#like i really hope wally is acting of his own accord

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

ok so

the instructions were for Wally, not the whrp/qa/You. which is especially interesting, because I think we all assumed they were instructions from Wally - after all, he's the one telling the whrp that they have work to do, he's sending envelopes (assumedly), he's sort of the driving force behind the whole in-universe project. he calls the shots, in a way. he's the one with the phone.

so who the hell is giving Wally instructions?

is it related to the distorted "extra" voice under Wally's in some of his hidden record audios? is it related to Sally's "monster"? is there someone else in Home?

just... there's a whole 'nother layer underneath Wally that i think is really scary. there's something else there, i feel. i Fear. i wonder if Wally is aware of it, or if he isn't quite as aware as we all - including him - like to think. how aware can a puppet be if they can't see their own strings (so to speak)? it's one thing to know what you are, and another entirely to understand what that entails.

[vintage-royalty]

I haven’t said anything about Wallis in a long time because I was sick of the misconceptions and the drama and just everything, but I saw this article on a different site and it made me so frustrated I figured I’d come back and say my piece on it. Not really here to argue about how any of y’all feel about Wallis or Meghan but rather the inaccuracies and disingenuous comparisons made in this article. 

Part of the reason I even clicked the link is that I recently finished Anna Pasternak’s biography of Wallis. And I liked it. It was actually a very good, balanced, book. Not a particularly deep exploration of her life, but she debunked some of the false stories and it seemed pretty well researched and written and I probably agreed with 90% of her conclusions as someone who knows Wallis’s life backwards and forwards. It was also, as far as royal biographies go, a relatively feminist interpretation of Wallis’s life. 

So, I was expecting this article to be about the media’s sexist mistreatment of Meghan and that perhaps the headline was a bit clickbaity but the actual article would be good. Tragically, I was mistaken. 

“This sexist scapegoating is probably as unfair today as it was in 1936, as both Edward VIII and Prince Harry were ambivalent about their royal responsibilities before their marriages. But there are lessons in history.”

I agreed with this part: I had been hoping that perhaps she would articulate what I’ve felt but rarely seen spelled out in the media: that like the Abdication was unfairly blamed on Wallis even though she had nothing to do with it, that “Megxit” was clearly something Harry had wanted to do for some time and that it was more Harry’s decision than Meghan’s and it’s extremely sexist that everyone is baselessly assuming it was her idea. There also seems to naturally be a 100% overlap in the demographics of people who think Harry leaving is a horrible betrayal of his family and dereliction of duty and people who are inclined to be sexist and racist towards Meghan either way. 

“It became his life’s aim for the world to know and adore Wallis as much as he did. Alas, this festering emotional sore was not lanced during his lifetime. Will this become Harry’s angry preoccupation, too?

It’s agonising, as Edward Windsor discovered, when the world misguidedly mistrusts your wife. Yet the solution is not to fight back, but to retreat and enjoy the private tenderness you have, together.”

This is fake news. The Windsors did fight back against false media stories, starting in 1937 when they sued the publisher of Coronation Commentary by Geoffrey Dennis. They also did numerous interviews over the years, they each wrote a book, and wrote articles defending themselves. 

“Unlike Meghan, Wallis understood the royal creed. While it appears Meghan seeks to control her public narrative, allegedly encouraging friends to speak out and now trying to censor her press, Wallis resigned herself to the mute impossibility of her situation.After the abdication in 1936, she wrote plainly to Edward: “The world is against me and me alone. Not a paper has said a kind thing for me.” 

Admirably, instead of openly bleating about her situation, Wallis schooled herself to survive the shadow side of infamy. This she summed up as “to have one’s character day after day laid bare, dissected and flayed by mischievous and merciless hands”.Wallis contained her suffering with laudable resolve. Meghan would do well to learn from her predecessor, who triumphed with a “kind of private arrangement with oneself – an understanding of the heart and mind – that one’s life and purposes are essentially good, and that nothing from the outside must be allowed to impair that understanding”.”

These are all real quotes but none of them say what Pasternak is suggesting they do. Wallis didn’t just lay back and accept the fact that everyone hated her. She did push back on numerous occasions, though admittedly not as much at first. Meghan is also not trying to censor the press, she is just very smartly refusing to grant access to publications that have treated her unfairly. The Sussexes are not the first celebrities, or likely even the first royals, to make this decision, they are just choosing to be more transparent about it and making it clear that they will no longer dignify nonsense from racist tabloids with a response. In some ways, when you think about it, that’s doing exactly what Pasternak is saying Meghan should be doing. The Sussexes are choosing to not even comment on articles from tabloids that have a history of treating them unfairly. 

“If Meghan were more emotionally contained – which is not the same as having a stiff upper lip – might she earn our respect? There is great merit in stoic dignity, as the Duchesses of Windsor, Cambridge and Cornwall can attest.”

Wallis tried being emotionally contained and she also tried being more emotionally open. She got criticized intensely for both. And eighty years ago there was a lot more to be gained by “stoic dignity” as she calls it, that just doesn’t apply at all in today’s culture. She doesn’t mention Princess Diana, who was much more emotionally open, and significantly more popular than all the people she does mention. 

Then she goes on about how Wallis tried to repair David’s relationship with his family, with quotes to back up her claim, and contrasts it to Meghan, without anything at all to back up her claim Meghan is acting differently. We know basically nothing about what’s gone on behind closed doors between Meghan and the royal family. Anna Pasternak is making exactly the same kinds of baseless assumptions about Meghan that the media made about Wallis that, once we had more information, turned out to be completely wrong. David was the one who made demands, and behind the scenes Wallis generally tried to discourage him. The royal family blamed Wallis without knowing or caring who was really behind it. We have literally zero information about these dynamics regarding Harry and Meghan and the royal family. 

“Wallis did keep Edward happy – he adored her until the last – but nothing changed for her. Everything can still change for Meghan.”

So Pasternak’s advice for Meghan is that she should try doing things that didn’t work for Wallis because maybe they’ll work for her? She does not at any point make an argument as to how the media culture has changed that might make things work better for Meghan, which I suppose would be a legitimate argument she could make. No, her argument is basically: follow in the footsteps of a woman who everyone in Britain always hated and still hates or else you may be hated even more. Not to mention she is oversimplifying Wallis’s relationship with the press and her handling of the royal family to a ridiculous degree. 

“If she restrains her husband from ill-advised outbursts, if she accepts her own press and if her marriage is as long and devoted as the Windsors’ was, then she will prove, just like Wallis did, that the sacrifice was worth it. And we may come to love and admire her as Harry does.”

I’m mainly going to focus on the first part here because this is exactly the sort of sexist bullshit she specifically tried to debunk in her book on Wallis. Wallis couldn’t control her man, and he did and said much more damaging shit than Harry has done. It’s not the responsibility of a man’s wife to keep him from making bad choices, and Meghan, like Wallis, has already been baselessly attacked as a domineering control freak who has her husband pussywhipped. Read the comments on any article about the Sussexes: people blame Meghan for anything Harry does they don’t like and give her absolutely no credit when he does something they do like. I’m sure Meghan shares her opinions with Harry, and we don’t know if she agreed or disagreed with his recent comments, but he is a grown man who makes his own decisions. Furthermore, if Meghan wants to pick a fight with her husband and demand to look over his shoulder every time he talks to the press, she’s going to significantly reduce her chances of making their marriage work. Which, according to Pasternak, is also something she needs to devote her energy to.

This article not only feels extremely unfair towards Meghan, it’s not accurate about Wallis, and it’s entire thesis is based on assumptions about what Meghan is saying and doing behind closed doors. It’s also a missed opportunity: there’s a lot Meghan could learn from Wallis’s story, though unfortunately more of it is about what not to do than what she should be doing. 

[felifeltfrog]

BATIM Fanfic - Working Overtime

A/N: This is a random and slightly lengthy Samsie oneshot I wrote a while ago, but haven’t really dared posting up until now. I hope you all will like it though!

No angst or anything, just straight up fluff and sap. :’3

oOoOo

That man’s spite was going to be the death of him. Susie was sure of it. She was not stupid; she was well aware of that Sammy Lawrence never went home by the same time as most of them. Sure, a few of the animators pulled close-to all nighters the days before deadline, but Sammy? Almost every single day. She could very well guess the reason why, too; because Joey pressed him too much, and because Sammy himself was too stubborn to protest properly.

As much as she’d never admit it to any of her coworkers, it did bother her. The man was good, no phenomenal, with his work but that did not mean she felt less guilty singing songs she assumed he’d been slaving to finish. Even after her short time at Joey Drew Studios, she felt like she somewhat knew a different side of the man than the rest of staff. While Wally and Norman always talked about how bitter and resentful the music director was, and while the Shawn claimed he never so much as bothered greeting them in the morning, Susie refused to believe that was the whole truth. After all, the same man who they talked about was the one who always complimented her, and always made sure she was doing good during and after recording. That same man had taught her how to properly warm her voice up, and never seemed to lose his patience with her no matter how many times she needed to redo a take. Take that, and add the fact that he did not look bad either... Well, she did not exactly dislike Sammy Lawrence. Quite the opposite, Susie had came to terms with the fact that she indeed had developed a crush on the music director. And, judging by the fact that he rarely acted out any of that legendary bitterness towards her, she did hope that those feelings were mutual.

It was a Friday evening, and by now most people had clocked out and were on their way to head home for the weekend. However, as Susie too headed for the clocking station, she once again could not help but notice that a certain S. Lawrence had yet to leave for the day. On a Friday? Susie was not, under any circumstances, letting this happen. This had already been going on far too long for her liking.

With determined steps Susie made her way down the stairs towards the Music Department, taking a left at the entrance to the Recording Studio and proceeded down the corridor toward the music director’s office. She could hear the faint sound of plucking strings from the end of it. That and the fact that the light was still on through the window to the office, assured her that Sammy sure was there.Drawing closer to the large window she could clearly see him in there, writing something down on a paper before plucking another few accords on the banjo he was holding.

Susie only knocked once, and did not wait for a reply before letting herself in. ”Sammy..?” She spoke softly however, noticing he had tensed up at the knock and sound of the door. ”What?” The answer was short, but he did look up at her as recognizing the voice. ”It’s... It’s time to go home..?” She announced, giving him a soft smile as their eyes met ”It’s the weekend. Time to kick back and relax, you know?” He did smile back, though it was faint and more bitter than anything. ”Not for the music director, it’s not.” He replied, now turning back to the writing ”Joey wants this in on Monday. To start recording for the next episode. Hell if I know why though, they barely even have the god damn story board done for that episode...” As he talked he picked up and lit a cigarette, and as finishing the sentence took a long drag from it. ”Well if I’m gonna be honest...” Susie began, a bit hesitantly ”I never see you complain directly to him... Don’t think Joey is the one to notice someone being a martyr unless they say something.” ”Oh, believe me.” There was a bitter amusement in his voice ”I used to. But Joey does only not see the martyr... He don’t see anyone but himself. Sorry to burst your bubble about this place, but that man got no understanding of other peoples limits. Once he’ve decided something, it’s already set in stone. Be glad if you get to know about it before that.” At this statement he nodded at the pump switch by the door, giving her a meaning look before turning back to the papers on his desk. ”Besides” He added as adding something onto one of them ”I get more work done when everyone’s gone home. No one barging in to manage that god damn machine every ten minutes.”

Susie didn’t say anything at first, but just watched his back for a minute as he worked. Thinking this through. She did understand his point, although she wondered whether or not he was exaggerating it. After all, even Joey would listen to complaints, right? And at least look for a solution? For now though, all she could do was figure out a way to help Sammy out. Because she refused to leave him here to himself. Maybe... Maybe this was an opportune time to actually get her charm on? After all, they rarely got time alone during the busy workdays, and she had waited for a time to actually show that she cared for him. Sure, romance at work was frowned upon, and she was sure Joey would not approve of it, but then again... Joey wasn’t here to see, was he now?

”It... Still doesn’t feel right leaving you alone here.” She thus insisted, now making her way over slowly ”At least let me help you out, in any way possible?” ”... Don’t you have someone waiting for you at home?” He questioned, back still towards her, and Susie could not help but notice a somewhat sour undertone to that. Was that a hint of jealousy? She chuckled. ”You mean my roommate?” She asked, stopping just behind him ”I think she’ll manage me working overtime for a few more hours. Especially if it’s for a colleague in need...” ”I... See.” Came the reply, and she did notice that her own approach seemed to at least have some effect on him. As she had drawn nearer Sammy seemed to tense up more again, though seemingly not from discomfort. It made Susie smile softly, getting her hopes up that she had not been wrong about the possibly returned feelings. ”... You know what?” She began ”How about I begin helping you to relax a bit? You’ll never get any writing done while that tense.” ”I’m not tense...” Though there was a certain hesitation in his voice, and any writing he had done had stopped by now. Once again Susie smiled. So he was nervous. ”Oh, come on now Sammy.” She cooed, reaching out to put her hands on both of his shoulders ”... I can feel the knots, right here. Let me help?”

At first touch his shoulders instinctively flinched, clearly not suspecting the physical contact. However as she did not move they soon relaxed somewhat again, and Sammy let out a small sigh. ”... If you insist.” Though Susie heard that she already had convinced him. ”I do...” She agreed, now softly beginning to massage his shoulders and back of the neck. Already after just a few seconds she could feel the tension ease up, and smiled. ”It’s good..?” She asked, earning just a hum in return. Poor Sammy, she could not help but think. There truly was a lot of tension needed to ease.

Susie continued for several minutes, though to fill in the silence soon began to hum. It was a simple and slow melody, just to relax him further. However only a few seconds in she heard also Sammy beginning to hum the same tune, harmonizing with her. Even lazily drumming his finger against the desk, as if playing the melody out in his head.

There was something utterly... endearing about this, Susie thought. Reading people had never been a problem for her, and while Sammy was outward much more closed off, she could tell that he was hiding an extremely creative and colorful mind. Despite his deep dislike for Joey and his work situation, Susie knew he had such a burning passion for music. He lived and breathed it, and these small signs just proved it further. It had Susie’s heart flutter as she observed the man in front of her. She did not want this to ever end; she wanted to be part of this almost magical moment forever. Thus as the song ended, she started a new one, in the same slow manner. And yet again Sammy joined in, once catching up on what song it was.

Susie had no idea for how long she continued with this; she just knew that eventually she was forced to stop, having ran out of songs to sing. Not to mention, by now most of the other’s shoulder tension were completely gone. ”... Are you feeling any better..?” She thus spoke, forcing herself to break the silence. ”Yeah.” At least that bitterness was gone from his tone now, and he butted the already died out cigarette in the ash tray before leaning back in the seat to look up at Susie ”If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to put me to sleep.”

Their eyes locked, and she felt herself flush slightly. By now just keeping her hands on his shoulders for good measure. ”Well...” Susie began, smiling softly down at him ”Maybe I was? You look like you’d need a good rest.” To her surprise, and delight, he did chuckle. ”I’ll get that once done here.” Sammy promised, now reaching a hand up and putting it over one of her own ”Moreover... You really do have a beautiful voice.” ”You keep telling me.” She giggled nervously, well aware of the hand ”But... I’m glad you think so.”

Not only did it make her happy that someone with such a talent for music thought so, it made her happy because is was Sammy who said it. And Sammy wouldn’t say that to just anyone, that she was aware of. How many times hadn’t she caught him criticizing or even yelling at the band members openly for not keeping the right tempo or note? Yet she had never gotten that herself; he had only ever taught her how to improve. Maybe she was as special to him as he was to her? She could hope.

”... So.” She now spoke though, and while she did not want to she was aware that he needed to get back to work ”I may not know much about writing music, but I’m sure I can help with something? I mean, to help speed up the process.” ”Actually... There is something.” He did agree with this, the hand still placed over her own squeezing hers softly ”It’s not a song for Alice, but it still got lyrics. You could help writing them? You know, come up with some silly rhymes?” Susie found herself beaming at the suggestion, and gave an eager nod.

