#honestly there’s really only two things I’m actually upset about this season

[sanktaninazenik]

Many thoughts and feelings on season 2 of Shadow and Bone. Some positive. Some negative. But overall I just have to say: women.

[morurui]

CHAOS THEORY SPOILER REVIEW

Cause I just finished it and I have thoughts!

Sooooo I honestly have mixed feelings about Chaos Theory if I’m going to be honest I feel like there are some things that worked in my opinion and some things that didn’t really work for me so I’ll be separating this review into three parts: Things I liked, Things I wasn’t a fan of, and General thoughts.

Things I liked:

-The animation was absolutely gorgeous, it was such a step up from Camp Cretaceous that it’s weird to think that they’re apart of the same series. The team behind it did an absolutely amazing job!

-The last two episodes. Oh my god were those last two episodes so good, they had me at the edge of my seat as well as episode 10 finally giving us interactions between the entirety of the nublar 5

-YASAMMY. I think yasammy was done so well this season. Their fight was so real, nobody was totally in the wrong, but they both weren’t communicating their feelings to each other well and they resolved it in the end. It was just perfect

-Yasmina Fadoula. She was written so well I loved how they didn’t just completely forget she has PTSD and anxiety and included that in her character arc for this season. I also loved how they used her to address how bad it is to infantilize those with mental disorders. (Yaz and I are anxiety twins 🧘‍♀️)

-Mateo. The GOAT. I am the number one Mateo fan, dont ever forget it. I love that man and I will stand by him, I was stressing for his life during episode 10.

-Microbang villain girl was such a menacing villain at the end and I honestly love her. It’s clear that while she is using the atrociraptors for evil deeds she does clearly care for them. I desperately need to know more about her…

-Kenji and Brooklynn’s new voice actors do such a good job with the characters and while I’ll miss Jenna and Ryan, their new voices were casted very well!

Things I wasn’t a big fan of:

-Now to address the elephant in the room…Darius being in love with Brooklynn. (I’m going to try to look at this through an objective pov, but since I don’t ship dinostar obviously there’ll be a slight bias)(nothing wrong if you do ship Dinostar I’m happy for you, but these are just my feelings) Im not a big fan of this. To me I’ve never really read Darius and Brooklynn as being romantic together and their friendship is something I truly cherished about JWCC. I do see why they probably decided to make the decision to have Darius be in love with Brooklynn, but to me it’s kind of upsetting in a way to have Darius’s extreme grief response not be just because they were best friends. It feels like the writers were saying “Well, he’s not experiencing this grief so hard because she was his best friend, but it’s actually because he loves her!”. We’ve seen loss be something Darius takes extremely hard (His dad’s death and Ben’s death) and so I don’t really see why they made it so he was in love with her to justify his response when it’s in character without it. Idk man…

-Brooklynn being alive….HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT. THIS IS NOT BECAUSE I HATE BROOKLYNN SHES ACTUALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS. But idk these fake out deaths are starting getting to wear me down. Even Bumpy had a fake out death 😭. I get why they kept her alive being as she is a beloved character, but I just think it would’ve been better for her to be a character that somewhat haunts the narrative. It adds more onto the mystery, not only that but it allows the nublar five to explore “Hey our friend was hiding things from us and we’ll never truly get answers, but we’re going to find out what lead to her death and put a stop to it”. Which was what the nublar five are on a path to, until Brooklynn inevitably shows back up and explains everything. Also why did they give her the 2017 Katy Perry haircut…

-Kenji and Darius’s dynamic. I loved how they used their dynamic at the beginning of the show with Kenji blaming Darius for Brooklynn’s death, but beyond that moment their dynamic felt off to me. It was not helped by the whole Darius being in love with Brooklynn thing, but it just felt like they toned down their brotherly bond in this show (ironic since this is the first time we see them call themselves brothers)

General thoughts

-Jesus Christ was Kenji this shows punching bag 😭. He literally does not get a break, it just keeps on coming, breaking up with his girlfriend because she’s not invested in their relationship anymore, living in a trailer with a failing rock climbing business, his girlfriend kept secrets from him all while working with his estranged dad behind his back, his dad trying to use him again and then dying saving him, AND his brother was in love with his ex girlfriend. All in the span of ten episodes. If I was him I would have a mental breakdown every single day.

-Do yall think Ben actually has a girlfriend? I’m like at a 70/40 split, because he only talks about her two times and the first time he brings her up she totally sounds fake. “She’s from…Europe” Why did you have to think so much Benjamin? Also he fully just said she’s from the continent of Europe rather than a specific country in Europe. Also also it’s implied he hasn’t had a phone on him for a while so how does a long distance relationship work if he doesn’t have any means to contact her??? And he doesn’t even have a picture of her in his van. That man is hiding something I need to know…

-Ben and Darius had like 30-40 minutes of screen time shared between them, which is weird because like most of the show was marketed with them being the main protags and they barely interact beyond episode 4. (Their dynamic was too strong for people to handle “do you talk to your mother with that mouth” broke the world)

-Bumpy having a baby is something I predicted and I’m happy I was right!

Anyway that’s really it, sorry this was pretty long and excuse any typos or grammatical errors, but these were just some of my thoughts!

[lhazar]

Like is it just me or have all the pairings been really lacking in the romantic department lately? Like Rhaenyra/Mysaria is one thing sure, but where was the lead up for that? Sure we have women supporting other women but there really wasn’t any romantic tension up until the hug and then it was immediately interrupted. I doubt it’s actually going to develop from there either and it’s just meant to show Rhaenyra isn’t straight. Which like, awesome, I’m genuinely happy for it!! Im so happy to see more queer characters on television, especially as a queer person myself. But it also treats Mysaria as a disposable love interest if this plot point goes nowhere. And that honestly doesn’t feel great with how this show has treated its characters of Color.

I feel like the same thing happened with Alicent and Criston too. At least in the first season there was a moment of “if you feel anything for me… as your queen” which felt more fanservicey than explicit, and then season 2 drops and they’re immediately banging episode 1. Where’s the lead up? Where’s the development? Even Jace and Baela, while they seem friendly, haven’t even kissed or shown anything other than friendship in two seasons so far. Why is that? They’re supposed to be engaged. Sure war is happening but they have time to talk about Luke and Daemon. Why isn’t Baela worth being pursued romantically? Why doesn’t she have any traits from her book counterpart, where she’s said to love chasing boys and wrestling with squires… it feels like nobody is pursuing anyone at all. Aegon and Helena are literally nonexistent. Corlys and Rhaenys are the only couple who’ve consistently been shown adoring and in love but Corlys also cheats on her at some indeterminate amount of time and Rhaenys isn’t even allowed to be shown upset by this—why can’t their relationship be dynamic? Why can’t she be even a little bit taken aback by the fact that the love of her life sired two illegitimate children with someone else when both of their children are dead in the grave? Rhaenyra and Daemon have the most development out of any other pairing but that’s not even saying anything when their relationship is fraught with unhealthy power dynamics (esp with Mysaria added) and grooming since Rhaenyra was a child, and now they’re in their separation arc.

I just. Is anyone in this universe actually happy in their relationships?? At least Ned & Catelyn seemed to like each other 😭 was the best we got to have was Harwin & Rhaenyra’s behind the scenes agreement?

[heliza24]

Hey, hope you’re doing well. I loved reading your analysis on Simon and Marcus. Speaking of those two, I’d like to read your take on their final confrontation in the last episode.

There’s a lot of mixed opinions on what Marcus said to Simon. Some would say that Marcus was absolutely correct in saying that Simon always plays the victim and loves the drama and that Simon needed to hear that. Others would say that Simon is a victim and that Marcus was out of line.

That line, “you see yourself as some victim among those rich brats” really rubbed me the wrong way. I’m not sure how Simon ending things with Marcus correlates to Marcus thinking Simon plays the victim at Hillerska. Plus it makes no sense too. What does Marcus even know about Simon? That he can sing, had an intimate video released, the prince screwed him over and he had an alcoholic father. He knows absolutely nothing about Simon’s social life at Hillerska. He never knew about the drug situation or the music room fight in season 2 episode 5. So where did that line come from? And if anyone was playing the victim here it’s Marcus. Simon warned him, he didn’t listen and then he got hurt. How are YOU not gonna listen then entirely blame someone for your decisions when you got hurt. Marcus can only blame himself.

Then the whole, “you say don’t want drama but that’s what turns you on”. Saying that to someone who just had their tape released is cruel. Like tf.

And honestly, was their relationship something to get upset over? They hung out 4 times, kissed 3 times (2 of which were initiated by Marcus), a bunch of ghosting and they never got to the talking phase. They know next to nothing about each other. And when they hung out, Simon looked uncomfortable and uninterested most of the time. I know some people can’t take the hint but Marcus was on another level of blind. And it doesn’t help that Simon already told him that he was not ready for anything serious. This “relationship” was doomed from the start.

What are your thoughts and analysis on Simon and Marcus’ final conversation? Thanks in advance for taking your time to answer.

Hey there anon! Thanks for sending me your thoughts about Simon and Marcus. I have to say I agree with you! I am in full sympathy with Simon through all of his and Marcus’s arguments, and I do agree that some of the things Marcus says are pretty cruel.  I dated someone a very long time ago, when I was not that much older than Simon, who treated me in the same way that Marcus treats Simon, so I find him pretty infuriating. And I think it means I have some insight into the dynamic of their relationship and how it breaks down.

In order to understand their final breakup scene, I actually think we need to backtrack to 2.3 when Simon first tries to end the relationship. To me this is the most enraging Marcus moment, and I think it illuminates the fundamental problem going on here. While Simon is trying to break up with Marcus, Marcus focuses on everything except Simon’s actual feelings in an effort to convince him not to leave. First it’s Wilhelm. Marcus thinks that Simon must be worried that he will hurt Simon in the same way Wilhelm did. Marcus claims to never have seen the tape (an assertion @bluedalahorse and I think might be a lie, but that’s headcanon), and assures Simon that he would never do something like that. Then it’s Simon’s family; he assumes that because Simon’s parents didn’t have a healthy relationship, Simon must not know how to appreciate a healthy partnership. This is the thing that Marcus says that grinds my gears the most. For him just to assume that he knows the extent and effect of Micke’s addiction, possible abuse, and abandonment of Simon is so presumptuous.

To be generous to Marcus here, I think this is a perfect example of a theory of mind issue. Theory of mind “refers to the capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them” (that’s from the wiki definition). Instead of seeing who Simon is, and trying to understand Simon’s emotions as he describes them, Marcus has created an image of Simon in his head. He has decided how the abuse (both familial and the video) that Simon has endured has affected him, and has also decided what Simon needs in order to heal those wounds. Crucially, Marcus has decided that Simon needs Marcus’s help to heal. Marcus is doing this out of generosity; wanting to heal Simon is a nice thought. But the violation here is in the assumption. Marcus never finds out how Simon really feels because he never listens to him. And you could maybe go as far to say that assuming that Simon needs to be “fixed” because of those experiences is a violation too. Those experiences are what makes Simon who he is.

To be less generous, I once had a very similar argument with my then partner, where I was trying to break up and he was trying to get me to stay. I was left feeling defeated, and like he had made such a good argument that I had to stay. His approach was similar to Marcus’s. He poked at all of my emotional bruises (and claimed to understand them better than me) until I felt too confused to assert my boundaries. So I really feel for Simon in that scene.

Another thing I want to mention is that Marcus is in some ways Simon’s antagonist, and his insistence that he knows and understands Simon better than Simon knows himself is the catalyst that prompts Simon’s season 2 arc, which is about him getting in touch with, accepting, and then acting on his true emotions. I wrote about that more in depth here. 

There’s another element to Marcus that I don’t see discussed much, which is the unique spot he occupies in the class system of the show. We’re used to seeing the upper, noble class that dominates Hillerska, and the working class represented by Sara and Simon (and also Rosh and Ayub). But Marcus is a representative of a kind of in between, and at first glance appears to be middle class. He goes to public school, and does manual labor at the stables. His little backyard apartment feels like something an upper middle class family might create for their teenage son. But his parents are actually land owners. They own the stables and the shooting range that they rent out to Hillerska. We never find out if Marcus’s family is actually noble and inherited that land, or if they’re new money and bought it on their own. But I think some of Marcus’s superiority complex comes from the fact that even though he has money, he isn’t, in his mind, spoiled or snobby like the kids at Hillerska. He surely could have gotten a place at Hillerska, for instance, because of the way his family supports the school. He surely doesn’t have to work to survive (I am basing this on the fact that his family has enough money to build him his own apartment.) But he stays humble and grounded by going to public school and working at the stables.  He’s so humble and good, in fact, that he is going to treat working class Simon right, unlike that stuck up prince who threw him to the royal wolves.  And some of the way that he turns on Simon in their break up scene, especially in the line you quoted– “you see yourself as some victim among those rich brats”-- feels like he has taken off his mask, and is exposing the classist way he actually sees Simon. If Simon, poor boy that he is, isn’t willing to let the benevolent Marcus rescue him, then he deserves everything those rich bastards can dish out.  There’s also a shade of bootstrap mentality here. Marcus works hard, even if his family has money. He’s earned his driver’s license, and he knows exactly the kind of relationship that he wants with Simon. Why can’t Simon do the same?

Obviously the answer is because Simon is a different person from a different set of circumstances. And then we’re back to Marcus’s inability to see Simon as a complete independent person.

So I completely agree with you when you say that Marcus is cruel in this scene, and misinterpreted Simon’s level of interest, and is making a big deal out of a relationship that never really existed in the first place. But I also think we as viewers are reacting to some of the subtle themes that Marcus represents.  The way he fits into the class structure of the show and the way that he connects to Simon’s arc is really significant. 

