#next up is putting together the meta masterposts I think

[morethanwonderful]

AND I am officially done either reblogging or queuing every post from my old hannibal/succession blog!

I might go back and copy over some of my old tma and homestuck posts from main one of these days, but in the meantime, I'm finally done archiveposting :)

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 26, part two

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Content note: This episode has a lot of lightning, but this post does not have lightning flashes--I’m using mostly stills for those parts, or I’ve snipped out the unfriendly frames before giffing.

Qing-Jie

Having successfully ruined Jin Guangshan’s party plan to get the Yin Tiger seal, Wei Wuxian dashes off to tell Wen Qing where her brother is. She hops up to hit the road with him, but then sorta-faints because she’s starving. In a rare moment of tenderness between these two, he catches her and gently sits her down again. 

Normally they’re busy out-toughing each other, both before and after this moment, but right now Wen Qing is openly vulnerable. Wei Wuxian responds to that, predictably, with all of his kindness and with his usual slew of unwise, impossible-to-keep promises.

As she eats the bread he’s brought her--a parallel to an important piece of bread in his early life--he says they have to believe in Wen Ning’s survival. Cut to: Wen Ning, not surviving. 

I mean, yes, yes, he’s only mostly dead, but he’s never going to be fully alive again, so.  

24 Hour Party People

Back at the party, Jin Guangyao, deliberately, I think, goes to offer his pops a drink while his pops is still super furious and looking for someone to take it out on. The servant lady is like, better you than me, pal, and helps JGY get his drink ready. Pops, predictably, knocks the drink onto Jin Guangyao.

(more behind the cut)

Lan Xichen is standing by with a hanky and a face full of worry. Lan Xichen is so Lanny that he thinks JGY needs to go change clothes after getting clear alcohol spilled on him, rather than just letting it evaporate and smelling pleasantly of booze for the rest of the evening like a normal party guest. 

JGY launches into a criticism of Wei Wuxian, which Lan Wangji listens to very carefully, frowning. Lan Xichen, Nie Huasang and Jiang Cheng listen as well, and don’t speak up. 

A Clear Conscience

Then Lan Wangji *literally* steps out of his brother’s shadow, and speaks in defense of Wei Wuxian. This right here is Lan Wangji’s turning point, as far as I’m concerned. Xichen is gazing at JGY, totally on board with JGY’s spin of the situation, and his shadow falls away from Lan Wangji’s face as LWJ steps forward.

Lan Wangji says, isn’t what WWX said true? JGY puts on his customer service smile and says that the truth isn’t something you’re supposed to go around saying out loud. 

I’d like to say this is what’s wrong with cultivator society but this is really a universal human thing; every society has rules about upsetting the social order, and they are very frequently at odds with basic compassion and morality. 

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng stay silent but Lan Xichen goes and throws Wei Wuxian under the bus carriage, saying his character has changed. 

Lan Wangji nods decisively at this, and bows to Lan Xichen, silently asking permission to follow Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen grants permission, telling Lan Wangji to do his best. Lan Xichen probably thinks he and Lan Wangji are in agreement, in this moment, but that nod of Lan Wangji’s was nothing of the kind.

That nod was Lan Wangji agreeing with himself; he is going to try to bring Wei Wuxian back but he is also going to listen to him.  Meanwhile Lan Xichen is tying himself in knots to appease Jin Guangyao. The divergence between the brothers will just grow, from this point onwards.

Lan Wangji leaves to go follow his boyfriend conscience, while Jiang Cheng continues to silently listen to the commentary of others, and gets so mad he crushes a wine cup.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night.

Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian arrive at the prison camp, and the first person they encounter is Granny, with a defaced Wen Banner in her hand and Wen Yuan on her back. 

Whenever I read a meta or a fic that talks about how the juniors are so sweet partly because they are “untouched by the war” I want to point to this moment. A-Yuan endures an absolute truckload of war trauma by the time he’s four years old, and while Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji both deserve a lot of credit for saving him at great risk to themselves, Granny and Uncle Four are the first heroes of A-Yuan’s story. His kind, mellow personality has a lot in common with theirs. 

This is followed by an eternity of Wen Qing running around asking if anyone’s seen her brother. Eventually Wei Wuxian gets tired of this and gathers the guards together, threatening them with Chenqing. 

He doesn’t need to play it; just holding it up has every Jin dude instantly kneeling and scared. 

