#it’s really quite sad how few villian ships there are out there

[fandomrantsandtwittertakes]

The relatability tho

[xsecretblastsx]

1x18 Much I do about nothing

So, here it is the final recap for S1. Once again this one took way too long, but long story short I have limited access to a laptop I’m basically only able to do this on mobile, which is not the best.

I normally do the recaps in one sitting, which takes me quite a while and it’s hard for me to find the time to do it. So going forward I’m going to try to do it a bit differently and watch the epsiode in parts, I’m hoping that will help to have the recaps out there faster.

Anyway, here’s the recap.

Thoughts I had while watching the episode

Serena calling after Dan all night... he isnt’t worthy of that but she loves him so there’s that

Rufus and Lily finally got their sexy time. Too bad is the morning of Lily’s wedding. Talk about akward.

This is one of my fave scenes of Chuck and Blair, there’s cuteness, there’s flirty banter and feisty Blair, what’s not to love.

I still want to know the story about him not removing that scarf. Just for entertaining purposes.

Nate and his dad running is a nice little call back to the early episodes of S1, which feels like ages ago.

And here we are with Dan and Georgina and Serena finally exposing her as a manipulative evil mastermind

Thanks Serena for reminding that Lily & Rufus can’t coexist with Dan and Serena 😪

That scene between Bart and Lily is actually good, he’s obviously making a point and letting her know she must make a choice, the good old days when Bart was actually a character and not a cartoon villian.

I remember thinking on my first watch while Dan and Blair are scheming, the show should make them snarky friends that would be fun. 😪

Seriously Dan and ‘Sarah’ have known each other for how long and they already have “their spot” guys are the worst

“Humphrey you’re a born liar” you don’t even know the half of it Blair

As much as I love Blair and this iconic line “haven’t you heard, I’m the crazy bitch around here” I still can’t believe that aftet plotting the whole night with Chuck their plan was just ratting her out to her parents.

Sorry Jenny but that dress Vanessa is wearing is awful. Actually I’m not a fan of Blair’s dress either. Anyway everything is a tad better with ‘Time to pretend’ playing in the background, overplayed as it was I still love it.

Also Blair and Chuck again with the flirty bantering, reminiscing a bit about that first time and Chuck getting kicked. Quality content all around.

I don’t know about Serena but luckily for Blair twenty years in the future she won’t be on her fourth husband

I always hated that “I didn’t sleep with Georgina, but I may as well have” like first of all what does that even mean. Second it’s so frustating because it feels like the show went through great lengths to keep Dan as the “good guy” on this particular situation, and that wasn’t fair to Serena.

Even though I know this is only the end of S1 and there’s more to come I’ll forever be bitter about Rufus and Lily not being together. I do like the bittersweet note of this particular moment though.

Rufly aside I have such a soft spot for the Van der Basses. Sure it was far from perfect but still.

That earlier bit between Nate and Chuck with the captain pointing out that whoever the girl they’re fighting about ain’t worth it and Chuck agreeing and Nate saying that’s the problem may seem like another of Chuck douchbag smarmy moments, but I actually like how it sort of makes sense later in the episode, because is only when Chuck admits the truth to Nate about how he felt about Blair, that Nate not only finally listens to him about the captain, but is also willing to have his friend back.

Poor Nate, always being let down by his father, at least he got to make his point, even if he had to punch his dad (again) to do it.

Even though Blair is on full bitch mode towards Vanessa, she ain’t actually wrong about Nate: endless family drama and never getting over Serena.

Nate and Chuck’s friendship isn’t as larger than life as Blair and Serenas, but is one I still love, and finally is back on. Also Nate’s amused and surprised smile about Chuck’s feelings for Blair is priceless. Chuck’s reaction too, how con someone be smug and shy at the same time?

Dan makes me want to scream like what bullshit is thid “i got seduced by a girl who was pretending to someone else and you knew” so somehow that’s Serenad fault? “I am the most understanding person in the world” Excuse me!!! In what universe, like honestly Dan just shut up.

The fact that this show actually has Serena saying “we are exactly we were at the Bass brunch when we started dating I wasn’t the person you thought I was and you can’t forgive that” and then Dan just sidetracks and claims a lot has happen... and we’re only on season one

Beside the fact that I love the scene of Chuck’s speech while he’s looking at Blair, this line is so spot on “in the face of true love you don’t give up, even if the object of your affection is begging you to” the whole speech is basically the abreviated version of the Chuck and Blair story.

Serena’s is in her own cloud of missery and yet she still makes a face when she sees Chuck and Blair are kissing 😂

Chuck Bass is a romantic, and that’s all that matters 😉.

As much as I’m not sad about Dan and Serena breaking up, it is kind of sad watching them have a last dance with ‘the ice’s getting thinner” playing in the background (such a good song btw)

I had honestly forgot about Jenny for a bit here.

I feel so robbed because they just skip a week and we didn’t got to see any of it, like Chuck being a complete gentlemen? C’mon! Anyway Blair’s traveling outfit is almos customy, nevermind I still love it, it also helps how fears about helicopters aside, she’s excited she’s about the Tuscany trip,

I remember the first time I was like so that’s the end of Nate and Vanessa? How swift. Not that I mind because that scene between Nate and Serena was so promising about summer and the Hamptons... but that’s a rant for S2

The way Bart can’t help but messing up Chuck’s head, even if he doesn’t try to, though whith Bart one never knows. Fun fact: the first time I watched this episode when Chuck goes after Amelia I literally screamed to the screen: “NO!!!’ You idiot”.

