#last season would've been too early and maybe he could have done a season or two more but i understand

[doux-amer]

I can't believe I had such a massive headache and my eyes felt swollen all day because of the amount of crying I did this morning through the post-match farewell ceremony. I had to stay offline because everything would set me off, and like a fool, I just went on Instagram, thinking I'd be okay because I watched everything and for the new stuff, I could scroll past them and see them another day. But of course I cried again. The only way I'm getting through this week is because I have an overwhelming amount of work that's going to increase once the work week actually starts.

[flower-boi16]

With Alastor's backstory, I'm definitely worried about how it'll be handled.

If almost every single character didn't have daddy issues across both shows, I feel like Alastor having it could make more sense and not feel as weird. But unfortunately too many characters have those, and I'm worried about the historical context and how it'll fit.

There was a lot happening during Alastor's time. He would've been a child or teenager (maybe young adult but doubt it) during the First World War. He was a young adult during the Roaring 20s, and he was in his early or mid thirties in his last years, where he would be living through the Great Depression. There's so many ways you could take his story, but I have a feeling Viv will handle it the worst way.

Not to mention the racism Alastor potentially (more like definitely) experienced for being a biracial kid in the early 1900s.

I'd be okay if he had a fucked childhood, because unfortunately,

1. Children were not treated well back then (still are lacking modernly)

2. POC were not treated well back then, especially those of mixed heritage

3. Many serial killers had a dysfunctional home life

I'm just worried about how it'll be told and handled, and if Viv tries using that to wash away his current evil deeds (even past ones, but especially current ones, like him essentially being a slave owner 😭) or if they'll make fucked up jokes regarding it.

I genuinely think that this backstory has the potential to completely ruin Alastor as a character. He was one of the best aspects of Hazbin’s first season and I would really hate if Viv tried making him sympathetic, because that would take away from what makes Alastor so fun as a character.

However, this backstory could also add an extra layer of complexity to Alastor if done right since we would be getting some in-site into his motivations here, why he wants power from Hell.

But that could also kill Alastor as a character if done poorly which it definitely will.

[cuddlepilefics]

SKZ Season Greetings 2

That makes two

Chan couldn't have predicted just how chaotic the following day would be until Minho called him to let him know that Jeongin wouldn't be able to attend his schedule today. When the leader went over to their dorm to check on the maknae early that morning, he found his dongsaeng on the couch with Minho rubbing his back. The maknae's face was pale and clammy, bloodshot eyes with dark circles underneath. His breathing quick and panting. "Hey, Minho wasn't joking when he said you're sick", Chan cooed as he crouched in front of Jeongin, "What's going on?" The youngest's glossy eyes met his and the boy visibly swallowed before trying to explain. Resting his hand on his dongsaeng's thigh, Minho hummed: "Innie had a really bad sore throat when he got home last night and went to bed early, exhausted because he was developing a fever. He had taken some medicine and we thought everything would be okay but the medicine barely helped his fever and once the coughing started, sleeping was close to impossible." Jeongin nodded tiredly, rubbing his eyes. "His voice is also pretty close to cutting out and he can't be on his feet for more than a few minutes", Minho added, "The only place Innie's going is back to bed." – "Agreed", Chan hummed, pulling out his phone, "I'm going to call management. Changbin's sick too, so I would've had to call them soon anyway. Can you guys make sure he has everything he might need while we're gone?" Minho nodded, patting Jeongin's back as a tear trailed down the boy's cheek. "And Innie", Chan smiled softly, "Get lots of rest and feel better, yeah?" Sniffling softly, the maknae nodded and wiped his eyes before Minho helped him to his feet.

Chan walked back to his own dorm while he was on the phone with their manager, which was a good thing because would've been pacing the living room otherwise. He knew how inconvenient two sick members were to their schedules but with how awful Jeongin had looked Chan already doubted he could be left home by himself, let alone be dragged along to any part of their schedule. Though the leader hadn't seen Changbin yet, he doubted the rapper was faring much better, so there was no way around adjusting their schedule and their management would have to accept that, no matter how inconvenient. Chan felt his position confirmed when he entered the dorm and found Changbin in the kitchen making tea. The younger was pale, a feverish flush high on his cheekbones and a glossy look in his eyes when he turned to look at Chan.

"Hey, what're you doing up, mate?", Chan hummed, walking up behind his dongsaeng, "I thought you'd use the opportunity to sleep in late. You surely do look like you could've done with a few more hours of sleep." Giving the leader a tired smile, Changbin rasped: "Woke up early and my head hurt too much to go back to sleep, so I figured I'd have a small breakfast and take medicine before laying back down. My throat was kinda irritated though, so I'm starting with tea, then breakfast, then medicine and lastly my bed." – "That sounds like a well thought through strategy", Chan chuckled, brushing the other's sweaty curls out of his face to feel his forehead, "Would you be open to some little adjustments?" – "Depends", Changbin whispered, turning aside to cough, "I'm pretty open when it comes to what I'll eat for breakfast, though I don't have much of an appetite. I'd really like to take medicine, so please no adjustments there, and I'd also really like to go back to bed afterwards, so...." The leader hummed in understanding before asking: "Does it have to be your own bed?"

Changbin gave him a more than confused look. Was he so feverish that he didn't understand what the older was getting at? "The thing is, Innie's sick too. Like really, really sick", Chan explained, "I was just over at their dorm after Minho called me and I don't think leaving him by himself would be a good idea. He didn't look well enough to make the walk over here, so maybe you could go over and spend the day there. I'm pretty sure you two have similar plans consisting of sleeping, sleeping, maybe a movie and more sleeping. At least, I hope so." – "Well, shit", Changbin sighed, "Of course, I'll stay with him. What's wrong? It's his throat, isn't it? He already sounded bad yesterday." Chan nodded, toying with the phone in his hands before repeating what Minho had told him: "Yeah, his voice is almost gone by now. Similar to you, he got a fever last night. Apparently, he didn't sleep because he's been coughing too much to rest. Certainly looked like he didn't sleep a wink." – "Aww, poor baby bread", Changbin sniffled sympathetically, "I'll eat a bite and take medicine, so I can be a little more functional before getting my bag and going over there." Chan thanked him quietly, reminding: "He'll probably sleep for most of the day and so should you. You're not on bedside duty or anything, it'd just ease my nerves to know neither of you is alone in case it goes downhill." Changbin hummed in understanding, taking a sip of his tea.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Changbin made his way over to his friends' dorm and smiled when a text from Felix popped up on his phone. 'You can stay in my room if the plushies on my bed don't bother you.' As if the Aussie's plushies had ever bothered him before. He texted back a short 'thank you' before letting himself in, a tiny bit disappointed that the other members had already left. The dorm was quiet and Changbin decided to check on Jeongin first, so he'd know what they were dealing with. Chan hadn't been exaggerating when he said the boy looked awful. At first, it seemed like Jeongin was asleep when Changbin peaked into the room but the maknae soon rolled over, burying his face into his pillow to cough. It sounded so painful, it made the rapper's own throat ache in sympathy.

Quietly slipping into the room, Changbin took a seat on the edge of the bed and gently rubbed Jeongin's back through the blanket. The youngest startled for a second before remembering Minho telling him that the rapper would come over. Since he couldn't seem to catch his breath, Changbin helped him sit up and patted his back. It took a moment bit but the fit eventually tapered off and after clearing his throat with a wince, Jeongin looked up at his hyung. "I didn't think a little rain would get to me like this", the maknae pouted, his voice barely above a whispered. Ruffling the boy's sweaty hair, Changbin smiled sadly: "That makes two."

While Jeongin slowly dozed off after accepting a few sips of water, Changbin set up the humidifier in the living room. The rapper brewed a large pot of tea and went to collect a few blankets from the hallway closet and the box under Felix' bed. The Aussie had a massive collection of fluffy blankets, that were always dug out when the group found the time to have a movie night, so Changbin knew the younger was fine with them using them. Though he was far to tired to cook something complicated, Changbin prepared a large pot of soup, which only had to simmer for another hour or two after he had added all the ingredients. It was easy enough and he figured their diet would mainly consist of soup for the next few days if the ache in his throat was anything to go by. The steam made his nose run and Changbin tore of a paper towel to blow his nose, triggering a flurry of itchy sneezes. Cleaning himself up, the rapper cleared his throat and washed his hands.

Tears still dotted his lashes when he turned back to the stove, surprised to find that Jeongin had snuck up on him. The maknae wore his blanket like a cape but was still shivering, sleepily rubbing his nose into the soft material of his blanket. Opening his arms for a hug, Changbin hummed: "What do you need, Innie? I thought you'd be asleep." – "Can't sleep", Jeongin rasped, "'m too sore an' restless to sleep, so I wanted to see what you were up to." A faint smile tugged on Changbin's lips as he realized the youngest had needed company and eagerly accepted the hug. "Well, I made tea and set up the living room in case you wanted to watch a movie with me", the rapper explained, "I'm also making soup so we only have to heat it up if we get hungry later." – "Are you very busy with the soup?", Jeongin pouted softly. Being on his feet for so long made him feel lightheaded but he didn't want to be alone in his room. Having to support an increasing amount of his dongsaeng's weight, Changbin cooed: "If you want, you can get comfortable in the living room and pick a movie already. Sip some tea and I'll be there in a couple of minutes, yeah?"

Jeongin weakly plopped down on the couch, lifting the corner of his blanket to his face. His throat burned as he coughed, tears stinging his eyes. Vision blurry with tears, he spotted the teapot on the coffee table but knew his hands would be shaking too hard to pour himself a cup. His lungs crackled with congestion when he forced in a breath, desperately looking up at Changbin who had come to check on him. Keeping one hand on his dongsaeng's shoulder to steady him, the rapper used the other hand to pour a cup of tea. "You're okay", Changbin promised, patting Jeongin's back, "Do you want to try taking a sip? See if it helps at all?" The maknae nodded, removing one of his hands from the blanket to accept the cup. Afraid the younger would spill it and burn himself, Changbin steadied his hand as he lifted it to his lips. A tear ran down Jeongin's flushed cheek. The warmth felt so nice on his raw throat if only the coughing would stop, so he could drink more than a single sip at a time.

When the fit eventually tapered off, Jeongin sank back into the cushions and covered his face with his hands. Changbin wasn't surprised at all anymore that the youngest hadn't gotten much sleep if any the previous night from what he had witnessed in the past half hour and he truly pitied him. It didn't make sense though because Changbin was the one who had truly gotten soaked while Jeongin only got his feet wet, yet here they were, the maknae in far rougher shape than him.

Rubbing his chest, Jeongin grimaced and forced in a deep breath. It made Changbin frown, worried the younger might have something worse than a cold. "Innie, does your chest hurt?", the rapper asked carefully. Jeongin shrugged, his face still tense. Gently cupping his dongsaeng's cheek, Changbin whispered: "I'm afraid this isn't just a cold. What if you got yourself pneumonia?" Sitting up straight, Jeongin pulled his blanket a little tighter and shook his head. "My chest does feel sore", the maknae breathed, "But it's more like my ribs, back and muscles are achy from all the coughing. I- I don't think it's my lungs." – "Alright, can you have some more tea for me? Even if it's just a cold, you need to stay hydrated", Changbin hummed, refilling Jeongin's cup.

