anything were to take you out of it like bad acting, that would be a failure.

This doesn’t really clinch Harry’s acting ability for outsiders because they’ll be saying something like “but can he carry more weight in a role outside of a non-character-focused ensemble”.  However, because I’ve already seen Harry be hammy and I’ve already seen him be charming as hell, the only thing I didn’t know was if he could be serious and if he could be subtle. It turns out he can do both, so I think he could take on absolutely any role given some time and experience.  It would be a crime if we never got to see him in a rom-com though.

It’s true that Harry has quite a few of the lines in the movie and most of the really memorable ones.  I’ve only seen the movie once so far, so now that I know everything that happens with his character, I want to go back and watch it again to see it from a new perspective.

I find it funny that Harry’s narrative is that he just fell into acting because he likes Chris Nolan.  Like… what singer with no real professional acting experience up and decides to audition for a movie like Christopher Nolan’s just because he likes the movies that director makes even though he doesn’t have any particular desire to act otherwise?  It doesn’t really make sense.  Also, if you think about it, what they’re saying is that the first and only audition he ever did (because he’s not interested in acting apparently, just in Christopher Nolan’s movies), he beat out thousands of people to win the role.  That’s pretty insane the way they’re framing it.

To be clear, I do think he won his audition fair and square, but I don’t think he went into this without the intent to break into acting.  I would wager he auditioned for more than just Dunkirk.  I think he was looking for the right project.  He definitely got acting lessons considering his marked improvement between the Steal My Girl music video and the Between Us perfume ad.

He’s being coy about whether he’ll continue acting, just like he was coy about his plans for the break during the end of OTRA interviews.  At the time I could tell that he was purposefully avoiding talking about / hiding something he had planned.  Right now, I swear he’s doing the same.  I don’t know that he has anything else lined up, but I definitely think he intends to continue acting in the future.  He’s just not saying it right now.

Overall, the image being projected is that he takes acting seriously when he does it, but that he’s not trying too hard to become a “famous” or “respected” actor.  This reminds me of the fact that Louis, Liam, and Niall have all claimed that they didn’t intend to have solo careers at all and just fell into it.  I might buy it from one of them, but not the same basic story from all 3.  

There are various strategic reasons they might be playing their narratives this way, but I couldn’t say exactly why with any certainty.  For Harry, they could be trying to avoid too much pressure and too many expectations.  They could also be trying to keep the focus on Dunkirk rather than making Harry too big of a spectacle (as much as they reasonably can).  

Niall’s image is very laidback, so not pushing too hard for a career fits that image.  Louis’ been assigned the underdog image, so not intending to go solo fits with his image as well.  The reason for Liam’s narrative stumps me a little more, but I’m sure there’s something I’m missing.  Then again, there might be a larger group reason that all of them are spouting the same lines.

I digress ;P  My point was that Harry did quite well and that I expect we’ll be seeing more of him acting in the future no matter what he’s saying during promo.

[one-soul-two-brothers]

one-soul-two-brothers’ ultimate fic recs: j2 non au edition (part III)

why I chose these: J2 non au are my absolute favorite fics to read Happy endings are a requirement A fic doesn’t have to have sex to be good (but it doesn’t hurt) They have all been thoroughly vetted (aka I’ve read them all at least twice, and will definitely be reading them all again)

ENJOY!

best ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP

title: Second Chances rating: explicit word count: 6800 summary: Jared and Jensen have a ‘friends with benefits‘ relationship the whole time up until they marry the girls. They try to stop; really they do. excerpt: Jared hates gossip, he really does. It’s part of the whole acting thing - the need to keep his life - and the lives of the people he loves - private. Jared bites his lip to keep from telling her that this isn’t their business, that’s it’s between Jensen and Danneel. Which isn’t entirely true. Jensen is having an affair. Granted, he didn’t know that his friend hadn’t had sex with his own wife in damn-near three months. And he refuses to acknowledge the warmth that spreads through his stomach and heart at the thought that it might be because of him. Unless, Jensen’s sleeping with someone else as well. Huh. So apparently jealously is another emotion that he needs to learn to ignore. anna’s notes: It takes Jared and Jensen having to break up their friends-with-benefits relationship to get married (to other people) to realize that maybe it was always more than just friends with benefits. Even with the infidelity storyline, this fic is sweet and heartwarming.

title: The Death of Jensen Ackles rating: explicit word count: 10k summary: Jensen and Jared are friends with benefits until something happens that changes everything. anna’s notes: Okay obviously Jensen does not die, just want to get that out there. Jensen is allergic to kiwi and Jared finds out the hard way, then proceeds to be cute and funny while freaking the fuck out (even though Jensen is fine) and it forces them to face their true feelings. Actually a very sweet fic with hardly any angst.

title: Black Ice rating: explicit word count: 7400 summary: Jared returned from a promo trip, Jensen wanted to pick him up. But he didn't throw the weather into the equation... anna’s notes: This has a little bit of everything: hurt!Jensen, mild angst, a very adorably concerned Jared, and some humor (Jensen passes out after sex and it’s kind of funny how Jared reacts). This is definitely one of the more canon non-aus, and it was written in 2016 so I like to assume it takes place during one of the later seasons (not that it really affects the story or anything).

best SELF HARM / ED / ETC

title: In a Mirror Distorted and Indistinct rating: mature word count: 38k summary: They keep calling him beautiful. Pretty. “Come on. Look this way. Give us a smile, Jensen.” He smiles and blinks against the flashes, fighting the urge to lower his eyes, to hide the blush burning under layers of makeup. Sweat runs down his back, his hands tremble. He’s not pretty, not beautiful. He’s small and weak and pathetic and one day they’re all gonna figure it out. One day… anna’s notes: Okay I put off reading this for the longest time because I did not really like the summary. Which annoys me because it immediately became one of my favorites. I mean, I love this one, it’s kind of sad but I read it every few days, especially after I’ve read a not-so-good fic. Anyways, here’s a different summary: Jensen develops an eating disorder after an accident when he was 14. Moving to LA and trying to make it in the entertainment industry doesn’t help. Then he lands a role on Supernatural, and meets Jared, and kind of falls in love with Jared, and everything eventually comes spilling out. (Also, the writing style is a more standard than the author’s summary makes it out to be.) (There are also two timestamps.) Basically if you haven’t read this yet, go do it right now.

