#i'm curious to see where they'll go next season

[ravi-is-my-beloved]

I can't believe the new Ryan interview dropped while I was showering. Always when I leave to do something, smh.

Anyways, onto my thoughts on this interview! (NOTE: I wrote this as I read the interview.)

So here's where the "he kind of falls in line" quote comes from, but then three sentences after it says that this is "not what Eddie "wants" for his team."

Which dispels any notion that Eddie will be completely fine with what's happening and that makes sense with Eddie's character. And honestly, I'd be really mad if the writers made him be completely fine with Gerrard because that's not how I think any of the main characters would react with him in the captaincy based on how they reacted to the news of his captaincy in the season 7 finale.

An interesting thing that Ryan says is "So it doesn't really affect him as much as some of the other characters who happen to be a little bit more emotional or erratic in their behavior.”

And to me is reminiscent of what Tim said in his interview where he said Buck be the one who wouldn't be used to dealing with someone like Gerrard. (That was me paraphrasing what Tim said, btw.) It's really interesting to me that, if that's the case, they're drawing parallels between Buck's reaction to Gerrard and Eddie's reaction Gerrard. I'm super curious for that.

Ryan said that Eddie's journey this season is about loving himself. I'm very excited for that, very excited on this journey with him. (I know this was short, but to be fair, he only talked briefly talked about it in the interview.)

I find it interesting that when it comes to Buck and Eddie, Ryan (according to the writer, so take that as you will) said that "the duo are still "going strong," noting that Eddie will be a source of comfort for Buck when Gerrard makes things difficult on the job." And the next thing that's in quotations (which are his words) are about how both Buck and Eddie will lean on each other.

Even without taking this in a romantic light, I'm assuming it means that they'll have a lot of scenes together like they did last season. Which I'm personally not mad about because I just love Buck and Eddie's dynamic even if I'm not thinking about it with shipper goggles.

And there are more things after that, but since this post is already long and I've deemed those other things as not really pertaining to be about the storyline for Eddie this season. So this is where my conclusion is coming in.

What I've taken away from this interview is that there are two things that are prevalent in Eddie's storyline in 8A: his journey of self-love and his way of dealing with Gerrard being captain. I do think it's worth noting that by the sounds of it, Buck seems to be intertwined with Eddie's storyline in a way that the others aren't.

I keep saying this, but I truly am excited for this season. I can't wait to see how everyone's storylines pan out. I'm hoping that we get interviews from the other cast members that we haven't seen, because it seems like the storylines this season are really interesting.

[buffyfan145]

Ep 2.4 of "Rings of Power" was great!!! 😀 Some things happened like I expected but there were some twists that I didn't. Putting the rest behind a cut for spoilers and I'm trying not to reblog anything but I might revise how I was going to reblog since it's a bit easier to watch now that it's back to 1 ep a week. Will use the spoiler tag till tomorrow for whatever I reblog or post for this episode. But we're already halfway through the season and now waiting for next week.

I really enjoyed this one, though I see some are a bit divided about Tom Bombadil. I really liked him, did in the books too, and I love Rory so that made me love Tom too and how he's playing him. Nice to hear Goldberry too even if we didn't see her. And I like that he's helping The Stranger, who has to be Gandalf now after all of these hints. The Dark Wizard likely is the unnamed Blue Wizard that went evil, but hearing The Stranger say he has to stop him and Sauron from joining sides, when we actually know it's really Saruman in the 3rd Age that will be the one to fully join with Sauron so he will be successful in the 2nd Age but not the in the 3rd. Plus, the ROTK book at the end has a part where Gandalf tells Frodo he needs to reunite with Tom and finish the conversation they started a long time ago, which is likely what we saw in this episode and the next one Tom is in. 😀

Then I'm loving Galadriel's storyline. I feel bad that Elrond still can't trust her, even though it looks like that might be changing. Nenya is giving her more powers and she helped heal that other elf, which we know Elrond actually becomes a master healer when he takes over for Gil Galad, so that was a nice bit of foreshadowing. Also cool to see the Barrow wights. Then I loved when Galadriel had that next foresight vision and saw bit from the season finale including the fight she has with Annatar/Sauron, but she also saw that Sauron switches back to Halbrand!!! 😀 We had been wondering if that was the case when the "Last Temptation" song was released on the s2 soundtrack and Halbrand's theme comes back. I figured back when we saw that Charlie was going to also be Annatar that he'd have to switch back to Halbrand or change his looks again for s3, but going back to Halbrand now makes even more sense now that we know thanks to the s2 prologue that his main/base form now is Halbrand. Plus, I love the new wig they gave Charlie too as it looks more like his natural hair when it's longer and it's curlier. 🥰

And now Galadriel got captured by Adar and I'm very excited to see their scenes together as we know they'll team up and what they talk about Sauron.

Then I feel for Isildur and what happened with Estrid. It actually feels like a reverse Haladriel as they fell for each other quickly, she's actually working for Adar at first but seems to be changing, and she has a fiancé!!! 😲 There's feelings there on both sides so I'm curious how that is going to go. Also loved Arondir figuring out who she was, then him also with the Ents (and seeing an Entwife), and reuniting with Theo.

I also like the storyline with Nori, Poppy, and the stoors. Really cool to find out the Harfoots originally left the stoors to try to find The Shire!!! 😀 Though they call it by a different name and saw it in visions. Also, Poppy having a crush on Merimac was cute too.

So again great ep and can't wait for next week's!!!

[lemotmo]

Let's all spiral together!

Q. No title yet for Ep 2! Oh my god it's just sounding more and more likely and I am so afraid to believe it because they've teased it for literal years and we're still not there!

Q. They could still tease it and just not do it and say it's not queer baiting because they they gave us bi Buck.

Q. Why doesn't episode 2 have a title?! What do we think? 👀👀

A. I bunched these asks together because they're a good combination of what my ask box currently looks like, minus the questions I'm ignoring, and because I can answer all of this in one post. I'm going to tackle the queer bait question first. Yes the show gave us bi Buck so using Buck to tease a possible storyline would technically give them an out on the queer baiting accusation. But they aren't using Oliver/Buck for any of the teasing. They're using Ryan/Eddie. The entire off season promotion has been Ryan/Eddie centric. The early bts antics have been Ryan/mustache centric. They are playing it up. The one official filming post was Oliver/Ryan. Now technically they haven't outright said the words queer, gay or Buddie (though basically confirming they've tried to make Eddie canon queer for several seasons is as close as you can get. So they're already towing the line), but they have heavily insinuated them since the beginning of last season. Much more so than they ever have. Not doing it would 100% be queer baiting at this point. The show is out of leeway where this storyline is concerned. They aren't going to get a pass anymore from the audience or the media who cover the show, the media part of it has already begun. We started seeing legitimate articles pointing out the Buddie of it all during the off-season, and that continued yesterday with the two jurnos who wrote about the Buddie shift. The show is out of time. Anything else will be detrimental to them at this point because people will absolutely walk away. They're out of excuses. They're out of 'next season'.

