#i mean he also created linda park so there's points for him there alone

[sarahreadstoomanycomics]

I think most can agree they should not hire writers who hate characters to write them. You can always tell and it only ever hurts the characters. However sometimes characters benefit from a writer that bullies them. Saying this as a Wally West fan, who will forever appreciate William Messner-Loebs for seeing the asshole that both Wolfman and Baron had left him to write and went you know what I’m going to beat that out of him.

[erbferbatinlerb]

sorry for the long post, i'm on mobile and cant put a read more but.... drumroll please.... due to popular demand here it is! Phineas Has ADHD: The Essay.

Hyperfixation on building/inventing things: Even more specifically amusement park rides ("Rollercoaster", "Rollercoaster The Musical", "One Good Scare", "Leave The Busting To Us", "Don't Even Blink", "Cheer Up Candace", "Delivery Of Destiny", etc.) Now, you can argue that he's a kid, and rides are fun, so of course he likes them, but if you look at it from a building standpoint, from an engineering standpoint? Phineas' interest lies in fun, of course, but he also must have an extreme interest in the engineering aspect of a ride in order to be skilled and knowledgeable enough to build them, and to be able to focus on the task so wholly.

He also gets incredibly attached to very specific things that some people often find strange, which seems like evidence of hyperfixation to me. (E.g.: aglets in "Tip of the Day", dental hygiene in "Bully Bust", Bulgarian folk dancing in "The Beak", detective movies in "Finding Mary McGuffin") hot tubs in "Bully Bromance Breakup", "Lotsa Latkes", "Swiss Family Phineas")

HYPERFOCUS: He and Ferb will dedicate their whole day to just one idea that they have. Phineas is able to weaponize his hyperfocusing talent incredibly well and stick to one task, but only if it is something he is extremely interested in — for example: In "Bully Bromance Breakup", he becomes almost unable to function without the stimulation of inventing, to the point where climbing a mountain with his friends—something he, by all accounts, should enjoy—becomes a difficult task for him.

He displays forgetfulness: In "Mom's Birthday", Phineas forgets it is his mom's birthday until he hears Candace mention it, and then he feels extremely guilty. We then see a montage of him, during various situations from the previous episodes (on the rollercoaster, etc.) telling Ferb: "We can't forget mom's birthday." Even though this was of course, a bit, if you take this as being canon (which there's no real reason not to), it means Phineas was constantly talking about their mom's birthday for weeks leading up to the event because he really didn't want to forget it and he was worried that he would (and in the end, he did), implying he may have a consistent tendency to be forgetful.

Phineas has an intense love of summer, and is implied to have a dislike for school—  which is natural for any kid his age, but it's not hard to imagine that he might feel cooped up and creatively stifled during school. Especially if we put his attitude towards school next to that of Baljeet, with whom he shares a love of learning and knowledge, it's hard to ignore the difference. Being as we've seen Phineas get agitated when he's not able to build and invent freely and on his own terms ("Bully Bromance Breakup", "Summer Belongs To You"), it's easy to imagine he may struggle in a public school environment.

He has impulsive and thrill-seeking tendencies, which are evident in many of the big ideas. ("Escape From Phineas Tower", "Rollercoaster", "Ain't No Kiddie Ride", "The Beak", "One Good Scare", "Phineas and Ferb-Busters", "Leave The Busting To Us", ETC.) Adrenaline-seeking behaviour is common in individuals with ADHD and goes hand-in-hand with a low tolerance for boredom which Phineas explicitly states himself to possess in the very first episode of the show. ("Rollercoaster")

However, on the flip side to his aversion to boredom, he can also spend literally hours just standing in the backyard, not even talking, if that's just what he feels like doing that day. ("Best Lazy Day Ever")

He is highly energetic and is the most talkative one of his friends. He has also suggested having an awareness and perhaps an insecurity that he talks too much in some situations. ("Misperceived Monotreme")

He sometimes has trouble with listening, and interrupts people, especially when he's excited: in "Ready For The Bettys", when they stumble upon Perry's lair, Phineas assumes Ferb built everything and doesn't listen, constantly interrupting when Ferb tries to protest; in "Hail Doofania", he assumes that he knows what Isabella is talking about (not having seen a rainbow before) and makes it his mission for the day to do what he thinks she means, and doesn't take the time to hear her out when she tries to explain otherwise because he's too invested in/excited about the project he has in mind.

Obliviousness / missing of social cues: The most obvious example is Isabella's crush on him, which he consistently fails to notice. ("Chronicles of Meap", "Meapless in Seattle", "That Sinking Feeling", "Happy New Year", "Summer Belongs To You", "Happy Birthday Isabella", "Doofapus", "It's No Picnic") He also seems not to understand that Candace wants to get them in trouble, nor that he actually probably would get in trouble if his mom knew what he and Ferb were doing. In fact, he gets excited about sharing their endeavors with Linda, clearly oblivious to the potential repercussions. ("Traffic Cam Caper", "What'd I Miss", "Suddenly Suzy")

Highlighted Episodic Evidence

Chronicles of Meap/Meapless in Seattle

Phineas's dismissal of Isabella's "cuteness" comments shows again his difficulty picking up on social cues, especially when distracted by a mission. He does not seem to understand, or at least does not acknowledge, Isabella's clear frustration with him. He does not understand that he is dismissing Isabella's feelings, because to him it feels obvious that she is cute and he doesn't think he needs to say it. Followed up in "Meapless in Seattle" with the "You think I'm cute?" "It's a scientific fact!" interaction—Phineas is not understanding that this isn't really how to give a compliment; he does not seem to realize that by not acknowledging Isabella's cuteness he could be hurting her feelings/nurturing her insecurities.

That Sinking Feeling

Once again, he misses cues from Isabella about her feelings for him, or if he understands them, he does not outwardly acknowledge them. He also tries to create romance for Mishti and Baljeet by taking "scientifically" romantic things, based upon his research (mostly the movie Titanic): candles, live music, the situation of a sinking ship... He over-does these things in a calculated way to try and curate the most scientifically romantic situation possible. This also mirrors Candace's opinion about his cold, calculated methods in "Perry Lays an Egg".

Cheer Up Candace

Phineas cares about Candace and when he sees her upset, he wants to help her, and he makes it his goal to do so. He hears the first step from Isabella's magazine is a makeover and he immediately thinks of a clown. He sets off to execute his plan without consulting anyone (except Ferb) and after it goes, as you can expect, not well, he realizes in hindsight that his impulsive idea was built on flawed logic. However, rather than dwell on this, he decides to dive right into the next step and he continues to do wildly over the top, fantastical versions of the magazine suggestions. I think this demonstrates a lack of understanding for social cues as well as impulsivity and impatience. Furthermore, he doesn't even wait to hear step two before setting out to achieve step one, and he doesn't ask Isabella her opinion or even listen to her suggestions once he has entered his own Idea Zone. Also, the Mix 'n' Mingle Machine is a great example of his unconventional and greatly efficiency-focused thought processes—  

he thinks of it as the most efficient way to meet as many people as possible in a short time, demonstrating a clear misunderstanding of what the actual intent of "meeting someone" was in the magazine. He is also basing this idea on his personal notions of what he finds fun, not what Candace would necessarily want.

Summer Belongs To You

When stranded on the island, Phineas shows an intense frustration when he's unable to put an optimistic spin on things. He also has a clear discomfort when he is without any tools to build with. Again, we see his hyperfocus on inventing (in this case: fixing the plane) get in the way of Isabella trying to have a romantic moment with him, and in the way of relaxing in general. She sees the sights of Paris, alone time with him, and chances to enjoy themselves, whereas Phineas sees things he could use as airplane parts, single-mindedly focused on his mission. And again he misses or does not acknowledge Isabella's frustration with him in the "It seemed like romance was a foregone conclusion" scene. This is strong evidence for Phineas' hyperfixation because he gets so caught up in his own world when it comes to inventing/building/working that he doesn't even notice what's going on around him, then he fails to see the irony of him identifying Candace&Jeremy and Ferb&Vanessa as romantic interests while entirely missing the fact that Isabella & him are also "a boy and a girl, alone in the city of love."

Also of note is his complete focus on completing the Summer Solstice goal. Because, despite the fact that they made it back to Danville safely after being in a pretty perilous situation—which should have become their main concern being as they were just stranded on an island with no food or way to call for help—he cannot be satisfied with that. Needing to get home before the sun sets for the sake of winning his bet and symbolically representing his worldview, he yells at candace when she doesn't want to get on the trike, because he's determined to still get there on time, intensely focused on both proving a point and upholding his personal values.

Happy Birthday Isabella

Isabella does not want an over-the-top surprise party, all she wants is to spend time alone with Phineas, but Phineas is so focused on his idea of her perfect birthday party that he does not seem to realize what her wishes are. He sends her away from him so that she won't know about the surprise, and does not even do so very gently (getting Buford to carry her away in a sack) instead of even asking her what she wants.

Bully Bromance Breakup

In this episode, Phineas is shown to get extremely distressed when he has to go even a short period of time without building/inventing anything. This is representative of a need for constant stimulation (which would explain why he is so adamant that he cannot put up with boredom). This also evidences his hyperfixation on building/inventing. The whole time that they're climbing the mountain with Baljeet, Phineas is completely preoccupied by his ideas for inventions, and after Baljeet rejects his ideas a few times, he gets increasingly agitated, eventually gets to a point where he is unable to climb anymore and has to get pulled up by the others, and he is shown rambling to himself about all of the invention ideas he has.

This is by no means a definitive list, and I'm sure there are many more moments in the show that provide evidence of these ideas, but this is the ones that stood out to me. Anyway, in conclusion, Phineas has ADHD. If you're still reading this incredibly long post by this point: uhh, thank you, I guess! Have a nice day. 💖

[kmomof4]

Of Darkness, Vampires, and Soulmates Ch. 8 The Battle Ends

Oh my goodness!!! I can’t believe we’re here!!! It’s the last chapter, y’all!!! Y’all have been screaming at me for seven weeks about how much you hate Rumplestiltskin, and I promised that he would get what was coming to him!! I hope y’all like it!!! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for coming along on this journey with me!!! I’m in tears right now typing this thinking of all the love and comments that y’all have sent my way. Please know that I reread them often and they all mean so SOOOOO much!!!

For the last time for this fic, I’m sending heaps and mounds of love, hugs, and gratitude to @profdanglaisstuff and @hollyethecurious for everything they did to help me bring this story to life. Saira was a fount of knowledge and an endless source of encouragement that was absolutely ESSENTIAL to my perseverance when the going got REALLY tough. Hollye, as one of my very best friends, was always there to discuss plot points, brainstorm, and push, drag, and pull to get me to keep going when I wanted to quit. Thank you both, ladies! This fic wouldn’t be here without either of you!

The ladies of the CSSNS and CSMM discords were there to sprint and encourage and also helped with the title. Thank you so much, ladies!!!

And finally, to @spartanguard, my OUTSTANDING artist for this fic!!! Kaitlyn, I know I say this every week, but it’s so true, you are SOOO talented and the words I know are not adequate to express the depth of my gratitude for all the work you’ve put in to your art that just made the story that much more REAL!!! 

‘Thank you’ is so inadequate, but it’s all I’ve got for all of you that had a hand in bringing this fic to life. So THANK YOU ALL, from the bottom of my heart!!!

Chapter summary: Chapter title says it all, I think. Rumplestiltskin FINALLY gets what’s coming to him!

Rating: M (Violence and smut)

Words: 2050 of 41.5K total

Tags: Vampires, Soulmates, Reincarnation, Prophecy, Black Death, French Revolution, Magic, True Loves Kiss

Prologue | Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Ao3 chapter link | Ao3 fic link

Tag list: @hollyethecurious @winterbaby89 @snowbellewells @stahlop @resident-of-storybrooke @jennjenn615 @kingofmyheart14 @profdanglaisstuff @thisonesatellite @branlovestowrite @ultraluckycatnd @flslp87 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @let-it-raines @shireness-says​ @kymbersmith-90​ @darkcolinodonorgasm​ @bethacaciakay​ @searchingwardrobes​ @ilovemesomekillianjones​ @teamhook​ @aprilqueen84​ @qualitycoffeethings​ @superchocovian​ @artistic-writer​ @donteattheappleshook​ @doodlelolly0910​ @seriouslyhooked​ @tiganasummertree​ @lfh1226-linda​ @nikkiemms​ @xsajx​ @klynn-stormz​

Please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed.

Under the cut unless tumblr ate it.

The young woman with long red hair and her blonde headed companion pushed a stroller through the front door of the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. Rumplestiltskin stood on the green lawn outside as a malevolent smile took over his face. He pulled a phone from his pocket, dialed and hissed when the call connected, “Your sister is in danger. Come home. Come alone. Or she dies.”