While Jeongin slowly sipped his tea, eventually picking up the remote with a trembling hand, Changbin went back to the kitchen and finished up the last few vegetables for their soup. The younger could hear him sneezing and wondered what spices he might be using for them to set him off like this. "Did you pick a movie?", Changbin asked when he returned from the kitchen, brushing his knuckles against his still itchy nose. Giving the older a small smile, Jeongin nodded and pointed at the screen. Recognizing the romance his dongsaeng had picked, Changbin chuckled: "Alright, I'll be there in a moment. Just going to grab a few sick supplies that might be useful. Anything specific you need me to fetch." At first, Jeongin shook his head but then Changbin harshly twisted to the side, catching a forceful sneeze in his fist. "Bless", the younger mumbled, "You should get tissues." – "Yup, most definitely need tissues", the rapper sniffled before heading to the bathroom.

After cleaning himself up, Changbin grabbed tissues, cough syrup and vapor rub and headed to the living room. He placed the tissues onto the coffee table and handed Jeongin the vapor rub, instructing: "Please, rub that on your chest while I measure out the cough syrup for you." The maknae complied, applying the strongly scented balm to his sore muscles. Changbin then handed him the cough syrup before fetching a bag of cough drops from the kitchen. Once Jeongin had knocked back the cough syrup rinsing it down with some tea to get rid of the taste, Changbin took a seat next to him and offered him a cough drop. They settled in comfortably under their blankets, Changbin's own exhaustion catching up on him now that he wasn't focused solely on his dongsaeng anymore. Sinking into the cushions with a deep sigh, the rapper got a good whiff of the vapor rub on Jeongin's chest and tiredly brought his wrist up to his face as his breath hitched. Changbin caught two throat-scraping sneezes against his wrist before accepting the tissues Jeongin handed him and sneezing once more into the tissues. He blew his nose, which only trigged two more sneezes, so after those he just lightly swiped at his nose before clearing his throat. Hearing how scratchy his sneezes had become, Jeongin had poured him a cup of tea, which he gratefully accepted. "Bless you", the maknae mouthed, handing Changbin a cough drop once he had placed down the cup after having a few sips. The rapper thanked him hoarsely, muttering: "At this rate, your vapor rub is going to clear my congestion in now time. Hopefully it's just as effective on you." Jeongin laughed tiredly, which inevitably turned into another cough before cuddling up to his hyung, so they could start their movie.

Unsurprisingly, neither of them witnessed the ending, both knocked out within no time. They also didn't read Chan's text, which would've let them know that their illness didn't have anything to do with the rain they had been caught in. Apparently, there was also some external staff at the photoshoot they had been at and one of them had been sick, spreading it to half the JYP staff, so it was safe to say there were more cancellations and postponements in their schedule than there usually were. It also explained why their manager had been so stressed about Chan's call that morning but on the upside, more cancellations meant more time that the members could care for their sick friends. 

[whencallstheheart]

Ahh! Last night’s episode was so good! I would just like to point out, Nathan and Elizabeth had 3 (!!) longer conversations without being interrupted this episode. It was so nice haha.

I know you said you don’t think they’ll kiss until later in the season but I’m just curious, do you see a possibility of a kiss (or I love you? Maybe?) in the scene where she says “I don’t think of you as being in anyone’s shadow”? I just wonder because in the promos from that scene it showed them smiling and looked like something significant happened there. It’s also a really pretty shot with the arch and stuff so it seems like they might take advantage of that 😂 but I could totally be wrong. It seems too good to be true this early in the season.

Either way, I’m excited they’re sorting out the “looking for Jack in you” thing. It’s interesting they called the episode “facing the music” which is basically dealing with the consequences of something you’ve done, which Elizabeth is doing. I’m curious how she’ll explain it to him.

When the show wants to give them time, they do. They've had a lot of long scenes where they left in that space of silence and them just looking at each other that normally would've been edited out for time previously or with other couples. They're spoiling us lately.

Yeah, I don't think that particular scene results in a kiss. I believe they're looking at someone as they're talking so that wouldn't be the right opportunity for them as much as we might want it to be. It's obviously hard to tell from a preview but I wouldn't be surprised if they get interrupted and aren't able to finish that conversation in that moment. That might be something Nathan needs to sit with for a second before they circle back to that topic.

It's obviously something they need to clear the air about. Maybe Elizabeth didn't even realize how he would take that statement. She was not in a great headspace at the time so I could see her maybe not truly understanding how that made Nathan feel at the time and what he still is probably holding onto. It was a statement that was so easy for her to throw out there to end things because she just couldn't deal with her feelings. Did she even mean it? Clearly not. It'll be interesting to see how the conversation is handled for sure. I know it's one fans have been hoping for.

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (22/09/24)

Post is a day late cause I was catching up to Magilumiere and ended pretty late so I just went to bed instead of finishing up the post and going even later. It was well worth staying up late cause it is THAT good. Looooots of yappin on this one, not just for that but some of the other stuff too. Buncha stuff ending next week too so more yapping then

blue - finale/completed green - new series/new to me pink - catching up

Anime

Plus-Sized Elf Ep12 (Finale)

I was going back and forth between 5 and 4 but ended up here. If it was normal lenght instead of short like this it would've ended up as a 4 for sure and maybe even a 3. But at the end of the day the show knew what it is. Just an ecchi show that served as a tool to promote the manga. They never did anything fancy and the animation was always the bare minimum with a lot of stills and pans. It being uncensored was a surprise for sure but there's not much more to say about it. There is only one joke and it's "damn this girl is thicc as hell", but it's never used in a negative way cause the author is clearly into it so it's not terrible. Tho it is also kinda like danberu with it giving recommendations for a buncha easy exercises anyone can do to lose weight and the such, which I didn't know was a thing cause I only ever saw the gags getting posted so that was cool to see. But at the end of the day, if you're interested in the series you'd be better off reading it anyway since synedoche's art is better

Manga

Yoshida Lemon Drops Ch1

This actually came out last month (and scanlations like 2 weeks ago) but I only now decided that I wanted to start it. I thought it was monthly because of that but apparently it's up to chap 4, there's just not been any more scanlated chaps, oof... But anyway, that was a decent little first chap just setting up the premise. I'ts a rom com between the most popular girl at uni and a guy that's not sure what he's doing at uni in the first place. They used to be together in a club in HS. The twist is that she confesses right at the end of first chap instead of it taking a billion years, it was pretty cute too. The artstyle might look familiar to you and that's because Wakaki has done many a series before including, his biggest one, TWGOK and more recently 365 Days to the Wedding which is getting an anime next season. I've never read or watched any of their other series but I know they're pretty well liked by people who have so I decided to give this new one a try. Hopefully scanlators pick it back up again soon, Mega just told me that the people who did this ch1 also did all of 365 so there's hope 🙏

Magilumiere Co. Ltd. Ch1 - 125

I've been meaning to read this for a long time and finally decided to do it now. Anime is starting on a couple weeks so I'm right on time tehe But anyway, the first chap was really good. I was already expecting good things cause my buddy Mega has always praised it since the start but I was still surprised. I wish every new series on WSJ could have first chapters this good. They did a great job introducing the mains and giving us a little taste of how the world works, plus the art is great, the style really reminds me of early MHA which is a big compliment. I'll go back to reading now and then give some more thoughts when I finish catching up (or if something comes up meanwhile.) Alright I caught up with it and all I can say is, it's peak, it's just peak. As I was reading it I caught myself putting it in the same headspace as Kaiju. Maybe cause they're both Jump+ titles? Maybe cause they're both different takes on their respective genres? I'm not sure but I did. And as much as I like Kaiju, and I like it quite a bit, it feels like Magilumiere blows it out the water. While I like the action scenes in Kaiju a lot more cause it has better coreography and a lot flashier scenes, everything else about Magi is just better, including the art. I think the biggest difference between the two is how much better the pacing is in this compared to it, but the characters also feel a lot more fleshed out unlike in Kaiju where that's only the case for like 4 or 5 of them. The only exception to this is Koshigaya but she's going to get a little arc soon so yeah. Me and Mega discussed it a bit before I went to bed, after catching up, and we think it'll still have 30-40 more chaps so I'll be looking forward to reading this for the next few months. Anyway I'm rambling a lot and still feel like I forgot some stuff I wanted to say but I'll stop here lol

Just one last thing I wanted to add, you can really tell how much the author loves and respects the genre which is refreshing to see. I wish other magical girl series that try to put a "twist" on the genre were half this good. They really do get it

Hakutaku Ch1

Well that was alright, I guess. Certainly the weakest out of the 3 in this serialization round. I wasn't expecting much out of it so can't say I was disappointed but wasn't impressed either. The art was good at least, the artist worked as an assistant for Black Clover before. It's about a boy who gamefies most aspects of his life meeting a girl that wants to make games and her convincing him to make a game with her. This felt a lot like a one shot to me but it's a serialization, so we'll see how the next few chaps go but I won't be expecting too much

[believingispowerfulmagic]

A Hallmark Christmas

Summary: Regina struggles with her holiday spirit in the aftermath of Season 5 and finds comfort in the made-for-TV movies she used to mock. One night she makes a wish on a Christmas star for her own Hallmark Christmas movie happy ending and finds herself getting seven...or maybe more? [OQ AU]

Chapter 1: FFN | AO3 | Wattpad

Interlude #1

FFN | AO3 | Wattpad

Excerpt:

Regina woke up, once again in her bed. She sat up, wondering if this was another movie or something else. Pushing her blankets back, she padded over to the door and opened it. Looking down the hallway, she called out: "Hello?"

"Mom?" Henry called back from downstairs. "I'm in the kitchen."

She walked down the stairs, recognizing the house as her own. As she entered the kitchen, she found Henry eating some cereal. He smiled at her. "Good morning," he said.

"Good morning," she replied. "You're home early."

"No," he said, grinning. "You slept late."

Regina frowned, looking up at the clock. Surprise coursed through her as she realized it was after eleven AM - it was closer to lunch than breakfast. It had been years since she had slept so late and wondered how tired she had been the night before.

Henry tilted his head. "Are you okay, Mom? You still look tired."

"Oh," she said, though she wasn't sure if she should be surprised. Her rather detailed dream hadn't felt very restorative. So she just shrugged. "I guess I didn't sleep as well as I thought or hoped."

"You didn't fall asleep on the couch again, did you?" he asked, sounding concerned.

Embarrassed that he knew about that and was calling her out on it, she shook her head. "I fell asleep in bed."

He nodded. "Is it Roland?"

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"You seemed sad after the show," he said. "And I realized that the kindergarteners went last, which would've been Roland's class. So I was wondering if you had been thinking of him."

Regina sighed, nodding. It was the truth, after all. "I was. I miss him."

"I do too," Henry replied. He looked anguished as he asked: "Do you think if I hadn't tried to destroy magic, he would still be with us?"