title: Intervention rating: explicit word count: 46k summary: It takes an accident for everyone to become aware of exactly how serious Jensen’s problem has become. But how can Jared and the Ackles family help when Jensen is so in denial? The only way they know how. author’s notes: This story is slightly AU in that it is set at the end of filming for Season 6. J/G have been married for one year, J/D are coming up on their one year. It also suggests that at one time, Jared and Jensen had been together in a relationship, but broke up due to PR pressures and other outside influences. anna’s notes: This story is sweet and moderately angsty and not too heartbreaking, and it’s well-written, the characterization is great, and the ending is really satisfying. Just a warning (for those who care, I don’t one way or another), it does not paint either D or G in a positive light. At all. If you want a long, solid fic with good storyline and a happy ending, this is for you.

best HUMOR / CRACK

title: Assumption Is the Mother of All Fuckups rating: explicit word count: 19k summary: Jared couldn’t resist playing a practical joke on Jensen. He just wasn’t prepared for the consequences. This is about how he saw an opportunity and ran with it hoping to pull off the ultimate practical joke and beat Jensen once and for all and how it didn’t quite turn out like he had planned. It is a story about why Jared decided to stop playing jokes on Jensen and instead joined him with playing jokes on everyone else. anna’s notes: I. Cannot. Explain. To. You. How. Fucking. Hilarious. This. Is. I’ve read it twice in like three days, I just...it’s so good. And yes, it’s crack in a sense that it’s ridiculous and probably would never happen, but the kicker is that I could almost actually see this happening. I mean, that would be amazing if it did. Everyone is written slightly OOC because it is crack, but it’s done in a way that honestly just makes it that much better. Just, please go read this, and be prepared to laugh out loud for like three hours straight. (It’s especially amazing if you read it at 4 in the morning while slightly sleep-deprived, like I did the first time.) Also, there’s a sequel which I haven’t finished yet so I can’t vouch for it, but I’ll link it here anyways (and edit this once I do finish it): Two Wrongs Make It...Right?

title: Two Times Jared rating: explicit word count: 25k summary: There aren't many things that make him lose his poise. He's not one of those guys that regularly freaks out, when their favorite NBA team gets knocked out of an important competition or make that NFL or MLB, pick whatever you want. No, most of the time Jared Padalecki is a pretty laid-back guy. Right, so maybe he did freak out when his Dad almost caught him making out with this girl from High School in their backyard when Jared was 16 because the family was home from church early all the while Jared was supposed to lie in bed, being "sick", but that's an entirely different story. What really freaked him out, though, was when Jared met his "gay" self. Well, his other self that was more than a little gay for his best friend. It happened something like this… anna’s notes: Jared meets a physical manifestation of his inner (gay, apparently) consciousness who is there to help him realize his deepest desire...which just so happens to be Jensen Ackles.

best PORN WITH PLOT

title: The Ultimate Gay Test, or Whether or Not to Lick Jensen Ackles & The Ultimate Gay Test 2, or the Padalecki Plan of Penetration rating: mature & explicit word count: 5600 & 21k summary: It's not as if Jared's gay. He thinks. It's just that Jensen's so goddamn pretty; Ok, so there's been kissing and... other stuff. But if Jared's gonna go gay he's going all the way, baby. Now how to get Jensen's dick in his ass... anna’s notes: First Jared has to figure out if he likes Jensen; then there’s lots of porn with some actually kind of heartbreaking plot in between, because Jensen is scared of getting hurt and is scared of hurting Jared because of something that happened in his own past, and it ends up being about way more than just sex.

For all my other ultimate fic recs (j2 non-au and wincest), go here.

[ificouldflytotheclouds]

Ranking 5 Seconds of Summer by Album - Sounds Good Feels Good (Deluxe Edition)

Long story short, when this album first came out I was pressured by my friend not to listen or buy it. I download the 'She's Kinda Hot Extended Play.' Besides SKH I really enjoyed the songs.  At one point or another, I tried to listen to the album but could not get past the first three songs; If only I had known the shell was hiding a gem. 

Present day: I keep thinking that the content of the album would've been good for me, but maybe not. Around the time the album came out I was emerging from my state of being depressed. I was trying to figure out my own life again and One Direction's last album was distracting enough.

 I listened to the album in its entirety and fell in love with Sounds Good Feels Good this year. While I was late on the game, I believe this album knocked on my door at a time I was welcome to let it in and hear what it had to say.  I started listening to SGFG in February. I remember being more excited to go to the gym because I could zone out and listen to this beautiful masterpiece.  I can't pinpoint the date I started listening to the album, but I believe it was before Want You Back came out because it helped me see that they were coming out with a new song. But I could also be mixing that up, but I do remember seeing promo for the song and merch before the song dropped. Anyways onto my review (tl;dr: I haven't had as much time with the majority of these songs compared to other fans so the songs ranking and meaning may still shift but honestly that is the case for any album there are songs you can’t relate to at one time but may years down the line).

I love this album, deciding on an order will be difficult, and for that reason, I will be listening to this album on shuffle.

Hey Everybody!

This is one of the first three songs that I just was not impressed with upon first listen. Now I have heard it enough, I jam to this song, not my fav, but I’m not mad at it. 

If you are not listening, this song sounds like money, and I may or may not confuse it with money because they talk a lot about money lol. 

I can really relate to this song at the moment because I just graduated college. It is important to me that I pay off my loans as soon as possible and for that reason, I am taking a gap year before I go to do my masters to help reduce the financial burden. The issue is I currently do not have a job. I did a temp job the week after graduation, so I’ve only had one week not working, which I am actually very grateful to have gotten the opportunity to do because there are not many times in one's life where they are able to do so. Worse comes to worse I’ll go back to my old job but I want to look for other things first. One of the reasons I didn’t go back to my old job is because I wasn’t feeling fulfilled, I have been with this organization for 5 years, and I think I need to change it up. At the same time I know sometimes a job just needs to be a job. While I am hoping to earn money before I go back to school I am also making sure to focus on me and letting myself live. I am so excited for the 5sos concert this fall, I have a Harry concert in less than a month, and I am traveling to Chicago with my friend to see Niall on the 3 year anniversary of seeing 1d in concert for the first time. Additionally, I am hoping to go vegan and spend my free time doing things that I love such as singing, writing, doing yoga… things that I didn’t give myself enough time to do during college. 

