#i can't believe i ended up writing an essay on two episodes of a show that barely predates my whole existence by a few months

[christine-ye]

What I like about Kamen Rider Faiz is how heavy it is with its main theme of dreams and how it connects to the central issue of idealism vs. realism. Episodes 7-8 (aka peak Faiz for me so far) in particular play into this connection a lot (they aren't titled "The Power of Dreams" and "The Protector of Dreams" for nothing) and man do I have a lot to say about it.

On one hand Keitaro and Mari have generally idealistic outlooks. Keitaro wants to help people in general both literally (through his job as a dry cleaner) and figuratively (through emotional supporting Takumi and Mari). Mari is willing to improve so she could achieve her dream of being a hairstylist (and she does get the job at the end!). They are both aware of how the harsh realities of life would hinder them from reaching their goals but are unwilling to let that happen by gradually overcoming these obstacles and making them a central part of their personal growth.

On the other hand Takumi is more realistic and thus more grounded and doubtful in his outlook on other people's aspirations and potential since he still doesn't have any dreams of his own. He is aware of how that one critical personal flaw potentially holds him back compared to everyone else around him. Despite that, Takumi (as shown with his speech from episode 8) is still willing to support and protect others' dreams anyway since he already knows how much people cherish and are willing to pursue their aspirations no matter what life throws at them, and this would come into play later on as he still has to figure out his own dreams later on in the show.

Basically Takumi would take Keitaro and Mari's idealism into account alongside his own realism since relying on one or the other wouldn't work, as realism would not work without idealism and vice versa. In other words, pursuing your dreams is a mix of both idealism and realism: wanting to achieve your goals as soon as possible with whatever it takes while also still taking the harsh realities of life into account but ultimately not letting them completely discourage your ability to progress onwards. Too much idealism and your expectations end up being too vague and difficult to reach but too much realism and you end up leaning into excessive pessimism and not having a reason to not even make progress for yourself at all.

[jacky-rubou]

Planning to write an essay on the limited Ford and Mabel bonding in the show and well, I thought of approaching you if you have any pointers. Especially dispelling any misconceptions by the fandom whether Ford overlooked Mabel or the bond she shared with her brother.

I think the main misconception I see is that Ford didn't care about Mabel at all in comparison to Dipper. Or, in some ridiculously extreme cases, that he hates her.

People forget that Mabel was the first twin he interacted with, and it was largely positive. Ford laughed and said he liked her when she stated that his six fingered handshake was one finger friendlier than normal.

The Last Mabelcorn being the episode where Ford interacted with Mabel the most gives a big insight into how he feels about her. First, he agreed with Mabel when she stated she was probably the most pure of heart in the room (i forget the exact phrasing but same difference). He trusted her with the unicorn mission, even knowing that the unicorns were difficult. And last of all, he directly tells her that she is a good person without even knowing the struggle she went through with her morality moments prior.

Dipper and Mabel vs The Future is contentious in this regard, fans often using it as proof that Ford doesn't care about Mabel just because he asked Dipper to stay in Gravity Falls. But honestly, Ford cared enough to observe Mabel's social skills with the pizza delivery guy, plus probably witnessing plenty of instances of Mabel handling herself without Dipper's help. He genuinely believed that Mabel could handle being without her brother outside of the summers.

Plus, it isn't like Mabel was forthright about her feelings about leaving Gravity Falls and growing up until she blew up at the end of the episode. Obviously there are things to be said about Ford taking Dipper on as an apprenticeship being a good or a bad idea depending on who you ask, but Ford didn't know how badly Mabel would take it. He thought he was doing Dipper a favor by giving him a head start on his studies and, as I previously mentioned, that Mabel would be fine at home. That the two could reach a compromise if needed.

Ford isn't perfect though, he does tend to project himself onto Dipper after finding out how similar he thinks he is to him. That might've affected how often he spends with either twin or how he saw their bond, but to say that he doesn't care about Mabel at all is simply misguided. He cares about them both so much. His traumatic experience with his own twin just tainted how he saw the twins' bond being something that could be potentially suffocating. He does sorta have a point though, Dipper and Mabel can't force each other to stay glued at the hip forever or it could potentially stifle their individual dreams if handled badly. But that's just my 'controversial' opinion right there i guess, so take it with a grain of salt if you wish.

And besides, if we were gonna get upset at Ford for favoring Dipper over Mabel, you might as well also get upset at Stan for favoring Mabel over Dipper in some honestly worse ways than Ford ever did to Mabel. Stan literally projected his father's abusive ways onto Dipper and justified being hard on him with 'toughening him up'. Not to mention how he made Dipper the butt of his jokes so often it drove Dipper to seek out time with Ford over him because Ford never made fun of him like that. Obviously Stan does care about Dipper too, but the double standards in this fandom when it comes to how the grunkles treat the twins is honestly flabbergasting. Neither grunkle is perfect in how they handle the twins, neither are 'better' in their methods, and I think that's the point.

it doesn't help that Ford doesn't get a lot of screentime compared to Stan, as i'm sure you're already aware.

anyway, if you have any more questions, feel free to let me know. hope this was a good insight into all this Ford and Mabel business.

[dreamnants-mis]

An attempt of a character analysis on Andy and Victor which I'll probably miss some details on because I write like a fifth grader essay. (So feel free to tell me things that I probably missed).

Because it's very relevant since Victor appeared in the anime recently and we may be getting the Autumn arc this season.

Spoilers for up to Chapter 134! Proceed with caution!

.

.

.

Andy and Victor are actually similar despite how Victor in his introduction appears very different from Andy, since it turns out Andy himself is Victor's alter ego created from Undead attempting to get around Remember sealing Victor's consciousness away. In particular, Victor comments that Andy reminds him of himself in the past, so I imagine Andy was influenced by Victor in some ways.

The similarity in particular being both are nihilistic and disconnected from their humanity, even though they express this in very different ways. But I like to think what they also share is both are afraid to openly care for others because of the fear of being hurt since as Undead, they will survive while everyone around them dies.

The latter point comes from a realization Andy has post-Spring battle; Fuuko's battle with Spring proves she can kill beings that aren't human and what might be preventing Fuuko from killing him with Unluck is because it's him who's afraid to love her back the same, leading to him declaring it's his turn to fall in love with her, which could be interpreted as Andy wanting to be someone able to accept and return Fuuko's feelings.

Interestingly, he already technically confessed to her, but he tried to play it off when pressed about it since Fuuko didn't hear it.

Here, Andy clearly seems to pause registering Fuuko noticed he was saying he loved her and then immediately tries to lie to her, which she knows he's lying about. Episode 9 also add a similar moment where he talks to Fuuko about the Longing teacher and the kids and he gets surprisingly introspective on the topic before almost rather abruptly asking Fuuko if that charmed her.

Regardless, it does highlight that Andy is secretly afraid of being emotionally vulnerable and that manifests in his outward actions/words not fully reflecting what he actually thinks.

But where Andy begins to diverge from Victor is being able to believe in others from Fuuko's influence and trying to overcome that fear of being able to care for others openly.

His fight with Billy highlights his gained ability to believe in others. Besides Fuuko, he trusted that the other Union members can handle Under while he tries to retrieve Fuuko from under and this conversation in particular highlights this:

He agrees with Billy that only the strong should face God, but then tells him that together, the Union is strong.

Which is powerful considering we know Andy started the series just as nihilistic and detached as Victor.

In fact, in the context of the scene while these two were fighting, Fuuko was climbing Tokyo Tower and reached Spring in the time for the two to end up in a stalemate.

In particular, Andy's interactions with Lucy are incredibly significant in helping Andy come to understanding himself.

When they're trapped in Seal, Lucy tells him the secret to astral projection is dreaming of something you want, which for her is being able to play with others that her ability made her unable to do. Andy at first states he's already achieved just about everything in his years of living. At least, until Lucy stating that "[he's] got everything" because he can't die makes Andy start to think. And here, we see what might truly be "the greatest death ever" for Andy is actually being able to die of old age after living a fulfilling life, something that Andy had given up on since Undead makes that impossible to achieve.