They spent several more hours like that; finishing a whole pack of cigarettes together while trying the melody and lyrics out. Sammy had been right; it was easier working while being all alone like this. But then again, they were two now, and that helped too. And she could tell that he seemed less stressed out about everything now. Be it the additional help or her in particular, she was happy for him being able to focus on the fun in creating, and not the tight deadline.

”I gotta say” Susie began as they finally wrapped up for the night around eight ”I wouldn’t mind helping you out more often... This was fun.” It had been nice knowing she not only contributed to his work, but also that she finally got to spend some alone time with Sammy. Hopefully he had felt the same way. ”It was.” Sammy agreed, currently putting his coat on ”It’s a nice change of pace to work with someone who has actual talent.” Once again Susie felt her cheeks flush bright red; she’d never get enough of him saying that. ”You’re not giving the band members enough credit...” She protested though ”They’re good as well.” ”Never said they weren’t good.” He pointed out, now turning to her again ”Just that you’re.. better naturally. Just need to warm up your voice, first.” ”Well... Luckily I had you to teach me that.” Susie replied, that fluttering in her heart and stomach not getting better the longer they stood there ”I’m thankful for that, you know.” ”No problem.” She could clearly see a faint smile tugging the corners of his mouth, before he reached out and offered her a hand ”Let’s get out of this hell hole now, though. I take it you haven’t eaten since lunch either?” ”I... No.” Susie shook her head, both surprised and delighted by this gesture. This had to be an unspoken hint, right? She at least hoped so, as taking the hand. ”Then let’s stop by someplace.” He decided ”My treat.. As a thanks for the help.” However, just the way he said that... He seemed nervously tense again. Susie could not help but smile, deciding to tease him a bit. ”Like a date, then?” She thus asked, with the most innocent tone she could muster while watching his expression ”Why, Mr. Lawrence... Has no one taught you how scandalous it is to flirt with a coworker?” While Sammy did not get red, there was a clear shift of pink to his face at this. However he did quite quickly catch himself, and furrowed his brows. ”And you wouldn’t call your whole little ’help me relax’ scheme flirting?” He questioned, quirking a brow. Susie felt herself blush softly again, but chuckled. So he had noticed. ”I’m not denying it...” She pointed out, as they now headed out the office and up towards the clocking station ”Just because something is scandalous doesn’t necessary mean it’s bad, does it?” ”It doesn’t.” He agreed, and paused before adding ”And to be fair... I wouldn’t mind being scandalous if it includes you.” ”You charmer.” She giggled, cheeks still as red. She already could not wait to spend more time alone with him. Especially not now, when it seemingly looked like her attempts at flirting had worked. While there still were things unsaid, their still joined hands spoke for itself. Susie smiled at the very thought.

After finally having left the studio, they simply stopped by a diner for something to eat. It was nothing fancy, but Susie could not care less. She was just happy to be here, with Sammy. Just them two.

It was a shame the evening had to end, Susie thought as they finally stopped outside her apartment building. ”Well... Here’s where I live.” She announced with a small smile, gesturing towards the building ”Thanks for tonight... I had fun.” ”Likewise.” Came the response along with an equally small smile. One which caused Susie’s heart to flutter again. She hesitated, but only for a second, before leaning up and kissing him. And while Sammy noticeably tensed up in surprise at first, she soon felt him kissing back and even reach a hand up to cup her face softly. It was truly magical, and once she finally pulled back she was practically beaming. ”Thanks for the date.” She mumbled, leaning into his hand as keeping her face still close to his. Just... She did not want this moment to end. The same thought seemed to cross Sammy’s mind, as he too did not pull away but instead just watched her with an almost dazed expression. ”Pleasure’s mine.” He assured, giving another of those rare smiles. ”Looking forward to the next one.” She added ”Let’s go somewhere a bit fancier next time..?” ”As fancy as I can afford.” He promised, giving her forehead a soft peck before, seemingly a bit reluctant, pulled back properly. ”As we can afford” She corrected him, giggling at the peck ”Well then.. See you on Monday.”

And once they had said goodbye Susie headed indoors, although noticing the other looking after her as she did. It felt like they parted way too soon for both their liking, but Susie forced herself to keep her hopes up. After all, this was only the start, wasn’t it?

[aviwrites]

Timid Toons

Fandom(s): Bendy and the Ink Machine (Canon divergent)

Warnings: N/A

Prompt: The pipes aren’t always that reliable. They can give a good scare, sometimes.

Notes: So a while ago, after that trailer for Chapter 3 came out, @squigglydigglydoo drew this picture in a stream and I joked about wanting to write a one shot based off of it, and, after a few months, I am very glad to say that I finally finished it. Definitely wasn’t expecting it to go on as long as it did, but overall? I’m kinda glad with how it turned out. Anyway, hope you guys like it!

Word count: 1355

Fic/Link to Fic: [DeviantArt] [FanFiction] [AO3]

There were a number of things Henry was expecting when he returned to the old animation studio he was certain he would never see again. His mind was a grab bag of what-if scenarios during the whole drive to Joey Drew’s Sillyvision Studios, and even as he got out of the car he found himself listing off possible ways his conversation with Joey would go. But what Henry was not expecting was how empty the studio was when he entered. He was not expecting the strange machine in the back room, nor the ink monster it seemed to spawn when his curiosity got the better of him and he turned it on. He was not expecting to be chased through the studio’s depths and hunted down by the old cartoons he used to animate.

Above all, he was not expecting the very thing that had wanted him dead to now be trailing close behind as a companion rather than an enemy.

Whatever the spell that Joey had Bendy under was, it seemed to have broke during Henry’s first face-to-face encounter with the man in thirty years. Henry thought it was a spell, or something of the sort at least, because he wasn’t certain what else to call it. It had to be magic of nature, yes, what with the massive pentagram and the ritualistic setup, but the truth was that he didn’t know the first thing about magic, dark or otherwise. All he knew was that he had to work backwards from Joey’s god forsaken book while simultaneously trying to fight off Drew and keep him from stopping him.

And it worked, somehow. Henry managed to fix up what Joey fiddled with and it ended up releasing Bendy from the thrall he was under.

He looked down at the black cover of the book in his hands, letting out an exasperated sigh. The copy he used as a sacrifice to start up the Ink Machine had disappeared with the rest of the donated items, but as much as he wanted to be rid of the one he was currently holding, Henry knew he couldn’t lose it. The spell might have been broken, but there was still another problem in the shape of Bendy’s current monstrous form. Fixing that would involve operating the Ink Machine, and the only instructions for it that he found were in Joey Drew’s The Illusion of Living.

Henry continued to frown at the book as he walked. Bendy, true to his curious cartoon self, leaned over his shoulder to see what was distressing the old animator.

That was another thing that Henry found interesting: the apparent change in character and attitude Bendy went through after the “spell” broke. Before, the macabre cartoon had been angry, vengeful, and hellbent on killing him. When Henry found him after squaring off with Joey, Bendy seemed to have lost much of his aggressive edge, and the grin that was once filled with malice had been twisted into a distrustful frown. It had taken a lot of persuading from Henry’s end to get him to come with him, and even more convincing to get him to believe that the old animator truly did not want to hurt him. But, even then, Henry took note of how cautious Bendy was in his presence. He couldn’t blame him, he supposed, especially so after encountering Joey and seeing how he acted...No, he really couldn’t blame him.

He was beginning to understand what the scribbles of “THE CREATOR LIED TO US” he’d seen earlier on the walls meant.

He was also very, very glad he got to clock Joey Drew in the face.

Trying to reassure the inky mess of a cartoon, Henry paused to look up at Bendy and give him a half-hearted smile. “It’s fine, buddy,” he said, and then tucked the god forsaken book under his arm. “I’m just thinking, that’s all.”

Bendy let out a strange noise, something that was somewhere between a gurgle and a growl. Henry wasn’t sure what it meant (the poor thing couldn’t speak, and most of the time he had to guess what Bendy was trying to communicate to him), but the cartoon didn’t press any further on it. Instead, the two of them continued down the hall, and the old animator found himself wandering in his own thoughts again.

They still needed to find and meet up with the others. He’d told them to wait back in the safe house, but that was a long while ago. Boris and Alice were probably getting antsy with how long he was taking, but Henry couldn’t help but wonder what their reaction would be once they found out what he’d gone through. Boris, the excitable pup that he was, would most likely be ecstatic to have his ol’ pal back, that much he was certain of. And Alice, oh, she would probably be full to bursting with questions, and overly concerned with their well-being--

A creak in the pipes interrupted his thoughts. Henry looked up and so did Bendy, who let out a curious chirp at the sound. It wasn’t odd, not by a long shot. After all, the system of pipes and gears and whatnot that fed to and from the Ink Machine was ancient and, according to the tape recordings, unreliable a good majority of the time. The old man took a breath and tried to put his worries out of his mind.

“They’re just old,” he reassured himself. “Thomas was right. Joey could’ve afforded to--”

There was an impossibly loud bang. Henry jumped and lifted his arms over his head, heart racing and nearly panicking as he looked around. But his concerns were unfounded when all he could see was the now-burst pipe. Ink was splattering onto the floor from it, forming a black puddle that was slowly spreading. Henry let out a shaky breath and forced himself to relax. Just a burst pipe. It was fine. He was fine. Bendy was…

Bendy was clinging onto him, trying to hide away from the offending noise. Henry could feel him trembling from where he was holding onto him, and when he looked over his shoulder he noted the frightened frown that was now etched onto the cartoon’s white face. It was almost ridiculous, in its own way, what with the giant macabre monster trying to hide behind such a short man. If he didn’t know any better, and if it weren’t for the fact that they were deep underground in an abandoned animation studio, Henry would’ve said that the whole scene looked like a…

Like a moment straight out of a cartoon.

He stifled a laugh, but was hopeless to stop the smile from creeping across his lips.

“Hey, it’s alright, buddy,” Henry started at last, placing the hand that wasn’t holding the book on one of Bendy’s in order to comfort him. “It’s just the pipe. See?”

Bendy perked up, looking at the animator and then up at the pipe. Upon realizing what made the noise, he straightened and let go of the old man, making a sound that Henry ventured to call embarrassed.

Just a burst pipe. That apparently happened a lot, according to what Wally Franks and Thomas Connor and even Sammy Lawrence had said on the tapes. Henry should have expected this happening at some point or another, really, but he wasn’t expecting Bendy to give a reaction like the one he just gave. Nonetheless, he took it as a sign of things calming down. After all, Joey was no longer a threat, and they could avoid whatever was left of the abomination on level nine, not to mention that the searchers seemed too nervous to approach with Bendy around. All that was left was to find Boris and Alice, get back to the Ink Machine, fix whatever else needed to be fixed, and leave.

The thought helped ease him.

He was going to get them out of here. He would make sure of it.

“C’mon, bud,” Henry said, and then started once more through the hall, walking around the ink puddle.

Bendy followed close behind.

[thisisheffner]

Clubbing: ‘I can’t bear the idea that there is an age at which you should stop’ | Music | The Guardian

Nightclubbing is seen as a young person’s game. Sightings of older clubbers – such as the elderly Polish couple who went viral after a night out at London’s Fabric in 2016 – are considered a novelty. But the septuagenarian tourists – who partied until 5am – are not alone.

A recent poll by ticketing platform Eventbrite found that more than 3.7 million Britons aged over 45 go clubbing every week. The nation’s nightlife may not be in rude health overall, but certain DJs, clubs and clubbers have endured. Fabric turned 20 this year, and DJs such as Danny Rampling and Terry Farley are still drawing crowds 30 years on from the summer of love that made their name. From nostalgia nights to dance festivals, older clubbers – such as Mick Jagger, 76, spotted at gay club night Horse Meat Disco earlier this year – are finding their second wind.

Typically, clubbing loses its appeal in our early 30s; 31 is the age at which most give up, according to a 2017 survey. But for those who do keep dancing, it can be much more than just a night out. What starts as an act of teenage transgression becomes radical in middle age. We talked to six older clubbers who refuse to hang up their dancing shoes. Have they still got the moves?

‘It’s like galloping across the universe in a spaceship’

Brett, 70, and Sylvia Van Toen, 69, retirees (above)

Sylvia Our first love is hard house – it attracts a different, much younger crowd. We go to hard house clubs and festivals, after discovering psytrance at Glastonbury in the mid-90s and thinking, “This is it.” The music builds up tension; you’re waiting for this particular tune and then suddenly it drops in and you’re going yes, yes, yes! Then it carries you along. It’s a bit like galloping across the universe in a spaceship.

I got married at 18 and had children young. I was a housewife. I didn’t know a lot about music, I didn’t dance. Brett and I were in our late 30s when we got together. I had two young children and so we decided to live apart, and we’ve kept doing that. We see each other during the week but get excited about going clubbing together on Fridays. It’s like going on a date.

Brett We are very lucky. Many couples we know don’t like the same music. We go clubbing once a fortnight. It’s intense. It’s hard work. The clubs often run from 11pm to early morning. There are more afternoon clubs now, which I love.

If we go to a dance festival, we make as much effort as we can to get sleep. We take a campervan, which is good because parking tends to be away from the main field. We don’t drink alcohol, just water. We don’t do afterparties; that would hurt. We don’t have any plans to retire, though that might change as we age.

It’s a social thing. We went to heavy techno clubs and it was too dark to dance because you couldn’t see what the hell was going on. So that didn’t work for us. Dancing with other people is important. Clubbing has taught me a way of being I don’t think I would have found otherwise. I used to be curmudgeonly but I have learned a lot of acceptance from hanging around young people. There is much to admire about them. They are also complimentary and it’s a lot of fun. It gives you energy.

‘There’s no judgment: it’s utopia’

Roy Brown, 56, songwriter and club host

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I’m a Brummie lad. I went to my first shebeen [unlicensed bar] in Birmingham, aged 13. It was this small venue behind a shop with huge sound systems in dark rooms, pumping with reggae and ska music. Seeing guys and girls dancing really close to each other, the music pounding, the smell of weed, a lightbulb went off in my head. I thought, this is amazing. That’s why I’m still doing it.

I knew the music – reggae, jazz, funk, blues – because that’s what my parents played at home. My parents were Jamaican and every Caribbean house has these family gatherings with music and food and dancing. That warm place they created in their houses is what I’m trying to emulate when I go clubbing: that womb, that happiness. No one can hurt or harm you because you are with like-minded people.

I moved to London at 18 in 1981, where my cousin Claudette introduced me to a group of fashionistas and club kids. They are still my friends. My aunt lived close to a huge club called Bolts. I walked past it one evening and there was a long queue of clones: gay men dressed identically in check shirts and Levi’s 501s. I had the same epiphany as in the shebeen: I saw like-minded people.

Some of Claudette’s friends sussed me out. Juicy (real name Ronald) came up to me and said: “What’s your game then?” They took me to my first gay bar and it was full steam ahead after that. My motivation was really good music. If there were hot guys there, brilliant. Drugs were a huge part of it. The majority of clubbers were white men but the only thing that mattered was that you stuck to the dress code.

I’m still on the clubbing scene. I started out on the door at the central London club Kinky Gerlinky in 1989. Now I’m a host at the Eagle in south London, where I have my own night, Soul on Saturday. I was MC and host for a club in Ibiza a few summers ago. They fly you out Friday morning for Saturday and Sunday night. I thought, can I do this? I am not 19. I’d aged 20 years. But because of the music and the amazing time, I lost 40 more.

I grew up Methodist and clubbing is like going to church. I still go out now if a night is euphoric. It’s human nature to look for something uplifting. There’s no judgment, just inclusivity. It’s my idea of utopia.