So that’s a wrap on Season 1! It was such a fun ride and I’m going to miss it. This last episode was really packed, it also felt quite long for some reason. It also ends with every major ship on the outs, which sucks a bit but it’s also a great set up for season 2.

First there’s Dan and Serena, who call it quits because for the last few episodes their relationship has been a constance struggle of secret and lies. One could make the point that their relationship was always dishonest by Dan’s secret identity as gossip girl, god knows I’ve been ranting about that the whole season particularly the last episode, because in principle is very hypocrital of Dan to be so mad about Serena’s lies when he’s keeping the biggest secret of all. But since she doesn’t know this the whole discussion is centered about her mistakes... Serena makes the very valid (and true) point that Dan can’t forgive her for not being who he thought she was, and this is something that’s going to keep being an issue for them the whole show, but for this particular break up the other big issue is lack of trust

Trust is the key point in a relationship and how can Dan trust Serena if she lies and hides stuff, they can’t have a relationship that way, even if she has come clean about her past who’s not to say if they come across another issue Serena will be honest this time and not hide and try to handle it on her own, truth is she most likely will, (she does act this way in future seasons) but what I would like to point out is that as much as Dan can’t trust her now, Serena actually never trusted him, not in the sense that he would spill her secrets but rather that she didn’t trust him not to judge her and she also didn’t trust that he would still love her if he knew everything about her. And in her mind he proves her right that’s why she points out they’re having the same argument they had at the Bass brunch and even so (sadly) Serena still wants to work through this and Dan is the one that says no, let’s break up. I don’t disagree with him is better for them to be separated but I ‘m petty and so I kind of hate he’s the one in his high horse breaking up with her, when he almost cheated on her with Georgina and even has the nerve to be like “i only did that because you cheated on me and you’re a liar and you let me get involved with a psycho” and it’s just hell no Dan! First of all no one force you to do anything, and also how long did he knew this girl Sarah and they already have “their spot” like that’s on you, and I’m not even mentioning how this argument of the psycho pretty much destroys itself when one remember he’s gossip girl so... who’s the most twisted manipulative one there. I would have issues with Dan and Serena even if he wasn’t Gossip Gilr, but the fact that he is... seriously he’s one devious guy.

Also not a fan of the show going out of their way to keep Dan’s nice guy image, they keep teasing his night with Georgina and then they decide to be light, well he didn’t actually slept with her, the intention was there, but he didn’t because he’s good Dan and sex is meaningful for him, so it’s a big deal for him, but still he was nice and faithful. Sorry but no, have him cheat, everyone else in this show makes questionable decisions and surely the UES changes Dan, so I would like for the show to embrace, they eventualy show it, but they had the space to start to show it much earlier, also just for the record sex with Dan was meaningful for Serena, it wasn’t something she had really experienced before, and it was pointed out earlier in the season, so sex it’s not only meaningful for Dan.

Other two relationships have a quick death this episode: Rufly & Nate and Vanessa. The later gets set aside almost like and afterthought which was dissapointing because it was like why bother then in the first place? Also I actually like their interactions and Vanessa while still judgemental makes and effort for Nate to be more understanding and in turn allows her to show different sides of her character and that’s nice. Then we have that scene between Nate and serena and it’s iluminatinhg, because at list at this point it looke like the show wanted to set something up there and it’s like finally! let’s unravel this (and then...😪 but that’s a rant for the next recap). Rufly on the other hand I like how it went, it felt natural and yet sad because basically they don’t take their chance because they feel that boat sailed a long time ago, it’s been 20 years, and they could have stolen moments, but more than that is just not possible, doesn’t seem like it could work at this stage of their lifes, and while it’s exciting to take the plunge I totally get why they didn’t here.

Finally there’s Chuck and Blair, and me screaming into infinity. Don’t get me wrong I love this episode and even when I still was like No Chuck you idiot! In some ways it needed to happen. Or at least some version of it, but I’m getting ahead of myself. What I love about this episode is all their flirty banter, their chemistry shines through every single scene they have, and they truly make me think of much ado about nothing, i like the back and forth and the obvious subtext of how much they truly like each other, and one can also tell how this is exciting for them, these thing between it’s a first for both of them for him it’s the first time he wanted more from a girl, he yearns for her in a way he never has feel before, he feels, he’s in love, and to her is quite a heady experience to be so openly wanted by someone, she doesn’t even have to try, to force it like she did Nate whose eyes were always following her best friend, Chuck’s eyes follow her and no else. For a minute there they take the plunge, armed with having his best friend back and getting a family Chuck’s goes for it via a best man speech and an apology. He’s a romantic at heart and he wants her to know, and she can’t resist it and goes for it to.

We’re robbed from that week they’re together after that night and is such a shame because while I feel internally each of them have acknowledged they’re in love with each other, there’s a difference between falling in love with someone and actually loving someone, and I feel this is the time that while they obviously don’t speak about it, I don’t even think they fully realized then but they truly fell for each other to the point where it was never the same again. It’s a scary thought, and it’s Bart who brings those fears to the front of Chuck’s mind, the guy is scared to death, is not only because the change of going from womanizing playboy to boyfriend seems monumental for a guy like him but more importantly Chuck’s someone who believes the worst of himself, and it wasn’t a big deal for him, because to eyes of the person whose opinion matters the most to him he’s alreayd a failure and that’s not got to change, but Blair is his second thoughest critic, what she thinks matters and unlike Bart she actually believes he has it in him, to be whatever he wants to and Bart’s words make him think of the expectations Blair may have of him now, and the thought of proving her wrong, he doesn’t want her to see that, and sure he’s going to fail and she’ll hate him for it... and that would be it. So better to end it now, on his terms while he’s the one in control of the situation and put a stop to it.