Of course, he acts surprisingly shy and even tells Lucy to not laugh at him for said dream. And yet, I think that's important to think about because it does show Andy has become more conscious about his feelings and what he actually wants.

But then we get to Victor and find even after 455 billion years, he's never quite been able to describe what exactly Juiz gives him until she's gone, and only then he understands why people keep fighting to protect the warmth others have given them. Victor became someone too afraid to love deeply or consciously because he would always survive and anyone around him would not. Even for Juiz, she was still mortal and could still die in battle, and that over the course of countless loops made Victor afraid to consciously acknowledge what exactly she meant to him, even though she had been the reason he hadn't completely lost his mind having to watch the world get destroyed and reformed 100 times.

In the flashbacks, we also see Victor was rather cynical of the idea of allies, at one point getting into an argument with Juiz after one version of the Spoil quest resulted in most of the Roundtable being wiped out, claiming it was the allies that added to Juiz's burden and nearly got her killed. I think that likely contributed to Victor focusing more and more on individual strength, though it's clear even he can't do much alone against God.

Maybe that's also shown in how Victor is only able to draw power from Rebellion after understanding what Juiz had given him because he's now about to consciously recognize his feelings as they truly were. Before, Victor couldn't really use Rebellion outside of negating the life draining aspects of it because he was too detached from his feelings to power the Artifact or understood the strength and feelings needed to use it. And only after losing the person that mattered to him could finally use it to protect the beacon of hope Juiz had named her successor. But of course, he understands them too late to protect the person he wanted to protect the most.

I think this also shows in their names. As I mentioned in my previous mini-essay on the significance of Andy's name, Andy started out as a nickname Fuuko gave him but it became his name overtime. While Fuuko got the name from the Japanese pronunciation of "Undead" in-universe, the name is actually pretty fitting for Andy in a likely unintentional way since it can be a diminutive of the name "Andreas", which means 'man' aka "human".

As it turned out, it's being human that may very well allow for Fuuko to succeed where Juiz was unable to accomplish and where Andy becomes someone potentially stronger than Victor.

Victor's name meanwhile can translate to "conqueror" and he's called a "God of Victory", someone not quite human. That's also interesting to pay attention to considering he insists to Shen that he's not a god, but a human. Which in some ways could feel hollow since Victor likely is trying to remind himself he is human despite feeling disconnected from it.

Though as we learn from observing Juiz in the beginning of the story, Juiz probably didn't need physical strength but rather heart since that was probably what was missing that kept her from ever succeeding (well, on top of the fact the Gods were clearly screwing her over from the beginning since the one item they needed to kill God would only appear in the last loop).

I think Victor's real tragedy is he became a god of war to protect Juiz, the person he loved, but what he actually needed to protect Juiz from was from herself by being a human and reminding her she is still human. But in becoming stronger and becoming nihilistic, he became someone unable to do that.

[genericpuff]

The Uncanniness of Episode 165, and What Could Have Been

Alright, let's cut right to the chase, because this is like, the third time I've had to re-type this entire post because Tumblr has this stupid bug where it deletes my entire post up until the first photo upload every time I hit CTRL+Z to undo something 😒 (I have zero clue why it does this.)

Episode 165 has always... bothered me. I admittedly forgot about it in recent months, as the ongoing degradation of LO S2.2 onwards continues to rot my brain, but after stumbling upon it again, I was reminded of just how strange this episode is.

From the start, nothing really feels amiss. It picks up right where 164 left off, revealing the aftermath of Hades post-pomegranate and his first formal meeting with Hecate.

But it's as soon as we jump out of that flashback and return to the present - Hades standing before Persephone, the pomegranate tree perched peacefully in the background, that things start to get weird, in a way that I still honestly can't put my finger on.

And the spiraling into uncanniness begins with these two panels.

There's this rule in creating webcomics and writing stories - don't show or say anything you aren't intending your audience to pick up on. And when these panels were first released? I can tell you, as someone who was FastPassing back then, these two sets of panels threw the fanbase into an absolute riot. The fairly unanimous opinion from the fanbase was that Persephone had stolen the fruit for herself.

And can you blame them? The way the tree is framed, and repeated, with the camera shifting its focus, lacking the pomegranate in the shot completely, immediately told readers that it was gone. Of course, it wasn't, as was later clarified through the S2 finale and through Rachel's own wording; I believe she later stated that the pomegranate just 'wouldn't have been visible from that angle', hence why it was missing, but again, this is visual storytelling, it doesn't matter if the pomegranate TECHNICALLY wouldn't be seen from that angle, if you're going to remove it from the shot, that means you're telling your audience it's gone. It just feels too intentional, at best I might assume that that was the plan at one point, only for it to somehow end up changed along the way.

And it doesn't help that that scene is IMMEDIATELY followed by Persephone playing 20 questions with Hades.

These questions are all very specific, to-the-point, and hypothetical, concerning the pomegranate specifically, what it's done and what it's capable of doing. She's asking these questions not just for curiosity's sake, but with an ulterior motive - the writing on the wall is clear, she fully intends to eat the pomegranate, but is testing the waters with gentle but hypothetical questioning so she can gauge whether or not it would get her what she wants. Hence why she asks the marriage question - would marriage be enough, or would I have to make the trade with Erebus?

And then, of course, just as she gets the information she needs, she playfully changes the subject.

Hades does not look comfortable here. Some may argue that he's just nervous to have his photo taken with the girl he's lusting after, but again, it seems fairly obvious what's going on here. Hades has just made himself vulnerable* to the girl of his dreams (*i.e. trauma dumped and love bombed on her but that's another topic for another essay) and is now being cornered and interrogated by her. I know it's LO Hades, but I'd like to think he isn't that stupid. The sudden topic change isn't just to get a cute photo of him, it's to throw him off the scent, to make her seem innocent despite all of that earlier questioning.

In hindsight, we know now that she didn't take the fruit. She never planned to overthrow Hades. And while she wants to take things slow and 'do all the things', she does genuinely want to be with him, without it feeling forced. But I can't help but still feel unnerved at the sight of him in that selfie, watching the gears in his head turn, wondering what Persephone's going to do with all this new information after prying it out of him like a rat scavenging for its next meal.

Which brings us to Persephone. We know now that her wrathful side is purely wrath, gifted to her by Eris. Of course, often times her red eyes are applied to any sort of non-default emotion, including lust, but these are also the same red eyes attributed to her trademark appearance as the Dread Queen, foreseen by the Fates.

Again, I need to make it clear, in visual storytelling, do not show or tell anything you don't want your audience to know or infer. Why else would they suddenly draw her red eyes here after asking about the one thing that would grant her that Dread Queen status?

With Episode 165 and its strange toning in mind, let's turn to Zeus.

Zeus wasn't always an antagonist to Persephone. Zeus once supported the idea of Hades getting with her-

-but eventually shifts his opinion, after finding out about the Act of Wrath and Demeter's role in covering it up, eventually coming to the conclusion that Persephone specifically is planning to overthrow Hades. Not him, Zeus, the King of the Gods, nor any other God, but Hades. This suspicion has nothing to do with what Persephone actually did, and it's played off as a misunderstanding during the trial to set the stage for the creation of Elysium, but with the implications of Episode 165 still fresh in my mind, what if Zeus had been right? What if those suspicions weren't entirely unfounded?

Episode 165 feels like a preview for a story we never got. One that quickly and quietly changed gears halfway through and decided to shy away from the concept of Persephone actually being conniving and deceitful. I would love to say that RS set up this foreshadowing in a way that was brilliant, if it had actually paid off. All of the pieces were there, the pomegranate was gone, the stage was set - but instead, we now have Persephone playing house with Hades, hardly even doing a damn thing with her new title.

There is no Dread Queen.

[chenfordspiral]

There are now 10 main characters on The Rookie — rank them! 😈

Why, Sarah? Why?? Although, maybe it's not as hard as I thought? We shall see..

