#his first few lines/actions go from making him look like a ditz

[call-me-corvid]

Watching the first few episode of My Adventures With Superman with the knowledge that Jimmy knew THE WHOLE TIME makes half of his dialogue/actions SO MUCH MORE FUNNY

[megurodivision]

Yeong's Thoughts on Okinawa Division

Ace Douglas

"Ah, the American ambassador, himself! The first time I saw this kid was back when Saji, Vito, and I were doing our thing in a bar at Okinawa (Good place, by the way). He seemed like a serious kind of guy; reminded me a lot of Saji, to be honest. I didn't really speak to him save a 'hey, how are you?' I figured being an American, he'd have decent manners, but he just ignored me. Wow, rude much, dude?

"Later on, I found out that he's got some sort of vendetta against Japan. Don't know why, unfortunately. But dude, you're here in Japan for the reminder of your job. You may as well soak up the sights and get to know some people! You may find out we're not as bad as you think!

"The higher-ups, unsurprisingly, want me to make contact with this guy. I don't know why. Probably because of his position as America's ambassador. What do they want me to do, kidnap him or something? I hope not..."

Evelyn Rose

"Evelyn Rose, the American model, herself! This girl is a real blast to be around. And she's a hell of a model too! A shame her and Lola hate each other. Apparently, Lola doesn't even want me speaking to her, and Evelyn is the same way. I don't know why they're so upset at each other. Is it cause they feel threatened by the other? If so, they both have nothing to worry about! They both are still in their 20s, for crying out loud! They've got, at least, five more years before wrinkles start to show!

"Like Lola, some of the higher-ups want me to get an autograph from this girl. ...And they have the gall to say I'm a pervert!"

Rashaad Young

"Ah, Rashaad! I love this guy's bar. Hardly anything goes wrong there, and its one of the few places here in Japan where you can get a decent drink. Rashaad's not such a bad guy, either. A little reserved, most of the times, but he's alright. He's kinda got that whole 'wise sage/bartender' thing going on. No wonder he's so popular with the majority of people here in Japan.

"He's the only one out of this group who the higher-ups aren't interested in. A shame, really. ...But I'm kinda glad he's not in their line of sight. He's a good guy; he doesn't need any trouble."

Liberty Guild

"Liberty Guild, huh? ...You know back during the samurai days, there were foreigners who came from foreign lands to establish trade and such. Most Japanese welcomed them, but a few of them didn't want them coming to Japan and changing their way of life. A shame no one told them they were fighting a losing battle. I know that has nothing to do with these guys, but I figured I'd throw a bit of history in there. Don't ask me why.

"Anyway, no offense or anything, but I don't really see these guys being too much of a threat. I mean, the leader freakin hates us for some reason, his model-girlfriend is a ditz (Sorry Evelyn), and the bartender is mysterious and doesn't let anything about himself slip. They may all be on one accord with each other, but they're going to have a hard time getting the people outside of Okinawa to back them.

"The higher-ups want this team to be one of the ones we face. I guess its because they want to see the Americans in action so they can see just how well they work in the hands of someone who isn't Japanese. If that's all, they could have just looked at me. I mean, I'm half-Korean, if that counts! But I guess not... oh well."

[sweettodo]

TUTOR ⟿ KATSUKI BAKUGO X FEM!READER [pt. two].

Includes : thigh riding, slight smut, swearing.

Word count : 2584 - tried writing more of a story type thing, read part one of you want, or don’t. It’ll just add up more if you read pt 1

••

I drag my feet down the boys dorm hallway, my head fuming and my hands trembling from anger. I cant believe I have to do this shit. I’d rather watch grass grow.

I hesitate knocking on the door, my fist just in the air centimeters away from the door, I sigh and finally knock.

“Oh- Hi y/n!” I’m almost relieved it’s Kirishima at the door instead of Bakugo.

“Hi Kirishima, Bakugo here?” I drag, he nods and widens the door to let me in.

I walk in and stand there like a ditz in front of Bakugo, who’s wearing sweats and a sweatshirt. He looks at me with bug eyes. “Well look at what the cat dragged in.” He cackles, I roll my eyes and make myself comfortable, plopping down on the couch and placing my bag on the coffee table.

“Just do your thing please.” I mutter, taking out my notebook, chemistry packets and a pencil. An eyebrow raises, he smirks, cracking his knuckles and propping his elbows on his knees.

“Do my thing? Matter of fact, why are you here?” I scoff and it takes me every bone in my body to not get up and leave. But I needed to be the bigger person. I needed to act like a good girl.

“Can you-“ I take in a sharp breath of air before swallowing my pride, “can you help me?” Kirishima practically jumps out of his skin, he’s absolutely blown away in fact.

“Someone pinch me; this cant be real!” He exclaims, I roll my eyes and Bakugo smiles, standing and grabbing his bag, walking up to me and sitting down on the couch.

“Kirishima you can leave for now.” He shoo’s his friend away.

“Sure bud, I’ll be back later, bye y/n!” Kiri dismisses himself and leaves.

“You didn’t come to class today? I hope you don’t get me sick.” I state, he opens his laptop and glances back at me.

“You just love hearing yourself talk don’t you.” He crudely says, “I’m not sick, I just didn’t want to go to classes today.” He mumbles.

“Very studious of you.” I mutter under my breath.

“You want me to help you or what?!” He shoots.

“Alright- Jesus.” I retort.

I pick up my notebook and wait for him to pull up slides that he’s gonna help me with. The air in the room was tight. It was like if I made a sudden movement something catastrophic would happen. I was uncomfortable, I couldn’t quite tell how he felt.

“Here we go, you should start writing; what’s due this week for you?” He asks, he looks at me and watches as I shuffle through my packets. This was all late work. I was in shambles.

“This.” I hand him a worksheet about Ions.

“This is easy shit y/n,” he reads the questions out loud, “first, do you know anything about ionic compounds?” He asks.

“Uhh- I know a little.” I scratch the back of my head, he lets out a little grunt and snatches my pencil from my hand.

“Fine, let’s work on the periodic table, answer these two questions- the ones about reactivity.” I nod my head and start writing in the lines. “Let me read it when you’re done.” He sticks his hands in his pockets. This was the first time we’ve shared words in a very long - long time.

A few minutes pass, I feel somewhat okay with what I’ve written, I hand him the paper and he reads it, his eyes moving along the paper while I gnaw at my bottom lip in anticipation, I was almost nervous about what he was gonna say. My heart was slightly pounding, I was getting hot.

I slip the white sweater from over my head and looks at me in question, judging eyes staring at my white button up, watching me wipe my hands onto my arms.