Bottom line he ain’t ready for it at all, he actually won’t be for a long time, and because of this is going to take Blair a lot of time too to be ready for it. Is what I like about Chuck’s best man speech at first glance is his way to tell Blair he feels something for her and he wants her to give him, them the chance to be something. It’s a plight at heart. It also works perfectly as a summary of what their relationship will be for a while. That no matter what, they love each other, theirs is true love and even if it’s hard almost impossible at times, they can’t give up, and that when one of them wants to throw the towel there’s the other one to remind them of why is worth it in the end.

The game between them is really about to start, here we go S2.

Random bits I’ve noticed:

Chuck lightly squeezing his dad’s arm when Lily’s almost at the end of the altar warmed my heart.

[popculturebuffet]

Star Vs the Forces of Evil Reviews: The Blood Moon Ball (1-15)

Welcome back.. though to most of you probably just joining me, welcome. I’ve been on a sorta hiatus from revewiing due to a combination of procrastination, depression, and being really busy. But I finally decided it was time to put boots to the ground and get back to doing what I love: Going on way too long about children’s television.  As such, with She Ra taking a bow a few weeks back and nailing it I got to thinking about another show that just so happened to end the year before: Star Vs the Forces of Evil. Part of it was very simple: She ra ended on a trriumphant note, making a well set up romance that had been it’s backbone canon, having a wonderful final battle, tons of payoff and a throughly happy ending that satisfied all involved and got tons of well earned coverage for having a deep, meaningful relationship between two lesbians finally coming together being the thing that saves the universe. It was freaking great.  Meanwhile a year prior Star Vs, after having been treated like toilet dinner by disney for no good reason by having it’s final season shoved out over a few sundays after a yearlong hiatus.. ended not with a bang, but with a wah wah trumpet. The series ending was unsatisfying, left more questions than answers, had the title character loose all likeablity and was in general miserable. I hadn’t been this pissed off at a finale since How I Met Your Mother and hadn’t seen a romance botched this badly in animation since “Merry Christmas Mordecai”. It was BADDDDD.  However it did make me want to go back to the series; To revisit the good, the bad and the just plain weird to remember what made me love the series, what made me want to throw my tv into a river before reminding myself “No dude, shit’s expensive. “, and what COULD have been, what SHOULD have been and what WASN’T. So i’ll be reviewing assorted episodes.. and the best place to start for me was with the introduction of one of the series best characters, as well as at the same time the start of a ship that was a good idea at first but would slowly take the series down with it as it started to fall apart. This is Blood Moon Ball. There will be blood, and a dead horse, after the cut. 