Tim and Lucy (1 & 2) I think these two are pretty self-explanatory, right? They both just got a very special place in my heart, both separately and together. I could cry over how for they've both come since the first episode. I could also write an essay here but I don't think I could stop before the new episode airs so I won't lol.

Angela (3) I just love her, okay? Always have, always will. My favorite no-nonsense detective.

Grey (4) Because he's the papa bear of the group and cares for every single officer at that station.

Aaron (5) Because he's just awesome. I won't lie, I wasn't sure what to make of his character at first, but I've come to really love him since then. His comedic relief? Perfect. Him partnered up with Tim? Chef's kiss.

Harper (6) Because she doesn't take shit from anyone and could easily take any guy twice her size and put him in his place.

Wesley (7) Listen, I like the guy, but with all the other characters we have he just.. moves down the list pretty quickly? But I do love that he's not some a**hole lawyer like others have been portrayed on the show, and that he's actually fighting for the right people.

Celina (8) Again, I can't say I dislike her, but I'm also not her biggest fan. Obviously, she's still a rookie, but there's been a few things that never would've been accepted when Lucy and Nolan were rookies. That one scene where she essentially goes off at Tim in 5x19 (?) comes to mind. I can't believe she didn't get at least a firm talking to.

Bailey (9) Okay, so.. here's the thing with Bailey. I've always been bothered by how she seemingly knows how to do everything and has about 135 different jobs. They seem to have tampered that one down quite a bit recently, but she still only interacts with Nolan, except for a quick conversation with someone else here or there. I said this in another post recently, but I think if she were more involved with others, I might like her better.

Nolan (10) What does it say about me (and maybe the character) that the titular character is my least favorite out of 10? I know not everyone would agree with me here, but I just.. don't care about him? I'm mad at him, or how obviously different he's being treated sometimes, every other episode; 6x04 being the latest example because there are literally no consequences when he messes up and then he ends up on the TV only hours later?? Come on. I know he's a new TO, but he's had so many ridiculously great role models and yet, here we are. I'm sorry to everyone who likes/loves him, but I just don't care about him at all.

Can Tamara be an honorary mention? I just love how far she's come since we met her and her bond with Lucy is so sweet. I love me some found sisters. I think I'd put her in like.. mh, 4th? 5th?

Whew, okay. So maybe this was a bit tougher than anticipated. Top 3 and bottom 3 were easy, but the rest? Help, that was difficult. Thank you so much for this, Sarah! As tough as some of these asks are to answer, I love doing them nonetheless. 🫶🏻

[sixstepsaway]

A little while ago I wrote a thing about fandom purity culture and OFMD's fandom, where I mostly talked about how I think a lot of it boils down to cultural Christianity, but I also dipped briefly into the parts of it that I think are just... capitalism.

I want to go back to that for a moment because I have been witnessing the funniest shit over on Twitter the last few days and I want to talk about it because it absolutely highlights, circles and underlines the capitalism bit for me

[tw for talk of fictional incest]

I'm sure you all know that House of the Dragon is out. I haven't watched it personally, but I did watch a lot of Game of Thrones (and the gross finale) when that was airing, and so I know what to expect from House of the Dragon: Incest.

If you don't know, somehow, HotD is based on the Targaryen family but years before the timeline of Game of Thrones. GoT (and the books, of course) established that the Targaryen family were very incestuous. They'd been marrying sisters to brothers for generations to keep their bloodlines pure.

(Now, whether that's to do with the fact they had dragon blood and they needed to keep that in the family blah blah or something else I am not sure, but it's a fact of what the family did.)

It's canon that Daenerys Targaryen's parents are siblings. She pursues a relationship in the final season of GoT with a man who turns out to be her nephew, and this bothers him a little and her not a single jot because... it's just? What her family's always done? It's also what other families in GoT have always done, including the Lannisters. It's not out of the norm for any of them and is a huge part of the books and show. Arguably it's more of a concern for Jon just because he didn't know he was from an incestuous royal family, so it wasn't really something he expected or anticipated in his life, or had to think about all that much.

Fandom has latched onto a pairing in HotD that is written as explicitly romantic and leading to an endgame for them: Daemon and Rhaenyra. House of the Dragon is leading them up to this. The books go into a lot of detail about what their relationship was like, and thusly what to expect from HotD (you can read about it here if you want) but the basics are that they will have a steamy love affair, try to be with other people, but eventually end up together, get married and have multiple children together (in fact, I believe Daenerys is a descendant of theirs? But I'm not positive).

So, to recap: HBO is proudly airing a TV show full of incest which 16-million+ people are watching weekly, George R R Martin wrote incest-full books that millions of people read that lead to this, and Ryan J. Condal created this show to air on HBO and wrote all these incestuous storylines, including making the Rhaenyra and Daemon relationship enticing enough that fandom has latched onto it.

And somehow, despite all of this, there are antis over on Twitter (and, I can only imagine, here as well) who are watching this show and then yelling... at fans, for enjoying it, writing fic about it, and making fanart about it.

One person was even complaining they only had to scroll a little to find 'incest fanart' in the House of the Dragon hashtag on Twitter and asking why people can't just be normal and not ship an uncle and his underage niece!

(Who isn't even going to stay underage in the show, mind, they're aging her up in an episode or two I believe.)

To me, this absolutely epitomizes what I was saying about capitalism in my essay about purity culture. HBO is fine. GRRM is fine. Ryan J. Condal is fine. Matt Smith who willingly signed up to play Daemon - a character who will engage in a sexual relationship with his niece - is fine.

Every person working the show who is earning money for it, who is getting paid to put this show out there, is fine. They're not doing anything wrong, you see. It's the ones who aren't getting paid who deserve death threats and being told they're awful people and normalizing incest and whatever the heck else.

Capitalism absolves. Doing it for free for a much smaller audience is the wrong here.

Now, to be clear: I don't think HBO or the writers or the actors are doing anything wrong lmao. I don't think it normalizes anything to make fun TV that includes that thing. It requires a lot more nuance and planning to normalize a taboo this strong.

What I'm saying is that these people have drunk the capitalism koolaid so deeply that they think that money makes things okay, that they act like writing incest or an age gap like Rhaenyra and Daemon's makes you a variety of terrible buzzwords (including ones beginning with P) and someone who should be taken out and shot or hate crimed, but only if you're writing it for fun and posting it on AO3, or drawing it and posting it on Twitter.

And sure, maybe they'll come argue that no! They don't think that! God! They think it's bad to air on HBO too!

...but, uh, they're watching it, is the thing. Lots of them are watching it. They're either watching it legally and contributing to the 16 million+ viewers, or they're pirating it, then talking about it and drumming up even more interest online. Either way, they're participating in its success.

So, yeah. Capitalism. They think it's okay as long as it's done Professionally and makes the participants money (even those who already have loads of money).

It's the poor, broke writers who do it because it's fun that are wrong and normalizing and fetishizing and sexualizing here!

Makes sense and isn't at all concerning...

(Also funny is that somehow someone drawing the characters or writing them together is the worst evil but the person who hired people to act it out and will surely have multiple actors act it out in softcore porn scenes isn't bad at all.)

[politelymenacing]

If they're not doing a reboot where they're married, and Henry gets to live happily in England with his two dads and go to a better school than he could go to Kansas???? then why are they showing us this?

APPLE TV EXPLAIN!!

Is that not what happened....?

Must've just been in my head, damn. 😛

OK. Here is my pitch to Apple to make it happen (because is just makes sense):

Why do the bit about Henry acting out and bullying a kid?

Why have Henry failing science (scandal!)?

To me, that should have nudged them in the direction of 'maybe he would be better at a new school in England?' rather than 'he'll be fine just as soon as Ted returns to Kansas'.

Then we have the whole Dr. Jacob of it all... they were clearly hinting at his and Michelle's relationship breaking down (thank god. I can't even go into how much that angered me). To me, that was freeing her of her ties to Kansas so she could move with Henry to England. But instead they just kind of maybe left it a bit ambiguous. Are we supposed to believe that Ted and Michelle would ever get back together? Because no.