The guards send him and Wen Qing go to a giant field of corpses, where Wen Qing runs around checking to see if any of them is her brother. Wei Wuxian starts off kind of detached and angry, but eventually snaps out of it, tucks away his flute and starts helping her to search. 

Wen Qing finds Wen Ning, mostly-dead with a lure flag speared into his belly. Wei Wuxian grimly takes in the situation from across the field of corpses. 

When he arrives at Wen Qing’s side he sees this talisman in Wen Ning’s hand. 

This is the talisman that Wei Wuxian made for Wen Ning back in Gusu summer school, before the war. It’s the one that Wen Ning was wearing at his waist when they met up after the massacre of Lotus Pier. It’s supposed to literally protect Wen Ning from having his spiritual consciousness snatched, as well as being a symbol of Wei Wuxian’s sense of responsibility for, and affection for, Wen Ning. 

Wei Wuxian, understandably, loses his shit at this point. Less understandably, he is about to decide that the best way to express his sorrow and rage is to re-animate the corpse of his friend, right in front of the corpse’s sister. Like, seriously, dude. Dude. 

Ghost General

This super-questionable decision leads to one of the most badass sequences in the show, which is unfortunately chock full of lightning flashes, so not everyone can watch it. Wei Wuxian and his flute and swirls of resentful energy come marching out of the darkness of the corpse field, back to the guards. 

The guards have decided to slaughter all of the prisoners and then run away, which would be a good plan except they should really have skipped right to the running away part of things. When Wei Wuxian accuses them of killing the prisoner in the corpse field, they claim that the Wens have a habit of falling off of a hill and dying. Wei Wuxian can relate. 

At this point Wei Wuxian summons up Wen Ning 2.0, ultra badass edition, who comes flying through the air with his odd, straight-armed fighting stance and cool solid-black eyes and rock-and-roll hair. 

Soundtrack: *Four Sticks*

Wen Ning proceeds to whale on the guards and scare the shit out of his relatives.

Then Wen Qing shows up and begs Wei Wuxian to stop. She explains that Wen Ning is only mostly dead. Like, if he was fully dead would she be okay with this? 

Wei Wuxian tries to reel Wen Ning in and realizes that he is not actually in control of Wen Ning. Ok, see, right from the first day of Wen Ning 2.0, WWX is aware that his control is iffy. Why does he think he’s going to be able to control him later? 

Anyway, this is where we learn Wen Ning’s grown-up name is Wen Qionglin. Wei Wuxian yells this name, and Wen Ning looks up like a cat hearing the “food noise,” and then proceeds to get control of himself. 

This is such a nice symbolic moment, that will be replayed later in the temple, when Wen Ning saves Jin Ling from Baxia. 

Wen Ning has a remote-code-execution OS vulnerability throughout the story; his soul is at risk of being stolen, and he is magically controlled by Wei Wuxian, Xue Yang, Su She, and Baxia.  Meanwhile Wen Qing, Wei Wuxian, and random kids on the street mostly treat him as a child, despite his clear adult capabilities. Wen Ning’s journey in The Untamed is at least partly about asserting his full adulthood, and his ability to overcome magical control is directly connected to that journey.  

After getting Wen Ning to chill, Wei Wuxian calls the floating resentful energy back into his own body, which looks about as comfortable as swallowing a burp. 

On the plus side, apparently resentful energy keeps your hair dry even when it’s raining.

Wei Wuxian should take a page from the guards’ book and slaughter all the Jin witnesses to this situation, but he decides to be the better person and let them live. They go running off down the road, where they encounter Lan Wangji and give him the 411, saying that Wei Wuxian resurrected dead people.

Meanwhile Wei Wuxian collects Wen Qing--half-fainted, again, in an echo of the start of their journey--and collects the Dafan Mountain Wen group, who are hiding, wisely. When they see Wen Ning, Uncle Four and some others start to freak out, but Wei Wuxian tells them that fierce corpses are cool, and they all grab horses and mount up.

Where Are You Going?

Lan Wangji is waiting for them, nonconfrontationally indulging in some visual poetry while he waits. 

In a show where every prop is exquisitely, carefully designed to enhance our understanding character, his Gusu-toned umbrella reveals surprising red and yellow threads woven in, right above his eye line as he looks at Wei Wuxian. 

Wei Wuxian speaks first, saying “you came to stop me?” Lan Wangji doesn’t answer, but asks him where he’s going. Then Lan Wangji warns him that he’s about to abandon orthodoxy forever, if he follows through. 