~*~*~

Emma was frantically throwing clothes into a suitcase when Killian came into their bedroom concerned alarm coloring his features.

“What’s going on, Emma?”

“He’s got her,” she choked out, turning back to her closet again. “I don’t even know who he has. He just said ‘your sister.’ I don’t even know who he has!” she exclaimed, turning again and throwing herself into his arms, her sobs breaking through. “Oh god, what if he has both of them?”

“Shhh, shhhh,” he crooned, stroking her back, “You’re not making any sense, love. Who has who?”

“Rumplestiltskin!” she cried, looking up at him, tears streaking down her face. “He CALLED me! How did he have my number? How did he get to her? I knew his voice! He said my sister was in danger, to come home, alone, or she dies. How did he find her? How did he know who she is? Who does he have?” She dissolved into tears again as he held her close.

“Well, you are not going alone, my love,” he asserted, vehemently. “That is absolutely not happening. He’s trying to draw you out, separate us so that we can’t destroy him. Blue can transport us to your home so that we can take him by surprise. He can’t really expect that I’d willingly let you face him alone.” He pulled back from her and cradled her face in his hands. “I’ll be right there with you, Swan,” he affirmed, “and we will defeat him.”

She smiled through her tears, eyes so full of hope that he wanted to promise her the world and everything in it. He drew her back into his arms, murmuring assurances into the crown of her head before letting her go to make preparations to leave.

~*~*~

Emma entered her childhood home, hoping against hope that she’d find one or both of her sisters inside. The churning fear in her gut since she received Rumplestiltskin’s  summons had only dissipated when Killian held her in his arms. But he was now outside trying to gain some intelligence about his sire’s presence inside her home. The Blue Fairy had created a magical shield to keep his presence hidden from Rumplestiltskin until he showed himself to Emma.

Their conversation before they had left home continued to plague her mind.

“We’ll save her, Emma. Don’t worry. She’ll be safe.”

“How do you know?

“He wants you, darling,” he promised her. “He wants to inflict as much pain on you, and me by extension, as possible. Which means that whatever he plans to do to harm her, he’ll want to do it in your presence.”

“Anna? Elsa?” she called, “Anyone here?” She walked further into the quietness of her home until she came into the family room. What she found sent her heartbeat into overdrive.

Anna sat on the sofa, unnaturally still, eyes wide with terror, mouth open in a silent scream. Emma took a deep breath, knowing that she had to keep her head about her if they were all going to get out of here safely. She scanned over her sister for any evidence of injury beyond being frozen. Emma’s supernatural hearing could perceive Anna’s small amount of blood loss at the hands of the monster that sat reclined in the chair opposite his captive.

A rage the likes of which she had never felt before came over her before she could blink. She saw red and flew for the demon, hands outstretched and a scream like a banshee ripping out of her open mouth. Before she could reach him, however, Killian burst through the front door situated behind the chair.

Not expecting the attack on two fronts, Rumplestiltskin was momentarily startled giving Killian all the time he needed to grab the cane that he always carried when he was masquerading as a human. The creature howled with fury as he reached out for the crutch just as Emma launched herself at him and landed on his back. She grasped him around the shoulders and hauled herself up until she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips. Fangs exposed she drove them into his neck as screams poured out of her prey. She continued feasting as she watched Killian attack.

Killian meantime had taken the cane and broken it over his raised knee, dissolving the glamour spell that had disguised the dagger that the Blue Fairy had made over a millennium before.

Raising it in his hand, he plunged it into Rumplestiltskin’s chest, being careful to angle it so that it wouldn’t come out his back and stab Emma who was still holding on to him for dear life as he thrashed about under their dual assault. Withdrawing the deadly implement, a dark, viscous substance poured from the hole in the creature’s chest and was drawn toward the blade. Killian felt a drag, a pull stronger than he had ever known as the same substance pulled out of himself as well. He was dimly aware of Emma releasing her victim and falling to the floor as the Darkness exited his love. His own scream of pain completely drowned out the weakening screams of their adversary and the increasingly loud keening cries coming from Anna as the enchantment holding her captive weakened.

With the pain finally subsiding and his faculties returning to him, Killian became aware of several things all at once. The Darkness drawn from the three vampires hovered over the dagger. Once emptied of the foul substance, Rumplestiltskin collapsed face down to the ground in front of him. Anna rocked back and forth on the sofa holding herself tightly as she sobbed uncontrollably, and a deathly pale Emma lay lifeless on the floor behind his sire. Rumplestilskin’s blood stained her mouth and her eyes remained open and trained on the ceiling. She had not survived the uprooting of the vile stuff that made her, made them, vampires. Killian rushed to her side and gathered her in his arms.

“No, no, no, no, nooooo!” he cried. “Not again! Please! Emma,” he begged, “don’t leave me. Please,” he cried, trying to shake her awake. “I can’t live without you, Emma. Come back to me, please…” he trailed away, tear filled eyes meeting Anna’s who still sat on the sofa, in a stupor.

“You know what you have to do, Killian,” a soft voice intoned, behind him.

He turned frantic eyes upon the Blue Fairy, who stood on the threshold.

The Dark’s minion’s downfall is foretold

When True Love’s Kiss doth unfold

Between soulmates unbound by time

The blue eyed prince and his golden haired Swan

Their True Love will break the hold

And Dark magic will be no more.

The prophecy ran through his mind. True Love’s Kiss. True Love’s Kiss. True Love’s Kiss will destroy the Darkness! Killian looked down on his peaceful, so still Swan. Begging one last time, he whispered in her ear, “Come back to me, Swan.” His lips met hers in a cascade of rainbow light pulsing outward throughout the house. He pulled away to see the Darkness, the dagger, and even Rumplestiltskin himself dissolve in the presence of magic that was able to break any curse. The magic of True Love.

He looked down into the face of his beloved just as she began to stir. She blinked and looked up at him. “Killian!”

He couldn’t hold back his joyful grin if he tried. He hugged her tightly to himself, murmuring into her neck, “My Swan, my Swan. My darling, Swan...”

She pulled back from him before pulling him back down to capture his lips with her own in a passionate kiss that made him completely forget about their audience. Until the clearing of a throat behind him penetrated his lustful haze.

They pulled apart and looked over to where the Blue Fairy was sitting and holding Anna close, comforting her. Emma cried out and scrambled away from him to get to her sister who was starting to recover from her ordeal.

“What was THAT?!” she cried, gathering Emma in her arms. “Who… What… Uh… How?” she stammered, looking back and forth between Emma, himself, and the Blue Fairy.

After taking a few more moments to sufficiently recuperate from her shock, Anna launched herself into Killian’s arms. Her sobs renewed as her emotional pendulum swung from unbridled joy at being reunited with Killian to indignation at never knowing the truth about him. And Emma, for that matter.

Pulling back from where he finally set her down after spinning her in a bone crushing hug, she slapped his shoulder.

“How could you not tell me? Did Mom know?”

Killian chuckled with a smirk. “I think that’s a tale that’s better told over dinner and a lot of alcohol, my lamb.”

~*~*~

The Blue Fairy used her magic to resolve all the complications created by Anna’s disappearance before they reunited with the others at Elsa’s boyfriend’s restaurant.

If Anna and Killian’s reunion and the conference call they had enjoyed a month ago was thrilling, there was no measuring of the excitement when Killian and Elsa met again. He picked her up and spun her around before gathering her to him in a bear hug that was years in the making. Elsa hugged him back just as tightly.

Over the course of the evening, Killian revealed everything about the curse and how it came about, the prophecy, meeting Emma so many times over the years…

“But, wait a minute,” Anna asked, “You’ve lived three other lives, Emma? Do you remember any of them?”

Emma shrugged. “Can’t say as I do.”

They reminisced about their early years in Massachusetts before moving to Minnesota and learned about how he met Ingrid. Elsa hugged Emma close when they got to the end of the tale of destroying Rumplestiltskin and the Darkness that made them vampires.

“But how do you know,” Anna asked. “How do you know you’re no longer vampires?”

Emma and Killian turned and looked at each other. “It feels different, for one,” Emma said, still looking at Killian. “The fangs and bloodlust are gone, and my heart rate is back to normal.”

Killian continued, “That’s the biggest difference, for sure. We’d obviously gotten pretty good at controlling the thirst, in order to be around anyone else without it taking over, but the hearing and sight are also back to normal. It’s been so long for me, I could barely remember.”

“Wow,” Elsa breathed. She turned then to Killian, eyes brimming with tears before gathering him in for a hug.

“This is all fascinating and hard to believe, even with the evidence before me, but thank you for saving my family,” she whispered. “All of them.”

He pulled back from her with a bashful smile and scratched behind his ear. He was a little surprised that Anna and Elsa didn’t have nearly the problems believing him that he expected. They were very much Ingrid’s daughters.

From there, Emma and Killian returned home to Massachusetts, while Anna and her family and Elsa remained in Minnesota. Emma applied to and began law school at Harvard that fall, after a hastily put together, but still altogether beautiful wedding at their estate about a month after destroying Rumplestiltskin. Killian continued in his occupation of captaining the Jolly Roger throughout the spring and summer months for pleasure cruises along the New England coastline, pirate tours, and renting out his beloved vessel for special events. Elsa won election to the mayor's office in a landslide and was sporting a 1 ½ carat diamond on her left hand that Christmas. Anna and Kristoff continued living in domestic bliss raising their little boy, before finding out they were expecting again right after Thanksgiving. The future before all of them was bright and they walked into that future hand in hand with the ones they loved beside them.

And they all lived Happily Ever After.

The End

~*~*~

Thank you all so much for coming on this journey with me!! It means more than I can possibly say!!! I hope you enjoyed the ride!!!

[popculturebuffet]

Top 10 Regular Show Episodes

Close Enough is Close! 2 more days and a show i’ve waited without hyperbole years for will finally land offically. While i’ve seen three episodes preelease, one because of a french film festival the other two because HBO made an oopsie, and it’s more than likely i’ll be seeing those episodes again thursday, it dosen’t make it any less special, as with an offical release comes the fandom finally becoming a thing and the ablility to watch the episodes over and over again.. on computer till HBO gets it’s shit together but still. IT’s a great time.  And my hype for the show made me revisit it’s big brother: Regular Show. Created by what would happen if you condesned california into a person, JG Quintel, Regular Show, as you all damn well know but I like doing anyway so as rigby would say, STOP TALKING, was about two slackers and best bros: Laidback hipster and hurricane when it came to talking to women, Mordecai and Rigby a high strung, idiotic, impulsive, and frequently angry racoon who worked, when they absolutley had to, at a park. Joining them at the park were their coworkers and later closest friends: Benson, their constnatly angry boss who constnatly belts out empty threats to fire them and has a rather sad personal life, Skips, a centuries old yeti whose literally seen it all and despenses advice for the duo and is voiced by everyone’s faviorite grandpa/jedi/murder clown Mark Hamill, Muscle Man, a grotesque blob of a man who likes  “My mom” jokes and breaking things, Hi Five Ghost, Muscle Man’s sidekick who got like.. one episode focusing on him alone over 8 seasons moving on, and Pops, an odd but unfailingly sweet and kind vicotrian era gentleman whose also basically immortal and is Bensons’ boss in name only.  The Park Crew spend their days working, or in our main duo’s case trying to get out of work to do anything else,  while dealing with every day issues that would quickly ballon into insanity. Getting pops a birthday present of Fuzzy Dice from a local pizza place ended up with the crew having to fight a bunch of anamatonic animals that were stashing diamonds in there. Trying to get concert tickets involved getting caffine from the nipples of a giant sentient coffee bean in order to stay awake long enough to do the extra work. And Mordecai trying to delete an embrarassing message off his crush Margret’s voice mail lead to him and rigby getting hauled in front of a bunch of a message guardians, one of which is a sentient smoke signal that wanted to burn them while the other replied with “we’ree not going to burn them when have we ever burned anybody”... I love and miss those guys. Oh and it’s resolved by having to playt he embarassing song he sang while said message beings groove to it then ask him to colaberate with them on their album. THis show was on all the drugs and I am all the hear for it. I could go all day obviously but this section is long enough as is, let’s move on. 