Also, it was clear that Henry didn't really like him and would benefit from being closer to his Uncle Beard (ugh that bit outside of the pub with them two absolutely got me 😭)

There's also Dottie. Now, I will admit that that episode fucked me up a little (yay, mums...), so I have only rewatched it once, but if I were Ted her attempt at manipulation would have just made me want to get Henry away from her, so even more reason to bring him to England.

Now Ted:

He's doing better. Ok, not amazing, but he is getting regualr thearapy and he can control his panic attacks

He knows the offside rule. He (re)invents Total Football. He is finally understanding the sport he came over to coach.

He is starting to use British terminology for things! He's acclimatised! Honestly, if he'd been there any longer, he'd have been drinking tea.

They specifically show him interacting with his neighbours and the community.

And then you tear him away from all of that. It is beyond cruel.

Also, even though Sassy was not right for him at all, he was maybe starting to show that he could move on from Michelle and let someone else into his life. (I do not have enough time to lay out the Bi Ted agenda, I'm sure people have done excellent metas about it, but let's just say the Bi Triangles will haunt me forever.)

Which leads us to Trent.

I am definitely missing things because I'm just rattling this off the top of my head, but:

Are we just going to forget that Trent got fired for Ted? And then following his bliss lead him straight to Richmond to write a love letter book about Ted.

What was the whole thing about the right idea just sitting behind a couple of the wrong ones?? In the red string of fate episode, no less!

Whatever was going in during Girl Talk with Rebecca.

Why did Ted tell Henry that it was "good to have people in your life that are excited to be around you" literally the episode after Trent was SO EXCITED about Total Football and how Ted got them there. Like. Seriously.

TRENT’S LITTLE FINGER STICKING OUT IN THE RED STRING OF FATE BIT THAT WAS POINTING DIRECTLY TO THE RED STRIPES ON TED'S JACKET ahem.

Trenthouse magazine. TRENTHOUSE MAGAZINE.

The Robert Redford/Dustin Hoffman thing. Followed by a sodding wink.

And then there's the fact they are both middle aged single dads who have so much baggage. They get one another.

Finally. Because this is turning into a bloody essay. The ending. Ted was FOR SURE asleep and dreaming at the end. I don't give a fuck what Brendan said.

You can't get that close to Stonehenge, it all looked too fake, there's no way Ted wouldn't be there, Jane needs to get in the bin.

How did Sam manage to get into the Nigerian team? (Don't get me wrong, I desperately wanted that for him, but it seemed like it was never going to happen??)

Ted thinks Trent will agree to change the book's title, and even dreams up someone he knows (Shannon) to get a copy singed.

OH AND THE GLASSES. Trent has new glasses. Why? Because Ted doesn't want to imagine him with the ones from before because the first thing he said to Trent was a compliment about the glasses.

Basically, what I'm saying. Is that that is what makes most sense from the ending. HOWEVER, Apple TV, if you are convinced it was all real, here are some ways you can keep that ending (more or less) and still have the Romcommunism ending we deserved that will lead to you picking up this reboot idea:

Ted goes back, gets a final copy of The Richmond Way, the dedication says something about how Trent changed the title because he asked, but it was always about Ted, of course it was. Ted realises his huge mistake. (Maybe he goes to rush to the airport, only to find Trent standing outside his door.)

Trent didn't say goodbye to Ted because he was already on a flight to Kansas to wait for him with a sign that says 'Coach Lasso from England". (OK, this doesn't quite fit with the ending, but you know it's a cute AF idea so shhh)

Trent is singing copies of his book and asks who it's for without looking up and just here's Ted say his name.

In all these scenarios someone says "Is this a fucking joke?" END.

And now you are ready to start your spin off/reboot/series 4 with the footage of Jason and Jimmy at the Emmys. You're welcome.

You can have all of these ideas for free (plus whatever other headcanons you get out of me), Apple TV, if you let me play one of the minimal acting required background players in the AFC Richmond Women's team (Because that is a part of the finale i can get behind and I have credentials if you need to verify I can actually play)

[sofyachy]

Watching the end of Good Omens Season 2 felt like watching the moon landing, and I think I've finally figured out why. It's not the first time there have been outed queer characters on TV shows. It's not the first time there's been a queer love scene / kiss on TV. That alone isn't ground-breaking.

But for my entire life, I've consumed media that put the hetero couple into the main spotlight with token queer background characters, a lot of them killed off in a "bury your gays" trope. Or I've watched an ongoing series and developed queer ships that always left me a little disappointed when the romantic tension I perceived on screen was quashed with the introduction of a chemistry-lacking hetero love interest, or even simply brushing off the characters as "they're just good friends, because No Homo."

I've gotten used to this. I've come to expect it -- to always look deeply into the subtext, analyzing what's going on underneath the dialog and actions. Are these characters gay? Here is my 20-page literary analysis paper in which I go over every line, every detail, to argue that there's justifiable reason to believe something there that's not blatantly spelled out in words. (I literally did this with Hotspur in my graduate-level Shakespeare class because I absolutely needed someone to agree with me that this married character was so very, very gay, despite a surface-level "no homo" reading.) And it's still never "proof" -- just my opinion, which I can shout into the void until I'm hoarse.

And isn't that just what we do in slash fandom? We write our own endings. We refashion the stories we love to override that little disappointment that the original work gives us, as much as we still love it.

With Good Omens, there was already a strong fandom pairing Aziraphale and Crowley. I read the book after watching both seasons, so I can't say how strong that fandom was before those came out. But one of the things that struck me about the book was that there wasn't nearly the same vibe between the characters as there was in the first season. Hell, they weren't even the central characters of the book. And while the book says that people assume Aziraphale is gay, it's quick to say "but he's not; angels aren't sexual." No homo.

He and Crowley are...maybe friends? Associates? But there's certainly no scene with Crowley crying into a bottle of whiskey after Aziraphale disappears in the way he does in S1. It's like Book Crowley isn't allowed to have queer feelings because No Homo, especially not when he's maybe-friends with a maybe-homo. And it's not really surprising, considering the book was written in the '80s -- when gay rights was pushed back 20 years due to the AIDS epidemic.

And even with S1, it wasn't blatantly spelled out that either of them were queer. The aforementioned line about a gay Aziraphale didn't make it into the script (though he does refer to himself as "the Southern pansy"). We got some excellent scenes to rile up the fandom with somewhat-romantic dialog and actions. Still, on the surface, the reaction could still easily be "Hey, that looks maybe-possibly kind of gay? If you look at it just right. Here's my 20-page essay explaining why they're gay." And at the end of the season, Aziraphale and Crowley simply dine at the Ritz. Nothing explicitly gay there, unless you dig for it.

And then Season 2 said, "Hold my beer." And we got a full season of slow-burn romance at the forefront. The business with Gabriel was a ruse; the whole thing was about Aziracrow and their relationship from start to finish. We started out with the expected subtext, suggestive dialog, surreptitious glances. I remember thinking, "this is nice; I'm glad we're getting more time to just enjoy these two on the screen together." And then it kept building, and building, and building.

And finally, Episode 6 gave us "YES, HOMO." And after a lifetime of never seeing one of my ships amount to anything on screen, there it was, in all its devastating glory. They went there. That's what felt like the moon landing to me. It's something that seemed so far off to be impossible until it wasn't.

[ramblesbiab]

I feel like if there's one thing I could probably make a video essay about today if I had the energy to is how utterly terrible seasons three and four of the Harley Quinn animated series were at understanding everything the first two seasons set up.

Season one establishes the status quo, it shows us who Harley Quinn is as a character in this iteration, along with building her relationships and motivations. Season two builds on this further while having great set pieces and concepts which further challenge and showcase the characters.

Both those seasons deal with the budding romance of Harley and Ivy, but they understand that you can't have an entire show based entirely on one couple. The other characters exist for a reason. They diversify the show while also just... being good characters. King Shark, Dr. Psycho, and Clayface are all amazing, and those are just a few of a large and well-balanced cast.