Wei Wuxian challenges this idea of orthodoxy, asking if Lan Wangji remembers the promise they made together, back in Gusu. It’s worth noting that they both appear to think of it as a co-promise, even though Lan Wangji didn’t speak aloud at the time. 

The conversation will continue in the next episode, because what’s better than a rainy romantic cliffhanger?

Soundtrack: Four Sticks by Led Zeppelin

[inawickedlittletown]

314 Some Thoughts

(This is 1,600 words omg...but I guess I had a lot to say. Under the cut for spoilers.)

Heist episode. I am here for it. And I hope we get another heist episode next season because the writers know how to write a good heist and Ocean’s 9-1-1 is an episode I enjoyed a lot last season. The set up for the episode was just on point from the stylistic choices made at the beginning of the episode so that we learn their names to how well planned everything is and how the idea of taking control of the 9-1-1 call center just makes sense in terms of the real crime — the art heist. I just loved that. 

The set up for the roles each of the “bad guys” is taking is also not only interesting but looking back a misdirect in the role of Tiffany to the whole operation. Also the whole bit with the security guard, Jake, since we the audience don’t know that he’s involved. In fact, we think he’s dead for a moment. 

Maddie managing to send Chimney an SOS in saying “I love you, Howie” from last episode and sending the ball rolling is still impressive writing to me. When things get tied together within storytelling — that does things to me. Chimney immediately finding it odd and trying not only to call her back but also to call 9-1-1 before making the decision to call Buck in the end — I loved that entire sequence. In general there has been so much work put into prior episodes to set up this one from the whole bit with Maddie and Chim to what happened to Josh and they’ve done an amazing job pulling it off. 

Also it’s 8am, where was Buck coming from? Because since we know that this episode takes place the morning after the dinner Chim and Maddie had then we know that Chimney wasn’t working which to me means that Buck likely wasn’t working either. So Buck was either out somewhere all night (insert side-eye), or he was out somewhere super early in the morning looking like that because Buck in regular clothes — that also does things to me. Actually...it kinda looks like he was just fetching his mail and Oli said on twitter Buck was getting home from work. 

While we don’t see it, we know that Buck tries to call Maddie. No answer. Tries to call Josh. No answer. I love that Buck does have Josh’s number at all. It’s also interesting that Buck and Chim while worried don’t know what to do or even if they should be worried. They just both know that something is up and yet there is no real urgency between them because as Chim says she’s at the call center. What could possibly have happened there? Oh, if only you knew. 

At the call center we have the whole hostage situation escalate. We see the epi pen when they’re collecting everyone’s things and they oh so obviously show it so early on because it will come back into play. It’s subtle enough and yet another instance of good writing by showing the weapon and then putting it aside until it’s needed. 

This episode is all about this crazy situation and how it goes down both within dispatch but also about how those outside it figure out that something is going on. Both aspects of it make the episode have a certain intensity, it uses dramatic irony in a way that has us wanting the characters to have all the info that we do. 

One of the very impressive things about this episode is how the people working at dispatch never actually give up and that they try their hardest to use their skills and their knowledge to figure out the situation and find a way to get help. From how they figure out what area of LA they don’t want dispatch to send anyone to, to how much information they are taking in from what they overhear Greg and the others saying. Not once do they give up even. 

Josh thinking quickly on his feet and sending Athena to Chimney’s apartment despite the fact that he’s also dealing with Greg there and memories of what he’d just gone through because of Greg — I just love that so much. I also really appreciate that Josh not only knows Chimney’s address but also Athena arriving there and not already knowing that it’s Chimney’s place brings them all that closer to figuring out what’s happening. Chimney keeping Buck on the phone but then just hanging up on him while he goes off with Athena, did either of you expect for Buck to just stay out of it? 

Also prior to Athena arriving, Chimney was 100% ready to go out to dispatch himself and I’m sure Buck would have joined too. 

I saw a bit of talk about confusion about Buck showing up right where Athena and Chim were but he knew where they were going so it all made sense for him to show up and spot her car and just get in front of her to get her attention. I also don’t think either Chim or Buck were thinking about calling anyone else at that moment. I saw a bit of complaints about Buck not reaching out to Eddie because why wouldn’t he but I see it as perfectly reasonable because there is no time for any of that and because Athena also tells them in not so many words not to. She doesn’t even necessarily want Buck there. Buck has more things to worry about than trying to call Eddie or Bobby or Hen or really anyone else when they can’t do anything to resolve the situation. 

