#just die go away from the world with your stupid performance bs

[maroon5-official]

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[sugawara-sweetheart]

𝔥𝔞𝔦𝔨𝔶𝔲𝔲 𝔵 𝔥𝔞𝔯𝔯𝔶 𝔭𝔬𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔠𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔫𝔰 | 𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔶 𝔰𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫

this is a gift for @dewybyul ilysm, youre the sweetest + thank you for being such a great moot! i aways enjoy speaking to you and im so happy we’re friends <3 i really hope you enjoy these! they were so much fun to write <33

❥akaashi keiji

☽ ravenclaw- he’s a model student that every teacher and student knows and adores

☽ probably becomes a prefect in fifth year + head boy in seventh year

☽ he and his hufflepuff best friend bokuto kōtarō are iconic- akaashi always helps him out in potions so bokuto doesn’t get on snape’s bad side with his exploding potions

☽ well-rounded student who’s good at all subjects but believes divination is bs. his favourite subjects are Transfiguration and Ancient Runes

☽ the only one who doesn’t fall asleep in Professor Binn’s History of Magic lessons + can actually write a good essay on goblin rebellions + risings (bokuto tries to copy)

☽ his favourite place in the castle is the library. always somehow has access to the Restricted Section because no professors question him

☽ striving for a career in the Ministry of Magic

☽ has a big beautiful owl that has everybody jealous and the prettiest quills

☽ seeker on Ravenclaw Quidditch team- he has a sharp eye and Lee Jordan calls him ‘the prettiest seeker’ during his commentary

☽ his favourite place in Hogsmeade is the Three Broomsticks- he loves butterbeer and cauldron cakes

❥atsumu miya:

☽ he has a rivalry with Peeves + can be found often yelling at the poltergeist. but he’s a pranker himself + is obsessed with Zonko’s

☽ claims he snuck into the Shrieking Shack and had to fight 3 zombies single-handedly to protect a crying osamu. osamu denies this

☽ the most vicious Gryffindor seeker- he’ll crash into the stands if it means he can catch the Golden Snitch first

☽ loves Hogsmeade and tries to illegally order firewhisky every time but gets denied and has to settle with butterbeer instead (kita once caught him trying to order it at the Hog’s Head)

☽ really good at Defence Against the Dark Arts but a menace at Herbology- he can’t keep the plants alive for the life of him and Professor Sprout kind of dreads every lesson with him

☽ will probably make it as a professional Quidditch player. wants to play for Puddlemere United

☽ gets into fights all the time with Slytherins yet somehow still always tries to start a conversation with Slytherin student sakusa kiyoomi

☽ he and osamu are always hungry even after the glorious feasts in the Great Hall so they have a habit of going to the kitchens and getting the house-elves to make them more food

☽ OBSESSED with honeyduke’s

☽ makes Moaning Myrtle cry for fun. aran whacks him on the head for this

❥kageyama tobio:

☽ accidentally took divination + calls it stupid right in front Professor Trelawney. she hates him now and predicts that he’s going to die a horrible death from choking on a liquorice wand (he doesn’t even eat them)

☽ Slytherin’s new seeker- he’s a younger student but a prodigy with the shortest record time of catching the snitch + has the best Firebolt broomstick

☽ he’s notoriously bad at his studies- Snape is always having meetings with him and somehow he just about scrapes his O.W.Ls

☽ but it’s okay because he’s a future pro-Quidditch player for Falmouth Falcons

☽ every dinner in the Great Hall kageyama can’t even speak because he’s too busy gorging himself on food

☽ he and Gryffindor’s hinata are always squabbling in potions but somehow always still sit together

☽ the first train ride to Hogwarts he sat alone and hinata stumbled across him. they end up in rival houses but they’re still lowkey friends

☽ doesn’t know shit about the Muggle world and doesn’t want to- not because he hates them but because he just doesn’t care and doesn’t see why a wizard needs to know about the Muggle world

❥kenma kozume:  

☽ goes to the Room of Requirement for peace and quiet when he thinks kuroo or lev is bothering him too much

☽ hates early morning practice with the Gryffindor team- he’ll go if hinata’s going but genuinely really wants to sleep in

☽ brings along his Muggle gameboy- all the other students are confused but intrigued about it but he swears by it, even if yaku insists exploding snap is better