Along with this, Harley Quinn herself is such a good character. She's funny and chaotic without being too much, and when she goes too far, she's called out on it and it's addressed in a mature way. I genuinely, and I'm not sorry for this take, believe that the first two seasons of Harley Quinn is one of the best animated shows out there. It's so unapologetic in it's style, so understanding of what it is and what it can get away with.

And then, there's seasons three and four.

In stark contrast to the complexity of seasons one and two, seasons three and four each choose a singular angle to focus on: "What if Harley Quinn is actually morally good?" in season three, and "What if Harley Quinn isn't actually morally good?" in season four. They create a season-wide problem only to use the entire next season to disprove themselves. It's such poor time management, especially for this show!

One of the biggest reasons I say that is because of Season 1, Episode 7 - "The Line". This episode addresses how Harley Quinn... isn't all the way morally evil, but rather is a complex character. They address the debate of Harley Quinn's morals in one season one episode better then the entirety of seasons three and four! I know the writing team had some changes after the season two finale, but did you not watch the show before writing for it???

Now, I have to admit that I'm being a bit harsh on season three here. It has some interesting concepts that the show runs with, and a few of them work. My biggest problem with it is honestly the fact that it's so clearly the buildup to season four, which is genuinely awful in itself. Harley's team starts to be featured less, they start to push towards the "Maybe she's good?" of Harley, the issues between Harley and Ivy start to drift from a cross episode - or even season - narrative where they both grow and learn more about each other, to a weirdly episode-by-episode affair where they fight, feel a bit upset, then magically make up at the end while we all go aww yay!

The heart of the show has been removed. I wish it hadn't, because I was excited to have a chance to see more cute Harlivy moments, but somehow the show became too engulfed in Harlivy. This was never really the Harley and Ivy show - they were always the main characters, sure, but as I said before, the show understood you can't have a show about exactly one couple. The problem is that their new attempts at focused side characters fail.

Bane, Nora Freeze, and the Bat family are all good characters, but they're at their best when used sparingly. I genuinely don't understand the choice to step away from King Shark and Clayface as main characters, because season four shows how awful they function when they're used sparingly.

I'm mostly disappointed that when I want to recommend one of my favorite shows of all time to someone else, I have to do it with the condition that it falls off significantly as soon as season two's wonderful finale comes to a close. Maybe it should have be Fin, after all.

[mysticalskunk]

I can't believe I have not written properly something since fall although I had many ideas swirling in my head and no idea where to put them and at this point there is too much going on in my brain (because I was busy with irl stuff to actually write something down and now there is a million of ideas that i don't know where to start)

then i worked on the rocky and doubling analysis but ended up becoming a writing block because words failed and I seriously cannot believe that the solution to that was:

Brain: hey remember that ghost show you started but had to drop because you got busy? we should watch it again

Me, knowing full well that I tend to be all over the place with everything and shouldn't just start a new show when I still have rabbits, rocky, other analysis and a lot of roleplay drafts in going: Absolutely, good idea!

And that was the funniest mistake because now I cannot focus on everything else. It got me my writing energy back but like. head empty only ghost show.

Listen I did not expect the show to grow on me that much? I love the main characters? I love their dynamic? I love the character growth??? I thought it was just gonna be funny haha but it's genuinely super fun and super sad to wach? It's my new comfort show? Scratch beat Hawkbit and XR as favorite characters how did that even happen

I could write a whole essay on Scratch's character growth for each episode and the worst part is I roleplay Molly. I told myself after XR no more main characters because there is a lot going on with them but!! I love Molly???? I never loved a main character as much as I do with Molly and Scratch?? Please out of all the new shows on tv this one was so far the best i cannot put the immense joy i feel watching this show into words i wouldn't even know where to start this is why i dislike analyzing main characters they have a lot of things going on but I love??? these two???

[metaphysicpareidolic]

OPINION TIME because i need to know i'm not the only one who feels this way:

i'm gonna be perfectly honest and many of you might hate me for this but. i. did not like good omens season 2. so if you don't want to read, i'll just write my essay under the break dlsjfdh

OKAY.

i mean i understand why people like it, the two (mostly) male-presenting characters that everyone has been smashing together like barbie dolls for decades finally get a canon kiss, great. yeah, as a trans gay guy, i can't deny that i love seeing any kind of queer representation, especially from such a popular show, from such an influential author. but this? did not. feel good to watch. and it's not just because of the soul-destroying cliffhanger ending.

i lived and breathed good omens when the show first came out, it was one of the most intense hyperfixations of my life, i was completely obsessed with it and i recommended it to everyone i knew, both the show and the book. it's the entire reason i got tumblr in the first place and the first fandom i actually participated in. quite a good portion of my waking thoughts were consumed by the ineffable husbands and all the other characters. i was a young teenager at the time and this story shaped my view of the world for over a year, and i will always love it. but even then, i hoped to god (ha) that they wouldn't make a second season. but inevitably, they did.

i went into the first episode hoping i was wrong, and i finished it just feeling disappointed. i kept watching and got through the whole thing, hoping it would get better as the season went on, but it just got worse and worse. granted, i did enjoy the little historical throwbacks (i think the entire second season should have just been aziraphale and crowley through the centuries with michael and david improvising the whole thing like that one post) but the actual plot was bland, the characters had lost all their depth, and on top of that the budget was obviously cut by a lot so the rich visuals that were so captivating in the first season were gone, as well. that and issues with sound, which probably were more noticeable cause i was wearing headphones, but this is one of the most popular and profitable shows on a leading streaming service owned by one of the biggest fucking companies in the world. shouldn't they be putting money into it?

i'm not upset that beelzebub was recast. i'm upset that their entire character and personality was forgotten in favour of a romantic side plot, which exists, why? again?? to somehow emphasize a point already made by the other rushed romantic side plot?? that has barely anything to do with the actual story other than being accidentally dragged into it by aziraphale, whose entire character development from the first season has been entirely pushed aside because we need a third season, because we want more money! hehe they are kissing, gay people kissing ooh look, give us your money and attention so you can see them kiss consensually this time! i could continue but i will spare you the entirety of my spiel because i could write. PAGES. about how much this season hurt my soul not because Oh No They Broke Up but because i believed in this world and i believed in these characters and i don't like seeing them like this, wrung out and milked for cash and fanservice. everything that made the first season good is dampened by the knowledge that i now have to consider this fucking thing canon, that this is what the story turns into.

neil gaiman i love you but for the love of god get off of tumblr. he just wrote a fucking fanfiction of his and terry pratchett's work because he knew he would get money from it. and we are eating it up, because we love the story, we love the characters, and we love the author and we always want more. if you want more, draw fanart. write fanfiction. create your own version of a story. please, don't give your money to a company just because it's Officially Legit Canon when you could create a much better, more compelling, and more satisfying ending for yourself, for free. i lied earlier, i don't understand the appeal of this season. i don't understand why people like it. it feels fake. it feels wrong. it feels like an entirely different universe than the first season, and the book, and that wouldn't necessarily even be a bad thing if it was at least done with some level of concern for quality and consistency.

i know not everyone wants to be critical of their favourite show and would prefer to just enjoy it for what it is. i understand that, at least. i don't want to ruin anyone's fun. if you enjoyed this season, good. i'm glad you did and i love seeing all the fanart and fanfictions happening everywhere. i just really wanted to talk about this and maybe spark a little discussion if anyone's interested. anyways if you read all of this, thank you.

tl;dr: i hate capitalism, i hate streaming services

[rythyme]

OMG YES the fight scene in ep 5!!!!! kiyao telling him 'have you ever thought that I might like/love you too' hit me so hard I actually had to pause. it is one my fave scenes on the whole show maybe only up there with the actual confession scene at the end and kiyao crying telling hira that he is not a god he is just an ordinary man. incredible. also I've caught up with the second season and you should definitely watch it, it is just as good as the first one in my opinion. sorry for rambling!

ahhhh YES that episode 5 fight scene is easily one of my favorite argument scenes of all time — if not also my favorite confession scene (if it counts as one?) — because every line of dialogue really just fuckin hits you right in the chest. it's such an excellent piece of character-driven conflict too because everything we've learned about their personalities and their feelings towards each other has inevitably been leading them to this point. it's not pure miscommunication. it's not contrived. it is a fundamental difference in their world outlooks and perceptions of each other that had to come crashing together sooner or later.