She frowned, sitting next to him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the main reason the Merry Men left when they did was because magic was so unstable and everyone who wanted to return to the Enchanted Forest wanted to go before they were stuck here forever," he said. "And when they left, you were on your way to stop me. Which makes me wonder that if you were here and the threat of magic going away wasn't there, would you have been able to convince the Merry Men to stay? Or at least to let you keep Roland?"

Regina had also wondered what would've happened if she had been in town or if the others hadn't been in such a rush to leave Storybrooke. And though it pained her, she knew that it likely would've ended up the same way - just that Regina could've said goodbye to Roland herself and accepted his gift rather than Zelena being the middleman.

She took Henry's hand. "Robin and I…well, we never discussed his wishes. There was never any time and maybe even after what happened in Camelot, I was too scared to have that conversation because it could make the chance of losing him become a reality."

"Okay," Henry said, sounding confused.

"So I don't know if Robin would've wanted Roland to stay with me," she said. "I had to defer to the Merry Men, who would've known Robin's wishes better. And they already raised Roland from a baby with him. They know him best."

Henry nodded, though he didn't look too convinced. "I guess."

"I believe we will see him one day," she said, though her heart constricted as she feared it was a fool's hope. "Our goodbye wasn't forever."

"I know," Henry replied, trying to smile. "I just miss him."

Regina walked closer and wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. "I know. I miss him too."

They hugged each other for a little while longer before she pulled back. "I'm going to change and then make myself some breakfast. When I'm done, we'll do whatever you want."

"Anything?" he asked, raising both eyebrows as he gave her a cheeky smile.

Realizing that she likely wouldn't like what he was thinking of, she added: "Within reason."

He chuckled, nodding. "Alright."

"Good," she said, kissing his cheek. "I'll be right back down."

[machifuwa]

Nimbus Fumble | Episode 6

Season: Winter

Aira: Ehehe…♪ This really feels so great. Love~ly ♪

(Oops. I couldn't help but say it out loud. Both Sakuma-senpai and Tenshouin-senpai are already sleeping, so I have to be quiet.)

(I never thought I'd be able to make such a great video, and now I'm going to watch it over and over again. I'll watch it one last time before going to bed.)

(Ehehe. I can't thank Himemiya-senpai and Kohakucchi enough. This will surely be a hit. My followers will be surprised.)

(But for now. I'll also have to think about who to give the next baton to. Who should I give it to…?)

(It would be really surprising if I gave it to someone I don't know very well. So, the best option is to give it to the Alkaloid members, huh…?)

(Hmm. But Hiro-kun's not familiar with SNS. He definitely won't notice it if I give him the baton, even if I mention him.)

(No, since we're talking about Hiro-kun here. He'll definitely say "I've got the baton! Where do I run?".)

(Then, there's only Mayo-san and Tattsun-senpai…)

(No, if Mayo-san had danced the "Rabbit Dance Challenge"...it would've been such a big deal that it would be a trending topic itself.)

Hmm… Who should I pick…?

(I've been repeatedly sending and deleting mentions to various people…)

(I really can't think of anyone that would make me feel "this person for sure!"...)

*Yawn*

(Hmm… It seems like it's not…suited for anyone…I don't know…maybe I'm just confused…)

*Zzz zzz*

Aira: *Zzz*

Tori: Shiratori~! Wake up~!

Aira: …Hm? Huh~? Who…? Why are you so loud in the morning…

Tori: Shiratori~! Something serious came up!

Aira: *Yawn* Who is it…?

Tori: Finally!

Aira: Himemiya-senpai? What's wrong with you, this early in the morning? I haven't even washed my face yet…

Tori: I don't care! It's the baton! Why is the baton of the "Rabbit Dance Challenge" being passed to Eichi-sama!?

Aira: Huh…? To Tenshouin-senpai?

No way. I'm confused, too. I didn't do that. I haven't even given the baton to anyone yet in the first place.

Yesterday, I was lying in my bed, looking at my phone, thinking about who I should give the baton to—

Huh? What…?

H-H-H-How did I give the baton Tenshouin-senpai!? Eh. Eeeehhhh!? Why? Why!?

Tori: That's what I want to know!

When I woke up this morning, I saw on SNS that you had passed the "Rabbit Dance Challenge" baton to Eichi-sama. It's trending like crazy right now.

Aira: Perhaps it was because I was repeatedly typing and deleting mentions of various people, so when I fell asleep, I gave the baton to Tenshouin-senpai by accident…!

H-H-H-Holy cow! Himemiya-senpai, what have I done!?

Tori: Anyway, the only thing you can do now is to go to Eichi-sama, explain the situation and apologize.

Aira: Y-You're right!

Uhh. When I woke up, Sakuma-senpai and Tenshouin-senpai were already gone, so they're probably at ES right now. Let's go.

Tori: I asked the ES staff, and it seems that Eichi-sama is in StarPro's common room.

Alright? Just apologize when we get to Eichi-sama. If we do that, I don't think he will be very angry with you!

Aira: Y-Yes!

Tori: Alright~! Let's go!

Tori: Eichi-sama!

Aira & Tori: We're sorry!

Eichi: Hm? Hello, Tori and Shiratori-kun.

I was just about to contact Shiratori-kun. Thanks for the baton. Is this how you want my ears to look?

Aira & Tori: Eeehhh!?

Aira: Umm… Tenshouin-senpai, aren't you mad…?

Eichi: Mad? Why?

Aira: I mean. I passed the baton to you in front of everyone without permission…

Eichi: Aah, I see.

I'm not offended by that. In fact, I'm actually thankful. This is a project that could be used as fertilizer for the Ensemble Square flower beds.

Tori: Eh? What does that mean…?

Eichi: It's all about publicity, sensitivity, and all. Well, you don't have to worry about that. A lovely rabbit has to be immaculate, after all.

Aira & Tori: ?

Aira: B-But, I'm glad. I'm relieved there wasn't any problem…

Eichi: Fufu. I'm not that narrow-minded that I can't even grant the cute requests of my juniors with a smile ♪

Come on, you two. Will you both teach me how to be pretty so that my dancing will be lovely?

Prev | Masterlist

Translated by machi

[inkofamethyst]

September 21, 2023

Wednesdays, I think, are going to be the days that suck. Thursdays will also be tough. I start Wednesdays pretty early and have a lot to complete for Thursdays. I suppose Wednesdays will suck significantly less if I do a better job with spacing out my preparations. I should look into that. Thursdays this semester will always just require a lot of stamina.

Today (one of those dreaded Thursdays), I wanted to get another one of those synopses submitted, and I'd mostly finished it yesterday (with significantly less frustration) but didn't have a critique until midday today. I did end up submitting a synopsis that I was somewhat happy with. I took notes during today's discussion on some of the critiques and experimental methods suggested (I learned that the experiment I proposed in my synopsis is currently impossible lol) so I could use them when coming up with ideas for future synopses (I have to write six for this class). I also had a quiz today which I didn't study enough for (took for granted that I'd learned most of the content previously--will not be making that mistake again). I had a meeting with my PI late this afternoon, my first one since the semester began, it went well.

I still find that I'm settling in. Settling back into schoolwork (totally underestimated the difficulty of the quiz I took today (my first quiz in grad school (the part that sucks isn't going to be the grade or even knowing that I could've done better, but that my PI is the prof and there aren't tons of students in the class so I'm def not just a number and he could probably surmise that I didn't do my best on it (in our meeting today he asked what I thought of the quiz and I told him that I prob screwed up a bit and he was basically like "no worries that happens" ugh what a man)))), settling into my space (gotta admit, walls are still pretty barren (it's difficult for me to really think about putting things up because I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't like to live here next year (it's okay but that's really all it is, just okay, and I, naturally, have illusions of grandeur and high-roller living), but I also don't really vibe with the totally blank walls when I spent so much time thinking about my theme,,,, maybe I'll use this space as practice? idk)), settling into this city (still haven't gotten my library cards), settling into my role (gotta email my postdoc tomorrow). Settling, settling, settling, settling.

I met up with those three girls today for a free dinner at an event they were invited to. I'm glad I decided to go to that with them instead of going to the kickoff event for another club. I'm sure the kickoff would've been great and informative, but I'm really trying to put effort into community-building. We went to the nearby art museum for a free event to just kind of hang which was also nice. Might go out tomorrow night, too. Gotta rest up for that.

Currently binging Young Justice, started last Friday, it is very good. Extremely well-written. I watched the first season way way back when it came out originally with my dad, and it went off the air suddenly. It came back with a third season in 2019 which I didn't know about, then a fourth in 2021 which I also didn't know about. There's a very clear shift from the TV-Y7 rating in the first two seasons to the TV-14 rating immediately in S3E1 which was very interesting. I'm hooked for sure, it's a good time. Action-Adventure + Science-Fantasy is totally my favorite entertainment genre. I hope S3 can adequately follow how well S1 and S2 were plotted.

Today I'm thankful for my PI, he's great, he seems like he really does care. I'm also thankful for the free tote bag I got at the art museum tonight. I didn't need another tote. What I want is a tee shirt, honestly. But alas.

One actual negative thing: discovered that my favorite jeans of all time (Hollister High Rise Crop Boyfriend (vintage stretch)) which I purchased four years ago and loved immediately out of the package are developing a hole in the crotch. I've never mended jeans at the crotch before, but I must try to save my baby (perfect relaxed fit at the natural waist, perfect length, perfect button closure, perfect neutral light wash, perfectly big pockets in the front and back, perfectly soft fabric). I love these jeans so much that I haven't bought a single additional pair since. Taking a trip to a fabric store sometime soon to gather my arsenal.

Today was a (net) good day, despite the little annoyances. A long one, but a good one.