Ranking: 1 of 1

Permanent Vacation

Sonically I am so in love with this album. WOw. This song has so many meanings (not that this post was supposed to be me analyzing the lyrics). This is 5sos. They didn’t go the typical route and now they’re on a permanent vacation. I can relate to the prechorus when you just don’t have any motivation for anything and it gets really frustrating, I can relate this to bad mental health days (in which I literally went on a vacation to 2 other countries  and I came back and I remember being so happy and content in my daily living, a feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time) but also I’ve jammed to this while doing homework, I was so over it. They have us in the system, go to school, go to some more, get a job cubical job, it’s a cycle, but I don’t want that to be my life. I want it to be something more. And I feel like that’s what the songs about. 

Ranking: 1 of 2 over Hey Everybody!

Fly Away

I always forget how hard this song goes because the chorus is softer than the verse. Just based on these three songs you can tell how the album ties away, going away from the normal, living your life to it’s fullest and not wasting your time mulling over things you don’t find fulfilling. This is a reminder that you can create your own future. It’s all up to you. 

When I think of SGFG this song doesn’t stick out to me. I think money and hey everybody makes a bigger punch. With that said...

Ranking: 2 of 3 over Hey Everybody!

Airplanes

Michael Michael. He is so underappreciated. I love all of their voices and I hope Ash gets more solos/parts in Youngblood. I feel like people don’t talk about Michael’s singing enough. Have you listened to live performances when he killed the harmonies? Focusing on when he leads: I  think his voice is sooo important to bringing together 5sos’ sound especially when it comes to new broken scene. This song is so adorable, someone coming into your life and suddenly your life has meaning. They way that they describe their life, suddenly bursting to colors. But it’s not that straightforward, the individual isn’t getting better for the new person in their life, this person brings the light, the purpose of the individual doing things for themselves.

The second verse kills me emotionally because this is many of us when we struggle with xyz, our ego gets in the way, we think we can deal with it ourselves, but at one point or another, we recognize that it is larger than ourselves and we think we should’ve sought help. But the thing is, it’s never too late to get help. Even when you’ve found someone who brings neon lights to your life, getting a little extra help from someone never hurt anybody.

Lyrically I like this song better than permanent vacation but permanent vacation is such a bop.

Ranking:  2 of 4 over Fly Away

Broken Home

This song is. So. Good. It’s heartbreaking. While I am adopted and have had some rough times at home I can’t say I can relate to the chorus. This song makes me cry none the less and I can’t imagine how much this song must mean to those who have or are currently dealing with divorce or something similar.  My heart breaks for you, my heart breaks for your family. While a dream may be lost hopefully the individuals who once made a couple can find their own happiness and be treated the way that they deserve (not saying that one person is intentionally hurting another, but even neglect, intentional or not isn’t giving the other partner what they may need). Sending you all the love. 

Ranking: 1 of 5 over Permanent Vacation

Invisible 

This song is so pretty and it’s a song totally up my alley. But when it comes to ranking I know it’s going to be towards the bottom. It’s not a standout song, sonically or lyrically. For me personally, I think that this has to do with life stages, it’s not to say that I don’t have times that I feel invisible at 22, but I think this relates to my time in middle school and high school where was forming my identity. It’s funny going through time and going through friends because sometimes you feel like you aren’t understood, you blend into the background. When you find your people when you truly find your people you burst into light similar to airplanes. That’s not to say that with amazing people surrounding you that you don’t feel invisible, misunderstood....

I don’t know. I find this song difficult to relate to when I don’t currently feel this way. And the times of feeling invisible don’t stand out, in my life as much as it may for other, such that my state of being depressed was persistent for around 2 years. (This song can easily relate to depression/states of being depressed, but I don’t personally feel the connection)

I don’t question that this and the last song are things that 5sos has dealt with but these are also songs that are specifically dedicated to the fans.

Ranking: 5 of 6 over Hey Everybody!

Jet Black Heart

This is 5sos’ anthem. This. Song. Is. Everything. While the last song I couldn’t relate to my own state of being depressed (I say this rather than depression because I was not clinically diagnosed but it was the emotional state of being depressed). There are no words. I want to scream these words on a rooftop for everyone to hear. This song is so vulnerable, which they do an excellent job of conveying in the music video, and just them as artists. We don’t need to know their life stories, but they have given us a glimpse at some of the most difficult things that they have had to deal with in their life. 

‘As we burst into color, returning to life’ recently is one of my favorite line because I can relate it from going to dark days to living in a consistent state of grey to having a period in my life where I found AMAZING people and I was So. So. SO. happy every single day. 

Ranking: 1 of 7 over Broken Home

San Francisco

Aka the cutest song ever. This is happiness in a song. It is a sand out because it’s lightness and emotional state. “We don’t gotta say anything, don’t say anything at all” sums up the song. It’s about those magical moments that you don’t want to end and you want to last forever.

This is when the ranking is going to get difficult bc broken home was my number one at one point, it no longer is, but that just shows how amazing this album is.

Ranking: 2 of 8 over Broken Home

Waste the Night

I have less and less to say about my favs because I have no words. Also because this song doesn’t have too many lyrics, it’s fairly straightforward, it’s the music that tells the story in this song.

This is one of those songs that makes you so emo in concert because youre standing there living your best life feeling love all around you. (Also when I went to the concert I should’ve been writing in a paper due the next day, ended up turning it a day late. I think it would’ve been crap even if I didn’t go to the concert bc I would've been distracted by the fact that it was going on, it’s not till the next day did inspiration and motivation hit me. I got lucky got a very small reduction and an A in the class) 

Ranking: 1 of 9 over Jet Black Heart

Money

So this is the song I had to jump over to properly enjoy this album but this is a BOP. I was so turned off on my first listen it took a while to appreciate the song. Hey Everybody! makes me think of Money but whenever I listen to money it stands out on its own. It another one of those lets fall in love and run away from this town songs. It’s surprisingly cute. 

Ranking: 7 of 10 over fly away (this might win over airplanes but I’m going to let it fly)

Outerspace/Carry On

I can’t separate this beauty. 

ugh. The feels. They hit hard. This is...a masterpiece and will be on the top of 5sos accolades. “Nothing like the rain when youre in outerspace.” I have no words. And then Carry On ending the album I want to cry. It’s like life can beat you up, you’ll go all over the place, but all you need to know is it’ll get better. 

I feel like this song transcends everything else on the album, but at the same time it’s not my #1 you feel? 

ugh now I’m questioning all of my rankings should jet black heart go bf san fran and outer space after jet black heart?? I think I am going to go with

Ranking: 2 of 11 over San Fransisco.