I know Lisa and Tommy were very positive about Marcus in some of the season 2 promo, in a way that irritated some fans. But I think I understand where they’re coming from. Marcus does have good intentions, even if those intentions are only skin deep, and it’s ok to acknowledge them. Tommy especially has to exist in Marcus’s mindset in order to play him, and it’s fundamental to Marcus’s character that he sees himself as a good guy. And for Lisa, Marcus is a great character because he challenges Simon and adds complexity to the way class is explored in the show. It’s hard to summarize all of that in an interview, especially in a way that isn’t going to result in fan backlash. So I don’t have a problem with how they portrayed him in promo.

Thanks for asking anon, and thank you for reading what turned out to be quite a long post! I think we all have some unresolved Marcus trauma that we need to work through. I know I did at least.

[tame-a-messenger]

Ok I’m glad that we’re getting sword af again but I’m disappointed it’s audio only. Like is it bad that this announcement kinda ruined my day a bit? One of the things people like the most is seeing the cast interactions I mean a majority of the posts I’ve seen about sword af are about their interactions and reactions to things (and several posts about the seating arrangement for next season only to get no seating arrangement 😔). Also like I don’t really do podcasts. I can’t focus on audio only things for that long and (even though I’m definitely going to try to listen to season two) I don’t think I’m going to be able to listen to season two because I can’t focus that long when there’s no visuals. Everyone keeps saying budget is the reason for it to be only audio but smosh mouth and smosh Reddit stories are their podcasts but both of them have video too. Cut the video for smosh mouth if you have budget problems not the show where acting and reactions and interactions are so important. This is just going to hinder the sword af experience like I don’t understand why they did it?? I just can’t believe they delayed sword af season two for like 5 or 6 months only to make it audio only. I’m so sad that I’m probably not going to be able to enjoy season two as much because I’m not going to be able to get into it like I can when I can actually see everyone.

Also the wording really got me too like “rejoice!! 80% of what made sword af so good has been taken away!!! Hazzah!!!” Like wtf?! I keep seeing people saying we should be grateful we even get a season two and like yeah. I get that but also it’s going to be a completely different experience now and we have a right to be a little disappointed about that. Idk I’m just disappointed and a little upset but I’m going to give it a try and hopefully I’ll be able to enjoy it still

I’m happy it’s not dead in the water too, but at what cost?

Having it be audio only???? like how can you miss the point so badly?? 

THE FUCKING SEATING ARRANGEMENT POSTS IM GONNA CRY

I want to talk about the possible reasons they changed it to a podcast but I’m honestly too confused to even think of reason they would change it at all? Like it got similar views to most of the other content they put out at that time?? it wasn’t that different? And the community LOVED IT! 

“Everyone keeps saying budget is the reason for it to be only audio but smosh mouth and smosh Reddit stories are their podcasts but both of them have video too“

(maybe not so much Reddit Stories because they make bank $ off those videos) BUT SMOSH MOUTH?? Like we could have had at the very least 1 steady cam pointed at them (or if we want the very least- a recording of them in a zoom call (I’m assuming the reason it’s going to be audio only is because they’re filming sessions at home through zoom/discord??) I would literally take that over no visuals

They said S2 was dropping Dec 10 2023 (holy fuck I went to fact check and they removed the release date off the end of the video..)(I’m pretty sure it was supposed to be sometime in Dec) then they pushed it back with no new release date- THEN THEY TAKE BACK THE VISUAL ASPECTS????? WTF

Thanks guys, really, thanks....

“the wording really got me too like “rejoice!! 80% of what made sword af so good has been taken away!!! Hazzah!!!”

Actually had me seething. I can’t believe they phrased it that way. 

Don’t get me wrong. I love Sword AF. That’s exactly why I’m so pissed off about this whole debacle, they teased the FUCK out of S2 only to strip it down to the absolute bare bones. 

I just don’t understand why they would do this.

[stereogeekspodcast]

[Transcript] Season 5, Episode 2. The Acolyte Eulogy

In crushing news, The Acolyte has been unceremoniously cancelled after only one season. The Stereo Geeks present to you their eulogy for this Star Wars show that was arguably their favourite in the live-action pantheon. But, Ron and Mon don't always agree about what makes the show great.

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

Ron: Hello and welcome to a new episode of Stereo Geeks.

Mon: Today’s episode is a eulogy to the short-lived Star Wars show, The Acolyte.

Ron: We barely knew you! But we will never forget you. I’m Ron.

Mon: And, I’m Mon.

Ron: I’m going to start us off by saying that I’m really angry The Acolyte has been canceled. I’m upset, yes, but I’m mostly furious. This show deserved a second season. People of colour and women deserve to see more entertainment that centres them.

Mon: I don’t know how to feel, to be honest. I feel like we’ve been robbed of a show that’s so smart and so achingly clever, as well as being effortlessly diverse. But, I had my reservations about a second season – I definitely wanted the show to continue, but I had mixed feelings because my favourite characters would likely not be there. 

Ron: Am I the only one on this planet who straight up didn’t notice that the show was “diverse”? I just saw a show with interesting characters. 

Mon: I didn’t think about the diversity either, especially not while watching it. But I couldn’t not notice it when I began writing my review for WWAC, which will be out soon.

Ron: The diversity is impressive! The only people who could have a problem with it are problematic, narrow-minded morons. But more on that later.

Ron: You've mentioned that you weren’t sure about a season two. A lot of amazing characters were lost in season one, but I honestly think another season would have given us even more Jedi to love.

Mon: That’s a positive way to look at things. I guess I really miss the characters, so I am not ready to move on from them. But I know I would have had we got another season. 

Mon: We’re going to head into spoiler territory right now, so if you haven’t seen the show, this is it, this is your chance. 

Plot

Ron: By now, most people probably know the story. I’ll share my first impressions. I was hooked from the opening scene. Carrie Anne Moss as Jedi Master Indara exemplified cool. She is completely at ease against her unknown assailant, dodging every move, predicting the next step. It’s only when she sees who the assailant is that she’s stumped and that’s the end of her. 

The rest of the premiere follows the Jedi as they try to uncover the truth behind Master Indara’s murder. A Jedi murder mystery. How absolutely amazing is that? I was in love. 

Ron: I will say that the entire show wasn’t a Jedi murder mystery. But that wasn’t a bad thing. The Acolyte introduced a ton of lore and built so much more of the Star Wars universe. We got to see the Witches, progenitors of the Night Sisters. The power of two theory plays a huge part in this story, and we’ve seen how Force dyads work throughout the films.

Mon: It took me a minute to warm to the show, mostly because the first episode is one of the weakest, directorially speaking. It’s not paced well, and it promises a setup that it abandons pretty quickly. The story that it abandons the mystery for is really gripping, but I wouldn’t have minded a murder mystery. 

Ron: That’s so bonkers that the first episode felt weak to you. I was enraptured! 

Mon: Wow. We’re usually of the same mind. This is so weird.

Ron: And, I actually do think the murder mystery angle paid off. But the show takes a very long-winded way to solve the mystery, and along with it, we get this whole other story about a Sith lord looking for an acolyte.

Mon: Yeah, that makes sense. Things picked up from the second episode, which is really well done barring the final duel, which again, isn’t well-paced. 

Ron: Wait a second. Why didn’t the episode two duel work for you? 

Mon: The duel says a lot about the characters, but it lacks an urgency that the story suggests should be there. 

Ron: Perhaps I was so taken with the show, the pacing didn’t bother me. I liked that the pacing gave us time to observe and feel the moment.

Mon: So, it’s funny, but, the pacing really bothered me when I first watched it, but the issue was practically non-existent when I rewatched it. This show, and I don’t really know whom to blame, is not made for a weekly rollout; it’s made for a marathon-watch. The structure of the story doesn’t take the ebbs and flows of weekly viewing into account. If you’re on a high from the previous week, you’re going to need something mind-blowing the week after. That’s not how The Acolyte was made, which, I think, may have worked against it. But, when you watch it as a whole, I swear, this is the best thing I have ever watched!

Ron: Fascinating! I do feel like a lot of TV shows are crafted like that. Or, rather, they’re designed as a film that’s cut up into shorter episodes. Hence they make for better marathon viewing and you get episodes where seemingly nothing happens. I didn’t mind, but the crybabies on the internet couldn’t handle it.

Mon: Well, Disney is obsessed with tv shows being one long movie, so the pacing goes awry when you make it that way and then cut it up for a weekly feed. That being said though, even in the episodes of The Acolyte where nothing happens, so much happens. It’s outstanding. The writing on this show is unbelievably good.

Ron: It doesn’t help that people have no patience and get annoyed with a show because they have to wait a week or more to get their answers. An episode like “Teach/Corrupt” feels meaningless to certain viewers but it’s actually packed with character dynamics that set up the remainder of the plot. But you’ve got to have at least a modicum of intelligence to understand that.

Mon: You’re not wrong. How dumb are people that they don’t realize the answers to their questions will arrive in the next episode. This show brought out the worst in people. 

Ron: For me, The Acolyte captured that feeling of watching WandaVision. So many mysteries to solve. So many Easter eggs to find. We’d watch the episode and go online and people would be losing their minds at the newest reveals or a shocking death. That’s what television is all about.

Mon: The intricate details of this show – not taking into account the Easter eggs and references – are so brilliant. The way the clues to the story are littered throughout the show, and how someone is reacting or doing something plays out is really extraordinary. 

Ron: Exactly! Everything matters in this show. The way Sol looks at something. The confusion on Yord’s face. Vernestra not reacting to information. It all matters in the end. But you’ve gotta watch the damn thing for answers!

Fan Reaction

Ron: So, I guess we might as well get the horrid part out of the way. The so-called fan reaction to the show.

Mon: There’s no such thing as a Star Wars fan. They’re just bigoted, racist, sexist AHs. I cannot stand the discourse around anything to do with Star Wars. You and I love Star Wars, but there’s no point in calling ourselves fans, because that is the most toxic group of disgusting luddites that anyone can encounter. 

Mon: I cannot, for the life of me, understand the blatant hate for this show from the first episode onwards. It makes no sense other than the obvious – which is misogyny. It makes me want to scream. Yes, The Acolyte has issues, but this is the best Star Wars live-action show out there, it’s better than Andor, a show that everyone loves, but one I felt really underserved its protagonist, who happens to be Mexican. 

Ron: It’s racism and misogyny. We see it over and over again and it’s unbearable. For us to see a Star Wars show full of people of colour and women. We feel seen for the first time. But despite there being a plethora of tv shows and films with white men in the lead, the fact that there is one show with people of colour evinces this much hate.

Mon: But this hate is causing real damage – we are constantly losing entertainment where the story doesn’t focus on cis white able-bodied dudes. We’re stuck in a cycle that will not be broken because the biggest entertainment companies in the world, like Disney and Warner Bros., will cave to the stupidest common denominator. I just can’t….

Characters

Ron: Enough about those awful excuses for humanity. The Acolyte was filled to the brim with characters that I instantly fell in love with. I want to talk about everyone!

Mon: I wasn’t sure what we were getting into with these characters, but they piqued our interest with little hints to their personalities and their histories. And the writing was well-matched with a lot of great performances that got us invested in these characters. 

Ron: Yord-Horde, what’s up! The instantaneous love for Charlie Barnett’s Yord Fandar gave me life. This Jedi Knight is such a stickler for the rules, he even steams his Jedi robes. What is not to love? I appreciate how quick Disney was to share BTS videos of Barnett talking about Yord and his goofiness. They really made us fall in love with Yord.

Mon: Love Yord. He’s certainly a stickler for rules, and that makes him seem boring, but he gets the job done. On the rewatch, I realized he has a chip on his shoulder – it seems that he hasn’t conquered his fears yet, and the other characters remark on that. It’s the layers to this character that really leave us wanting more. 

Ron: I missed that about Yord’s fear. A Jedi whose afraid? Dang, no wonder he’s so stuck up.

Ron: The character who stole my heart was Jecki Lon, played by Dafne Keen. I was excited to see her again after her incredible breakout role as Laura Kinney in Logan. And she was excellent on His Dark Materials. But Jecki is just a sarcastic ray of sunshine in this show. Every scene, she’s a delight to watch. She’s so mean to Yord, and their relationship was hilarious to watch. But she’s got a soft side to her. The way she talked about becoming one with the Force, it was so wise and comforting. And those lightsaber moves! We’ll talk about the duels in a bit.

Mon: I love Jecki! She’s snarky, but she’s so kind to Osha. I was certain they were setting up a romance between Jecki and Osha – those two had amazing chemistry, and like… Osha takes the time to watch Jecki train before saying goodbye. So adorable! 

Ron: I would have loved a romance between Jecki and Osha. The chemistry was palpable.

Mon: And Jecki had the best fight scenes. That energy, those smarts. I could have watched Jecki in combat forever!

Ron: We have to talk about Osha. And Mae, of course. You go first because I believe we’re going to disagree.

Mon: So… I really struggled with Amandla Stenberg’s performances as Osha and Mae. I felt they were unable to bring any emotion or expression to their characters, and that left me unable to understand who these characters were or how they actually felt. 

Ron: Okay. We’re going to disagree. Do you remember when Arrow Season 1 was out? Everyone went after Stephen Amell because his Oliver Queen was too wooden. And I never felt that because I understood why Ollie lacked emotion.

Mon: Should have known you’d bring that up. I never had an issue with Amell’s performance in Season 1 of Arrow, because it was obvious he was restrained and, honestly, just didn’t know how to fit back into his old life. But that’s the key – it was intentional, or at least came across that way. Here, with Stenberg, I think they’re going for restrained, but they’re all over the place, and they don’t react to anything that’s happening to them. 

Ron: That’s exactly it though. I think Stenberg’s performances are intentional. They’re a huge Star Wars fan and they’ve particularly shared a long-standing fondness for Anakin Skywalker. I believe Stenberg knew when to emote and when not to. It was subtle but there is a very distinct change in physicality between Osha and Mae. I was so impressed by it because the first time we meet Osha, it’s just after Mae’s murdered Master Indara. And I immediately knew this was a different person than the murderer. Osha holds herself so differently than Mae does.