Regular Show came at JUST the right time for Cartoon Netowork: Similar to how the 80s doom patrol comic started off really bland and cookie cutter and not at all doom patrol and then grant morrison came in, had hte previous writer kill almost everything, then rebuilt it from scratch with crazy, CN had few shows left and was coming off a really terrible attempt at competeing with NIck and Disney Channel’s live action dommance with a bunch of dude broy reality shows and other ill conceved ideas. The network had a few shows, Total Drama, The Clone Wars which got better and I need to watch those better seasons at some point, but they weren’t enough to make the network thrive again.  SO enter adventure time and regular show: BOth were creative, funny , a bit rough around the ages, and kind of nuts, but both were massive hits: The shows hit almost every demographics sweet spots: Kids like the bright colors, fun designs, and insanity, teens loved the edgy bits of the humor and also the insanity and 20 somethings and older both found refrences they got and loved, and well.. insanity. I mean being fucking nuts but also wonderful is kind of the watchword for most animation nowadays. While in the past in my own head i’ve played down Regular Show’s part in things, after all it came second and had a rough patch I told myself.. but I was wrong. Both shows had a lot of the same elements; insane stuff, great voice acting and good humor especially as they evolved.. but both also evolved in largely the same way and that way helped change animation for the next decade: Both, despite being comeidies, regular show keeping to it a bit more than adventure time did as they evolved, had the characters grow, something a lot of animated comedies didn’t do as much ast the time, even the good ones. THey had season long arcs, things that are now standard features in most cartoons for good reason were MADE standard by these shows. It’s just regular show’s legacy got diluted by shows that TRIED to copy it but both failed to see that it grew past season one or that it’s being okay for kids but really based in adult life and problems meant copycats like fanboy and chum chum, sanjay and craig and breadwinners, all thankfully long dead, eventually sputtered out and died. That and Nick is REALLY shitty at maintaing shows or treating creators with anything resembling respect. Somehow Teen Titans Go is still alive despite having similar failings but you can’t win everything. It didn’t help gravity falls came along right after and proceded to be even more influentail than both of these shows. Hmmm I just realized I haven’t done any gravity falls reviews here.. I gotta get on that. But while the show got eclipsed in quality and popularity I do still think it holds up for the most part as funny, charming and with , for the most part, good character arcs, it’s just that a bit of incosntientcy, some abrubtly done actions and a REALLY fucking terrible arc in season 6 dull the show a bit in comparison to what came after, but I do realize now it’s still worht watching, remembering and laughing at. It may of not been the greatest, but damn it was good.  So with my nostaliga for the show popping up, my faith in it restored, and it’s sucessor showing up in a few days, I decided to do a little something for the ocassion. I WAS going to do a full on review, but had troulbe finding an episode as some of my faviorites are part of a larger arc that was hurt by a later arc, and the show ping ponged between slice of life and utter insanity enought hat it was hard to peg down to jus tone or two episodes. So while I WILL review the show eventually, it has both good and bad episodes needing it, I decided instead to dig out something I hadn’t done in far too long: a top whatver lists! Now while I do get these things are clickbaity, because they are, I.. honestly just love making them. Even if i’ts not for any specific purpose I just love ranking, the stress, even if I normally hate stress given my anxiety, of trying to narrow them down, and the satisfaction of taking a ton of episodes and melting htem down into the best of them. And with a show as long and varied as regular show, If igured this was the best way to show it off before I dived into it eventually. I’ll obviously be doing more top, and bottom lists in the future, but for now this seemd like a godo place to get back to it. As  Now a few more things before we finally get started. Yes I know i’ve gone on for a few years now but i’m almost done. This list is obviously, my opinon. If you disagree fine, and feel free to comment or shoot me an ask about it but I stand by my list and what I choose. I had to boil down over 60 episodes I picked to possibly  be on the list and even after it was down to 40 cuts were really difficult, .. Also just as a quick note there are no episodes from seasons 1, 6, 7 and 8, and that’s not on purpose, as the last two seasons are really good, it just fell out that way and i’m sorry about it. So with that out of the way grabs some sodas and wings, get out your maxi gloves, and bring out your best sentient earworms wearing sunglassses, after the cut I count down the top 10 Regular Show episodes. OOOOOOOOO!

10. I Like You, Hi (Season 5, Episode 26) As you’ll be able to tell by the rest of this list Season 5 is my faviorite, and it’s where I feel the series hit it’s peak before next season lead to it’s valley. It’s got a ton of great episodes, as this list will attest, some great character development, and was still really damn funny.  But what put it over the top for me was the Mordecai and CJ arc. At the end of the last season as you probably know the show wrote out Margret, having her finally get into college like she’d wanted since she got an actual character back in “Camping Be Cool” instead of just being “that hot girl mordecai really likes but is too scared to persue”, and another fantastic episode we’ll be getting to, Mordecai was in position to move on.  Re-Enter CJ. CJ was introduced earlier in the season 3 ep “Yes Dude Yes” which itself is really good, where Mordecai thought margret was engaged and with Rigby’s encouragment, ended up meeting CJ, stands for Cloudy Jay if your curious, a sentient cloud voiced by the wonderful LInda Cardenelli, aka wendy from gravity falls and currently co star of the equally wonderful show Dead to Me. Seriously go check it out on netflix, it’s really good. It naturally went pearshaped since Margret wasn’t engaged, he tried going out with both, she turned into a thunderstorm out of rage... as you do.. it’s like the season 6 plot but less infurating and more understandable.  But the two remeet, and had a kiss on new years while not knowing it’s the other person under am ask.. and then CJ ran and both thought the other was upset: MOrdecai for him being MOrdecai, and CJ for running out on him and agreed to be friends. That didn’t last, though it did give us another classic on this list, as while exes can be friends and all, the two still had something between them. Thus came this one. And it was a hard one as it barely inched out the finale of their relationship arc, Real Date, which had the ceo of a dating company try to break them up and be really damny funny but it’s ulitmatley this one being just as hilarious while being a great character piece that gets it the rub.  As the episode opens Mordecai and CJ have been spending a LOT of time together and i’ts clear there’s a spark there.. but Mordecai insists it’s platonic. And yes there is a bad habit of animation being unable to accept females and males who are into the oppistie sex can’t be friends without being attracted to each other. It’s being cleared up more lately, but as Star Vs showed it still happens sometimes. But it works here: The two STARTED with dating, made out on new years, and are attracted to each other it’s just clear both were in denial about it. It’s not saying “well they have chemstiry so fuck their partners’ like star vs or “if you loved someone once those feelings will return and destroy yoru current relationship” like next season.... season 6′s arc is a tirefire burn it.  But the issue is forced when, while texting about an extreme baking show together while CJ’s at her job at a sports bar, it autocrrects from Yuji, the show’s host, to you hi, sending the title message “I like you, hi”. Mordecai, being even less adept with his feelings and anxiety towards women than me and trust me that’s saying something, spirals and we do get the episodes best scene, narrowly beating out it’s climax, where Mordecai summons a war council.. aka the rest of the main cast minus benson but plus Thomas, the intern who I wish stuck around longer even after he turned out to be a russian spy because they ran out of ideas for him, voiced by Roger Craig Smith and distractingly using his future sonic voice. 

I just.. love everything about the scnee. From the term pulling a mordecai, to Rigby joining in, deservedly as he’s had front row seats for a lot of this bollocks, to everyone’s suggestions especially Muscle Man’s half assed one that somehow, but unsuprisngly, works for him and Starla.  Naturally Mordecai comes up with what Rigby HIMSELF admits is a Rigby level half assed scheme to get an actual photo with Yuji rather than just admit the truth. Yuji himself is an utter delight, having had his star not rise as fast as he’d like thanks to autocorrect and being entirely on board, and when it backfires as MOrdecai ends up autocorrected and sends the message thrice and gets sucked into the phone again, admits i’ts “pretty extreme’. I love the guy and i’m prety sure he showed up again, to my delight. 

In the phone Mordecai meets some old friends, the message guardians who I mentioned in the “insane shit this show has done” bit earlier: old forms of messaging who police texting, all voiced by Rich Fulcher of the Mighty Boosh and Snuffbox Fame. 

I love Rich and wish these guys could show up in close enough. Maybe they can, I don’t know how rights issues with turner properties work when it comes to two diffrent audiences entirely. Anyways what really makes the episode, besides the great callbacks in this scene, is when confronted with everything going on, Mordecai.. tries to run into the void, with Rigby, The Message Recorder and the Smoke Signal all encouraging him to come back. “There’s nothing out there for you, literally it’s just a blank void”. With the leading tape recorder pointing out from their text history not only how great CJ is but how much he seems to like her with Mordecai finally coming back and admitting the obvious: He does like her.. he’s just scared of beefing it again. Which he does but that’s not the point. Rigby, who as part of his character development helps Mordecai quite a bit with this stuff by being a neutral party, though he also likes CJ better than Margret which is a mood even though I don’t care which one you ship mordecai with frankly, you do you, I have my prefrences. And with that Mordecai finally texts her and asks her out, with her accepting via winky face.. with an added text to clarify it for his neuotic ass.. which is also a mood as my neuortic ass could use that a lot. Overall just a wonderful , hilarious and good bit of character growth.. that season 6 throws in the oven, but that’s a long rant for another day. On it’s own, “I LIke you, hi” is a good character piece for mordecai whlie still being really damn funny. 

9. Thanksgiving Special (Season 5, Episode 15)

Regular Show was really damn great at holliday specials. Their terror tales from the park every halloween were always a nice treat and a good replacement for Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror” which still exists, it’s just no one cares at this point, and their christmas and new years episodes are both really damn good, the first Christmas Episode being in contention for this list even. But to me the best of the best was easily Season 5′s  thanksgiving episode. 

The premise is simple: Mordecai and Rigby accidnetly destroy thanksgiving dinner, which the park crew is having for everyone and their famllies and, refusing to take Benson trying to dismiss their attempts to help fix their mistake, end up joining a songwriting contest to try and win a Turducken.. a natural one that’s born every 1000 Years because this is regular show. To do this they have to beat a parody of everyone’s least faviorite president Donald Trump, Rich Buckner.  The fact that trump was basically the main villian of a holliday special a year before he became president is not lost on me and  is one of the most accurate depections of the man i’ve ever seen. The fact Rich steals the prize despite our boys winning from his blimp with a grappling hook is peak trump. The fact Trump has’nt stolen more things with a grappling hook in real life is only because his hands are too small to use one. 

Getting past our president for my own sanity, the episode also has really great subplots: Muscle Man and Fives go to  a sports bar to get sides and end up pissing off a former football player and getting into a touchdown dance comppetition, sadly not set to the super bowl shuffle, while Benson, Pops and Skips go to get a turkey and end up fighting over it with men dressed up like a piligrim, a first thanksgiving era native american and a turkey, to which they don’t even really give an explination for.. granted most explinatoins on this show are insane but even by regular show standards, this gets none. And I love it for it.  While as you can tell the episode is really damn funny, what really sells it is the emotional core: For once while they do fear for their jobs a bit Mordecai and Rigby’s main motivation in this messup is genuine guilt and wanting to fix their mistake, and they work hard at it, even giving a genuine and awesome heartfelt song that notches itself up with other thanksgiving classics “That thankstiginv themed soul sketch on snl” and adam sandler’s turkey song also from snl. Not a high bar but it’s really good regardless

The episodes’ real strength though is it’s emotional core: For once instead of saving their own asses or understadnably wanting to get one over on the cranky and in the worse written episodes obnoxiously overbearing benson, they simply feel terrible about possibly runing the meal for their arriving parents and everyone elses parents and families and their friends and work to right the wrong. It’s not the first time they worked to do something genuinely good with no benefit to themselves, but it’s probably the best and Benson’s I forgive you, while hilarious is also really sweet. And speaking of sweet

It ends on a really sweet and touching note, as Mordecai and Rigby, after escaping a blimp via a wish on a golden wishbone because of course, make it home to find the various weirdos the park crew met have brought them thanksgiving, and their parents will be there and we get a nice touching ending as the main duo get a well earned toast from Benson. Just an out and out amazing thanksgiving special and a good reminder of what the holiday means.