‘That moment a beat drops and everyone’s smiling: it’s wicked’

Victoria Saunders, 50, hairdresser

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I still want to go out and listen to good music played loud. But now I’m older, I don’t want to go to a big busy nightclub. I think, I can’t be arsed, actually. You walk in and you’re told you’ve got to queue here or go here if you want to smoke a fag. I’m an adult, I can manage myself.

When I first went clubbing, it was lawless. In 1988, I was 18 and Ibiza was happening, it was the summer of love. That kickstarted it for me. When I went to Houghton dance music festival in Norfolk last year, I saw people from different points in my clubbing career. It’s nice to see people who still have that affinity.

I’ve always been more of an afterparty girl; I prefer it when all the wallies have gone home. I’d rather take my time and go out at about midnight, ease myself in and then hit a dancefloor.

Hairdressers like me are like Vikings; we can just do it. I remember coming home, having two hours’ sleep, then getting up and going to work. Now it shows more, on my face, after a couple of days. I hit Wednesday and I think, oof. But people tell me I look good for my age. I’ve pickled myself. When you’ve had so much fun and such a laugh going out, that also shows.

I go to a club called Pikes in Ibiza, where Wham! shot the video for Club Tropicana. I like to properly lose myself in music – that moment a beat drops and everyone’s smiling because they know it, that feeling of oneness: it’s wicked.

I was at a house party recently and my friend was up dancing. She said, “If I don’t do this now, I’ll be dancing in the aisles of Tesco.” It’s rare to find those moments as you get older, but 30 years of clubbing means it’s something that’s deep in you. You hear good music and you just want to dance.

‘After we scattered my stepdad’s ashes, I needed to get to Horse Meat Disco’

Amanda Freeman, 56, music publicist

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I’m straight, but I prefer gay clubbing. It started in the early 2000s, when I went to places such as the Joiners Arms in east London with gay friends. It was a completely different world.

My friend Dan opened a gay bar in east London, Dalston Superstore, in 2009; by then I had been single a long time. It was a nonjudgmental space. There was no stigma attached to being a woman of my age as there could be in a straight environment; at a straight club, I’d be lucky if they let me in.

I’ve had a couple of difficult years. My mother has multiple sclerosis and my stepfather had dementia. I’m an only child, so I’ve been juggling all of this. My stepfather died in March. The weekend we scattered his ashes, I remember thinking, when I get home I’m going out to Horse Meat Disco. If I’ve been through a tough time, going out is the way to put myself back on track.

A lot of the younger people I’ve met out clubbing have been incredibly supportive. Not to say that my older friends haven’t, but they have kids and their own stuff going on. It seems easier for millennials to make those approaches, to ask me how my mum is doing, how I am. I’ve been hugely grateful for that.

I am happy to go out on my own, which is empowering. I can go to regular places and see people I know, or chat to people I’ve not met before. The music is important. My nickname is Lady D’Amanda because I’m very forward about asking the DJ for certain tracks. I’m first on the dancefloor and get people to dance with me. It’s always done in a joyful way.

I can’t bear the idea that there is an age at which you should stop. I feel more comfortable in my 50s than I did in my 40s. I chose not to be in a relationship and nobody in this community has ever questioned that. They admire people who have ploughed their own furrow, and a club night was held in my honour in January.

I hope I am an ally. I’m a music publicist and I am always available if LGBTQ artists or acts want help or advice. I’ve suddenly acquired a tribe: the community is made up of many different people, ages and persuasions. It doesn’t matter. It’s about what you bring to it. It’s a small world but it’s a really important one to me. A doorman once said to me, “You’re an icon”. That’s a lovely thing to be.

‘Drugs aren’t my thing. Someone asked what I’d had and I showed them my sandwich’

Suddi Raval, 49, music technology teacher

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Acid house took over my life at 15, in 1986. The music was on the radio. Smiley faces – the acid house symbol – popped up on the news. House music has melodies and basslines but acid house was abstract, bendy, weird. It was like music from another world. It just grabbed my attention.

There was a week that changed my life. I was walking down the street in my home town, Ashton-under-Lyne. I was too young to go out but I dressed as if I was on the acid house scene: long hippy hair, a jumper by French brand Chipie. This guy called Kelvin came up to me. He could tell from my clothes that I was into that music and said: “You need to go to the Hacienda and the Blackburn raves warehouse parties.” I said: “I’d love to but I wouldn’t know how.” He said he’d take me, and he did.

I couldn’t believe it when I set foot in the Hacienda in Manchester. There were a couple of thousand people as into it as I was. I didn’t know everyone was off their heads, drugs were not my thing. One time at the raves, someone asked what I’d had. I didn’t know they meant drugs. I reached into my bag and pulled out my butty box, a pile of cheese and ham sandwiches and a can of Coke – you can’t dance all night on an empty stomach.

The only nights I wouldn’t go to the Hacienda were when it was closed. I’ve never stopped. As I get older, young people think I am either the DJ, a promoter or a drug dealer. I’m usually the only brown face in a club. I’ve always been in a minority; there were so few Indian, Pakistani or Asian clubbers. But I’ve always felt 100% safe.

I live in London now and go out a couple of times a month to clubs across the UK. I pick up my friend Sarah and drive to the Attic in Liverpool. It’s not about nostalgia; I go to dance to new music. It’s difficult to get back to normality if you stay up to 6am, so I don’t stay out late. I’m a teacher, so I have to function at 100%. My clubbing gives me credibility with my students. I’ve not been clubbing with them, though they’ve asked.

I met my wife when I was in London for an acid house night. She was concerned I might be into drugs. She’s come out clubbing with me, but she’s a doctor so she’s usually on call. She’s not a convert but she’s not against it. Our wedding in 2017 turned into a rave. It couldn’t have worked if she’d thought, who is this man-child obsessed with dance music?

My mum found it really cute that I had smiley faces all over my bedroom as a teenager. When I visited her up north recently, she showed me a smiley face emoji on her phone. “Look, Suddi,” she smiled, “acid!’” I said, “Yes, Mum, you are bang on! That is acid!” I was so proud.

• If you would like your comment on this piece to be considered for Weekend magazine’s letters page, please email weekend@theguardian.com, including your name and address (not for publication).

This content was originally published here.

[heavyarethecrowns]

It was breathlessly reported this month by British newspapers that Meghan Markle, Prince Harry’s American TV-star girlfriend, had been introduced to Queen Elizabeth II.

The teatime meeting — said to be over finger sandwiches and scones at Buckingham Palace — with her love’s granny was the most significant indicator yet that the 36-year-old “Suits” actress will soon step into her biggest role ever: joining the cast of one of the world’s most celebrated families.

Markle, who was photographed on Sept. 25 holding hands with Harry at the Invictus Games in Canada during their first public outing, is said to have given up her Audi lease in Toronto, where “Suits” films. And her work contract ends in late November.

It seems to be a case of when, not if, an engagement is announced.

Rumors are swirling around London that the 33-year-old prince has already proposed to his squeeze of 15 months after getting permission from his indomitable grandmother.

It’s an understatement to say that free-spirited Markle is about to experience a dramatic lifestyle change. As Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of “Majesty Magazine,” told The Post: “It’s going to be a minefield.”

Sources reveal that as the Los Angeles-raised actress prepares for a very public engagement and wedding, she is also being schooled in the ways of the Firm — the royals’ affectionate nickname for themselves. There’s no special “school” where Markle will learn how to curtsy, hob-knob with foreign dignitaries or emerge from a car without flashing her underwear.

British writer Katie Nicholl told The Post that Prince Harry has been Markle’s main mentor in all things royal.

“He knows how daunting this will be for Meghan and he’s keen for her to be relaxed in the company of senior royals,” she said.

Before the auspicious meeting at so-called “BP,” he would have told his girlfriend how to address the 91-year-old queen, strongly suggesting that she curtsy, even though that’s an optional move these days.

“Harry will have made sure Meghan knew how to address the queen and how to behave in her presence,” says Nicholl, who has written a forthcoming biography of Harry. “He calls her ‘Granny,’ but after Meghan had curtsied and called her ‘Your Majesty,’ she would have reverted to ‘ma’am.’ It seems strange to mere mortals, but it is how [Princess] Kate addresses her.”

The American divorcée will be encouraged to be herself — with one giant caveat.

“She will always have to remember, in public at least, that she is royalty and certain behaviors are expected,” said Seward, whose latest book, “My Husband and I”— chronicling the marriage of the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh — is soon to be published.

“It’s going to be difficult for her because she is an independent career woman who [won’t] really like being told what to do.”

Markle’s position is unprecedented, although there are echoes of the scandalous love affair between divorced US socialite Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII that led to the king’s abdication in 1936.

“We’ve never had an American divorcée marry someone who is in line to the throne,” said Seward. Harry is currently fifth in position, behind his father, Prince Charles, brother, Prince William, nephew George and niece Charlotte. He will be shunted to sixth place after the birth of William and Kate’s third child next April.

“American manners are different than British manners,” Seward added. “[She] can’t walk down the street eating or chewing gum.” Markle will even have to correct her table manners. “We hold our cutlery differently. It’s a whole different culture.”

Markle did well in her new role in a September Vanity Fair cover-story interview, sanctioned by Harry, when she revealed: “We’re two people who are really happy and in love.”

Still, the corridors of Kensington Palace (where Harry lives in an apartment near William and Kate) are a long way from the San Fernando Valley, where Markle was raised by her yoga-teacher mother, Doria, who is black, and lighting-director father, Thomas, who is white.

When she launched an affordable clothing line in 2016, she told the Toronto Star: “I was not a girl who grew up buying $100 candles. I was the girl who ran out of gas on her way to an audition.”

She first attended the private Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse and then an all-girls’ Catholic school, Immaculate Heart High. Markle studied theater and international relations at Northwestern University, just outside Chicago, where a fellow alumnus remembered her as being “very sophisticated for a college student.

“We were in our early 20s but she seemed like someone 10 years older. She had the poise and grace it takes to being a royal.”

By the time she graduated from college in 2003, Markle had already made her screen debut in “General Hospital,” which led to roles on TV shows such as “90210,” “Knight Rider,” “CSI:NY” and, ultimately, “Suits.”

Charles Rae, former royal correspondent for Britain’s Sun and author of the book “Diana: The People’s Princess,” believes the starlet’s professional skills will come in handy when she signs up with the Firm.

“She’s a natural performer and will chat with people with ease,” he said. “Besides, everyone will be intrigued by her accent.”

It’s not as if Markle lacks experience in public speaking. A global ambassador for World Vision, she traveled with the humanitarian organization to Rwanda for its clean water campaign. Her résumé also includes working for United Nations Women as part of the HeForShe gender-equality movement. All of this earns her extra points with the royal family, as she would be expected to perform charity work and have pet causes as a princess.

Rae, who described the possibility of Markle marrying Harry as “the best thing to happen to the monarchy in years,” revealed that the brunette has been “studying hard” to fit into the lifestyle.

“She has practically been living at Kensington Palace whenever she is in London and will have seen the routine that goes on with the butlers and servants,” he told The Post.

As of late, Markle has been zipping around London in a new Volkswagen — sometimes, but not always, with a driver. According to the Daily Mail, this is significant because the royal family has a deal with VW in which they get a 60-percent lease discount; Princess Kate had a similar deal, leasing an Audi (owned by VW) before marrying William.

It will likely only be after an engagement is announced that Markle will receive formal briefings on her public appearances. A personal assistant will also be hired.

As Seward points out, advance information on how to dress correctly could have helped Markle ahead of the Invictus Games, where she famously wore ripped jeans.

Meanwhile, the royal protection squad, an elite team of police officers, will be on hand to advise her on dealing with the traditional “walkabouts” so loved by the British public.

“She will learn how to cope if someone [in a crowd] comes on too strong,” said Rae. “Ever since John Lennon was shot, the royals have been told never to rebuff anyone. Members of the family, including the queen, have had assassination attempts against them in the past, and no chances will be taken with Meghan.”

As with Grace Kelly, when she became the princess of Monaco, Markle’s “acting career will, of course, be a thing of the past,” Rae said.

Robert Lacey, historical consultant for the hit Netflix series “The Crown,” told The Post that Markle will not be expected to take British citizenship — mainly because of Harry’s low place in line to the throne.

“Her position as the wife of Prince Charles’s second son would not warrant it,” said the author of the upcoming book “The Crown: The Official Companion.”

The Greek-born Duke of Edinburgh [Prince Philip], now 96, became a British citizen in March 1947, eight months before his wedding to the then-Princess Elizabeth.

“Times have changed and the heat is off Meghan,” added Lacey. “She is a new recruit but, apart from being assigned a lady-in-waiting, it would be demeaning for her to get too much advice from courtiers.

“The best person to give Meghan advice would be her fellow divorcée, Camilla [the Duchess of Cornwall and Harry’s stepmother]. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had taken Meghan aside for a strong gin and tonic and some helpful tips on joining the royal family,” Lacey said. “She’s a very funny woman who’s had it all thrown at her but survived.”

Rae said the royals have learned lessons from the ill-fated introductions of both Princess Diana and Sarah, the Duchess of York, to the royal family in the 1980s. “Kate Middleton’s entry into the world went relatively smoothly in comparison.”

Last week, the Daily Mail reported that, when Middleton joined the royal family, an agreement was drawn up among Kate, her parents and Prince William to protect her from undue stress during the first five years of marriage. “Prince Harry is said to be considering a similar agreement to shield [Markle] from palace courtiers who like to keep their charges busy,” said the newspaper.

Speculation is now rife that Markle will appear on the balcony with Kate, Camilla and the queen as princes Charles, William and Harry place wreaths on London’s Cenotaph memorial on Remembrance Sunday, the British equivalent of Veteran’s Day, on Nov. 12.

“Meghan will no doubt follow royal protocol to the letter and wear a nice black coat and hat,” said Lacey, adding that her presence will be another indicator of an impending engagement.

And Christmas is approaching. If Markle is invited to Sandringham, the Norfolk estate where the queen and her family spend the holidays, she might as well be walking down the aisle at Westminster Abbey.

“I just hope she enjoys pheasant shooting,” said Rae. “When the birds drop and they’re not yet dead, Meghan will be expected to join the other royal ladies in wringing their necks.”

“[She] can’t walk down the street eating or chewing gum.”

by: Ingrid Seward

Does Ingrid Seward love to insult people? Is that her favorite past-time? She really needs to let it go, the monarchy has to evolve, modernise, if they are to continue well into the 21st century.

However, I honestly believe that Prince Charles will be the last monarch.

SUBMITTED

I can’t be bothered to read this. 

But from the mild skimming, I don’t believe that meeting took place 

Of course Harry will help her when need be, that is what the born royal does for his partner - married yet or not. 

[fakesam]

Twin Peaks: The Return is Gone Way Too Soon

There are so many reasons why a third season of Twin Peaks shouldn't have worked. David Lynch’s last movie came out in 2006. The reboot era has become progressively underwhelming, and judging by the mediocre numbers at the box office this summer, I'm not the only one bored by all the reimaginings. Season Two of the original Twin Peaks was a confused, dull affair that was lost sight of what made the show so unique. A third season, 25 years after the show’s first ending, didn't seem necessary or even wanted at this stage. The prevailing emotion while I was watching the premiere that first Sunday night was curiosity rather than excitement.

And yet here I am, the day after the eighteenth and final part of Twin Peaks: the Return, already missing it dearly. Appointment television basically doesn’t exist anymore, but the show revived this notion with a vengeance. By the time we got to the final stretch, I was planning my Sundays around being home at 9:00, like I was still a teenager imposed with a strict curfew. I had to see the next piece of the story as soon as possible. Discovering which band was playing the Roadhouse at the end of each episode as something I looked forward to as much as any sliver of plot development. I never want David Lynch to explain the meaning behind his work, but I would love the hear the story of how the performers at the Roadhouse were chosen. I just hope the person who suggested Hudson Mohawke and the Chromatics are the same person.