“It’s sorta okay, just write more about why Calcium is more reactive.” He says quietly, returning the paper to me, I grab it and continue writing. The room was quiet.

“Here- is that-” I quickly stop myself.

“Is it what?” He responds, slowly taking the paper from me. ‘Oh my god’ I repeat in my head.

“Is it what?” He repeats, I gulp in embarrassment.

“Is it okay?” I mutter, a smug look curls onto his mouth, he leans back into the couch, my cheeks are overtaken with a pounding hot feeling.

“Looks fine to me.” He declares, I take the paper from him and stick it in my folder.

••

With his laptop sitting on his thigh, his body centimeters away from mine, he reads and teaches me everything I’ve missed; the hour since I arrived was moving smoother, he reads, I write, he has me answer the questions on the assignments.

His body radiated a welcoming warm, this past hour he inched closer to me; in result, keeping me comfortable while I sat pretty in my skirt and knee highs.

“Alright answer this and show me when you’re done.” I take the paper from his hand and begin writing. I don’t notice him peering over my work until I’m interrupted, “no, erase that.” Bakugo’s leg is now touching my own, his right hand grabbing my pencil from my hand and erasing a sentence, his wrist applying pressure against my thigh and I look at him, he slowly brings his head up to look up at me.

We stare at each other for a few moments, my heart once again pounding out of my chest, my throat completely shut. The tension in the room could cut, I couldn’t name what I was feeling.

His hand grabs the paper and the notebook that sat under it, the computer now in the table, still maintaining eye contact, I had never seen this side of Bakugo. He tosses it on the table, inches away from my face, something clicks.

His hand grabs the collar of my shirt, pulling me forward, I suck in a breath, my eyes widened and I look at him, he looks down at me into my eyes for a split second before enveloping me into a kiss. Our lips move in sync, my head tilted to the right while his hand hangs onto my collar.

My ears grow hot, my hand slightly trembles and the air in my body is completely gone, that’s probably why I felt so dizzy.

His hand hesitantly makes its way to the small of my back, pulling me closer to his body, my leg slightly on top of his thigh, he pulls me further over his thigh. One of my legs somewhat dangling and the other folded into the couch pressed against his own.

Either leg was around his thigh, I knew where this could head.

The kiss was so deep it was almost like that’s what we needed; this was so passionate I hadn’t even had this with a boyfriend.

My eyes were shut, his tongue rolling against my own, I let him deepen the kiss; myself doing the same.

The area between my legs throbbed. I tried to stay as still as possible over his thigh, knowing if I moved I would regret it.

His hand drops from the collar of my shirt, moving to over my thigh, his thumb caressing over my skirt while he gripped my leg.

I pull away for air and look down at his thigh which held me, I start to stand but he stops me, pushing me back onto his hard thigh, the action made me yelp, my already sensitive clit screaming for more.

He looks at me, his lips swollen and slightly purple, I lean back in and he bites my bottom lip, sucking it while looking at me, I was internally screaming.

He pulls back and yanks my hair back, my head gets forced back while he kisses behind my ear and down my neck, one of my hands was pressed against his chest while the other kept me still on his thigh.

“Baku-” I’m interrupted my his hand pushing my thigh down harder, the only thing protecting me from his sweatpants being my underwear; which was a joke. He had to have known what this was going to do to me.

“Bakugo.” I mewl, his hand slowly releasing my hair and I look at him, he had that smug smirk on his face.

“Bakugo- I’m going to ruin your sweatpants.” I mumble, trying to stand again, he does the same thing as before, finally getting a whimper out of me.

“What if that’s what I want?” I stare at him with wide eyes, he now has both hands on my waist, his grip tight as he creates a friction between me and his thigh; I gasp.

“I thought you hated me.” I retort; he bites his bottom lip.

“I do.” He chuckles, bouncing his leg twice, my mouth drops open.

“I wish I could say the same for you though, do you hate me y/n?” His hands slowly moving me back and fourth over his thigh, I bite my lip, my face in a twisted lust.

“I do.” I pant, he raises an eyebrow.

“If I lift you off of my thigh right now, is it gonna be soaked?” I thank my skirt for covering his thigh for the time being.

“Shut up. I hate you and you fucking know it.” He smiles and attacks my lower neck with bites, i unbutton a few buttons of my shirt, ushering him to go lower, I couldn’t have everyone put two and two together.

He leaves hickies all over my boobs, his leg slightly bouncing in the process, I was a mess. I didn’t know I was this weak willed.

“Bakugo can you leave anymore bruises?” I sarcastically ask, he pulls back and whispers into my ear.

“Do you want to cum on my thigh?” I swallow hard and keep quiet.

“Well, if you keep bouncing I might have to.” I chuckle, his cheeks grow pink from my response.

He grabs me and throws his legs onto the couch, “ride my thigh.” He purrs. I lean over him, my arms thrown over his shoulders.

“I don’t want to ruin your pants.”

“Really? I want you to fucking soak them.” That’s all he really needed to say to me, I slowly grind against his thigh, he kisses my jawline and little whimpers are being thrown out of my mouth.

My shirt half unbuttoned, my hands on his chest, he watches me in amazement while I unravel against his leg.

It didn’t take long for me to come close to orgasming; breathing heavy, staring at Bakugo while he watched me grind against his leg for his own pleasure. “How close are you?” He asks.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” I giggle. He smiles and we start making out again, messily making out didn’t help my cause, the hot coil in my body builds up pressure before exploding, my thighs quivering, my head drops to his shoulder and I twitch, my body washed over with heat and tingles as I breathe heavy into Bakugo’s shoulder.

“That was fast.” He states.

“Don’t talk to me right now.” I pant, the pressure of his thigh making me continue twitching, I didn’t even want to see his leg right now.

“Funny for you to say that after you just used me as your toy.” I muster up energy and courage to bring my head up, my hand landing around his throat, his mouth opens into a smile. I only tighten my grip, my fingers turning white.

“And I’ll do it again. You’re a useful toy.” I tighten around his throat, he bites onto his bottom lip, his head slightly tilted back. I lift up over his thigh.

“Spit in my mouth.” My eyes widen, I send him a evil smirk, he really wanted me to do this to him? Was he serious?

“Yeah?” I ask, he sends me a ‘mhmm’.

I let spit roll off my tongue and into his mouth, his mouth open, allowing me to do this sin.

I lean back down and kiss him, this was hot. I needed to stop now before I decided to go all the way with him. I’d go back to hating him later.