In the meanwhile, the situation at dispatch gets worse because as far as Greg knows, Tiffany is screwing up by taking too long and then there’s also Terri making an attempt to pull the fire alarm and Josh being brave and saving him. Not only is that happening, but the heist team is falling apart and they’re turning on each other and don’t even know that really they’re all being played all along anyway. 

The truly scary moment was seeing Athena walk into dispatch and how absolutely close to being shot she was. But then Sue steps up and saves her and not just that, she manages to pass on yet another message. Code 77 - ambush - proceed with caution. It’s the last thing they needed to finally be able to say that something was truly going on. Next they take Athena’s car off of the GPS system. And then all the rest of the police, RA units, firetrucks all go off of GPS and they are ready to go. Obviously this makes the heist team suspicious, but that also sort of breaks them apart further. 

Linda is the real MVP because she’s the one that pretends to have an allergic reaction. Greg somehow believes her and doesn’t even see it coming when Maddie stabs him with the epi pen instead. And then dispatch takes the building back and it is amazing that they manage it But Sue shooting at Foster. Loved the strength of that. But then we have Josh facing the possible death of the guy that tricked him and beat him up and then took him and the rest of dispatch as hostages and he jumps in to give him CPR because it’s the right thing to do but also because he wants Greg to suffer in prison and face his crimes. Of course, Greg is somehow the one that tells the police everything. 

I admit that I did find it a bit strange that Buck wasn’t standing with Chimney when Maddie came out. However, I didn’t find it strange that he hung back and let Chimney and Maddie have the moment. It also reads like closure to everything we had in the previous episode between them and to me it felt important to show how much Maddie has come to rely on Chim. She doesn’t really need Buck...she has Chimney. 

Throughout the whole thing one thing that was consistent was Buck’s belief that Maddie would be okay and that she could handle herself. He and Chim are worried but even when Chimney and Athena are headed over to dispatch, it’s Buck that tries to tell them that they can’t give themselves away. I think this shows so much growth in Buck — the lack of running into things without much of a plan other than a need to go. And we already know that Chimney is level headed despite his worry. They’re letting Athena handle it and I think they both realize that Athena and the others can handle it and will be doing their best to get everyone out alive.

In the end we get a recap of everything that happened. I love that this is split between Athena and her family and then Buck, Maddie, Chim, and Josh. This would have been the perfect moment to insert Albert into the episode and maybe Eddie and Hen as well. After all, we get a tiny bit of Bobby. But instead we really focus on the full story of the heist and we find out about Jake and Tiffany and how poor Josh got involved in the whole mess. 

Overall, this was an enjoyable episode. It was a bit of fun and I think it absolutely fits into the show. It is a bit stand alone other than the Madney stuff and yet that works within the context of the show since it takes place in the course of a day. I know the lack of development for anything other than Madney frustrates a few people but I absolutely enjoyed it and I can’t wait to see what we are in store for next week with Eddie Begins. 

Honorable mention to how the bad guy named Oliver was “the muscle” because that entirely felt like they were calling Oli out. 

-

My Meta/Reviews Masterpost

[spaceorphan18]

Finding Kurt Hummel: The Purple Piano Project

Masterpost

3x01: The Purple Piano Project

Welcome to Season 3! I’ll try not to whine too much while we’re here, lol :)  

The season starts out on a relatively high note, however, making the whole thing feel a lot more promising than it ended up being.  This episode is fun and quirky and there are a lot of pianos for Kurt to drape himself on top of!! 

Future Plans

So – we start off the season much like season two – Ben Jacob Israel going around and harassing everyone about their summer vacations and future plans. 

Do you see the set up of this shot, guys?  Rachel chattering in the front while Kurt tries to be distracting in the background?  Well – get used to it, because this Hummelberry dynamic is going to drag us through the next two years, guys, lol.  No really – I enjoy Hummelberry in this episode, I do.  But we had no idea this was a set up for (I’m sure someone will argue me on this) the worst Kurt arc on the show – Getting into NYADA.  And, unfortunately, the Hummelberry dynamic (or more so the writer’s obsession with Rachel not being able to fail at anything) plays into that. 