Catch Fire 

A certified BOP. This makes me think of the line in JBH (but from a bright and beautiful viewpoint). I love when an artist makes references to their others songs within songs. The big thing while listening to Catch Fire is, will it rank above or below castaway bc those are both WOWWOW.

Ranking 6 of 12 over Permanent Vacation

Castaway

This song goes hard it’s so goood. But I’m feeling 

right now. So catch fire wins over castaway. Ugh this is the point where the ranking gets hard.

Ranking: 7 of 13 over Permanent Vacation

The Girl Who Cried Wolf

This and saftey pin are second tier songs to me. Like you have top songs that you will die over, second tier is your good, your amazing, but I wouldn’tdie over you. It could be because I’ve been with these two songs longer than other songs on the album. For both songs, the chorus is the best. This is a good song to cry to in the rain (it’s an experience) while walking down an empty street. 

Ranking: 8 of 14 over Permanent Vacation

She’s Kinda Hot

I was not a huge fan of this song when it first came out, I viewed it as a bit sexist and just ehh. Over time I realized I was missing the point. Especially by the end of the song, it feels like a different song. There is a reason why they chose this song as their lead single, they were introducing the new broken scene. The title is a bit misleading but I also think that brings a different intrigue to the song. The message of the song empowering...

Ranking: 8 of 15 over The Girl Who Cried Wolf

Saftey Pin

The bridge of this song is everything. I don’t have much to say about the song. It’s solid. This is another one of those songs where you are like this. this. is a 5sos song. Michael said the new album would still have the feeling of running away and being free in the new album and I am excited to hear it on Friday. 

Ranking: 8 of 16 over She’s Kinda Hot 

Vapor

When we end with the best song. I could see some people seeing this song as nothing special as it is a song that is repeative. Also I do not promote vaping. Don’t do drugs boys and girls. This song is just so pretty and the repeative nature of the song feeds into the softness of the song. Contrasted with the more agressive singing in the chorus, showing how much this individual means to them. Or at least how they dream it to be. I feel like it’s a good compliment to Lie to Me. Vapor = falling for the girl before they’re together, even though she’s not into him.  Lie to Me =  Heart Break over a girl who destroyed him and he cant get her out of his body.

Ranking: 1 of 17 over Waste the Night

Sounds Good Feels Good Ranking 

Vapor 

Waste the Night

 Outerspace/Carry On

 San Fransico

Jet Black Heart

Broken Home

 Catch Fire

Castaway 

Saftey Pin 

She’s Kinda Hot

Girl Who Cried Wolf

Permanent Vacation

Airplanes

Money

Fly Away

Invisible

Hey Everybody

Album Review/Ranking Masterlist

[elizabethrobertajones]

12x11 watching notes

For once I think it's kind of obvious what my expectations are if you've been reading my blog... I also was spoiled last night after it aired that my favourite reoccurring guest star is in it, but on the other hand there's a ton of second hand embarrassment... I've just got back from yoga so let's try and be zen and enjoy it :P

-

Also it's not a plot episode so I can be a bit more chill and enjoy the MotW nonsense without writing 100 miles of meta. I hope

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Witches! (we already knew that, I'm just putting another note into "the only actual monster we've seen so far has been the one werewolf and one vampire Mary killed and everyone else has been a human, angel or demon this season" jar

I need a better label for that jar

Anyway from the looks of things this episode is all about a very human fear that just happens to be tripped by witchcraft and it would be a fucking waste not to milk it for 99% of the episode)

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Holy shit they used the "poor little guy" from 3x09 that always breaks my heart. Are they really churning up old Edlund stuff so much that the recap was 90% 3x09 and they decided to give Dean a bunny BECAUSE of his broken heart at the sight of the dead bunny in 3x09?

I really hope Edlund is watching this season and laughing like crazy

Anyway before the promo is even over, we have an interesting point of thought for the episode, and a comparison back to Dean revealing a weird vulnerability for no reason in the middle of a case. And more Edlund parallels than you can shake a stick at.

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Oh good the cold open is the witch who curses Dean... Definitely going to milk this for all it's worth. This is like fan fics where the first like 3 paragraphs are "and then they met a witch and it cursed them and then ran off or got killed" and all the rest is just whatever they actually wanted to write.

More Dean running around in woods (Purgatory callbacks), and mirroring a few episodes which started with the traditional cold open victim actually being the monster pursued by hunters.

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Dean waking up lying in the forest on the ground... He's done that a few times, in more dire circumstances I've seen paralleled together - 11x01 and 5x04. Interestingly I guess knocked out both times by a dark mirror to himself but who would never actually harm him. There's something peaceful about the way he has the bunny hanging out with him.

It makes him seem harmless too.

...

You know I could stop watching this show right here... I've seen 12x10 and now I've seen Dean Winchester calmly pick up a rabbit and call it "buddy" I mean... is there even anywhere to go from here?

But I've heard Kuma is in the episode so I shall press on

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Like, emotionally though, I think the show might be over for me :P

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The town is called "Eureka Springs" which is kind of funny, because of the double water association and of course the association to revelation and learning. We gonna get a  big scientific discovery about Dean outside of the now doubly confirmed fact that rabbits are his favourite animal?

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KUMA

Oh dang he's got a big part here... Do I gif all of it?

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I should probably backtrack because I was just reading myself writing about 2x20 for some reason this morning (I think I was looking for something else completely unrelated) and I stumbled on a little discussion about subverting it or, well, its obvious relevance now Mary is around. The woman with the stroller assumes Dean is homeless and tells him not to buy a drink when she gives him some cash, which I guess was a thing in that episode that everyone assumed Dean was a drunk. It's a tiny detail (I mean, he IS an alcoholic, although functioning better than usual and his drinking has got a lot better since he lost the Mark) but if we're peeling back Dean, I think an interesting little one to start with.

I mean, we've started with Purgatory!Dean, and Actual Fluffy Bunny Lover Dean, so... it's a bit wild.

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Dean remembers Sam's number.

Not where he is though.

Waffles! I'm with Dean here.

I too drop everything in a crisis when waffles are an option and someone's just paid me to leave them alone.

(Okay that's never happened - I'm delightful)

"What psycho doesn't love waffles" I mean come on even METATRON loved waffles, although they did not love him. Which is perhaps a more important sign of how dreadful he was :P

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Ah jeeze I really want waffles.