8. Trucker Hall of Fame (Season 3, Episode 37)

Moving on from Season 5 for a second, Season 3 was where the show really started to hit it’s stride to me. While Season 2 was a nice increase in quality from the sometimes choppy and heavy on “everyone is an asshole” comedy season 1, Season 3 was where the increased focus on the rest of the cast outside of our main duo balloned and what seeds of character were planted in season 2 beautifully bloomed. And this episode is one of the best examples of that.  This one focuses on Muscle Man, who earlier on was basically the main duo’s rival alongside his buddy high five ghost, and kind of a dick. While “Kind of a dick” never left any discription of Mitch Sorenstein, this and previous episode muscle woman showed there was more to the goblin man than we thought. It’s also one of regular show’s few early mostly serious episodes and unlike the benson ones, again this list was tough don’t come at me with a machete, and realy showed why muscle man is the human tire fire he is. The episode introduces, and quickly kills off, muscle dad, mitch’s dad who gave him a love of pranks and was a truck driver who died as he live: mistaking a fake bear for a real one during a prank. Muscle Man being not the most stable person on a GOOD day, spirals, as seen above, and Benson tasks mordecai and rigby, since Fives isn’t good with death ironically and isn’t holding up much better, and as a much later episode shows the two became besties in high school so he probably knew muscle dad for a good ten years so he’s probably not in a great place either, nice stuff, to go with him to put his dad’s ashes in the trucker hall of fame.  What follows is a sweet and damn sad episode. While Mitch’s frequent breakkdowns can be hilarous their also really sad and having lost my grandpa since this episode aired, I can relate to being fine one minute and a total shrieking wreck the next over the smallest thing. But it also shows that Mitch genuinely thinks of our main duo as his friends, and that beneath his testorrone positned exterior he’s a decent guy, being genuinely greatful. Of course being regular show the 3 end up squaring off with some truckers, while Mitch also grappels with the revelation his dad wasn’t one but a forklift opperator who faked being a trucker for his son’s benifit and dleft a tender note in his picture, figuring correctly his son would break it open when he found out... oh and because this show is still nuts his ghost ends up saving them at the end which is really sweet , as mitch decides trucker or no his ashes deserve to be there. Also his ghost shows up again at thanksgiving so apparently he can just come back once in a while, which is nice but dosen’t demnish the bittersweet feeling of this ep. And as I said the show has a good grasp on continuity as this ep marked a turning point for our main duo and muscle man: while the’yve bonded before after this, aside from mitch’s habit of christmas pranks and his faking his death, they really don’t nearly get as annoyed by him ever again. i’ts a sweet touching ride tha’ts uncharacristic of the show’s usual chaos but really works. 

7. A Bunch of Full Grown Geese (Season 4, Episode 19) After a few episodes that were more sentimental on this list, it’s good to get back to some good old regular show madness for this one, which was also the series 100th in production order and is a worthy milestone episode. Season 4 was really good building on the good will from Season 3 and FINALLY having payoff to the margret and mordecai thing, more on that in a bit. Not as much to say as seasons 3 or 5, but it was still spectacular.  The sequel to another ep, fittingly given it’s #100, full grown geese has our duo tasked with removing a bunch of obnoxious geese, with Benson in dick mode refusing to give the two more help, though it does lead to one of the show’s best scenes when he gives his usual your fried threat.. and fitting a milestone episode, Rigby calls him on never going through with it and the threat being as empty as my dreams. Benson responds by going nuts and angrishing them out of his office.. really funny. But yeah with the geese attacking them and , in their first attacking, poor pops, and no way to combat them, the two turn to the baby ducks, a bunch of baby ducks from the episode titled that who show up to help.. and this being the 100th episode of an already grant morrison level nuts show, it turns out the geese seek to conquer earth, voiced by david warner of course and have laser eyes.. and can combine. And the ducks do so again, mecha style, and add in our heroes and a bunch of call backs in one of the series best and most batshit sequences> The ending is also throughly satisfying as while our heroes win, Benson chews them out for tearing up the park in the process.. only for the ducks mom to call him out for not only yelling at the ducks, who are just kids, but at mordecai and rigby after they just saved the park from being a smoldering crater and not just trashed and he backs off. Just a fun episode where the crew just went nuts and the results speak for themselves. 

6. This is My Jam (Season 2, Episode 13)

Now this one I couldn’t NOT include. This is one of the series best even after it’s immense growth, and a beloved classic for a reason. And like the above it’s a good classic case of regular show hyjinks while also being relatable this time: Rigby gets a brainless but catchy pop song from the 90′s stuck in his head and despite growing to hate it, and Mordecai hating it because this episode establishes him as a hipster, and seemingly exercises it.. only for it to manifest as a GIANT CASETTE WEARING SUNGLASSES THAT PLAYS THE SONG JUST BY EXISTING AND DANCES CONSTANTLY. it’s utterly glorious and used to great effect, also annoying benson because he’s constnatly annoyed. To beat it the main duo get the rest of the park’s help at Skips suggestion to form a band and craft an even BIGGER earworm to cast it out. Oh and there’s a great scene where Pops is forced to awkwardly dance with the incarnation of the 90′s “But I won’t use my best moves”.  The climax also has one of Benson’s best moments as, after he’s irritated all episode, he comes in hot, with both the cast and audience expecting him to chew out mordecai and rigby.. only he’s mad because they forgot drums are key to an earworm and saves the day with his drumwork. It’s a great subversion and one of the first times Benson was more than just the angry but understandable, at times, dickhead boss. Just an utter standout and one of the show’s most memorable episodes for a reason. Also the line “you can’t touch music but music can touch you’ is great. 

5. Meteor Moves ( Season 4, Episode 28)

This one was a long time coming and to me is a great example of writers taking their own shortcomings and making something awesome out of them. I prefer that: instead of just retconning away bad writing use it as a tool.. I try to do that myself when possible. See early in the show as you all probably know, Mordecai’s crush on Margret was just a plot device: he had a crush on the cute waitress at the coffee shop so they used it to get him to do things. A gratioutis shot of her in bike shorts got him to bet all computer rights for life that sort of thing. The show.. wasn’t great with female characters till season 3 and even as it grew, as season 6 and just.. forgetting to give CJ a proper ending as a character shows, still grappled with it. It took writer Kat Morris saying “no no stop go to jail” to them wanting ot make CJ a difficult woman type, whatever horrifying thing that is. I don’t want to know, let’s move on. The point is it wasn’t till season 3 that Margret and her best friends, and Rigby’s future wife, Eileen got fleshed out a bit: Eileen got smarter and turned out to be good at wilderness stuff while Margret was chill, nice, if annoyed by the chaos around mordecai, and funloving, while also having a clear goal in stark contrast to her future boyfriend: going to college. Even after coming back it was botha fter finsihing college and to start a career. It wasn’t incredibly deep, but it made me not be ehhh to her mere existance like before. The show also started developing her and Mordecai’s relationship seriously with the two bonding and the previously shown Butt Dial showing for the first time, after previously having a terrible taste in men and then just not noticing his crush, that she was receptive to how mordecai felt. And the two had several moments and two dates even, it just.. never went anywhere for some reason.

And this was INFURATING to me: See back then shows had a tendency to just pop in love intrests SOLEY for plot fuel like margret with no intention of following through with things either through rejection or a relationsihp upgrade and by then I was sick of it. The whole spike and rarity thing in MLP (which to be clear I wanted her to just reject him but nope, even after I stopped watching she never did. ), Isabella and Phineas. I was fed up so I went from being “eh” about it to annoyed supremely.. but the thing is the writers realized this.. and course corrected. The first step was picking up Margret, where Mordecai agrees to pick her up to get her to the airport for a college interview and we get a nice deconstruction of things as Margret is anticpatiing things going wrong, and wrongly blames Mordecai for it.. I mean it is his fault sometimes but half the time weird shit just follows him. However she’s won over by him working past it, getting her there in time and kisses him.  That blew me away and made me think well it’s finally here.. and it was.. ALMOST. However the creators wisely, if frustratingly to past me, took one more episode to iron it out: Metor Moves has the two growing closer, and semi-going out, but Rigby pops mordecai’s bubble pointing out he never actually made a boyfriend girlfriend move and her move could’ve gone either way. So Mordecai , after seasons of being wishy washy and awkward, finally decides to go for it as he, rigby, eileen and margret go to a metor shower.  Being Regular Show it dosen’t go as planned as his attempted kiss is blocked by the guardians of the friend zone.. which is a real, phantom zone esque place here and that’s just fantastic. And it’s also clearly mocking the hell out of the concept, which is dumb. if you want to ask someone out just do it, I learned that the hard way. And if you really are friends, if she says no then you’ll accept it and keep a friend anyway as I have. But it’s clearly parodying it and Mordecai get sreplayed all the times he ALMOST made a move but didn’t but refuses to accept this clusterfuck, realizes he was a screwup when it came to this.. and kisses her.. and this time the two enter a relationship> Granted it barely lasted but still, it was nice while it did and this ep is just great for it. While not the funniest, it’s up this high because it took somethign the show did wrong.. and turned it on it’s head and into a character flaw and had mordecai grow past it, with a genuinely romantic moment on top as well as an utterly funny and batshit concept. It also had some Rigleen, as by this point rigby stopped being a hateful wastebasket to her and warmed up to her, and I regret there’s no reigleen episodes on this list. Their the shows best couple and utterly adorable. Just wanted to mention that at least once this list. 

4. Laundry Woes (Season 5, Episode 1) From the begining to the end. While sadly Morderet didn’t last too long in canon, which blows, it did give us some great episodes while it lasted, as with the above entry and their breakup in Steak Me Amedeus. As mentioned before Margret left for college, which while abrupt feeling did pave the way for great stories: The Mordejay arc mentioned above and that will pop up again very soon, This was one of them: the ep while lacking on laughs is a good emotional rollercoaster and starts with an amazing montage that catches us up from the end of season 4: Mordecai is miserable, as you’d expect and wallowing in it with Benson, of all people, letting him. And given Benson seems to have a heart attack any time Mordecai and Rigby aren’t working, that’s huge. But eventually his friends refuse to let it go on and in a really touching montage help him through it, taking him out places, giving him good times and eventually.. the fog starts to lift and he starts to enjoy himself and by the end.. he’s himself again. It’s one of the series best sequences, told with no dialouge and showing just how far the rest of the cast had come: Benson actually wants to comfort mordecai but is encouraged not to at first, underfstandably as it probably woudlnt’ help, and a crew that were once, aside from Pops who much like Krillin is everyone’s friend, just coworkers who barely tolerated each other, and are now close as family and help their own in need.  But Grief isn’t a straight line and just as Mordecai’s recovering he’s sent spiraling when he finds Margret’s sweater and uses ita s a flimsy excuse to go return it. It’s here I also get to talk about Rigby, who grew from an impatient idiot who hated Mordecai’s romantic endevors and actively sabtoaged them at times, to an understandting wing man who, while understandably frustrated with his best friend’s own idiocy with women, turned out to know more and be the wise council he needed, triggering both is relationships and only bailing out during the season 6 clusterfuck and even then was there to comfort him after it was all over and go to his aid to pull him out of another misery hole. And here he gives Mordecai the hard truth: He shoudln’t do this, it’s just going to tear both him and margret up again and he just put himself back together. He’s not going to let his best friend do this to himself. And while there is a supernatural elment, the sweater comes to life and tries to get Mordecai to force margret back with him and give up college, likely voicing his darkest wants that he hates himself for wanting, but it feels more like a manfiestation of Mordecai’s own issues than the usual madness. Like “Trucker hall of Fame”, a rare senntence, it’s a less funny packed more grounded episode. And in the end it’s mordecai himself, after rejecting the ghost sweater and seeing his ex truly happy , that gets him to NOT talk to her and just.. let it go. IT’s a good emotional episode and SHOULD HAVE BEEN the end of their relationship... but i’ve ranted about the cheating storyarc enough here, moving right along. 

3. Portable Toilet (Season 5, Episode 16) Back to the Mordejay arc. And yes this arc is my faviorite and while I didn’t make it clear at the time I really shipped the two, even before it became canon. I had nothing against morderet, these two simply had more chemistry and these episodes built CJ up as more of a character than Margret was at the time. It’s why that later arc sucks so much to me: it destroys a perfectly good relationship and story arc for dumb reasons and never really did enough with it to justify doing so. I’ll get to it some day, or if someone comissions it soone rthan some day, but as you can tell i’m still sore over it and great eps like this are part of the reason why. It’s the same reason i’m sore on how Tom was handled on star vs. But as you can also tell as bitter and lemon scented as I am.. these eps are still objectivley great and thus took up a third of the list basically.  Case in point Portable Toilet, which zooms back a bit to when neither would admit they were into each other but were now friends at least. Also Eileen was CJ”s friend now because plot convience. I mean they worked, and it bothers me a lot that the creators claim cj washed her hands of her even though she’s not the one who made out with margret... which come to think of it adding her to rigleen.. not a bad idea. I mean Rigby didn’t really like margret true, but they did almost go out before mordecai killed him and then reset time because Mordecai’s always kinda sucked. I’ll file that away for later. But my new OTP aside, I did like the two bonding and what not.  Anyways with their outside park friend/RIgby’s future girlfriend now friends with Mordeai’s future girlfriend the four have apparently been hanging out which, while i’ve bemoaned off screen stuff at times, works here and regular show uses it better than most shows. While Rigby can clearly see Mordecai and CJ are into each other Mordecai is as we covered in denial and while that dosen’t really progress here, it does lead to one of teh shows finest hours. When talking would you rathers, CJ semi-flirtly dares Mordecai to eat his lunch sandwitch in a portable toilet, which he agrees to and drags a reluctant rigby along for. This being regular show, it goes south fast as the two get stuck, with Rigby’s clautrophiba kicking in leading to an amazing exchange Mordecai; Dude that makes no sense! Rigby: You’s makes no sense! While our dynamic duo try to get mordecai and rigby out the two are carted away and repalced with a new portable toilet, a deluxe one. Also we get another great bit when our dynamic duo find Muscle man, in a robe with choclate’s claming “Eileen, other girl, this isn’t weird” before screaming “This isn’t weird”. Turns out old portable toilets are taken to be blown up by the miltary and we get one of the shows best one off characters in the general, who not only explains it as “toilets being about the same size as the enmy” but when told he should call the president says “the preseident is not my father i’ll blow up as many toilets as I want.”. Spectacular. So now it’s a scramble for one twosome to rescue the other, Rigby lets out a cathartic “THANK YOUUU MORDECAI” over the flirty toilet dare, and the day is saved> This one is another pure comedy one, even if it ties into a plot I really like, and i’ts gold for obvious reasons and manages to take blowing up porta poties, a premise that dosen’t seem that funny, and make it utter comedic gold. Speaking of pure comic episodes that are utterly insane...