Probably going off a rush of a summer where all they talked about was going to New York, Kurt and Rachel have all their future plans figured out.  They’re going to get a little apartment on the Lower West Side (yeah, sure), Rachel’s gonna be a big Broadway star, and Kurt’s gonna be married (legally!!!) by 30.  Yes – think about what is said here, I know Kurt has Broadway ambitions, too, but I find it funny that his dream aspirations include getting married.  

There are two key things I’d like to point about the whole marriage thing.  Kurt says by 30.  As we find in this season – not before 30 cause that is Too. Young.  But also.  Yes.  Kurt Hummel wants to get married.  And I’m pretty sure he already knows who his groom is going to be.  

But anyway, thinking about season 2, and how that started in such a dark place for Kurt, here we have the opposite – bright and shining optimism.  Oh, kiddo.  This really can only go down, can’t it. 

Purple Pianos

Kurt: Why’s the T-Rex eating the Jew?

It’s exposition dump time! As we get filled in that the Glee Club remains uncool after the Nationals debacle from last year.  Kurt gets his share of funny lines as we get filled in.  

Meanwhile – the glee club is three men down; Quinn pissed off the writers again, Lauren was fired, and Sam just couldn’t work out a contract deal.  So – Will gets the idea that placing purple pianos everywhere would inspire new people to join the club.  I’m not entirely sure how purple pianos are inspiring, but like Kurt, I’m totally on board with the whole thing.  

As seen in the background, the moment he can, he gets himself up and draped over one of the pianos. 

See – look how adorable he is on that piano!!! 

Anyway – Will bores us with another inspiration speech that means mostly nothing since no one joins glee club anyway…. 

NYADA – School for Witches

Lol – oh Kurt, you’re making the best faces in this episode so far….

First of all, let’s talk about the fact that Emma thought he and Rachel were dating (omg!), and the fact that he actually takes the pamphlet about ‘Me and My Hag’ (Lol).  Secondly, let’s talk about these sillies not doing their research on how Julliard is not a musical theater school.  At least Emma is doing the job she’s supposed to be doing in this episode! 

And then she steers them in the direction of New York Academy of Dramatic Arts.  Oh NYADA and my distaste for you begins, lol….  So, this particular school only takes 20 students a year.  Hmmm…  Looks a lot bigger than that in season 4 but whatever.  And the chances that two people from the same school and graduating year getting in? Doubtful.  But this is Glee, so here we go! 

Competitive Spirit

 It’s the first day of school, and Blaine is still a Warbler, but his resolve is crumbling because Kurt is very persistent (and flirty and adorable) in this scene. You know there’s some interesting meta floating around about this scene recently – about their competitive nature and about how Blaine really isn’t /that/ competitive, but Kurt totally is.  He doesn’t mind it at all, really, which means, in a way, that they’re on equal footing.  Ah, how that is all about to change. 

But what Kurt really wants is for Blaine to be around all the time so they can spend every minute of every day together.  Oh, Kurt.  Be careful what you wish for. But also – interestingly – they spent all the time together back when Kurt was at Dalton, and Kurt wants that little fairy tale to continue by bringing Blaine over to McKinley.  It’s obvious they talked about this at length over the summer, but I wonder what Kurt’s (more serious) arguments were for getting Blaine to come to public school. 

But anyway – the fun stuff – just how adorable and flirty these two are here! Hands might not have wandered south of the equator, but they were definitely up to stuff over the summer! 

We Got the Beat

I’ve always thought Kurt was very pretty in this scene.  

I should probably have more profound analysis.  

Well, there’s not much to say, other than Kurt’s used to being bullied by the school, and he’s not about to make himself a target by getting up and singing on the lunch tables, no matter how pretty the pianos are.  

Year 3 and Kurt’s still an awkward little dancer. <3 

This song is nice and fun and energetic.  Not really a favorite of mine, but man, what does it take to get this school into anything?  Geez! 

You know, for someone who is so particular about their clothes – I’m sure this is like the zombie apocalypse.  Poor Kurt. I love the food ray shield. 

You know, never once in all my schooling did I witness a food fight. 

Kurt is just not having it. 

Kurtcedes lives! If only to pass along exposition.  And to exchange bewildered looks as Sugar sings her god-awful song.  

You know it’s funny – I never noticed how seasons 2 and 3 (and 4 actually) openers have plotlines of – let’s open up glee club for everyone! Except not really because we’re a seclusive little bunch. 