[mach-speed-spin]

I'M GONNA BE REAL HERE. GENUINELY DID NOT REMEMBER DR K HAVING AN ASSISTANT. actually i kind of forgot about jim having Anything notable too admittedly kane and salima are pretty much the designated Relevant Ones out of that quartet

i think the main thing that made those 5 snake pit battles fun to watch is that even if it's members aren't particularly distinct from one another, it's not like the show is stopping everything to try and make them seem more intimidating than they actually are.

also, while i never did watch most of metal fusion, dark nebula def seems like it benefits from having a specific pool of recurring members as opposed to making them all just one-offs.

thinking on it i actually kind of wonder if this is another case where just... cutting out the middleman and merging the psykick and zagart plotlines would've helped things? cause that way you've got the whole season to atleast establish a few goons, maybe bring king and queen in after the big halfway point, they could've had somethin there 4 sure if things were more planned out

MFB gave each member of the Dark Nebula (except the Kumade brothers, who are the least relevant members) at least one episode that heavily focused on them, with most members getting several focus episodes (and even those with only one still had significant moments in other episodes). The Snake Pit made 5 mooks and they were done with in the span of 3 episodes. The Dark Nebula members deserve to have this much time dedicated to them because they’re recurring characters with their own developed personalities, and most of them having their own reasons for joining the Dark Nebula. The masked bladers aren’t very developed characters (Black Eye and Azure Eye get superficial traits, while the rest get about as much as a V-Force mook), but since they collectively last 3 episodes (and not even 3 whole episodes), it’s fine

V-Force didn’t give any of their mooks the development needed to justify a full episode. Dennis (the dinosaur guy) is the least bad because, like the masked bladers, he didn’t last very long. He was disposed of early into his introductory episode and his only narrative purpose is to create a scenario that forces Max and Mariam to work together

The rest of V-Force’s mooks took up most of their episode with no character to show for it. It’s fine to make a villain with the personality of cardboard cutout if you can make the battle itself good enough, but V-Force’s battles weren’t that great (for an example of this done right, Rago in the third season of mfb is barely developed as a character, but taking on a dozen of the world’s strongest bladers and only losing because of the collective power of every blader in the world makes him memorable as the biggest physical threat they ever faced). V-Force’s mooks weren’t interesting enough as characters nor as challenges for the heroes to face, but they take up a lot of time

Even if the mooks were done after one episode (unlike the Dark Nebula’s recurring villains), they could still be more interesting. Metal Fusion episode 34 has Teru, a one-off rival for Gingka (he only appears afterwards in cameos). Teru is given a backstory about how he got into blading (and what he did before blading), we see his relationship with Gingka (admiring him but also wanting to surpass him), and he is given a full character arc (albeit most of it is told via flashbacks). V-Force, given the same amount of time in an episode with a very similar premise (main characters doing everyday things when a new opponent shows up to challenge them), manages to waste a lot of time on a battle where the only way for the audience to get invested is through spectacle (something V-Force isn’t very good at)

I don’t think more time needed to be spent on developing recurring mooks like the Dark Nebula (though that is one possible solution). I think each mook should’ve either been disposed of faster (Snake Pit), or the episode should’ve been focused on the individual mook and their character (Teru)

[putterphubase]

same anon as before. i just want to clarify that i am totally okay with bls not having any kissing scenes, like they don't have to show that kind of stuff. i was just so invested in this show that i... i guess i was hoping a kiss would happen? like that cute fluffy lil innocent moment, which i thought was going to happen when they were both sleepily talking to each other sitting in bed where they'd shy away from each other afterwards and then maybe just cuddle until they fell asleep. also dayeol's behavior towards taehyun whenever he showed an interest really was weird. i get being cautious about being turned down again but four years have passed and this guy is clearly showing an interest in you now so why act so weird about it. i was afraid they were going to make the point of 'but i'm a guy and you're a guy' and i'm so glad that didn't happen. i hate when bls do that, just say you've got secret homophobic tendencies and move on.

i also totally agree with the four year time jump being weird, not having a lot of what happened explained, how easy it was for the two to meet back up after the first two years went by - like so yeong and dayeol made it seem like they meet up often or they've at least stayed in touch but then when so yeong calls taehyun and he comes running, it's made out to be like it's the first time they've met up since dayeol left school. having it be months instead of years that they've met up and then showing over those years, even if it was just glimpses, of how their relationship had slowly developed until it got to the point where they were comfortable enough around each other to show their romantic feelings would have been better than just blindly jumping in to four years after dayeol's confession. i want to know what happened in the mean time, don't leave me guessing there.

also where the heck did dayeol wanting to be a cop come from? it couldn't have been what he meant when he said he found something to focus his passion on back when he quit the archery team. the only thing that could even lead to him wanting to be a cop would be the fact that he's a good shot but g*ns are different than arrows and i feel like that's just too far of a reach to make sense. tell me why this kid came to the conclusion that he wanted to be a cop. no aspect of his life shown tells me being a cop was his desired career path. what happened that made him want to chose that path? and yeah, what the heck is taehyun doing with his life? all we know is that he's good at math and he gets his homework done early.

don't get me wrong though, i thoroughly enjoyed the series and i'd kill for another season. or even just another series with yechan and jaehan together because they've got great chemistry and their acting was pretty good. it's probably a series i will watch again, i'll just skip the last episode and pretend like it didn't end weirdly lololol

this is extremely long so for the sanity of everyone i will be read more-ing

oh no i totally get you on the kiss, and i think after all the whiplash/their relationship changing/them growing as people and as partners/the angst and time they had to work through/i could keep going a kiss would've shown their growth through all that nicely. the ear kiss was cute but even like an earnest forehead kiss or something. edit after rereading your ask: also theres nothing wrong with hoping for a kiss!!!!!!!!!! i didnt mean it like that at all, we should be able to see queer kisses like it's anything else!!

i will admit during ep 7 i was like why did i actually enjoy their push and pull dynamic more than this....they did the flirty "i have a crush on you and im toeing the line of friendship" VERY well but (and by no fault of the actors really) the "we're finally dating after like 4 years" dynamic change shouldve done and given....a lot more. i liked their talk on the bed but at the same time like i felt like i just needed more. we can't jump from "we reunited after 2 years and im waiting on you to confess" to "ok we are dating now and everything is fine" like i actually would've preferred instead of the fluffiness them having like a really earnest open talk about their emotions. like that even really could have replaced a kiss for me. LIKE THINK ABOUT IT....the fact that we don't even know for sure if they were dating in this last ep is crazy???? and i dont mean "its just ambigious" i mean THEY NEVER TALK ABOUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP SERIOUSLY......if they did that off screen then that makes no fucking sense, this is a romance coming of age drama and the romance is the plot....the getting together is the climax?

i need a huge emotional heart to heart, sobbing crying if you have to after all that and MULTIPLE YEARS OF PINING. i know theyve grown as people but dude the guy youve been longing for for four (holy shit at the english language??) YEARS (on both of their sides) is finally in a place where you can be together. HELLO? you skipped all that and just gave us the fluff...? (although i did enjoy the fluff but would've liked it more if they gave us this).

i totally get why you were scared of that happening and yea it sucks. you don't even have to show it on screen but they don't have to suddenly act like 2 men kissing is weird and out of left field lol yall have been gay pining for 4 fucking years.

this is probably the most important part to show to the viewer and they kinda just skipped over it. youre right, to leave us guessing on the emotional journey they went on to be where they were in ep. 7 is a huge failure narratively......sigh.

with dayeol and his cop thing.....when he quit archery, and said he "found a passion for something else" i actually threw my hands in the air. i was terrified he meant taehyun. like we can't have a crush or a relationship and still have interests and hobbies? i realize they were trying to say him meeting taehyun made him realize what being passionate about something really is and he came to the conclusion he was never really passionate about archery. but to jump from THAT to being a cop???????? like we could've had him had a convo with his dad in like 2 minutes about quitting archery and wanting to do something else and mentioning being interested in criminal justice. or was he still friends with minjung? maybe minjung couldve become a cop and that got him interested since he looked up to him? guess we will never know what happened to someone dayeol was quite close to?

all the things they missed by completely glossing over the time skip. i am choosing to believe time and budget constraints led to all these decisions. taehyun was dressed nicely but never mentioned interests or hobbies. he was class president even with all the things going on in his personal life. did he not grow any interests or hobbies? they literally never even mention things going on in the outside world besides dayeols cop journey. they dont even mention taehyun's friendship with soyeong - are they still close? she hangs out with dayeol but not taehyun? i get she had a crush on dayeol but still, how does that work and they dont meet for 2 whole years? ??? i really liked soyeong though as a side note she was the cutest.

in a perfect world this couldve been perfect i believe with time to flesh out the characters as adults because this was extremely rushed. i had high hopes bc of the other eps and the longer (by kbl standards) runtime, so i hoped that these things wouldnt be such a glaring issue but alas....we still have a ways to go.

i didnt read the source material so i wonder if that has anything to do with some of this as well. jaehan and yechan did an amazing job. i hope they act more whether together (i would die) or not (i would be seated regardless). i also hope this does well for omega x in general, they deserve it.

[leqclerc]

I adore the snippet of your figure skating AU!! 😍I love all of the AUs you come up with for them!Sebchal and skating(particularly ice dancing) are two things near and dear to my heart. I know you said you’re hand waving a lot of things but I still have many questions: Are Charles and Seb partnering each other or is Seb supposed to be only a mentor/coach? Were Seb’s medals in ice dancing or in individual skating? Is Charles gonna be the “leading” partner since he is bigger (taller and heavier) or is Seb gonna have to lift him lol? Is this inspired by the show spinning out?(i loved that show!) ANYWAYS I already love the atmosphere you’ve created with just that little sneak peek. The tension and uncertainty from Charles’ pov is *chefs kiss*. Whether or not you finish it i think it’s very nice!!💕

Ahh, thank you so much for this lovely ask 🥺 I love chatting about fics and AUs and headcanons! 🥰

I had two ideas for a figure skating AU, actually: one where Charles is in singles and Seb's his ex-skater-turned-coach, and another one (less plausible but more self-indulgent) which is where they're paired up for ice dance. The skater/coach approach would've made more sense, but I've recently developed major brainrot for ice dancing in particular. As "research" I binged this mini docu-series on the official Olympics channel, On Edge, where they follow a bunch of ice dance couples training at the same academy in Montreal; showcasing their training, prep for competitions, costume fittings, stuff like that. It's really cool and I highly recommend it! I also binged this honestly ridiculously cheesy docu-series Tessa & Scott, which followed Virtue and Moir throughout the 2013 Grand Prix season as they prepared for the Olympics in Sochi. It was... very 2010s lol but it was interesting to see how things work "from the kitchen" and all the prep that goes into preparing a program.

I watched Spinning Out when it was first released, too! That must've been...early 2020, I think? And it was a lot of fun, though they were I believe pairs skaters so there were jumps and throws involved.

Anyway, back to the fic. I'm thinking Seb's medals were in ice dance. I like incorporating "canon" elements into AUs so I'm imagining Seb being at his peak in 2010 and 2014. In 2014 they also had the inaugural Team Event, so that's another medal. Maybe he narrowly missed out on an individual medal in PyongChang and the media's sort of picked up this "well he's washed up, he's done for" narrative from that point onwards. I was thinking his long-term partner (Hanna, maybe?) retires from the sport, and he's about to follow her into retirement, but then the Italian Ice Sports Federation decide to pair him with Charles in a last-ditch effort to try for another medal.

Speaking of Charles...Much like in F1, he's hailed as a generational talent. He's dominated the junior circuit and then won all he could win in senior competitions as well. In PyeongChang he became the first - and so far only - skater to land the mythical quadruple axel, but narrowly missed out on gold due to a mistake in one of his programs. I also fell down a rabbit hole of watching video essays on the whole Russian women's skaters controversy, and how brutally they're being coached and how unsustainable that level of constantly jumping quads really is, to the point where they're being forced to retire, often due to persistent injuries, at the ages of like 17-20, which is obviously insane. So anyway, Charles lands the quad axel but because of all the training he did to get there, he ends up with a back injury and is told not to perform any more jumps not to exacerbate the injury. Which, considering skating's obsession with jumping quads at the moment, essentially translated to his career in singles being over.