*knock knock*

I gasp, jumping off him, only getting a glance at his completely soaked thigh. Buttoning my shirt so fast I even surprised myself at how fast I did it. He throws his legs off the couch, standing and walking into the bathroom. I see the spikey red haired man walk in and I smile.

“How’s studying?” He asks. I shrug.

“As good as it can be, I’ve only wanted to kill him a few times.” I wink, he laughs.

“Wheres the bastard anyways?”

“I- Uhhh, bathroom.” I answer, seconds later, Bakugo walks out with basketball shorts.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, plopping farther away from me on the couch.

“I said I’d be back later, we still have to work on our project.” Kirishima tosses his bag down onto the table.

“Why is your lip purple? Did you two fight?” He steps close to me, examining my face, I blush.

“Yeah I punched her in the face for being a dumb bitch.” Bakugo growls.

I stand and start packing up my things silently, I needed to get back to my room and look at myself in the mirror besides anyone sees me.

“I’ll be going, see you Kiri!” I quickly shout.

“Yeah! See you at dinner!” ‘Oh fuck! Dinner!’ I pound my fist into my head.

••

“No no no!” I whine into the mirror of my bathroom, my bottom lip had an uneven purple bruise; this is what I wanted to avoid. I begin unbuttoning my shirt, a plethora of purple bruises all over my chest.

“This piece of shit!” I shout; i head to my dresser, swinging it open and finding a sweatshirt, this must do for now.

••

A sweatshirt and shorts is what I walked into the cafeteria wearing; walking side to side with Momo and Mina, we all chat and get our dinner.

“Why is your lip so fucked up!” Kyoka shouts once we sit at the table; there the issue blossoms.

“Oh my god! I didn’t even notice!” Mina bellows, rubbing her finger over my chin, examining me. This is terrible.

“You’re causing a scene...” I mumble, beyond embarrassed, more of the girls were staring.

“That only happens when-”

“Hey! Shitface!” I look to my right and see Bakugo, wearing the same as when I left him.

“What the fuck do you want?” I spit, the girls fall into immediate silence.

“You left this.” He grumbles, why would he do this right now.

“Yeah right.” I snatch the paper from his gross hands and he walks away.

The girls stare at me in utter shock. They weren’t stupid, they immediately caught wind of what just happened.

“Did you two fight?!” Tsuyu shrieks.

I’m speechless, it feels as if everyone’s eyes are looking at me. Why couldn’t I get mad like usual? Where was my defense?

“Yes! Jesus! There, are you guys done?” I grit. “I’d kill him already if I wouldn’t get in trouble for it!”

Did I mean that?

I quickly shove food down my throat; not even finishing it all before I stand and quickly leave the cafeteria. I needed to get my priorities straight. What the fuck just happened to me.

[grimoireofwritings]

Hiiii can i request? Where Yuno loves to tease his significant partner (femreader) then it turned into a fight coz the sig partner has quite a temper then they made up? Or something along lines hehe please If u dont mind. Thank you!!

   Absolutely! Thank you for sending in my very first request, I hope I can deliver a great lasting impression ;) 

Scenario Request: Yuno teases fem s/o and evokes her temper.

Warnings: None!

     Yuno felt that he was in one of his rare playful moods that morning, as he strolled alongside his s/o on a refreshing Spring day to find an open field large enough for sparring without spatial constrictions. The day before, by chance, he had run into his fiery rival on a casual mission, and he was always absolutely delighted to get a first hand look at Asta’s growth and improvement whenever he could snag the opportunity. He always felt a gushing sense of pride in those moments for his childhood friend, and a burst of energy usually followed the next day as he was further reminded of his motivations in becoming the wizard king. Always stay one step ahead of that passionate, loud-mouthed spitfire.

   “Yuno... Listen, I know you’re excited about seeing Asta’s improvements.. But I know where this is going after sparring with you last time this happened.. And I’m gonna ask that you please not be a total ass today.” At this, the dark haired male scoffed, and smirked. “Perhaps you should make it a challenge for me then.” He shot her a cheeky smirk that ended up going unnoticed, after hearing her sigh and roll her eyes.

   He could be a bit of a trash talker when he was feeling competitive, but sometimes he’d forget that Asta was the only person who’d grown up seeing this side of him, and therefore could understand the intentions behind the words. Yuno was aware that he could sound detached at times, and due to his calm and collected nature, his tone was sometimes misinterpreted by others. Especially in this situation, where he didn’t realize his teasing sounded so blunt that it would come across as a genuine insult. 

   “Yeah, yeah.. Whatever, Yuno. You already know I can hold my own, even against an arrogant brat with a four leaf clover grimoire.”  At that moment in time, you were already pouting, giving a huff as you both moved past the outstretching pathway thick with greenery, but suddenly you felt an intense gust of wind propel you forward the second you’d lifted a foot to pass over a thick protruding tree root at the base of a great oak. Immediately, your foot hooked beneath the arch of the branch, and you went tumbling to the dirt. Lucky for you, your asshole prince charming was there to snag you from the fall just before your knees hit the earth. 

  “So graceful and coordinated. I’m quaking in my boots.” He meant for it to sound jesting and playful... He really did. But it came out instead sounding almost cold and condescending. Something that even he noticed as the words left his mouth. Still, he knew that for the most part, you were one of the few that understood his temperament when others did not. So he shrugged it off, assuming you would be aware that his emotions manifested differently than most people. 

  He was too cheery and preoccupied with his own thoughts to take note of how irritated you were growing with his antics. Sometimes his words were sharp. And regardless of his intentions right then, he was just.. being rude. As the two of you finally approached the open clearing, a massive grassy plain that you’d found perfect for practice grounds, you weren’t expecting him to snap right into action without so much as a warning. “A true magic knight should always be on guard for the unexpected~” he called, as you were swept into the sky by an overwhelming tornado of powerful winds. Yuno rarely tossed you up into the air like this, but when he did, he usually caught you right after, and used it as a moment to hold you and make a romantic display.

    Despite not having given a warning for his attack, he did catch you, like he always did. You landed in his arms, and he scooped you up, giving you a smirk. “Your hair’s a mess now and you’re all disheveled. What a flattering look.” He shot you another grin. But at this point, it just came off as being arrogant.

   That’s it. No more. I’m done with this.

   “Let go of me Yuno, I’m not a dummy for target practice.” You snapped at him, growling as you harshly pushed him away, your feet planting in the dirt as you stood back up on your own two legs. “I understand you’re excited. But I am not Asta. I’m not your rival. I’m your girlfriend.. The person you’re supposed to build up and be a team with.” You hadn’t realized that your fist had come to clench around the front of his shirt, yanking him forward to face you and your outrage.