Before we get into the episode, one of the series most notable and honestly a damn good one, for those 2 of you not familiar with the series a quick refresher: Star VS is the story of Star Butterfly, a rebelious 14 year old princess from the Kingdom of Mewni. Mewni is your standard medievil fantasy kingdom.. but you know with wifi because they have magic compacts that work as phones and large sale acess to the multiverse. Their also ruled over by a long sucession of queens with great and terrible magic power, which is channeld through an increidbly powerful wand that’s passed down from generation to generation.  On her 14th birthday Star gets her turn with the wand.. and not long after sets everything on fire. Not wanting the kingdom to get blown up while Star figures out thing, her parents send her to Earth, and after bribing the school principal into enroling her, that’s not a joke on my part but an actual joke from the pilot, Star soon becomes an exchange student, boarding with the Diazes and soon becoming best friends with their teenage son Marco, a saftey obessed, shy talented martial artist. The two are frequently forced to beat up the hordes of Ludo, a spoiled monster king who wants the wand for himself. Things would get way darker... like in literally two seconds as the revelation star’s people stole mewni from the monsters and Star’s hatred being revealed to be partly racisim instead of standard hero and villian stuff. But that’s for future reviews. Today we have demons, internet commentors and ship tease to get to. So with the basic premise set up let’s finally get on with it.  We open on the arrival of my boy and yours, hopefully, Tom Lucitor. Tom is the prince of the underworld, basically exactly what it sounds like: fire, brimstone, demons spooky scary skeltons sending shivers up your spine. He’s also Star’s ex boyfriend. How they broke up is.. never really explained. While more details about their relationship, includign the fact Tom bought Star her iconic Devil Horn headband on their frist date, were revealed in the tie-in spellbook, and reveals that star’s arson that got her sent to mewni happened right after her and tom broke up, but never explains WHY.  My guess is since the series clearly frames the breakup as Tom’s fault in this episode and on his anger, they probably didn’t want a scene of him screaming his head off at star, either to keep him sympathetic or , more likely, because a scene of a teenage girl watching her boyfriend having a rage fueld breakdown that leads to htem breaking up would be MASSIVELY uncomfortable to watch and unlike some uncomfortable to watch scenes, wouldn’t tell us anything we didn’t know already. So unlike some later things they never pulled the trigger on this one at least makes sense.  Anywho, Tom arrives, parking in the handicap spot (a nice little gag as Star’s crush at the time Oskar points it out, while the dead skeletal horse pulling tom’s carriage turns around to look at him), and all the girls stop and stare.. including Janna, who would probably regret this moment once she realize tom was a bad boy because he’s socially awkard and has anger issues. Basically he’s Kylo Ren but his redemption dosen’t come straight out of JJ Abrhams ass.  Tom arrives at Star’s classroom, removes his shade and damn if he dosen’t have game.. but naturally showing up unnannaounced to her school (Not that TOm probably gets what school is as Mewni dosen’t have those, but still), basically assuming she’ll go out with him, after they had a messy breakup it dosen’t go well and we get a great cut of Star shoving tom back into his carriage.. we also get the best joke of the episode.  Star: So take your invitation and your fire and your dead horse and go.  Dead Horse: wait.. i’m dead? Sad but hilarious. Anyways it’s quickly conved to viewers like us that Tom has anger problems, but he insists to star he’s doing better: he has an anger managment counsler he takes with him places, Brian, voiced by the wonderful and weirdly in Disney’s pocket these days Stephen Root, and a bunny he pets. Before star can pet said bunny Marco , KARATE CHOPS TOM’S HAND OFF.. I just.. until this review I hadn’t sat back to consider just how freakishly strong that boy is , that he can just accidently chop off a hand. I mean tom may have weak joints or something but even after taking far worse blows later on his hands just.. don’t come off. Tom flies itnto a rage and it becomes clear that yeah, whatever happened, it was tom’s fault, and given the kind of rage she flies into, you can see why i’d assume the writers really didn’t want the audience to see him at his worst. I certainly don’t.  Star both worried and clearly having seen this sort of thing go bad before urges Marco to run but tom quickly recovers, both reuniting with his hand and having calmed down, and he and Marco are formally introduced, with star explaning the invite. We also get a great line with marco encouraging her “Star never go with a preadator to a second location”. This show was damn good at getting shit past the radar and i’m here for it. Anyways, Star isn’t quite sold despite tom clearly TRYING to get better, and Tom , in a really nice  move, gives her a bell and tiny hammer to summon his carriage with if she decides to go but leaves it up to her, not pressuring her or anything. For how selfish tom is initially.. this is a spark that shows h’es not a TERRIBLE person, just one who has some growing up to do. Marco however is not convinced and wants to go with, with Star teling him no because A) he wasn’t invited and it’d be rude to ask and B), she appricates the concerns but she can handle this, and implicily, despite her reckless nature knows this is a risk but knows if the night turns she can handle Tom, and that maybe he’s changed. Marco insists Tom can’t change.. which I find hilarious given his massive character arc to the point I had as eires ofessays planned, and one don about his growth before deciding to change formats to doing each ep of his journey instead every so often, to the point where two years on in the series timeline.. we’ve gone from Marco thinking Tom is a predator to...

But star decides to go and .. it’s clear from the subtext that while part of it is clear concern for star, Marco’s line about “it being fun here all the time” may mean that while he DOES have the best intentions.. part of him is jealousssssss. More on that in a bit.  For now we go to the underworld with the second best gag of the episode as Tom is toning down the spookiness to please star, and one of the guys in the picture at the top insults him... and when tom asks which one he says me. We sadly don’t get an answer but it’s small gags like this that made me want to do this episode by episode. Star arrives.. and things quickly go south. Tom tries giving her a corsage that’s a live spider and she rejects it. This admitely looks bad on both as Tom , living in you know, a hell dimenson probably sees it as a sweet gesture, and Star is refusing it.. but star does so POLITELY, and for understandable reasons, and Tom is still clearly pissed about it. Not long after, they line up for what’s essentially a prom photo.. and to get Carried by a bucket of unicorn blood, another nice little gag. Star refuses since well her best friend is a unicorn, one of them anyway, or at least it’s head.. and yes one of the species in this series multiverse is a bunch of headless unicorns. IT’s wonderful. And star also notices tom needs his anger managment bunny and is clearly pissed about it when, having dated her for several months, clearly should’ve KNOWN this might bother her.  That’s really tom’s problem here: He wants everything his way on his terms and only compromises if he thinks it’ll get star to do things with him. He’s made the PRETENSE of changing.. but he really dosen’t WANT to yet. He just wants her back and wants to change just enough to get her back so he can stop trying again. He also may , due to the underworld being diffrent and a place where being covered in a bucket of blood is a time honored tradition instead of the thing that turns a young mutant into a mass murderer, and yes I think a carrie x-men crossover would be the shit. He probably dosen’t GET that star wouldn’t like a spider corasge or bathing in her best friends blood.. but the problem isn’t that. that’s culture shock, that can be bridged with some talk.. the problem is tom dosen’t want to talk, he just wants her to do what he wants and things to be all cool and to get his way. Being a prince with two loving parents, we’ll meet them soon enough just not this episode, and tons of servants, I get the impressionf rom this and other episodes tom simply isn’t USED to not getting what he wants.He’s not USED to being told “No”, and thus has no way to deal with it healthily and isntead lashes out like an angry toddler. It dosen’t make his actions RIGHT but it does make them more understandable and makes it so Tom’s later growth FEELS natural depsite some of his sketchier actions beforehand. 