☽ good friends with hagrid. nobody knows how they became friends but they are and kenma goes to his hut to drink tea

☽ practically a cat whisperer- all the cats in the castle adore kenma, even Mrs Norris which nobody understands

☽ effortlessly good at Astronomy- it’s his best subject but kuroo thinks its because he’s the only one who’s not sleepy in the lessons

☽ he cannot be bothered with the talkative ghosts- Nearly Headless Nick always tries to speak to him but kenma will act like he can’t even see him- he doesn’t want to be perceived

☽ knows all of hogwarts’ secret passageways and tunnels but nobody knows how but he does- he’ll pop out of some portrait hole and when people ask him about it he just simply says ‘shorter and quieter route’

☽ is really good at speechless spells- he’s the first one to master them in sixth year in DADA

❥oikawa tōru:

☽ the most popular boy- he’s known all over the school for his looks + charm and has girls asking him to be their date to the yule ball months in advance

☽ he’s a model slytherin student that snape adores. becomes prefect + strong candidate for head boy

☽ literally good in all subjects? but excels particularly in Charms and Potions

☽ gets free drinks at the Three Broomsticks with just a smile from madam rosmerta (which really pisses off his Gryffindor best friend iwaizumi)

☽ knows all the nastiest hexes to immobilise someone and turn their legs to jelly and does not hesitate to use them on someone *cough kageyama cough*

☽ hanamaki + matsukawa always play pranks on him with Zonko’s products and he hates it so much he really strives to get the stuff banned

☽ one of the best seekers in the entire school- but he despises his underclassman kageyama who easily rivals him. during practise they compete to see who can find the snitch fastest and oikawa tries to poke him with his broomstick

☽ but he’s an amazing Quidditch captain and Slytherin are often at the top of the league

☽ definitely has a fancy phoenix feather wand core

☽ ends up playing in Quidditch world cup as a top international player

❥semi eita:

☽ in ravenclaw- he’s a calm, decent student who isn’t always in the spotlight but he’s a good student that gets along with everyone

☽ except shirabu- he and shirabu often argue at Quidditch practise and often avoid each other in the Ravenclaw common room

☽ hangs around a lot with Hufflepuff student tendou and Gryffindor ushijima- semi helps them study a lot in the library but usually tendou is too loud so they get kicked out

☽ really good at Defence Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies- but Potions is one subject he struggles in

☽ loves Hogsmeade trips- it’s his favourite part of the school year and he saves his money for it to spend in the Three Broomsticks and Honeyduke’s

☽ always stays at Hogwarts for Christmas with ushijima and tendou; he buys them nice gifts + goes exploring through the castle with them

☽ huge Weird Sisters fan- ends up going into a musical career to rival theirs whilst also working for the Ministry of Magic

☽ he’s pretty good at his subjects but cannot fight off a boggart 

❥shirabu kenjirō:

☽ ravenclaw student- he’s really talented at all his studies + gets the highest grades in O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts

☽ but Ancient Runes and Arithmancy are his favourite subjects + he despises Divination

☽ because he’s such a good student he ends up getting a Time-Turner from the Ministry of Magic + gets to take extra lessons

☽ really respectful towards other students but squabbles a lot with Hufflepuff’s goshiki and his upperclassman semi

☽ he’ll never get caught using them but he knows a wide range of hexes which can be quite terrifying

☽ has read most of the books in the library, including in the Restricted Section- he can often be found studying there

☽ ends up working as a healer for St Mungo’s Hospital

❥sugawara kōshi:

☽ definitely gets a lot of detentions- but it’s always for dumb shit like trying to go into the Forbidden Forest out of curiosity (he’s so pleased when his detention is to go into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid)

☽ talking of which, he’s super good friends with Hagrid. he loves hanging out with him but freaks out at whichever creature Hagrid is raising now, often warning him of the trouble he’ll cause

☽ gives the teachers nicknames and accidentally calls Professor Dumbledore ‘Dumby’ to his face one day (much to daichi and asahi’s horror)

☽ Hufflepuff seeker- he’s an amazing player who doesn’t get the most attention but he always takes the crowds’ breath away when he does play

☽ his favourite subject is Charms and Divination- he’s actually really interested in the latter and buzzes off Professor Trelawney’s weird predictions

☽ really good friends with the ghosts like Nearly Headless Nick and the only one that doesn’t make Moaning Myrtle cry