(i think i have a tag essay somewhere about this scene too bc every time i think of it i can't shut up about it lol - if i find it I'll link it in the replies)

the second confession scene later in the episode is the resolution of this conflict, so in my head they're kind of two parts of the same whole? i sometimes forget which lines happen when but both parts are fucking phenomenal. the acting, writing, all of it is just *chefs kiss*

i can't wait to see more of them in S2, in can't believe we even got a S2 tbh but i am NOT complaining 💕

[imaginationlandtrilogy]

i need more kyle analysis from you!!! i’ve been scowering your blog and i can’t find any past what you’ve got pinned😭😭 give us thoughts on kyle as a person! anything you wanna say!!

This has been in my drafts since February... It's been so long. I honestly don't know if you still follow me or even if you're still in the fandom, but hey! I'm finally posting this! Hopefully you'll get to see it :]

Thank you for asking me this! Truth be told, I'm a little intimidated in writing about him, as I'm afraid I won't do him justice. There are so many in-depth analyses on him from a number of blogs. What else is there to say that already hasn't been said flawlessly by other Kyle fans?

Nevertheless, I do have thoughts on Kyle I haven't shared. There are a few things on my to-write list featuring him, so I should probably get one of those out of the way now. :)

Kyle is... very important to South Park as a show. Yet, it's so strange to me that they considered killing him off in season 5 due to his similarities with Stan. It's a good thing they didn't go through with this and instead ended up killing Kenny for a season because I couldn't even imagine how South Park would be without Kyle.

Kyle was developed greatly in the following seasons in order to differentiate him from Stan... and is it no coincidence that seasons 6-12 are often regarded as the golden seasons of South Park? I believe their decision to keep Kyle and temporarily kill Kenny off directly correlates to the positive reception of these seasons.

One of the big changes that took place with Kyle was making him more morally firm - he strives to do the right thing and due to this, often serves as the 'voice of reason' in episodes. He makes for a good foil for characters who primarily serve the antagonistic role - often Cartman, which I'll get into later. Kyle interacts so well with other characters that he's able to easily fit these roles - that's in part of how much personality he has. He has strengths, weaknesses, beliefs, complex interactions with other characters... He has so much, and he's difficult to explain just because there's so much to his character. I feel as if you can't really talk about Kyle without typing an essay-length analysis on it because there is so much he has to offer.

Last year, I found a chart that someone made on a statistics website and uploaded it here. Isn't it interesting how, as of mid-last year, Kyle was tied with Cartman for being the character most featured in episodes? You wouldn't really expect that, but if you look at the episodes throughout the seasons and think about Kyle's prevalence in them, it makes sense. He is a good character that is able to fit well into a variety of plots and themes. In a general sense, Kyle isn't really a popular South Park character in the general media. He's not the character you often see articles written about titled, "This Character's Top Ten Episodes!", yet... according to that chart, he's one of the most prominently featured characters. The fact of the matter is, Kyle's popularity has nothing to do with his spot there - it's him. It's his ability to add to episodes, his ability to be a compelling enough character to prominently feature in episodes. He's just a good character.

I mentioned earlier that Kyle often serves as a foil to characters as the 'voice of reason'. Most of the time, it's Cartman. There have been instances of him foiling other characters, but most of the time, it is Cartman, so that's what I'm going to be focusing on. Looking at IMDB'S top-rated episodes, we see episodes such as Casa Bonita (S7E11), Imaginationland (S11E10/11/12), Le Petit Tourette (S11E8), Cartman Sucks (S11E2), Cartmanland (S5E6) all in the top twenty. There are two things to take note of here. Firstly, all of these, excluding one (although that's less than half a season away, so it's very close) fall into the 'golden seasons'. Secondly, these chosen episodes all feature a reliance on Kyle in the plot in some way. To be more specific, they all feature a reliance on Kyle to act as a foil to Cartman. In "Casa Bonita", regarded as one of the best episodes of the entire show, the entire reason Cartman acts out is to try to appease Kyle enough to go with him to Casa Bonita. In "Imaginationland", his entire purpose in those three episodes is to get Kyle to abide by the 'contract' he created. In "Le Petit Tourette", Kyle's reaction to what Cartman was doing is what fuelled Cartman to go even further with it. In "Cartman Sucks", Cartman's paranoia of being perceived as gay is directly correlated with his mindset that Kyle is out to get him. In "Cartmanland", the entire episode serves as a predecessor to the 'Cartman vs. Kyle' trope so prevalent throughout the series. All of these episodes, from the perspective of writing and storytelling, rely on Kyle in order to carry the plot further. Although there aren't as many episodes focused on him, there are a plethora where he exists as a character to move forward the plot. Take what you'd like out of this, but the fact remains: Kyle is an important character in the development of South Park.

It's not just the writing that relies on Kyle, but the characters. This is something I've spoken briefly about before in other posts, but I'll restate myself here. Kyle is an extremely important figure to the main four, given that both Cartman and Stan heavily rely on him. I'm not going to be talking about Kenny in this section simply because Kenny isn't utilized as much as he should be. I don't have enough evidence to make a claim that Kenny relies on Kyle so much as I do for the other two.

Starting with Cartman, I'm going to bring up three episodes: "Smug Alert" (S10E2), "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" (S9E1), and "The Death of Eric Cartman" (S9E6). "Smug Alert" is an episode brought up very frequently when it comes to his relationship with Kyle. To put it frankly, this episode proves that Cartman, in one way or another, relies on Kyle. When Kyle and his family move away to San Francisco, Cartman replaces him with Butters. Butters does not fight back, he does not throw insults at Cartman, he simply goes along with whatever Cartman gives him. Cartman soon realizes that he needs Kyle back in order to resume the foundation his day-to-day life previously had. He even goes as far as to save Kyle's life (and in that, his family's) and risks his own in order to get Kyle back. The reason he saved Kyle was mostly selfish, but he was still reliant upon him in doing so. This is also shown briefly in "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" when Kyle is dejectedly facing the wall. Cartman attempts to belittle him and Kyle, in a state of emotional vulnerability, accepts it and does not counter him as he normally would. Cartman verbally states, "Jesus, that's no fun" and walks away. This is similar to his reasoning for saving Kyle in "Smug Alert" - he did not have someone to reciprocate his insults. He relies upon Kyle to do so. In "The Death of Eric Cartman", Cartman's reliance upon all three of his friends is shown. In the aspect of company and someone to be there, he relies on all three of them. When Kyle, Kenny, and Stan begin ignoring Cartman, Cartman repeats himself, at first thinking they must not have heard them. When he makes an antisemitic remark about Kyle, Kyle ignores him. He then directly addresses Stan, repeating himself. When Stan ignores him, he asks Kenny a question (purposely in the area of something that would interest him to get him to reply), but Kenny does not reply. This scene proves how reliant Cartman is upon his friends (Kyle included). Note: It's tricky to talk about Cartman's reliance upon others in such a small section, as there's the question of "why" or "how". Going into either question would derail the original topic, so all I can say is that Cartman relies on Kyle in some sense, as is evident in the aforementioned episodes.