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Promo scene!

We have NO idea what Dean did the night before, so the thing with the girl is even more out of context... I wonder what it will end up being about? He looked like he was pretty busy hunting that witch last night. Events do not add up.

-

Sam has been convinced by Dean asking for painkillers that it's a hangover, and I think *Dean*, knowing himself, might think he just got blackout drunk somehow. The woman telling him not to buy a drink remains vaguely important, thematically...

-

Sam also is getting concerned, and makes a general life advice warning to Dean to stop drinking so much.

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Okay the girl who slapped Dean comes in, looks at him and goes "oh my god" and is ushered away by her friend - did THAT happen in the promo?

No, no it did not. Her response is given way more attention here - that was definitely edited out for the promo. Crafting the scene to look like something different. Huh. (I mean I know they've used different takes in promos, like in 10x01 using one which completely changed how much of a jerk Demon!Dean looked from the finished product... They do really manipulate these things.)

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I really like how we're dumped on this case like Dean is - we only have one advantage, that we're already aware he's cursed while he isn't. Aside from that, we seem to be discovering it like Dean is, like how Sam springs the idea we're going to the morgue next on us.

-

Also did Dean lick his knife more intently in the promo asking for a friend

-

Huh I don't think her interaction with him has changed very much - I'm pretty sure she did just say hi then slap him in the promo too. The way she stopped when she saw him though is very suspicious because she sounded so horrified to see him.

-

Oh no Sam and Dean are wearing nice coats with their suits. I guess there's gonna be a lot of gifs :P

-

Really pretty morgue technician with no lines. Honestly if she doesn't get killed off that will mean finally after a lousy streak, we make it through an episode without a black woman being killed.

-

Well the first thing to go is Dean's ability not to be squeamish and weird. There's definitely a text post out there making fun of Dean for spending a year in Purgatory covered in guts, but getting weird about using a public telephone. Well, whatever barrier Dean has up about guts is aaall gone.

Please don't puke, we've made it over a season without you puking on screen and we're doing so well.

-

Oh no is this where Dean crashes the car. He's disappearing fast :< I thought that might be later in the episode.

I suppose Sam has to realise eventually that something is wrong with Dean.

I can't believe Sam lets Dean drive when he's "plastered"... I mean he must drive over the legal limit basically all the time and Sam's used to it, but can we just... make this a "wear seatbelts" road safety episode? Please take that car away from him, Sam.

-

OH NO Sam takes this moment for honesty hour - "Makes me want to crawl into a bottle too" - when Sam is drinking we KNOW it because he so rarely does it as a coping mechanism. I am indescribably sad about him saying that he feels this way :(

I mean I just take it for granted that Dean feels like shit so it's easier to deal with that :P I've been worried about Sam all season and he gives so few clues it's basically a pictures on a board linked with red string scenario to deduce if he's happy or not >.>

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FINDING DORY REFERENCE

"Not going to apologise for loving that fish. Not to you, not to anyone." Dean has his barriers down and he does not care who knows he likes watching Disney movies. And the fact that it's probably Sam he's most prickly around when it comes to protecting that facade... Sam is, well, gonna learn a lot about Dean he feels like he probably didn't want to know :P

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Honestly, Dean is me trying to remember the names of common household appliances.

There's something really bitchy about the way Sam labels the light stick and then covers the rest of the room in post it notes, even though Dean hasn't forgotten what they all are yet.

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Rowena! :D Mostly because Dean doesn't want to bother Mom or Cas... I notice something there - Cas is someone who a few years ago they'd have absolutely bothered for some weird magical problem. Now Dean wants to keep EMOTIONALLY distant from them because they're his family and he doesn't want to worry them/them to see him like this/him to blurt anything he doesn't remember he isn't supposed to say... In this case the fact that Dean DOESN'T want to call Cas for help sure says a lot more about how much he likes him.

Anyway Rowena is a badass and I love how she gets into these weird scenarios. This one is much better than all the finding a rich husband and killing him malarky - fleecing rich dudes over rigged poker games is definitely more empowering :P

-

Okay yeah one of those post it notes says "Wall" - there is definitely a montage we missed of Sam being a hilarious bitch about it to Dean, and they're only phoning for help once it got kind of really not funny any more.

-

I wish we saw that

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Dean and his "ICE BUCKET" what a tragedy

-

"All these dumps look the same" Dude, don't be rude to Wanek. I'll assume this is because you can't REMEMBER them.

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Also the whole, living in a billion motels and until recently never having a place to call home thing - I was joking ages ago about Dean keeping a scrapbook about all the weird motels they went to or stealing mementos from them to remember the truly tacky ones... But the idea that almost all of them completely blur in his mind and he just doesn't notice or appreciate the differences...

-

I love using Dean's "the last thing I kinda sorta remember" to take us to the office. They mentioned Memento but honestly I'm still thinking "Dude where's my car" although I know Dabb hasn't watched that because he's deathly afraid of Emus, so it's possible Glynn had to sell the Memento angle despite having other things in mind.

Like Finding Dory

-

Dean steals a cigar (or two) - more implications that he smokes. I suppose when an angel heals you regularly or you were immortal for like a year and a half you kind of don't think of the consequences. I know some people don't really *smoke* smoke, but would have a good cigar if it came their way like this... I think Dean kind of has smoked in phases through the show, especially when he was younger, never mind all the implications he smokes weed, so... him stealing a few cigars is just more sneaky referencing this.

-

To the bar! Hey, waitress Dean got slapped by!

We have more stuff with the names and badges - Dean messing up getting his badge out in time because he forgets to do it, forgetting what their cover is... Basically, a little demonstration that he's forgetting their covers in general - HIS covers in general. The FBI identity is something I've written reams on so I won't go into it but yeah it's his Performing!Dean next layer up, and what he does with it can often tell us stuff about how he's acting with his more sturdy and thorough Performing!Dean layer underneath, before we get to fluffy bunny lover Dean who watches Finding Dory.

Anyway she calls him out for using ANOTHER name the night before, and he's like "sometimes we have to lie to protect our cover" which is the most Dean saying ever.