☽ a really good prefect to the younger students- they all really like him and he doesn’t care for house rivalry

☽ after graduating hogwarts he returns as a charms teacher + all his students love Professor Sugawara who gives his best-performing students Honeyduke’s chocolates + answers questions about the Chamber of Secrets because he’s just as curious too

❥ukai keishin:

☽ owns the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade but also works part time as Quidditch coach at Hogwarts

☽ yells at students when they come in on Hogsmeade trips + make too much noise

☽ definitely has to break up atsumu’s fights with slytherins whenever he comes in + threatens to ban him if he uses a hex (but never does)

☽ sells the nicest cauldron cakes and pumpkin pies and the students love his butterbeer

☽ really good friends with Muggle Studies Professor takeda- takeda often comes to the Three Broomsticks and they drink firewhisky together

may have ‘accidentally’ sold firewhisky to some of the seventh years before (‘it’s not actually illegal if they’re seventeen, is it?’)

[ravenaveira]

OK I just need to go off about KH3 again

Im sorry your probably gonna be seeing alot of these posts because I am friggin PISSED and no Im not saying this ONE THING ruined the game for me or that the game is bad thats not my intention I personally gave the game a 8.9 so clearly I enjoyed it I just didnt enjoy THIS shit

The romance between Sora and Kairi omg its just SO BAD it makes my danm blood boil because it didnt HAVE to be this bad but you wanna know why it was so bad this game and worse than any other game in the franchise?

Because Kairi was off the island

You heard me right, Kairi being off the island and put onto the battlefield destroyed this relationship for good and turned it into the biggest friggin joke its ever been when before there were actually some decent moments between them but this? this was downright laughable and so forced it felt like Sora was being held hostage and forced to say and do the BS that he was and it just felt uncomfortable to watch

Like him saying ‘Im strong with you Kairi’ which apparently in JPN he said ‘your strong Kairi’ which somehow makes it better to some people but bruh both are equally bad and equally laughable because neither of them are true

Kairi’s not strong and never has been, Kairi is just a love interest and has never been anything else from the moment she was introduced all she was is Sora’s love interest and that was literally all there was and all there still is to her character

Oh well without Kairi Sora wouldnt be alive she was the only thing keeping him tethered to the real world and lit his way back

So tf what? she deserves a friggin medal because she ‘believed’ ? dont make me laugh, wow Kairi’s one big moment of use was just ‘believeing’ in Sora which literally every single other character does but when Kairi does it suddenly its the biggest contribution anyone could give her because thats literally ALL she did so yea bravo Kairi, you believed

And then everybody proceeded to nearly get bodied all over again xD nice save Kairi, you literally almost made everyone die TWICE

Know who ACTUALLY did something to stop it a second time? Namine, Lingering will, The past keyblade masters, Yen Sid, those are the ones who actually DID something that made a difference and ACTUALLY kept them alive this time

Kairi literally barely kept him alive, brought him back to the light, just for him to nearly die all over again and her whole role ends up being a total failure that changed NOTHING

So yeah congratulations, her biggest moment amounted to nothing

Oh and dont get me started on that stupid hug Sora gave Kairi when she was about to get struck down by Terranort

Bruh dont give me that ‘he was moving too fast’ or some crap like that so he only had time to do that, BULLSHIT did you SEE how fast Aqua came at Riku in the ROD? Sora managed to get between them and shield Riku with his keyblade in literal seconds, but with Kairi he just hugs her?

You see now why I say this ship is laughable in this game and forced af? that made no danm sense, even if he would of pushed her out of the way it would of made more sense then just friggin hugging her as if thats really gonna stop anything

Bruh Sora and Riku had a more believable romantic moment in that entire ROD moment with Riku saying Sora’s name and then Sora appears to help him save the day and they summon a friggin rainbow keyblade, and then Aqua is about to friggin body Riku with literally only seconds to react Sora manages to protect him

Now I’ve seen people try to argue well everybody really was useless or needed saving in this game so its not just Kairi

BULLSHIT and lemme tell you why

Yea its true people like Riku and Mickey who are far more experienced still struggled and needed saving but guess what? they were DOING something, they held their own they didnt just friggin stand there they put up a danm fight and DID something that actually CONTRIBUTED