Stan is much more willing to show how reliant he is upon Kyle, as he has no fear in admitting it. They're best friends, they both know they're best friends, and in being best friends, they have a mutual love and care for one another. Both Stan and Kyle rely on each other, but I don't want to stray too far from the subject at hand, I'm only going to be talking about Stan's reliance on Kyle. There are a plethora of episodes proving Stan relies on Kyle in some manner, but among the most important is "Ass Burgers" (S15E8). This episode portrays a life in which Stan does not have Kyle at his side... and he's at a loss. There's a lot to go over in this episode, but I'm going to be focusing on one scene in particular. When Stan arrives at Cartman Burger after having drank the alcohol, he goes straight to Kyle and hugs him. Although his way of thinking was blurred due to his emotional vulnerability, the one thing that did remain from his past self was his reliance on Kyle as a friend, as a sense of support and company. Despite his other friends being in the same location, Stan only went for Kyle. He told him what he was told to believe and immediately told Kyle to come with him and "fuck it all up". The fact of the matter is, Stan had all those other people to "fuck it all up" with, and it would make more sense for him to go with them, as they also believed that "everything [was] shit", but... he didn't go to them. He went to Kyle because deep down, underneath all the changes he was going through and how emotionally broken he was, he was still Kyle's best friend, and he wanted to be around him. Stan relies on Kyle as a sense of comfort, familiarity, and love. It's the type of reliance he doesn't realize because it's second nature for him. I believe I've said enough here, but for more episodes showcasing this, there's "Guitar Queer-O" (S11E13), "Cherokee Hair Tampons" (S4E6), and "Super Best Friends" (S5E3).

With all of this taken into consideration, what would have happened with the series if Kyle had been killed off? We wouldn't have characters as developed as they are today, as Kyle's more precisely formed personality ('the voice of reason') would not be able to influence the other characters and carry out the plots. Cartman would not be the character he is today without Kyle. Stan would not be the character he is today without Kyle. We probably would have never seen Kyle's family again if the decision had been made to kill him off, and think about how many plots they've led! It's a chain reaction from all that Kyle has influenced in the show, and it all leads to him. Kyle is important.

[indigayghost]

A sneak peek at my essay about writing in s4 is:

Yes you could say 4.09 was made to not be funny on porpose but you would be wrong because of two very obvious facts:

1. The series is a comedy, you can't decide that you will ignore the format just because, that's not how things work

2. The ep have a lot of jokes! I found some parts really funny, this is a question of taste, but they landed flat mostly because they left the emotional background loose and without closure and this let us kind of lost in between the themes.

We already saw episodes with heavy emocional themes and a lot of comedy (3.08/09 and 10 are all stuffed with angst and pain and literal death but we had the entire season to guide us until the grand revelation and we saw from where and to where they are going). I think the major flaw with this season is that they tried to change paths (this is speculation on my part) from what they were trying to do until s3 but they didn't have the time to let the ideas boil and cook and in the end they tried to put a lot of things in just one place.

I mean they completely ignored the one year in London this is nothing but a scripting error.

About Marwa, hm... She is definitely a thing. When they introduced her it was clear she was a plot device, we weren't supposed to like her because she was never supposed to be a character. And like, her fate was the fate of a plot device, if you think about it just as this then it's fine. The problem is that to create a character only to be a plot device is cheap writing and this show have a lot of characters that should be just plot devices and turned into their own being.

Marwa, as the rest of the emotional themes in the season, was rushed and shallow.

That being said, I do believe the finale will up things a bit, the theme in the finale will become really clear and some things will make more sense.

Anyway, I will do a better analysis later but for now I'll stop here. This season was reaaaaaally strong in the comedy specially between ep 03 to 08 but the emocional background was rushed, I think it will be a lot better in S5 and 6

[lindalung]

The 雙大 Lore Iceberg/ Masterpost

Here's the ongoing Iceberg if anyone cares. There's little things, little moments that I could list on forever as canonical evidence to Me that they're in love/soulmates, or just simply crazy things that I can't believe have happened to them. For example, the fact that no one on earth understands what Hung Sheung Sin is thinking, not even her boyfriend or her family, but Linda does. When they supposedly hate each other but Sheung Sin when put in a life-or-death situation they would die for each other. How is this canon but they're still denying that there's nothing between them. Okay let me get into this iceberg (no particular order). Some stuff not included in the iceberg

Tier 1

Calling each other 豈有此理 and 窮編劇， even setting it as their contact names, and every time they mention one another behind their backs at home

The n number of times they dressed the same (see: essay on doubling)

Linda paying Sheung Sin to write a reality show for her and her husband (and every time she needs someone to write something she goes to her tbh). Then Sheung Sin teachers her to give the audience the side of her that they want to see and perfectly captures her mean girlboss angle (we know that's her fantasy...) and then female netizens call her "husband" yeah Sheung Sin knows what the gays want

When they were trying to fight over who would have the better Mother's Day only to both end up in Thailand alone and then spent the night together on a date having dinner and taking pics for each other

In their first episode Sheung Sin goes back to save Linda and said "I promised I wouldn't leave you behind" and when Linda saved Sheung Sin in the hospital from a serial killer and also promised not to leave her behind

Every time Sheung Sin laughs at Linda when she's going through her misfortune

The Lung/Hung family lore goes deep, even their dads were childhood friends reunited, Mary Hung dated Max Lung, and Wind Lung had a crush on Hung Sum Yu. It's only logical that these two are also meant to be, right?

Their dogs were in love (more on the dog lore later)

The times when they held hands (probably while running from a serial killer)

Always being in the classic butting heads pose (à la Captain America: Civil War poster)

Being presidents of the Chung Tau fanclub together

Bailing out Terry and On Jai from the police station twice and generally using them as a weapon against each other

Giving Mrs. Tam a makeover together, and acting like gfs later

Sheung Sin giving Linda's brother Terry a crash course to winning arguments and how to gaslight

The fact that they're supposed to hate each other but Linda constantly admits and praises Sheung Sin's wits and intelligences, and acknowledges that she's the one who thinks of better plans

Everytime they act friendly for a moment and then immediately after they jump away in fake disgust and are like "You think we're close?"

Going to the Chung Tau concert together and forming a heart with their hands, then instantly bickering outside

Tier 2

They thought their dogs had sex/ had babies (they're dog in laws) but the Hung dog Bear Bear wasn't the father, so they faked a puppy funeral

Linda showing up at Sheung Sin's house begging her to be her volleyball coach and then working together to get Jenny

Linda losing a racecar to Sheung Sin in a bet but Sheung Sin was too proud to take it from her even though she secretly wanted it

Sheung Sin elbowing Linda's boob in front of press, and then slapping her ass at the photocall (all while dressed alike)

Watching Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One together canonically (this is included cause it's one of my fav movies so it's hilarious to Me)

Sheung Sin working her son's shift at Linda's bar and then falling into her arms (heroic catching pose)

Sheung Sin keeping Linda's secret for her and didn't tell Mary when she asked

Linda cancelling a meeting just to speak with Sheung Sin (to her secretary's surprise)

Their dogs got dognapped together and they went to rescue them at a club (while dressed as teenagers)

Sheung Sin messing with Win and Linda getting defensive telling Sheung Sin not to mess with her (gay love triangle)

Sheung Sin helping Linda in the 2000th episode to take down Max

Sheung Sin messing with Linda, making fun of her bad singing and rooting for Terry to get to sing the theme song to spite her

Linda and Sheung Sin constantly comparing their boyfriends, Linda getting jealous that her brother likes Sheung Sin's bf more than her husband

That one time they glanced at each other across the room and nodded in silence

When Linda went to Sheung Sin's house just to get a glimpse of Chung Tau who was living across

Constantly fighting in washrooms (washrooms are gay)

Tier 3

Sheung Sin worrying about Linda's problem on Mid Autumn Festival and hung her lantern upside down because she was so preoccupied. She even begged her son to help Linda, something sh'ed never do.

Sheung Sin breaking into Linda's changing room and throwing out her clothes so she had nothing to change into, and Linda automatically assuming Sheung Sin wanted to fuck her

Sheung Sin replacing Linda as Terry's sister to piss her off and manipulating him into hating her

Also Sheung Sin staring at a picture of Linda when she's celebrating Mid Autumn Festival with her family and boyfriend.