There were so many decisions and ideas that could only be made by the mind of David Lynch. Your beloved Dale Cooper? He won't be himself until the final three hours of the series, trapped inside the body of his Las Vegas doppelganger Dougie Jones, forced to relearn how to drink his beloved coffee or even urinate properly (I don’t care about awards, but Kyle MacLachlan better win all of them for his performance this season). Audrey Horne? She’s reintroduced through a few disconnected scenes with her shitty egghead husband who may or may not exist. The movie that seemed minor in comparison to the landmark television show? It’s more important to the plot of The Return than the original series, honestly. And is there a bigger creative swing in the history of television than the masterful Part 8?

I grew to love the often turtlelike pacing, so unlike anything else on television. The dedication to never rushing into anything led to sumptuous character moments that made a world with interdimensional doppelgangers and talking trees feel as tangible as the laptop I’m typing this piece on. It was a show capable of immense horror (Richard Horne ransacking his grandmother’s house, Sarah Palmer ripping out that dude’s throat out), sweeping romance (Norma and Ed finally got together!), poignant goodbyes (RIP Log Lady), and absurdist comedy (Wally Brando, Dougie and Janey-E’s sex scene) with equal craftiness. I can’t think of another show that could rubberband between moods so swiftly without feeling incongruous - except for maybe “Atlanta” which Donald Glover often described as “Twin Peaks with rappers”.

And on the few occasions where David Lynch decided to make a normal tv show, it was fist-pumpingly brilliant. I mean that literally. As an assertive and awake Dale Cooper told Bushnell Mullins “I am the FBI”, with the signature Angelo Badalamenti theme swelling above the scene, I began involuntarily punching the air like Michael Jordan after hitting a game-winning shot. The delayed gratification of the moment annoyed me at times since we all knew it was coming, but the payoff was perfect.

The two-part finale was everything that made Twin Peaks intoxicating and maddening compacted into two hours. Part 17 was a certified classic. The meeting of the two Coopers has been inevitable since we learned there were two Coopers, but I did not see Lucy being the one to deliver the decisive shot. Seeing the real Diane after spending so much time with her tulpa was great (Laura Dern was fantastic), even if it was only for a few minutes before things got real weird again. The second half of the episode took my breath away with how audacious it was. Fire Walk With Me was pretty divisive when it was first released, and I understood why after watching it for the first time a couple weeks ago. If I watched it without the knowledge of a third season, I would’ve hated spending so much time watching Laura Palmer do things and have things done to her that we already knew about from the original series.

The Return recontextualizes everything the film says to such an extent that you could almost convince me that 25-year wait was planned all along. It’s the history of that film that seems to have brought Lynch back the most. Part 18 was a typically Lynchian descent into madness. I found it bewildering while I was watching it - I’m really annoyed by the treatment of Audrey Horne, how inconsequential one of Twin Peaks’ best characters became -, but I feel better about the episode after sleeping on it. The Phillip Jeffries scene was already my favorite part of the movie, and after last night I consider it the smoking gun for this entire season. Unnerving non-sequiturs - The insistence on not discussing Judy, Jeffries’ questioning of which Cooper is standing there, the first reveal of the Woodsmen - now act as ominous statements foretelling the fate of Dale Cooper.

As Cooper and Not Laura Palmer stand outside of Not Sarah Palmer’s house, as lost and confused as most of the viewers at home, Cooper shakily asks the heavens: “What year is this?”, a question that seemingly unlocks Not Laura Palmer to the despair of the situation, at least according to the primal scream that’s become so familiar. Cooper, who can’t help but try to be everyone’s hero, overstepped his station by trying to stop Laura Palmer’s death from ever occurring. He’s become untethered from all sense of normalcy, with home looking farther away than it ever has. There are forces that even someone as objectively good as Cooper can’t overcome.

This putdown of humanity’s place in the universe also aligns with Part 8’s assertion that the portal between the violent mystique of the Black Lodge and our own reality was created by the invention of the atomic bomb, a weapon of such destructive power that it can only be used once any sense of empathy has been completely drained. Exert too much force on nature, and nature will show your role really is.

It’s a tragic sentiment for what is almost assuredly the end of the series. Even accounting for the few issues I had with the season, I still love the show for inspiring such a level of discussion and thought in its audience. As the world around us devolves further into dipshit-run dystopia, it felt downright quaint to visit a world where ash-covered demons lurk in the margins, Cheeto-loving hitmen kill in cold blood, and the FBI and the police are still trustworthy institutions. To paraphrase Dale Cooper’s farewell to Janey-E and Sonny Jim, Twin Peaks: The Return made my heart full. It won’t be long before I give it a rewatch. Thanks for everything, David Lynch.

[valeriemperez]

More Earth-X asks 😓 below the cut:

I just can't be okay with this whole Nazi thing regardless of how they go about it because will still be antisemitic at the end of the day. The writers are asking people to imagine a world where they and their families were completely eradicated for entertainment purposes. And using their favorite heroes to do it. Also it just seems tone deaf considering the current political climate in the U.S. where white supremacy has risen. I was looking forward to the wedding, this has ruined it for me.

I’m really sorry this has ruined the wedding for you, and I wish The Ray  and this storyline weren’t happening for your sake.

Perhaps if they want to they can address the interracial aspect of Barry and Iris in a storyline about their children in the future (the challenges they face etc), but no to the crossover and this particular storyline being the first time to address it. I hope the evil counterparts are robots made to look and act like the heroes we know (perhaps the real ones died fighting the evil regime).

I agree with you that this would not be the time I choose to address it, mostly because I lack faith in the people writing the crossover. Maybe the Legends team will surprise me, but for now I hope with you that they’re either robots or simply other people.

Isn't Kreisberg jewish? I'm sure he is not going to do something to offend his own people. He only does that to black characters. 😒

According to this IGN interview, yes he is: “Greg [Berlanti], Marc and I have written comics, so we've always set our star by what's going to make us happy... So yes, we're always surprised that anyone likes anything on this, because we're Jewish writers!”

I agree that none of them are setting out to hurt Jewish viewers, but that doesn’t mean they won’t do it anyway. Intent does not equal result. 

Folks have a right to be concerned about a n@zi storyline for the crossover, but it occurs to me that just because the title is similar to a comic book story it may play out very differently. I think about Flashpoint and how it is not that similar to the comics and the same for Flash of Two Worlds. So it may be that the dopplegangers are evil and in a dystopia not due to n@zism but for some other reason. That said, I just plan to wait and see how it plays out and not stress too much about it now

They only just started filming Friday, so at the very least we can caution them to please be careful with this story because so many fans are already scared and upset. 

This might be wishful thinking, but what if Wally is the evil Flash from Earth-X? I think it's a possibility just because we've already seen an evil version of Barry (Savitar); and I don't think they want to go there again - and on Barry's wedding day, too.

That wouldn’t be any better in my eyes, because then they’re just turning a black superhero into a Nazi. But if you watch the trailer here, you can see Earth X Flash is a white man.

[jade4813]

I would love to hear your thoughts on the S3 finale of the Flash.

I wanted to wait until I was at a computer so I wasn’t trying to formulate and type my thoughts on my phone, so I appreciate your patience.

So, here’s the thing. It wasn’t perfect. Like season 3 as a whole, it had some flaws. There are definitely some things that I think they need to improve next year. That said...I enjoyed it. I thought season 3 as a whole was loads better than season 2, and that goes for the finale as well.

In a sense, it is the least “dramatic” cliffhanger we’ve had, but particularly when you consider it alongside the first two season cliffhangers, I think it’s really good. Of course, Barry isn’t going anywhere. He COULD to be sure - the show could go on with Wally as Flash. But he won’t. For one thing, we know Grant isn’t going anywhere. We haven’t heard he’s leaving the show. Remember Once Upon a Time announced right before the finale aired that JM was leaving the show. If Grant was leaving for good, there’d be no reason to hold off on revealing it.

He’s not even gonna be gone past maybe the first five minutes of the first episode. Sure, they could bring him back at the halfway mark or so, but he is the star of the show - and Flash has demonstrated over the past three years that they take that Very Seriously. Of course, being the star of the show, much will naturally be about Barry, but they take it to mean EVERYTHING is about him in one way or another, really, and nobody should expect that is going to change too drastically in the next season. He’ll come back and it’ll be pretty early on in the premiere.

Now, there are things that left me with a certain level of dissatisfaction. Yes, I would have loved Iris to get more POV throughout the season and for the arc about her death to be more about HER. However, that wasn’t going to be retroactively changed in the finale - nor could it be. So some of my issues with Season 3 remain, but there really is no way they could have been fixed in the final episode, so they are what they are and we can only hope they are improved upon next season. I also am annoyed that they never gave Killer Frost’s motivations for her actions beyond “well, I TOTALLY have some, guys. Believe me. And they’re SUPER good reasons, too.” Well, that tells me that - once again - they wanted Caitlin in a certain role and didn’t bother bringing themselves to the point of actually considering why SHE would put herself in it. (Tip: You can’t just say that a character has justified motivation behind her actions; you should actually bother to think about what that might be and maybe, I dunno, let the audience in on the secret at some point. Otherwise it’s clear you’re just SAYING they have reasons for their actions but you haven’t bothered to think of any.)

It also is irritating as hell that they could never quite resolve themselves on what they wanted Killer Frost to BE. Either it’s a force outside of Caitlin’s control or it isn’t. Either she’s evil and wholly distinct from Caitlin like a parasite feeding on a host or she’s still Caitlin, and everything she did is something Caitlin really wanted to say and do deep down. Either she was an invasion or a choice. The waffling they did on that to come down in a vague sort of nebulous “nowhere” is an irritating copout. Pick your narrative. Then have the balls to stick to it, WHATEVER that narrative is.

I don’t really care about HRs death. Maybe if he hadn’t died or left every single year of the show so far, it would have more impact? As it is...I saw someone say that the show went from the most impactful death to the least, and I would probably agree. There were times I liked HR; there were moments he made me laugh. And I never really realized (as others did) how much Harry’s whispervoice grated until it came out in full force and in comparison. But TC’s characters have died/left every. single. year and he keeps coming back, so am I going to be sobbing in my beer over it? Not really.

The grief at the top of the show ripped out my heart - JLM’s collapse, Barry rocking Iris’s body, Iris’s tears...I was glad that she tried to stop HR, and I do think that they set up an interesting contrast (unintentionally maybe) between Iris and Caitlin. That could lead to something interesting next season if they choose to take advantage of it. I’m not holding my breath that they’ll give that much consideration to Caitlin’s story to do so.

And I loved Iris getting through to Savitar. I liked Barry realizing that anger and grief and vengeance aren’t always the answer. In a sense, he’s always acted emotionally in the past two finales. The first, he was driven by grief and rage to go back and try to save his mom, only to change his mind and come back to the present and oops there’s a black hole now. The second, he was driven by grief and rage to create Flashpoint. It was nice that this season, he made a conscious decision: The rage and grief are in him, so he could choose to act on it. Or he could choose to be a hero and try to find another way.

The other way may not have gone according to plan, but I do like that he was brave enough to try it. And, really, it won’t always work...but heroes have to choose what kind of people they are going to be. One of the themes of the season was Barry not losing himself, and in the end he didn’t.

I also really loved the cliffhanger. Again, we know - more than perhaps the last two seasons - how the premiere is going to go. HOWEVER. I like the parallel. The first two finales utilized the speedforce as well, but, again, both times, Barry was acting in grief and rage. This time, he entered it with resolve and maturity and as a demonstration of his willingness to learn from his mistakes and accept the consequences of them. And hasn’t that been something people have been YELLING for him to do for two years now? So it’s not a HAPPY ending, but as a demonstration of how far Barry came this year? It’s a pretty damn good one.

Also? Candice killed it. 

I am looking forward to next year. I hope when Barry gets out, they’ll allow him to have that lightness back to his spirit. There are things that they need to improve...but I’ll be honest. People refer to Season 1 as the halcyon days of yore sometimes, but...come on. It was hardly perfect. Even as regards Iris as a character or how they treated Westallen. We spent a good chunk of it yelling for everyone to stop patronizing Iris and treat her like an adult who could be let in on the secret and make her own decisions. Her journalism story was perhaps better than it was this season as a whole, but it was still treated like an afterthought more than it should have been.

There are problems that the show needs to fix, but they are problems that the show has ALWAYS had. I do not expect them to be 100% fixed, but I live in eternal hope that they will be better than they have been in the next year.

And, really, in a lot of ways...Season 3 is still a MASSIVE improvement on Season 2. Even when it comes to Iris. Because while it is true we SHOULD have gotten her POV more and we SHOULD have gotten a journalism arc and the story of her death SHOULD have been about her more than it was...it’s also true that the story about Francine SHOULD have been more about her than it was (it was about her for like two and a half minutes before it became immediately hijacked to be about Joe finding out he had a son) and we SHOULD have seen more of how that story impacted her and we SHOULD have gotten her POV for more of what happened in season 2 throughout and...really...even if she’d had more of a POV in season 2 (and that’s arguable at BEST)...does it really matter if you’re never on screen to express it? I mean, Iris can be sitting in a corner saying to the wall, “I feel really conflicted about my mom’s return,” but if the show is only going to show Barry and Joe talking about it for five nanoseconds does it really matter? (“How’s Iris doing?” “She’s okay but she’s conflicted. Hey, is that a cheese danish? I love these. I used to go to this little bakery...”)

Ultimately...it wasn’t perfect. There are things that the show has to fix. There are things they’ve needed to fix from the beginning. Some of those things...they’ve gotten better at in some ways but still haven’t fixed the main issue. Some of those things (like Barry being the undisputed center of everyone else’s stories)...well, to be honest, I’ve accepted that are just not part of the fabric of how they view or approach the show, so I don’t really expect to ever change.

But I liked the season 3 finale. I think it leaves Iris and Barry and Joe and Wally all at REALLY good and interesting places for season 4. I think we’ll get to see Iris and Wally working together at the beginning as heroes and hopefully we will get that promised focus on journalism. I think there are interesting places they could go with Cisco and Frostlin. And, ultimately, I think that IF THEY EMBRACE IT, they’ve set themselves up for a more optimistic and CERTAINLY less angsty and dark season 4. At the moment, there is no reason for Barry to come out of that speed force like a self-hating sad sack. So hopefully the tone of S4 will be happier, too.

So I’m happy with it! I’m looking forward to S4 and the payoff of both the wedding and the twins and/or Bart.

[sweetwriting]

Tim Drake Week 2017 - Day 4: Enemies / Family

Category : Gen

Genre : Angst / Fluff / Family

Fandoms : DC Comics, Batman (1940), Detective Comics, Young Justice (1998), Robin v4 (1993), Superman - Batman (2003), Teen Titans (2003)

Continuity : Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint

Summary : Tim always wanted a family but things aren't that simple. Or are they ?

Author’s notes : This one's a little longer than I expected (I try to do less than 1000 word each) I hope you'll enjoy it.

Word Count : 2251

To read it on AO3

There were many Rogues in Gotham, but each of its vigilantes had their own nemeses among them. Well Tim only had one. One whom, strangely, none of the other members  of the Batfam had ever gone against (and while they were all competent he was a special breed which would be hard to overcome for anyone other than him, Bruce or Barbara, well even for him it was hard), two if you added Ra's Al Ghul on the list after Ulysses but Tim wasn't sure whether to call him a nemesis or a creepily obsessed stalker (he had sent him a woman to bear his heir and if this wasn't a creepily obsessive behavior then what was). Well and King Snake but it was a whole can he'd rather avoid opening.

But Tim had held his own against them all. And especially against the Joker.

Sure the Joker wasn't the worst of them all really (honestly in Tim's mind Scarecrow, Ulysses, and the Riddler were on top of the list), but he was the one who had murdered Robin and seeing Robin back, well…He might have developed a bit of an obsession too even if, weirdly he never seemed that tempted to act on it aside from their first encounter.