I'm also handwaving the citizenship requirements and just treating it more like F1 does, where you're "loaned out" to represent a certain country while under contract, and you have to meet certain residency requirements, but don't have to apply for citizenship. Anyway, after representing Monaco in singles Charles gets an offer from the Italian Federation to join Team Italy and skate with Seb. It's a tentative partnership, but they both know it's their only chance of trying to win another medal in the upcoming Olympic cycle. So here they are.

Oh, also, I almost forgot: yes this makes no sense and is totally self-indulgent but Seb’s the lifter sjdefjrgj Maybe he’s stronger than he looks! 🙈 And considering how complex some of the lifts are, I figured Charles would be insane enough to be like, “hey, let’s do this, I trust you, it’ll look cool.”

[elizabethrobertajones]

Did Bobo really create the Wayward Sisters? If so, why weren't Jack and especially Cas included in that episode? That's my biggest issue with that pilot honestly, I mean, the fact that the show abandoned Claire and Cas' bond after season 10 and gave that storyline to Salmondean. Her bond with Cas is more interesting because of their connection to the Novaks. I also think that Claire and Jack would've made a more engaging dynamic and spin off together, I think they're strong characters & actors

Hi there!

Bobo isn’t the “creator” of Wayward so much as it can even have one, as it was a very organic idea, which even involved a healthy amount of fandom input. The original campaign in season 10 was for Wayward Daughters, and the idea picked up so much steam the altered title for, I guess, a mix of copyright and thematic relevance was the Sisters one. I’d say 10x08 was the real genesis of it as something that could be really solid. Once Kim and Briana were put together the chemistry and star power they could have had together was really meteoric as far as our small SPN world was concerned. Phil Sgriccia directed 9x13 and wrote 10x08 and was more of the parent of Wayward than any specific writer in that sense. Jody and Claire were pretty much common property of the show by that point. Claire was really introduced again in relation to plotlines and questions about Cas and less to do with them really going out of their way to re-launch her. I think they’d have been much cornier about it from the start and while YA protagonist diary writing her way through the end of Wayward Sisters was cute, it’s the sort of cutesy that really has to be earned. If she STARTED that way, like maybe me and 3 friends would be stanning her and everyone else would be revolted :P

(I am a YA fantasy novel author, but I do think everyone should make room in their hearts for this level of cheese)

In any case, Bobo just threw his hat into an already crowded ring with Alex, but obviously loving the characters and having his own personal wayward child to contribute did help elevate him to the prospective showrunner seat, but also all the other writers who’d written these characters except Dabb had left at that point. If Bobo was going to shepherd them through to their new show, he’d be the legacy writer, even though he was a new baby writer in the season Donna was introduced... Attrition aside, he did genuinely write them very well, loved their stories and was great with writing Jody when he could get her, so he would also have been a good choice even if all the others were left still... 

But anyway. Season 10′s subplot for Cas was about Claire and learning some stuff about himself along the way, but she was used very much for his personal development and for Dean as well, being a mini Dean herself in a season where he had lost a lot of his sense of self. It’s a total accident of scheduling but Angel Heart (10x20) being the last episode before 10x22 is a nice touch in that regard. And while Cas tried really hard with Claire and awoke his inner Dad side so that he’d be more prepared for fatherhood next time, it was pretty insurmountable between them to have anything more than a bittersweet relationship where the best he could do was make up with her and see her somewhere safe. The fact of him looking like her actual dead father is horrendous the more you think about it and while she managed to see him for who he was instead of a horrible monster, that’s more than enough trauma to inflict on an already traumatised girl for the sake of helping Cas’s manpain and tidying up the sticky question of Jimmy and Cas’s right to the vessel. 

Angel Heart very specifically ends with TFW mailing Claire to Jody because they know she’s already good with Alex in a genuine way and can handle these sort of issues and has done it before. And also because she can be a guardian who will not constantly remind Claire that her father is dead but something is walking around wearing a perfect reconstruction of his face. Carver era did a few things here and there with bodily autonomy and the problem of angel and demon vessels, but it was also really hit and miss. They’d get random waves of feeling guilty about it but then by necessity go back to stabbing angels in their still-living vessels an episode later. Claire was a way to address at the very least that whatever Cas was being put through was only a punishment on Cas and not on Jimmy as well, which is probably why we got such sappy Heaven scenes. We NEEDED to be shown he was in Heaven and largely okay with what was going on so that the show could justify using Cas at all as a character without breaking the code of ethics they tried to make their own characters adhere to. Aside from that it also gave Cas a side plot for when he wasn’t needed in the main plot, and any emotional connection to anything that wasn’t Sam and Dean.

Anyway 10x20 caused this huge fandom high which was followed by one of the lowest lows of the fandom immediately after, and both centred on female characters (in fact, now we know, 2 lesbians even! Though I’d wonder if, The Gay Agenda aside, Bobo spite-wrote that specifically because of the roots of Wayward) and I think that galvanised the whole movement of fans and hopefully some self-reflection in the show. They DID start making an effort in season 11, which shows some of the early signs of better inclusion but also backtracking or edging nervously away from the more intense Carver era stuff. Not just because Dean didn’t have the Mark any more but in general it was like someone had opened a window and let in some fresh air... Even before Carver bailed somewhere around the midseason to go do a different show and Dabb started to step up. 

All this to say that the Wayward stuff was always about the female characters and making up for the past sins of the show. It’s even a riff on the “wayward son” line which obviously centres around male protagonists and their journey. Claire stumbled into being a part of it in the lucky way of being in the right place and time, but the journey had already started even in the season 10 momentum with earlier work and it was that which suddenly made the prospect that Jody had two young women living with her now seem like a starter for the next generation of the show as it was a mirrored format to season 1 in a way, if you took Alex and Claire as the new Sam and Dean. It was exciting but people flipped out after Angel Heart because stuff had been bubbling since season 9 and earlier in season 10, so this was just pouring more candy into an already visibly full bowl of potential tasty gems. It made a possibility seem real that hadn’t before because we already had Kim bitterly complaining that the CW refused to hear the case for a Jody spin off because she was too old. The next best thing was a Jody spin off where she was the Gandalf to some CW age appropriate characters.

(the CW is and always has been garbage)

Anyway in season 13 Jack was introduced as a Claire 2.0 but as a male character with staying power for that reason, but he was filling the space she left for Cas. He couldn’t be a father to her and neither really wanted that set up anyway. But thematically it had created the possibility of Dadstiel and the space he had in his heart for that. Since the show was in its waning years they would be looking for endgame and handing Cas an easy win with a son he could unconditionally love who would love him back unconditionally absolutely filled that gap. It was a non SamnDean thing that Cas could have for himself outside of whatever happened with them. Not sure the memo came back that he was supposed to have mORE than that but oh well it’s not real if you don’t watch it :))) But yeah Jack was always going to be linked to Cas’s endgame, he wasn’t a free-floating character such as Jody who could go where she wanted and do as she pleased. He was main story relevant from start to finish and tied inexorably to another main character’s fate. Because the show wouldn’t do that with its female characters they could be bundled into spin offs but in practical terms Jack was both never what the Wayward as envisioned by fans or writers was about, nor would he have been free to go. 

Since it would have been about centering the stories of people overlooked by the main story, Claire a case in point that she had her life ruined in season 4 and it was a footnote until season ten, and then metaphorically more the concept of having queer and non-white characters in the mix of main characters, it would have represented a future of the story where the main show was unable to tread. Probably because of the CW. Also inherent biases in the writers. Bad cocktail. Jack is both too white and too male to fit the brief to ever leave SPN, and not only that but he is so as a precise mirror to the main white male characters, being passably any one of their sons if you squint, and meant to be instantly instinctively read as such... he was one of the safest bets of representing the show as the network wanted to imagine its target demographic.

So I really don’t think that Jack has any place being in a spin off of the show unless you want more of the same. They tried to give us something different and the CW didn’t like it because it wasn’t more of the same. Ironically a Jack spin off, with or without Claire, would have more chance of being greenlit and more chance of success. But the spin off they put their heart behind was Wayward Sisters as it was. And I think it was absolutely correct that never mind leaving Jack out of it after his work was done in the lead up episode to help set the table, but honestly they could have cut all the middle scenes of Sam and Dean wandering in the woods and gained precious seconds with the girls and still had a functioning story with those guys. It was like some cowardly missive was sent that the show couldn’t actually go more than 10 minutes without showing a flesh and blood Winchester or the whole thing would spontaneously sizzle out of syndication and the money tree would wither on the spot. And in the mean time, we could have been having Banter with the girls. Or Claire and Kaia holding hands some more. The good stuff :P 

[mc-critical]

One of my most favourite confrontations between Mahidevran and Hürrem in the series is the one after Mahidevran sent Olga to Süleiman in episode 61. It's both fun, yet filled with meaningful character dialogue, managing to successfully deliver a thematic message that eventually finds its retroactive way, despite of it all seeming like a yet another smackdown fest by Hürrem at first.

The scene begins with their typical confrontational energy, the rivalry chemistry immediately paves its way forward. Hürrem is ready to face her for what she did and Mahidevran, while not being interested at first, goes with her flow regardless, setting the mood for what follows.

Hürrem: You've sent a concubine to his majesty.

Mahidevran: I'm replacing Valide. Pleasing his majesty is one of my duties.

Hürrem: Let God not give you other worries. Do you want to cover the lack of your femininity this way?

Mahidevran seems very engrained in her role as the head of the harem and connects it with her own desire to take revenge for her wounded pride and for all the pain they caused her. The first excuse she finds for sending Olga to SS refered to the rules and tradition that give her that right, but we know by context that there's something else going on, this was both a move driven by her vendetta and a provoked move - she decided to do this after Hü told her she's the one ruling the privy chamber and perhaps Mahidevran accepted it as a challenge to her power, because, honestly, I doubt she would've attempted such a thing if she weren't provoked like this. Hürrem, on the other hand, gives her own "interpretation" as to why Mahidevran took action. To be blunt, it sits wrong with me right from the start, because it demonstrates a huge amount of internalized mysoginy on full display and it's sad, in a way, that this is what the system encourages at the moment - you're nothing if you sleep alone in your bed, if you don't have the sultan's back. There's a glimmer of possibility Hürrem said it only to render Mahidevran vulnerable and one could understand where she comes from, since she has experienced quite a lot of similar offenses from that same person. And when a confrontation of the like occurs, her first instinct is to think of a comeback, to pull rank and highlight why she's better than her like she does in all their encounters in this batch of episodes. That hardly excuses or whitewashes this statement, though, because for a person who has been shown to fight the system and call out prejudice (even though it was mostly only she was subjected to it or it was about something that concerned her specifically), seeing that she had absorbed some of it and applies it without a second thought leaves a sour taste for me.

Mahidevran: Worry about your own problems, Hürrem. Did you really think his majesty couldn't be with other women?

Hürrem: This is impossible.