Mon: We’re going to have to agree to disagree here, because I felt that they missed the mark. I’ve watched the show twice now, and they don’t convey their characters’ emotions at all.

Ron: Oh no. I don’t want us to disagree! I really freaking loved Stenberg’s performances. Osha’s far more emotive than Mae is but she’s got that restraint that comes with Jedi training. But Mae’s primary emotion is anger so we don’t get to see her emote anything else.

Mon: Wow! How am I missing this? What is happening? There is a divergence in the Force and it ain’t good!

Ron: Hahahahaha. I think it becomes even more clear as we’re getting to the end of the show. When Osha and Mae switch places, by that point, they’re both questioning their past and their understanding of what happened. And the physicality starts to change but also the way they express themselves. By the final scene, Mae is relaxed and emotional, and she’s crying. But Osha is holding herself up and taut, refusing to let her emotions slip out. It’s like she’s unburdened her lightness into Mae and taken the dark side on. It’s so clever! But perhaps it was just too subtle?

Mon: Subtlety is not lost on me. I just don’t think they did a good job. But you know who did? Lee Jung-jae!

Ron: I think Master Sol, played by Lee Jung-jae, might be one of my favourite characters in all of Star Wars. In just 8 episodes, we got to see this extremely nuanced, flawed, deeply empathetic Jedi master who did something very wrong with the very best of intentions. The kindness on his face when he sees his padawan, Osha, I knew right then that I was going to love this character. He brought the serenity that we associate with Qui-Gon Jinn but with the pathos of Anakin Skywalker. Even knowing what he did, and it’s unforgivable, absolutely, I still love this character. He had an incredible arc. That final scene, when Osha is force choking him and he lets her, he accepts his fate, it was so emotional and moving.

Ron: Lee Jung-jae was phenomenal in this role. He learned English in just four months so he could play this character. To emote so beautifully and effectively in a foreign language. You can see how much he loves this universe!

Mon: Lee Jung-jae is so amazing that words cannot describe how wonderful he is in this role. He carries so much knowledge about his character’s past, present and future in his expressions from the very first episode onwards. It’s honestly mind-boggling. Sol in the first two episodes is written and performed to make you fall in love with him. He is a master like no other. He is a person so kind, so caring, it’s like, why can’t we have such loveliness in our real world? 

Mon: And then the other Mynock drops, and you learn the truth about Sol. 

Ron: There was so much foreshadowing! But I still hoped the truth wouldn’t be as bad. It was worse.

Ron: There are a lot of people who were upset that their new favourite character turned out to be a bad guy. But I think that’s a reductive reading of Sol. Everything he does in the present is to make up for his mistakes in the past on Brendok. He’s constantly working to redeem himself, and that’s what makes him a Jedi, not a Sith. I mean, Anakin Skywalker murdered Sandpeople and Jedi younglings and he still got redeemed.

Mon: What Sol did was wrong, but only because we saw the story from his victims’ points of view first. If we were following the Sandpeople, Anakin is probably the boogie man they tell their kids about all the time. But that’s not the angle we got; with Sol, Indara, et all, creator Leslye Headlund, intentionally wanted to give us a different point of view from the Jedi’s.

Ron: What a clever story decision. To show us the Witches’ way of life, the love that Aniseya has for her daughters and then to show us what the Jedi did to them.

Mon: Over at Soundsphere, I wrote about how the show challenges how we perceive the Jedi, but it doesn’t change our knowledge of them. It’s bizarre that so many people took umbrage to how The Acolyte depicted the workings of the Jedi, when we’ve witnessed, several times, that they have been taking Force-sensitive children away from their families forever, that they have an almost cult-like need for their followers to stay in line, or else they’re seen as a problem. The Jedi are hardly perfect, but while genocide isn’t in their mandate, it’s not like they’re not known to commit atrocities – either as part of the Clone Wars, or when their people go rogue, like Anakin did with the Sandpeople. 

Lightsaber duels

Ron: Unfortunately true. The Jedi are only the heroes of their own stories. But we can all agree that the coolest thing about the Jedi are their lightsabers, right? And that The Acolyte had the best lightsaber duels since the prequels. The energy, the speed, the range of techniques, the ferocity. This is lightsaber duelling!

Ron: Look, I know a lot of Star Wars fans want to move away from the Jedi. We got nine films in the Skywalker trilogy. It’s a bit weird for the fate of an entire galaxy to be tied to one dynasty, whether they’re blood-related or not. Which is why people wanted to move away from lightsaber-wielding Force-users. Then you get films like Rogue One which are mind-blowingly relatable, political and impactful, and there’s not a Jedi in sight. The Mandalorian and Andor also didn’t have Jedi in them – that’s changed for Mando, of course.

But I don’t think the problem is seeing more Jedi. We just need different Jedi, different eras. That’s exactly what The Acolyte gets right. We go a century into the past, the High Republic era, the Jedi reign supreme, no Sith in sight. And bam, now you’ve got Jedi at the top of their game, with skill levels that wowed us during the prequels.

Mon: People are never happy. Lightsaber duels are the best – when done well. We need more! I would love to see more Jedi. And we need a variety of personalities, like we had on The Acolyte. They can be a cult of emotionless monks, and still be interesting. Three trilogies and a bunch of animated shows already proved that was possible. 

Ron: What more proof do people need? But the lightsaber duels in this show are truly to die for. See what I did there? Maybe the fight between Sol and Mae wasn’t as well-paced, but when the Jedi go up against the Stranger? That’s edge-of-your-seat stuff. Jecki’s moves, her quick-thinking. You just know she would have risen up the ranks of the Jedi in no time had her life not been cut short.

Mon: Episode 5 is when I sat up and took notice of this show. I was like, okay, these people are not messing around. They’re doing something different here. They’re making an entire episode one long fight scene. They’re not scared to kill off our main heroes. They mean business!

Ron: What really impressed me is that Star Wars is over fifty years old. And yet, we get The Stranger, with his creepy-as-hell mask, made of Cortosis that shorts out lightsabers, and his moves are unlike anything the Jedi have ever seen. Considering this is the High Republic era where the Sith are basically unheard of, the Jedi must have felt like they were meeting a nightmare.

Mon: Sol even says to the Stranger that you’re using a Jedi weapon but you’re not a Jedi. These are Jedi who’ve mostly known peace, a killer like the Stranger is unfathomable to them. 

Ron: I got chills when Sol said that! And it got me thinking about something. We as the audience know about the Sith, but the Jedi in the show don’t. It’s really difficult to keep up the suspense and the stakes when the audience knows more than the characters. I spoke about this in a previous episode of Stereo Geeks about Dark Matter, the Apple TV show. There’s a reveal to the audience in the first episode that the characters take up to episode three to work out and it was painful to watch. The Acolyte worked from the same playbook but managed to ramp up the tension and build an atmosphere of fear for its protagonists. We keep saying it but this show is so clever. By the way, Dark Matter has been given a second season. But not The Acolyte.

Mon: Where’s the justice!

Twists

Ron: Speaking of the Stranger, what was a bigger twist? That Qimir was the Stranger? Or that he killed the wonderful Jecki Lon?

Mon: Jecki being killed was a bummer for me, so not much of a twist. But Qimir being the Stranger was like whaaaat! And it was so freaking clever, because I remember, we were watching the episode the first time, and I had just asked you if Qimir was still stuck hanging upside down and then pow, he’s the Stranger. I thought to myself, no way!

Mon: Part of me was like, but of course! Why would they cast Manny Jacinto and give him the role of a smarmy supplier? I mean, that can’t be it! Give me a break. They were smart. I didn’t see it coming though. My jaw dropped!

Ron: But Star Wars has cast big names in tiny roles before. Poe Dameron was going to die after two scenes until JJ Abrams realised he was too hot to die. 

Mon: Wait, is that true about Oscar? He was too hot to die? Because he totally was. 

Ron: Okay, so I may be embellishing a bit. But that’s totally what happened. Too hot to die. Yord, sadly, did not get that same treatment.

Mon: I feel you. Yeah, I do wish Yord and Jecki and Sol and Indara had survived. I love these guys so much. Yord and Jecki live on in a YA book. Indara too. Not sure when we’ll see Sol again. 

Ron: After they killed Jecki, I thought to myself, you’re going to let Yord live, surely? We deserve one of them to live. But nope! Yord’s neck saw the wrong end of the chiropractor’s twist.

Mon: Funny. That’s Yord humour, I’m sure of it.

Ron: Thank you. I aim to make him proud. Well, Sol doesn’t make it to the end of the season either. He gets killed by Osha. And Vernestra puts the blame on him for everything. The ignominy!

Mon: By the finale I figured that Sol wouldn’t make it. It was the final blow because I somehow still wanted him to. But, again, the showrunners know that you know what’s going to happen, so the finale is not about his death – it’s about us seeing the bleeding of a kyber crystal, and it’s about the Jedi protecting themselves, to such an extent they’ll drag one of their own through the mud. This show is gut-wrenchingly smart. 

Ron: Was anybody else squealing when the kyber bleeding happened? Because that was such a cool visual. I’ve always wondered about Sith blades, because I like Sith lightsabers, so this was a spiritual moment for me.

Mon: I did not know seeing a bleeding kyber was something that was so important to me, but apparently it was. Apparently, a stolen Jedi weapon is the only way a Sith can own a lightsaber – they must bleed the stolen kyber crystal to wield it. 

Ron: Ooooh, I love these details!

Ron: I will say, I really wanted Sol to live. Not just because he’s my new favourite character but also because I wanted to see him pay for his crimes. That would have been interesting to see. What does Jedi justice look like? Because in all of Star Wars, we’ve seen a lot of justice dispensed via lightsabers.

Mon: That’s such a good point. I agree.

Score and song

Ron: We do mention this a lot but we love listening to film and TV scores. I couldn’t wait to dig into The Acolyte’s score. Mostly because that Power of Two song by Victoria Monét was stellar!

Mon: I love that Power of Two song. When I did my rewatch, that was the one post-credits episode that I watched all the way through so I could listen to the full song. I need to add it to all my playlists. 

Mon: I haven’t heard the score. Just a tune here and there. Is it good? 

Ron: The Power of Two is such an addictive song. But the score itself is lovely. There are some throwbacks to familiar Star Wars tunes but for the most part, Michael Abels has constructed a new score. Part one of the score, episodes 1-4 had a lot of outstanding pieces. ‘Teacher and Student’, ‘An Acolyte’, obviously, ‘Combat in the Courtyard’, and my favourite is ‘Under the Bunta Tree’. I can’t wait for you to listen to this score!

Mon: I’ll give it a listen soon. 

Cancellation 

Ron: Obviously we’re upset by the cancellation because it’s a Star Wars show and we love to spend time in that universe. But for me, while I was watching it, I was so amazed that this show with this story and cast of characters existed in my lifetime. That I got to see it unfold every week for eight weeks and share in the joy and surprise of it with you and other fans. The fact that we won’t get another season, and if the loudmouths have their way, anything else like it, is what makes me feel so gutted. Life is tough and entertainment is our only escape. But that escape is being denied to only select groups, while others have so much made just for them. I know I sound bitter, but that’s how I feel right now.

Mon: I feel you. As I said, I wasn’t sure how I’d approach a second season, because I wasn’t all that invested in the characters who were left, but I was dying to get back in this world. I am so annoyed that anything slightly different from the norm gets squashed. And why? Because the loudest idiots don’t know how a weekly television show works and that women and people of colour love and can create art that’s smarter than these loudmouths? Man, I just don’t have the words for this nonsense. 

Favourite Moments

Ron: Instead of wallowing in sadness, let’s relive some of our favourite moments from the show.

Mon: Some of my favourite moments… honestly, it’s tough, because there are some detailed hints to what’s happening or going to happen, that take this show to another level. But, a few things I loved were:

Sol in the first two episodes - absolutely the kindest, loveliest human being. He will steal your heart.

The Stranger reveal - devastating as we’re still reeling from the murder of Jecki. And the Stranger’s catty comment about Sol bringing a child to a fight that eventually led to her death, gutwrenching. 

The two-part episode directed by Kogonada. It’s divided into episodes 3 and 7, and my word, they are so perfectly directed to give you two completely different storylines. Truly brilliant work. 

Ron: I’m not sure if it counts as a favourite moment but it’s the moment I knew this show would be so much better than I had hoped. When Master Indara was killed. I was sorry to see the end of her but her demise signalled that nothing was as it seemed. I knew I was going to love this show from that very moment.

Mon: Fascinating. Expect the unexpected with this one.

Ron: Other favourite moments would be every time Yord and Jecki were in a scene together. You could see how much they hated each other’s guts. Hilarious. That dynamic would have been a joy to see more of. But we are getting a YA novel, which I’m going to nab the moment I see it.

Ron: So, I mean, I don’t mean to be horny on main here, but the Stranger dipping into the pool while Osha is watching. That’s a universal favourite moment, right? I said it so you don’t have to. But we’re all thinking it.

Mon: You’re hilarious. But you’re not wrong. 

Ron: Would I be cheating if I said all of the finale? Because the entire finale is a favourite of mine. Every single second is incredible, unexpected, and a gut-punch. Love it to the moon and back.

Mon: That’s high praise coming from you. 

Ron: It had everything! Sol’s death, the lightsaber bleeding, the sisters coming together and then deciding to part ways. Vernestra being the worst and putting all the blame on Sol. And we haven’t even mentioned David Harewood’s Senator Rayencourt, who was taking the Jedi to task about their mysterious ways. That scene between the Senator and Vernestra was such an indictment of the Jedi way. I didn’t expect it and I was honestly, blown away by the tension. Also, David Harewood owns every scene he’s in.

Mon: I’m not the biggest fan of Vernestra, but she’s got a good PR brain. Can’t fault that woman’s crisis communications abilities, even if it means throwing her dead friend under the bus. 