I mean bruh Riku and Mickey were literally fighting by themselves at the end of the game against THREE PEOPLE, again BY THEMSELVES holdin their own while everybody else had atleast 1 person helpin them, Aqua with Ventus and Kairi with Lea but Riku and Mickey? solo and doin the danm thing idc if they eventually get defeated or knocked out or struggle alot the point is their DOING something or atleast friggin TRIED to do something

Aqua gets roasted alot too but we’ve seen what she can do in BBS, she held her own and even fought and beat Vanitas, again even if she eventually was defeated or knocked out etc like her Vanitas fight in KH3 again she friggin TRIED and friggin DID something

Ventus got bodied but again we’ve seen what he could do in BBS and Ventus is no pushover, he unfroze himself with sheer will power and his glare was enough to give Xigbar [now Luxu] PTSD everytime he sees him or someone who reminds him of him, he too took on Vanitas and tied even though he didnt WIN he didnt lose either so his performance against Terranort in this game I agree was underwhelming but understandable given thats still his friend but he still did something in the end and wasnt totally useless

People raggin on Lea need to STOP because its thanks to him Kairi didnt get friggin smacked down early on because he took the danm hit for her and got sent flying instead of her defending her danm self

Keep in mind Kairi and Lea got the EXACT SAME TRAINING and even HE reacted with common sense but Kairi? even AFTER SEEING Lea get sent flying after defending her that STILL didnt make her defend herself and she just friggin STOOD THERE

Or how about when both Kairi and Sora got knocked back and Lea literally fought Saix and Xion and Xemnas BY HIMSELF to protect them

Gtf outta here man and put some respect on Leas name because he DANM sure deserves it for all the crap he took from Xemnas and the utter disrespect of having his keyblade I assume broken or damaged, being shot by multiple lasers AND having his hand stomped on by Xemnas this man was still TRYING even with all odds against him and being clearly outmatched he still TRIED

Meanwhile Kairi just gets her arm grabbed, I wanna make this very clear

She is not lifted off the ground like Sora was with young Xehanort, she was not pinned to the ground, she was not backed into a wall, she did not have both arms forced behind her back NO

Her feet are planted firmly on the ground, she has one arm being pulled above her head but she has another free arm which may not be her dominant arm but is still better than having none and she does NOTHING

She doesnt try to get her other arm free from him

She doesnt struggle or pull away from him

She doesnt try to turn around to lessen the pain of her arm being pulled behind her

She doesnt stomp on his foot to try and get him to loosen his grip on her to give her a chance to break free

Know who was in a similar situation and handled it way better with no battle experience?

So dont tell me it wasnt friggin possible for her to do anything in that situation because thats utter bullshit and you know it, Kairi didnt even STRUGGLE she didnt even TRY to get free

She used her free arm to reach out for Sora to ‘save’ her though, but not to even attempt to free herself

Yet THIS is who people are hoping is the main playable character next game to go rescue Sora?

Girl couldnt even save herself yet yall think she can rescue Sora? what a joke but unfortunately some people are actually serious about this and actually want a playable Kairi after this travesty of a performance

Before yall had good arguments, Kairi WAS inexperienced and she DIDNT have any battle training so she really COULDNT contribute or do much but that all changed in KH3, now she DOES have the SKILLS and the TRAINING and the means to be able to contribute and DO something and theres absolutely no more excuses why she shouldnt

Kairi says herself, this time I’ll fight too, this time its my turn to protect you

And when she fiiiiiiinally gets the chance to do all that, everything the fandom has wanted and waited years for her to finally be able to do, this is what she does

THIS is Kairi off the island, THIS is battle ready Kairi, THIS is Kairi DOING something and by doing something I mean NOTHING but getting in the way like Sora said years ago when he left her back on the island which now makes total sense because this is what happens when Kairi goes with Sora to the battlefield

Now we know what Kairi is truly capable of if you give her a weapon and the training to use it, absolutely nothing

And people actually want playable Kairi next game xD

Honestly I somewhat blame the fandom for this because I wouldnt be surprised if Nomura tried giving her a more active role because the fandom desperately wanted this for years and I guess this was his attempt at throwin them a bone but to be perfectly honest? he should have just left her ass on the island atleast then she had an EXCUSE to be useless but because he tried to give the people what they wanted and actually gave Kairi combat skills he just made Kairi 100% justifiably hateable now and I am so glad to see more people finally turn on this chick because the excuses for her has finally run out and its about danm time she got the hate she deserves because Sora deserved better