His first meeting with Scarecrow (who was Dick's own Gotham nemesis) had been quite something too since it was thanks to that encounter that Batman had allowed him to become Robin. Though now that he was older and more -or less depending on how you see it- emotionally stable he was trying to remember if the hallucinations he had seen were due to a bit of the gas reaching him or not (he had thought Conner was another hallucination back in Paris after all).

And of Course Two-Face, the first time he met Bruce and Alfred…How had they never realized Tim wasn't alright is beyond him now that he's started introspecting on his life as Robin since the very beginning.

Finally, the Riddler. He may not have faced him much but Tim would be lying if he didn't admit that, despite the lives hanging in the balance, he couldn't help but enjoy trying to solve those riddles (to this day his favorites were the ones on baseball and that time he had to team up with Wally).

Of course he had face them all but, some like Penguin were a real pain but they weren't that important to him. Others like Selina or Ivy were different because Selina had, at least partially settled down (and was usually pretty nice to him even if she loved mocking him) and he couldn't help but feel for Ivy's crusade.

The biggest one though had been Jason Todd (and Damian Wayne). Because Bruce was still so attached to him and Tim had tried, he had freed Jason because he chose to let his own issues go and give Jason a chance. What a bad idea that was. Apparently the pit Madness was still present. Even if it had lessened.

Now. Now however Jason seemed to have slightly settled. And Tim still felt the guilt for letting him go too soon but he had still let go of most of his resentment toward him. So sure Jason wouldn't be his family (maybe one day but at most Tim believes they'll be cordial to each other), but at least he and Bruce were making progress and really that's what matters even if… Tim had always wanted a family. It was easier to admit now that he had finally mourned his father, but he never really gave him one. First he and his mother kept leaving him behind, then Jack was forced to stay and still had the reflex to leave him behind when he wanted to -even if for lesser lengths of time- and got angry when Tim had to cancel at the last minute. Tim now realized the depth of the hypocrisy his father had shown back then. The anger he always directed at Tim for simple mistakes. Tim realized it now, because he followed some courses on parenting to be of at least some use to his Neon Knights Program (also Conner had convinced him to see a therapist who treated the few heroes who admitted they needed the help and seeked resolution. Bruce had, of course, verified all their references before Tim could even think about it, after all if they had been helping Kon they were probably good -and Conner seemed to feel so much better). He realized now that his parents had been neglectful and that his father managed to be both neglectful and verbally abusive (and physically violent even if it was never directed at Tim's body, it was still only directed at Tim's stuff).

So he wanted a family and when he was 9 he started projecting on Dick, because Dick had hugged him when he was still pretty much a baby and he had been so happy and Dick was Robin, and he had been taken in by Bruce Wayne, by Batman and he seemed so happy. And not long after this Jason joined and, well Tim didn't know him so he mostly focused on him as Robin.

And then he really met them and, of course they weren't a family. It was a job and Tim still wanted his parents to be the ones taking care of him. Still he and Bruce got closer, especially after his father became comatose and his mother died. Because there was no way to know when he'd wake up and Bruce and Alfred took care of him and, sure it was more like going to your grandparents with your uncle than anything else but it was the closest Tim had had to a real family since he had been 4 or 5. And Dick. It took about a year but Dick became Tim's big brother, and oh how he loved him. Dick was easily one of the most important people in Tim's life, the one person (with Conner and Bart) he thought would never hurt him. Of course he ended up being wrong but he still loved him so much and Tim shouldn't feel so betrayed for one little mistake but he couldn't help himself (according to his therapist though he should have a talk with Dick because apparently it wasn't just one simple mistake but, Tim didn't want to ruin the fragile status quo they had reached. Of course he knew his therapist was right but he just couldn't do it).

Now Dick was obviously the biggest influence on him, but one shouldn't forget Alfred Pennyworth, who was the one person everybody loved and no one could refuse him anything. Alfred loved everyone so much and they all know it. If there's one thing that they knew it was that.

One of the thing that surprises Tim the most is the number of sisterly figures he gained : Barbara who was like a mom sometimes, whom he shared a passion for computers with, one of the rare people who was more intelligent than him. Helena who was one of the first people he teamed up with and who had become a sort of on and off sisterly figure to him (who allowed him to raid her fridge), he only partially trusted her on the field, but if you put aside her murdering streak she was genuinely one of the most compassionate people he met (as long as you weren't a criminal). Finally Cassandra Cain who had just come back to Gotham had really intimidated him at first, not especially because of her skills and efficiency (though there was that) but because of her kind heart and strong will which made him ashamed of his own. But he got past it and things weren't always good but he loves her so much, she's one of his favorite people in the world. And he's so glad he accepted to see a therapist because she convinced him to *force* a little reconnection with them and they're all amazingly supportive.

He misses Harold, who was great company when he was around despite his lack of speech. He misses Ace, the Bat Hound who was the only pet he was ever allowed to have (he could hep but be jealous of Damian's zoo as he was never even allowed to keep a cat for a night and he had never dared ask his parents for one before, at least not since he was a kid and decided they wouldn't be able to take care of a pet and that they didn't want to take one and have to take it back if Tim grew bored…He couldn't help make a parallel now and it's one of those times he wishes he had never gone to that therapist). He misses Steph even if he now realized how unhealthy they were being. It might have been better if they had been friends (if he hadn't tried to run from the drama with Ariana), according to his dear therapist one of their biggest issues was the imbalance in power due to Tim mentoring Steph at the beginning, maybe now they could work on that and start being friends. Not to forget Dana, his sweet step-mother. She was still in a mental institute but Metropolis was a lot better for her health than Blüdhaven was (not that it was a surprise) and he had -finally- introduced her to some of his fellow Titans. She of course fell in love with Bart and Kon who were "sweet and thoughtful". One day she even took them aside and they discussed something that none of them ever revealed to him, but whichever it was, it obviously made them all happy (and really as long as they were happy he didn't care that much what had happened). He and Damian still didn't get along but they did have a sort of truce now (mostly because Damian's pets liked it when Tim petted them and it probably did more for Tim's cause than anything else ever could. On his side Tim had admitted to himself all the progress Damian had done and it was easier to not see him as a threat).

Then there were his friends. Young Justice had felt like a holiday camp sometimes, it was mostly fun and Tim couldn't help but wish he had been able to be himself completely and not just the Robin part of him. Back then it felt like they were all a bunch of (un)disciplined siblings and cousins. Then Donna died and…Well things got hard. Cassie who already had anger issues became worse and… he still can't believe they dated when they never really saw each other as anything but siblings (it says a lot about what Conner's death did to them and…Well he only started on this part with his therapist but at some point, they had had a weird knowing smile that felt slightly out of place). He loved Cassie but not in a romantic way and he felt honestly disturbed every time that week-end wass brought up. Bart was like a little brother whom he had mentored for a while, he was a true and tried genius when it came to engineering and computer programming. Tim would be jealous if he wasn't so proud of everything Bart had accomplished (or simply happy that Bart was alive), some of the Titans usually joked that Bart was the Baby friend to Tim's Dad Friend Trope and to Conner's Mom Friend one (they didn't know that Tim and Conner had done it long ago and he never realized how right he was).

And of course Conner. His best friend still loved to mock him (and it went both ways, Tim never missed his shot), but they were even closer than before. When he died Conner had been away for a couple of weeks and refused his calls because he felt guilty for breaking his arm (and other things which...honestly were too big to start thinking about). But before that he had been one of the rare people able to convince Tim that he wasn't a bother and that he should talk to him/them when something weighted him down (of course he still needed a push but he accepted it gladly). And Tim knew that, likewise, he was one of the rare people Conner felt comfortable talking about his harshest fears and issues with. Despite this, or maybe because of it, Conner was probably the healthiest relationship Tim has ever had with anyone (even Bart and Cass) because they didn't hesitate to talk about things that were wrong between them (not that there were many to begin with) and they actually dealt with them and that before even going to a therapist, they had even gone to a session together once, they had joked that it was couple counselling and the therapist told them that a lot more friends should do it because whether it's romantic or platonic every relationships need work. But, apparently theirs didn't because they naturally (or not, apparently it's mostly thanks to an advice Conner got from the then supergirl that they started having healthier reflexes) dealt with their issues. So yeah lots of love and support there. It was nice to have at least one person he could entirely trust and rely on.

And Tim couldn't help it but, it gave him hope for the future.

Author’s Note 2 : Hope you enjoyed it. As most of my works it was unbeta-ed.

For the physically violence toward Tim's stuff, I don't remember the number of the issue but there was at least once when Jack broke Tim's TV because Tim was distracted by it. (if I remember correctly it was after Jack grounded Tim because he refused to listen to Tim's explanation after Ariana's uncle called him and Tim was stuck in his room so he was watching the news which are, admittedly slightly more important than his father coming to explain to Tim how it was his fault that Jack ended up reacting this way...A++ Father Jack)

[uomo-accattivante]

[donalsgirl]

Irish Independent interview with Oscar Isaac

Oscar Isaac on the Coen brothers: 'They've been like godfathers to me'

Oscar Isaac tells our film critic about his special relationship with the Coen brothers and why he wished he had been able to film some of his Star Wars scenes in Ireland

Three years ago, Oscar Isaac was an obscure actor in his mid-30s who didn't seem to be going anywhere very fast. Small parts in films like Che, Robin Hood and Madonna's disastrous Wallis Simpson biopic W.E. hadn't attracted much notice, and he was still auditioning for theatre plays and TV shows when the Coen brothers asked him to try out for their 2013 film Inside Llewyn Davis.

A wry drama set in 1960s Greenwich Village and telling the story of a struggling folk musician, it was a role tailor-made for Issac, who's a musician himself and still regularly performs. He got the part, was nominated for a Golden Globe and suddenly every casting agent in Hollywood was interested in him.

He's chosen his subsequent projects well. After an eye-catching turn in Hossein Amini's underrated Cold War thriller The Two Faces of January, Issac co-starred with Jessica Chastain in JC Chandor's gripping 1970s thriller A Most Violent Year, giving a performance so intense some likened him to a young Al Pacino.

He played a creepy inventor obsessed with creating the perfect sentient robot in Alex Garland's beautifully orchestrated science-fiction chiller Ex Machina, then turned up in the most celebrated sci-fi franchise of all, starring opposite Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Adam Driver in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as a daring rebel fighter pilot who takes Daisy Ridley's character under his wing.

He has had luck, which he acknowledges, but also the courage to tackle demanding roles, and his latest film plumbs the horrors of the Armenian genocide during World War One. In Northern Irish director Terry George's drama The Promise, which opens here next Friday, Isaac plays an ambitious young Armenian from a small country town who arrives in Istanbul to study medicine on the eve of World War One. The Ottoman Empire enters that conflict with typical bluster, but within a year, the Turkish government begins a covert attempt to annihilate its Armenian minority. "To my great shame, I didn't know much at all about it," Isaac tells me. "I'd heard about it vaguely, but had no idea of the scale so when I read more, I was surprised, shocked, appalled, moved, and wondered why it was so unknown. It's so close in a way, and yet so on the cusp of being lost to history so I felt like it was extra special to be part of a film being made about this subject, you know?"

His character, Mikael, arrives in Istanbul with high hopes for a future that's about to be taken away from him in the most brutal and unexpected way. But he's no saint himself: he's engaged to a girl from his village whose dowry is helping pay his college fees, but falls in love with a glamorous society beauty played by Charlotte Le Bon.

"I think the hope in creating these fictional characters," Isaac says, "and this love story in the middle of it all, was that they're very relatable things.

"The idea of coming from a small town and wanting to go to the big city and make something of yourself, and you fall in love with someone that maybe you shouldn't, these kind of things happen to people every day all around the world.

"And then within that, to have those things stripped away by these horrible events, I think that is hopefully what allows people to make parallels to what's happening now. It becomes not abstract, but very personal.

"Mikael just kind of gets buffeted by the winds of fortune, and he reacts to them in much the same way the average person would. And it's just a reminder that things like this are happening right now."

The Promise is unlikely to get a release in Turkey, however, as Ankara has never formally acknowledged that the genocide happened, or taken any responsibility for it. "It's unfortunate," Isaac says, "and it's a tactic we still see today with a lot of governments, you know, admit nothing, deny everything."

The Armenians had always been second-class citizens in the Ottoman Empire, despised for their Christian faith and distinctive customs, but in the spring of 1915, while the rest of the world was distracted by the Great War, the Turkish authorities began a covert and systematic campaign of terror and repression that seemed consciously designed to wipe the Armenians off the face of the earth.

Able-bodied men were either massacred on the spot or slowly worked to death in forced labour camps, while women, children and the elderly were marched into the Syrian deserts to die. Between 1915 and the early 1920s, it's estimated that about half of the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population, or 1.5 million people, were wiped out - and many others fled to the US and elsewhere to survive.

In approaching this enormous, daunting subject, Issac tried to focus on his own character first because "that's where everything starts for me".

"I needed to figure out what does he have to know, and what do I need to know about living in a small village in the Ottoman Empire around this time, what of the relationships between Turks and Armenians - what was it that went so horribly wrong?

"The scene that hooked me into the project in the first place was the one in the forest when Mikael finds his family and his entire village slaughtered: every time I would read that, it was very moving for me, so then it was like, well, what will allow that to happen. And so I listened to recordings of the survivors of the genocide recounting their stories, where they'd talk about their grandmothers being bayoneted to death by the gendarmes, babies being left under trees and marching out in the desert to die of thirst.

"All that kind of stuff you have swirling around inside your head so then when you're in that moment, and you see those people, you don't have to stretch so hard, you know."

The shoot, he says, was tough going. "I think there was something like 18, 19 different cities and towns that we shot in throughout Spain, in all kinds of conditions, and it was exhausting. It was one of the most challenging films I've been a part of on a physical level, but also emotionally."

But his performance holds the film together, and demonstrates once again why Issac is one of the most sought after leading men in Hollywood.

Handsome but not especially tall, Oscar has a kind of everyman quality, and an ability to move easily between very different types of role.

Raised in Miami and trained at the exclusive Juilliard School, he made his professional acting debut at 19 in a forgettable film called Illtown. TV and theatre work followed, and in 2005 he played Joseph in Catherine Hardwicke's controversial biblical drama Nativity Story. But the 2000s were slow for the young actor: he was almost too versatile, too good at disappearing into forgettable character roles. Well-received appearances in Robin Hood (as the villainous King John) and Nicolas Winding Refn's thriller Drive were a step in the right direction, but it was the Coen brothers who really changed everything for Isaac.

The Coen brothers had a very hard time casting the role of Llewyn Davis, the earnest folk singer whose attempts to breakthrough in early 1960s Greenwich Village will be entirely overshadowed by the arrival of Bob Dylan. In fact, according to Ethan Coen, they were "screwed until Oscar showed up".

The character of Davis was partly inspired by the 1960s singer Dave Van Ronk, and Isaac's initial audition involved performing one of his songs.

"I sent them a video of me playing a Van Ronk song," he recalls with a smile, "and based off of that, they decided to bring me in. So I auditioned in front of them, and about three weeks later I found out that I'd got the part."

The role might have been written for him, combining the kind of intense character he excels in playing with plenty of singing and guitar playing.

"It was the crowning achievement for me that I was able to do that," he says, "not only because it involved all of the things that I love, but because out of that, I developed a friendship with Joel and Ethan. They've been kind of like godfathers for me with everything I've done post-Llewyn, and it's such a special film for me.

"Doing Inside Llewyn Davis opened up so many opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise, and I've been working more or less non-stop ever since."

Oscar's ascent continues apace: later this year he'll star in the George Clooney/Coen brothers comedy Suburbicon, and after that he'll resume his collaboration with Alex Garland in the eagerly anticipated sci-fi thriller Annihilation. And then there's the little matter of The Last Jedi, the next instalment of the Star Wars franchise that's out at Christmas and is likely to be the biggest film of the year.