-

Oh hey and then as usual with the badge thing, a moment later we're slammed with something RIDICULOUS like, for example:

"And then you hit the bull." "What??" < both Winchesters "Oh yeah, you had the hots for Larry as soon as you walked in." "He - you... rode Larry?" *Dean shrugs like whatever* "Was I good?"

yeah so that's not a coded conversation that sounds SUPER FUCKING GAY out of context and considering the "hots for Larry" comment, doesn't do so badly IN context, especially as it's such a, uh, suggestive thing :P There's a girl riding it in the background and yeah, the whole movement to keep on the bull? I know it seems like a manly sport, but it involves a lot of writhing and pelvic movement and that bull is like as masculine an icon as you can get.

And Dean had the hots for it

oh god :P

-

Worked to win the waitress over anyway :P

And she apologises for taking advantage of him. Wow. I don't think Sam and Dean even know what all those words mean put together in that order. :P

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"First action in I don't know how long, and it's like it never even happened. Figures." "See now that's comedy"

When WAS the last time Dean hooked up? Back in season 11 some time... 11x13 it was suggested. (I have a lot of Snymelo vibes from this episode)

-

Honestly Cas is living right at the Bunker just man up and go talk to him and I guarantee that I could get you some action in about 2 lines of dialogue if you let me...

-

(Sadly last episode actually convinced me that there's really good reasons Cas hasn't made a move and Dean is pining unsuccessfully after him so I can't even be mad :P)

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"It's like watching myself on netflix" Aw

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"I know how to shoot a gun!??"

:D Oh sweetie

-

Sam giving Dean the Talk.

No that sort of talk. the "monsters are real" talk.

You know who does that? CRAZY PEOPLE.

Nope, "Awesome. That's awesome."

He's feeling a bit better about the job I guess than back in Yellow Fever where he had the equivalent moment.

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Aw he found a torch! He's so happy! "I'll man the flashlight" Yeah this is Yellow Fever again :P

-

Oh god we're only 18 minutes what can possibly-

Jesus Christ Siren Episode reference You've not talked about that for EIGHT YEARS.

See, last night I compared these 2 episodes before this one ever aired with the assumption that the Yellow Fever parallels might be obvious but the Siren Episode would only be a sort of leech onto that because of its own parallels to Yellow Fever so we would have to walk through YF as an intro to the Siren Episode and how it could be applied to this one

(Sue me I was already planning the meta and this episode is following the exact same pattern as Yellow Fever and the Siren Episode so I'm feeling really vindicated, right about now :P)

The point I made LAST night was that Sam had been reading Dean wrong all this time and messing up his chance to understand him in the previous episodes. This time, Sam doesn't really have any reason why he'd get Dean wrong? The enemy of the season is miscommunication and not understanding Dean is Sam's biggest miscommunication.

Whether he's taking advantage of Dean's cheerful no-memory state, and the suspicion Dean won't remember him bringing it up again or what, Sam feels secure telling Dean about the Siren, at least I assume not telling Dean HE was attracted to it, but that this is a thing that happens. Dean can't lash out, Dean doesn't feel defensive... He just takes this information as Sam tells it to him without being weird about it.

The fact Sam remembered and wanted to tell Dean though... Well, like I said, Yellow Fever and the Siren Episode are basically the same thing ESPECIALLY from Sam's perspective. Here he is for the 3rd time and Dean's all fucked up again, and no wonder Sam remembers.

He also mentioned Djinn "not granting wishes" which means my reference to 2x20 earlier was super legit. *more smugness*

(sorry :P This episode is fun. I like that the new writers have watched the show)

Anyway, I'll be thriving off that reminder for a while :D Better carry on watching before I get sucked into a vortex of comparing episodes before I even know how this one goes.

-

Aw Sam calls it "the Talk"

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"Best job ever!"

Dean thinks they sound like heroes, Sam, who has the lived experience, voices some actual goddamn complaints about the job. GO SAM. I guess he's thinking Dean won't remember this conversation and so he can voice some things.

So HE does the "you know who does that? CRAZY PEOPLE" speech that Dean didn't make.

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AAAAAAAAAAAAH Bloody handprint. "Our best friend's an angel! WHaaaaaat!!!" I worry :P

-

Cas will be fine, I don't think Jared's even had his 3rd kid yet. Misha needs to give them all paternity leave by having more Cas-centric episodes.

What a beautiful set up. Smol babies and more Cas.

-

But yeah something horrid might happen to Cas briefly.

-

Also Sam told Dean that he was "our best friend" and so Dean is totally failing to grasp exactly what Cas means to him.

He probably only remembers Sam as well as he does because he's right in front of him - if Dean had been with Mary or Cas he'd have forgotten the other 2

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"Is that a dead guy?"

Dean looks grossed out but also "Cool!" because dead monster.

-

Witches! These guys seem like fun people.

-

"I want my family back" she says while having Mary's hair and looking at the dead guy.

Oh dear.

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"Is that a dead guy?"

Sam needs to get a post it note for the dead guy.

-

ROWENA

"your hair is so bouncy" I think Dean is full of cute observations like this he's just never allowed to say and I think that's so sweet I might barf.

(You should hear how he talks about Cas ANYWAY)

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Dean remembers porn but not quality TV oh dear >.> Sam puts Scooby Doo on for him, which I guess is sort of Dean's role in this episode :P More dogs on TV - reminder of the second "dog that thinks it's people" line with the person who said it the first time in the room...

-

"Dean Winchester is going to die." "Sucks for that guy!" Well at least he's happy :P

-

Sam drags him away for a toilet conversation

-

Dean briefly regains a sense of self and is miserable

Sam why did you do that

-

"You know, I've seen my brother die, but watching him become... not him. This might actually be worse" Please, you watched him descend into the Mark of Cain and then babysat demon!Dean for an episode, this isn't new :P

-

OH SHIT here's the "my name is Dean Winchester" speech and it's delivered directly into a mirror I am not going to make it

-

That was terrible also can I have a new heart something happened to this one *shows a box of shards to the cashier*

-

Sam don't be bitchy to Rowena when she's the only one who can help.

-

And Dean is struggling to remember anything

-

Oh nooooo

-

Poor Dean :( :( :(

-

or whoever he is

-

Sam is putting Dean's life on the line to be weird about Rowena helping them.

-

OH NO Dean's still struggling with it

"I don't know"

*wails*

-

"Stop touching everything!"

I kind of love poor Dean when he's like this :( He's so sweet and... I don't know. Living in the moment because that's all he's got.

-

Also who is that voodoo doll of because they're having a terrible day too.

-

Aww Rowena already hates the British Men of Letters, so I guess she'll be helping later.