What we would have loved to see in a season 2

Mon: Had we got a second season, I would have loved to see more of the Jedi. Maybe some actual investigations and mysteries? I would also have loved to see them veer away from a boring hetero romance between the Stranger and Osha – because, I could not see that, they had no chemistry. Plus he’s toxic and she’s lost – we’ve seen this dynamic before, in the Reylo stuff. That’s a no for me. 

I think the show would have actually been gay if we’d got a second season, as well. But so much for that. 

Ron: A second season would have seen Rayencourt tearing the Jedi to shreds on the senate floor. And then he would mysteriously disappear and it would somehow be Sol’s fault. 

Mon: Yes. Yes. I see it. 

Ron: Also, Master Yoda would be implicated in the cover-up, which would explain why he’s been straight up lying to the Jedi for another 100 years.

Mon: Can you imagine having to remember this many details for 100 years? I’m pretty sure Yoda just deleted this hiccup in his history. 

Ron: Yeah, you’re probably not wrong. 50 years from now he’s like, Vernestra who? What is this Sith you speak of?

Mon: Don’t we know it!

Ron: Okay, I think we lightened the mood, despite the crushing disappointment we feel. I’m going to be happy that we got one season. We got incredible, multi-dimensional characters who made us feel all the emotions and whom we’re going to miss. I can’t remember the last time I fell so instantly in love with new characters. I’m so glad The Acolyte exists and that we got to see it. Bring on the extended universe literature.

Mon: The Acolyte is my favourite live-action Star Wars show, so yeah, this sucks. But at least we have this one season, and hopefully some tie-ins that we can enjoy.

[what-gs-watching]

“Everything you do, you’re doing for someone you care about.”

Fun fact, kiddos - it’s now been just over a year since I was fired and that is absolutely wild to me. It doesn’t feel like that long, and it feels infinitely longer. I honestly wasn’t sure I was going to get through it for a while there, but I’m pretty thankful for where I ended up. It turns out, workplace trauma is a real thing even if I feel stupid saying it, and it’s weird and thrilling to finally be in a situation where I feel seen and supported. 

And I have to say, I appreciate that I’ve had this little corner to rage through all of those inconvenient and gross and upsetting feelings, while content has kept my spirits up (or appropriately down). The internet can be a wonderful place. 

And so is this season of Only Murders In the Building. It can be hard for a show to maintain quality the longer it goes on sometimes, but honestly OMITB is only getting BETTER. My sister was texting to say this might be the best season yet, and she might be right. 

DISCUSS.

Episode 2: Gates of Heaven

GANG. Steve Martin is fucking incredible. This episode was soooo good. After discovering Sazz’s remains in the incinerator, Charles is still covered in her ashes and it’s heartbreaking to see him shaking and panicking about trying to wash ‘her’ off - the entire scene of him in the bathroom trying to wash it into a bowl so he can pour the water into a mason jar and let it evaporate - jesus. It was ridiculous but like, how else do you react to that? I can’t imagine. 

And then the crew has to figure out what to do, deciding to capitalize on having some time before the police arrive, because NYC’s 911 line has an incredibly long wait.

So Charles and Mabel go to investigate the tenants of the Arconia’s west tower, who apparently are all lowly renters (GASP! The horror) since they’re convinced the shot must have come from across the courtyard. They insist that Charles stay in his apartment, he was clearly the target, and so he waits and he frets and he’s on hold and of course he’s seeing visions of Sazz. Just like Mabel had with Tim Kono. But it’s more devastating, more satisfying this time, because we’d seen some of their friendship and I love that they delve into it even further. 

Having Sazz do the voiceover on this episode really was perfection. 

And how good was the surprise visitor Charles gets while he’s hiding out in the apartment? It makes me think that Sazz’s killer got in to drag her body to the incinerator through the tunnels. “A mix of parkour and psychosexual manipulation” is up there on the list of best quotes of the series, for sure.

Meanwhile, the Westies are WEIRD and Mabel and Oliver end up playing a card game with them called “Oh Hell” which the internet tells me is actually a real thing and apparently they also hang a pig leg in the bathroom that they chop at with a knife? It’s all very suspicious.

But the most important part of the episode is when Charles describes working with Sazz, how he’d do his scene up until the most dangerous part and they’d yell “CUT” and Sazz would say “tap in” and finish the stunt. She took every single hit for him.

Also, the scene where Charles describes Sazz helping him make friends on the set of Brazzos? Jesus. “You took care of me in every way a person could take care of someone.” My heart, y’all. 

Eventually, once the police have come and gone (I love that Detective Williams shows up and is exasperated with them as always - “shut the fuckin’ fuck up”) they luminol the floor and discover that with her last bit of strength, Sazz scrawled “tap in”. She absolutely knew what was going to happen. How effing devastating.

Episode 3: Two For the Road

Obviously I’m going to say I loved this episode because of my frankly unhealthy love of Zach Galifaniakis. I can’t stop, I won’t stop - detective Williams and I have that in common. She shows up at the beginning to feed the gang information since the FBI has taken over the case, and when she sees Zach walk into the apartment she loses her mind, and I’ve never felt so seen - “scrumptious fuckable baklava” indeed. 

Of course Mabel is upset their movie doppelgangers have shown up by Oliver is over the moon, he wants to convince Zach to get into his character, so they decide to split up with their actors to investigate.

Y’all, Eva Longoria is obnoxious immediately. Like, absolutely the worst. Talking about “her Mabel”. But I just finished rewatching Schitt’s Creek so I really enjoyed Eugene Levy being SO into Charles. It’s adorable. He’s convinced Charles is some deep, fearless savant. 

Eugene and Charles trying to get the Westie with the eye patch to remove it because they are wanting to see if he has a bruise from a potential gun kickback, is pure awkward comedy gold. They’re “yes and”-ing each other. Hilarious.

Eva and Mabel end up at Christmas-all-the-time guy’s apartment and Kumail Nanjiani plays it really well. Kid really is fit. And Eva is still the worst, but I love that it turns out that he actually hates Christmas, but keeps up the charade because his most successful fitness video was Christmas-themed and he’s now he’s trapped because social media is a fucking disease (she says, writing a blog entry she’ll post to complete strangers).

OBVIOUSLY though,  my favorite part of the entire thing though is the fucking montage of Zach and Oliver learning Oliver’s character. Zach playing the flute and their matching shoes  and their creepy ass smiles and running with shopping bags and the little kick at the end. Holy hell, he’s beautiful. 

But he’s also a dick, he pretends he’s invested in Oliver only to talk shit behind his back. He’d told his agent he wanted to play deep, psychosexual dramatic characters and he thinks Oliver is just a pure fluffy narcissist. Howard’s speech in defense of him is sweet and also depressing as hell but it turns Zach around, at least. “You’re this technicolor cockroach refuses to die. I HATE you, but I love you.” 

Funnily enough, at the end of the day, Eugene realizes Charles isn���t complex, he’s just a chicken shit. How the turn tables. 

They do end up with some clues though - a picture of the Westies with one person’s faced scratched out, the ‘tinsel’ they found in the sniper’s nest isn’t tinsel at all, and after Mabel decides she’s going to squat in the empty apartment/crime scene in the West Tower, they get a warning from a stranger on the ham radio they’d stolen and monitored. Shit’s coming together…

Episode 4: The Stunt Man

I think y’all know what my favorite part of this episode was, but we’ll get there in a second because right away we’re back to Charles seeing visions of Sazz. This time he’s dreaming she’s wandering through a forest and he’s trying to catch up with her. I really appreciate that he isn’t discounting what he’s going through, he immediately gets up and sets to work creating a murder board especially for her, and he includes what he says to her in the dream, she’s trying to get to “paradise”. Charles does not seem like the type to lean into his mind running away like this, but he’s doing it for her. 

It’s the emotional stakes that are making this season so satisfying, for sure. 

While Charles is doing that, we find out that Oliver is down a social media rabbit hole because he’s worried about his relationship with Loretta and he found a picture of her posted with a mystery dude hugging her so he does what any insane teen would do, and he creates a finsta. Which is hilarious. And even more hilarious because he’s doing his internet stalking on the world’s largest ipad. The back and forth about his brightness setting was absolutely hilarious. 

But social media leads them to a bar Sazz had been at the day she died, and here is where we get to my favorite part. It’s a stunt man bar because that’s totally a thing, and who do they stumble upon while trying and failing to get any information? Ben Glenroy’s stunt double!!!!!!

AKA, Paul Rudd with a weird Irish accent and a missing tooth. Fucking amazing. What an incredible way to utilize him. I just can’t. His attempts at impressing them with his stunt double moves is so ridiculously silly. What a charming little weirdo. 

Turns out Sazz was there to see a chiropractor because she was in consistent pain from all her years as Charles’ double, she’d told the doctor that she was retiring because of a relationship she was in - she said she was tired of giving more than she got, but she didn’t know how to get away. Obviously, Charles thinks she was talking about him but could that be a red herring, y’all? 

Charles’s guilt drives him to ‘tap in’, and he volunteers to lay in state for Sazz’s funeral at the stunt man bar because they said “no body, no funeral”, and it’s really sweet. He gets pelted with breakaway bottles and the entire affair devolves into a brawl because Ben Glenroy’s double somehow ended up with a real bottle and while Charles is passed out from the blow, he remembers that that Sazz had a life dream to open a trampoline park for kids so she could teach them how to fall. 

Oh, and Mabel discovers that the Westies are probably not a cult, and are just participating in a rent-control scheme - Professor Dudenoff had rented all of the apartments on the floor, and he lets them sublet from them because they are just straight up weirdos. He sends them ham and they pay him $200 a month (???! holy shit), and they tell Mabel all of this because they’re gonna cut her in, as long as she keeps it out of the podcast - she’s the right kind of weirdo for them, apparently. 

So I guess that makes sense, but there’s got to be other shit going on, right? There has to be. And clearly there is, because when the gang heads out to the site of Sazz’s never-built trampoline park, they stumble upon the producer of their movie, who immediately proceeds to point a GUN at them. What the eff? 

Here’s my thing about shows like this: I never really want to try and figure out what’s going on. The ride is the best part. And so far, OMITB is delivering like only it can. What a gift.

[tidesreach]

Can we talk about 7x04 for a minute? Still to this day; out of all the episodes from the season, it is the most discussed? Why? If the show wanted us to believe Tommy was the person who buck wanted their attention, WHY is there a debate? The more i think and the more i look at the bigger picture, i can see. The episode is purpoursly trying to make it a debate between both Eddie and Tommy. That way, ABC is able to test out the waters. Another thing is, Christopher. Christopher isn’t even in the episode but yet is mentioned and a small but important plot. If this was truly about Tommy, AND NOT EDDIE, why involve Eddie? Why didn’t they parallel Tommy to 2x01. Where after the boat cruise, he comes back to the 118 and is jealous of everyone. Buck thinks he will come back for his spot. Eddie didn’t need to be involved. They could have easily done chimney. What stopped buck from reaching out to Tommy after the air hanger. NOTHING? He never called or texted… NEITHER DID TOMMY REACH OUT BACK…. also, idk if anyone realized buck Tommy knew he was going te to hang out with Eddie THE SAME DAY, and YET CONTINUED to invite buck… AND LEFT HIM ALONE AND STRANDED. maybe that was a potential foreshadowing? why show us the last maybe minute before they begin to talk about Eddie and where Eddie is NOW in the frame. Why didn’t they show the beginning where buck comes and meets Tommy? Buck getting upset at Eddie for having on his calendar the basketball game and it being circled. Buck grilling Christopher on his thoughts about Tommy? When did he care about Christophers thoughts before about his dads girlfriends or friends? Accusing Tommy of lying to get bonus points with Chris. You think he truly cared which movie is better? Buck putting up AIR QUOTES “chris thinks he’s so cool”. Really? That’s the way the show is trying to tell us, he likes Tommy? If so, they did a piss poor job. Why does he try to make him a bad guy to Maddie? He really didn’t have the time to talk to Eddie to go to the basketball game? Really? You mean to tell he HAD to wait until the gym scene? Or hell… even ask Tommy or chimney to go. Or, just go up to Eddie, and “hey, is there a spot for the basketball game this week?”. Literally simple as that. They made buck deliver AT THE station a basketball. Even before that, buck wanted Eddie to spot him so by grunting and moaning to get his attention? So he could talk about it Tommy💀💀💀. That’s what you are trying to tell me💀💀 PLEASE. Tommy says to buck “my attention” after buck told him “trying to get your attention has been exhausting” and I’m like just where is this on my screen. Is it a deleted scene? Before the kiss, Eddie and Christopher are mentioned literally the most throughout. The way Tommy says to buck “you know Eddie can have more than 1 friend” and “that kid cannot shut up about you” and the way buck smiles. I truly and honestly believe buck did have an attraction to Tommy, but was scared he was losing Eddie and Chris. Otherwise why act like a child? Why hurt Eddie ON PURPOSE to simply get Tommy’s “attention”. Otherwise why act like a child? Why hurt Eddie ON PURPOSE to simply get Tommy’s “attention”. Or better yet, when speaking with Maddie after he hurt Eddie,

Maddie says “you don’t mean to hurt HIM, did you”,

Buck: I was pissed, you know? Seeing him and Tommy being such good friend after only two weeks. I FELT LEFT OUT and I guess I was trying to get his attention.

Maddie: Well, that's not how you get someone's attention.You clear your throat. You tap them on the shoulder. You don't hurt them.

Buck: I know, Maddie. Trust me, I feel awful.