Episode 2 not having a title, or not releasing the title yet either means the title is a spoiler of some kind, but unless it's called Buddie Begins it can't spoil too much, or it's an indication of it being a significant episode. I would imagine it's the second option. If someone whose memory is better than mine can confirm when we got the episode title for 7x4 I would appreciate it because I don't recall getting that title that far in advance either. I would imagine it's an Eddie begins again type episode. It's also probably the alternate reality episode, if that is indeed what they're doing. The 3rd episode being titled 'There's No Place Like Home' is also a pretty good indicator that the previous episode could be an alternate reality. I'm super curious about what they'll go with title wise. Will it be another play on words like 'Eddie, Exhausted and Escaping' or something else like 'Escape from Reality' which would be a nod to the Freddie Mercury Bohemian Rhapsody thing they've been playing with. The writers and director are Buddie people though that was immediately noticeable. Whatever good Buddie scene you can think of there's more than a good chance that that particular writer and director were involved. Everything is setting up.

Oh, I'm already down deep into the spiral Nonny. :)

I love all the content we're getting. This hiatus is so much more fun now. :)

Is Buddie queer baiting? In my eyes? Right now? No, not at all. But they do need to proceed with caution.

In fact, in the beginning of last season I would have said 'No, it's only ship baiting', because neither of them were out of the closet. But now that they've continued the same kind of promo for season 8, even though Buck is in a relationship with another man? The way they are consciously hyping up the Buddie of it all? The way they keep implying and playing into the fact that Eddie might not be as straight as he himself thought he was?

Yeah, they're not there yet, but they're definitely toeing that line and they need to be really careful with how they proceed.

I remember saying to someone last season, right before 7b started again, that the show had to either 'shit or get off the pot'. They could have done that in 7b. But now that moment has passed. There is no more getting off the pot. They need to... well, you catch my drift right? ;)

I'm so curious about that episode 2 title and the Wizard of Oz reference in episode 3. We all know how much Tim loves old classic movies.

So many questions, so few answers. The time is right to create some beautiful theories and speculate about those episodes. Fun times ahead!

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[sugdenlovesdingle]

Endings week Season 5 countdown tag game

Doing this right away because I'm pretty sure I forgot last week's @lonestar-s5countdown

1) Which 911 Lone Star season finale is your favorite? Gotta be season 4 - the tarlos wedding. Though season 3 with the 3:18 proposal in 3x18 was good too!

(2) What was your favorite moment from the season 4 finale? The tarlos wedding obviously. Tommy singing for them and both of them getting a little teary eyed, TK holding onto his husband's (!!!) arm, Carlos telling his mum it was the best night of his life, their vows (!!!), both of them being romantic idiots, "You are the key that unlocked me" "You are the dream I would not allow myself to have", "You saw me for the man I hadn't yet become" "I vow to take care and nurture your heart as if it was my very own", Paul officiating (!!!), the two of them in their own little bubble dancing in the background, the cake smash scene!!! (I don't care that it was deleted - it counts).

(3) Are there any storylines that you would like to see brought back for a more satisfying conclusion? Not so much a conclusion but I'd like to see Carlos' sisters again - just to see their dynamic with him some more. We barely saw them at the rehearsal dinner and then the next time was Gabriel's funeral. I want to see them tease their little brother, I want TK to join in and just interact with his in laws other than Andrea.

Or if we're going full delusion - Gabriel. He had to fake his death and now Carlos is solving his 'murder' and when the bad guy is locked up, he comes home to be with his family and see his son happily married to the love of his life.

(4) Pick one character and tell us where you hope to see them at the end of season 5. I think most of all I want *everybody* to have a happy ending. though i don't know how likely that's going to be if they really do what I think they'll do with Judd's storyline.

And maybe for Owen to have a FRIEND. No more random girlfriends young enough to be his daughter.

(5) What is one thing you really want to see before the show ends? An announcement abc (or any other network) has picked up the show? Nancy and Marjan kiss and fall in love and live happily ever after? (shush let me live in denial) On a more realistic note... I think I'd like Andrea and Owen to bond over losing their partner/the other parent of their child/children and Judd will probably be joining that club too this season I want tarlos to be a united front with whatever drama comes their way this season. No fighting between them please. I'm curious about Carlos' new work partner (RIP Lexi Mitchell, you'll always be famous) and even though I think it'll be like the Cooper of it all, I really hope it won't be. Carlos would absolutely never cheat, and TK knows it, but I don't particularly want him to be "jealous" of how much time Carlos is spending with New Guy for work. And I want at least one Catan crew hang at the tarloft. I want tarlos to be That Couple that's constantly making heart eyes at each other, telling the other they missed them when they've been apart for more than 5 minutes, just being all loved up and obnoxiously happy. Carlos went to the store to get more snacks, was gone for maybe 20 minutes, slides the door open, and TK all but jumps up from his seat to greet him with a kiss.

"Hi baby, I missed you."

"I missed you too."

Nancy *rolling her eyes* "He was gone for FIFTEEN MINUTES!"

open tag + tags under the cut

@bonheur-cafe @carlos-in-glasses @pimento-playing-hopscotch @lemonlyman-dotcom @theredandwhitequeen

@chicgeekgirl89 @bringingclawstoagunfight @nancys-braids @captain-gillian @literateowl

[sisterofficerlucychen]

I am not sure about you but I am scared for Chenford and their future 6x6 from both the next two episode descriptions and the interview that Melissa did when she said there was a scene that was very vulnerable and emotional. I am so worried they will break up. So much Ship Trauma. What do you think?

you and me both, bestie 😭😭😭 trying to piece together what s6 has in store for us has become my new roman empire lmao. i'm sooo curious! i have loved every episode in s6 so far and from the promoting and interviews they've done it sounds like we're in for an emotional ride for the latter half of the season.

i think what currently has me on the floor sobbing aside from tim and lucy at the hospital is the fact that by the end of tuesday's episode he's there, he's got our girl, she's safe with him but from the logline of the next episode, he's gone awol. i really do think that whatever it is that pulls him away and "leaves lucy in the dark" has to be a very strong reason like whoever is coming back is someone lucy doesn't know and is not the best time for her to meet.

i keep thinking of the look on his face when he walked into the hospital room, he was so distraught like you could feel his urgency to be by her side. plus, there's no way he would willingly disappear on lucy when she needs him the most. my guess is he disappears because he genuinely believes he's protecting her, whether he thinks telling her about it will be an added burden to what she's already dealing with or her safety could be compromised if he told her? tim loves to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and i think this will be another example of that.

how they'll support each other while they're both going through individual hardships will be very interesting. i will say i'm super excited for both of their individual storylines, they both sound beautifully heartbreaking and i can't wait to see how it adds to their character development.

i personally struggle to see them breaking up at any point, the stakes are far too high to justify even a short 'break'. they've constantly reassured each other and others that no matter what life throws at them, they'll get through it. i could see something like 6x01 where one of them walks away and maybe they avoid each other for a few days because they're both equally stubborn and hurt?

i definitely want to validate that worry though like ship trauma is so real! hopefully this may help ease that a little ♡ — in this interview they discuss diving into tim's past this season and how lucy will help bring out the best in him to help him navigate it, so they'll definitely be there for one another ♡

all to say, i do think they still have more than one uphill battle to get through like they had just started to scratch the surface with the lucy being a uc conflict so they have that to continue to work through plus whatever is yet to come. i think it'll be angsty, probably a bit heartbreaking, but also really beautiful.

[deltadex]

(Be prepared, this is a brain dump)

I can't stop thinking about the fact that the emotional turmoil is going to be through the roof next season, especially for Vi and Caitlyn. During their struggle to de-escalate the war they've found themselves in, the mini-battles taking place in the back of their minds will be just as alive.

It only hit me now how much Caitlyn has been through in such a short time. She survived two explosions, witnessed many of her work colleagues die (which I assume is the first time she has experienced death), was taken hostage twice (first by Ekko then Jinx), and had her life threatened several times (e.g. held at gunpoint). I imagine it's still to hit her too...