Velma and Roxy

Small town is small after you’ve been to the big city.  But Kurt has a plan, that they’re gonna out preform all the other Ohio hopefuls so they can get a shot at their dreams.  I think, for the first time, I kinda get the purpose of this song (other than the blatant relation to Wicked and connection to season 2), but that they’re already counting in their victory against all the other hopefuls.  They’re putting their cart before the horse.  

Say what you will about Gay Hogwarts, NYADA does attract the witches….

The song itself is a little ridiculous but the performance is wonderful.  I love the choreography of this one.  And as always sound fantastic together, and this performance is no exception.  Say what you will about how Hummelberry was written – and I will say a lot over the next two seasons – Lea and Chris’s voices suit each other wonderful, and the show seems to latch on to that pretty well.  

Transfer

Not exactly a pic of Kurt, I know, but Blaine’s so frickin’ gorgeous in this scene.  And Kurt thinks so, too!! Look at that grin!  

But I’m kinda fascinated by this, now that I think of it, how Blaine’s all – check me out Kurt – in this kind of suave way.  And, oh Kurt, kind of caught up in his own drama to even notice that his boyfriend’s one outfit has changed.   

But, just, the excitement Kurt has when Blaine’s decided to transfer.  OMG! the boy is so happy.  

I love that Kurt has concerns – and they are so totally valid.  Blaine did transfer to be with Kurt, and that’s going to play a part in some of their bigger issues.  But for now, they can reveal in their happiness and not think at all about nasty, nasty break ups.  

And – getting Blaine into New Directions.  But since the only competition is Sugar, there really isn’t an issue here. 

Oh Kurt – so giddy that he’s once again getting sung to in the courtyard.  Can this year get any better?!?!  

Everything’s great util you light the piano on fire. 

Velma and Roxy II

Kurt and Rachel are so ready for this NYADA mixer! Only to find out that while at McKinley they might be special snowflakes, in the real world, they’re a dime a dozen.  I like the reality of this scene, tbh.  That you can give your 1 in a Billion speeches all you want, there’s always going to be someone else who seems like they’re more talented than you.  There are a lot of things Glee misses the mark on when it comes to college.  Or theater.  And this scene is a bit over the top.  But it does show that, hey, there are a ton of people trying to make it the same as you – and so you do have to ask yourself – do you have what it takes to compete? Or do you just walk away. 

I think now’s a good time to bring up the Glee Project.  I never watched it, tbh, so I can’t judge what kind of a show it was. But I’m not a fan of the results of the Glee Project.  And I don’t mean who won and who didn’t (Damien McGinty? Really?).  I mean that I have lots of problems with season 3.  But I think one of my biggest is that a show with a cast already overflowing now has to shoehorn these winners into the plot.  (I mean, think about how much space the show would have had without Rory)  Outside of Unique, I’m not really a fan of the characters that grew out of the Glee Project. 

That said, Lindsey Pierce was one of the winners, and her little moment to shine here seems perfect enough.  She’s a great vocalist, and I’m incredibly impressed by what she does here.  This performance is excellent.  

Anyway – going back to Kurt’s story.  It’s kinda hilarious how perfect a song choice this is – this group of kids basically stating that anything you guys can do Kurt and Rachel, we can do better.  Oh Glee with all its subtleties.  

So.  Kurt and Rachel make it back to the car and break down crying because that’s what happens when your optimistic view point gets smashed.  Poor kiddos.  

And then we get Kurt gives Rachel a pep talk v.2.0 (yes, i’ll be numbering these).  And it’s similar to the Born This Way talk – that Rachel is good enough to get in because she’s still special.  The thing, though, as much as I joke around, is that I do honestly like this scene.  Because Rachel is in Kurt’s corner, too, supporting him even though he’s down on himself for lack of extracurriculars.  The scene is a balanced one, where they both pull each other out of this dark place, and I can really do Hummelberry when this kind of thing happens. 

Gay High-five!!

You Can’t Stop the Beat

Oh, I have waited so long to screencap this.  There’s a gif out there that’s even funnier though.  

Anyway – there’s a ton crammed into this little scene.  Blaine joins glee club, which is yay!! But c’mon, Finn, you’re seriously having issues with Blaine possibly taking the spotlight when you and Rachel get all the solos? And Santana’s out for the week.  Why is she only out for one week? Who knows.  And then, finally, Kurt’s feeling ambitious and running for Student Body President, and Blaine’s super proud of him.  Can’t you tell by the still above?