  “I demand respect from you. I don’t care how much stronger you are. I won’t be treated as an embarrassment or a joke. This is ridiculous, I’m not sparring with you anymore until you actually start to make me feel good about myself, rather than a useless ditz.” 

   You let go of him, turning on your heels to storm off back towards headquarters. He stood there, momentarily shocked by your reaction. He was aware you had a tenacious side to you.. and he had always admired how you never failed to stand up for yourself, and demand the respect you deserved, even from superiors. But you were right. He had crossed the line today. 

   He set off in your direction, booking it as fast as he could to catch up. Right when he caught sight of you once more, he used his wind magic, but with different intentions this time, as he used a swooping gust to twist you around and face his direction. He finally caught up just in time, colliding with you, as he reached beneath your legs and hoisted you up by your thighs, lifting you up to look into your eyes. “Y/n... I’m...”

   He paused. How could he explain this to you? “I’m sorry. You’re right, I was out of hand. And you’re also right about my responsibility as your partner to encourage you. I promise I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I... The reason I speak like that is because I respect you. I know you’re a strong person, so I like to tease you, to let you know I consider you a challenge in strength and merit. You can hold your own against me. I acknowledge you as competition.”

  But he sighed a moment later, a small smile turning up the corners of his lips. “But I will start encouraging you more often. I just want to see you grow to your fullest potential. And I know you always will.” 

  A moment of silence, before he watched you return his expression of warmth. “Ok Yuno. Thank you.” He watched your eyes lower to his lips. “I love you.” And with that, the rest of your day together was improved, starting with a kiss.

[readingwebcomics]

Analyzing Questionable Content: Pages 151-200

High school bully or not, I’d like to reiterate the fact that Dora’s presence is so terrifying that it can repel a trained government agent. That’s a level of badass we should all strive to be.

…I mean like, don’t actually beat people up and steal their cigarettes, lung cancer is bad. But still!

Before getting into things, I’d like to open with a little bit of bookkeeping: First, as was pointed out to me by at least two different people, I COMPLETELY misread #123 – it was Marten who was helping Steve out on a date, not the other way around. This was completely my bad, so I personally retract everything I said about Jeph’s timescale.

Secondly, on my point on Dora’s identity crisis, user Scarlet Manuka had this to say:

For the time frame of Dora's goth phase, I think that Jeph is actually trying to present this as a genuine identity crisis for Dora - but it's also likely one that's been a long time building up. She's probably been becoming increasingly disenchanted with it for the last couple of years, and given that Raven complains that she's missed fifteen or so meetings, it looks like she's already subconsciously let it go quite some time in the past. I think we're seeing more the conscious realisation of a process that's already happened. In many ways that's what an identity crisis is: the realisation that the slow incremental changes we all experience every day have added up into something big while you weren't looking, and that something you thought was part of you really isn't any more.

That’s a perfectly fair point and one I didn’t consider. Thanks for bringing this up, under this light the time frame of Dora’s realization and her gradual shift into a different identity over the course of the next few comics makes perfect sense.

Finally, it was pointed out to me by Marco on the QC Forums that it’s only fair to link to the comic itself in these posts. While I had figured it was really simple to find the comic for whoever’s reading it considering it’s one of the biggest, longest running webcomics out there, they do have a point that I at least owe it to supply links to the site in these posts. So from now on, the dumb intro blurb to each of my posts will hyperlink to the first comic in the batch I’ll be talking about. That way, you can read along with the analysis if you so wish. Cool? Cool.

Now with that all out of the way, let’s move on to the analysis. Agent Turing has nope’d out and Dora saw herself out, letting Marten know that if he buys her dinner she’ll call it even.

This is a weird case of me totally getting WHY Jeph’s going this particular direction – he needs Marten and Faye at an ice cream shop to reveal a bit more about Faye’s backstory, which we’ll be touching on a bit later – but the particular setup for doing this feels… off. This right here reads like a textbook case of a writer going “Fuck, how do I get these characters to do XYZ…” and this being the best solution they could come up with. What’s worse about this is that only a few panels later, Jeph offers a much better alternative:

Literally all he had to do was have Faye be the one to bring this up: Instead of the panel with Marten blatantly asking “So THAT happened, what do you want to do now?” have Faye be the one to bring up that Marten owes her a little something for helping out with the situation, he brings up the ice cream parlor and then the rest of the comic goes on as normal. This may sound pedantic, but it’s a case where just a slight change in wording makes all the difference between sounding contrived and sounding natural.

I have… issues with this comic.

On one hand, Faye is opening up more about her past. A small, innocuous thing spurred her on to open up a little more to Marten, the reminder cracking her mask and showing just how much trauma she’s really containing within. You can tell this is more than just “bringing back memories” – his death had a profound impact on her, there’s something she’s not wanting to bring up or discuss but is being partially dragged to the surface. This is good character writing, and an amazing step in Faye’s character arc. It spurs curiosity, sparks intrigue, makes you WANT to keep reading to see the next time Faye’s mask cracks because you want to see what she’s hiding underneath it.

On the other hand… there’s no nice way to say this – at this point, Jeph is not talented enough at drawing to portray this from an imagery standpoint. The faces are too stiff, the expressions to stock. Faye doesn’t look like tears are escaping from her despite her best efforts to keep a straight face, she looks like she’s mildly disinterested and a blue line to represent tears was drawn on top of her face. Writing can take you far, but the thing about comics is that the written word is only half of the story. Anything you sell with words, you need to also be able to sell with expressions, with physicality and staging.

I’m not an expert in art – not by a LONG shot, I couldn’t draw a comic to save my life – so I can’t exactly offer any advice on how he could’ve made this work better. I’m at least glad to say that with time Jeph came to improve his artistic style, making moments like this feel a lot more natural down the road. He eventually gets comfortable enough with his drawings that he’s able to tell a story using JUST body language, which is admirable. Clearly, we’re not there yet… and unfortunately, it hurts the mood that this comic is trying to sell.

After a week of guest comics, we continue the story with Faye sharing stories about her childhood with Marten, showing just how comfortable she’s become around him that she feels at ease sharing details about her past she likely wouldn’t share otherwise.

Oh, and we’ve got some revelations about Marten’s past here. The Thanksgiving comic where he talks about how his family drives him crazy is starting to make more sense now, isn’t it?

Here, we see three things displayed. First, the fraction used in Marten’s dialogue instead of just saying “half”. I… don’t get why that is. It makes me irrationally angry though. I’m aware that’s fully on me.