-

"These witches sound like dicks. I think you have plenty of snuff."

Dean interpreted that she was talking about herself despite not knowing anything. Dean is good at subtext.

Also that has real echoes of "Doug's a dick, you deserve better" which made me squeee over Dean x Donna although obviously as the waitress said, it would be completely taking advantage of Dean so Rowena better not butter him up too much while his barriers are down. Especially as Dean has a "ugh witches!" gag reflex while himself.

It's also interesting that this is a barriers down thing for him to say. He was still getting over ACTUALLY being roofied when they talked to Donna that time, and I didn't think Dean was totally out of it there because he was engaged quite well in the conversation, but heh, it's an interesting comparison.

-

"What a gift not to remember the things you've done!"

Oh no don't TELL him, Rowena.

"You're a killer" "scores of people" *gagging* "the greater good" (hey we had a "the greater good" earlier this season, right? I was laughing about the parallels to Hot Fuzz... Was it something the BMoL said? I see to recall paralleling their control of England to the baddies' control of the village)

I like that Dean and Rowena both have a gag reflex about each other's professions. But really loving this dynamic.

-

He might forget in a minute that Rowena told him he was a killer, at least.

-

Rowena having honesty hour because like Sam she's assuming Dean won't remember this (as you might have guessed I am fascinated about what Dean DOES remember about this)

-

"Power's what matters" Oh my god she's had actual character growth about this because of having to watch God and Amara suck at being the most powerful beings in the universe. Haaa.

-

Rowena does love nose-booping Dean

-

Sam is being pretty dangerous and scary in that way he gets when Dean is dying. Why do I get the feeling he's about to get a lesson in  being reckless.

-

I wonder what the butterflies symbolise. We've seen them on the show before, but in very different contexts. Hope someone else is on that because I have no immediate ideas. Like that they re-animate to cause harm. Not sure how much symbolism here for what though :P

-

Aw Rowena does care :D in her own way. No respect for the car. Pfft.

(I feel like someone's gonna be all "Dean remembered Sam when he was in danger!"  but the phone is right there with his name on so I'm not sure)

-

Having Gideon laid out like that is pretty ominous...

"We can bring him back!"

Yeah, okay, that was fairly obvious since he was still in the room the whole time :P

-

Wow guess they're swapping Sam for him or something.

- Aw Rowena wearing a long black coat and being badass.

-

Eeeeee more Rowena backstory.

I love her so much.

I mean everything we learn about her is so sad but it makes her motivations to be badass and not take any shit and obtain wealth and have nice hair really sympathetic :P

-

I am really loving how they're making Rowena more sympathetic.

-

Grenade launcher: DENIED

-

I swear to god this had better be building to Dean shooting it in 12x23 as the crowning moment of awesome for the season or what is even the point

-

Are these all Rowena's notes or did Sam leave the ones in the trunk

-

Whoever did it (I shall have to look at your handwriting again) you did good.

BUT

It was using Dean as a weapon. He had no idea who he was, no purpose, just these orders/suggestions and he went on instinct, couldn't even talk, COULD fire a gun, and had enough instinct to load the gun, walk into the house, and fight the witches.

I'm reminded of 9x21 (which I will be watching up next! Aaaah the dang rewatch! And GAVIN coming back...... Although maybe the new and improved Rowena might make that more interesting)... Whoops I... forgot... What I was saying. Uh. 9x21. Dean in the middle of the dark decent. Goes to kill Abaddon (mirrored in the fight with Lily and Ishim last episode), and for the entire scene from the moment he comes in the door, I think until they leave the building, Dean does not speak a word. He just goes in there on instinct, charges Abaddon, and pushes through he wall-shoving to get her, all on this brutal killer instinct that Rowena has reminded Dean he had.

Dean with no sense of self was very cute and goofy, but he retained his moral code (killing monsters bad, person who kills monsters hero) and he retained his killer instinct, so stripping him right down like that, I think this was the message of what has been programmed deepest into Dean, the things that would go last when everything else about him was disappearing. And considering I've been working through the last few episodes of season 9 lately, I'm chilled. :S Especially that the back up plan was to throw Dean at them as a weapon (I wonder if Rowena did it then, because Sam didn't have the thought Dean would do it, unless he labelled it all when they knew it was witches, but earlier in the episode when he was going on  his labelling spree)

-

Dean takes Sam on total trust as well about who is the witch and who is his brother. We don't know if that was his instinct or being obedient to what he was told... I'm guessing this is going to be something with 2 readings.

I'm assuming the cheap answer is the love of his brother runs that deep and instinctively he would know.

-

Why was Sam NOT at the restoration... Aside from for setting up "who's this hippy"

I mean they even used the sad family music! What jerks :P

-

Probably best to piss Sam off immediately so to avoid soppy hugs.

-

"Can't believe you called Rowena" "Can't believe you rode Larry" "Hey, I was awesome on that bull."

THAT'S your take away from this, Sam? I mean I'm thrilled but that's just... hilarious.

Especially as they don't mention the waitress again so the reminder is all about Larry and not about Dean's other conquest of the night :P I’m laughing.

-

Does this episode end with Sam leaving the super powerful book of spells on top of the impala and Dean drives off and it falls in the street

-

I say this because I'm feeling emotional about Rowena implying Dean should talk to her if he remembers their conversation, and Sam is now talking about how he's jealous of Dean's no-memories buzz

Dean is like “our life sucks but if I was happy I wouldn’t have a shot at hooking up with an angel”

-

Okay no Sam took the book of witchcraft.

That doesn't bode well at all.

*she says vibrating with pent up frustration about how witch!Sam is being teased roughly twice a week with no pay off since like... ever*

-

Yay I knew we'd get to see Dean riding Larry at the end.

because this is Yellow Fever.

-

I like Yellow Fever.

-

This is sort of embarassing having all of the other Dean stuff in there... You should have just stuck with him and Larry

Let them have a moment.

This is their song.

[jwgammuto]

Raw Review 7/1/19

Has the Heyman Era officially begun on Raw? We can’t be 100% certain but moments felt very Paul E and the pacing and segments felt much fresher than they have in 2019 so far. Are we happy? Only can tell with The Good, The Bad, and the WTF: HOLY SHIT Edition.