This entire conversation is about Eddie. They don’t need to say his name. The context is regarding someone who Buck had HURT.

yeah. that's it. i think that's what bothers me most about all of this. it's that considering and discussing any of this, like the actual context of it all, is somehow considered now as being delusional. but the thing is, a (seemingly) very deliberate choice has been made to incorporate eddie into buck's sexuality arc. like, i do think buck likes and is attracted to tommy. that is clear. but it is also clear that a lot (most, even) of buck's feelings in 7x04 are tangled up and misplaced. he is very obviously trying to get eddie's attention throughout, he just isn't in a place where he is able to recognise or acknowledge that. or subconsciously he doesn't want to. because feeling something like that for someone so fucking important, so intrinsic to your life, is very dangerous. and well. especially to the guy who's terrified of abandonment, so. of course he doesn't want to feel anything that could jeopardise what he and eddie (and christopher) have.

like, YEAH. as you said, there are multiple instances where it is very obviously about eddie. to the extent where even tommy is like, wait. "my attention?" and i think there's an argument to be made there that tommy doesn't want to question it more, wants to take it at face value because. well, because he clearly has a lot of his own issues. he's jealous of the 118, this version of the 118 that he's not part of but wants to be. and buck is validating his place in it and it feels good. like, purely from context clues (because honestly the show has given us NOTHING on tommy. which, well. interesting choice) there's a sense that tommy wants to be part of this 118 because the 118 he was a part of (an active part of in some of the worst ways) is something he's ashamed of. like, i don't know whether he sees this as a second chance or a redemption or what, but he clearly wants to be a part of it. that jealously keeps cropping up, and it's a very deliberate choice. he says himself that he's jealous of the family the 118 has become. and i think his relationship with buck is less about buck and more about the 118. and his friendship with eddie and how much he put into that is also evidence of that. like, HONESTLY. i think tommy is aware that buck's deranged behaviour in 7x04 wasn’t really about him, but he doesn't question buck on it because that way he can believe it was. like buck's "i guess so" in reply to tommy's "my attention?" was enough for him. no need to look at that more closely. you know?

anyway, i digress. what i am trying to say is i think it's being written in a very deliberate way and everything you have mentioned there speaks to that. the fact that eddie and christopher were tangled up in buck's feelings about tommy speaks to that. they could have went literally any other way about it, eddie and christopher didn't need to be involved in it. except they were. except maybe they did need to be involved. because maybe it wasn’t about tommy. eddie is literally haunting the narrative. 7x04 speaks for itself. 7x05 buck's main concern is that he's lying to eddie. 7x06 eddie is there, popping up between them (dressed in a suit that matches buck's no less). 7x09 the camera pans to eddie. at almost every turn the show has chose to highlight eddie's presence rather than develop the relationship. so, well. what am i supposed to think? either it's very clever storytelling leading to buck and eddie figuring their shit out or. it's just really bad storytelling.

[babacontainsmultitudes]

Now for a long, disorganized ramble about Scary and Lark, feat. Sparrow and Normal

I really wanted to talk about this in way that was more logically organized, but after today’s episode (25) I *need* to talk about Scary and Lark. I’m certainly not breaking new ground in stating that there are parallels between the two of them, but still it’s just-

It’s just- they’re so similar. It’s the way Scary is so unnecessarily cruel in a way that feels so reminiscent of how Lark was with Henry post-rogue in season 1. Scary doesn’t know why she feels how she feels, so she tries to justify it, tries to find explanations for her feelings at every chance she can get. Surely Lark would have had things to work out with Henry either way but, the rogue card no doubt worsened and solidified things on that front and, at the risk of straying a bit farther into speculation, I have to imagine he was very confused by these feelings. He suddenly hates his father so much, and knows nothing of the rogue card’s effect on him, so it’s only natural that he’d try to make sense of these feelings. Then Walter gets seriously injured, and Lark can mostly tie his anger to that for a while (I do think Lark was genuinely very upset by what happened to Walter, but the degree to which he blames Henry for it is irrational, and deep down I think Lark understands this too, but I digress). Walter didn’t have to get hurt for Lark to become so deeply resentful of Henry, that just gave Lark a false pretense for where those feelings came from (as for the reasons I think Lark actually resents Henry- that’ll be for another post another time).

So Scary and Lark are both confused by their own feelings and internally try to justify them. They lash out, they lie, they’re cruel, and they push everyone away. They confuse their coldness with strength, or “doing what has to be done” (a bit more on this later). Their behavior distances them from the rest of the group, either of their own volition, or as punishment (like in the end of today’s ep.).

Enter Willy, who correctly identifies the weakest link twice in a row. Willy, who knows he can use Lark and Scary’s isolation and resentment to his advantage, and does so without them realizing they’re being manipulated. Lark stabs Henry. Scary doesn’t stab Tony, but she might as well have. Willy has successfully led them to the tipping point, people get hurt, and everything is worse now.

Enter Sparrow and Normal. I see the world through Oak-tinted glasses, so yes we have to talk about them. I really wanted to talk about this after episode 24, so I’m scolding myself for only getting to it now, but I’ve become increasingly convinced that Scary and Normal’s relationship parallels Lark and Sparrow’s. Honestly, I think the whole exploration of that is still gonna have to be a separate post, but let’s talk about Sparrow for a bit, shall we?

For starters, I think it’s fairly easy to understand even without specific examples on hand that Sparrow tries desperately to stay by Lark’s side, largely at his own expense. Lark literally slept with his wife and that wasn’t enough for Sparrow to cut him out (or at least distance himself). In ep. 24 Lark is particularly abrasive with his brother, who seems to be so used to putting up with it at this point that he’s completely unfazed by it. I think Sparrow is no doubt angry with Lark, his performance in ep. 23 makes this pretty clear (even if there’s still so much left up to speculation from that scene). But I also think Sparrow still cares deeply for his brother, feels responsible for Lark to some degree, and will enable him so long as it means being able to keep Lark in his life and not let his brother slip any further into isolation than he already has.

And I think Sparrow deeply understands how big of a hand Willy had in his brother’s undoing. I dare say Sparrow blames Willy for Lark’s actions more than Lark blames Willy for them. So when he sees history repeating itself with Scary, he loses it. This is the most direct attempt anyone makes to stop Scary from being manipulated by Willy, and unfortunately, it is largely in vain.

Normal, on his end, bends over backwards to be empathetic with Scary, even when she really doesn’t deserve it. Normal has so much on his plate, so much to be upset about, but repeatedly ignores or understates his own feelings to validate Scary’s. Even when her cruelty is directed at him, he tries so hard to be receptive of her emotions. I’ll try to collect some concrete examples of this in a follow-up post, I think, because they really are plentiful. And like his dad with Lark, even though he means well, Normal unintentionally enables Scary every time that he does this.

So, admittedly without a very smooth segway, when Normal says they’re not going to kill the Doodler, and Lark reprimands Sparrow for being too soft with Norm, and just a bit later this exchange happens:

Lark: Yes, not trusting us. That's a very smart move. Scary, you're learning. Good job, Scary. 

Scary: Heh-heh-heh! 

Lark: You can learn something from Scary, Normal.

Scary: Yeah, you could, Normal!

It says so much, but it also just kind of makes sense. Lark and Scary both progressively learn to keep those around them at arm’s length. What’s more, they are both convinced that sometimes you really do just need to be cruel to get things done, as evidenced in Scary’s case by her decision at the end of today’s episode.

So let’s talk about that ending. As much as things went from 0 to 100 quick, I think what we got was in actuality a long time coming. Apart from Sparrow’s aforementioned outburst, any attempts to lead Scary away from Willy have been passive at best, and more akin to “do what you want but we don’t want him anywhere near us” at worst. Otherwise, there’s been a lot of tension building up between Norm and Scary, so I think that actually makes it so much more intense and perhaps even shocking when it’s Link who finally puts his foot down and kicks Scary out of the group. But with everything discussed up until now, I would say that this actually makes a lot of sense! Link is much more capable than Norm of setting boundaries (see his interactions with Grant), and even with what happened today I just don’t know if Norm would have had it in him to do that to Scary.

So where do we go from here? Hell if I know! I for one have not given up on Scary (or Lark for that matter), and I feel in my heart that Normal won’t either, but that remains to be seen. I’m so curious about how all the teens are gonna be in the next episode, and what will become of the dynamic from here on out. Who will blame Scary, who will blame Willy, and who will blame them both? How is Scary going to come back from this? Who is going to be the one to help her?*cough* Norm, I’m saying it’ll be Norm There’s just so much to think about.

Gosh I spent way too long on this- and it’s kind of a mess, but hopefully it makes at least a bit of sense!

[a-smol-storm-gt-nomfs-blog]

A not so secret, secret santa

@onthefreighttrain hehe >:D Jimmy and Joel had been, to put it lightly, at each other's throats, although most of the antagonizing was coming from Joel’s behalf. The so-called ‘God’ had started to push his boundaries though. Before you ask, no, it’s not the pranks. In fact, Jimmy has a good laugh at those. He even has to admit that the wall around his empire was actually neat looking. The small man blinked a couple times and opened his eyes. He stretched out his arms and his eyes glossed over at the patchwork. Yeah, exactly what he meant. Whatever Joel had done was changing him. Jimmy slid his sleeve down; his eyes traced the work gloves scar had given him. He had become more and more interested in trying them, but he hated how they felt. They were used to help reduce calluses on builders, but they always made his hands super sweaty. It made sense. The material was thick to protect the builders hands, and well, he lived in a desert. Thinking about it, Scar seemed to use them for his building all the time. He didn’t seem to have a problem with the heat. Though, most of the time he used the shadows of the stuff he had built to hide from the sun. It made sense. Scar had built twice, well once really, in deserts. Back in hermitcraft season 5, Scar had done a similar thing to what Jimmy was doing now. And well, 3rd life was pretty much all Grian. Jimmy started towards the door before sighing, stepping back, and picking up the gloves. He should probably go resource gathering anyways. He slid them on and tested finger movements. It was smooth. He kneeled down and picked up his axe from where it laid against the wall. “Wow,” Jimmy said quietly to himself. He expected the axe to slip, but he held it perfectly as if he weren't wearing the gloves at all. “These are well made. Scar was right!”It also explains how the hermits built their tower so quickly. Honestly, the building gloves weren’t used as much on empires before this. Sausage, Joel, and Scott were the only ones with a couple pairs before. That made sense though. They make the most, building wise, and it would have just been easier on them. It’s honestly when Jimmy first used them. It felt fine out in the open plains, but back at the desert it was just too hot. Jimmy headed up the stairs towards his portal. He ran his hand over the obsidian. He couldn’t feel the heat that normally would come with it. Soon he stepped in, the nauseating feeling hit. It wasn’t really all bad, you got used to it. His feet slid onto the ground, and he started towards the portal closest to spawn: Joel’s. The chance of getting face to face with the god was little to none, though. Oh boy was he wrong. The second he stepped through the portal, the man stood there talking to Grian. Of course, the two people he didn’t want to see. Grian’s head snapped towards him with a smirk on his face. “Well hello Tim,” Grian cooed teasingly. “What nowwww…” Jimmy groaned. “Aww what? I’m not even doing anything.” “Oh please, Grian, it’s you, you can’t not do anything.” “You think so little of me,” Grian says, turning his head playfully upset. Joel let out a laugh as Jimmy stepped out of the portal and into the snow. “Wait, you guys got snow?” He asked confusedly, snapping the others out of their giggle fits. “Oh yeah, I suppose you don’t get that down in the badlands, do you?” Joel said. “Well, that's why Grian was here. I was talking about ideas on how to stop it from covering all the paths while also making it look good. I didn’t think about it when making plans.” Jimmy let out a little laughing huff through his nose. “Well I was going to get wood, not sure if I could- er, well, should do that now.” Jimmy lowered his axe. Grian’s eyes traced his movements. “You started wearing the gloves?” The avian remarked. “Oh yeah,” Jimmy said, showing his free hand. “I’m kinda glad I did, again because of the snow.”“Wait, why are you wearing the gloves?” Grian asked, Jimmy paused for a second. “I was starting to get calluses. Might need to fix my axe as well. It has a couple splinters in the handle.” Grian shrugged, seeing no reason to disagree, but Joel smiled. “Are you sure that’s the only reason?” Joel asked, placing a hand on Jimmy’s shoulder. It took a couple seconds but Jimmy yanked himself away with his right hand grabbing at his far shoulder. The sheriff turned his head, teeth biting his lip in pain. Joel had that same smirk, but Grian’s was faltering. Jimmy’s vision blurred, and as it did, he started to fall. The sheriff could barely make out the parrot running at him, worried and calling out his name. He felt something soft and warm catch him. His head felt awful and there was loud calling surrounding him. Something soft touched his back and he pulled into it letting out a pained groan due to the headache. After what felt like a couple munities his headache began to clear. His eyes opened and he saw they were holding a familiar red fabric. He looked around slowly. He was cradled in what seemed to be Grian’s arms. The avian was fluffed up and seemed to be shouting- wait, he was shouting at Joel. Jimmy let out a pained moan and Grian’s arguing stopped. The avian looked down at the tiny in his hand. “You okay?” the larger asked, voice shaking a little. “Headache,” Jimmy said. There was some shuffling, and the tiny saw the avian stand. His eyes slid over to Joel, whose head hung in defeat. Jimmy’s head flipped between the two. He knew Grian was defensive, but he rarely yelled at anyone. “Where are you taking me?” Jimmy asked, starting to get scared. Grian looked down at him with a saddened expression. “To Tango. I’m not sure what Joel did to you, and it’s best you’re with someone who won’t hurt you more.” Jimmy blinked a couple times, confused, but nuzzled into Grian’s sweater more. “Mmkay,” he murmured before looking down. Wait, why wasn’t he cold? There was snow, but he didn’t feel cold, in fact he couldn’t feel the heat from Grian’s body like he had before. Jimmy pulls up his sleeve and sees his whole arm full of stitches. Same with his legs when he rolled up his pant’s sleeve. “What?” Jimmy asked aloud. Grian looked at him and saw what the smaller one was looking at. Jimmy heard the growl and looked up to Grian whose teeth bared as he gave one last angry look to Joel before spreading his wings. Although Grian wasn’t really built for the snow, he shot through the air, aiming for the cave. “Grian, I- I’m scared. I don’t want him to see me like this.” “He’ll take care of you though. He wont judge you for this. In fact, I think he’d murder Joel.”Jimmy relaxed at that. “I wouldn’t mind that,” he jokes, making Grian laugh a little. The avian’s flying slowed as the cave showed up. Soon the parrot was on the tracks and making his way in on the rails. Grian’s wings opened again as he slowly descended. A familiar blue light showed and Grian headed towards it, landing nearby. Tango turned to greet Grian, pulling the goggles off his eyes. “Hiya buddy? What’s up?” Grian smiled and moved the stiff Jimmy into his hands. “I have something for you.” Tango looks down at Grian’s hands and lets out a happy squeak. “Just be careful with ‘em, ‘mkay?” Tango nodded, pulling the small toy into his chest. Jimmy’s face flushed and he looked at Grian slowly, who just smiled widely. “Well, I’ve got some stuff to get. Have fun with that!” Tango nodded and walked back into the bamboo farm. He made a comfy chair and placed Jimmy in it. “I’ll be back for you. I’ve got some redstone to take care of first.” Jimmy watched out of the corner of his eyes and Tango jumped down into a hole. The clicking and jittering of redstone machinery was on and off. The doll figured he was fixing something that broke. Soon Tango re-emerged, redstone staining his clothes and sweat dripping down his face. Jimmy sat there in stunned silence, a good stunned silence. Jimmy knew Tango was built already. The man carried deep slate everywhere, and it was heavy stuff! Tango looked over to his small friend and smiled. Jimmy could barely not smile as Tango took off his larger coat, leaving him in a black tank top. It didn’t help when Timmy was picked up by the hot man and held close to the large hermit’s heart. The sound of it beating was relaxing, but he was being pushed gently into the large abs. Though now, he could see all those muscles at work as well. Oh wow, it was hot. Well, Tango was a fire demon, but that’s not exactly what he was trying to point out. The demon gently slid his fingers down the tiny’s face, who leaned into it a little. Tango smiled and headed back to his hut. “Man, I really wish I could talk to you.” Tango says to the plushy. “I miss you.”Jimmy went to respond, but was surprised when nothing came out. ‘W-what?’ Jimmy thought to himself. He was just speaking with Grian hours ago, was he choking on something? Again, he tried to speak, but nothing came out of his mouth. His throat felt fine, his breathing felt normal, so why?Jimmy’s spiraling thoughts stopped as he was placed on a large red bed. It was a really nice bed, too. It was thick but super soft. It made sense though, as the cave would be pretty cold and damp. All Jimmy could really do was watch as Tango disappeared behind a corner towards what the smaller assumed to be his bathroom. The tiny let out a sigh. At least he got to spend time with Tango. And well, Jimmy wouldn’t trade that for the world.