I think thats the part that hurts the most, I can accept Sora dying but its HOW he died that I cant accept and do you even need to guess how it was? thats right, saving Kairi

Seriously FDB

Listen Nomura, you tried and failed miserably, its time to stop, seriously, its time to stop, Kairi had her chance and she blew it and now its time to let it go and bench her ass on the island like you been doing out of everybodys danm way and leave the rescuing of Sora to Riku and everyone else who is actually of some danm use and knows wtf they are doing

Kairi can just stay on the island and ‘believe’ since thats apparently all shes good at doing, let her just ‘believe’ that Sora will come back while Riku and everyone else actually do the work of getting him back and she just be there to greet him when hes back

Im hoping the secret ending is hinting at us playing as Riku trying to save Sora because Im all for that, but if they really try to shoe horn playable Kairi in after all the negative reaction from this game Im not saying I wont play it but it will definitely make the game unenjoyable if majority of it has you playing as someone you strongly dislike instead of Riku whos actually a pretty popular and beloved character amongst majority of the fandom while Kairi is descending to one of the most disliked

So Im hoping Nomura has learned from this and just doesnt even try with Kairi anymore, just stop it

This game would have been so much better if he’d just manned up and took the risk and just abandoned Kairi in this game by letting her actually STAY dead and Sora accepts this and moves on [of course over time not instantly] but with the help of Riku and everyone else by his side Sora’s able to move forward and live on keeping Kairi in his heart forever and at the end instead of what we got hes just sitting on the beach watching the sunset while everyone else is playing and he takes out and looks at Kairi’s charm remembering how he didnt get to give it back to her this time but then all of a sudden a paopu fruit washes up near his feet which is unusual but he picks it up and as he does notices something in the distance but is blinded by the sun but he can vaguely see Kairi before she fades away, similar to how Axel saw Xion here

Lets say Kairi is holding the other paopu too, and once she disapears Sora cries for a moment but wipes them away and smiles knowing that Kairi’s still with him, he then proceeds to take a bite of the paopu fruit which would tie in perfectly with the title screen showing Sora with his back turned and a bite taken out of the paopu hes holding

This way Kairi’s importance to Sora is still in tact but shes no longer here to get in the way or need saving AGAIN, her character ends on a high note and Sora grows from the experience realizing that he cant save everybody no matter how hard he tries some people simply cannot be saved and he just has to let them go even if he doesnt want to

But nope, instead Sora dies saving Kairi like in KH1 and its just not sweet, its not even bittersweet, its more of a slap in the face than anything and Sora has zero growth from this, it just changed from Kairi needing saving to Sora needing saving and honestly we JUST saved everybody else and already we have to save ANOTHER person? its just ugh man I cant

Theres plenty more things I didnt like besides this but this is the one thing that pissed me off the most because I never expected it to be THIS bad

Also I know I use Sora and Riku as a comparison alot but that isnt because Im some salty Soriku shipper whos just mad my ship aint canon because honestly I dont give af when it comes to Kingdom hearts pairings I could literally care less about any of them hell Roxas could marry a tree for all I care or form a three way with Ven and Aqua I DONT CARE the only pairing I ever had a problem with is Sokai and thats because of my strong dislike for Kairi more so than the pairing itself and I think Sora deserves better than Kairi so this isnt just some bitter Soriku shipper because like I said I DONT care but I do somewhat ship Soriku, just like I somewhat ship Roxion and RokuNami and some older ships more out there like Sonami or Namitas etc no one cares but you get my point

I dont care about Kingdom hearts for the ships theres far more important things going on than to be worried about some stupid pairing, but Sokai just leaves a bad taste in my mouth everytime its even mentioned

And now no matter what they do with Kairi or Sokai in the future it wouldnt change a thing because after KH3 its irredeemable, the damage is done and theres no undoing it unless you give it one long ass arc like Riku to slowly redeem it but I doubt Nomura cares about the romance and Kairi enough to actually dedicate such an arc for it so yeah the damage is DONE

My bet for next games playable characters, Riku, Aqua, Roxas, Ventus, Xion, those are the only ones who make sense to me since they all have the strongest connection to Sora and are capable fighters and I feel Aqua although not having a strong connection to him like the others she would wanna repay Sora for saving her so thats my bet

If anyone bothered to read this whole thing then lemme know who do you thinks gonna be playable in the next game?