2. Cool Bikes (Season 3, Episode 7)

This one feels like regular show boiled down to it’s core: semi-relabtale hyjinks dovetalling into pure madness. And the premise sounds like a shit post i’d make: Mordecai and Rigby want benson to admit their cool and get into progressively weird outfits and tricks to their bycycles to do so, eventually becoming so cool their put on trial by the council of cool , ending up having to make a runner when Benson finally breaks down and admits it.  The premise is utterly stupid in the best way possible, with the conflict being the kind of petty bullshit we all get into from time to time with our aquantinces: not wanting to admit something and loose the argument withthings escalating. And in regular show terms it escalate sperfectly into the entire unvierse being threatned adn our heros being on trial for their lives. There’s not much to say here, it’s just pure comedic gold with a premise that just works. It also has good moments for Benson with his finally admitting they are cool and saving the duo’s lives whne he realized he just gave them a death sentence. Utter fun. And now we come to the finale, my faviorite episode...

1. Dodge This (Season 5, Episode 15) 

Yup this arc again. But this one has more than my ship going for it, and it’s why it soared to the top: It takes the excellent character work of other episodes and weaves it with excellent comedy to create an utter delight and the episode I remember most fondly and most often. It’s just great. The second part of the Mordeijay arc, not counting yes dude yes, the episode is half that and half sports movie: The Park Guys have been taking part in dodgeball as a team bulding thing and it shows how far Benson’s come as he not only praises mordecai, and launches the mordecai and benson ship in the process, but gives his team full wings and his full support, a far cry from his usual self. It’s also the first big instance of him getting hammered on wings and it’s glorious to see drunk flirty benson.  Benson is also genuinely congratulatory to the team’s ace mordecai, and most of them realy for b eing valuable and hopes to win this year.  IN their way are two things: The magical elements, aka the floating baby heads that gave skips his immortality, his friend with sparkly eyes who works for them and death himself whose a recurring character and fucking great and who were their bowling rivals too. The other is CJ is back, and Benson in another good moment actually talks mordecai through it and his nerves over it assuring him. So we get a great sports piece as our heroes work through various callbacks and even beat the magical elements iwth Rigby’s hilarious and rediculous rignado manuver, which is as dumb as it sounds and winged a guy hilaroiusly before with Benson scolding him like a toddler.  Of course it ends up with Mordecai and CJ against each other, both incredibly awkard over things as mentioned before, and both ending up in a stalmate that magical dodgeball guardians have to resolve because, let’s do this one last time. IT’S REGULAR SHOW. We do get a good moment though as the two work through their awkwardness: both thinking the other is rightfully mad: Mordecai for his two timer date with her and Margret and CJ for running out without talking to mordecai after they had a moment on new years. The both work past it, the park strikers loose,benson likely gets hammered again off screen.. it’s a good one and I have no shame in putting it at number one. It’s got heart, really great jokes, and some good charcter stuff, not to the level of other episodes on this list, but it wasn’t a full episode of that like those were and still works to move the plot forward and is still a classic. Just a fun, breezy, well done epsidoe fully rooted in the cast’s characters and getting laughs out of that.. mostly benson.  And with that this giangantic list comes to a close> I hope you enjoyed it, if you liked it follow me for more. I’ll be doing close enough coverage every week, as well as amphibia and owl house among other reviews. Until we meet again, later days. 

[remember-wim-faros]

Episode 2 - Genius and Location

[voice echoing] When a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it… It makes a sound!

Ladies and gentlemen, we are so close! Can you feel it, Rosemary Hills? Can you feel the tugging, the suspenseful adrenaline crackling through the dried grass of the fairway, as we wait together in tense anticipation for the music?

Hello and welcome to the second episode of “It Makes a Sound”. I’m Deirdre Gardner, your host, and you’re listening to the only show ever solely dedicated to the music and legacy of Wim Faros, resident genius of our Rosemary Hills.

In our first episode, I had the unique privilege of announcing the near miraculous discovery of a cassette tape containing Faros’ lost 1992 concert. Likely the first time he played for a public audience. And it is only here, with me, on “It Makes a Sound”, this show, that you’ll be able to hear these precious tracks. And that will happen very soon, very soon.

Today I remind myself .. of the great archeologist Howard Carter, who after years of looking, came across the steps of the tomb of King Tut. Now do you, do you think, I mean he wasn’t able to just bust in there all at once. There was a bit of a process, some red tape to get around, important people to bring over to help, some planning as to how the heck to open an ancient thing. This is very common with monumentally Earth-shattering finds.

And also it’s the reason that it’s urgent that you contact me if you are in possession of a working cassette tape player. You can reach me at itmakesasound@aol.com.

In the meantime, here on the table before me, the cassette tape sits. Like the stairs in the sand of the valley of the kings. The treasures contained within its… small plastic sarcophagus, it is yet not ready to be reveal.

Well, I trust the tape, I trust that it will be played when when it is ready be played. And I believe that the object is, is actually gifting us, with time to prepare. And on today’s show, I will pave the way for that music and help each of us carve out a space that is worthy of one of the greatest of our generation.

The best art historians tell us that in order to fully crack open and contextualize the meaning behind the moment of creation, one must look to the environment in which the artist is creating. Thus it is essential, as we ready our brains for this musical reckoning, that we turn to fellow residents of Rosemary Hills circa 1992. For instance, persons who perhaps find themselves having returned to the town after a duration of time. Who are uniquely qualified to reflect on local historical events. So I have gathered for us… some.. [paper rustling] more select material from the town archives. It’s a cross-sectional study, if you will, for us to sift through and examine. Together, we’ll look at the timeline of 1992 and how that relates to the social studies of Rosemary Hills. In order to come to a greater understanding of the how and the why Wim Faros created what is quickly becoming known colloquially, as the Attic Tape.

Location, location, location. Historians before me have asked: what would Edith Piaf be without Paris? Charles Dickins without London? What would Nazareth be without Jesus? What would Tucson be without Linda Ronstadt? We at “It Makes a Sound” ask: what is Rosemary Hills without Wim Faros? What would Wim Faros be, if not for Rosemary Hills?

I give you – 1992. An overview. I have…  I have… [papers rustling] some bullet points here. [pause] Rosemary Hills was flush with new money and in the midst of an unprecedented population boom and total identity transformation. An economic upturn and the commercial development rush of the late 1980’s, led to an incorporation of a large area of surrounding wildlife acreage. Transforming much of the humble forest village into a golf resort community and retirement Mecca. Separated from the old parts of town with gates and barbed wire fences.

Reflecting this change, the tallest structure in our town, the water tower, was completed in 1992, announcing boldly in royal blue cursive: “World’s Golf Capital”. What a vision. But this was premature. That water tower still overlooks the land of Wim Faros, now faded and rusty.

A new school opened Rosemary Hills Junior High, with classes in progress, even though the construction of the building was never finished because of enrollment difficulties as the average median age in the town was 60.

Back in the 1992, as my mother used to say, you could definitely swing a dead cat without hitting a kid in Rosemary Hills. You could tie a bunch of dead cats together and swim them and still hit nothing.

And now, let’s turn to the news. How did current events affect Wim’s home town? Well, I have found a pile of saved newspapers from the era. [paper rustling] Now, they have faded into a sepia tone, dry and cracking. Yet still, they proudly relay the important message of their day. I rhymed. Let’s dive into the research.

[pause, paper rustling] OK well, it was an election year, and the options were George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. But as you recall, only the third party candidate Ross Perot was featured on Wim Faros’ bedroom mural.

[pause, paper rustling] Ah yes! The Mall of America had just opened in Minneapolis. So that would be just a few years after the ribbon of the Rosemary Hills mall was cut. And also, all the corporate-owned strip malls sprawled across the new side streets, with hope that the surging population of a golf course community would have an insatiable itch for sensible shoes, windbreakers, what else? Soup in bread bowls and electric can openers, wicker, so on.

Wim Faros, of course, was critical of consumer capitalism.

The NicoDerm patch is released, oh that’s interesting. Wim Faros was a non-smoker. But of course [chuckles], we will remember Park Song, who came from Korea and was hands down the best golfer living in Rosemary Hills. She, she wore four NicoDerm patches in a window sill shape on the bicep of her right arm. Nobody knew what they were at the time, we just thought it was a thing that great Korean golfers wore on their arm.

She lived in one of the largest houses near the club house, alone I think. But as we all know, she kept two domesticated peacocks as pets. Thank you, Park Song. Those peacocks and her talent made her an intimidating community presence. She called children “sugarplum”, but in a tone that was not sweet.

[pause, papers rustling] Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially separate. Well, get in line your highnesses, because so had the parents of basically every student enrolled at Rosemary Hills Junior High. And the whole school was like a Rainbows Program. Do-do we still have that Rainbows Programs, for kids whose newly single Mom or Dad had to move in with a more financially stable grandparent trying to live out retirement in the golf course. [sighs] The school spirit that united the kids was like – a wide-eyed stare of betrayal. Should have tried to make that into the mascot.

Wim Faros, however, did not attend Rosemary Hills Junior High, and parental figures were never seen around him. Who were his parents? Where were they? What did they like? What does he have in common with the princess of Windsor? We don’t yet know.

[paper rustling] The top of the box office, “Aladdin”. And the highest rated TV show is “America’ Favorite Funniest Home Videos”, oh boy. There is no evidence that these entertainments had any significant influence on Wim Faros’ art.

[paper rustling] The average price of a gallon of gas was a dollar and five cents. Well OK yes, speaking of cars, we should note that sometimes seen parked in a cul-de-sac outside of Wim Faros’ two-story bungalow was a Chrysler LeBaron convertible. Now the details of the car may have been hard to discern from afar, but if you were standing near the barbed wire fence that separated the golf course from the wilder unincorporated area of Rosemay Hills, you could see its faux-wood covering and sheepskin covered seats and steering wheel. And a green little tree car freshener hanging from the rearview mirror. And there was a peeling rusty Jones sticker on the passenger seat window and it was stickshift.

Around that time, that is in 1992, when gas cost just over a dollar, it is said that a significant dent appeared on that fence. To most, this dent may have gone unnoticed, as it was covered by overgrown weeds. But the dent happened to peel up the bottom of the fence upwards, so that theoretically, there could be enough space for, say, a medium-sized animal to crawl through. Soon after, the LeBaron was seen with a smashed-in white headlight. Whether or not there was a correlation between that headlight and that dent in the fence reminds a mystery to this day.

I’m Deirdre Gardner, and this is my show, “It Makes a Sound”. We are investigating the social and historical context of the time in which Wim Faros wrote the songs disovered on the Attic Tape. We have been looking at headlines from the newspapers of 1992. We’ll put these over to the side right now and move on to our next site of, hey this one’s Halloween. Pope John Paul the second lifted the edict against Galileo Galilei, which was made during the Inquisition, and apologized on behalf of the Catholic church.

Well, this strikes me. Galileo. A misunderstood genius, recognized only centuries after time. On October 31 1992,  residents of Rosemary Hills were sitting on their Lazyboys, stuffing themselves with candy, and watching the 10 o’clock news as the Pope pronounced the mea culpa for the sin of overlooking Galileo’s truth. While we had a potential prophet in our own midst. Do you see, listeners? Quite a coincidence.