[byersfanclub]

the one thing i honestly just do not like about melvins is that they’re perfectly okay with the duffers writing will to be rejected, to have his friendship tainted, to have him suffer for two seasons already watching the boy he has feelings for be with someone else, to have him get the cliché and overdone “he’ll never love you back” trope that’s been drilled into the ground for queer characters. they’re perfectly okay with queer suffering because “will is just a tragic character” and as long as they can keep their fantasy of a “beautiful” couple that melvin is to them. they don’t actually care about will, because if they did, they’d be rooting for him and his happiness does not lie with being rejected and getting a random boyfriend when he’s already established to have deep romantic feelings for mike, this isn’t a measly crush like dustin and lucas had with max in season two, this is love. it’s fucked up tbh of anyone to think that will deserves anything less than for mike to love him back (and i could make an entire vice versa post about this but of mike) part of will’s story is about his queerness, about finding love in an otherwise “loveless” world for people like him and they’re already proving it’s possible with robin and vickie. will is the ONLY main character to not get a significant other throughout the entire show so far, even whilst telling us that girls do like him (but obviously he’s gay so it doesn’t help) and it really REALLY upsets me that people think he just deserves to end up alone because “gay men rarely got happy endings back then so it’s realistic”. so i’m going to have to ask two things of these people: 1. do your research of lgbt history and what it was actually like and not what your homophobe parents taught you or 2. find a different fandom.

[stilldancewithyou]

This was posted earlier today. I have the updated article on my tumblr page. I think I’m ok with it if it happens. I think it heightens the emotions between Belly and Conrad. 🤔Thoughts?

Thank you so much (and shout out to the anons who sent me links. I'm gonna respond to all of y'all collectively with this one).

Honestly, at first my jaw was on the floor and I was just sitting there silently in shock. And I was kinda mad and upset. I just feel like they did this same exact thing with TATBILB and I just don't understand why she would spend so much time writing the characters a certain way and building such a beautiful little world with such respectful men and then changing such a big part of a characters beliefs and the way they were written. I know people are saying "JH is making it more sex positive and bringing the story into 2023" but tbh I don't think having a boundary and wanting to wait for the right moment (bc Belly DOES want to have sex (with both brothers at different points I'd argue) and she thinks about it in the books. she just wanted it to be special and the right moment). I don't think there's anything wrong with showing that and showing boys who respect the boundary and don't push it or force it. I think that is the most healthy thing you could show. Even though Jere has his flaws and gets annoyed about Belly not having sex with him, he doesn't really push her on it, he just respects the boundary and is silently mad about it. In hs my best friend had a boyfriend who was SUPER pushy, she was honest with him and kept telling him "no, i'm not ready yet" and he just kept pushing her about it, and eventually they broke up and she realized how awful that behavior (among other red flag behavior from him) was. I just feel like the message being sent to young girls today is not a good one and I was actually kind of excited to see a show that would portray sex in a different light. I clowned myself because I thought since JH is the showrunner, she'd keep the important things from the books. But I guess this is a battle we are losing lol. That Christmas scene was so so good in the book, and the way Conrad is with Belly, how he recognizes the importance and wants it to be special for her...I was really looking forward to that.

After much consideration, I think I'm actually okay with it, as long as it's Conrad. And I have a feeling it is going to be Conrad, in Cousins in December. That's kind of the only way it would make sense is if it happens there. Also the fact that they bring up the fact that she loses her virginity immediately following "Tung...wanted to ensure that key moments from the second book...carried the same weight and resonance when adapted for the screen". The first thing that popped into my head after I read that was the Christmas in Cousins scene, because I felt like that whole thing resonated heavily in the book and it was really important. Also if I'm right and it is Conrad in Cousins, it actually adds more flames to the fire and more angst to the 3rd book storyline, because if she doesn't sleep with Jere but he finds out somehow that she did sleep with Conrad, and then finds out she ended up alone with him in Cousins again and didn't tell him? Oh that will be GOLD. Jere sleeping with the sorority sister could still carry the same amount weight. Just because the audience knows she lost her virginity to Conrad doesn't mean any of the other characters are going to know. And Conrad strikes me as a guy who wouldn't kiss and tell (and especially his own jealous little brother and Belly's older brother lol). I think they could 100% pull off the rest of the plot and still have her give herself fully to Conrad. But I can see the secret coming out to Jeremiah in the heat of an argument and all hell breaking loose. I think it'll be fine. It has to be lol

also who's idea was it to drop this spoiler-ish bomb on us two days before the start of the season?? I just wanna talk

[revisitedgrunt]

Wednesday

I binged Wednesday a few days ago and I'm still having thoughts about it. Thought I'd write them down in an attempt to move on.

Spoilers follow.

For the most part, I really enjoyed it. Loved almost all the characters, loved the setting, loved the mystery and loved the acting. Jenna Ortega was fantastic, as she always is and everyone else did a great job with what they had to work with.

Honestly, my only issue with it was the love triangle. I'm one of those people that felt that Wednesday shouldn't have had a love interest, let alone two. The writers could have done the correct, smart thing and not included one, but they felt the need to include two. I can only guess it's because the characters are teenagers, but with Wednesday it just felt unneeded, cliché and poorly written.  

Throughout the entire season I didn't once get the impression that Wednesday was into either boy, so I was confused when she kept agreeing to do things with Tyler, like the dance and the date. Wednesday gave off absolutely zero romantic vibes, so why not just shut it down and tell him she wasn't interested. After seeing an interview with Jenna, I think I now have an idea of what happened.

Jenna didn't want a love triangle, she was against it. Jenna said that Wednesday's primary interest was the monster and the mystery and her interest in the boys wasn't genuine but just amusement and that boys are the last thing on Wednesday's mind.

Seems to me that Jenna had a much better idea of her character than the writers did. So going to the dance and on the date were just an amusing distraction, not because Wednesday was actually into it. This at least makes sense with Wednesday's absolute non-romantic interest in the boys. I'd love to see the script. Did Jenna play it how it was written, or was Wednesday meant to actually care and Jenna decided not to play it like that?

So, the love interests. Xavier was obviously the secondary one. I found it funny that they'd met as kids and Wednesday didn't remember him. He had to tell that very specific story to get her to remember. Given that for most of the season, Wednesday thought he was the Hyde, there really wasn't any romance here. Xavier as a person seems kinda terrible. Broke up with Bianca, basically accusing her of using her powers on him when there was no evidence she did. Also asked Bianca, who still seemed into him, at the dance they went to together, to take his memories of Wednesday away. Imagine you're Bianca and how bad that would make you feel.

Looks like he's being set up as the future love interest. Jenna also has an issue with this. In another interview (she also mentions being against the love triage here) she said she'd like them to become good friends as safe, platonic friendships between men and women aren't shown often enough.

I love Jenna for having the courage to speak out like this. I feel like a lot of actors wouldn't criticise the writers, but Jenna obviously knows her worth.

Now, Tyler. For the most part, I found him to be inoffensive. Apart from the “mixed signals” scene, which was a red flag as Wednesday had given him no signals, he wasn't too bad. There also wasn't really much there, he was just a generic “nice” guy. It was funny after finding out he's the Hyde, Wednesday wasn't upset. Her only response was a one liner about the first boy she kissed being a monster. This goes back to the fact that Wednesday gave off no romantic vibes and Jenna played it as Wednesday not genuinely being into him.

I would hope he's off the board as far as love interests go. We learnt in episode 8 that he did remember what he did as the Hyde, and he enjoyed it. Given that he almost killed Eugene, one of two people Wednesday forms an actual emotional bond with, I don't see her forgiving him.

Now it's time to talk about Enid, who's the only other person Wednesday seems to actually care about at Nevermore. Their relationship also doesn't come across as romantic. However, I feel that if the writers continue to force romance onto Wednesday, this one would at least make sense.

Unlike with Tyler and Xavier, Wednesday does seem to care about Enid's thoughts and feelings. All we need to do is look at the scenes where Enid moves out and the climatic hug to confirm this. Wednesday is genuinely upset when Enid moves out, we can contrast this with scenes of Tyler and Xavier being mad and her, and her not giving a damn.

The hug is also the emotional highlight of the show and the culmination of their relationship. Wednesday has backed away from hugs in the past, but here she hugs Enid back. It's not just a pity hug either, or because Wednesday thinks Enid deserves it. She hugs Enid tightly, emotionally, while closing her eyes. This is probably the most emotional we see Wednesday all season and, unlike the Tyler kiss, this doesn’t end badly.

I also found it interesting that Enid is the one who saves Wednesday from Tyler. In a lot of stories it's the love interest who saves the main character, but here it's Enid. It's even more interesting when a bit later we see Xavier try to save Wednesday from Joseph, which fails spectacularly and results in Wednesday getting hurt.

It would be very easy to turn this from a friendship to a romance. A lot easier than establishing something with Xavier, or someone new. I also don't think they'll do this. Gough and Millar have written for shows with wlw rep, The Shannara Chronicles and Into the Badlands, but I get the impression they are pushing the Wenclair friendship and want to keep them straight. This is also stupid because the whole point of the show is about being an outcast. They even equate this with being queer with Enid's subplot about conversion camp and her parents accepting her for who she is. Many queer people still fell like outcasts and this show could do so much good in having their main character, who has so much name recognition, be actually queer.

That was a lot. If you liked the romances I'm happy for you. I do hope there's a season two as the good greatly outweighed the bad.

I see Wenclair is already a popular tag :)

[sorrelpaws]

s6e5 spoilerz!!

actual post talking about the episode YIPPEE!!! I LIKED IT!!! for the most part! i’m gonna start with the junk i didn’t like, cause there’s not much of it and i need to get it out of my system. for starters the erm. incest plotline. i’m honestly not sure why the writers have such a tendency towards this stuff. usually they seem to be pretty smart with reusing jokes or plot threads, but this just. like aside from being uncomfortable and weird to watch it just makes me think “do you not have anything better?”. why is this the safest plot line to fall back on in these recent seasons? i also hated the tiktok references at the beginning. i think i generally just hate any sort of pop culture references because they tend to become dated very easily/quickly while also doing nothing for the episode, aside from ruining any kind of immersion. AND MORTYYYYY justice for my boy. they are excluding him on purpose !! WHY!!!! i can understand he wouldn’t have worked very well with this episode, but this season seems to really favor either Rick or Literally Any Other Smith. but ummm next week’s promo had morty in it so im holding out hope guys! here’s how morty can still win!

ok anyway now that i’m no longer harboring any deep rooted hatred... THE ANIMATION!!!!! it was very cool, especially in fight scenes. something i noticed a lot was rick’s hair and suit/tie moving as he twists and turns, and i thought that was such a nice detail. it’s really simple but it added lots for me. AND THE JUMPS!!! i love his extending limbs, especially near the end of the episode where he jumps around on a bunch of boxes and moves kind of like a slinky, SOO neat. my only gripe is with the cold open, where he eats his noodles with tube arms. i dunno, felt kinda weird and unnecessary. small thing though. summer and morty in the beginning were also surprisingly endearing, and it has made me realize my desperation to see more of those two hanging out.