And then there's the chance her mother won't survive the attack on the council, which will leave her devastated, if not in denial. The fact that it's caused by Vi's sister only makes this more complex and difficult to accept. The same person Caitlyn let Vi go after on the bridge, the same person she didn't want to sell out to the council, and the same person she chose not to incapacitate at the tea party. I don't think Caitlyn is going to become driven by revenge and try to kill Jinx, but I can definitely see her lose her cool.

Meeting Vi and getting to see the Undercity somehow became both a blessing and a curse, and I think it's possible she'll act upon the frustration caused by the circumstances they find themselves in. Thinking about this now it doesn't seem so unrealistic that we will see a Caitvi interaction "we'll probably hate" (e.g. Caitlyn lashing out at Vi. Nevertheless, I think she'll realise pretty soon afterwards that Vi isn't to blame for the mess their in).

Next season is where Caitlyn's character arc is really going to gain traction and I'm excited (and frankly scared) to see "a different side of her".

Vi also has her own struggles leading into season 2. She'll still be reeling from seeing her sister choose to walk away from her. The hope of "getting Powder back", the only thing on her mind for the past seven years, was shattered in an instant. On top of all this there's the huge possibility of Warwick (AKA Vander) being thrown into the mix. Finding out Vander is alive will rock Vi to her core and add to the barrage of emotions she won't have the time to feel.

(Sidenote: There's so much chaos going on already with the war and now there's possibly gonna be a blood-thirsty werewolf-man on the loose too? What a curveball! )

Besides Caitlyn and Vi's individual struggles, there's also the unresolved tension between them after the "Oil and water" scene. They don't quite know where they stand with each other, and I'm really curious to see how soon they'll address it.

Then there's the fact that Caitlyn probably overheard everything at Jinx's tea party before she was wheeled in, and just thought: "You were right Vi. I don't know anything about you." Up to this point she knew very little about Vi's past, and she still doesn't have the full picture.

Caitlyn is inquisitive, sometimes to a fault (e.g. "How do you not know if your sister is alive or dead?" "What, you don't have parents?"), and I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted some answers after everything she just heard. And even if Vi would rather forget about the past and avoid talking about it, Warwick is going to arrive and open up those old wounds. When she recognizes him, she's going to be distressed and Caitlyn's going to want to know why. This could lead to some heated conversations, especially if Vi is reluctant to share and Caitlyn is insistent on asking questions.

At this point, everything is happening at such a fast pace that they won't have the opportunity to have the heart-to-hearts (and mental breakdowns) they so desperately need. In some ways, their internal struggles are just as difficult to address as their external ones, and once they're able to reinstill peace in their world, they'll have no choice but to face them (you could only hope Arcane will be kind to us and have them crying in each other's arms by the end of the season)

There's this simple, great quote from Helen LaKelly Hunt: "Conflict is growth trying to happen", which is a really positive way to see Caitlyn and Vi's situation. I'm optimistic that if they overcome these challenges, they will not only grow as individuals, but will end up with a relationship that's stronger than they ever imagined.

Anyway, thanks for reading my brain dump ❤

[batsplat]

You cannot imagine how giddy I get when I see you've posted a nice long thesis on the riders. And the timezones work as such that I see it during breakfast and it MAKES MY ENTIRE DAY. The content just keeps tumbling around in my brain the whole day. Thank you!!!💛💛💛

this is so incredibly kind that I really don't know what to say... so I'm going to fire off a random undercooked take that is very very far away from thesis territory. featuring the 2015 season

in 2022, jorge gave one of his own regularly scheduled takes on the 2015 season. he offered up a bit of an unusual opinion by focusing on the argentina clash that year - which he that "crucial" in the collapse of the marc/valentino relationship:

(god, can you imagine having a workplace falling out so bad that seven years later it's still an active topic of speculation what exactly the precipitating event was, and several of your coworkers enjoy regularly weighing in with their thoughts? like man they'll never be allowed to rest)

I find this really interesting coming from jorge. one of the fun things about that season is the degree of genuine ambiguity that exists about all of the major on-track flashpoints. was one of valentino or marc responsible for the argentina crash? was the cutting of the chicane at assen premeditated by valentino? and, of course, did valentino really kick marc at sepang? that being said... the argentina one has always been the one where it just seemed... unfortunate timing, shit happens. it's more on marc, he made a misjudgement and also just took a bit too much risk in the context of the title fight, but complete racing incident. that's the reason why this is a slightly odd take from jorge. it's the one incident nobody really has pinned on valentino, certainly not the commentators or the commentariat or otherwise or anyone

to be clear - this post isn't about figuring out what 'really happened' at argentina 2015, it's more about... well, how it was perceived at the time, and what that tells us. but, just to quickly get this out of the way: from the outside (and with the obvious caveat of 'what do I know'), it's a little tricky to see how you'd solely blame valentino for the collision. valentino is by this point clearly ahead of marc, he's literally just been bumped into by marc so may also not have been 100% in control of the bike, and he's taking a regular line into the next turn... when marc essentially rides so closely to him that valentino turning the bike takes out marc's front wheel. even if vale's deliberately trying to ride defensively against marc, he's perfectly entitled to do so. I know jorge doesn't actually specify valentino crashed marc out deliberately, but given the specific situation, I feel like that's what you're implying when you're saying he's "responsible". you're suggesting valentino knew where marc was and essentially purposefully moved the bike across to wipe out marc's front wheel and... look. I suppose it's possible, though valentino's also allowed to some extent to deliberately make the life of the guy behind him harder. more likely, this is just what happens when two hard racers race each other and insist on practically sitting on each other's bikes when they're on track together - sometimes it'll go wrong. except, of course, that won't stop controversy from breaking out... especially not when it's these two. here, from one of the write ups of the race, is a description of the two of them I've always been fond of:

which is very them, yes. same type of guy, slightly different flavour, both with carefully cultivated reputations. but look, the main takeaway is this: we don't know their actual intentions. I don't know if valentino deliberately made contact with marc. let's be honest, marc doesn't know if valentino deliberately made contact. only valentino knows that. jorge lorenzo certainly doesn't know that. so why is this the incident he brought up?

in part, I'm curious how jorge even got that impression that marc was mad, and also why he thinks valentino was to blame. the latter, okay, jorge isn't naturally inclined to be generous towards valentino's particular style of racing, not least because he's fallen foul of it a fair few times over the years (though I'd say valentino on occasion was rather less subtle than that against jorge lol). but why is this the thing jorge brings up? I mean, you'd think he'd point to assen as the turning point, given he was literally sitting in that extremely awkward post-race presser and clearly very much enjoyed the whole thing. does he know marc was mad at valentino for argentina? that marc "didn't like it"? was this some kind of paddock rumour at the time? would there have been any basis for that rumour?

so, marc himself was quick to publicly deny that he was angry at valentino, something he reiterated at the next race in jerez. immediately post-race, he said the following:

and the official statement:

it's still far from the snarky digs of the post-assen presser, but to me this is a little open to interpretation. I always find 'learn' a very interesting verb. casey over the years was particularly keen on using that word, typically in relation to valentino, to the point where when you see that his tweet commemorating valentino's retirement includes the phrase "I learnt a lot from you".... well, that can be read in lots of ways, not all of them positive. it kind of depends on what you're learning, right? when casey uses it, the implication is basically that valentino was an asshole and casey had to learn to play his games and be more selfish fighting vale. marc uses the word four times in the interview, plus again in the statement. valentino has a certain reputation, a reputation marc is of course more than aware of. he is known for... not being a cheat, necessarily, but being a little underhanded in his tactics, a little devious. yes, valentino did a good job in managing the race, but also in the "melee". "you learn different things and different strategies". what kind of different strategies, marc? are we sure he's talking about tyre preservation here?