Also if you like Kairi and Sokai thats perfectly fine this isnt to bash the shippers or demanding you dislike it cuz hey to each their own, Im just saying I DONT

[awed-frog]

The Memory Remains/Carthago Delenda

On the whole, I think I really liked this episode? It certainly felt very old school, in the best possible sense. There were a couple of moments I was actually worried, and considering that I know perfectly well both Sam and Dean will always be fine, that’s quite something. 

I sort of liked the mythology, and I liked the class thing, and as for Dean hooking up with a waitress - look, first - this is the writer who practically wrote Dean as bi in Beyond the Mat, his only other Supernatural episode. I know they didn’t quite go there, but by paralleling a young Sam jerking off to some picture of Rio (sorry to be coarse, but that’s exactly what it was and it was confirmed both by dialogue and by Sam’s embarrassed stammering) with Dean’s obsession for Gunnar, well, kudos for the effort. And Jensen, of course, went with it, like he always does, and made the whole thing very obvious. So there’s that, and second - this is what Dean does. He’s a kisser and a hugger and all about touching and be touched, and sex with strangers was the only thing that, growing up, gave him that physical intimacy he craved and nobody else was capable to share with him. We know Mary was dead, of course, and John was not the hugging type, and Sam - my headcanon (which I use liberally in my fics, and sue me) is that he was an expansive child and Dean secretly loved it, but at some point John told both of them to just cut it out already, ‘cause you’re too old for this shit now. So that was that, and from then on, touch that actually matters has been in short supply for Dean - and, unlike Sam, whom I read as more reserved, Dean craves to be touched and held. It’s just who he is. So, whatever - he’s worried sick about Cas, and that’s not going anywhere anytime soon, and there’s a million other things going through his head and now that stupid sheriff’s brought half of them up again by talking about a kid who grew up with an abusive father as though that’s nothing and what can you do (I actually went back and looked three times at that scene, at how the sheriff says, “Guess who gets to take care of him?” because something was bugging me and yeah, there it was - Sam visibly makes an effort to react to the conversation because it’s what’s expected from him, but Dean just looks up - up and to the left, that is, which is what happens when you remember past experiences; and I don’t want this person who reads a lot into every detail, but these are basic biology things an actor would do without even realizing, and also it’s beyond canon, by this point, that Dean took care of John more than once, because that’s what happens when you’ve got an alcoholic parent) - and, sorry, here’s the end of the sentence - it looks perfectly reasonable to me that Dean would want some comfort, and I do believe he slept with that woman and that it was great and that it cheered him up a bit in some bittersweet way and what can you do?

Honestly, all that I’m upset about is that the straight stuff is always out in the open and for the queer one you need to stop your video and squint at the scene and the paintings and the colours and yeah, that BS smack on Dean and the waitress could be nothing -

(Also, that girl is not his type at all. She was just there, and she liked him, and, as he’s told us himself, he likes waitresses because they smell like food and it’s not easy to get them - if that doesn’t sound like comfort and a need for validation to you, I don’t know what does.)

Moving away from Destiel-related content, I really liked how seamlessly the different parts of the episode moved into one another. From that woman reading the text of the Fourth Amendment on the radio at the very beginning (the one which makes it illegal to search a house without a warrant or probable cause, that is), to Ketch and his men walking around in Sam and Dean’s lives as they themselves are in the outside world, living them - that was very well done.

Also well done: the whole social commentary on class and money. 

Industrial benefactors are sometimes seen as a good thing, because they normally provide houses for their workers and schools for their workers’ kids and therefore create and enrich a whole community, but personally I’ve always hated the concept (which is not as outdated as one would expect, and ew) and I was happy to see our writer didn’t give them an inch. Yes, sure, the town did prosper, but that factory was creepy and unpleasant in itself (even if you eat meat, you gotta admit that the meat industry and meat factories are about as bleak and morally ambiguous as you can get) and, more importantly, it was only held together by human sacrifice. The idea that it could, in fact, be considered acceptable to lose a kid every year so that the rest of the village can get by was never even suggested, and thank God. Instead, the whole episode read like some old-fashioned Quaker or Socialist leaflet: money corrupts (look at our first victim, lured to his death by a backpack full of dollar bills), creates division and resentment (the tale of the two brothers may have read like a bad Dynasty episode, but these things happen every day), generally comes from blood (the entire god story and the sacrifices) and it’s always better to be honest and poor than rich and tainted (I really liked the sheriff, poor guy).