OH BUT JERRY AND RICK’S DYNAMIC!!!! i loved them in this episode, and i liked how it was kind of continuing s5e5′s development(kinda of neat that they’re both the 5th ep of their respective seasons). they’re both kinda warming up to each other, and it’s cool to watch this petty, sarcastic and, at times, surprisingly functional friendship. like when they talk in the vent, jerry is genuinely upset and rick offers some mild level of comfort by trying to crack a joke. and when they find the monster and jerry says he’s not sure what’s going on, rick just explains it!!!!! which okay yeah is also just to feed the audience necessary info, but i think the fact that rick doesn’t throw any insults really shows his development(also autistic infodump moment teehee). kind of off topic, but the scene w/ jerry’s second transformation made me wonder what his parents think of rick. like they see/ know he does some weird wacky shit, but like ... how much do they really know? or care? from what we’ve seen of them, they appear... pretty neutral. “oh well our son’s father in law is a scientist, no biggie,”. which is interesting to me. kinda wanna see some proper lengthy interactions between the grandparents. also rick joking(???) about fucking jerry’s mom made me laugh. okay alsooo i’m pretty sure i saw someone mention this, but in order for rick’s “you will make a friend” fortune to come true he would also have to consider jerry his friend as well B)) very cute.

[n7punk]

"Children of the Crystal" Fic Notes: Season One

I’m breaking up the fic notes for Children of the Crystal into two “seasons” because there’s so much to cover. “Season one” ends with Halls That Make a Home, but I couldn’t post it until now because there were spoilers in these notes. I recommend not reading this until you've finished fic 10 (IDJtBS).

Season two will have all the rest of the fics as well as stuff like my usual discussion of the original outline. This post has the notes up through fic 7.

General Notes:

⦁ Before this idea came to me in… March? Maybe? I had never actually considered what would have happened if Light Hope’s plan… worked. Like, never occurred to me for a second, hey, what if Light Hope actually did bring Adora through and succeeded in raising She-ra? So I explored that. And of course, instantly, it was obvious Catra is going to be part of this too and then it became oh I… can give them a good childhood? They can be happy? Obviously, as explored in the fics, this childhood wasn’t sunshine and roses and still left them with issues, but it was better than growing up in the Horde, while also managing to preserve a lot of the character traits growing up in the Horde gave them due to a combination of Light Hope’s pressuring replacing Shadow Weaver’s manipulation (like, not great for the mental health, but she’s still way nicer and a better authority figure) and growing up a little feral to replace the whack conditioning of the Horde.

Beckoning to Break the Seal [one shot]

⦁ I had to make a lot of calls early on about what Light Hope would “risk” telling Adora about her origins and such. I’ve never fully decided if she intended to lie to Adora about her origins (in canon), though I’ve generally leaned towards her genuinely not knowing Adora wouldn’t remember (mostly because not knowing such a simple fact about the species she created to serve really illustrates how she was just a weapon to them as well). In this AU, though, Light Hope is very aware of this fact either way because it became apparent as she raised Adora. I decided Adora would know the truth, because 1) Light Hope probably wouldn’t think about it upsetting her, 2) Light Hope might not know she didn’t already know it and thus wouldn’t even consider lying about it, 3) Light Hope was raising her, so she could mold her into someone who would believe her origins were for the best (which is what ended up happening), and 4) Adora having always known what she is and her supposed place in the universe really worked for me. It isn’t just: you’re She-ra and you don’t get a choice. It’s: you’re She-ra, you’re a First One, the last one ever, who can never quite fit in with the rest of the world so you must prove yourself by filling the role of the only thing people want from a First One, She-Ra.

⦁ The rations they eat are the same kind of ones from Darla, with their apparently miraculous preservation technology. They’re not as good as regular food, but miles above Horde rations. However, since all they have experienced are these rations and regular food, their reaction is still “aw shitty rations” because they don’t have that perspective and just know these are worse than what they’ve had at festivals.

⦁ It’s called a “meal replicator” not in the Star Trek kind of way but because you put in ingredients and it “replicates” cooking a full meal with them. Like dumping in pasta, water, and sauce and a plate of spaghetti coming out. Only it’s very bare bones, there’s not a ton of seasonings included (notice: I did not list even salt), and it’s selection is very limited. It’s better than, say, MREs, but it’s not great. Think microwave dinners.

⦁ Honestly, I misremembered Glimmer tugging on the sword and not being able to move it without Adora pulling it free first and trying to run for it (she didn’t, Glimmer teleported in, grabbed it, and teleported out with it) but I’m going to stand by the defense mechanism and just say magic was the only thing that could have gotten around it.

⦁ I’m pretty sure retractable staffs… aren’t. It just seems like something that sounds logically possible but is actually very flimsy in practice. Regardless, the show has them, so the fic does too. They could have all kinds of alloys on Etheria, who knows.

Wild, Weird

Chapter 1:

⦁ The “Adora’s birthday is exactly two months before she arrived in their time” line was my first groundwork to FINALLY get my time portal headcanon into one of my fics. A lot of things are different due to the set-up for this AU, but I also got to finally showcase some of my headcanons that never  make sense for an OotW fic.

⦁ When the little girls says their clothes “shimmer weird,” she’s referring to how the light catches on the synthetic fibers (think spandex) versus the natural ones she’s used to (think linen). Their clothes aren’t shimmer fabrics or something, they’re just a different composition. Also, white is called expensive here just because keeping something white is such a pain. Not to mention bleaching something out damages the fibers. It might be cheaper to produce than many dyes, but it can be more expensive to maintain.

⦁ Caprellia comes via Clare, via the SPOP marketing team, and means “she-goat.”

⦁ “… a weird training dummy draped in clothes” Adora sweetie… That’s a mannequin… My little child soldier baby. Even when I fix things I leave them broken.

⦁ I really enjoyed doing little things with young!Adora’s narration like “thinky-frowny face” but also I couldn’t stop myself from using words like elasticity so it only went so far.

⦁ The “machines” are things like a peddle-operated sewing machine (they’ve been around since the 1800s at the very least, I think earlier), looms for weaving, etc.

⦁ Basically all the adults in the village have a kind of silent agreement to keep an eye on the forest children when they do show up. When one of them learns something important, they often pass it on to those they know, who pass it on to the people they know, etc. By the end of week two it’s common knowledge that Catra and Adora’s minder is disabled, which clears a lot of things up for the villagers, because they were seriously worried they had made her up and were just running feral in the woods. The general information the villagers have is: Catra’s parents were killed by the Horde and Adora + her guardian took Catra in. Their guardian educates them and trains them how to “survive” in the woods (the villagers interpretation of what the girls have said about their training to be soldiers), but never leaves their home herself (now explained by her being disabled in some manner that makes that impossible/impractical). They know they don’t have money and they’re self-sufficient in the basics but lack a lot of luxuries, but also weirdly have some others, like clothes that are made from fancy materials, even if the clothes are fairly simple. There’s no consensus amongst the villagers on who their guardian is. Some people think it’s the weird old lady who is rumored to live in the woods (often only appearing to children, the lost, or the hungry), but that doesn’t make sense with her being disabled. The villagers worry about the young girls running around on their own, but they never go anywhere without a weapon and do seem to have been taught effective self-defense. They should be more worried about their social skills, honestly.

⦁ IRL, ALL fashion is produced by hand, even mass produced fashion. Machines that can produce finished garments just don’t exist and would be near impossible to create. This is the future with space travel, though, so anything could be possible, I’d just feel remiss to not acknowledge that when it leads to human rights issues and the sweatshop industry.

Chapter 2:

⦁ “…a kindness they’ve never done much to earn. They’ve never provided much for the village” Yeah this was a lead-in directly to the next fic where they save it.

⦁ Uh, mild Nimona spoilers I guess? but “rearranging the weapon racks by deadliness or some other unhelpful metric” is a Nimona (movie) reference.

⦁ Okay fashion being the only thing that is truly Catra’s makes the jacket a really big deal. I went into this thinking “maybe one time when they’re older Caprellia sees Adora looking a little wistfully at Catra’s new clothes and decides making her one (1) unnecessary thing would be fine” but that wasn’t the right call. That would have been Adora getting another special thing on her mountain of special things. The jacket is so much more meaningful as a gift from Catra, and that meaning is why Catra got inexplicably (to her) mad when Adora surprised her. Catra didn’t understand right away why she was angry, but as she processed she comes to that line about how this is the only thing she can invite Adora into. Not only is it the only thing she has, but she’s still trying to share it with Adora, who Catra only lives by the grace of. She has some bitterness about that, but she has more love for Adora, so she wants them to have this thing together, and then Adora shows up and stops her from doing it on her own terms.

The Start of a Legend [one shot]

⦁ “the Crystal Castle will be vulnerable without them” babygirl the spiders are to fight YOU if you catch on too quick and won’t set off the Heart.

⦁ The change the Crystal Castle goes through, especially the introduction of the threatening and invasive guardians crawling through their home, does a lot to start changing Catra and Adora’s feelings of comfort and familiarity with the Crystal Castle. It reminds them that what they have always treated as their home is actually a war facility, and is some of the first hint towards its true sinister nature as the control hub for the Heart of Etheria.

⦁ The mention of a giant building in the woods that turned out to be someone’s home is a reference to the (then-upcoming) fic with them stumbling across the library. At the time, it was fic 10 in the outline (following the current fic 12), but I was desperately wanting to write it.

⦁ The “something going on” Catra suspected from Light Hope saying Adora had to stay behind was actually that she had already heard  Horde forces closing in on Elberon. When Adora started running to stop them, Light Hope told her she had to stop because there were people at the door who could discover the castle (Glimmer and Bow had bad timing). This led to a lot of arguing that took place while Catra was doing her spooky kitty routine before Adora refused to be delayed any further and ran up.

⦁ The descriptions of the Crystal Castle were running entirely on memory and what I needed for the story, but tbh I’ve never been certain if the ruin from the first episode is the same exact chamber of the Crystal Castle as we see later because there’s inconsistencies and if the show can change its mind I can make some shit up lmao.

⦁ In case it’s been awhile since you watched that part of the show: Light Hope shows Adora silhouettes of all the princesses, which is how Catra knew what Glimmer’s outline would look like. Because Light Hope’s focus was on balancing the planet and thus the princesses connected to the runestones, Bow was beneath her notice despite being more involved in the war than many of the other princesses at the time.

⦁ In the first (second, whatever) episode, Bow says that Glimmer’s mom knows more about the First Ones than anybody? I can’t remember if it’s just “the First Ones” or “First Ones tech,” but either way this is befuddling to me since it’s obviously Bow’s dads for the first or Entrapta for the latter? But, whatever, you get the line about Glimmer’s mom being interested in the First Ones.

⦁ “She has to remind herself that a lot of girls have moms” Catra… Baby…

⦁ In the show, Adora is the one who questions why they’re attacking a civilian settlement (“there must be a mistake”), but she was doing it from a place of disbelief that the Horde would do this. Bow is asking from confusion rather than surprise; Thaymor isn’t worth capturing, why waste the resources? And that’s why Catra answers how she does; Thaymor is simply the beginning, at least to the Horde.

⦁ “Catra releases Glimmer’s scruff” obviously Glimmer doesn’t have anything near a scruff and Catra was just holding onto her cape, but she was instinctively doing it where Glimmer’s scruff would be if she had one, and tbh it kind of looked like it too with her cape.

⦁ “She notices Adora’s gaze catching on her teeth. It’s not her fault no smile seems all that innocent to humans or the human-adjacent when there are fangs hiding in it.” Catra. Baby. She was being horny. She was on an adrenaline high from winning and having Thoughts.

⦁ Originally I included a line about it and then it was too clunky, but the mayor thanked Adora and Glimmer basically because they were the ones right in front of him. Everyone saw Catra, Glimmer, and Bow fighting, and so they just assumed when they later saw Adora that she was somewhere else in the chaos, because why would she ever be far from Catra? There was so much going on basically no one had thought much about the new princess who appeared yet, and those who had weren’t talking through it out loud. It was a big shock to most of them when Adora transformed, but it also made that whole sequence of events (and a lot of things over the years) make sense.

⦁ The scar on the boy’s arm is, of course, the same one mentioned in Wild, Weird.

⦁ Adora says she’s not “just a human” because she learned a long time ago to never say she’s a First One and has generally begun to think of herself as human because of that.

⦁ In the show, they take a horse from Thaymor, and then in the next episode Adora turns him into Swift Wind and only find out he’s sentient later. That… didn’t happen here. This was intentional, because Swift Wind’s (lack of) existence actually has very important ramifications. It seems like he doesn’t do a lot in the show, but there is one episode where he’s pivotal, and that’s the episode where Adora and him repair the broken Watchtower using their sacred bond (“Ties That Bind”). Without repairing the Watchtower, Mara’s emergency signal never goes out, and her ship in the Waste never wakes up. The First Ones messaging tower in the town of Alwyn never comes online either (“Signals”), so they never get the message from it that turned out to be a constellation map to Mara’s ship which they decipher in the library in “Reunion.” No one ever steps foot in the Crimsone Waste, Yeah, without Swift Wind they’re missing a MAJOR piece of the puzzle.

Maze (Literal, Metaphorical)

Chapter 1:

⦁ You know those “Purple” mattresses with the annoying ads that are made from rubber. Yeah the bed in the castle is made from something like that but with fancy ~future rubber~ so it didn’t break down into nothing over time. Listen, none of this shit should be here after 1000 years, I’m doing my best.

Chapter 2:

⦁ Adora calling the chaise lounge a chase long was because I don’t think it’s a word she would realistically know (at least well) at this point, so I leaned into her weird pronunciation stuff from the library episode (“Reunion”) for it.

⦁ The mention of Adora “forgetting about dictionaries” is because she hasn’t thought about them since George and Lance tried to teach them reading.