The Good:

The opening of the show. Scream Babies vs Black Chris Masters in a Falls Count Anywhere match. This was surprisingly fun, entertaining, and didn’t drag nearly as much as every other segment with these two over the last month or so. And to top it all off, we got an actual Holy Shit moment as Strowman bulldozed Lashley through the video board to a series of staged explosions. This was awesome to behold and the commentators sold it hard with Graves even exclaiming “holy shit” after it happened. The aftermath didn’t drag out and the scene actually sold how bad we’re supposed to believe these guys are hurt. Maybe even a good way to write them off tv for a week or so and keep them fresh. I loved this.

The follow up to this was...another great match. All hail momentum! The War Raiders vs the New Day? Yes please. Action was predictably good with both teams taking turns looking strong until Samoa Joe appears from nowhere and chokes the life out of Xavier Woods. Never change, Joe. In servitude of the WWE’s ad Masters, this break was used to air some commercials while they restarted this as a six man tag with Kofi and Joe added. The ad break shit is transparent and kind of awful but this was about the best way to make it work. It’s vastly superior to the nonsense 2 out of 3 falls crap we’re getting lately, more on that later. The six man tag was also awesome with everybody looking great at time and Kofi eventually dominating during the breakdown in action, but he takes his attention away from the legal man, Joe, and he pays the harshest penalty for that as the Samoan Submission Machine choked out the WWE Champion. This was brilliant. Kofi hasn’t lost since Wrestlemania. Samoa Joe is now a credible threat. The War Raiders remain technically undefeated and Kofi finally has a chink in the armor.

The main event. A US title rematch between AJ Styles and Ricochet. This was well built throughout the show with consistent storytelling involving, Ricochet, Styles, and the Good Brothers. Styles quickly “winning the title” with a glaring missed foot under ropes from the champ was another fairly clever, albeit still transparent, way to fit in a final ad break. After the match was restarted, it became fairly obvious that we were going to see something big as Gallows and Anderson made their way to ringside and we did. After The One and Only retained with the always devastating surprise Roll Up of Doom, Styles sucker punches him and the Club reunited to beat down the champ. Heel AJ is fresh and more Gallows and Anderson is also a good thing. The crowd ate it up with the boos as the show went off the air. It was glorious.

The Street Profits show up on Raw. They didn’t wrestle or defend the titles. They just showed up and did their usual wacky banter with people backstage. It was fun, but I think it would have been way better if they had headed into the crowd like they do on NXT. It didn’t feel like a call up, just some fresh faces. I love Ford and Dawkins so I dig it.

Drake Maverick wins the 48/7 European TV title. This was teased throughout the show as Drake brought his wife, Renee Michelle, to the show and was promising her that his obsession with Truth and the title had ended and they were going to enjoy their honeymoon. Now that Maverick has the title, Twitter becomes must watch since it feels inevitable that Drake will be looking over his shoulder during his entire honeymoon instead of doing what he is supposed to be doing with his wife. Truth will win the title back and it will be hilarious. As gimmicky as this is, I’m still getting a huge kick out of it.

Lacey Evans, with some help from Bartender Corbin, defeats Natalya with a Women’s Right. This was quick and necessary to build them as a credible threat to Seth and Becky at Extreme Rules. It wasn’t anything to get excited about, but it built the story and wasn’t dragged out.

The Bad:

Cesaro weirdly destroys No Way Jose in a no contest with all kinds of 24:7 Title nonsense happening around them. No Main Event Muscle? Sad 🐼.

Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre cut a meh promo before the Undertaker comes out and cuts an equally meh promo. Nothing is explained regarding a reason for this nonsense match at Extreme Rules. No Reigns so we probably get more of this nonsense tonight on Smackdown. It could have been far worse, but an overall well paced show was slowed to a crawl for this trash that no one wants to see. Every time the Undertaker comes out, it becomes less thrilling, even for old school fans like me. He could go away forever and I wouldn’t miss him.

A Moment of Bliss. We appear to be inching towards Forrest Gump Cross figuring all this out and she continues to look good in the ring and win her matches clean. She beats Carmella here after Bliss lost in Bushwhackers time so the story appears to be moving forward where Nikki is clearly outshining Alexa while taking none of the credit. This isn’t good and it needs to culminate at Extreme Rules. Either by adding Cross as a triple threat contestant or somehow costing Bliss the match.

The WTF:

The Miz defeats Elias in a pointless and rushed 2 out of 3 falls match. The first two falls happened in about 90 seconds, they reset for the ad break masters, and we get an actual match. This was unoriginal, pathetically transparent, and tells zero story. The Miz has been criminally underused since Elimination Chamber and it’s a direct result of the Shane push. Ugh. Elias remains in gimmick limbo and that’s also sad.

And now the strangest and most awkward thing I think I’ve seen on WWE television since the trannie sisters of Lashley. First off, the Lynch/Rollins couples banter backstage is absolutely terrible. Stop it. Not only do I not care that they’re dating, you’re forcing their awkwardness on me. There’s nothing organic about their television relationship and they appear to be struggling to make them both look like strong personalities, which frankly makes them less credible champions in my eyes. As if that wasn’t hurting my senses enough, Maria and Mike Kanellis show up and she starts going off about who is a power couple. Meanwhile, the vast majority of viewers for Raw have no freakin idea who these people are. This leads to a challenge for a mixed tag match and that’s where it fully forms into a giant suckburger. Very quickly the match breaks down and as Lynch goes after Maria, she screams about how she’s pregnant. Lynch backs off, goes in the ring, puts a shocked Mike Kanellis in the Dis-Arm-Her (this is against the rules in a mixed tag match) and he taps out. Then Maria gets in the ring and puts on a show of emasculation that would make Lena Dunham squeal with joy. She even implies that Becky would have more luck getting her pregnant than her husband. I have this terrible feeling that this is going to be some ongoing cuckold angle with these two and I hate absolutely everything about it. If it wasn’t PG TV, we might actually get subjected to Maria pegging this dude. Who’s freakin idea was this? Who is supposed to like it? Humiliating people has been a part of wrestling for decades but this wasn’t fun, funny, or interesting. It was just straight awkward.

*breathe*

I welcome our new Raw overlord, Paul Heyman, if indeed his fingerprints were on this show. The pacing, the stories, and the action felt fresh and I’m excited to see what The Bisch has in store for us tonight. If you take away the weird cuckold storyline, the Seth/Becky banter, and the Shane/Undertaker crap, this was a damn good show. Hogan mercilessly beats it with 4 Belt Whips, brother! Top Guy....out.