Back at Marco’s house, Marco is depressed eating nachos in a sumbrero.. which if I had corn chips, cheese and a sombrero would probably be my daily life right about now. It’s then we get a WEIRD dropped bit, as Marco hears a weird piratey voice telling him the blood moon is the moon for lovers and stuff. This is IMPLIED to be his monster arm, from an earlier episode.. but it’s.. never explained. Whatever it was going to be was dropped. Which would be fine if the blood moon itself and the end of this episode didn’t get a full explination in season 4 with the writers clearly going back to it to resolve the dangling thread.. but still not explaning the spooky voice. I mean what was it? Marco’s pirate ancestor? the sea captain from the simpsons? the monster arm? terry that bastard? Burt Macklin FBI? Old Man Withers the guy who runs the amusment park? Dirk Dastardely? A sentient payphone? The alps? Tell us damn you! Okay that tangent aside Marco decides to party crash at the advice of the ominous voice.. seriously is it Flintheart Glomgold? Nevermind. Back at the ball star is bonding with a small skeletal fish int he magma punch whent his random asshole comes up and whines for a good minute,if hilariously so, about the ball being changed.

He’s feels, looks and acts like the combination of those morons who were mad adora wasn’t “as hot” in the she ra reboot and was aged down to a teenager and the threw it on the ground guy.  After that interlude, tom shoos away a guy asking star to dance and the guy makes vauge comments about tom wanting his and star’s souls to be link while making kissy nosies. Before Tom can explain what he means by that, or at least lie about what he means by that, the blood moon is about the drop, the lights turn red and tom walks off because he wants the music to be perfect. And then Marco arrives in his really damn cool calevara outfit. Which fair play, I can see why, besides ship reasons, it gets a lot of art: it looks really damn neat.  Speaking of shipping.. it’s time. Star, not realizing it’s marco, dances with him.. quite romantically in fact. It’s here that the show conciously starts Shipping star and marco together. Starco is born, and the scnee is really good: romantic, well animated, jsut great all around. While the ship would .. end up done rather poorly and lead to some really terrible stuff at the time.. it wasn’t abd and already shipping them I loved this and even now, even knowing what woudl come later... it’s not a bad sequence. The only bad thing is what would come later, but I can’t fault the writers of THIS EP for what they would do in a LATER ONE. That’s just not fair. The ship wasn’t bad to start and the later arc springing from it in season 2 would be good.. it just quickly went in bad directions as the series went on , then disappeared, then how it finallyc ame about was just awful. But as much as I want to.. I can’t blame the sequence on this. It didn’t create rabid shippers or poor writing, it was just good and deserves to be praised as such.  Naturally tom takes this about as well as me when I found out HBO max wouldn’t be on roku at launch and prepares to murder Marco.. and promptly gets frozen by star who decides to wisely get out of there. It’s a ncie moment.. and  reminder that Star is crazy powerful, as is the wand itself, because as we’ll see later, tom is no slouch himself in the power department, but even if her attack was from behind, she still stopped him in one move.  So Star takes marco home and dresses him down for sneaking in, understandbly so: while it was an iffy situation, Star knew who she was dealing with and as shown at the end, was strong enough that tom was no threat to her, and given what we learn later, Tom’s parents would likely never let her come to real harm. For all her reckless decision making, Star thought this one out and Marco shoudl’ve repsectied that and didn’t for his own reasons. To his credit though he apologizes, Star admits to liking the dance, then the two speak in unison a few times, and we wont’ get followup on that till the last season! Roll credits. I don’t have the credits for this episode so enjoy this instead:

Final Thoughts: Blood Moon Ball is a spectacular ep. A good plot, a great introduction for tom, and great animation and humor really make the episode pop and it’s nice to get our first look at the underworld and tom himself. Tom would be back, and i’ll be back to tom eventually, but on it’s own the episode is really good and it’s standout sequence still holds up even as starco ended up in the sewer quality wise. All in all a great ep and a great starting point if you haven’t watched the show yet.  Coming Soon: A return to Star in the near future probably since Tom is great and his second ep deserves love too, as do several other star eps, as well as a look at the saluna episodes of the loud house because i’m in a gay mood for obvious reasons, and a loud house mood for less obvious reasons. Until then, feel free to hit me up with asks with suggestions or commisosns for future reviews, and until next time, later days. 

[dachi-chan25]

Game of thrones season 7 episode 4 recap Pt. 1

I need to vent about this episode so bear with me please.

WARNINGS: SPOIIIILERS; definitely not a D@€n€r¥$ fan so I’m actually gonna talk about the bad things she does/says (specially this episode); a Jonsa shipper so I’m bound to talk and fangirl about them I’m afraid.

A few things I would like to say before I start:

- I don’t hate D@€ny, it might surprise y'all because of all the things I said on my last reacap, but I don’t, I find her an intresting character, her arc from wannabe hero to quasi-Villian is very cool, but I do dislike her which means I don’t root for her to get the IT (I don’t even want the IT to be a thing at the end of the series) and she does annoy me a lot when she acts like a brat, but I have nothing against the people who do like her and root for her, and neither should anyone, let people like the things they like please. Same thing goes for shipping.

-I will not talk anymore about spoilers and leaks from future episodes, this is getting awfully tiresome, and I prefer to watch for myself what is going on when I watch the episodes.

-This is gonna be kinda long, so again I’ll break it in parts.

Cool? Let’s begin!

——————-

1.- We start with the Lannister-Tarly army leaving Highgarden, they already transported part of the money and are taking the rest along with the very much needed food in carts.

Bronn got a big bag of gold as payment, but he still wants the castle Jaime promised, so how about he takes Highgarden? LOL no says Jaime, you’ll get your goddamned castle when this shit-show is over, and Bronn sass the heck outta him and Cersei’s reign. I really like Bronn a lot y'know? Always makes me laugh.