Two major beliefs of Mahidevran and Hürrem's characters come on the surface: they drive the dialogue and help the rest of the scene unfold the way it did. Mahidevran brushes off Hürrem's last statement and brings back tradition to the forefront, which begins to highlight a belief of hers that she shared with Valide, that there is a constant cycle in the harem that no one, not even Hürrem, is capable to entirely break. To Hürrem it's impossible for SS to ever have other women at this point, it's something unthinkable for her already. She feels she has fully broken that cycle.

This scene, unlike the confrontation in episode 58, has well done retroactive irony while serving the context of the episode it's in in a plausible enough way that doesn't seem showed in just for the sake of it. The context of the episode puts Hürrem in the right by showing Olga returning from SS's chambers almost immediately after Hürrem says: "This is impossible." and it's the place where this plot-line transitions to another one, leaving the rest of the confrontation to hang in the balance for a while. Maybe SS had truly given up taking other women ever since the wedding, as shown by this and SS refusing another concubine sent by Valide in the wedding episode.

However, we know that this stops being the case later on and whether it's through the decision to bring in yet another drama tool, yet another annoying stretched narrative opposition in the face of the concubine arcs, it's a fact and we could say that this scene ends up being a good enough framework to set us up for it, intentionally or not.

Mahidevran: Then why is there a concubine in his chamber?

Hürrem: What concubine? Maybe that one?

This, to me, is a demonstration of how the tables can turn in the harem at literally any moment. Meryem Uzerli's little amazing, subtle facial expression says it all. When Mahidevran asks the question, we see for a very split second that Hürrem's wondering how to refute her until the concubine appears in the heat of the argument due to sheer luck. Like, if she had already returned to her rooms before the scene occurred, it would've gone much differently! This isn't all that important here, but I love how Meryem showed a slight probability for Hürrem to lose the argument, which contrasts with all her confident remarks before and after this moment. It's just very neat stuff.

Hürrem: Many girls were introduced to his majesty. Among them, there was even a princess. Where are they now? Look around you. You will not see anyone but me.

Speaking of confident remarks, there comes another one of Hürrem's that no matter how many concubines came, they all went and now there is no one other than her. This line further sets a consistent trend of ambiguity, because she's right in the context of the episode and it encapsulates the resolution of these particular plot-lines of Hürrem and Süleiman in the season and we can get behind her words overall both in the arc and in rewatch, in spite of the retroactive irony, but she's wrong in that it's the end of her harem fights, very far from it, as season 3 and season 4 prove. She hasn't completely won yet, even though she sets the impression that she has.

What I also find interesting in this scene is the back and forth throwing of past - present - future between the two sides. They make a perfect showcase of what these characters represent, their states, their losses, their desires, their hopes, dreams and philosophies. Here, in example, Hürrem makes a reference to a part of her obstacles in the past, acknowledging that they were there regardless, but then she immediately goes back to the present with "Where are they now?". Nowhere in the scene she considered the possibilities of the future, the sheer probability that it all may change one day (as it happened, in many ways, through Firuze), focusing on the currently undeniable truth the present day presents.

That same throwing back and forth continues, but with another note which instantly places the two women against each other again:

Mahidevran: I was also loved once, Hürrem. Mustafa is the fruit of that love. Ask Gülfem Hatun if you want. She will tell you how much she suffered because of me.

Hürrem: You always tell this story.

Unlike Hürrem, who only references the past, Mahidevran laments it and takes pride in it, it being the highlight of her once beautiful life. But we know what went down afterwards, adding in the possibility that maybe, it would all be temporary and what one may have now, may change, because Mahidevran was also in Hürrem's position once. Hürrem however, calls out her fixation on the past, in a similar fashion to how she has done it before (E59: "Are you being proud of your past now? Let me remind you: You're still a slave."), what she had doesn't matter, it's the now that is important to Hürrem, which is a solid thematic note to her character arc.

Though, we have this line of dialogue in response:

We here notice that no matter how long it took for them to do it, Mahidevran and Hürrem actually had parallel arcs, in terms of letting go of the past. This line makes for such a striking revelation of Mahidevran's emotional state from her perspective that only continued what episode 46 hinted at and episode 55 directly started. (E55: "I ripped out the love I had of your father of my heart, I threw it into the sea! He doesn't matter to me anymore. Now you are the only one in my heart.") It's rather surprising that she says these words now - Mahidevran's rule of the harem is arguably her at her worst, doing what she does out of the last ounces of her wanting payback for the sad, bitter years. It's precisely what she lost that motivated her, that was a sure part of the reason she sent Olga to SS and yet, we have that honest confession, that grasp of acceptance. Mahidevran's battle with SS was lost very early on and it took her very slow and gradual development for her to accept it and by E61, she was doing the last steps to do so. She tries hard to convince Hürrem that no matter how hard she tries, there is a cycle in this harem that cannot be changed, Mahidevran has come to terms with it, so Hürrem has to do the same. In a way, she was probably trying to say that they both have been fighting a losing battle and she expresses a small amount of sympathy over it, too - she knows what it's like and it's hard, but it's like some unwritten law that it's not worth it in the end and that everyone gets affected by it, without exception. That's how she begins to look upon her present and show a hint of the future.

Out of the particular context, this line could be a very nice stronger endorsement of the franchise's themes, because, truly, no one ever got a good, triumphant, heroic ending. And it was like a cycle: everyone had to face the feelings of sorrow, grief and loss, everyone had to suffer in this time period, everyone dies. Gülfem called Hürrem's life a fairy tale in E134, but that "fairy tale" came to an end after her death. And if we leave that aside, there is hardly a breather episode even for the biggest of victories, no matter how many victories you've won, they would always "have their end", the narrative would always condemn them one way or another.

Mahidevran: One day a woman will appear and would destroy your indestructible love!

The future is finally put on the front with the scene overall and with Mahidevran herself. It's a continuation of her belief that Hürrem would be "detroned", regardless of all. Thing is, she also doesn't consider her own future, only the one of her rival's. She believes in her own victory that is opposed in the present, but would surely come in the future, a belief she holds until the end of the series. Even though I doubt the writers planned Firuze's existence right back then per say, this line sounds like such foreshadowing to her in retrospect, which makes Mahidevran both right and wrong with this quote. Firuze caused an actual continuous rift between Hürrem and Süleiman, making her doubt his love in ways she hadn't before. Nazenin comes into the picture, as well. But no one truly succeeds to properly destroy the love between Süleiman and Hürrem and they managed to prevail, despite of all the narrative opposition. She still stayed the most dear woman to SS's heart, no matter what. There is a slight possibility of Mahidevran judging the situation one hundred percent to herself here, claiming rather that the appearance of another woman would make Hürrem fall out of love with SS and destroy that, instead, just like it was with her, but since Mahidevran called the same line back during the Firuze episodes, I think she was referring to the rift Firuze would cause and how would Hü fall deeper and deeper.

Hürrem: Mahidevran, don't think of me as your equal.

This line is very telling in that Hürrem considers herself different than everyone else. It has always been a part of her character, perhaps a running reminder of her unprecedented elevation in the system she's telling us about through words. And most of the interpretations I've encountered of this line are exactly this: it is epic, badass, it is delivered in such a shading sassy way that could only be respected or applauded. However, it is just as possible for this infamous one-liner to be presented as the culmination of not only her persistent insistence to assert herself as different and special, but her continuous unwillingness to be compared to anyone else in the harem. And usually she's compared to guess who? Mahidevran. She doesn't want to even think of the possibility to be compared with her by this point (starting from E40 where after she was freed, she said: "Now I'm not equal to you." right to Mahidevran's face and continuing forward into S03 with: "I told you not to compare me to others, to Mahidevran never!" -it was something like that), but at first, which is now probably buried deep within, she feared becoming like Mahidevran. She repeated "I'm not Mahidevran!" when she was out of favor like with the Russian concubines, Mahidevran's words that she would make the same mistakes she did echoed in her head during the Isabella arc in episode 31 and earlier had a nightmare of Süleiman giving the emerald ring to Mahidevran instead of Hürrem in a completely parallel scene. (there's also the other nightmare where Mahidevran was taunting Hürrem to tell her about Leo.) Hürrem dreaded all of those things happening and tried her very best to avoid the very thoughts of it. Now, in a season nearly full of victories in her part, she had gained the belief that whatever happens, she'll always stand above the others. She wants to give off the vibe that no one would ever stop her. She has broken so many traditions and the narrative is currently rooted at her favor, all well and good, right? This line could be a mask, in a way, hiding the fear of being rejected just like the others (that doesn't completely disappear, seeing her suicide attempt in E72; also E106's menopause plot.) and striving to leave it behind her, now reaching its peak by putting not only Mahidevran, but the rest of the women into the picture, without a second of realization of the implications it causes, because well, who else was given such special attention by the Sultan? Who else was freed, who else had such a marriage, who else got out of death's door so many times, who else overcame everything, who else had a chance to "rain as fire" over all her enemies? Even though the quote applies on a much grander scale in execution, in later seasons and the way it got called back to in MCK, I feel, in this particular context, it refers to the harem and Süleiman specifically - his majesty doesn't need any other women, there is no such woman that could take away what Hürrem has and even if they stand together, they wouldn't stand a chance, because Hürrem is that massive and powerful.

The retroactive irony hits hard and here: she's right in the events of this particular episode, but the subsequent events definetly tell a different story. Hürrem's influence and power is acknowledged, especially in her last episodes, but that she's the only one capable of having such power is not necessarily true, given the existence of the SOW, some members of which reached more highs than she did, due to the evolving extent of power they could exercise in the system.

Mahidevran: Your arrogance will end you, Hürrem! One day when you're suffering in pain, I'll remind you this!

Hürrem: Mahidevran, you're not here anymore. You'll be leaving soon!

Mahidevran: You're not powerful enough for that!

The focus on the present and future is back with this quick, but substantial exchange. Mahidevran seems to count completely on what will happen in the future in the first line, while Hürrem accounts for both the present and the future, seemingly in accordance, and Mahidevran brings the confrontation back to the present, for what Hürrem talks about is currently unattainable. These lines look like a brief summary of what was established before about the beliefs of both characters: they both desire the end of one another - for Mahidevran it would happen eventually, because Hürrem would end herself in her eyes and Mahidevran would live for this moment and even witness it (and while she didn't witness it exactly, she lived and outlived them all, because there would be no death for her until they get what they deserve, a belief that carries on the strongest in season 4); for Hürrem it has already happened, but it would keep going, fueling her will to get rid of all her enemies and being in conjunction with the ongoing plot arc itself, for her attacking her enemies in all fronts in ways she hadn't before. The last line of Mahidevran's stops the dialogue between both of them for good (followed by Hürrem's smug grin), resting back on her current position, that is also how her whole set of dialogue began in the first place. Even though there was a hint of realization that she has been fighting a losing battle a while before, the part of hers that would prefer not going to the sanjack than give up now, is directly reflected on. It sets more of a parallel between how both of them are, because Mahidevran told Hürrem that arrogance would end her a few seconds ago, but now she's the one that demonstrates this same arrogance herself, starting to underestimate her own opponents yet again, simply because she rules the harem. Claiming that Hürrem doesn't have the power to send her to the sanjack by force, is true, actually, because Ibrahim interfered at the last moment, but this way Mahidevran seems to brush off Hürrem's victories completely, somehow convincing herself that she's forgotten how far has Hürrem gone and just like her rival, thinking of herself as unstoppable. (that goes on the season finale, too, where she says: "If you're powerful enough, face me by yourself!".) This attitude more or less cemented her downfall in this arc, as it would cement major flaws of Hürrem's in the future.