⦁ “eighteen-and-a-thousand years of planning” is referring to both Adora’s lifetime and the thousand years it took Light Hope to gather the resources to bring her here, showing just how much weight Adora has accepted on herself.

⦁ The mentions of them handholding a lot, especially around other people, is because of their dependence on each other.

⦁ The language around Adora stammering (“Catra hits Adora in the face with her tail to reset her.”) is influenced by them growing up with a slightly buggy Light Hope, so they’re a lot more used to tech stuff in this AU.

⦁ The board game goes horribly. Everybody is feeling awkward, except for Catra who has progressed to angry sulking, and somehow she dominates the game through a combination of spite, only knowing half the rules and not being “held back” by preconceptions, and wanting to get it over with.

⦁ Adora puts “tactile” in quotes because she was just discovering the word for the first time.

⦁ “[Glimmer and Bow] don’t even act that different from her and Catra” gee I wonder why THAT could be.

⦁ My general headcanon is that magicats have great memories (because different species would encode memories differently, and it feeds into my angst headcanons for Catra remembering every horrible thing Adora suppressed) but my headcanon has also always been that Catra’s memory basically starts the moment she meets Adora because she was very young when that happened, Adora was there to echo the memory back with her over the years and thus reinforce it, and everything before that was traumatic enough that her brain wanted to let it go.

⦁ When I was writing Adora’s POV for this chapter I was careful not to actually say what her feelings for Catra were even if it was obvious, because Adora herself is doing her best not to think about/process it. She knows, but in the way where she has seen it in the distance, half-registered what it is, and then quickly looked away so she could pretend she never saw it.

⦁ “Getting some one-on-one She-ra training reminded her what her priorities need to be.” AKA “Light Hope could tell she needed some more brainwashing done and used emotional manipulation to keep her on track.”

Be Honest (for the Very First Time) [one shot]

⦁ In regards to the first author’s note, I really don’t like “rewriting”(/transcribing) episodes from the show into canon divergent AUs. I used to be in a video game fandom where rewriting entire missions but with your take on the MC (since there were branching choices) was really common, and that shit gets old fast, versus when I was in the Mass Effect fandom and it seemed more common not to include the story missions and instead effectively pick up on the “next scene” after, which would be original dialog between the characters and happen to include mentions of which branches had been chosen on the previous mission (when relevant). That’s the style I went with for this fic because yes, there are a lot of changes in, say, the Plumerian episode, but those changes are primarily to dialog and then instead of trying to infiltrate the camp using Horde knowledge, they try to Be Sneaky and then go in guns blazing when that doesn’t work. It’s fundamentally not that different and writing within the constrains of the show is chafing. I still covered episode one (the meeting), the library episode, and the portal because they were so different and I had ideas I found fun for them, but I’ve watched the recruitment episodes so many times and didn’t feel like retreading them.

⦁ This fic is one of the first things I outlined for the series. I did a little outlining for The Start of a Legend, but this was the first proper outlining written done I think. Next was the final scene in On Stumbling Feet and then it jumped straight into the angst stuff.

⦁ The nature of this AU is that things go really well for a while, with victory almost seeming like it could be on the horizon, and then the Horde gets desperate, the portal happens, and the entire world falls to shit, which feels like being brought lower by the lack of major setbacks so far (with the greatest being losing Entrapta, a big blow but still just one, and they never thought she was dead before).

⦁ Adora is down so bad in this. She suspects her feelings are “wrong” from what Light Hope says and tries to avoid them, but she also convinces herself that she isn’t feeling anything because (then that would be bad) these are just friend thoughts, and having never experienced even a casual friendship with anyone else, she gets away with it until Bright Moon slaps her in the face with context.

⦁ I have outlined and written out in my head so many scenarios, in so many canon or canon divergent story ideas, where Adora and Catra have a big “fight” and Catra runs away into Bright Moon Castle in the middle of the night and Adora runs out after her, panicking about what she can do to fix this. It has finally ended up on paper and it feels so good to get it out of my system. This series lets me get a lot of things out between this, [major story thing later that’s spoilers], and finally being able to put my backstory headcanons for them into something.

⦁ “They have a mountain of issues to work through but they’re trying” sometimes trying is not enough (◡‿◡✿) LOL every time someone commented like “wow such progress!” I was just sitting there like. I can’t even reply to this comment you have NO idea what’s coming.

Girls Talk [one shot]

⦁ This fic got added in at the last minute, actually while I was writing Maze. As I was writing Maze, I realized I needed to feel out Catra’s relationships with Bow and Glimmer in this AU more so that spawned this fic, which I really enjoyed doing.

Halls That Make a Home

Chapter 2:

⦁ Catra mentions the woods seemingly not trusting them without “adult supervision” and then the woods immediately lead them to the adults perhaps Most concerned by them just wandering round. Catra isn’t quite right but she also isn’t quite wrong.

⦁ Okay, so I like, have a lot of headcanons about the Whispering Woods. Well mostly one headcanon that effects a lot, but basically they are semi-sentient. Most forests are connected via roots in vast networks underground, stretching miles or more sometimes, and the Whispering Woods is a magical amalgamation unbothered by its own movement. It’s magic working in concert with some level of awareness. The forest moves on a rotation that can change over time, like a river changing direction, just by the consciousness shifting its preferences or needs, but its also capable of moving outside of that pattern, as seen when Adora finds the sword or they need to reach Thaymor quickly. The woods show some level of favoritism and don’t move settlements as long as the people living there respect them. The woods have disrupted their pattern when necessary to avoid anyone from reaching the sword for generations, keeping She-ra safe until she could return and free them from the meddling of the First Ones. After the Heart went off the first time the First Ones began to register as a potential threat just like the Horde does, and the woods tries to mitigate threats.

⦁ Light Hope doesn’t really understand age and just didn’t “know” to baby them. She knew their faculties had to develop, but she never treated them like adults would for someone their age and it made going into the “real world” and no longer being treated like an adult really frustrating.

Chapter 3:

⦁ Incredibly catholic of Adora to take on the “sins” of her ancestors despite not having anything to do with them and only being harmed by them too, but the show had a lot of religious trauma themes so I did it too lol.

⦁ Until the full truth came out (like seconds later) George and Lance thought Bow might not have mentioned his dads because he didn’t want to be treated differently because his dads were academics, in case people might use that to diminish his own accomplishments because clearly it’s just ‘in his blood’ or he had access to more resources or something.

⦁ When rewatching the library episode I registered that Bow said Adora was an art major for the first time so I have to do artist Adora at some point now I guess XD

⦁ Okay, so the time portal thing. In the show, I initially thought back in seasons 2/3 that the reason portals didn’t work in Despondos was a feature of the dimension itself, rather than being because the runestones were out of alignment as implied by Light Hope in season 4. Because of that, I came up with the idea of dimensional portals not working, and thus time ones being the only viable method of travel to Etheria, which would mean both Adora and Hordak were time travelers. This would explain why Horde Prime thought he had wiped out all the First Ones, why Hordak’s technology was so much less advanced than Prime’s (although an easy answer to that is he isn’t as smart and doesn’t “remember” the knowledge base in the hive mind), and why it took Light Hope a thousand years to make her move: as explained in the fic, it took a long time to figure out how to reach back in time and then where to reach back, getting Hordak the first time and Adora the second. Now this… could be viable in canon? Basically, we don’t actually know when the Black Garnet went offline, so it could still be true that it needed to be a time portal and when Light Hope said she “reached across the wider universe” for Adora she meant back in time as well, I just don’t think that the runestone was offline that whole time. I’m also 99% sure Light Hope says at one point that it was Mara who threw them out of balance, implying something has been wrong for a thousand years and thus portal capabilities could have been offline that whole time, but she easily could have been lying. I always kind of assumed that the Garnet went offline when Scorpia’s mom died without Scorpia bonding with the runestone. We don’t know either way on that, but that’s why this time portal idea is showing up for the first time in a canon divergent AU where I can really tweak whatever I want. It’s also plausible that, regardless of her portal capabilities, it still had to be a time portal because all the First Ones really were gone, but it’s all a big “we don’t know” and in that case I get to do what I want.

Meta:

Catra’s clothes (Wild, Weird)

Season Two fic notes

Series Directory/Share Links

[localfanbaselurker]

I’m watching “Voltron: Legendary Defender” for the first time and these are my compiled thoughts.

This is Season 3

(S 1-2) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

———————————————————————

<this one will be a little longer because I took more pictures when I watched these two seasons, as I got a little more invested in the show>

(Edit: apparently I can only put 10 pictures per post, so while I planned for this to be season 3 and 4, this has to be a solo season post because I have wayyyy too many thoughts and a lot of them need accompanying pictures)

Pre-Season 3

-> I wonder who is gonna be the new black paladin, I hope it’s Allura. Or Keith I guess, but his ass is NOT ready for leadership

-> I need to know where Shiro is. Bring back my Cruella Deville!

-> the witch is altean! This is gonna be sooo important I just know it

-> I wonder how Allura and Keith will interact now that she sorta accepted him being part galra. that’s actually a really interesting topic.

->Keith being galra is gonna be something very important as well I think.

-> Pidge BETTER find her brother and father this season or I swear Dreamworks is gonna catch these hands

Post-Season 3

-> ^if villain why hot?

->his ideals are giving Roman Empire. (I guess that makes sense considering he’s the prince of the Galra Empire)

->^hmmm.🤨🤔 (I know what you are)

->^Space TyLee! And Space Asami, too!

->^oh so Keith gets to be insecure now, I guess everyone gets their own “angst” episode

->^hes the first to comfort him! is this a “klance” moment? It feels like one

->^Once again have to talk about Allura and her dad. She already threw away all her dad’s memories and his “essence” of him. Now she can’t even stay connected to him by piloting his lion ☹️. I genuinely get so sad every time I think about her. 🙁 All I do at 3 am is cry. 😕

->I originally got super sad about that, but then she became the blue one and I was really happy. But I was reallyyyy confused about the schematics of the switches. (still kinda am) like the lions don’t fit their personalities. And isn’t it the point that they get chosen for a reason?? Like when the blue one chose Lance in s1? And the red one chose Kieth, etc. ?? I guess it makes sense for them to call on other paladins when Shiro “dies” (his ass is not dead, I’m 100% sure of that) but Allura fits Black/Red better imo.

-> But then again, I did like how it was executed/explained. “Oh Lance ur the new red one cus you accepted Keith as ur leader and now you have to be the right hand. Get it cus red is Voltron’s right arm??” like yeah. And of course:

->^Allurance!! I finally see it, now.

-> Also, my supposed question about “langst” was proven wrong, there’s more than just the “seventh wheel” episode.

“Not only am I not meant to be the leader, I guess… I guess now I’m not even meant to be a paladin”

He is really insecure about that isn’t he? Does any of this ever get resolved??

-> this season was huge for klance apparently. They have so many moments together. When they get dragged by evil elsa Lotor to that weird planet and have their lions talk face to face, the shoulder touch, them seeking each other out for/being the first to give the other comfort/reassurance, “Leave the math to Pidge” , Lance being the most upset that Keith isn’t at the parade thing, their teamwork in “Tailing a Comet”, “Yeah, who am I gonna make fun of?”

You guys just kept winning this season honestly slay.

-> The Lore drop that Coran did about the creation of Voltron/Original Paladins. Bro

->I’m still hung up on that. Honerva I could have saved you.

-> Gotta say though im all for an evil couple.

-> I loved all the S1 call backs to the original paladins “I’m a leg!” Like yeah 🩷 you are 💛 and the og blue paladin does the “lance in the intro” thing

->^When they form Voltron for the first time in the flashback, the colors are brighter, much like the original 80s show’s colors, and the captions later read “Defender of the Universe”, which was the name of the original Voltron show. This is an especially fun detail because not only are they honoring the “original paladins/voltron” of the show’s lore, they are also doing so in reference to the original show itself, which I think is all so beautiful

->Baby Allura is soooo cute!

-> We get Shiro back! I knew he wasn’t dead. Low key I was scared he lost another arm or something but no! He’s okay 🖤🤍

-> I did some research and it turns out he is in fact 25, I don’t know whether to be happier or sadder for him. On one hand, thank fuck he’s not like 15-17 like the others, on the other hand, he should be at the club. He should be finding love, he should be at his 9-5 paying taxes and doing laundry not having his arm chopped off and replaced with magic and having to fight in the space coliseum and then escaping and having to pilot a giant robot and be a part of an intergalactic war. (I suppose that last part is true for all of them, but the rest is shiro-specific, and it all makes me a little sad)

-> call me crazy but he looked hotter when his hair was long

-> on that note, WHERE did he find a razor. Did he just use a sword or something?? Like in mulan??

-> in “Tailing a Comet”, they apparently meet alternate space reality!Kuvira from atla:lok , and ASR!Bataar Jr. I mean, really, down to the bun and the mole, as well as the controlling dictatorship-esque behavior and the “really, this is actually for their own good” attitude when it comes to said controlling behavior. Did the writers of each show just share ideas or??

-> im so serious with that last question. The thing that came out of the “quintessence rift” that the original paladins had to fight? A dark spirit from LoK: Book 2: Spirits. Whatever tf happened to zarkon when he got too close? When Unalaq got possessed by Vaatu. I mean really, were they just passing cards like go fish?

->I genuinely cried when Keith left for the Blade of Marmora (to save time, I’m gonna start calling them the “Blades” or “BOM”)

-> however, I feel like him leaving for the blades is gonna be really plot relevant later on

-> I think that’s when S3 ended im pretty sure. I don’t have further thoughts other than those I could’ve discussed if I could upload enough pictures for my S4 thoughts that accompanied them.

These are thoughts I’ve had compiled for a while. I finished S3 on 06/26/24 and S4 on 06/30/24. As of today (07/3/24) I am on S5E3.

I will continue to post my thoughts/Updates on the tag “laura’s first vld”