(speaking of tyre preservation, one of the reasons why marc was probably feeling particularly disinclined to let valentino go without a fight was the fuckery with the tyre choices. long story short, tyre choice was a big talking point due to the extreme wear they'd had the year before and the extra compound bridgestone had developed. marc made a bit of a show of faffing about with a late switch that he kept concealed until basically the last moment, presumably to fuck with his competitors who were tensely waiting to see what he'd pick. valentino, who had opted for the hardest option, said after the race that he'd ignored what marc was doing because he knew there was only one choice for the yamaha anyway. so in the end it didn't really work to unsettled his key rival and also... well, I mean, marc was two laps away from the tyre choice working in the race, but not quite! just couldn't build up the lead he needed to prevent valentino from reeling him in)

also, "in the end you can see perfectly what happens" is not technically the same thing as saying valentino was not to blame for the incident. it's a phrasing that shies carefully away from actually giving marc's own take on the incident. basically telling the viewer to draw their own conclusions from what they've seen on tv - even though of course marc does make clear he sees it as a racing incident. it's the kind of vague statement that marc has occasionally popped out over the years, at times perhaps implying more than outright stating he has a problem with a certain incident, which does make you maybe raise an eyebrow or two at how he words it here. it's just... listen, it could be 100% innocent and the whole thing isn't flirting with disaster as much as assen is, far from it, but it's the kind of thing where with 20/20 hindsight you do kinda go. hm.

there is a little more evidence that marc was indeed mad at valentino for what happened at argentina... if valentino is to believed and marc's manager told him so directly after sepang:

(why, if you are marc marquez's manager, do you go to valentino rossi after sepang 2015 to tell valentino you think marc was angry at him for losing him the title. why would you do this. what are you trying to accomplish here)

do I believe this conversation happened? yeah, kinda, because it feels like an odd and very specific thing to make up. that's just a gut feeling thing - I have zero evidence either way obviously. I think at most it's plausible valentino misinterpreted what alzamora was saying. of course, the words "as much" do set off an alarm bell or two, maybe suggesting alzamora didn't directly tell him the bits about argentina and assen. but, y'know, it's also entirely possible marc did think valentino had deliberately taken him out in argentina, especially in the heat of the moment - and his team would very much have been aware of his feelings on the matter. not fun to crash out of the penultimate lap. not when clashing with the championship leader, who is also your hero and who you've generally gotten the better of... not easy not easy

anyway, again, this is definitely a bit of an undercooked take, but it's always nice to get a little bit of insight into what the paddock vibes were at the time. if there are many people - and if there were many people back then - who think that valentino had deliberately taken out marc, that he should have apologised to marc, that marc was mad at valentino.... if it got back to valentino through alzamora, did he hear it from other people too? to what extent was this kind of thing common wisdom within the paddock, or are these takes literally nobody but jorge believes in? we don't know, but it's interesting! argentina is kinda the unloved child of 2015 divorce incidents. partly because it does look so innocuous, partly because it's harder to ascribe ill intent, partly because the two parties are far more pleasant to each other in the aftermath. that's why jorge coming back to this specific incident has stuck with me... in all honesty, I don't really trust jorge to be a particularly good judge of marc and valentino's interpersonal chemistry at any given moment in time, but did he see the cracks beginning to emerge so early in the season? to what extent did argentina already make things visibly less comfortable between the pair of them? why does jorge think marc wanted an apology?

if marc really was particularly angry, then it does go to show how quickly he flipped the switch himself when it came to valentino, swiftly reappraising him as a serious rival who should be treated as such. also, let's put aside a minute what valentino's actual intentions were... it's revealing if marc did think valentino was deliberately fucking him over here. (which, given he's repeatedly using the word "learn" - if he does think valentino's responsible as jorge suggests, then he also doesn't think it was just an innocent lil mistake. you don't 'learn' from your hero making an error, you learn from them riding in a way that wins them the race by crashing you out.) like, y'know how in this post I was saying marc obviously was perfectly aware of valentino's past history, including the feuding and controversy of it all? I mean, if you want proof of how aware he was, look at assen 2015! he's clearly immediately suspicious of valentino and his motives... because he knows what valentino's like, because he knows that 'planning to exploit a grey area in the rules by deliberately allowing marc to make contact before cutting the chicane' is absolutely the kind of sneaky shit valentino is renowned for. what if marc does share jorge's belief that valentino is responsible for the argentina crash? if marc thinks valentino did so deliberately, then that tells you something about how marc sees valentino, no?

obviously they both massively over-correct when they arrive at jerez, which is how we get 'in bed remains the same' and lingering hugs feat. hip-stroking in parc fermé, all that stuff. if it did plant a little seed of suspicion, a little seed of doubt, then that maybe helps explain why they were focused on each other more than they were on the guy who won the next four races - even when it became increasingly clear jorge was the championship favourite. which is what it comes back to for me - the fact that such a seemingly innocuous incident was allowed to blossom into so much more shows there was already something there between the pair of them. the championship might be one thing... but somehow, if given half a chance, they were always going to see each other as their number one rival

[lover-of-mine]

Hey Anna,

I have a honest question for you I’ve been thinking about for a while and I think you’re the best one to answer it.

When Tommy came over to Bucks loft in 7x4 I genuinely thought they were going to have Tommy say something about how he didn’t mean to make Buck jealous and he’s not trying to steal (his) Bucks boyfriend from him. That would’ve been an effective way to have Buck question his sexuality and introduce buddie. I am really curious why they didn’t just do that?

What are your thoughts? Love your blog babe 😘

Hi love 🩷

Okay, so, they wanted to make episode 100 about a main character being queer. To effectively do that, they would have to make Buck kiss a guy. They couldn't make him kiss Eddie because it would've been out of nowhere and while I desperately want buddie canon, I don't want them to just smash them together because they can. Like, if they just wanted buddie to kiss on some capacity without an actual lead up, they would've made that happen in s6, I know fox was against Buck being bi but they could've implied something with the "ending" if they just wanted to say the got buddie together in the end. They did not, and since buddie is the one thing that was handled with care in the season, I'm tempted to believe they want to do them justice. Tommy is a device for Buck's bisexuality not buddie, those are separate things. I absolutely HATE the idea of Tommy, or any external person really, just coming up to Buck and saying "oh you have a thing for Eddie" that's explicitly. Buck's whole arc is about finding the answers himself, and in my opinion, making someone in that situation tell Buck this assumption to trigger buddie would be lazy. The goal of 704 was making it known that Buck is bisexual and they couldn't do that through Eddie with the episode they wrote, and the GA would only accept the bisexuality if Buck kissed a guy. There's also the way that I think that buddie is never gonna be unrequited, even if we get some canon pining from either side, I think it will only be after the audience is made aware at least that both parties are queer. To make 704 about buddie in the way you are saying, we would have to see Eddie acting like he has feelings for Buck enough for Tommy to make that assumption along with Buck being jealous in the way we see him. That's not something you can do in one episode imo. With the way things were you would have Buck being a cliche guy in love with his straight best friend because Eddie was dating Marisol, and I don't think they'll ever want to give the impression that buddie is impossible if that's where we're going. This is also why I believe the audience needs to be made aware of Eddie's feelings for Buck first, because 704 mimics the structure of 201, so the idea of Buck having a crush on Eddie at some point of their friendship already exists, so the next step imo is to make Eddie's feelings known for audience and kickstart the getting together arc.