Tarly senior and junior come along to inform them the Reach farms are almost emptied, and Jaime sends Bronn along to help them persuade the farmers that are reluctant to give them the food.

LOL Bronn calls Jaime m'lord in the most sarcastic way ever. I really like their friendship even a bit more than theTyrion/Bronn one.

2.- Back on KL we have random Iron Bank dude congratulating Cersei on getting the money in such a short time, and is basically kissing her ass to the point Cersei has to drink to stop herself from shutting the fake bih off. (Same girl)

Random dude suggests that now she has no more debts, the Iron Bank might be willing to help her in her actual quest, she says that would be cool but she has already sought out a group of mercenaries I think? (don’t remember the name Sorry) that random dude says have been very helpful to hurry up the payments of some difficult clients, Cersei says she sought their services to retrive something (OK I think it might beTyrion or Sansa).

And wow dude, Cersei might be a crazy ass bitch but you know what they say: bitches get things done. She has played things very well and even I’m not rooting for her I respect that she managed to turn things around, she has a clear advantage over D because she was smarter, she knew Tyrion would underestimate her and he did.

3.- Winterfell! So LF is kissing Bran’s ass (he couldn’t get in Jon’s good graces so obviously he’s hoping to get Bran on his side, pity that Bran knows what a trick ass bitch Baeless is) and gives him the dagger that tried to kill him, also saying he would have died on Cat’s stead (don’t make me laugh you coward) and how hard it must have been for him to come back to find such chaos in the world, Bran looks him dead in the eye and says ‘chaos is a ladder’ which is a quote that LF says to Ned in S1 if I remember rightly, this makes Lil'creeper very uneasy.

Meera enters the room, and Baeless gets away like the big coward he is, she asks about Bran’s new wheelchair, he says Maester Wolkan made it for him (I know he is a very minor character but I really like him) she says that’s good and that she came to say goodbye cuz she wants to go back with her family to wait for the WW with them besides she knows Bran doesn’t need her anymore, ‘I don’t he says and breaks my heart and Meera’s as well, she makes him remember about Jojen and Summer and Hodor’ s sacrifices but Bran just thanks her and says he is no longer Brandon Stark he remembers what it was like to be him, but know there are so much more memories, and well seems I was right being the TER is too much a person’s psyche and forces them to abandon their previous identities, I’m heartbroken because I love Bran a lot, but Meera is right to say he died on that cave, remember the ‘kill the boy and let the man be born’? Bran had to do it so he could be reborn as the TER and fight on the war against the WW, but it’s still pretty sad.

Meera leaves and Bran stares at the window, cue to Arya arriving in WF, and a parallel to S1 one the guard doesn’t let her in because they don’t believe she is Arya Stark. To be fair as far as the WF guards know Arya is dead, she tells them to ask Ser Rodrick and Maester Luwin (my Poor baby doesn’t know) they say there’s no one in WF with those names, then she tells them to ask Jon KitN and her brother, they say Jon is not there, who did he leave in his stead she asks, Lady Stark they answer, Arya is quite confused and asks what Lady Stark are they talking about? (my guess is that she assumed Jon was married, Hot Pie didn’t mentioned Sansa at all) they mock her and tell her she should know as she is trying to pass for her sister. Arya símiles and tells them to tell Sansa then, but they refuse because their Lady is to busy to lose time with her, Arya says that if she is ot who she says they would know but if she is and they didn’t tell Sansa well…

They let her in, and is such a beautiful thing Arya looking around and seeing her home and the banners of her house again.The guards are fighting over who stays and who goes, they clearly respect Sansa a lot, unfortunately before they can Reach an agreement Arya takes off.

They go to Sansa and tell her about what happen, but they brush it up saying the girl was lying most probably and that she asked for a Ser Rodrick and a Maester Luwin, Sansa then realizes her sister has come home, and she knows where she is.

Down the crypts in front of Ned’s sculture, they exchange some words (should I call you Lady Stark now? Yes) and they hug, I cried (not for the first or last time in this ep) and is such a beautiful moment (also I would like to say FUCK YOU to those who said they hated each other and wouldn’t be happy to be together again) Arya asks Sansa if Jon left her charge, she says yes and that she hopes he comes back soon (ahhhhh kill me my shipper heart, just one episode and she says she wants him to come back again I feel #blessed) because she is sure that when he sees Arya he’ll probably die from happiness (again FUCK YOU to those who thought Sansa would be jealous of the closeness of Arya/Jon relationship). Arya asks if Sansa killed Joffrey, and she is like no but I wish, Arya is like bitch me too the fuck! and says she got upset when she found out about it cuz Joffrey was always at the top of her list, what list? sansa ask, oh you know the one with the people I’ll murder, Sansa laughes it off thinking is a joke and asks what Arya has been doing all these years, she doesn’t answer but both know they went through some awful shit.

They oth turn to watch Ned, and Arya says it doesn’t look like him, this scene is very sad because the both long for the dad so clearly but at the same time know they must be strong to keep surviving.

They hug again!! And Sansa tells Arya Bran is also in WF, but Arya sees in her expression something is not right.