"My whole family were huge Star Wars fans," he says, "so doing the first one was a surreal experience. Unfortunately, I didn't get to shoot in Ireland for this one. I've never been, but I'd really love to."

Source

[barryslightningrod]

Why I Can’t Defend The Flash Writers This Time Around

Prefacing this post by noting it is tagged, but also under a cut since it contains criticism of The Flash writing. If you don’t want to read, scroll away, but I wanted to put my thoughts out there for my own sake, because otherwise it’s just going to stir inside me and I want to let it out once and for all.

My priority when watching this show is the relationship between Barry and Iris. Besides enjoying the superhero genre, besides loving most of the characters, I tuned in for them and continue to tune in for them. I love both Barry and Iris, I probably identify with Barry more on an interpersonal level, and while I dislike it, I made peace at the beginning of this season that the prime concern of the writers is always going to be showcasing Barry’s point-of-view and Barry’s emotions over any other character. With that, I told myself I won’t have a serious problem with the storytelling as long as the writers continue to enforce that Barry loves Iris more than anything, and as long as he acts in accordance with that. It’s also worth noting that I am a self-proclaimed angst queen and many of you know this about me too.

What I have seen these last two episodes and especially the most recent one has me livid to be quite honest, because it is a blatant display of poor writing on account of plot and account of characterization.

Two episodes ago, we learned that Barry proposed to Iris under the guise of wanting to make their own future despite what Savitar has planned for them. Essentially, it was a dishonest proposal, because it was revealed that the entire decision to ask her to marry him was actually part of a greater plan to prevent Savitar’s future from manifesting. We were allowed to hear his point-of-view (he was just doing what he could to save Iris) and we were allowed to hear Iris’s point-of-view (she doesn’t want any milestones in their relationship to be rooted in fear). Despite his best intentions, Barry was called out for what he did, and Iris put a pause on their engagement. In this instance, I was able to empathize with both Barry and Iris. Iris feeling like this vision of her future is influencing her present and tainting her relationship with Barry made me hurt right along with her, and Barry’s guilt when Iris took off the ring because he realized he cemented the future once more and betrayed Iris also made me feel with him. This is an example of when two characters both have valid perspectives that seem in-line with what we know about them. We know they Barry and Iris both love each other more than anything (explicitly stated) and that Barry acts rashly (he confirmed that he “got caught up in the moment”) and we know that Iris is reasonable and has more sound judgement than Barry (”that is exactly what I’m afraid of”).

Last episode opens with Barry distressed over Wally’s disappearance and upset with where he and Iris stand. It’s clear he feels guilt over what he did, and that he knows what he did is wrong (”Iris, did I lose you?” shows that he made the mistake). I was prepared for tension and angst in their relationship, and maybe even a possible breakup or “break” or just time apart in light of this reveal that Barry is being consumed by trying to prevent the future to the extent that he is tarnishing what should be beautiful, genuine moments in the progression of their relationship.

What would have made the most sense to me would have been for this suggestion for a break to come from Iris. She was the one who was disappointed by what Barry did. She is the one who has a possible deadline looming over her. She is the one who could rightfully feel like Barry is suffocating her or is too consumed by what might happen to her in the future to pay attention to her in the present. It felt like the writers were heading in this direction. Barry teared up before he went into the Speed Force, promising to Iris that he loves her, quietly pleading with her that he’s sorry and that he hopes she can forgive him. It’s evident by the distant way that Iris embraced him that while she loves him, she is still reeling from what he did, all that while trying to deal with her brother’s disappearance AND her looming death, because people seem to keep forgetting this. For these reasons, again I was anticipating that any possible break would come at the suggestion of Iris.

Then Barry and Iris both face the possibility that he might die while he’s in the Speed Force. Barry takes off his tracker and what would have been his and Wally’s outlet from the Speed Force and uses what might be his last words to declare he loves Iris. Iris is clearly distressed when she realizes she might lose Barry forever. Like these are clearly the actions of two people who love each other and are realizing life is too short and that they could lose each other forever. As an audience member, at this point in the episode, I felt like maybe there wouldn’t be any breakup at all because these two literally almost just lost each other.

We all saw what happened next. Barry saves Wally and is freed from the Speed Force. Iris literally RUNS to him and embraces him. They’re both clutching each other tightly as if they never want to let go, as if nothing is worth any tension between them because what matters is that they have each other. And then something beautiful happens. Barry, the selfless Barry who loves Iris finally emerges when he’s holding Iris to him. He tells her, “I’m here, I’m here.” He is putting her before himself. He literally just almost died, yet here he is concerned with easing her worries. Someone made a parallel gif set of this moment and the moment from the Pilot when Barry woke up from his coma. The first person he went to was Iris at Jitters (just like how Iris ran to Barry first when he came out of the Speed Force), and it was to reassure her that his heart is still beating. This is literally how Barry was introduced to us in the first episode: as someone whose heart beats for Iris, as someone who quite literally and metaphorically lives for Iris, and who will always put her before himself.

This is why I cannot understand how that same Barry could walk away from Iris approximately ONE SCENE later.

At that point, I was touched and I was relieved. I didn’t think there was going to be a breakup: how could there be after Barry’s near-death experience? What could be a greater awakening to the two of them that they need to be as close as possible to each other and make the most of every moment they are privileged to spend together? I figured Iris wouldn’t end it with him after believing she lost him.

And I thought I was on the right track! As we transitioned into the next scene, Barry enters their apartment. The ring is still on the table where Iris left it. I figured the shot of the ring was symbolic in that it represented the ambiguity of where the two of them stand. Barry and Iris shyly greet each other. She thanks him for bringing her brother back to her, and he replies, “Of course,” because of course, everything Barry does is for Iris (again, explicitly stated). They’re nervous, but then Barry is brave enough to bring up the elephant in the room AKA the proposal. He recalls Iris’s reservations about it, how she only wanted to marry someone out of pure love, and he says he gets that completely. So I’m over here rejoicing because I’m like YES! Barry listened to his love and he understands where she’s coming from. And then he explains again where he was coming from, “It’s impossible for me not to be consumed by seeing you die.” This is traumatizing, I understand, to see someone you love die in front of you. I REALLY wish they had Iris be like, “Well I’m also consumed by the possibility of dying” but yeah, that would have obviously been too much to expect from the writers apparently with what we’ve become used to (I’m throwing shade here but anyway). Iris says she gets that, because she literally loves Barry more than anything too and has the best heart, and she reiterates that it still made her question why he proposed.

And then Iris, selfless, loving, understanding Iris tells him that she can’t believe she questioned why he proposed, because she should have realized he would propose for the same reasons she would: she wants to marry him, she wants to live a life by his side as his wife, she wants to be with him always.

Let me really hone this in: Barry admitted he proposed to Iris for ulterior motives, and Iris STILL maintained that she wants to marry him and felt bad for questioning why he asked because to her, she should have realized he wants to marry her for the exact same reasons she wants to marry him, and that’s because they love each other and life is precious and fragile, especially with the kinds of lives they live. It took Barry almost dying for her recognize this, and she said that: “While you were gone, I realized something. I don’t have to doubt why you wanna marry me, it’s the same reason I wanna marry you.”

While watching this, I’m blown away at Iris’s graciousness, at her empathy, at her compassion, and I’m breathing a sigh of relief, because the source of their tension is resolved. Iris forgave Barry. She accepted his proposal, for REAL this time, and I think Barry realized it too, which is why he teared up when Iris proclaimed, “I want to be your wife, Barry” because this acceptance is genuine, and there are no more secrets or different motives. It’s just the two of them having a real discussion, laying everything out on the table, acknowledging what went wrong, and still choosing each other despite all of that. They’re both smiling timidly, they’re both emotional, because at this point, I thought this was really truly them getting engaged for the second time, and reveling in that happiness like any couple would, because this time it’s honest and faithful. And I’m actually happy because they talked it out and made progress and seemingly want to move forward.

So forgive me if I call out how it makes no sense for Barry to completely turn the tables around and talk about how they need space after Iris almost lost him, forgave him, AND just accepted his proposal while the possibility of her dying is still hanging in the air.

I’m confused as to why exactly Barry is asking for space. This doesn’t make sense to me either in light of what we’ve seen from him since learning of Iris’s potential death. In fact, the first thing he actually did was ask her to move in with him, AKA ask to be as close to her as possible, so how does it make sense for him to want space now, when her impending death is nearer and nearer? Yes, Barry has demonstrated in the past that he needs time to process and come to grips with things (he couldn’t bear to visit his mother’s grave, he couldn’t start a new relationship until he found peace after his father’s death), but he supposedly learned his lessons after those two examples, didn’t he? For the writers to pull this stunt of Barry needing space goes against everything he’s been trying to do to be as close to her as possible, and it especially makes no sense in light of him telling Iris one scene before, “I’m here.” Barry does have avoidance issues, but Barry has always been there for Iris or tried his best to be.

There is no way this can be justified on either a character level, or on a plot level. The latter I just illustrated, and the former we all know cannot be done either, if we are to deem it unquestionable that Barry loves Iris more than he loves himself. When something so salient is established as a part of Barry’s characterization and the writing deviates from that, I’m sorry, but there is no excuse for that other than poor writing, unless you take it at face value, and then in that case, Barry looks like a jerk. This is the same Barry who waxes poetic about how Iris is the reason he can be The Flash, how everything he does is for Iris, how he wants to spend every possible moment with her. Not to mention there is no Barry Allen that would ever turn down Iris West or deliberately hurt her, on any earth or in any timeline, not especially after he JUST hurt her (with a somewhat sham proposal) and she forgave him. You’re going to accept that he would just hurt her again, this time intentionally?

I’m also kind of appalled at the defense of this writing of Barry. I’m going to repeat again that I love Barry, and I simply cannot understand how anyone who also loves him could tolerate this. I’ve seen arguments that use Barry’s compromised mental health as an explanation, but I can’t accept this either because no one checks on his mental health more than Iris does. As someone who knows that it’s okay to step away from something that is too burdensome for the sake of your mental well-being, I also don’t understand this explanation because Barry never had that issue after learning of Iris’s death until now. He was always the one promising Iris that he was going to save her and that he was going to be with her despite what Savitar prophecized. I mean, he literally told Iris that he was here for her one minute before that ending scene when he broke up with her. If they had established immediately after Barry learned of Iris’s death that it was too much for him to handle, I would have at least bought that as consistent writing, and I only would have accepted that if they also showcased how this is too much for Iris to handle too, seeing as it’s her death they’re trying to prevent. But they continue to focus on Barry, which I can swallow because it is his story, but...I’m also confused because what we were seeing from him was him putting on a brave face for Iris and being her rock. If they wanted him to reach a breaking point, which is human and which is totally understandable, they should not have done it at the expense of Iris and by having him hurt her when she’s already suffering. He could have sought solace from Joe, or from Jay Garrick (before the Speed Force thing). Instead they made him walk out on Iris, the person who this is affecting the most.

Barry made Iris cry. Iris is opening her arms to him, and Barry turned away. She is scared out of her wits that she could die, and her boyfriend contributes to her hurt. Nobody is saying Barry is not allowed to also be afraid and overwhelmed by the possibility of Iris dying, but are we really going to take Iris’s own death away from her? The writers do that enough without the fandom also doing so.

I also want to say that frankly any explanations that this is to be expected because it’s The CW or that it’ll be resolved soon don’t cut it for me. How does any of that cover up blatant bad storytelling? If anything, it makes it worse because it cheapens the story and these characters who deserve better. The angst is literally there for angst’s sake (and it’s not even well-written angst) to drive the musical crossover, as it has been confirmed that’s what the writers are doing. What I think makes that excuse worse though is that there was sufficient angst set up between Barry and Iris if the writers wanted that turmoil for the purpose of the musical episode, but they turned it around and made Barry dump Iris, when what would have been more logical would have been for Iris to ask Barry for space while she processes the possibility of her death. Having Barry leave Iris is just cruel, as she is the one who has a deadline over her head.

The last thing I want to say is that people in this fandom are allowed to point out bad writing. They are allowed to criticize and be disappointed in the show without being painted as complainers or as being negative or as being extra or dramatic or without being accused of pitting Barry against Iris or as though we are taking sides. We all love and care about these characters. Me personally, I love Barry and Iris so much that it literally pains me to see them anything other than happy, and I’ve taken time to write and share stories that feature them because I think they deserve better than their writers and than their network. 

[jimmythejiver]

Maybe it's because I never see anyone talking about Flash because I don’t follow the right blogs and anybody who had has lost interest in favor of Legends of Tomorrow, or save their complaints for Supergirl, but elsewhere on comic articles about the show, or on forums I visit and sometimes contribute, I see this continuing West Siblings hate that has not died down from the last seasons.

This next part isn't necessary directed at anyone in particular, but it's a trend I see in this fandom a lot: Iris gets blamed for Barry acting stupid because she's not 100% on board 100% of the time and yet that's all people complained about in the beginning of the season, but shriek the few times she has doubts, or disagreements. Barry as written in this show for three seasons is always wrong in his approach to everything, time travel, dealing with villains, sacrifice, except when it's dealing with Iris's life then she better do exactly as he and Joe says. He doesn't want to tell her his secrets in season 1, she better lump it and cheer him on in support. Even when she suggests Barry not try to save her this season, it's "he's trying to save your life you ungrateful b-", but then it turns into this loop of "why can't Barry let her die as it's supposed to play out."

I don't know, because fate and destiny should be a thing to overcome, not succumb to by evil forces, like Savitar, but whatever, the writer's made these rules that speedforce knows best because Barry clearly doesn't because they don't know how to write Barry as the fate defying hero he should be so he always makes the wrong choices according to some cosmic laws of metaphysics and gets away with it before being punished. How's he different from Wally again? The show's basically given up and says as much, but Iris still better do what he asks. You all think Barry's not in the right, but Iris better have his approval so you can all complain she doesn't have agency, or do anything, but support Barry. Gee I guess this stuff can play out, but replace Iris with Patty, or Linda and it will finally be Barry to blame for not making it work.

Sorry to further bring home the point, but other complaints from this fandom about the West siblings:

"Why doesn't Iris do her job, she just hangs out at Star Labs all day doing nothing, but giving Barry pep talks?"

Iris decides to take her own life into her hands for a story.

"Why is Iris getting in the way of the Plunderer to write a stupid story? Barry's trying to keep you alive, why aren't you staying put at the apartment?"

Watches her get attacked in her apartment by that death touch guy without a codename. There, that's why. She's safer nowhere, certainly not at Star Labs with awful security. Not at Joe's where Wally and Henry were grabbed up by Zoom last season. Not in her own home this season, maybe she needs to risk her life more often since she's running on borrowed time instead of waiting around, but hey I don't blame her if she's feeling complacent in such an anxious predicament. I would, but then some days I fail to react because I’m having two opposing forces ask me to do two different things that contradict one another.

"Why is Wally an arrogant jerk? How dare he treat superheroing as a fun endeavor? How dare he like his fans. This is not a game."

I don't know why does Barry still think he can change the timeline? Why hasn't he listened to Jay? To the speedforce last season? Remembers people's complaints about Barry seizing to have fun with superheroing ever since it's turned into one martyr mission after another.

"Why is Wally outpacing Barry? That's not fair?"

I don't know because he was created by Savitar to speed up to his levels in Flashpoint? We still don't know if Wally's behavior is also a result of the cocoon since many noncriminals like Edward Clariss, Magenta and Julian have a state disassociation and criminal activity now. This would have been an easy explanation for Caitlin Snow too, if they weren't so sure she had to be a pediatrician in Flashpoint. This would explain a lot and Wally to a smaller extent, if he's not Savitar himself. For whoever keeps complaining that nobody, but Caitlin has turned evil for their powers, I give you the Flashpoint metas. Those people forget Cisco's season 2 dilemma of being bad like Reverb too, so maybe Caitlin isn't overreacting, but that's another issue.