And then they're stopped by... Süleiman himself and I love that, because they have to stop because he comes, they have to stop because he's watching them and give him the necessary respect. Symbolically, it could be a showcase of him being the decider of everyone's fates and them having to accept his will at the end of the day.

And after he leaves, of course, Hürrem and Mahidevran prepare to carry on with their bickering, as they usually do. While that's the end of the whole confrontation, their expressions tell us it's not over yet.

It's particularly interesting, even as a confrontational scene alone: it's longer than many of the confrontational scenes between them, it speaks more volumes about the opposing sides than any other of the kind has dreamed to. While I love Mahidevran and Hürrem's chemistry, I wish there were more scenes like this one, more nuanced interactions than vitriol and constant, almost formulaic smackdowns. Because, to me, this whole confrontation, while simple at hindsight, raised the bar to what could we have had. The rivalry of the two ladies is fascinating on a thematic level and not exploring its depth further, would be a myriad of wasted opportunities.

This scene did right all you could think of: composition, soundtrack, attention to detail, chemistry, dialogue and opposing two sides on a respectful, unbiased, while narratively provoked, way. I adore the way it aged: as I said, it created a perfect blend between context of the episode/plot arc and retroactive irony and the mix of cause and effect of soapy intrigues, character exploration through lines and all the coming thematic stuff, while being filled with dynamic and fun energy. And it's absolutely sublime for it.

[onetrainscifi]

Hey, so I saw the ask about former characters played by our faves on Snowpiercer and I...made a list of some of my favorites. Hope that's okay.

Daveed Diggs:

Mr. Browne in the movie 'Wonder'. Now I love Miss Gillies, but Mr. Browne was a compassionate teacher and would do well on Snowpiercer. He'd definitely join Layton's revolution too.

Laffayette/Hamilton from 'Hamilton' might not technically count, because of just like, the time periods not matching up, but if we overlook that...I think both would die, unfortunately. Laffayette from being captured and executed during the Revolution or being sent out into the freeze with the other prisoners. And Hamilton might've made it to the end of the Revolution but his mouth would've gotten him in trouble with Wilford.

Sean Bean

Mitch Henderson, a NASA flight director in 'The Martian' could very well have been part of the scientific leadership that decided to release CW7 into the atmosphere, so...if the angry mobs didn't get to him he might've been pulled onto Snowpiercer as a personal friend of Wilford's and lived in relative comfort until the Revolution.

Captain Marcus Rich from 'Flightplan' is a little tougher to place, he is an aviation captain who seemed to be willing to do the right thing but also had trouble believing the impossible/what wasn't obvious. So he probably would've been a climate change denier, maybe even a pilot who flew some of the jets releasing CW7 and then couldn't believe what he'd done. Might not do well on a train, trusting his fate to another driver. Probably died in the freeze.

Spence, firearms specialist who was dismissed for incompetence and lies before any of the real action started in 'Ronin'. This character probably would've been part of Wilford's security, cocky, egotistical and out of his depth. Definitely a jackboot. And would've died in the Revolution.

Farmer Gey from the old (1994) version of 'Black Beauty'. Farmer Grey was kindly and basically a horse whisperer and seeing as there are no horses on the train he might have a broken spirit. But he could still work in AgSec! Melanie might avoid him because he reminds her of her father, but maybe over time they become friends! He'd definitely be nice to Alex.

Eddard 'Ned' Stark from 'Game of Thrones'. Ned was a good, honorable man. Even if it puts his family in danger, he'd choose honor, so...on Snowpiercer, he'd probably draw Wilford's ire and get his head stuck out a port. His family would be displaced from First and scattered. Though some of them would probably make their way outside at some point to team up with Asha and the wolves. *cough, cough* Jon Snow.

And then there's the extensive list of oily, highly trained assassin/villains played by Sean Bean from movies like 'Goldeneye', 'National Treasure', 'Patriot Games', and more. They would all be on Big Alice. Very violent and destructive. They would probably snap Melanie in half if so ordered. So they would be the ones to watch out for.

Alison Wright:

Justine/The Voice in 'the Accountant' pretty sure she would do SO WELL as the voice of the train once Melanie swans off to the engine. Could stay there permanently so Tristan gets a break. Might be susceptible to Pastor Logan's shenanigans on behalf of Wilford, but if she makes 1 friend she'll be okay.

Jennifer Connelly (best for last, my love):

Sarah Williams from the 'Labyrinth'. Sure she's a child/teenager in this one, but if we take away the magical element, she's a dramatic, regular kid who at least tries to fix her little mistake. She would be a good, normal friend for Alex to have. Or a babysitter for Winnie.

Marion Silver from 'Requiem for a Dream' would definitely be stuck in the Tail with her boyfriend. And she'd be one ripe for exploitation from the likes of Osweiller for a little kronole. I don't know if she'd be lucid or strong enough to fight in the Revolution, but when it comes to gritty existence-she'd rock it.

Speaking of Tailies, Hannah from 'Shelter' would also be an addict in the Tail. Her son would've been taken in the first few years of Snowpiercer's ride to be an apprentice and the loneliness + every day wear and tear would've gotten to her until she tries something like Old Ivan did. But just like in 'Shelter' Tahir would save her. And on Snowpiercer he does NOT die and they get a new life together after Layton's Revolution. Period. Oh, and Hannah's son can be friends with Miles.

Dr. Helen Benson from 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' could work in the Snowpiercer universe if we look at the fact that she studies extreme environments as part of her astrobiology regimen. She could totally have been one of the original climate scientists sent to the Breslauer weather station. She would have hung on for just as long as the woman on the show, using a photo of her son Jacob for inspiration. She might've even lasted longer. Cause she'd probably find the rats too.

Amanda Marsh from 'Only the Brave' runs a horse sanctuary and knows what it's like to be married to someone who dances constantly with danger. So in Snowpiercer she'd probably be married to a Breachman and work in Ag-sec with the cattle or distressed animals. She'd want to put in a bid for the baby lottery and fight with her husband about it. Probably turn to kronole to cope and end up confiding in Miss Audrey, who would recruit her to join the workers strike.

Kathy Adamson and her husband Brad from 'Little Children' would definitely be in First with the Folgers. Shivers.

Maddy Bowen from 'Blood Diamond' would kinda be like Till in season 2, searching for the ugly truth no matter the stakes. She just wouldn't be a Brakemen. I think she'd start in the Train Records department as a stenographer or something and then get pulled into investigating the murders like a journalist.

Grace Lerner is a mother who must deal with the loss of her child in a tragic hit-and-run in 'Reservation Road'. On Snowpiercer I think she and her family might've been affluent enough to live in second class, and losing her son might make her even more protective of her only surviving child. Enough that she'd probably object to the likes of Miles being brought up from the Tail to learn with the other children. But once she gets to know him (and hear him play the piano probably), she will change her mind completely and be a good caretaker for him after Layton abandons him in early season 2. -_-

Both Virginia Gamely from 'A Winter's Tale' and Dahlia from 'Dark Water' are Good Moms. So they would form a support group to help Melanie deal with her 'my daughter hates me' feelings and pack lunches for the children of the classroom car and the Tail. They also would chew Layton out for making Winnie run 10 miles as his personal messenger and throw Zarah a baby shower.

I have THOUGHTS about Alicia Nash from 'A Beautiful Mind' in the world of Snowpiercer--like, her character is the wife of a misunderstood genius who is both brilliant and arrogant, sympathetic and sometimes a little scary. So she could literally be Wilford's first wife. Worried about his growing savior complex, nurturing his genius. She'd probably take Melanie's side in every argument, trying to get Wilford to see that balance is more important than ruling through fear, and she'd know deep down he was lying about working late every time he went to visit Miss Audrey. He would definitely leave her trackside to die so he could pursue his paramour in Big Alice and she'd give up her coat and scarf and mittens to her children and push them into the hands of others making a break for the Tail of Snowpiercer. And she'd die praying that Melanie would kill her bastard husband someday.

Sorry it got so long. Apparently I watch too many movies.

Yes!! Literally all of this. I have no comments to add.

[buddha-in-disguise]

I'm not going to review the season finale in quite the same way as I've usually written something afterwards. I'm ultra tired due to distinct lack of sleep. So it is more truncated than I'd intended. Also unedited so advance apologies if something makes no sense or is misspelled etc.

The episode was facing the challenge of not only being edited after COVID-19 shut down production, but what was intended to be the penultimate episode became the finale. So I'm trying to take that into consideration.

First part in Kara's loft. It was choppy. Don't get me wrong, I had nothing against the humour, or the scenes in general. Although they missed the glaring opportunity to place a "flew here on a bus," moment! It felt pretty disappointing they didn't recognise what has become an iconic line within the SG fandom, and made it even more iconic.

Before the bus though, back at the loft, considering that Lena had literally only just arrived at Kara's, with all that entails, it felt completely out of place for that context. Did it have been overwhelming heavy at that point? Absolutely not. But it was too close to slapstick at times for me and internally I was cringing. I admit, I'm not sure where they could've put it in, but perhaps if they'd just lowered it a fraction, made it a little more subtle a couple of times, it would've helped for me.

Some of the dialogue (especially early on) was also all over the place for me. It did get better as the episode wore on, but I wonder how much was the need to redo parts of the episode because of COVID-19? Unless they think to put an episode as intended in a future season DVD (perhaps S6 DVD), or someone gives us full details via an interview we will probably never know.

Which brought me to one piece of dialogue that I wish they'd not put in at all!

In 5.18, as I've spoken about a lot on Twitter especially, the way Lex screams into Lena's face, and Lena's flinch, and how that had been me 20 odd years ago. They then had the line as Lena talks to Kara; "Go ahead. Scream at me if you have to, I know I deserve it."

I know for many, they'd just see it as a line to use, but .... for many of us who have suffered abuse, who recognised (& in some instances were triggered) by last weeks episode, to not have acknowledged why that line was so problematic is worrying. It heavily suggests they're not going to address Lena's trauma and abuse because they really don't understand it (& again, if anyone believes she didn't suffer trauma and abuse, but accept others in SG do, go away with your bias from my page), but considering they haven't addressed much of Kara's trauma, particularly watching Argo destroyed again, being stuck for months during Crisis like they were, etc - then I guess it isn't a surprise.

But it is uncomfortable as hell to watch a line like that glossed over.

Overall though, I did enjoy the episode. Once that 1st half was over, especially (baring a few moments, including watching Alex do her badass Mission Impossible meet Cirque du Soleil moment because that was awesome) it felt much more like SG of previous seasons. So that was great.

Watching Lena as she watched Alex and Kara hug behind her was so emotional. Watching siblings love unconditionally. Something she thought she had with Lex, only to realise he hadn't changed at all. Lena didn't need to say anything, as once again Katie's acting brought all the emotion Lena was feeling to the fore.