Under the weirdwood Bran is already waiting for them, Arya hugs him, but she immediately knows something is different, then he says he saw her at crossroads and that he thought she was going to KL, why would she do that? Sansa asks, because Cersei is on her list Bran answers, and you can see the moment it dawns on Sansa that Arya was being serious, then she asks her who else is on her list, Arya says most of them are dead and Sansa tries to smile because she wants to understand her little siblings so badly but she can’t fathom what kind of things they went through, and she knows she can’t protect them, also I think this is a nice parallel between her and Jon, because Jon was also baffled by how much Sansa had changed and wanted to protect her even if Sansa didn’t want to and know she finds herself in a similar position.

Bran gives Arya the dagger, says LF gave it to him and that it’s the one used to try to kill him, Sansa is worried af, she knows LF gives nothing without gain. And I think is safe to say his days are numbered.

They go back to the castle and Brienne is in proud mama mode, Podrick congratulates her and she is too emotional to cut him off.

Without a doubt my favorite scenes were the ones in WF. . . Already to long so I’ll continue in part 2

[acompletelynormalmaniac-blog]

A Review Of Frozer Because Im Late And ...... Yeah

MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!

So.

First of all , i want to say that i REALLY enjoyed  this episode. When i first saw the trailer i just thought that it would be just another frustrating filler episode that had a few ship moments in it.

BOY WAS I WRONG

It actually turned out to have an amazing script [ in my opinion, don’t come at me] and even though we didn’t learn as much as , say, we did in Sandboy, it was by FAR my favourite episode. I really just think it was well put- together.

Let’s start with the “reveal”. As loads of people, including myself, guessed, it was just Adrian’s imagination. I actually am really happy about that though, because I think that would have been  horrible way to reveal himself. I mean, he’s on a freaking rooftop. Not the most private of places. Also, Chat knows that Ladybug dosen’t want to know who he is , and he respects that. 

Chat  has ever right to be sad , because as many people seem to forget, Adrian and Marinette are 14.

I love that we saw some interaction between Adrian and Kagami, and just saw Kagami in general. Not sure how i feel about her, but i’ll talk about that later.

I was kinda glad to see Adrian not so hung up on Ladybug all the time, and focus on other girls, even if it wasn’t Marinette. And I love love LOVEEE that Adrian and Marinette talked so much in this episode! He came to HER for advice! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Luka was so nice in this episode. He was really sweet to Marinette when he saw that she was upset. He said that a girl like her didn’t deserve to be sad! YES MY BLUEBERRY SON!

It was weird that Adrian seemed to like Kagami so much. And oh my godddd lukanette yesssssss. Luka likes Marinette. Nobody can deny it. The ice skating , the looking into her eyes, offering her a hand, just all of it.

Now it’s time for Kagami. She was soooooo jealous during this episode. And she was quite nasty to Marinette when she whispered to her. I know she’s just a kid, and probably jealous that Adrian was paying attention to another girl, but that was uncalled for. When we first saw her, i really liked her. I thought she was a great character. And she is. But i dunno. I’m definitely not part of Kagami’s fanclub after this episode. And no, I don’t just dislike her just because she’s a love rival. I’m not that petty.

Adrian was a lot more clued into Marinette this ep. He left Kagami to go help her up ! And then left her AGAIN to go after Marinette when she was obviously upset. I kinda feel bad for Kagami, but that’s no excuse for being nasty.

blah blah blah, villian, blah blah , AMAZING QUALITY TRANSFORMATIONS, bah blah blah , the city is saved.

Adrian decided to not give up on Ladybug, KAGAMI KISSED HIS CHEEK [ I don’t ship it but CUTE!] Marinette pulled a Adrian and thinks Luka is Just A Friend., MARINETTE KISSED LUKAS CHEEK AHH, and poor Luka  told her to follow Adrian, and got left in the dust. Marinette messed up asking Adrian out, and the episode finished with a very interesting end card.

Overall, i can’t stress enough how much i LOVE this episode. Its by farrr my favourite. And its amazing that Adrinette have interacted so much these last couple of episodes. Since season two is nearly over [ NOOOOOO] i really hope they have some BIG development. So yeah,................................

BYE

[silverbrumbyfan]

The Lion King Vs Simbas Pride Vs The Lion Guard

I know it doesn’t look like this is about shipping but it technically is because I find Kovu and Kiara absolutely adorable.

I just decided to watch Simbas Pride the other day after watching a few clips of the Lion Guard because damn that direct to video movie looks gorgeous in comparison.

I just watched Simbas Pride again because I started to realise they actually paid attention to detail but we’ll get there.

Also I’m not dealing with TLK 1 and a half because it doesn’t add anything to the story.  Hands up here who are sick to death of prequels when a sequel has been practically gift wrapped for them.

The Lion King

This has and will always be my favourite CLASSIC Disney movie.  The animation especially the attention to detail, the music, the characters and the emotional moments.  Its all so beautiful. Almost perfect.

However, since Simbas Pride exists I have to compare the two movies.

Simbas Pride

I know this will be a rather unpopular opinion especially since I’m referring to a Disney direct to video sequel but after watching Simbas Pride just now I realised that I think its better than the original.

Now obviously it suffers from the poorer animation all direct to video sequels have BUT I think it looks better than most Disney sequels.  While watching I kept looking at the other characters in the background and i was like hey wait they’re moving, they’re reacting its like they actually exist in that moment and haven’t turned to stone.  Most Disney sequels will have other characters in the background but won’t really do anything with them, they’re just there because they’re there.  The animation is still very similar to the original with just a few awkward moments here and there like in one scene Kiara walks as if her paws are sticking to the ground but its still very lion king and I am not a fan of the constant flashes of white teeth, like you showed them smiling normally before why the teeth now.