Second, this serves to showcase both Marten’s blasé attitude about his strange upbringing and offer potentially an expiation as to why he seems so passive about everything. I’ve offered up the idea in a previous post that when he goes out and makes a choice, it’s enough to completely shift his entire world, so that may have served to encourage him not to not want to rock the boat and keep his head low. This, however, might serve as an alternative explanation, or at least another piece of the puzzle – growing up in a… let’s call it “untraditional” household where his parents were clearly quite open about what they were doing with his son, the fact that Marten grew up to be rather milquetoast serves to make a certain degree of sense.

Third, Marten’s being sassy. I like when Marten’s sassy. As I said, his character kind of… devolves in later comics, so seeing him have a spine enough to throw this out is always fun to read. Plus, it also serves to showcase how comfortable the two of them are with each other that Marten can sling this stuff out without fear of retaliation.

Setup...

The next day, Faye’s leaving for work when a surprise visitor comes to their door.

Marten’s comment always makes me laugh. This comic in general is just hilarious, from Amanda – Faye’s sister’s name is Amanda by the way – triple bomb thrown right into Faye’s lap to Faye’s 404 error to Marten not even missing a beat in his reaction to what’s going on in front of him.

Honestly, I’m with Marten here. And once again, I’m afraid I have to point out the fact that Jeph isn’t quite talented at drawing facial expressions yet ruins the punchline to Faye’s joke in the last panel. At least the writing serves to keep the humor going strong, and don’t mistake me here – these next few comics are gut busters. I fucking love the chaos Amanda causes by just stepping into their lives.

Oh yeah, I guess I should talk about Amanda now, shouldn’t I? Well, uh. Hm. She’s a Lesbian. And she’s a bit of a troublemaker. And like a little bit of a ditz?

…yeah that’s literally all I can think to describe her as. Cut me a little bit of slack here though, at the time of writing we’re on page 4010 and I’d be genuinely surprised if Amanda was in more than 50 pages total. The only real significant things I can think to say about her as a character is how what she says and does serves to inform Faye’s character.

Like right here – we can see the whole “doesn’t plan much further than the very next step you’re about to take” mentality runs in Faye’s family. Also, Jeph’s trying different angles out! Good on him, even little changes like this can serve to make the action feel at least slightly more dynamic!

“Clitoriste” is an amazing word and I hope to find a way to work it into at least one conversation before I die.

Amanda hangs around the coffee shop, swapping sex stories with Dora as Faye desperately tries to claw her own eardrums until Marten comes along. And as I’m saying this, I realize with hindsight that Dora’s being super cool right now, not only letting her loiter around her business but also realizing she was kicked out of her house at least in part because of her sexuality and so is letting her know “Hey, fucking girls is AWESOME, right?” to keep her mind off current events. The more I talk about Dora, the cooler she gets, seriously.

“Aerodynamically curvaceous” is another amazing phrase, this one great enough that Jeph eventually made it into a T-shirt. Seeing as I have as many curves on me as a string bean does, there’s no way I could get away with wearing it myself, but the fact that the shirt exists makes me a little happier to be alive.

Anyway, this comic goes on to show that despite the circumstances, Amanda is taking this rather well all things considered, and Faye has faith that given some time to sit with the information their mom will come around… Also that Faye was a damn good student, which might go on to explain how she was able to absorb so much information about guitars when her ex rambled on about them so much – she just retains information THAT well.

This comic… raises a LOT of questions. The last comic involves characters from another webcomic entirely, making this a fun little Easter Egg/crossover sort of deal. That being said, this raises a LOT of questions about the continuity of QC. Does it take place within the universe of Diesel Sweeties? Or does Diesel Sweeties exist within the universe of QC? The fact that we have a humanoid robot here – does that serve to shed a light on AI development in the QC universe? Did Jeph consider what AI development there would be at this point in writing? I assume not, as thus far the only intelligent devices are Anthro PCs. Is Clango an Anthro PC? Is he a prototype of a more advanced synthetic?

These are questions that were never intended for me to ask, aren’t they? Yeah. That’s what I figured. Considering the fact that Amanda has a girlfriend is canon, and the following phone conversation on the next page is canon as well, the best way to rationalize this is to just pretend that last panel doesn’t exist. Remove it entirely, and this strip fits in perfectly with QC’s established continuity and universe thus far.

Unless you REALLY want to find a way to fit Diesel Sweeties into QC’s universe, which I suppose wouldn’t be that difficult considering it’s a non-plot focused gag-a-day comic, but that’s entirely up to you.

Oh, and speaking of the conversation the two have over the phone:

Credit where it’s due, Dora’s expression on the first two panels is clearly different from the standard set of facial expressions Jeph usually puts on everyone. It’s always nice to see some experimentation! And here’s another situation where Amanda’s main purpose is to drive forward Faye’s character – here we get another hint of something that happened in her past, confirmation that she hasn’t dated anyone in a long time and some kind of source of a reason why she hadn’t. The scar on her chest, the death of her father, the lack of a love life stemming from some event… pieces to the Faye puzzle are falling into place, but we still don’t have everything. We’re given just enough to inspire further curiosity though, which – and I know I’ve said this a hundred times before, but I will say it a hundred times again – is good character writing.

…all that said, I sincerely hope that phone was shock proof. I don’t think her Mom’s exactly going to be in the mood to get her a new one.

Considering Amanda stole her credit card and all, I don’t blame their mom for being furious at her. That said, it’s nice to see that it didn’t take long at all for her to calm down and want to talk things over.

And here, we have specific confirmation that there was a set of “circumstances” that led Faye to want to leave home and move up here. Another piece of the Faye mystery falls into place.

Amanda’s immediately heading off to the airport to return home, leaving Marten and Faye to reel in the wake of an… I’d say it’s fair to call it an intense day.

HAH! If you haven’t read all the way through QC, you don’t understand why that’s so funny in hindsight. Trust me, give it another few hundred comics and it’ll make sense. God, I wonder if that specific reference was intentional on Jeph’s part, or if he just likes Vespas? Then again… he IS an anime buff, it’s entirely possible both events stem from FLCL.

Oh hey, there’s that pink Anthro PC again. We saw them back at the LANPark. Haven’t added them to the character list though since we don’t even know their name, but it seems like Pintsize has friends and a life off-panel. Good for him! I do wonder what ends up happening to these guys later though… Most likely they all just drift apart and move on with their lives.

...Why am I so sad all of a sudden?