As for the lore itself - I’m slightly less happy with it, mostly because I would expect both Sam and Dean to know perfectly well what a satyr is (and no, they don’t eat human flesh - those were the women who danced with Dionysos, totally different stuff) and because Moloch has been maligned plenty enough, but I did appreciate the casual horror of it all - a starved and tortured god locked in your cellar, people dressing as animals to capture an unwilling sacrifice - very gothic and compelling.

Since we’re now talking about pagan stuff, maybe Sam and Dean’s discussion about their legacy and mortality made sense, but it was still hard to watch. What happened to the wary hope of S11? To the idea it’s not too late to find a partner, perhaps even to have kids? With that mournful discussion and by carving their initials in the Bunker’s table, Sam and Dean have somehow closed the circle. Their story, this is what they seem to think, is not going anywhere, is not leaving any memory behind. The thing was so sweet and sad, I’m actually comforted by the fact this is not the last season, because there it was - the perfect foundation to end this story in a burst of flames. The reminder to their childhood, the belated acknowledgement that it wasn’t, in the end, as bad as it could have been (“Next time you hear me say that our family is messed up, remind me that we could be psycho goat people,” Dean says, and man, now I can’t wait for that confrontation with Mary we know is coming), the quiet acceptance about their importance in history (non-existent), in people’s lives (often significant) and in their own consciences (“We left the world better than we found it, you know.”) - the knowledge that one day they’ll both die, and they’ll be forgotten, and someone else will live in the Bunker, fight on - it was heartbreaking, but also - also, after all these years of anger and torment and hurt, it looks like Sam and Dean are very close to being okay with everything - their family, their jobs, their place in the world, and even each other - and that’s -

- yeah.

We'll eventually fade away, too.

Just in case someone is wondering: Moloch was the god of Carthage, a city which used to be roughly where Tunis is now. At one point, it was Rome’s main rival - mostly because Carthaginians were better educated and smarter and had a longer and richer civilisation behind them - so Rome started a brutal campaign against them which included a few wars and also liberal amounts of bullshit propaganda. What Moloch is generally associated with is child sacrifice, which ties in nicely with our two victims in The Memory Remains, and I’m not saying that never happened at all, but still - it’s very likely it didn’t happen with the alarming frequency described by some of the more vitriolic Roman politicians. Plus, you know - human sacrifice is a thing in every culture, and it makes perfect sense. A human life, and especially a child’s life, is the most precious thing a community has to offer, right up there with other very precious things, like a good stallion or a fertile bull, so when things start to go really bad, you have up up the ante a bit. Gods are not stupid, and no god is going to show up and save your stupid city in exchange for a loaf of bread and two rabbits. That’s just the way it goes, and everyone knows it. Even the Romans used to perform human sacrifices in times of trouble, so they can just shut it (as you can see, since I’m an archaeologist I’m approaching history in a calm, academic fashion, without taking sides, because that would be both unprofessional and pointless).

Oh, and this is a statue of Moloch which was created for some movie and ended up in someone’s garden in New Jersey, because why not.

Random thoughts: 

I so wish this was on HBO, because Jesus, stoned!Dean must be quite something and that’s clearly something he does, or used to do, a lot and uuugh, where’s my spinoff on those four years he spent without Sam?

Ketch is definitely coded as bisexual - what kind of man notices another man’s hair or clothes? - but at the moment I’m more interested in him stealing Mary’s picture and what he thinks about it.

Which Stark was Sam supposed to be? Who would appeal to him the most? Since Dean was Oberyn, I’m guessing we’re not looking for Tony, but for a random member of the Stark family - Ned, perhaps? Or Bran?

As for Dean picking Oberyn, lol. Bisexual guy who gets into fights to protect his family and is in love with an unpredictable ‘I’m as strong as you and can look after myself, thank you very much’ partner - it’s okay, sweetie, we’ve got you.

If this isn’t going anywhere, Wanek needs to take a chill pill - look at the ships and the puppies and the trench coats and oh my God, that BS sign - what the hell, man?