You're thinking about the situation as someone who already believes Buck and Eddie are queer. You and me and all buddie shippers, we don't need convincing about them being queer. If s8 opened with them making out, we would not question it, but since we are talking about two characters who were not introduced as queer, you need to give the GA something to make this feel plausible, that wouldn't be the case of Tommy just saying "I'm not trying to steal your boyfriend" because the audience knew Eddie was dating Marisol, the audience also knew Buck had only dated women, the audience also knew that while Buck and Eddie are weird about each other, they are not explicitly put as romantic. It would be too much of a shock.

I also believe that Buck's bisexuality was a trial run of some sorts, walking Buck out of the bi thing if it had been poorly received by the majority of viewers is a lot easier than walking Buck out of being in love with Eddie, so if for some reason people didn't react well to him being bi, they could just introduce another pretty girl and call it a day without major consequences. Buck's bisexuality also stands on its own because Buck is incredibly popular and there aren't a lot of mainstream bi male characters, he creates conversation on his own, so again, if something went wrong, they could lean on that angle without having to worry about the ship. I think the goal was to make Buck's bisexuality exist outside of another person and that's why it wasn't about Eddie.

[emeryhiro]

Thank you so much for answering my questions last week!! Your answers were so insightful and interesting, and have made me even more excited for the book of carol!!

That's awesome to hear that you're more confident about caryl canon after watching ep one. I totally agree with you about how them being alone will open up opportunities for it in a way it never has before. And i agree that if it doesn't happen, it's probably because Melissa & Norman don't want it (which I'd be super disappointed about but would respect their choice). But from everything I've seen, i also think they do want things to go in that direction!

Haha emotional and unhinged are great words to describe caryl in general! And I'm excited for nostalgia. The emojis are intriguing! They're making me think Carol blows up a plane, hopefully once she's safely in France lol! And that's interesting about how the people at the nest treat Daryl, that also frustrated me in s1!

I had a couple of other questions but no worries if you can't answer any of them:

1 Do we see anything specifically relating to Carol from Daryl's pov in this ep? Or is he talking generally about 'people at home'?

2 What did you think of the opening credits?

3 Did you see the ep title? I'm really curious about what that might be!

4 Where would you rank the ep in terms of your fave twd eps?

Thanks again for everything you've shared! I love how you've given us hopeful teasers without spoiling the details!

Hey Anon ♡

You're so welcome!!! I've been having a lot of fun answering your questions, so feel free to let me know if you have any others, and to be honest, I'm happy with any excuse to talk about Caryl 😅

Mild spoiler warning for my response to question 1 ♡

1) No, there was no situation where Daryl directly spoke about Carol. However, I do think there's a good reason for it, which I've spoken about in detail in a previous post [HERE]. It's also important to note the screen time division; episode one is about 85% Carol and 15% Daryl, so we don't get many scenes with him and very little dialogue. The dialogue that we do hear from him sounds very frustrated and resentful as if he's tired of being held back by the Nest and wants to leave as soon as possible (like he's rushing a resolution for the conflict in France).

The line below that we hear in the teaser is actually in episode 1, and it's the only time he references anything about home.

"I don't know if this is the place I'm supposed to be. I've been thinking about all the people I left behind, wondering if they're still thinking about me."

This is then followed by a few other lines where, in no uncertain terms, he says that he doesn't think he'd ever be happy at the nest.

2) I loved the opening credits; there were some really nice animated scenes of Carol that I really liked, and my favourite is the closing shot of the opening credits which is one of Carol and Daryl together. 🥰

3) No, unfortunately, I don't remember seeing or hearing anything about the episode title. But I think they'll announce the title either during San Diego or the following week, but most probably during the next screening of episode one that's being held on the 26th of July (tonight).

4) Honestly, episode 1 is now my favourite episode of TWD. It hit all the right emotional notes and delved deep into Carol's mindset, which is way overdue. It also had the walker action and suspense that left me on the edge of my seat (literally) the entire time. Melissa is incredibly talented and has everything it takes to play a leading character, especially one like Carol, who has so much depth and layers.