We-we have to turn to more eyewitness accounts and comb through the documents to see if more historical connections can be made to that Halloween. [paper rustling] Where is it? Shit. (--) [whispering] downstairs.

[door closes, quick footsteps running in the stairs]

Old lady: Who’s there? I’m in a hole. Yes I’m in the 16th hole, if you can find, wind and dime it. [claps hands] I am the hole, holy smokes! The little girls go down the hole and they can’t get out because of the caterpillars and (bimbob), do you see? Hip hop hap, the ting tong tang, that’s a guitar. Do you remember (--) Miranda? Do you remember (-) Deirdre? We’re by the 16th hole. She keeps me here and she won’t let me go!

[footsteps] We’ll hide back here, hide in seek, with the Christmas and Santas! Shh, it’s a secret!

Deirdre [panting]: I found it! I found something! I have it. Ooh ah, OK, now I have it. Now, it’s just a few pages, handwritten on wide ruled paper in a purple velveteen diary. But it is an authenticated document testifying to events that took place on October 13, 1992.

I’m Deirdre Gardner and this is “It Makes a Sound”. We are deep into the archives, way in there.

OK. Now. This document appears to be written in first person present particible, interestingly. Whoo! OK, for today’s segment of a portrait of the artist as a young man… I will read it aloud to you now. October 31, 1992. “Part one. The loneliest trick-or-treated. The pillow case is tattered at the top. It’s full of Werther’s hard candies and Rolos. It’s a conspiracy of Werthers and Rolos this Halloween, the most mediocre candies of all. Halloween is the dumbest here. But it’s even sadder to stay home and, so like last year and the year before that and the year before that. I get Mom’s long gold-lamé dress out of a box in the mothy corner of the attic, safety-pin it at the back because it still totally sags around my stupid chest, weave a string through a large scarab medallion that I got from a fourth grade trip to the Natural History Museum, and tie it around my head. Then I sharpen a stub of a coal-black eyeliner pencil that’s been in the bathroom drawer in the left hand side for as long as I can remember, like from when I was a toddler. Weird, because whose is it? Mom has never ever worn eyeliner. But I trace the rim of my eye with the pencil, and then the rim of that rim, and then the rim of that rim. Again and again and again and again. I am, of course, Cleopatra.

Then I have an idea and I draw a squiggly snake on my arm. That’s new. It can’t be like an official rule, but no one trick or treats on the ground of our townhouse. Like as if one of the werid privileges of living in a gated golf course community is that you’re excluded from the obligation of giving handouts to hooded children once a year. So my Halloween means trekking up and down really long driveways by myself and figuring out dumb intercom systems at the front door. And then, if someone answers, waiting several awkward minutes, while they find their way through like a thousand rooms to the door. And then hearing like a thousand locks being unlocked. And houses are very far from each other. So I average like 1.2 houses every ten minutes.

So like four houses down, two blisters in, the sky turns split pea and starts to pour, duh, of course it does. So I turn off the street and I drag my gold lamé dress back over the golf course, taking my shortcut back to the townhouses where I live. I decide to see how many Rolos I can fit in my mouth at once to pass the time. The answer’s 9. I dab the pillowcase on my face to dry it, and I realize that the eye makeup has totally melted all the way down my face, neck, and chest. The pillowcase has a weird watercolor imprint of my Cleopatra face on it. Like those Monet lilies you see in postcards, but in a horror movie. Like if Monet was a psycho killer. The thing that was a snake on my arm now looks like 30 cigarette burns. The scarab medallion is sliding down my nose into my mouth like a bug. I’m disgusting. I pop the tenth Rolo in my mouth to confirm this, and it’s true.

And that’s when I see him. Well, that’s when I see the small figure in red coveralls and battered snake skin boots sitting high atop an oak tree branch swinging his feet, his head covered in a furry wolf mask. Next to him is a pumpkin painted entirely neon blue. Suddenly, an enormous bolt of lighting strikes the green sky backlighting the teen wolf. It is Wim Faros.

I start choking on the Rolos. The sky turns black.

Part 2. Electrified.

The next thing I know, I’m sitting upright on a beach. On my lap is an unopened bag of Twizzler Cherry Nibs, my favorite candy. So I know I must be dead. Then I realize it’s not a beach, of course, I’m just propped up against the lip of a small greenside sand bunker, a trap for the golfers. The Werthers are gone. The pillowcase remains.

I turn to get my body out of the sand trap and I kick something that rolls, so I kneel down to pluck it out of the sand. And it is now that I totally know that I am dead. Because it’s the neon blue pumpkin. I swear to God. Freshly singed into it, piercing all the way true, its neon painted flesh is the shape of a lightning bolt. [whispers] I swear.

But I am not dead. I am alive. I have Twizzlers Nibs, sand caked in my hair. I ring out the pillowcase, tie it like a snake around my arm. I am Cleopatra, and Wim Faros saved me.”

[sighs] [moved, excited tone] Oh my God. If you are just tuning in, well you’ve missed everything really. This is “It Makes a Sound” and I’m Deirdre Gardner, and oh my God, I just read for you a firsthand testimonial regarding a profound encounter with Rosemary Hills’ native genius Wim Faros. I mean… I wish you could see the goosebumps. I forgot about goosebumps in this moment? I mean, we must all be united by our raised human flesh. Isn’t it wonderful that goosebumps are a thing? What a phenomenon of the living! Maybe we’re making a world record right now with synchronized goosebumping!

[sighs] I still have them. Listeners, don’t you see? If the standalone history of Wim Faros is such a jolt to the soul, such an envigorating rush of creative replenishment, just imagin what you will feel when you listen to his music.

[talks very fast] Rosemary Hills, it’s happening, it’s happening! This is what we set out to do today. This is precisely how we ready ourselves for the music. This, this is how we center ourselves, and get in touch with inspiration, and make way for the sacred. We’re unpacking the attic! In fact, let’s create a new segment. It’s called “Unpacking the Attic”. Here’s the first assignment, we will journal. Um, find a piece of paper, find a notebook, find a napkin, I dunno whatever, find your favorite writing untensil – and take ten minutes to write about the last time you can remember having goosebumps like this. Not the creepy kind, but the awestruck kind. When were you so struck by awe that it changed the composition of your epidermis? Freerwite, take this opportunity to remember yourself. Ten minutes, go!

OK.. Oh god, where’s my pen? Where is my pen? Oh god. OK, actually, OK I realize this is not maybe the best thing to do during the show, so I will leave you to do this meaningful reflection on your own, and I will also. And I look forward to you joining me next time, Rosemary Hills, from this place of presence and alertness.

I’m Deirdre Gardner, your fellow townswoman, urging you to unlock your full potential, to appreciate beauty, and to relish in the things that make a sound. I think you’re doing great. This is my show, “It Makes a Sound”. It’s the only show in the world dedicated to the legendary Wim Faros. There is music, and I promise you, you will hear it. We will hear it, next time.

Oh hello I’m back, sorry! I almost forgot something very important because of all the goosebump excitement, but I have an update. I’ve been working on something. Guess what it is? What’s something everybody loves? Peace of mind? Clear consciences? Great literature? Not quite, it’s websites apparently and guess what, now I have one. I made it myself, so do something productive with your screen time and go to www.itmakesasound.rocks. There you wll be able to replay episodes of “It Makes a Sound”. I’ll work on that, I just um, think it’s like a tab. And, you also have access to important information about the artist Wim Faros, and where some day soon, you can listen to each newly discovered track from the Attic Tape as I release them.

And if you have any pertinent information about the artist that you’d like to share, or hey, if you’d like to submit your “Unpacking the Attic” assignment to me for extra credit. [chuckles] (--) teacher. And especially of course, if you or someone you know has access to a high quality cassette tape player, now you can use the “contact me” tab on the site, which I will add. That me being me, Deirdre Gardner. So off you go, til next time, goodbye!

[alarm sounds] Oh my god! [footsteps in stars]

Old Lady: Deirdre!

“It Makes a Sound” is written by Jacquelyn Landgraf, co-directed by Jacquelyn Landgraf and me, Anya Saffr. Sound design and mixing by Vincent Cacchione. Original music composed by Nate Weida. Deirdre’s music box song today was Dance Macabre by Camille Saint-Saën.

With Jacquelyn Landgraf as Deirdre and featuring Annie Golden as the other voice in the attic.

“It Makes a Sound” is a Night Vale Presents production. For more information on this show and other Night Vale podcasts, go to nightvalepresents.com. We hope you’ll rate and review “It Makes a Sound” on Apple podcasts, that you’ll follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

Please spread the word through the land to listen to the show, to consider goosebumps, and to remember Wim Faros.

[whoiseddjones]

Labyrinth is the story of a girl coping with sexual abuse

A cursory look around the internet shows that I’m not the first person to spin this theory, however I can’t seem to find others that make character connections (Jareth/Jeremy). This is a bit long, so read on at your own leisure.

Let’s begin before Labyrinth. An actress named Linda Williams and her husband Robert have a daughter named Sarah, the protagonist of the film. Sarah grows up being fascinated with her mother’s fantastical life as an actress.

Around when Sarah is 10 years old, Linda has an affair with a fellow actor who goes by the name of Jeremy. and it causes a rift in their relationship. The eventually divorce, with Linda leaving Robert for Jeremy, and Robert eventually meeting and marrying another woman named Irene. All of this is corroborated by the novelization of the film, with dates being extrapolated by various internet wikis.

Here is where I begin inferring details… it’s entirely possible that during the affair, Jeremy found an odd attraction to Sarah, and in a moment of privacy, molests her (possibly using something to sedate Sarah so she will not tell anyone). The memory of this incident is foggy to Sarah, seeming almost dreamlike, and she relays this ‘dream’ to her parents, possibly mentioning Jeremy’s name.

Robert, having already suspected an affair between Jeremy and Linda, confronts his wife about this. Linda is outed as having cheated on Robert, but also possibly having compromised their daughter’s safety. Linda refuses to believe Jeremy would ever do such a thing, and ultimately leaves Robert for Jeremy. Sarah gets to see her on occasion, but due to her mother’s schedule and Robert’s unwillingness to allow Sarah around Jeremy, it is rare. Robert meets Irene, they marry, and have a child named Toby.

The film begins about 6-8 months after Toby is born. Sarah has all but forgotten about what happened to her, but it still affects her subconsciously. She retreats into fantasy novels and toys as a means of coping with her latent trauma. We open with her practicing a monologue in the park, suddenly remembering she must rush home to babysit her step-brother Toby, for whom she has a disdain that she can’t quite justify. Upon coming home, Sarah has a quick squabble with her stepmother, Irene, who expresses concerns that Sarah never seems to be interested in boys, or go on dates (further inferring she has withdrawn a bit in her teenage years and become a loner, not uncommon for a person who would have little reason to trust strangers).

Later in Sarah’s room, we see her collection of stuffed animals and toys, which (for those who have seen the movie) we recognize as the characters she will meet later in the film. Most importantly, we also see a photo of her mother wedged into the edge of her vanity mirror. Posing with her mother in this photo is Jeremy, who is depicted by, you guessed it, David Bowie. (Noticing this for the first time is actually what made me begin thinking about this)

The movie begins as we know it... her parents depart for their date, she is left alone with Toby, wishes for a charafcter from one of her books, the Goblin King Jareth, to take him away. Sarah crosses the threshold into her dream world, and Jareth appears to her, taking the form of a doll she has in her room with the face of Jeremy, her abuser.

She begins a heroine’s journey through the labyrinth, with characters she finds comfort in emerging from her subconscious to help her face her trauma once and for all.

Jareth confronts her several times throughout the movie, goading her the whole time. Yet, he seems to hold an odd interest in her, almost a romantic one, even though their age differences seem to be vast. She relives her trauma as Jareth drugs her (“As the World Falls Down”), resulting in a dreamlike sequence where they are together which ultimately culminates in her panicking as a room full of patrons laughs in a ridiculing manner at her predicament (possibly reflecting her mother’s refusal to believe Sarah’s claims).

Ultimately, Sarah finds her way through the Labyrinth, faces and overcomes numerous challenges and finds herself in an M.C. Escher-esque maze, trying to get to Toby. She has reached the deepest recesses of her confused mind and is actively seeking her misplaced aggression to put it to rest. Finally seeing Toby, she takes a leap of faith, but does not reach Toby (after all… the film is not about her finding Toby, it is about her finding herself). She falls, and comes face to face with her abuser, Jareth/Jeremy himself one last time.

Jareth begins to lambaste Sarah for being thankless for all the things he’s done for her. His language is not unlike most abusers, pointing out all the kind things he’s done when his number of transgressions far outweigh his generous acts. He also throws out confusing dissonant statements (“Just let me rule you and you can have everything that you want… Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave.”)