"Why does Barry need Wally to save Iris? Such a joke, this is his show. So much for being Fastest Man Alive."

Barry thinks Wally's constant improving is useful to stop Savitar. Watches Wally get defeated by his own hubris and then Barry realizes that using him to take on his burden to stop Savitar was selfish. That's why. Because of story. Because Wally's having a growing arc. In the comics whether it's Wally son of Rudolph West, or Wally son of Daniel West, he's been a kid who's been in a broken home, usually Iris is his salvation, this time it's Joe, he's a good kid, but he has annoying flaws that he overcomes as he heroes long enough. The way I see it is, Barry's meeting arrogant Wally during his Mike Barron run instead of as a child before life got worse for him. There's the gradual Messner-Loebs-Waid-Johns development ahead, but it will be different. Barry's not dead, Iris isn't his aunt, Linda's not his lightning rod, Hartley and Chunk aren't his friends, so the Star Labs gang replaces that instead. Jessie may replace Linda and that's fine. They should have never cast her as a Barry love interest and hope it will work out for Wally down the road. That's a mistake. They cast her with no indication that she would ever interact with Wally West. They cast Wally West probably without screen testing with her since she’s not a show regular so he ends up having sparks with Jessie. They screen tested Barry against Felicity and then Iris against Barry. They didn’t bother with Linda and Wally.

"Barry's so gracious, Wally needs to die, or leave the show."

Okay so when Barry learns from his mistakes he's human, but when Wally goes through a similar arc, he's just a brat who needs to die?

Honestly I think people really just hate Barry, except when he's dating Felicity and Patty (where I find him unbearable) but are stuck with him as the protagonist so they use Iris as the focal point of their hatred because she has no superpowers, isn't an action badass strong girl caricature, or has science, or child prodigy credentials (which is my issue with Jessie, it's one thing to be good in several fields at sixteen, but does she have to have that major that she can replace Caitlin at her own job?). As the designated girlfriend it makes it easier for these anti-shipper to put all their hate on Iris when Barry messes up. Did people hate her when she was with Eddie? Probably because Barry wanted to write her off as an ally off the bat and keep secrets, while letting Eddie in on it and yet it's not okay when Barry, or Joe pull that with Patty? Just saying.

[abakersquest]

CHAPTER FIVE – ON TO THE GREAT MANGROVE

Within the tumbledown home of the Bandit Circus, Wally sensed an air of familial closeness that reminded him of his fondest childhood memories. The life and chatter of the place was something to be admired in spite of the clear lack of craftsmanship that went into its construction, to make no mention of its surprising array of residents. From what he could tell, there were close to fifteen expatriated members of every nation here, living together without any sign of bias or hate. It was enough to distract him from the sudden bashfulness brought on by the red panda currently latched to his arm.

“Pretty nice, eh? I know it’s a bit of a shaky shack, but it’s home.” Rozzi smiled far too warmly from Wally’s perspective.

He mumbled something that even he was sure wasn’t remotely close to any actual words before they walked past the kitchen and he froze on the spot.

Rozzi almost lost her footing, feeling as if she’d just wrapped arms around a firmly rooted tree.

“Stop right there!” Wally said sternly, loosing himself from Rozzi’s grip and marching into the kitchen.

Inside, a tall brown Insicai cricket, who was busying his four hands with various cookware and a large purple fruit, looked very confused, his antenna twitching ever so slightly as he eyed Wally over his shoulder.

“Do you know what you’ve got in your hand there? That’s an unripe jang. Let me guess, you were about to add the zest from it to that pot of tammi root stew?”

The Insicai was about to speak as he turned the small purple fruit around in his hand

“Except you never use unripe jang rind in heated dishes! Turns the mix black and absolutely destroys any flavor!” Wally set his bag down and the floor desperately complained under its weight. He unclipped the small canteen off its side and used the water to rinse his hands. He rolled up his sleeves and took the fruit away from the Insicai, then took a knife and a bowl from the nearby counter. “Now, what you can do is peel and juice the jang and soak the rind in it.” Wally’s hands moved quicker than the sound of his own voice as he was already filling the bowl with hand squeezed juice. “You serve the soaked peel chopped and spread over the top of the stew as a garnish to taste. That way, you get all the tart flavor you’d expected from jang rind, and it’s twice as healthy.”

Rozzi watched the scene closely while leaning in the kitchen doorway. Wally dredged the peels through the juice as the Insicai began to ask questions. Despite his stern expression and authoritative tone, Wally explained every step and action the way any kind teacher would. The room seemed slightly brighter for it somehow, but then she knew that some people could do that naturally.

The lessons ended, the two chefs parted respectfully, both having learned something new. The floor creaked gratefully as Wally took the direct weight of the pack off it. For a moment the wallaby looked shocked to see Rozzi was still there before visibly relaxing again.

“You’re a hard one t’ pin down Mister Baker Knight.” She said, making a small gesture to show he should follow.

Wally half smiled and rubbed the back of his head as he followed her away from the kitchen. “That… Was terribly rude of me, wasn’t it? It’s just instinct at this point really.”

“Well I, for one, am glad I’m not havin’ t’ choke down another Cri’tet kitchen disaster. Fates love the lad, but he’s all thumbs in the kitchen sometimes, which is doubly worse when y’ got four hands.”

Wally laughed, and then felt slightly ashamed for doing so. He’d always tried to never laugh at anyone else’s expense.

They reached the end of the one hallway that leaned slightly to the left and a door that decided to lean in the opposite direction like a rebellious child. Once at it, Rozzi turned on her heels and leaned against the wall. “Here we are, you and the tall one are stayin’ here for the night. We’ll be headin’ out to the Mangrove t’morrow mornin’.”

Wally nodded then stopped to think. “So… You have a ship?”

Rozzi laughed. “Oh you don’t SAIL through The Mangrove sweetheart. Not if you want to live, that is.”

---

The fifteen members of the Bandit Circus along with Wally and Sir Hector made their way along the rim of Remnant Lake, the pool of sea water that filled the crater where Marsu once stood. As they went, Rozzi shared with Wally the history of the circus and Cinera’s part in it. Formed somewhere in the midst of the war, the Bandit Circus was originally comprised of children who were orphaned or abandoned. With no homes to go back to and no way to feed themselves, they turned to thievery to survive. However It wasn’t until Rozzi’s father, Bill Orland, gathered them together that the name for the group was found. At first their performances were mere distractions to allow other members to steal food and money from onlookers. Until one day, a year or so before the war’s end, Cinera happened upon them and was none too pleased at the young hands on her satchel. She then made her way up to Mr. Orland in person and surprised the Circus with a proposition; if they made more money performing for the people of Animana than they did stealing it, she’d rethink cursing them all.

“… I think I remember that show.” Sir Hector interrupted. “My mother insisted I go and take my mind off the war. In fact, I seem to recall you having some manner of wire act?”

Rozzi scoffed. “It’s a chain, actually, anyone can do wire work.”

“If you say so,” Hector replied with a shrug.

“What happened to your father?” Wally interjected.

“Went up with Marsu, meanin’ I was in charge of everybody… I think we did pretty well for ourselves since then. Performin’ in three different countries, and we sure aren’t starvin’. Even with Cri’tet’s cookin’!”

Everyone joined in with her laugh.

“Hey! I’m gettin’ bettah at it!” The cricket shouted, his wings fluttering angrily.

The band of travelers approached a pair of tall stone pillars with pulleys attached to the top of each. Long strong chains clicked and clacked over those pulleys as something was clearly being pulled up from over the crater’s rim. Wally couldn’t see the whole assembly as the other end of the chains receded into holes in the ground behind the pillars. But he could hear something massive being moved below their feet. In moments, a large metal platform with four waist height walls crested over the lip of the crater. The forward facing wall dropped over to form a ramp and the passengers behind it hefted their belongings and stepped off the platform, all passing by a very well dressed and very round fellow. Wally couldn’t help but stare and try to figure out what exactly he was looking at.

“We’re happy to have had you all as patrons, and hope that the ride was satisfactory!” The rotund individual bellowed.

Wally’s ears tried to back away from the sound as best they could. He’d met enough people in his life to know that some are simply louder than others, and everything about the boisterous person they were approaching said that was likely, and unfortunately, his normal speaking voice.

“Ah! Miss Orland! Always a pleasure to have you and your performers as passengers again!”

“Les Bita, you ol’ Melon you.” Rozzi shook hands with him, or rather, appendages.

It all suddenly clicked in Wally’s head. Les Bita was a Planaetian, the first he’d ever seen up close. They were described quite sparsely in the books he’d read, which didn’t help at all since he was reading them for recipes in the first place. He did his best to stop rudely staring at the stout figure, while still taking in his features. Through his sleeves and pant legs, Wally could see his arms and legs were comprised of interwoven vines, bundled like rope in the shape of three fingered hands and toeless feet. His skin, or rather rind, was a soft green, banded by darker green stripes, and Wally could see, as Mr. Bita opened his mouth quite widely to speak, the inside of it was not unlike the interior of many fruits he’d handled.

“So, how’s she doin’ today?” Rozzi continued.

“Oh quite fine actually! I believe she went to get something to eat, but she’ll be back by the time we reach the station!”

Hector reached down and tapped Wally on the shoulder. “Wally, you’d better brace yourself for this next bit, I’ve seen people fall right into the lake because they weren’t ready.”

“You’ve done this before?” Wally asked.

“Of course, escorting dignitaries back and forth for negotiations mostly. The Great Mangrove has become an invaluable asset in opening relations between Animana and Planae”

“Well I know that much.”

“But you probably don’t know how that happened, right?”

Wally thought on it, and while he’d seen foreigners visit or pass through The Outers he’d always assumed they’d arrived by boat. But according to Rozzi, the Mangrove was impassible by boats.

“Some years back,” Hector explained. “A few scouting missions went deeper into the mangrove than anyone else before. There they found all manner of unique creatures but none so much as The Chilarthro, An enormous creature with hundreds of legs and a body as long as Anmeister Castle itself. They tamed the creature and now use it to traverse the once impassible center of the mangrove.”

“… You’d think something like that would warrant at least gossip…” Wally said, awestruck at the mere thought.

“That’s probably because no one from The Outers could afford to ride it, so they play it off as more Castle Town nonsense.”

Wally thought on that for a moment, back on all the things he’d heard about the people behind the inner walls, and how magnificently ridiculous some of it sounded. Most of the time, he would dismiss them as bits of fluff concocted by those wishing for better lives. Maybe one of those dismissed mentions involved a giant creature carrying supplies and dignitaries from one nation to another.

The two knights helped move some the heavier cargo onto the platform, or rather, Wally did and Hector made sure everyone stayed out of his way when they were awestruck by the wallaby’s strength. The chains began to clank once more as the platform lowered down along the crater wall toward the surface of Remnant Lake. On the way down Wally thought on the strange divot in the world they now descended into, Marsu had been so high above sea level that the moving platform had to slide down to the waters below at an angle. He could hear wheels attached to the base complain about not being oiled properly as they rolled over the strangely smooth surface of the crater. The whole thing made Wally think of an almost empty bowl of soup with a crack in one side. And through that crack in the distance he could both see and hear something astonishing.

Kicking up an enormous wake of water in its passing and producing impossibly loud clicks over the span of Remnant Lake, no one aboard the platform could possibly ignore the enormous red and black creature with carriage cars strapped to the back. The great beast raced toward them, moving through the water like it was a wave itself, its uncountable yellow legs working at remarkable speed to keep it skipping off the water’s surface.

At the bottom of the platform ride, a structure had been built and anchored into the crater wall. It was somewhat akin to a dock for boats but metallic, much larger, and far more specialized. Wally could see several stairwell-like structures, folded back onto the iron dock, dotting the length of the entire structure.

Les Bita lowered the ramp on the platform’s other end and headed to the edge of the dock. Once there he cupped his hands in front of his mouth and produced a strange sort of whistling that echoed off the crater walls. The massive creature bellowed in response, quickly making its way dockside. Everyone could hear its armored legs clatter against something metal just below the water’s surface as it came close and settled into a stop.

Wally would’ve remarked on the impressive metalwork of the dock, and the subsurface platform now supporting the entire weight of this amazing creature. He would’ve also commented on how seemingly content the great thing was, its massive mandibles politely closed and its gigantic antenna wiggling serenely as the retracted stairwells moved to link up with the carriages on its back. But instead he was trapped by the sheer audacity of what he was seeing and just barely able to mutter out the word, “big.”

He was then patted on the head by Hector who set upon lifting what he could and loading it onto a carriage.

Wally, eventually, staggered afterward with some luggage in hand. “W… How did they tame something so big? A-and then get it to do… Whatever you’d call this?!”

With a laugh as large as himself, Les Bita replied “We just asked and it said yes!” Bita headed up the stairs closest to the head of the Chilarthro where its antenna bent back and seemed to greet him. He said something Wally couldn’t understand and the Chilarthro made a sound that he could’ve sworn sounded happy.

As he boarded with weighty cargo in tow, Wally took stock of the elaborate nature of the carriages, the links between each of them, and to the harnesses connecting it to the Chilarthro. The carriages seem to be on a track of some kind that ran along as much of the harness as he could see.

Inside the first carriage Wally entered, he found space to set down and secure the luggage. As he did, he sensed something moving just below the floor panels. He closed his eyes, focused his hearing, and heard what almost sounded like a wagon wheel in motion, but far faster. Wally shrugged it off before looking around some more, noticing everyone settling into seats in the next carriage. As he approached he noticed the two rows of three long padded benches, all which bore small harnesses for each passenger, three to a bench, meaning each passenger carriage could hold eighteen.

Wally removed his pack, sat carefully onto the part of one bench nearest a window, worked the harness around his waist and settled his things onto his lap. The Flare clattered slightly as he did so and he ended up staring at his own reflection in its large crimson jewel. Wally almost felt that if he spoke, the blade would answer him somehow. All he managed however was a sigh as he settled his chin on the top of his bag, feeling utterly exhausted. His mind reeled over everything that’d happened over the course of a week, how dramatically his life had already changed, and how this was only the beginning. What lied ahead was well beyond the scope of his imagining, so he stopped trying, and instead decided to quiet his mind.

He shut his eyes, and the murmur and burble of activity from the Bandit Circus faded. He relaxed against his pack and the aches in his muscles ebbed. His breathing slowed and the feeling of being inside passed like a breeze. For a few moments, Wally felt something inexplicable, an impossible sense of being somewhere that didn’t truly exist. He looked around, but knew he wasn’t actually looking around. To put a name to what he was feeling, all he could think was the word ‘detached,’ as in this strange state he felt wholly removed from his body. His awareness spun about in this non-space and turned toward what he would’ve called a voice if this place existed in the same plane as speech. Whatever it was, it called to him politely, trying to reach out to him and take his hand. A jolt of motion shook him back to reality, from the view out the window he could tell the Chilarthro began to move, its quick legs stirring up a torrent of water as it skated across the surface of the lake and passed quickly through the crater’s gap.

Turning away from the carriage window, Wally found himself almost nose to nose with Rozzi, who’d taken up the seat next to him. Recoiling as fast as a hand on a hot plate, his eyes darted around the room to find that Sir Hector had taken up a seat several rows down. When he shot his fellow knight a questioning glare, Sir Hector only smiled and winked. With a slight grumble, the wallaby sank back into his seat and attempted to shrink down as much as his body could allow for.

“Why a baker?” Rozzi said suddenly.

Wally looked up at her from his shrunken position.

“Really, it’s the only part I can’t figure out. It’s obvious t’ me you’ve just been knighted and y’d rather be back home than doin’ any of this. But you’re goin’ along with it because you’re the kinda fella who don’t back down from hard work… Don’t get that strong without dedication and I saw how you handle yourself in a kitchen. So you’re on this trip to do the right thing, yeah?”