Having Lena and Alex mirror they choice of words in regards Kara was pretty iconic. Then having Alex whisper, "Jinx." really made it work.

Seeing Dreamer in her element, including some great lines again. "I can't believe you left to fight Earth, Wind & Fire without us." "Guess they didn't take the bait? Maybe you should've been meaner?" As they begin the fight with J'onn, M'gann Alex and Dreamer - Alex to Dreamer: "You ready?" Dreamer. "Nope." Alex. "Me neither." Dreamer at her best imo.

Kelly going all, damn my girlfriend is hot & I want sex right now despite the circumstances was pretty cute and funny.

The Kara and Lena monologues being in unison. Now that was pretty amazing and one of the best parts of the whole episode imo.. But again, you feel as if they're matching Lena and Kara together with those scenes as a couple.

Lena not only protecting Kara, but stopped Andrea from going down a dark path as Acrata. Was also great.

Last frame of Lillian. Does it turn out she is the head of Leviathan? Because again they laid out more than once the leader was a woman. It has been noted several times now in different episodes. I was hoping Lena's biological mother, considering she knew of the legend of Acrata, but it is now looking more likely this reincarnation of Lillian is who it is, unless it is a character we've not been introduced to, but I highly doubt that.

The 2nd half of the episode was what we missed so much this season. In fact aspects throughout the episode were missing for too much this season.

This includes the women being the focal point of it. Brainy though absolutely rightly taking a strong subplot to what else was going on. J'onn ably supported by M'gann. M'gann who managed to advise Nia on embracing her dreams and not trying to avoid part of them. Dansen actually working together and both being badass in their own way (after all, this is something I've advocated for much of the season, & while fantastic to see, it never should've taken this long. Now where have we heard that before?)

But we still have glaring unanswered questions that I can't imagine would've been answered in 5.20.

Every indication since 5.17 is Kelly knows Kara is Supergirl. Yet we don't know for certain, because they've failed to show us how or when. I've said before, considering every other person who knows Kara is Supergirl, we had them tripping over themselves to explain to the audience how it happened. I'm pretty annoyed that we as the audience don't get given the same courtesy with Kelly. This is why so many of us feel short changed on some characters this season. The really aggravating thing is would only take a few lines to clear it up!

Now onto Alex. This ties in with J'onn. Where are they getting the money to survive? Did J'onn manage to accumulate enough over all the years he was on Earth to finance everything & pay Alex a wage? No clue.

Also, are Kelly & Alex living together? Or do they have keys to each others apartments? Yes, Kelly was at Alex's in 5.17 so the answer is pretty much yes, but nothing has been said! We knew more about Brainy & Nia's living arrangements from 5a than we do Kelly & Alex.

Kara's trauma. Lena's abuse & trauma. See above.

Lastly, the one most I know want (except a few vocally against), leaning towards Supercorp becoming canon. Again for another season, we end up with the, 'Maybe they'll do it next season.' being said. Particularly as in 5a they really went all out on Supercorp parallels to Clois and at times Dansen, plus even a little on Brainia. But unless something pretty fundamental changes behind the scenes, they're going to recognise what their biggest draw is, keep baiting but never fully go into it. And that is what I fear the most. When you've got media, even non-Supergirl fans saying it, but the show refusing to acknowledge it - that could be their legacy, and it will not look good or have a lot of fans look back kindly on them for it.

The 4 seasons it took for Lena to find out Kara was Supergirl was, in the end, terribly executed. This waxing and waning as well of; is Lena good or bad? Will she follow in the Luthor footsteps?

She is flawed. She's made some pretty awful mistakes. But now they're said she is good. She isn't evil or a villain. So now that line they've drawn needs to stay there! No more ambiguity on her character being a villain.

But you know what's not good? Feeling you can't trust the show to draw a line under that aspect of the character. That doesn't mean you have to have any one of them not be flawed, or to even cross some lines (they've all done it at some point, some moreso than others, but not one character is innocent).

When the show is now generating that level of mistrust on how they could handle future events, that is a problem.

Season 5 overall (particularly 5b) was absolutely horrendously bad. It had some moments of sheer brilliance (either individual scenes, or some episodes), but the rest was just flat out awful. Irrelevant. Messy. No cohesion. 5b became too much of the Lex Luthor show. Certain character additions were vastly unpopular and definitely caused down turns in viewer numbers (& again, from far more than a section of fandom). As did keeping Lena away from everyone for so long.

To sum up. Season 5 was a disaster.

Season 6 needs to have considerably different direction to even try & pull back some viewers (if they can at all). Distrust is rife.

The worst is no-one in the cast deserved this, especially as they're so talented. Some of the performances, even with how poor much of the season was, have been magnificent. But as the saying goes, you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

I've never been so relieved a season is finally over. We'll watch our favourite episodes for sure, of which there aren't many, but a full rewatch of the season we normally do will not be happening. Some episodes were better off consigned to the trash.

[tvdversefanfiction]

Since i have done this 30day challenge on two of my other pages it was about time I did it for this page, starting firstly with The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Legacies will soon follow I promise.

So if you do not already no I have zero chill and zero patience so instead of 30 days I just do it all in one go 😂 feel free to sound off in the comments with your opinions, open to reading others' opinions and share in the love for this fandom 💖

1 - Klaus Mikaelson 💖 my king, my heart, the unrequited love of my life (fictional ofcourse)

2 - (in order) Caroline Forbes 👑 Rebekah Mikaelson 👑 Katherine Pierce 👑

3 - Klaroline, always and forever 😍

4 - Bamon or Stexi 🤔 although Stexi was definitely a more loyal friendship and I didnt want them together as a couple like I did Bamon

5 - Claire Holt, Love her to pieces, love her interviews and her post and pre TVD and TO work as an actress.

6 - Joseph Morgan, my husband in my fantasies only 💖 fantastic actor who I cannot wait to see what he does next 😍

7 - Daniel Gillies and Paul Wesley, their bromance is both adorable, authentic and slightly homoerotic 🙊😈

8 - Bamon or Elenijah, Bamon id have legit loved to see as endgame over Delena anyday and Elenijah I'd have love to have seen explored at least.

9 - Although neither the originals or Katherine were in every episode they were far from secondary in my mind, so in terms of secondary I'd say Lexi for sure.

10 - 2 and/or 3, most of the originals arc and Katherine stuff was peak TVD for me.

11 - The 100th episode for so many reasons, the nostalgic lookback at previous characters, Klaroline finally getting it on, a Mebekah reunion and lots of Katherine 👑

12 - He is your first love, I intend to be your last 💖 Klaroline was all kinds of epic and how poetic is it that she wound up being his last love💔

13 - Caroline singing at her mothers funeral 💔

14 - Elena, I know she went through alot but who didn't in the TVDverse, she was the victim and stayed within that role from beginning to end and god was she depressing to watch. She was also largely hypocritical with her judgements over things she too was guilty off 🙄 the fact I loathe her and love Katherine shows the incredible acting range of Nina Dobrev though 💖

15 - Stefan, he is like Angel with the Angelus edge, id say the male elena but that would be harsh as he didnt piss me off nearly as much 😂 he was alright I suppose I just didnt care for him that much, if he died early I'd have been like meh! I couldnt buy evil stefan either instead it made me cringe which is weird because Paul Wesley plays unhinged so well in Tell me a story...oh and also Stefan killed Enzo, not once but twice and he can only blame the humanity switch for one of those kills 😡

16 - i did ship Delena till they got together and lost all their magic, i never shipped Stelena but they did suit each other better than Delena or the very ill advised Steroline which should have stayed a friendship! Bonnie and Jeremy made absolute no sense and had zero chemistry so on those grounds id say those two or Steroline, Steroline itches me up the wrong way the most tbf.

17 - Elena and Caroline, Caroline was the better friend hands down for both Bonnie and Elena but Elena always seemed harsher to Caroline and yet couldnt handle it when Caroline gave her tough love back especially over Delena which tbh Caroline was right....IMO anyways.

18 - I cannot say Candice, Nina, Kat or Claire are anything but amazing actresses so I would never say any of them...maybe the actress who played Liv Parker, she was always kind of one note to me although not terrible but nowhere near as good as the others....I could probably later think of someone else but for now I'll go with her.

19 - Zach Roerig, a typical answer from fans I've noticed but he was just so blah for 8 full seasons I totally get why Im not alone here...also so far him and Steven McQueen are the only ones from TVD to appear in Legacies...Jeremy's cameo i didnt mind, Matts however...like when is he going to die and stay dead already? Sorry matt fans 😂

20 - A good chunk of episodes in season 7, didnt like Elena but didn't like TVD without Elena...would've loved the actress to stay on and either play another role or make Katherine come back preferably 🤩

21 - Most of them I started liking then hating, or hating to liking then back to hating 😂 I dont think I hated anyone from beginning then loved them by the end so ill just give a love to hate, Alaric...I liked him in early seasons but thought he came to a natural end when he died...from 6 onwards after he came back he lost any appeal and felt like he was just there to have another dead ex, then to cockblock Steroline which tbf was a good deed but still didnt revive him 🤣 and I full out despise him in Legacies but I'll dig deeper into that come a Legacies themed version of this challenge 😂

22 - Damon wins hands down here, loved him in the pilot, love turned to like as the show went on and then Delena happened and completely destroyed his chracter, Bamon gave him a much needed revival but Elena soon dragged him down once more...his live for her was obsessive to me, unhealthy and toxic and he couldnt cope without it. BAMON would've fixed all this IMO

23 - Okay stick with me here as this one has multiple answers for me...I'd have rathered Caroline or Bonnie as the main character alongside the salvatores than Elena so thats answer one. Answer two would be I'd have loved Katherine to have been the mainstay doppelganger instead of Elena. Answer three would be more flashbacks of Lexi and her life away from the Salvatores would have been interesting. Last answer, Rebekah should have been in more episodes both on this and TO but I'll probs get more into that when I do TO.

24 - The romances, the vampires, the villains and the aesthetic of Mystic Falls 😍 if you follow my other pages you know obsessed im obsessed with the supernatural genre 🥰

25 - Too much time centred around Delena and Stelena, which I know was the main story of this show their love triangle but it didnt have to be...

26 - Elena daggering Rebekah, my heart broke for Rebekah and hardened towards Elena...her biggest hypocritical move of many too!

27 - Heres one so this post isnt all bashing poor Elena 🤣 i love when Elena and Stefan wind up drinking in that bar together having a good time as friends...honestly wouldnt habe minded more scenes centered on this friendship.

28 - Klaroline getting together in the woods and/or the Klaroline moment in the last episode where he donates money to the boarding school...tbh any Klaroline moment 💖

29 - Liz's death and funeral, my heart breaks for Caroline everytime and Damon too, loved Liz and Damon's friendship 💔

30 - Almost all Lily Salvatore scenes, the worst mother alongside Esther Mikaelson....their deaths make me so happy every single time and I will never apologise for that 🤣