And here we see an example of the two of them openly flirting with each other, dipped deep in sarcasm of course but that’s just how these two roll. Their inter-personal relationship has progressed really well and at a nice, natural pace so far. At this rate, something should be coming to a head very soon – either one or the both of them need to acknowledge the fact that they’re getting closer, or something’s going to happen that will throw a monkey wrench into the dance they’re performing.

Ugh. I’m coming to hate whenever Marten says “What do you want to do now?” Maybe it’s just me, I’m willing to accept I’m reading too much into this, but whenever he says that all I hear in my head is Jeph going “I can’t think of a more natural way to transition into this next scene so I’ll have Marten ask this question to push the scene forward.” It just feels like bad storytelling to me, it really does.

Now, I need you to hold onto your seats right now, because what you’re about to read next might just be the greatest comic you’ve ever read in your life. The mere act of seeing this may very well knock you out of your seat. Are you ready for this? I don’t think you are – I don’t think ANY of us are. Brace yourselves.

My man, Jimbo! And yes, he is officially called Jimbo now, so we’ll be changing the name in the character stats screen at the end of this post. And this man, this absolute LEGEND, is living the dream – quitting his blue-collar job to pursue his passion in writing! He’s worked hard to get where he is in life, and now that he’s here, the fruits of his labor are paying off! As a commercial electrician who’s writing on the side, I strive to be like Jimbo one day. God bless you, you absolute PINNACLE of human achievement!

I can’t NOT show off more Jimbo comics, he’s just that great. Also, Faye’s drunken antics are fucking hilarious.

Credit where it’s due to Faye for not only helping Jimbo out with his writing but also doing it as a completely on-the-spot Haiku, while totally piss drunk. Not even going to lie, that takes talent.

Faye’s willingness to engage in behavior like this raises… questions. Questions that I’m not entirely comfortable asking right now considering the author’s own past with alcohol. I’ll touch more on it when we reach the batch of comics 501-550, I’m going to need more time to prepare myself to talk about it in a way that’s as respectful as possible.

And finally… the moment of truth. When long-time readers of QC remember the Pre-500 era, there are two things that come to our mind: The actual conversation that happens at issue 500 that marks the transitional phase of QC into the kind of webcomic it is today… and the headbutt-crotch-vomit comic.

Behold.

I’m not even going to try offering commentary here. Absolutely nothing I could say can be better than what you just witnessed in this comic.

This page right here… it has an interesting dynamic between its first and last panels. Panel one, again, Jeph takes the time to make a new facial expression for Faye as she’s waking up, one that looks nice and works with the dialogue to communicate how she’s feeling. And then in the last panel… well, I don’t think it’s exactly controversial to say that her face in the last panel doesn’t communicate the confusion and rage she’s supposed to be feeling as expressed in the dialogue, is it? Jeph is getting there, his artistry is clearly evolving, but he’s not quite talented enough to pull it all off quite yet. Still, little improvements should be applauded!

And here we get another character confirming suspicions raised back in #172, that being Faye clearly has some relationship hangups stemming from something happening in her past. This raises some concerns considering their more flirtatious behavior around each other and their developing inter-personal relationship. At this point, SOMETHING has to happen to inspire a reaction or change out of one of the two, or they may very well find themselves trapped in stagnation… keep that in mind for a little while longer. On the art side of things, something to note that I just realized… Steve has a shine in his eyes to make them look more natural and full of life, but Marten’s doesn’t. Is there any particular reason for this? And why am I noticing it just now? Actually looking back a few comics, the “shine in the eyes” detail only started with #186… again, in all characters except Marten. Is there a significant reason for this? Or is it just a detail that’s easier to do with the shades of color in people’s eyes except for Marten’s for whatever reason? I don’t have an answer, but it’s something to keep in mind at least while we watch the art evolve.

Also, one more thing?

Either Marten’s a liar, or Faye’s ass is just THAT good that it converted him. My money’s on the latter, considering people routinely talk about how baller Faye’s ass is.

Yes, I did just use the word “baller” unironically. No, I don’t have any shame, thanks for asking.

…payoff. 

And again with the fucking contraction thing… It’s not subtle if other characters are pointing it out! I know, I’m the only person willing to die on this hill, and I KNOW it’s long-passed and nobody’s concerned about it anymore, but it genuinely bothers me! This is a stupid character traits that… bah, I’m not going to repeat myself again. On a lighter note, this particular comic showcases how much better Jeph’s gotten at drawing faces. It’s not much, but it’s better than the stock expressions that most characters usually wear, and you can see some subtle actions and thoughts expressed in the way Dora or Faye’s eyebrows move, in which direction their eyes are facing… it’s nice stuff.

I won’t show everything in these next three comics, but I wanted to showcase this series of events at least because this is some good character writing that says a lot about both Steve and the new girl Jeph introduces.

Setup…

Payoff…

…and subversion of expectations.

Sorry Marten, but I’m with Steve here 100%. That was clever, well-played, and EXTREMELY hot all at once. It’s too bad we don’t end up seeing much of Ellen after this because she has SUCH a strong established introduction.

And what fortunate timing – we have another collection of guest comics, which ends RIGHT at #200:

And here we go – the spark of conflict in the relationship dynamic between Marten and Faye that I predicted we needed. How’s Faye going to deal with this? How’s Marten going to deal with this? What if on this date it turns out he’s actually, seriously interested in Dora? Would this push Faye to action? She’s made it clear, at least to the people around her, that she’s not interested in pursuing something with Marten… so what if someone made her put her money where her mouth is? Well, we’ll find out one way or another come the next batch of comics.

While we’re still talking about this batch however, let’s do our usual deal of comparing the art shift between the first and the last comics in the batch:

This is a clear-cut example of a lot of small, subtle tweaks happening over the course of a long enough period of time making a clear, distinct difference. The biggest change, of course, being the faces of everyone as I’ve been bringing up all throughout this post – everyone looks so much more EXPRESSIVE. You can get a proper read on someone’s mood based on just how they look alone now, and I find that super impressive… admittedly, it also makes me wish that Jeph could/would re-do the ice cream comic in this newer art style to properly capture the expression on Faye’s face that he wanted to capture, but you know. Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve.

So what did I think of this batch of comics so far? Personally, I think it’s the best batch yet – the best improvement in art, the most introduced on Faye’s character, the best sarcasm from Marten… a LOT was improved in this batch, and that deserves praise. I like where the plot is going, I want to know more about Faye, and I am hooked on the will they/won’t they story, especially with the newer developments in the complexities of their relationship web coming into play.