At this point Sarah recites the lines from her novel, as seen in the beginning of the film, and finally realizes what she has been searching for. She has known the feeling and the words all along, and she speaks aloud the words she needs to hear herself.

“You have no power over me.”

With this, Sarah is able to realize that what happened to her was not her fault. She is able to grow as a person and put the past behind her. The world she has imagined shatters around her and she finds herself back in the comfort of her bedroom.

Immediately, she checks on Toby, the outlet of her aggression, and surprisingly gives him a loving caress, even sharing the toys she had been so unwilling to earlier in the film. She has let go of her anger and no longer needs this misplaced aggression. She has faced her past, and she has won.

Her parents return after Sarah’s breakthrough, and she is in much better spirits. In the last scene of the film she sees the imaginary friends that have helped her through this, and she tells them “Every now and again in my life, for no reason at all, I need you. All of you.” Upon saying this, her room is filled with various characters from her dream, including ones who seemed to be opposing her throughout the whole movie. My idea here is that these characters are all celebrating because they were never actually opposing her, they were merely performing, creating a vignette in which Sarah could face what she had to, and let go of the past.

TL;DR - Sarah was molested by her mother’s boyfriend. The film is her projecting the event into a context where she could learn to cope with it and stop blaming herself.

[givemeachortle-blog]

Best Tv Show Ever

'Saturday Night Live' 1975-Present

Live from New York, it really is Saturday night – more than 40 years subsequent to the Not Ready for Prime-Time Gamers first re invented comedy as rock & roll. As Lorne Michaels likes to say, "We don't go on because we are ready. We go on because it's 11:3-0." SNL retains that electric-edge vitality working, even if that means flopping for even entire seasons or episodes in a time. Everybody believed the classic 1970s cast – John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd – was also wild and insane to change. But noooo: SNL gave Eddie Murphy in the 1980s, Mike Myers and Chris Rock in to the world the 1990s, Will Ferrell and Tina Fey in the 2000s, Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant today. People keep choosing this time this really is Saturday Evening Dead, yet time after time it surges back. No other display h-AS unleashed s O many beautifully demented performers on the world.

'Freaks and Geeks' 19992000

A typically outstanding Freaks and Geeks moment: High school mathlete Lindsay takes her first puff of weed but gets busted by one of her fellow nerds, who tells her, "I know what high people look like. I went to an Seals and Crofts concert last summer!" Paul Feig and Judd Apatow truly captured the agonies of American adolescence in this intensely compassionate comedy, set in 1980 in a Michigan town. It tragically lasted only one period, but residence was hit by all 18 episodes, using a cast of potential legends and also a rock soundtrack. Martin Starr's Bill, Jason Segel's Nick, most of all Linda Cardellini's Lindsay – these are kids who do not fit in, craving a spot they may belong, whether that is clearly a a Dungeons & Dragons sport or a van following the Grateful Lifeless tour.

'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' 1997-2003

A supernatural avenger that was feminist was developed by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the saga of Buffy, the California girl who finds herself by kicking vampire ass of Joss Whedon. On Buffy, surviving adolescence and fighting off the undead forces of evil turn into the same point. And also the musical episode – "Once More, With Feeling" – is a classic alone.

'Mad Men' 2007 15

The American desire and how exactly to sell it – except for Don Draper as well as the hustlers of Sterling Cooper, marketing is the American dream. Mad Males became a sensation as soon as it appeared, partly due to its glam area – a New York a-D company in the JFK period, all sex and cash and liquor and cigarettes – but largely since it was an audaciously adult drama which wasn't about cops or robbers (or doctors or lawyers), staking out new story-telling territory. Jon Hamm's womanizing adman, Don, is a genius a-T shaping other individuals goals and fantasies, however he can not escape his own loneliness – he's a con man who stole the identification of a dead Korean War officer and constructed a new li Fe out of lies. "A good marketing individual is like an artist, channeling the lifestyle," creator Matthew Weiner told Rolling Stone. "They're holding up a mirror saying, 'This is the way you desire you were. This really is the thing you are scared of.'" A room can be reduced by Don to tears though the content family memories he is attempting to sell are a fraud. There was no Thing on TV as seductive as Mad Men before – and years later, there still isn't.

'Friday Night Lights' 2006-11

"Obvious eyes, full hearts, can't lose" is the golden rule in a dusty Texas city where everybody else lives and dies for the large college football staff. But Friday Night Lights isn't truly about football so muchas family, function, course, the bitter style of dashed dreams, with Kyle Chandler as Coach Taylor, Connie Britton as wife Tami and Taylor Kitsch as Tim Riggins – the most memorable of the many vulnerable kids who go through the Panthers' locker room. Riggins' tale becomes particularly moving genuine existence beats down him and after his grid iron glory fades.

3rd Watch TV Show

'Sesame Street' 1969-Present

No kiddie show h-AS ever been as fiercely beloved as this urban utopian fantasy, emerge a brownstone community populated by a multi-racial cast of smiling adults, a gigantic yellow chicken, a grouch in a garbage can, and math-loving vampires, plus many chatting letters and figures. It h-AS excellent tunes, but most crucial, Sesame has soul, that's why the air has stayed sweet for 4 years – or as the Depend would say, 4-5! 46! 47 years!

'Veep' 2012-Present

Julia Louis-Dreyfus presides over the Oval Off-Ice in the political satire of HBO, still getting more horrifyingly outstanding with each season. Her President Selina Meyer is one of the truly excellent monsters in Television background, a politician you can count on to say things like "You're gonna terminate this recount like Anne Frank's bat mitzvah." Each episode is a warpspeed blast of insults, many aimed at Timothy Simons' loathsome aide. ("How am I performing? Eating therefore much pussy I am shitting clits, son.") Veep's peak for sheer gall might be the "Testimony" episode, a frantic half hour when nearly every type of dialogue is perjury. Four more years, please.

'The Office (U.K.)' 200103

Ricky Gervais created one of TV's most agonizing comic tyrants in David Brent – a bitter, awkward, pompous ball of vanities terrorizing his employees a T a London paper organization. He fidgets, fondles his tie, cracks awful jokes, plays guitar ("Freelove Free Way"!), invisible to anybody except the long-suffering office drones who have to put up with him. This mockumentary raised the cringe level of sitcoms every where, spawning the surprisingly fantastic U.S. edition (also on this checklist) while paving the way for the glories of Parks & Recreation and Peepshow.

'Louie' 2010-Present

Louis C.K.'s stubbornly auteurist FX sit-com doesn't seem or feel like anything else on TV – he writes, directs and stars as himself, a single-dad standup comic in New York. If Louie wants to show himself in the car air-drumming to "Who Are You?" and mortifying his daughters, he goes for this. If he desires to abandon the half hour comedy format completely for an extended indie-movie vibe with Charles Grodin and Ellen Burstyn, he does that also. Louis C.K. May disappear in to his head for entire seasons, but emotional peaks that are totally original are also hit by him like the one when he travels to Miami and inadvertently makes a buddy that is male. (No, it will not last.)

[aion-rsa]

Where to Watch the Watchmen: A Rebirth Guide

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for various DC Comics Rebirth titles.

The final issue of “Watchmen” may have debuted nearly 30 years ago, but as Doctor Manhattan observed so famously, “nothing ever ends.” Indeed, Doctor M himself looks to be making a comeback as part of DC Comics’ Rebirth initiative.

RELATED: “Batman”/”Flash” Crossover Set to Explore DC’s “Watchmen”/Rebirth Mystery

It started with May’s “DC Universe: Rebirth” special and continues to roll out in bits and pieces as part of the publisher’s superhero line. Because Co-Publisher Dan DiDio and President and Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns have each teased more “Watchmen” involvement in 2017, we’re taking stock of where the landmark miniseries’ characters might already have appeared, and what it all could mean going forward.

Down Time

Doctor Manhattan’s departure, from “Watchmen” #12 by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Of course, mixing “Watchmen” characters with the main-line DC super-folk is a bit like Garth Brooks adding tortellini to all his recipes: It sounds preposterous, it shouldn’t really work, and you don’t want to try it because either you’ll get sick or you’ll hate yourself for liking it. Indeed, both “Watchmen’s” in-story and real-world timing suggested very strongly that it wasn’t to be considered part of the DC superhero cosmos.

Nevertheless, here we are; so let’s see where the end of “Watchmen” left its players. On the most basic level, “Watchmen” — written by Alan Moore, drawn by Dave Gibbons and colored by John Higgins — is the story of Adrian “Ozymandias” Veidt’s plot to save the world from nuclear holocaust in 1985 by teleporting a giant telepathic squid-bomb into the middle of New York City. Because that involves killing an awful lot of people, it produces a giant conspiracy, an attendant cover-up, and a lot of death along the way.

RELATED: Geoff Johns Hints He’ll Write “Watchmen”-Focused Comic

Among the dead is The Comedian, aka Eddie Blake, who’s been a masked vigilante (and, later, government-sponsored assassin) since the late 1930s. Blake knew too much, so Veidt killed him. The vigilante who investigated Blake’s murder, Walter “Rorschach” Kovacs, also ended up knowing too much and wanting to die because of it. At the end of “Watchmen” he asked Doctor Manhattan to kill him, and the latter obliged.

Veidt’s plan succeeded despite the efforts of two other vigilantes, Nite Owl (Dan Dreiberg) and Silk Spectre (Laurie Juspeczyk). Both are still around at the end of “Watchmen,” having assumed the new identities of Sam and Sandra Hollis. Although they’re apparently on the run from the law (thanks to breaking Rorschach out of jail in Issue 7), both are also apparently interested in continuing their costumed careers, with Silk Spectre hinting at a more Comedian-like approach.

Finally, there’s Doctor Manhattan, once a scientist named Jon Osterman, whose omnipotence was held in check only by his indifference, and ultimately his logic. He leaves Earth at the end of “Watchmen,” thereby depriving the planet of the single greatest influence on its late 20th-century development. (Speaking of planets, he also leaves behind a smashed crystalline castle on Mars.) We’ve speculated previously that while Doctor M talks about creating some new lifeforms, perhaps the “Watchmen” universe itself is Earth-Q, created artificially by the Superman of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s “All Star Superman.”

As for the Earth itself, the final pages of “Watchmen” indicate that Veidt’s plan worked. The Cold War is over, the Soviet Union and the United States are working together in the wake of the apparent extraterrestrial attack, and Robert Redford may even run for president in 1988. The one thing that might upset the optimistic mood is Rorschach’s journal, delivered to a right-wing newspaper just before his death.

Watchmaker, Wizard and Watcher

Abra Kadabra’s “Watchmen” allusions from “Titans” #3, by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth

Accordingly, if the Rebirthed comics pick up after the events of “Watchmen,” four of its main cast are still “at large”: Doctor Manhattan, Ozymandias, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre. The “DCU: Rebirth” special, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by various artists, also connected to “Watchmen” through a couple of artifacts, Wally West’s watch (repaired telekinetically on Mars) and the Comedian’s blood-stained button.

In 2011, in the main DC Universe, the “Flashpoint” event ended with the Barry Allen Flash — guided by the mysterious immortal Pandora — reordering the timeline to facilitate the New 52 reboot/relaunch. The New 52 eliminated Barry’s successor Wally West, but the “DC Universe: Rebirth” special brought him back, with the awareness that a new and powerful force had taken away 10 years’ worth of history. The Rebirth process also switched out the late New 52 Superman for his pre-“Flashpoint” predecessor.

A number of “Rebirth” events seem to indicate Doctor Manhattan’s work within the DC Universe. Perhaps the most obvious is Pandora’s murder, portrayed in the “Rebirth” one-shot as a fairly close parallel to Rorschach’s death. Johns and penciler Gary Frank’s combined efforts made that explicit, with Pandora’s anger and atomization matching Rorschach’s. In hindsight, we can also suppose that whoever killed Pandora had previously dispatched Owlman and Metron (who were fighting over the Mobius Chair at the end of “Justice League” vol. 2 #50), because they died in much the same way.

Pandora’s “DC Universe: Rebirth” death mirrors Rorschach’s in “Watchmen” #12

Doctor Manhattan also appears to be behind Wally’s allegations about the timestream, although “Watchmen” itself never depicted him changing the past. Indeed, Doctor Manhattan regarded time as immutable, asking in Issue 4, “Who makes the world? Perhaps the world is not made. Perhaps nothing is made. Perhaps it simply is, has been, will always be there … a clock without a craftsman.” At the end of Issue 9, Manhattan tells Laurie he values life — “rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg” — but that’s not necessarily an opening to mess around with time itself. Just before his departure in Issue 12 he tells Ozymandias “[h]uman affairs cannot be my concern,” which suggests he would need at least a compelling reason to do anything so drastic.