I have no doubt that the rest of the episodes will be just as good, if not better, especially the reunion episode!! And I'm confident that this season will be my favourite of all time, from any show.

~~~~

Thanks again for the questions! Once again, they were a joy to answer😊🩵 I'm sorry if this was a little delayed. I've been very busy with my uni finals during the past couple of weeks, and I wanted to wait until I had enough time to give your questions proper responses.

Also, I can't believe today is the day we finally see the trailer!!! I'm SO EXCITED, and my brain/emotions are already on overdrive. I also apologise in advance 'cause I already know I'm gonna be over analysing it and sharing my thoughts as soon as I can 😅

[generalkenobitrash]

spoilers for ep6 of hotd s2

i'm completely confused by the writing at this point, but i do like that we're getting more team green representation because they were too cartoonishly evil and not cool last season. i would've wanted corlys to have an outburst over rhaenys' death last episode, rather than simply going to driftmark for baela to convince him. rhaenyra making him hand of the king would have had more importance then, i think. jace is sitting the council at last lol. knowing what will happen to steffon darklyn, i feel kinda bad for him. it was a bit of a stupid decision, especially considering bastards are perhaps a better bet than a kingsguard (a very needed one, at that) whose relation to house targaryen is pretty distant. but i do admire than he genuinely wanted to help his queen and thus kinda sacrificed himself. okay, my wish for daemon to hallucinate viserys has come to pass at last. though viserys says the same stuff as in season 1, but it's much more...soft. i actually prefer this one to the scene in s1. viserys is more vulnerable and it's always a pleasure to see paddy considine. daemon's storyline is a bit slow but i'm glad to see him being driven to the edge of madness. matt smith is a phenomenal actor, so he carries the sometimes boring writing. simon strong is being an icon as always. i love caraxes so the screen time is much appreciated. i just know alys giggles to herself when daemon has his luigi's mansion moments. i do love that she makes him face his faults when he's trying to run. daemon has always wanted the crown, but it's so clear to see that he's not fit for it. he's right that rhaenyra never wanted it, but she rose up to the occasion. she's being a leader. daemon struggles to raise men by threat of fire. alys and mysaria are the most interesting characters to me this season. by saying that in three days the winds will shift, i think alys meant that grover tully will die and oscar will take his place and therefore secure an army for rhaenyra. i am still sad to lose kermit tully. i understand the muppets association but it's legit a cool name 😂. the scene where ser steffon tries to bond with seasmoke was very interesting. it's pretty neat to get more insight into the dragonbonding process. anyways, rip steffon darklyn. you did your best. i do like sylvi (the brothel madam) and dyana, so i'm curious to see what's next for them, though i think sylvi may not appear again. anyways, the smallfolk have my heart. i like that after suffering yet another loss, rhaenyra feels utterly frustrated and desperate. i love love and love rhaenyra and mysaria. i kind of don't like the "the people will be hungry and will need someone to blame", because yes, the keep has more than enough food for themselves, but it was rhaenyra who initiated the blockade. the blame could easily shift to her. with all the dismissing and whatnot, i don't think otto even managed to reach oldtown before he's being summoned back lol. aegon didn't really listen to his council, but atleast he tried, while aemond's being outright mean to his council. tom glynn carney is amazing. no matter what aegon did, i don't think he deserves to be lowkey tortured by aemond. tgc is seriously too charismatic and too good to make me hate aegon. i truly wonder if they'll make rhaena tame sheepstealer. i love my sweet girl sm. the baby dragons are so cute. i'm sorry jeyne arryn is so beautiful i can't focus whenever she's on-screen. i'm lowkey stressed that the battle of the gullet is coming. i love the rather subtle way they're using to show that addam and alyn are bastards. i like alyn in the show. i love that even rhaenyra is sick of daemon. he truly has to get his act together and recognize that it is rhaenyra's claim he should uphold. how did the fisher guy not see the boat before it was right there at the beach? oh well. food for the smallfolk yay. lyman beesbury haunts the narrative. i write as i watch the episode and i'm already at the limit and the episode is not even over 💀

[buffyfan145]

Thanks to the Rings of Power Updates Twitter/X they posted past of an interview with Charlie Vickers that a lot of us including me don't remember seeing from October of 2022 after the season 1 finale previewing his role as Sauron in the upcoming 2nd season. Here's the full thing since the preview image cut it off:

"I mean, to be honest, it hasn't changed my approach to the character that much compared to season one at this date, because I knew for most of season one, really. It's just that now it's out in the open. I guess that's where the difference is. And it's in the writing mainly. We get to see Sauron openly doing his thing, at least from the audience's perspective. The other characters don't know, but I think for me, it's quite interesting to be able to play things a bit more with the knowledge that the audience is in on it with me now. It informs some of the decisions I make. That's the main difference, I would guess."

Now for those of us like myself who been keeping up with the various scoops we've been getting from Fellowship of Fans and other interviews/sources this goes along with what they've been saying but also adds to it too. Putting that behind a cut as it contains likely major spoilers.

From FOF and others we know the show is doing some sort of Annatar storyline with another actor playing this "original form" but it's only in the last couple of episodes. However, we'll see Charlie shapeshift into this other form in a fight with Adar early in season 2 as it is the form Adar knew. Now reading Charlie's comments this makes me think again that even with them still doing the Annatar storyline that we'll actually still get Charlie with the most screen-time and doesn't change his status as the main Sauron actor going forward, and there's already spoilers backing that up as Charlie's filmed a lot as Halbrand with Adar, Amelia Kenworthy's character, the men, and the dwarves at least. Possibly in scenes with Galadriel too as a lot of us speculate they'll still have that connection to see each other in dreams. But Charlie's words also seem to confirm that Galadriel either doesn't tell the others that Halbrand is Sauron or only a select few know, so I'm curious how that is going to happen especially with Celebrimbor. But they can easily do this Annatar storyline line similar to how Tom Hiddleston shapeshifts as Loki and we/the audience knows it's him and then he shapeshifts back to his Halbrand form in the finale or we also see Charlie on-screen but the characters see this other form. Plus, I doubt this original form/Annatar actor is staying past this season as most of us think Charlie will still play Sauron till the show ends, especially for when he goes back to Numenor as he already was there as Halbrand, so seeing this statement from Charlie just helps to confirm that for me and I'm really excited we'll finally be getting season 2 next fall.

[lemotmo]

I just finished reading the ask you got sent earlier from Ali’s blog and how she mentioned essentially the show not dragging the Tommy of it all out and them not having the time to do so. And getting the boys into position for where they need, especially before Chris is brought back into the mix. I agree with all of that, especially I don’t see Tommy being dragged out to long. (For various in show reasons and out of show reasons)

I’m very curious on what your thoughts are for them doing buddie by the mid season finale. (Or both of yours if it’s something you guys have discussed)

I’ve felt for a while now that that’s when it will happen. Making it the season finale while yes would give them the summer to promo it, also runs the risk of alienating people by making it take to long to get there considering how long it’s been already. Not to mention I’m sure the time jump will be back in effect next season (I feel like it’s only not this season because of the nature of the stories and where they left off in season 7) so if it was the season finale we’d essentially lose out on all the beginning of their relationship stuff that people have been waiting years to see finally happen.

But with the mid season finale cliffhanger? It gives them the winter hiatus to pump out interviews, PR, gives them a nice cliff hanger to draw people back in for 8B which is usually when the show needs something big to draw the crowd in again. It gives us time to see them start navigating their new aspects of the relationship as a couple and as a family with Chris. And they will be able to ride that wave of press and Pr through the winter break, summer break and into season 9 because let’s be real. Being the network to have the first slow burn queer relationship launch? It’s gonna generate so much press. ABC would be dumb to not milk that for as long as possible.

And with the way certain things have been lining up like Max Gao saying yesterday or the day before, that Tim told him in the interview they just sat down for they are filming through episode 6/7 right now. With Ryan posting that Don Diaz photo which I think we all correctly guessed was him about to film the shaving scene which as we know from Tim was important, lining up with the episode 6/7 range.

The timing of when we found out Ryan was filming in the church mixed with him following the actor who plays the priest.

It’s all lining up nicely for that episode 4 (his 100th) through episode 7 arc range of things falling into place for Eddie leading into episode 8-10, which is the range for the 8A finale depending where they want the episode count to fall in terms of an extra episode on 8A or an extra on in 8B.

That's an interesting theory Nonny.🤔