All that said, let’s take a look at the data analysis for this particular batch:

Marten: 34/50 – 68%

Faye: 33/50 – 66%

Dora: 12/50 – 24%

Amanda: 12/50 – 24%

Steve: 6/50 – 12%

Pintsize: 5/50 – 10%

Jimbo: 3/50 – 6%

Ellen: 3/50 – 6%

Turing: 1/50 – 2%

Grand Total:

Marten: 166/200 – 83%

Faye: 163/200 – 81.5%

Dora: 51/200 – 25.5%

Pintsize: 50/200 – 25%

Steve: 22/200 – 11%

Amanda: 12/200 – 6%

Sara: 7/200 – 3.5%

Jimbo: 5/200 – 2.5%

Turing: 4/200 – 2%

Raven: 3/200 – 1.5%

Ellen: 3/200 – 1.5%

Scott: 2/200 – 1%

Miéville: 1/200 – 0.5%

Ell: 1/200 – 0.5%

Do note that in this last batch, 12 of the 50 were non-canon guest comics, so I didn’t count any characters showing up in any of them. Either way, it looks like Amanda was in enough comics to create a barrier in the stats between main and major supporting characters and minor characters as far as amount of time they’ve shown up in the comic goes. I don’t know if anyone else finds that as interesting as I do, I just think it’s neat.

In any case, tune in next week for the exciting conclusion to the double-date story! And a trip to the hospital!

…the two things aren’t related, I swear. See you then.

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

It’s been a wild few weeks but surprise! I am back and I am still watching two dudes beat up ghosts and look pretty. It’s Supernatural! 

Alright so here I am on the penultimate disc (thanks Lemony Snicket) of season 2 and at this point in the series we should be ramping up for the season finale. If you look back at this point in season 1, that meant putting the Winchesters under heavy fire (with the one funny episode), but this season it feels like they’re more interested in philosophical, emotional ramping than action ramping (with one funny episode). 

So many FEELINGS!

And you know what? I gotta hand it to Kripke and Co., cuz they figured out what worked in season 1 (brothers and feelings) and they leaned into it this season (brothers + feelings = 15 seasons). It’s a little hit and miss, but the core of season 2 is all about the line between Monsters and Men. I say hit and miss because we have spent a LOT of time on Dean this season but these episodes are all about Sam. And Dean’s arc is very different from Sam’s. Dean’s emotional arc is all about how he’s done with hunting, he’s done with sacrificing, which is WILD if you think about how early in the series this is. And yeah, it does, it does tie in to Sam’s troubles but it just doesn’t feel as clean as it could. Maybe it’s just because they spend much more time on Dean’s feelings? Maybe it’s cuz I personally pay more attention to Dean that I feel this way? But also, consider: the ep where Sam seemingly goes off the rails is all about Dean’s internal struggle with whether or not he can waste his own brother, even if his brother is evil now. We don’t ever see the fallout from Sam’s point of view. Sam was possessed at the time, he didn’t really go darkside, but also, Sam was possessed at the time??? And we don’t see any emotional fallout from that?!?!?

Nah, we’ll just end on this cringy joke about a girl being all up in Sam for a week and deflect away from our problems, nbd.

Kripke has mentioned in interviews that he thought the mythos of this season was muddled and that the psychic children plotline doesn’t really land because we never see Sam struggle with whether he’s good or not. At this point in the season, I definitely agree. They do give dialogue to Sam to remind viewers that he’s struggling with who he is, but they don’t devote enough screen time to it to make it feel like it lands. Dean’s struggle to keep Sam alive hits a lot heavier, but that may have more to do with that face and that g- d- lip quiver. 

Damn you and that lip quiver Jensen Ackles. Oh wait, this show already did!

Now we’re gonna make an abrupt turn into Sam’s emotional arc for the series. See, for the next few episodes we’re gonna follow a bunch of Monsters, right? By surface level definition, they are all text book Monsters, but they aren’t Villains, and that’s a big distinction. Because a lot of these characters are fundamentally good people, but they’re also the thing that the Winchesters have sworn their lives to hunt, so, like...how do we deal with that? 

First up we have “Roadkill”, which I like as a deviation from the regular format. There’s a lot of this tinkering going around this season, or at least, those are the episodes that stand out the most to me. I of course love Tricia Helfer (as a sort-of-but-not-really Battlestar Galactica Fan). This episode straight up brings us back to that key question this season: Are All Monsters Evil? Sam consistently draws a pretty clear distinction between Monster and Bad Guy, Dean consistently does not. Sam makes it clear that he has to believe there’s a line because if #YesAllMonsters are evil, and Sam’s abilities/destiny make him kind of a Monster, the logic follows that he’ll become evil too, or perhaps already is. 

In this ep we see Helfer as Molly, a woman who slowly comes to realize that she is a ghost who has been haunting the same stretch of road once a year for twelve years. I think Helfer totally crushes it. I think Molly as a character is hella interesting. She comes across as a pretty realized person rather than just a caricature. There’s a lot of heart in her and I appreciate that she handles The Truth pretty well, both when Sam and Dean tell her about the hauntings and then later when they reveal that she has been dead for over a decade. She asks good questions, like where DO those ghosts go once they’ve been busted? And she represents our philosophical conundrum - she’s a ghost that they have to bust, but she’s not evil. She’s not even really that bad. She’s just stuck here and can’t figure out how to move on. By the logic of the show, if she sticks around for too much longer she’ll start to get corrupted, but for now she’s just a scared, lost, woman trying to find her husband. She even starts to sympathize with the actual bad guy of the episode, a man she vehicular-manslaughtered but who comes back every year to torture her. 

And in the end, she finds peace! This is the second ghost this season that they actually lay to rest, not just defeat, and it’s nice. I think it’s nice. 

Is it odd that, for an episode that should hit so close to Sam’s internal struggle, the whole story is told from Molly’s POV? Again, I loved it, I love seeing the Winchesters from an external point of view, but it is...interesting...

Then we get “Heart”, which just digs deeper into the themes we got in “Roadkill.” 

This time, our Extra of the Week is another unwitting Monster. Emmanuelle Vaugier plays Madison, a kind of kickass lady who is really getting her shit together. She’s dumped her bad boyfriend, she’s killin’ it at work (lol), she’s out with friends, she’s a homeowner - this chick is LEGIT. And damn if she doesn’t know what she wants. Almost from the minute that Sam steps into her house she is into him, like, into him. She knows exactly what she’s doing when she dumps that basket of panties in front of him to “fold” them. Their chemistry together is good and honestly I was pretty thrilled for both of them when they got down to business. 

Good for you, you crazy kids! Good for you! 