For that matter, “Watchmen” doesn’t say whether Doctor Manhattan can even affect the timestream. He may have a unique perspective on time, but he travels through it at the same rate everyone else does. Granted, it’s not something we would have seen, because his philosophy probably wouldn’t have allowed him to try and change the past. After all, someone who experiences past and present as he does would probably go insane if any of it were altered.

RELATED: DiDio & Lee Say DC Will Take the Time to Do “Watchmen”/Rebirth Story “Right”

Additionally, Doctor Manhattan does have trouble seeing the future when faster-than-light tachyon particles are involved. As part of his plan, Ozymandias generated tachyons artificially to confuse Manhattan so he wouldn’t be able to stop the squid-creature. Literally in the midst of the destruction, Doctor M finds this appealing: “I’d almost forgotten the excitement of not knowing, the delights of uncertainty …”

Therefore, when Doctor M leaves Earth he doesn’t know where he’ll end up, maybe because there are a lot of exotic tachyon-style particles. Naturally this reminds us of the Speed Force, where everything goes faster than light, and where he could have encountered the lost Wally West. However, Doctor M’s “uncertainty” about his future could also be merely an act, and he knows what he’ll be doing but wants to pretend it’s all a surprise.

Abra Kadabra erases Kid Flash and himself from history, from “Titans” #6 by Dan Abnett and Brett Booth

Speaking of the future, though, the first arc of the Rebirthed “Titans” involved the classic Flash foe Abra Kadabra. A magician from the 64th century, the applause-craving Abra used advanced technology to perform “magical” feats. At the end of 1999-2000’s “Dark Flash” storyline by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn and Paul Pelletier (“Flash” vol. 2 issues 156-58, January-March 2000), Abra kidnapped Wally’s wife Linda Park with the aim of erasing her from history; and in the recInt “Titans” arc he hatched a similar scheme. This time, however, Abra claimed to have removed Wally from history (and, as revealed in Issue 5, himself too).

In “Titans” #3, Kadabra also talked about wanting to avoid a “soulless, clockwork future.” That could either be a reference to Doctor Manhattan conquering Earth for all time, or a more “Watchmen”-esque way of talking about the 64th century’s various monotonies and repressions. Wally had visited Abra’s future in August-September 1992’s “Flash” #67-68, and found it to be oppressive for everyone, not just for Abra. Omen confirmed this when she tapped into Abra’s mind in “Titans” #6, describing his future not just as “clockwork,” but as “cold and joyless. Like a laboratory experiment.”

Abra also expressed a more personal vision of the future in “Titans” #4: “I know that one day, Wally West will stop me for good. He will finally beat me so comprehensively, I will be destroyed. That’s unacceptable. But the lovely thing about the future is it’s so bendy. I’ve come back to change it … and stop Wally West before he stops me.” Thus, a blood-splattered pocket watch in “Titans” #3 may keep readers in a “Watchmen”-minded mood, but Abra sees himself acting alone. To be sure, Abra is aware of someone else with the power to alter time. In Issue 3, he notes that “time has been knocked askew. History is muddled. This is not West’s doing. It’s … his handiwork. It can only be.” Put together with Lilith’s finding the word “Manhattan” in Abra’s memories, and it points directly to “Watchmen.”

Mr. Oz visits the pre-“Flashpoint” Superman, from the “DC Universe: Rebirth” special

Still, it may not point to Doctor Manhattan himself. So far, readers have yet to see “Watchmen’s” only superhuman in the blue flesh. Instead, they’ve been getting a lot of Mr. Oz, a character who first appeared in Issue 32 (August 2014) of the New 52 “Superman” series. Created by Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr., Mr. Oz spent a lot of time observing both the New 52 and pre-“Flashpoint” Supermen, and indicated that he helped train the New 52 version when the latter was younger. Following the New 52 Superman’s death, Mr. Oz then tells the pre-“Flashpoint” Man of Steel that “you and your family are not what you believe you are[,] and neither was the fallen Superman.” Mr. Oz also talks to unseen guests, who may be the prisoners he’s collected for some as-yet-unknown purpose. We know these prisoners include a pre-“Flashpoint” version of Doomsday and Red Robin (Tim Drake), teleported away from (respectively) the Phantom Zone in October 2016’s “Action Comics” #962 and from certain death in November 2016’s “Detective Comics” #940.

Mr. Oz and assistant Janet send the New 52 Superman a present, from “Superman” #39 by Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr.

Mr. Oz wears a green hooded robe, carries a crescent-topped staff, and employs an assistant named Janet whose tattoo looks a bit like the logo for the Veidt company’s perfume Nostalgia. (She delivers to the New 52 Clark Kent a blank S-shield notebook — shades of Rorschach’s journal? — and Mr. Oz observes “The future is unwritten, Clark. But you and your friends will see it soon enough.”) His bank of monitors is further reminiscent of the dozens of TV screens in Ozymandias’ Antarctic home. While these details tend to suggest “Watchmen’s” Ozymandias collectively, they’re not conclusive and could simply be coincidental.

In fact, “Oz” arguably makes just as much sense as a nickname for “Osterman.” Doctor Manhattan was susceptible to emotional outbursts but (for lack of a better term) prided himself on his restraint; and as discussed above doesn’t seem like the kind of being to interfere in the timeline on a whim. By contrast, Adrian Veidt didn’t get overly emotional and dealt heavily in large-scale manipulation, using whatever methods were available to him. We would not be surprised if Veidt found a way to duplicate the accident which led to Doctor Manhattan — he did take Doctor M apart in “Watchmen” #12, albeit temporarily — and gave himself time- and space-spanning powers. Alternatively, if somehow that made Doctor Manhattan human again, the identity of “Mr. Oz” wouldn’t be much of a stretch. (Of course, “Dr. Oz” would be too confusing.) We’re still at a loss about the robe and staff, though.

Worth a Second Glance

Quoting William Blake and mentioning “watchmen” in “The Hellblazer” #2

Janet’s “Nostalgia” tattoo is just one of several elements in DC’s superhero line that remind us, intentionally or otherwise, of “Watchmen.” In “The Hellblazer” #2, John Constantine finishes a quote: “The morning comes, the night decays, the watchmen leave their stations.” It’s from William Blake’s “America: A Prophecy,” spoken by a libertine character during the Apocalypse. Blake also wrote “Tyger, Tyger,” quoted in “Watchmen” #5. The “Hellblazer” quote (courtesy of writer Simon Oliver and artist Moritat) is probably just a gentle jab at “Rebirth”; but we feel compelled to note it regardless.

The same goes for Tweedledum and Tweedledee quoting their signature nursery rhyme in “Batman” vol. 3 #9: “Just then flew down a monstrous crow, as black as a tar barrel; which frightened both the heroes so they quite forgot their quarrel.” Naturally, in the context of “Watchmen,” the quote recalls Ozymandias’ hope that an external threat would force the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to be “so frightened” that they’d “forget their quarrel.”

Also in recent issues of “Batman” is the Psycho-Pirate, famously one of the few characters to remember the infinite Multiverse which existed prior to “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” It doesn’t connect him directly to “Watchmen” — which, remember, is decidedly post-“Crisis” — but if anyone knows anything about the Multiverse, he would.

Of course, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) and Captain Atom are themselves the inspirations, however distant, for Nite Owl and Doctor Manhattan. (Others included Nightshade/Silk Spectre, Peter Cannon/Ozymandias, and Peacemaker/Comedian.) That connects them to “Watchmen” on a metatextual level, and each has returned to DC’s superhero lineup after an extended absence, although so far neither has been involved in the current cosmic mystery. As it happens, during “Forever Evil” a few years ago DC seemed to have big things in store for The Question, who of course was Rorschach’s inspiration. The Question was also part of the Trinity of Sin alongside the Phantom Stranger and the late Pandora, which may make Pandora’s Rorschach-mirroring death just a little more noteworthy.

“Watchmen’s” electric-car recharger and Wally West’s Flash symbol

Perhaps one of the biggest coincidences is the similarity between two unrelated symbols. Both the electric-car recharge stations in “Watchmen” and the Wally West Flash share a stylized lightning-bolt symbol that is more streamlined than the other Flash emblems. Wally’s symbol came to the comics from a slight redesign done for the “Superman” animated series (and seen later in “Justice League”); and the electric-car recharge is such a minor detail that it has to be a coincidence. Nevertheless, an enterprising writer could probably make it into a bit more.

The name “Wally West” is also superficially similar to “Wally Weaver,” the Jimmy Olsen-like character who was Doctor Manhattan’s buddy in the early days. Weaver was diagnosed years later with cancer, allegedly (and falsely) attributed to his association with Doctor Manhattan. It’s a stretch as well, but if Doctor M became lost in the Speed Force and heard the name “Wally,” it probably would have caught his attention.

As for the Comedian’s button, Nite Owl had it cleaned up by the end of Issue 1. (He’s got it on the last page during his and Laurie’s after-dinner chat.) Therefore, it must come from some other place along the “Watchmen” timeline — which doesn’t have to be the beginning of the miniseries, because it also got blood-splattered when Blake received his scar in Vietnam. The point is that it seems mostly symbolic of the new connection between the two universes, and not a major plot element. It will, however, be the subject of an April crossover, as described below.

Finally, we expect Wally West to get his uncle’s watch back (and in good working order) sometime before “Rebirth’s” resolution plays out. That does seem like it could be a plot point.

Minute Details

Superman and son fight a tentacled creature, from “Superman” #2 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason

Certain other elements of current series may have further resonance with the “Watchmen” portions of “Rebirth.” For example, the villain of “Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad” is Maxwell Lord, who completed his turn to the dark side by killing Blue Beetle. Like Ozymandias, Max started out as a wealthy do-gooder who eventually orchestrated a vast conspiracy and (in 2005’s “Countdown to Infinite Crisis” special, co-written by Geoff Johns) murdered one of his old associates who had discovered it. That plot didn’t originate with “Watchmen,” but these days the similarities are hard to ignore.

Superman’s Rebirth experiences also include some “Watchmen”-esque elements. He fights giant tentacled monsters in both the “Justice League: Rebirth” special and in “Superman” #2; and in “Superman” #1 and “Superman Annual” #1, he leaves glowing-blue handprints in the ground. Admittedly, not every tentacled monster comes from Adrian Veidt. However, the “Annual” seemed to explain that these handprints — one of which turned Swamp Thing temporarily into a glowing-blue, Kryptonese-speaking creature — were a byproduct of Superman not being attuned correctly to this Earth’s natural frequencies. Swamp Thing seems to have helped “re-tune” Superman, so the handprints might not reappear. Still, until further notice it seems that anything blue which glows needs a bit more scrutiny.

Finally, Ray “Atom” Palmer’s visit to the Microverse (discussed both in the “DC Universe: Rebirth” and “Justice League of America: Atom Rebirth” specials) could be connected to Mr. Oz’s prison, but all we know so far is that he’s there and its gatekeeper can’t be trusted.

The Clock is Ticking

The New 52’s Clark gets a blank notebook from Mr. Oz, in “Superman” #39 by Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr.

The expanding intersection between the world of “Watchmen” and the DC Universe has given readers a lot to examine. While there are a number of direct connections, there are probably even more red herrings and blind alleys. (No doubt some of those blind alleys will have “Who Watches…” graffiti.) We haven’t even brought up the “Three Jokers” subplot, mentioned in May’s “Justice League” #50 and the “DC Universe: Rebirth” special and then pushed onto a back burner, because it doesn’t seem to have much “Watchmen” relevance. Granted, Doctor Manhattan could duplicate himself without any apparent limit, but that doesn’t make him the Joker.

As the “Watchmen” characters don’t have home-field advantage, this will probably play out according to standard superhero-serial tropes; and that most likely means a Big Event miniseries in the not-too-distant future. Until then, expect more teases, surprises, and perhaps even a cameo or two. Mr. Oz will be in the spotlight fairly soon, specifically when one of his prisoners escapes as part of March’s “Superman Reborn” event; and in April Batman and the Flash will tackle the mystery behind “the button.” If it’s not resolved until May 2018, that’s a lot of anticipation and buildup. With everything the two universes have to reconcile, here’s hoping all of “Watchmen” and “Rebirth’s” gears end up meshing together smoothly. We’ll be watching for more hints, and we’ll keep you posted as they come in.

Which “Watchmen” elements have you seen in DC’s superhero comics? Let us know in the comments!

The post Where to Watch the Watchmen: A Rebirth Guide appeared first on CBR.com.

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