He unshrunk himself slightly, still trying to keep as distant as one can when strapped into a seat directly next to someone. “… Pretty on the nose there, actually.”

She smiled proudly. “Y’ get to be a good judge of character when y’ live like I have. But really, I’m curious, why a baker?”

Wally’s eyes moved about for a moment as if sifting through mound of paperwork to get to the answer that really simply lied in the largest place in his heart. “My family was one of the ones that made the trip over to Animana after Marsu was destroyed. Well, I say family; really it was just me and my mother at the time. My father was aiding the front lines and I was still very young so my mother was desperately trying to hold things together just like everyone else...” Wally felt the need to fold his hands and look down at them before continuing. “You know in those early days, a lot of folks easily fell ill, or died of starvation; there just wasn’t enough to go around and keep everyone alive. You’d appreciate every last crumb of what you were eating, because you didn’t know when you’d eat again.”

“… Wall was halfway up by the time I got to Animana with my dad for our first show there,” Rozzi said quietly. “Didn’t seem that bad then.”

“Yes, well someone worked very hard to make us all a little better. See, there was this old badger, I couldn’t tell you how old, who brought a cart full to bursting with freshly baked bread to give to as many people as he could. He was always dead on his feet when he did it, and just barely keeping himself fed. Yet there he was, every day, handing out bread to as many people as he could, with the biggest smile on his face.” Wally himself smiled when he remembered that. “I mean, can you imagine that? It’s just one fresh loaf of bread, but it changes your whole world? I could hardly believe it.” He leaned back in his seat. “One day, he stopped coming, I think we all knew that was going to happen eventually, so it wasn’t so much sad, as it was time to reflect on how much he affected those he was able to save.”

“Y’ never learned his name?” Rozzi asked.

Wally slowly shook his head. “He never gave it. When he was asked, all he ever said was, ‘I’m just a baker.’  Really it was all he wanted to be, not some hero, or a grand tale, just someone trying to do right by the people around him and nothing else.”

Rozzi made a soft appreciative noise before smiling. “Y’know, you open up pretty fast for such a bashful fella.”

Wally let out a somewhat embarrassed laugh. “I… I Guess I’m just getting braver by the day…”

---

The open ocean was something Wally had never actually seen before. Thinking back to the brief time in Crescent Town; he almost actively avoided eye contact with the great expanse of water. It frightened him to think about something so vast and so deep, sprawling all the way to the horizon. Now the waters of it surrounded them on all sides and the nation of his birth shrank into the distance. He never realized just how high off the water it truly was. Ahead of them all loomed an even grander sight, coming in through the haze of distance and sea air, Massive trees sprouting up directly out of the ocean, with soft green trunks and almost balloon shaped canopies that sprawled like the thickest parts of Draman Forest. In scale, the Chilarthro resembled something crawling through a backyard garden. Yet, in almost no time, it approached the trees.

Wally suddenly felt a wave of fear overtake him as everything he’d ever learned about being onto top of moving things taught him that leaning in any direction meant falling over. But as the Chilarthro made its way up one tree trunk and stretched its body out to another, he was amazed to find that nothing inside had changed. Somehow the carriages had moved to remain upright while the body of the beast below them moved sideways along the trees of the mangrove. Wally quickly remembered the tracks on the harnesses, and that somehow the carriages must’ve run along them to remain upright.

To the wallaby, the enormous trees passing by the windows were a serene sight. Even the myriad of strange creatures living amongst them and occasionally passing near the carriages added to a peaceful ambiance that made Wally feel less burdened by this strange new journey. That is until there was a very sudden and jarring impact behind them all. All eyes turned to the sound as through the windows of the rear carriage a strange black mass violently bashed itself through the glass and made threatening hissing noises.

“THORN SPIDERS!” shouted someone before more impacts rocked the carriages. The Chilarthro began to bellow loudly changing course rapidly, Wally could see some of the spiders dropping by where they would’ve been if not for the shift.

Already on his feet, Sir Hector charged the closest spider, dicing off its spear like forelimbs and driving his sword into its head. “WALLY! HELP THEM GET TO THE FRONT!” He shouted, as more spiders crashed through the windows and made their way toward him.

The harness of the bench was torn easily as Wally jumped to his feet, quickly slinging his pack onto his back and drawing the Stellar Flare from its sheath. He was the first into the baggage carriage with Rozzi and the rest of the circus following close behind. Almost half way through the windows exploded inward and more of the monstrous arachnids filtered in. They were only a bit smaller than Wally himself, built densely and coated in sharp short hairs. All long their bodies were deadly spikes, no doubt the source of the name “Thorn Spiders.” Wally slashed at one coming through a window, cutting off its anchoring legs and sending it tumbling off the Chilarthro. He turned to deal with the others on the opposite side only to see Rozzi hands move with lightning speed. From her fingers flew a flash of steel that diced through several spiders before returning to her hand. To Wally it appeared to be a short sickle on the end of a very long steel chain. As to where she’d been keeping it this whole time, Wally would never ask.

“ALRIGHT THEN YOU LOT!” Rozzi shouted. “GET UP TO LES; HE’LL KEEP YOU SAFE WHILE WE HANDLE THINGS BACK HERE!”

Without question the members of The Bandit Circus nimbly passed the assorted luggage and supplies, leaving their leader and Wally to fend off the attacking swarm. Without word or thought toward it, the two ended up back to back, slashing and hacking through the seemingly unceasing assault.

Wally’s ears somehow caught the voice of Sir Hector approaching, but his words were unintelligible. As he came closer something changed, the words themselves did not, more Wally’s ability to understand what they meant. As he continued to listen the more the words made sense.

“-to one shape, from heart to hand and strike!” Hector sheathed his sword and readied his stance to draw it as visible bolts of tiny lightning danced over his body. He shouted, “LIGHTNING FLASH!” and suddenly vanished from where he stood, appearing almost instantaneously on the opposite end of the carriage, sheathing his blade yet again.

Around Wally and Rozzi the spiders exploded with flashes of white lightning that struck from thin air. The offending beasts then collapsed into smoldering heaps.

“Oh sure, make it look easy why don’t’cha.” Rozzi joked.

“Seems… That was… The last of them,” Hector said, with some exhaustion to his voice having to take a knee. “Never hit that many targets with that before… Took a lot more out of me than I would’ve liked.”

Rozzi playfully scoffed. “You’re a big lad, you’ll be fine. Don’t see me and Wally complaining after killin’ most of ‘em the hard way, do ya?”

Wally sighed with relief as all the tension of the incident began to fade. He raised the Flare to return it to its sheath when suddenly something snapped tight around his wrist and yanked him clean off his feet and out the window.

Hector and Rozzi reacted far too late to grab him, forced to watch as he was flung outward. Wally looked up and saw a long thin strand of fabric had wrapped around his wrist and was now loosening. He quickly snatched it up with his free hand, holding on for dear life as it shook him back and forth, moving more like a living thing than a simple strip of cloth. Unable to shake him off, it pulled Wally back toward the carriages at a violent speed. He just barely let go at the right moment to catch himself on the roof of one.

“TENACIOUS! But then that’s to be expected of the Flarebearer!” Shouted a voice that came as if through a thick blanket.

Wally scrambled to his feet the best he could, the force of air as the Chilarthro continued to move at full speed making it difficult to balance or even see. He squinted through the gale and saw before him something that made no sense.

This figure possessed all the accoutrements of a person; arms, legs, a head and a body. But if Wally could trust his own sight, this being appeared to be entirely made of rags, stitched and knotted together.

The strange thing raised its right arm and pulled from behind its back a sewing pin the size of a fencing saber. It entered a ready stance and motioned the enormous pin to encourage Wally to strike.

Not one to take a threatening stance lightly, Wally quickly held up the Flare to match it. “Who… What are you?!”

“Don’t you know?” It tilted its head; it had no eyes but Wally still felt a pair of them judging him. It laughed, a horrible ugly sound best suited for those dying in hospitals. “Look at you! You’re pathetic! Here I was honestly thinking you might be a threat!”

The wallaby said nothing, tightening his grip around his sword.

The stranger rapidly sprang toward Wally, its weapon a barely perceptible flash of motion that he almost couldn’t block. The attacker was somehow equally erratic and precise with its motions, making it even more difficult for Wally to barely defend himself. Glancing blows tore through his clothes and sliced the surface of his skin as he struggled to put enough distance between him and this monstrous creature to gain any ground or leverage, only to find his feet at the edge of the carriage.

“What a terribly pathetic ending…” The ragged attacker raised its arm strike Wally one final time only for its arm to be cut clean off at the shoulder, flying off into the distance with pin in tow.

The shimmering steel sickle returned to Rozzi’s hand as she did her best not to recoil at the sight of this bizarre thing.

“Honestly…” the creature grumbled exhaustedly. “MA’AM! IF IT’S NOT TOO MUCH TROUBLE! I WILL KILL YOU ONCE I’M FINISHED WITH-” she slashed clean through its torso.

Once again it laughed, a sickly and unlovable noise. It walked away from Wally and toward Rozzi, the damage in its body repairing itself almost instantly with a new pin suddenly jutting violently out of its back. “Or now, if we’re in such a hurry.”

She slashed at the beastly horror to no avail; every strike repaired itself faster than she could produce new ones. She threw the sickle with all her might to wrap the chain around it, hoping to stop it moving. It simply twisted its body like a wrung out dish rag, the chain dropping uselessly to the ground.

Wally watched, nearly paralyzed with fear. This otherworldly monstrosity had shrugged off everything they had to give, it moved faster than anything living had cause to, and could contort its hideous form to suit its fiendish needs. It was a nightmare in the light of day, the sort of thing used to teach unruly children to behave and fear the unknown. As it approached Rozzi without fear or hindrance, he saw that she desperately fought on, regardless of whatever this thing was and its powers. How could he be so locked by fear and doubt? How could he possibly stand there and watch this horror end her life?

A fire surged up inside him unlike anything he’d ever felt before. It wasn’t simply anger, or courage, it was something more than the two combined, an emotional inferno that drove his body forward. With every ounce of might in his body Wally swung the Stellar Flare and an enormous ball of flame erupted from its edge, rocketing toward the ragged figure, engulfing him entirely.

It screamed on impact, the sound violently assailing the air that carried it, terrifying anything close enough to hear it. It began to tear at the enflamed portions of itself and tossed them aside. Even without a face, Wally could sense the anger and hate it glared his way.

Undeterred, the wallaby prepared a second swing. With bright flames sparking off his arms and the Flare’s blade he fired off another massive fireball at the monster, then a third, then a fourth, and a fifth that knocked his foe clean off the carriage roof, sending its flaming body down into the sea below, screaming the whole way down.

Wally watched as it fell, making sure it hit the water’s surface before turning to check on Rozzi. Seeing she was incredibly shocked, but still alive, Wally felt the ethereal flames subside at last. This was followed by the color of the world around him, and finally, his consciousness as he was entirely overtaken by exhaustion and dropped to his knees.

Afraid he might fall, Rozzi quickly scrambled over to grab the unconscious wallaby. Taking hold of him, she immediately placed a hand to his chest, making sure his heart was still beating, sighing with relief as it answered with a telltale rhythm. Holding him close, she rested her head on top of his and silently thanked him for saving her life.

<[Chapter 04]–[Index]–[Chapter 06]>

[siphen0]

It took a couple of episodes, but I do find myself warming up to the direction of this second season. As I’ve said before, it is easy to find yourself hesitant with a show like this that is doing so much new with the Superman/Krypton mythos. Sure there is Lobo, Darkseid, and some other notable name drops, but at the end of the day you have to make sure that you are telling an engaging story over giving viewers fan service. Currently they are doing right by Lobo, even though it would still be too early to say if they have nailed his role in this story.

So with that said, we start with the adventures of Seg, Adam, and Lobo. As most are calling it, this little bromance between Seg and Adam is one of the finer points of this part of the story. While everyone is struggling not doubting each other or with relying on each other, these two are the example of a great dynamic. Even with Brainiac in Seg’s head and Lobo chasing after them, they managed to hold it together better than most. It helped that this week there was an improvement to Adam in particular. I said before that the acting of Sipos threw off some of the moments that were either supposed to be sincere or funny. This time around he did not leave me with that opinion of Adam or the way that he interacted with Seg who needed a friend to help him get through this inner-conflict.

KRYPTON — “Will To Power” Episode 203 — Pictured: (l-r) Shaun Sipos as Adam Strange, Cameron Cuffe as Seg-El — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/SYFY)

I wasn’t too blown away with Seg’s fight with Brainiac aside from them giving Seg his due for being someone with a strong will. However, it was Lobo who stood out for the trouble he brought Adam who was not prepared to fend him off while Seg was incapacitated. It was an intense scene, but it was also funny. More than that, it did amazing things with Lobo that you didn’t expect them to be bold enough to do. When I heard that they were really going to mess with his healing powers, I didn’t know what to brace for. When that moment came in this episode, I was thrilled because next to Wolverine and Deadpool, that is one of the most creative uses of a healing factor on-screen. Makes sense of course since Lobo was originally created to be a fun copy of Wolverine on DC’s side.

Speaking of dynamics, you almost wish you could say the same about Lyta and General Zod. One would think that being mother and son might create an unbreakable bond between them, but there’s always that looming feeling that these two are going to find themselves at odds with one another. That may not be now, but they leave you with that feeling every time these two interact with each other. Till then, you do enjoy how driven both of them are in their own way to provide a proper future for Krypton and Kryptonians. It helped in General Zod’s case this week that they could dig just a bit deeper into his motivations and what worries him the most about making sure that his mission here is successful. There hasn’t been that reason to rock the boat, though it was about time they finally addressed the risk and benefit in the way that they handle the rebellion.

KRYPTON — “Will To Power” Episode 203 — Pictured: Ian McElhinney as Val-El — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/SYFY)

Back with the rebellion, it was hard to truly find yourself grabbed by the storyline. For everything you know needs to happen for these people to be able to take back their planet, it is hard to shake the feeling of knowing that this is all the calm before the storm. This is one of those subplots where there is hope, there is the possibility of success if everything goes according to plan, and yet you know that it won’t. You may not know specifically how things will go south, but you know that nothing you see before you is going to last. Everything really came down to the things they could do to shake things up and keep us on our toes.

Her story is still one more additional on top over everything else going on, but currently Jayna’s perspective of thing is quite compelling. She is one of the older of the cast, and with that comes a different point of view to the way things have changed since the end of the first season. She got away, she re-evaluated her choices up to that point, and she now sees where she and everyone else needs to move forward. Including Lyta. It’s going to be tough for what is hard to overlook about the role she used to play, but there is no one stronger to step up to the plate and challenge the new system. Jayna is not going to be a character to sleep on in this second season. There is a rough path ahead, and we at least know we will get some awesome action scenes along the way.

Overall, Krypton this week was a big step up from the first two. Still the complicated prequel, but you have to give credit where it is due that they have made this story engaging for the stakes we care about, despite knowing that this planet will ultimately fall.

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KRYPTON — “Will To Power” Episode 203 — Pictured: Shaun Sipos as Adam Strange — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/SYFY)

KRYPTON — “Will To Power” Episode 203 — Pictured: Emmett J. Scanlan as Lobo — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/SYFY)

KRYPTON — “Will To Power” Episode 203 — Pictured: Wallis Das as Nyssa-Vex — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/SYFY)

KRYPTON — “Will To Power” Episode 203 — Pictured: Cameron Cuffe as Seg-El — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/SYFY)

KRYPTON — “Will To Power” Episode 203 — Pictured: Emmett J. Scanlan as Lobo — (Photo by: Steffan Hill/SYFY)

Krypton “Will to Power” Review It took a couple of episodes, but I do find myself warming up to the direction of this second season.