But tragically, Madison is also werewolf. She’s completely oblivious to the fact that she is definitely murdering people on the full moon. When Sam finds out, and then finds out that Madison is not only unable to control her transformations or murders, but also unaware of what’s happening entirely, it’s another blatantly obvious metaphor for what Sam is dealing with - do supernatural powers make me a monster? Does being a monster make me evil? Does it count as evil if I’m not in control of my actions? And I love that this forces Dean to re-evaluate his stance as well. Cuz see Dean (and I love the guy) views things in very black and white terms, rarely asks questions and is 100% ready to kill this girl because she’s a Monster, full stop. Sam throws this back in his face with the line “So me you won’t kill me, but her you’re just gonna blow away?”, reminding us that Dean’s attitude is pretty damn hypocritical. And I say all of this as a Dean stan who loves watching that lip quiver, but also I am much more in agreement with Sam’s line of thinking on this - we can make a distinction between Monster and Evil in this show. I think ultimately, Dean starts to do this too, but just not in this episode. 

To their credit, they do try to save Madison, but failing that, they realize that Madison can’t be saved and so she’ll have to be put down - they can’t save her, so they have to kill her, if you will. It’s a surprisingly emotional climax and got pretty heavy at the end when Sam - who’s trying to figure out if he is worth saving - has to...what do we want to call this, a mercy killing? An execution? I don’t know, it’s mostly just a hell of a gut punch. A well done gut punch, but a gut punch nonetheless. 

The first lady that Sam bones since his fiancé and then you’re just like, and now you KILL her! Damn, show, what is WRONG with you?!?

I have to point out that we end the episode on Dean’s face. Like, I’m not mad about it, I am thrilled that on the list of Things That Work, Kripke and Co. were like, oh yeah, gotta put in as much Sad Dean Face as possible, but also, this was Sam’s episode? So shouldn’t we...get one final shot...of Sam? Like, I’m not crazy, right? They’re really pushing Dean this season, right? Who is this season supposed to be about?!?!?!

This is it! This is the last shot of the episode! This Sam-Centric Episode!

And then after all that heaviness and spiritual questioning, we get our Funny Episode. Meta Episode? Doesn’t matter. 

“Hollywood Babylon” is A+ Great and I love it. I love watching shows about shows, it is my jam. Watching this time, I did wish they’d thrown in more niche? Like, I just felt like the inside jokes could have been more inside, but also, Dean was SO happy in this episode, I didn’t even care. We so rarely see anyone in this show be happy, it’s nice that they get a break sometimes. It’s also weird that Sam seemed to get the most break? As in, he was getting a break from this episode entirely, especially since the last episode was a pretty heavy emotional arc for him? It’s a weird choice, but not something I really noticed because I was distracted by Dean working his way up from PA to Grip in like, a day, and I was just so proud of him. Anyway it was nice. It was NICE!

He’s doing SUCH a good job!

In this episode, our super special Extra of the Week is another lady, the fictional actress Tara Benchley played by Elizabeth Whitmere. I should probably stop using the term extra, by SAG/AFTRA standards she’s (probably?) a Guest Star, but honestly aren’t they all background extras in the lives of the Winchesters? Anyway, I appreciate how they portray Tara. They could very easily have written her to be a real piece of work. She could have been a whiney diva, she could have been a ditz, she could have been any number of Actress Tropes, but she seems pretty even-keeled. She has a certain amount of clout on set, she is friendly with the crew, she’s given a character trait that’s shared by real life actor Jensen Ackles - they really do treat her with a surprising amount of respect for an episode that goes real hard on producers and studios and horror generally. And she doesn’t die! So that’s a plus! But she does sleep with Dean which is...I mean...also a plus? I don’t know. I love Dean but I sometimes wonder how much sex he’s actually had? Like, if you told me it was 75% exaggeration, I’d believe you. Unimportant side head cannon. 

And then our final episode on this disc, “Folsom Prison Blues”. About time those boys went to jail, honestly. 

What can I say? The boy looks good in a coverall.

We get the return of Henricksen in this episode which is fun! We get a pretty kickass public defender, Mara White (Bridget Ann White), who is also fun! And we get Prison Dean, which is maybe the funnest. 

I like the twist with the prison warden - where you think that he’s going to be all aggro and corrupt and it turns out that he’s actually, like...looking out for his charges? In a...In a nice way? I guess? He wants the ghost to stop killing the people in his prison is the only fact that we get in the script, but it leads me to believe that he takes his job seriously and he wants second chances and better lives for all the cons in the yard and that makes me happy. He is also another in a long line of father figures that would have done a better job raising Sam and Dean, but that’s not important. And yeah, some of the cons are probably in here for good reason, but Lucas seems real nice and Tiny literally has a conversation with Dean where he explains that he’s basically just a product of bad parenting + Low Self Esteem, so on a low key level this episode is saying the same thing - just because these prisoners are technically “monsters”, does it mean that they have to die? Does that make the killings in this prison right? Everyone from Dean to the Warden seems to think not. Side note, that story from Tiny sounds eerily like Dean’s own life experiences, so he should probably have paid more attention to it but I guess he was busy getting cardiac arrest from a ghost so whatever. 

If this story wasn’t just RIGHT on the nose. 

Cuz that’s right, we have a psycho lady vigilante ghost! She does not believe in second chances and is killing cons from beyond the grave with her heart attack powers. And if we look at the low key metaphor tie in that the episode might be trying to make here, then you could argue that the show is coming down pretty hard on this one - just because you’re a Bad Guy doesn’t mean you’re a bad guy! Stop shooting first and asking questions later Dean!

It’s not your fault, bb, you were raised by a dumbass. 

And all of this buildup leads to...”What is and What Should Never Be”, possibly one of my fav episodes for Reasons, but guys it’s another SUPER heavy Dean episode, you could even say that Sam, the real Sam, isn’t even in, like 75 - 80% of it before we...get...to...Sam’s season finale? You know what, that’s next week’s problem. 

As much as I’m enjoying the stand alone episodes for this season especially, the mythos/arcs here are kind of a mess. I think the 20 ep seasons are instrumental to why audiences love the show, so I don’t want to take episodes away, but I do feel that a shorter season could have streamlined this season arc better. With fewer episodes, you have to focus your story so much more and sharpen your storytelling that Dean’s Arc and Sam’s Arc would probably feel more connected if they tried telling it in 8 - 12 episodes instead of 22. But then we wouldn’t have gotten the show that lasted 15 seasons, so would the trade off be worth it? Maybe some day we’ll find the alternate universe where Kripke waited 15 years to bring his series to Netflix and we got 5 short seasons of something completely different