I have to admit that personally I'm more inclined to the 'Eddie and Buck separately figure out they're into each other' arc by the end of 8A and in 8B we'll get the exploration of those feelings and it will eventually all culminate to the natural Buddie climax at the end of 8B. It would make for an interesting Summer hiatus. They don't have to start S9 with a time jump if they don't want to. I don't think that is set in stone.

I think midseason is probably too early for a true Buddie arc to begin.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like your theory a lot and I agree that it makes sense from a promotional point of view. But I doubt that they'll go that fast. They will want to milk this story for all that it's worth.

Let's just say Nonny, that... if it turns out I'm wrong and you're right? I won't be all that upset about it. 😋🤗😏

[mrsbsmooth]

I'm actually curious as to what season 8 of the game will be about? We've already kind of did everything; Ex in the villa, "Surprise" twin sister, coming in as a bombshell and now coming in as a casa girl. Soooo what's next now? Like what's after that?

See a good idea would be like Love island: Second chance, as in the islanders who definitely got voted off in the previous seasons, or left in a couple when they got voted out (maybe they didn't work out in the outside world idk), or the LIs that were locked all come back as a second chance to find love. I don't know just a thought I had, but I'm very curious as to what they'll do for season 8.

DO NOT MANIFEST A RETURNING ISLANDER SEASON!

That is the LAST thing I want for the animation ALONE! You saw what they did to Bobby- they would RUIN the other characters 😭😭😭

The @litgwritersroom predicted back in June last year that we might end up with a CA season, and the other two thoughts were one where we play as a guy and all stars, neither of which will work I think 😭

So how about:

LITG: Redemptions where all the villains come back?

LITG winter wonderland where they go to the snow instead?

LITG: Narrator (you play as Iain and pay 💎60 to make a funny joke)

LITG: Producer Edition (this would actually be kinda fun though lol especially if you ended up running off with one of the contestants a la UnREAL)

Or maybe they’ll start doing crossovers.

LITG: The Bachelorette

LITG: The Price is Right

LITG: Jerry Springer

Honestly I don’t know 🤣

Personally i’m just hoping they go back to regular full seasons 

[sky-kenobye]

I’m very curious about your vineyard AU!

I originally talked about it here (also called champagne AU), and since then it has gained a Words doc and it is somewhat outlined but I still haven't written much for it.

Obi-Wan is a winegrower who makes champagne form start to finish, he grows the vines, makes the champagne and sells it.

(Why champagne? Because that's what my grandparents did so I know more about it than about wine.)

In September (usually) the winegrowers hire workers for about a week or two to harvest the grape. (Where I worked they hire between 10 and 15 people for one week to harvest 4 hectares (almost 10 acres)), so here Anakin is a seasonal worker that comes back every year for the harvest, and year after year he and Obi-Wan fell in love.

I'm planning on doing 8 or 9 chapters: one for every day of the harvest during which they'll pine and flirt a lot then finally get together, and an epilogue (though I might shorten it, I'm not sure I have something interesting to add to every day, it's rather repetitive work to cut grapes all day lol)

Here's the only thing that I have actually written (unedited), which is the very beginning of the fic:

"It was almost that time of the year again: grape harvest. It was rather early this time, starting on the last day of august, but Anakin certainly wasn’t going to complain, an earlier harvest meant he would see Obi-Wan earlier. It had been almost a year since they had last seen each other (except for the few texts they exchanged to inform Anakin of the dates of the harvest, and to confirm that he would be there)(as if he would miss it for anything in the world). They could text each other during the year too, but Obi-Wan never did and Anakin was too worried he would find it annoying. Maybe he didn’t miss Anakin the way Anakin missed him. Maybe he didn’t count down each day until the next harvest. Or maybe he did, he was a winegrower after all, and the harvest was one of the most important part of the champagne making process, but he probably didn’t count down the days until he would see Anakin again.

Anakin wasn’t an idiot, he knew Obi-Wan liked him, as a friend, and as a good, reliable and efficient worker. But there was no way he loved Anakin. Although, in the last couple of years there had been moments where Anakin thought that maybe, just maybe, he might actually have the tiniest chance."

(From this wip tag game)

[daylander1000]

Will you watch season 2 of HotD or you've lost interest in the show? I wasn't thrilled with season 1, but I do like some characters and I'm curious to see if they'll do them any justice in the next season(s). I'm still trying to be optimistic (which is definitely against my nature 😁), although the latest leaks from Spain (which I desperately hope to be false) doesn't sound promising.

Idk it you read Fire & Blood, but that book is often overrated imho, almost all the characters there are painfully one-dimensional, shallow and bland, while the plot is full of illogical things (especially the Dance part) . So, as you can see, I'm not the biggest book fan, and I do believe that the show did some things better and gave a bit of depth and complexity to certain characters and fleshed them out. However, at the same time it seems to me that they didn't complete what they started, like, you see the potential of the characters and understand their motivations, but then out of the blue they do or say something totally nonsensical and OOC. Take Alicent at the end of episode 8. Rhaenyra says something nice to her and she suddenly forgives everything and forgets that's the same woman who wanted to "sharply question" Aemond after her son Luke maimed him over an insult (a fact, actually), the woman her husband always favoured at the expense of Alicent's own children and finally, the woman who is married to Daemon, the sociopath who hates Alicent and her children and who will kill anyone (and apparently with Rhaenyra and Viserys' blessing) without remorse if it benefits him and his side. I mean, the guy even had the gall to look annoyed during the prayer for Vaemond. Still, according to the show, Alicent somehow needs to "misunderstand" Viserys' last words to crown her own son, and not because it's probably the only way to keep her and her children alive and safe and because her son actually has the strongest claim to the throne according to Westerosi laws avd tradition. And don't get me started on the Velaryons who are collectively depicted as "Dae and Rhae fan club". Like, what is Corlys even thinking?! I won't ask about Baela and Rhaena because they obviously don't get to think and are just unconditionally supportive of Rhaenyra and the Strong boys. Rhaenys is contradictory and inconsistent. It's frustrating, really. Also, the fact that the narrative/the framing of the show heavily favours team black is also off-putting. Nevertheless, I'm still curious and just a bit hopeful that season 2 will balance these things a little. Maybe I'll just be terribly disappointed, but oh well. Sorry for the rant :D

Anyway, as a fan of your fic, I would like to know your opinion. Does the show deserve our optimism and what are your predictions regarding season 2?

S2 predictions? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Why would you ask me this? This is a show where someone in a professional HBO writers room said, "So what if a dragon just bursts up from the underground?" And the showrunner was like "Fuck yeah!"

I don't think they even thought to do a camera pan of the carnage. It's like they wanted to make Rhaenys look badass but did a Koolaid Man scene instead.

Tell me that this isn't Rhaenys

Predictions? This is not Leftovers where you could do a whole video essay on foreshadowing and subtext and hidden clues. This is a series where there's a horse running loose in a writer's room and nobody knows what it's going to write next.

This is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.

My prediction for S2 is that during the time off at least one person realizes that they failed to make Aegon into Joff 2.0, that instead of having him be affably evil, he's onscreen affable and offscreen evil, and they'll try to double down on actually showing that he's evil and actually showing that he's worse than Daemon and Rhaenyra.

We've seen Daemon in brothels, grooming and marrying children, killing Rhea, killing innocent people and murdering lords at court, but we've only been told (by very minor characters) that Aegon is a baby-eating rape monster. It's all extremely "tacked-on."

I think Aegon's the biggest problem that they have to work on. Just getting at least this one character to make sense moving forward.

When Jahaerys is killed, I think they'll use that to really commit to making him the bad guy. Like he'll have to be killing a baby or raping someone or eating someone so that it's not Rhaenyra and Daemon killing a child but "Look at what this bad man was doing instead of protecting his son."

As far as predictions go, that's all I can see. If they only develop one character in S2, it needs to be him. Rhaenyra has Rockstar!Daemon, Rhaenys and Corlys on her side, so they'll have to upscale the green threat otherwise it's a bunch of grown people and veteran soldiers fighting two children who have no experience at anything because the oldest one is a 20-year-old frat boy and his brother is still a teenager. Aegon's going to have to really be villainous.

I feel like there's a reason all his nude scenes are with his mother, it's one of the few consistent things between them through the time skips and actor changes, and I feel like they're going to go fully 500% in that Commodus direction

and have him just be creepy and rapey with her in a "bad incest," how-the-turntables, "be careful what you wish for" way. Alicent's defining trait seems to be "perpetual victim," so I feel like they'll go this way and frame it as if she's getting what she deserves for slapping him around. Ten extra points if they have Rhaenyra or Rhaenys there on hand to be like "Is this your king?"