The music I think is better, He Lives in You (yes I know its from the West End/Broadway version) is my absolute favourite.  My Lullaby is my favourite villain song.  We are One is catchy and memorable.  Upendi can fuck off though, that song is an evil ear worm, One of Us is an awesome song  and finally Love Will Find a Way which I definitely prefer to Can you Feel the Love Tonight.

The stakes are much higher here.  In the original Simba returned because he was the rightful king, and for some reason Scar’s rule turned the pridelands into a wasteland but the conflict in Simbas Pride is between 2 warring prides.  If Simba loses to Zira his entire pride will be slaughtered.  And the violence in this my word, I mean its a Disney flick there’s no blood or visible wounds but  we can use our imagination, Disney distracts the kids from this by giving Timon and Pumbaa some screen time but you can’t look away as an adult.  You see outsiders biting pridelanders throats, several pinning down one lioness and tearing at her.  I mean yeah its a good thing Simba let the outsiders join the pride since he must have lost over half of his lionesses in the battle.  And lets not forget Nuka’s tragic death, crushed to death by logs wow Disney you really can be dark sometimes.

Zira and the outsiders are better antagonists than Scar and the hyenas.  Now don’t get me wrong I love Scar and I think he’s a great villian but he only commands hyenas who are only able to help him takeover due to their large numbers.  Zira commands lions and I’m not entirely sure how many since every shot there seem to be more but I would guess between 10 and 20 lionesses.  She has them train every day to prepare them for their inevitable battle with the pridelanders.  Every time she speaks to her pride as a whole during battles she’s saying ‘remember your training’ and telling them the best way to incapacitate her enemies.  Notice that she NEVER enters the battle herself.  She holds back commanding from afar and only steps in when she’s sure of herself.  Zira and the outsiders are fighting because they used to live in the pridelands while Scar ruled and Simba banished them to the outlands where they struggle to survive so to them Simba really is the villain of their tale whereas Scar and the hyenas do what they do because of a hunger for power.  Because Zira and her pride were once pridelanders under Scar it adds a sense of mystery to them.  With Scar you didn’t really need to know why you just accepted he’s evil and moved on but with Zira and her pride you do want to know.  Why would Simba just straight up banish a large part of his pride just because they were Scar’s supporters or did something happen?  Why does he warn Kiara they can’t be trusted? Sigh, it makes me sad when you see all these questions could have been answered in another film,  film set during Scar’s reign in The Lion King would have been ideal.

The romance in this was fairly rushed but I don’t really care because I love Kovu and Kiara.  From their first meeting they are absolutely adorable.  My favourite  moment is when Kiara tries to get Kovu to play with her and when he acts confused she switches to something she thinks he knows its just a shame Simba had to interrupt when he did.  I’d have loved to see them tussle a bit first.  Then when they’re grown they help Timon and Pumbaa and Kovu is confused again because all he thinks about is training but Kiaras like screw training lets just have some fun and he loves it, even when the rhinos are chasing them he’s got the biggest grin on his face.  Their awkward nose touch after the rhino chase was so sweet.  I like the scene after when they’re looking at the stars, Kiara points out a baby rabbit and Kovu immediately picks out an image of violence showing a clear comparison of their worlds.  What I love most and I’m most surprised about, Kiara never believes that Kovu was behind the ambush.  Most stories like this result in the character being misunderstood so everyone turns from them but Kiara doesn’t.  

The Lion Guard

Ok so I realise this was made with little kids in mind but its the kind of show that will be dumbed down.  I remember being excited when they announced the film, I watched about 2 minutes then gave up.  The lazy animation style was too unbearable, even if it was made for kids if they at least tried to stick to the original animation style I would have been happy to watch, well only if they kept the character’s personalities too.  I mean no don’t worry about following the much beloved source material just make these wonderful characters into cardboard cutouts I’m sure that won’t backfire in any way.

I don’t watch the show but I sometimes view clips on Youtube.  I watched one where Simba is stung by a scorpion and faints.  Nala cries his name once and thats it for Nala.  For the rest of the scene she’s sat gazing down at Simba as if he’s dead already and she doesn’t move at all its like they’ve replaced her with a cardboard version for the rest of the scene.  Kions the only one who’s trying to get a response out of Simba I mean yeah he’s the main character of the Lion Guard but Nala is SIMBAS MATE, she should be frantic nudging him, speaking to him, asking Rafiki if he’ll be ok but no just have her sit mutely in the background because only Kion matters.  What is the point of having these characters if you’re just going to ignore them. 

This is possibly the worst thing about watching something animated. In live action shows there is always something happening in the background because its real life but in animation it only happens if the animator can be bothered to do anything more than the initial plot point.  

I know this was quite biased but this is just how I feel especially since it baffles me that they decided to do something more with Lion King so forced a character who didn’t exist before into the story since Kion can’t possibly be a part of Simbas Pride when they could have just continued with Kovu and Kiara (pretty sure EVERYONE wanted that to happen, its like Spyro, Cynder and Skylanders all over again).  Isn’t that the point of the Circle of Life, they could do lion king movies forever and go on for generations and generations if they wanted to.

This was also partially inspired after reading Savu0211′s comics again on deviantart https://savu0211.deviantart.com/, I would highly recommend them to any lion king fan, just note Savu is german and his english and grammar isn’t perfect but you can usually figure out what he’s trying to say.