Sheung Sin baiting Linda into spending all of her money out of spite

Two separate instances of Sheung Sin stripsearching Linda

Being Blonde Charlie's Angels spies in KC's dreamscape conducted by Sheung Sin's hypnotism

Getting kidnapped together x6?? and counting

Getting each other's eyebrows shaved off

When they went to an Onsen together in Japan and their hair turned grey and after a heart-to-heart bonding they tried to dye it back to black with seaweed (in which Sheung Sin makes sacrifices for Linda and leaves her the best ingredients), and later spend the night in a hotel room together, even their bf/husband the next morning were like "Where were you two last night..."

When Linda's husband's ex wife came back and the first thing she did was run to Sheung Sin to help her brainstorm "story ideas" to combat hypothetical ex-wives

Sheung Sin tripping Linda into a bowl of white powder so she can cosplay Guanyin at the temple

Tier 4

Asking each other to suck snake venom out when they got bit

Getting kidnapped by a crazy Chung Tau stan together and got tied up with ropes

Linda kidnapping Sheung Sin in the middle of the night to ask for her help

Linda randomly crushing on Sheung Sin's boyfriend after he saves her from a motorcycle accident (which turned out to be Sheung Sin's dad) but Sheung Sin uses this as an opportunity to mess with Linda instead of being a normal straight woman and being jealous / back off my man reaction

Rescuing KC, Rachel, Mary, and Kung Yip at KK Island with rifles and looking extremely cool

When they went on a plane to beat the "Worst airplane customer" allegations and then beat up a rich asshole together, while dressed as flight attendants

Linda making Sheung Sin her personal maid for the day, a few days actually

Sheung Sin's boyfriend using Linda's old medical reports from 20 years ago to motivate Sheung Sin into having a healthy lifestyle because nothing else was working, and we all know how much she cares about Linda's business!

Sum Yu insulting Linda by saying something along the lines of "I used to think that you were someone so mighty that only my eldest sister could go against, but you're just a coward" because everyone knows nothing gets under Linda's skin like Sheung Sin

Sheung Sin messing with Linda on her birthday and then saying "you want revenge? I'll wait for you" then winking... okay

Tier 5

An argument in a hair salon ended up with Sheung Sin in a coma, and then Linda got framed for murdering her. Then Linda goes to the hospital and holds her hand and cries telling her that she actually really cares about her, and tries acupuncture to wake her up. Then they both get chased by a serial killer inthe hospital and Linda refuses to leave Sheung SIn behind.

Sheung Sin's son falls in love with Linda after Sheung Sin is displeased in his taste in women, and tries to hypnotize him into getting a better taste in women

Getting kidnapped along with Win in the Wolf Country and then escpaing together with various silly ways

Linda going to Sheung Sin for help to hypnotize her into finding a password, and in turn told her all her deepest secrets

Got brainwashed in tradwife conversion camp together with Jenny

Chased a serial killer in the mall together while dressed as Chang'E on Mid Autumn Festival, which became notorious even a year after

Sheung Sin being depressed for days cause her plans to piss Linda off weren't working, and when she finally found out it did provoke her she was cackling like a maniac

Tier 6 (What I consider the darkest psychological warfare manipulation shit)

Their first episode together and they got kidnapped, and thought they killed a guy à la Thelma and Louise (a famously homoerotic piece of media, mind you) and almost drove into the ocean together to escape the cops and professed the gayest shit ever (24 hours after they just met btw) saying "I'm really glad I met you. If there's a next life, I hope our friendship can be longer" Y'all just met and you're already talking about reincarnating... that's soulmate behaviour

Sheung Sin pretending that her son k worded himself and made Linda think it was her fault (what kind of gaslighting) because she was jealous that her son was more afraid of Linda than of her.

Finally, Sheung Sin taking Linda's identity when she was at rock bottom and disowned, and took her relationship with her dad by becoming his goddaughter, took her dogs, sold her designer bags, and basically everything (except her boyfriend lmao she didn't want him). It's the ultimate "do i want you or do i want to become you?" phenomenon.

[little-cereal-draws]

Imma be completely honest, I’m literally only here as a Marvel Fan because of MK and WWBN, the writing of everything else is atrocious.

This is my fifth year being an mcu fan so i definitely have not been following it since the beginning but those two definitely are the best of phase 4.

I know this isnt' what u asked for but i'm bored here are my ratings for phase 4:

Moon Knight. I'm not going to write all the reasons i love it bc that would turn into an entire essay lol but this show is phenomenal and has captured my heart and soul

Werewolf by Night. again, just like moon knight, it's creative and cinematic and perfect in every way

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. It's funny, got good action, emotional parts, and i live for shang and katy's relationship. they're so funny and i'm eternally glad they didn't force them into a weird romance

Ms. Marvel. the kids were written like kids and kamala is so dorky and cute. i know a lot of ppl didn't like her for some reason but she also lives in my heart

Hawkeye. This is just bc im one of those comic book nerds and have read every single hawkeye book and have merch and stuff lol I'm a diehard fan and loved pointing out all the little details even if it deviated from the comics

Black Widow. I think people are right that Yelena did steal the show a little bit but i love it anyway. It always makes me cry. every time.

Thor: Love and Thunder. I liked this movie! I saw it in theaters multiple times and enjoyed it. I can see the reasons behind people's critiques and do agree that the first half felt a bit weirdly paced but the second half really saved it for me

WandaVision. I'm just a sucker for Wanda and Vision lol They were my first mcu ship and i'm glad they finally got a spotlight. ppl complain abt the ending but i thought it was pretty good

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I loved seeing all the different dynamics that came up in this show and the real world problems it addressed. It also made me cry. I loved Sam and Bucky but Karli really stole the show for me and I was on her side the whole time lol

What If...? I actually really liked the reimagining of the characters and the odd pair ups. It was fun to see all the new interactions we would never get in canon. I think the watcher was weird and didn't need to fight ultron but the rest of it was good. Also the animation was beautiful. I was on the edge of my seat trying to get a better look at it the whole time lol

Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was a really good movie but I haven't seen all the og spider man movies so i didn't know who a lot of the villains were. and peter could have thought his little stunt at the end through a bit more but oh well. Still funny though

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It was really exciting to see America (i'm also a fan of her comics) but really I was rooting for wanda the whole time lol Ofc I knew that america would live bc they need her for the young avengers but it was really fun seeing wanda be in her villain era. they did her dirty at the end tho and basically had her learn the lesson she just learned in wandavision... which was also the lesson she learned in civil war. when will they give my girl a new arc? also i'm in denial, I refuse to believe she's dead :) (and also dr strage was in it too ig)

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. This was fun, I had a good time. It was really funny and finally confirmed that peter and mantis were siblings but i don't think i'll watch it any time other than christmas (unlike werewolf by night which is a year round event lol)

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. ok this one got a lot of hate but i don't see why? i didn't think it was bad, i just wasn't gripped by the story. i only watched up to episode three so i can't judge the whole thing but it was a bit too slice of life-y for me to be engaged w the story but as far as i can tell, that's jen's thing. The parts that i did see weren't poorly written and it's not the shows fault the animation was so bad (cough marvelwon'tlettheiranimatorsunionize cough)

Eternals. Same problem as she hulk. it wasn't bad, it just wasn't interesting. I only made it through half the movie before i left but i was really confused by who was who. i kept getting them mixed up

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The only reason this is so low is because I haven't seen it yet. I've heard nothing but glowing reviews so i'm sure it'll go up to the top of the list but i can't judge it until i see it

Loki. I hate this show, i hate it so much. I am so fucking mad abt this bc it had so much potential! I've also read the loki comics and i think those set my bar too high. yes, the show acknowledges loki is bi but they make him fall in love with another version of himself instead of doing anything w that. yes, they acknowledge he's genderfluid but we never see it, not even in flashbacks. he's trying to redefine who he is and stuff but i was so distracted by the horrible self-cest romance, that i was actively rooting against, to notice character development. If you want a good story about a bisexual, genderfluid loki redefining themself in the most beautiful way, read the Loki: Agent of Asgard comic run