I don't see them doing anything with Rhaena besides sending her away, and I actively don't want to see Baela going out there getting her dragon killed and her face burnt off in defense of Rhaenyra.

I honestly try to not think about s2 of this.

I was a hardcore asoiaf fan but I didn't like Feast or Dance. I read Dunk and Egg, but he didn't finish that either. And when F&B came out, I got the audiobook and I listened to it for a few hours, probably less than five, and I couldn't concentrate because I kept thinking "Did this bitch seriously package his story notes as a novel for sale??? This is an insult to storytelling."

And I deleted it.

It's the quality for one thing. It's the lack of diversity, it's the author not finishing anything, it's the fandom being 20% fantasy fans, 80% trump rally...

Like, in just 10 episodes HotD has managed to give a voice to pro-rape feminists. Didn't even know that was a thing until I saw it on Twitter.

I saw some of the leaked pics of Helaena at the funeral on my feed, didn't have to scroll far to see people just casually r-wording Helaena and acting like having six fingers is a killing offense since eugenics rhetoric is apparently thriving in this fandom.

And on top of all that, the story doesn't even make sense.

I don't want to be like "dramaturgically speaking" but narrative coherence is a thing. Just from bing chat (yes, I'm using bing 😣):

Narrative coherence is the degree to which a story makes sense. Coherent stories are internally consistent, with sufficient detail, strong characters, and free of significant surprises. The ability to assess coherence is learned and improves with experience. Individuals assess a story's adherence by comparing it with similar stories. The ultimate test of narrative sense is whether the characters act reliably. If figures show continuity throughout their thoughts, motives, and actions, acceptance increases. However, characters behaving uncharacteristically destroy acceptance.

This show has curb-stomped narrative coherence.

Like, take that scene where they killed Vaemond. The way they write it, Rhaenyra has come back after 6 years of never visiting her father to drag him off his deathbed so he can support her in taking Driftmark, the seat of house Velaryon, away from Velaryon people to give it to her son by Harwin Strong. Vaemond is killed for telling the truth.

With different lighting and music, that's peak tyranny. That's some Mad King Aerys shit. In full view of all the lords at court. Every single person in that courtroom is aware that Luke is a bastard and they've just witnessed a lord like themselves get beheaded over it. This isn't Daemon killing commoners. He's killing the lords and ladies of Westeros.

But there's no fallout. Nothing. All the lords of Westeros cease to matter. It's just another Tuesday to them.

Hell, they go even further and frame the scene like Viserys is Old Theoden fighting off the curse of Wormtongue. Otto, Alicent and her goblin children all but shrivel and wither from the sunlight that Rhaenyra brings as Vaemond is cut down by noble Daemon. In that scene, Dark Sister might as well be Andúril, Flame of Old Valyria, sword of justice.

There are shows that are easy to watch that we say are "no brain cells required," but HotD is like, "No brain cells allowed. Switch them off or put them on silent so you don't disturb anyone."

I have no hope for season 2. I would never rec this to anyone or say that I think the writing will improve. The foundation is shit. You can't build a strong s2 on a shit s1 unless you're writing a procedural or an anthology where nothing that comes before matters.

You can't undo things like Alicent supporting Aegon as king because of a misunderstanding. There's a limit to how many things you can retcon without destroying all sense of continuity and they've already gone beyond that in s1.

They're past plot holes. They have whole parts of the world that are just void of all thought. Alicent and Rhaenys are characters who respawn and disintegrate from scene to scene as needed. Corlys is three lines of dialogue in a trenchcoat. Daemon Targaryen is somehow, impossibly, a less-developed Damon Salvatore.

No optimism here.

I'm that jaded ex fan who's like, "hotd is a barren wasteland, riddled with racists, ableists and toxic stans, and those are just the writers. The very fandom air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten-thousand Lindelof-level writers could they fix this shit."

But that being said, I have a really bad habit of watching shit TV.

I've seen Catwoman more than 5 times.

Waterworld, Jonah Hex, Elektra, Daredevil (Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell), Battlefield Earth, Supernova. At least 8 of the Fast movies. All the Transformers. Dracula 2000. All the old school classics of bad cinema.

I haven't watched Morbius as yet and the only reason why is because I feel like Jared Leto is intentionally trying to become Nicholas Cage and I don't want to support that.

There is something about the cringe that hooks me. And with a TV series? That weekly cringe? That is peak entertainment.

It used to take me 4 sometimes 5 hours to watch and digest a single episode of Titans because there were so many questions to think about.

I hyperfixate on bad writing. Trying to figure out all the ways it went wrong and why and what they were trying to do. Once I start, I can't stop thinking about it. I'm hoping swhhw gets it out of my system, but I don't know.

Like, anybody can make good TV. Anybody can do that if you try hard enough. But truly horrible TV isn't supposed to exist. It's like 20 million an episode to make HotD? Nobody is supposed to invest that in a show where the showrunner doesn't even know how old the characters are. Bad TV shows are supposed to be snuffed out before they see the light of day.

But HotD is something special.

You don't accidentally end up with a Koolaid Dragon busting up through concrete. A director described that scene to a VFX crew. The actors had to rehearse that repeatedly. They had to do a read-through...

Like, just think about that.

And then they announce that they're going ahead with s2 without writers?!

That is insane. Part of me says look away, and the other part of me says that s2 of HotD will be something the likes of which I'll never see again.

I really don't want to watch S2, but honestly, I might. Not because I think it will be better but because I'm dead certain it can only get worse.

[animehouse-moe]

The Witch and The Beast Episode 2: The Witch's Pastime - Opening Act

The first episode in proper of The Witch and The Beast aired today, and I must say it's left me a little confused about the whole production and approach. Some great work here, some not so great stuff, and a lot of unanswered questions. Of course, I'm a big fan of the manga so this is almost exclusively a conversation of visuals, but I think there's some interesting discussion to be had.

First off, the second episode has a new storyboarder and episode director. While the director is really not of much importance, Toshiyuki Sone is. They're not a very common storyboarder so I didn't have too much to expect out of their work, but admittedly, they've done a passable job with the content that they were given.

Sticking close to the manga in a lot of places, Sone's episode remains rather faithful to the manga. Some of their original ideas are great, as you can see below, but quite a bit of what they bring from the manga doesn't translate in the way they might have expected.

For example, the zoom sequences that are added in various parts produce low quality and poor detail, though you can't really tell because of Tumblr's pesky compression.

If I were to explain the episode in broad terms, it's from someone that has some good ideas, but little confidence and experience within the role. There's potential, and there's some great work involved, but it's hampered by a lack of understanding in how to approach various challenges.

One such example being the challenge of Iijima's piss poor animation direction. The designs they've made are great up close and personal, but at a distance they're god awful, and can hardly even be considered consistent in any way shape or form. I'm really desperately hoping that they'll be relieved of their position as CAD at some point during this season, just so I can see what can be done beneath another person.

Something else that I'm curious about with this episode is the work in brighter scenes. It's really just not as good as darker layouts or anything that happens at night.

And it's hard to pin down because the line drawn between color design, composition, and art direction/background is hard to make in these spots. Whatever the case is, the scenes in bright daylight simply can't compare to the quality nighttime work. Thankfully a lot of The Witch and The Beast deals with darker sequences so it shouldn't be of too much concern.

And also since I mentioned it, I really do still like the color design and composition. The colors really do best when in more homogenous scenes, but the composition overall has been really great still, even adding a good deal of feeling to some sequences.

The only place that really has not shown any promise is the animation. There was a bit in the first episode, but nothing really to write home about here, and that's where the big question for me comes from.

We're yet to encounter a heavy episode in terms of content, so it's hard to gauge just how this production is faring. As my friend Blue would (most likely say) though, it's very typical of a Hamana production within our small frame of reference. He directs the first episode and brings with him a lot of previous staff members to round out the ranks behind this series.

Because of that, and because of the content of these early episodes and this "arc" (if you can call it that), it's hard to tell how things will go. Is Hamana padding the easy episodes out to save room for the more intense ones, is Sone's episode more limited because of the buildup within the arc, or is it just the limitations of the ability behind his boards and the work of the episode director?

There's a lot of blanks in terms of how this production operates still, so I'm hoping that within the next 2 or so episodes we'll get a better grasp as to just how good this series will be. Of course, I'm hoping it'll be good, but with Yokohama behind it it's hard to have much confidence in my words.