But the moral of the story is you can pull all of the strings out of the purple piano but you can’t pull out it’s music.  Or, er,  something like that.  

Kurt’s feeling light and airy after that handjob.  Oh, wait, nope. 

It’s funny, I think this episode still holds up.  It’s crammed full of things, almost to a fault, but is still funny and endearing and services all the storylines it’s going to be presenting during the first third of the season.  I still really enjoy this episode even if season 3 goes mostly downward for me from here. 

It’s Season 3 people. Bam!

[mittensmorgul]

Hey mittens! I have a new friend on tumblr who is struggling. She wants to be a writer but her fics aren't being seen. She's frustrated. She wants to give up. I've given her the best advice I can give. I'm a small blog but I keep writing all the time. Trying to give her advice, but not sure what else I can do. She's in her mid twenties, lives at home, doesn't have a job or a car but desperately wants to. She's stuck and needs help. What else can I do and what advice would you give? Thank you!

Heck, I have no idea. D:

Write good? >.>

(haaaaa three hours after I started typing this, with the intent of replying privately, I’ve officially invested too much time in it not to post it… under a cut for length, and because I have officially run out of mental energy and real-world time for dealing with it for today…)

I mean, I see advice all the time on how to get seen/noticed around here, and half the advice conflicts with the other half. It’s hard to even guess what worked for anyone sometimes.

There’s networks she could join (I have no idea how networks work, and I’ve been here nine years, so someone who actually uses networks would probably be better to ask about how to do that, but I do know that the point of them is for a group of people to see/reblog member works, so that might help her get noticed).

There’s also things like Profound Bond and Writers of Destiel. These are discord groups, but they both have a tumblr presence (especially @profoundnet which she could look into.) They run challenges, have a really vibrant community over on discord with hundreds of members, and regularly reblog member works on tumblr.

Plus, making friends, working with beta readers or other writing partners will help find new friends and followers who will help spread her works, too. Volunteering to beta read when a “bigger” writer puts out a call can also help– not only in building friendships with other authors but also gaining experience with writing as well as editing.

Interacting with other authors on tumblr, reblogging their work and commenting– even if it’s just “OH GOSH I LOVE THIS” kind of stuff– ESPECIALLY with other “smaller writers” and thereby spreading the word around about each other’s writing will help grow up a community around all of you.

None of us started out popular, you know? And “popularity” is definitely a relevant term. When I started writing fic, I lucked into a situation that I attempted to recreate with the Christmas collaboration thingy I ran, but ouch that proved to be way more work than I really had the time or energy for. I’d be happy to help others run that type of collab and offer advice, but heck if I’ll ever do one myself again. :P

A lot of fic challenges are a good way for new writers to get noticed, too. There’s a TON of challenges out there. Now, something like the DCBB or one of the other larger and more established challenges might not be the easiest place for a newbie writer to cut their teeth. There is A LOT that goes into challenges that newbies are just not prepared for (rules, deadlines, etc., because knowing how to write, edit, and post on a concrete deadline where others are relying on you to know what you’re doing without needing an undue amount of help from the mods isn’t something you want to learn on the fly in a high-pressure situation like that… there’s an assumption when signing up for something like the DCBB or the Pinefest that in doing so, a writer is CERTAIN that their skills– including TIME MANAGEMENT and the ability to collaborate with an artist and follow all the rules (YES, ALL OF THE RULES) and meet every deadline– are up to the task.

So, that said, I’d highly recommend some of the other smaller, more laid-back fandom challenges. There’s new ones popping up all the time, and a lot of them are geared toward specific types of fic (canon fic, certain tropes, etc.), so there’s a built-in audience for their work. Not to mention that in smaller challenges there’s actually more room for exposure, and not having your work drowned in a flood of hundreds of other long works, potentially many of them by already established authors, coming out in the same time period. Readers are literally spoiled for choice in those situations, and an “untested” author posting a 20k+ fic might fall by the wayside while “guaranteed thing” authors works get more attention, you know? Readers have a limited amount of time they can commit to reading, and with SO many choices available, are actually more likely go for the “tried and true” author they’re already familiar with before investing in an unknown author. Profound Bond is just starting the @casdeanflipfest, for example, with a smaller wordcount minimum, and therefore a more reasonable length work for readers to take a risk on an author they’re not familiar with. I might not have time, as a reader, to invest in every 60k fic that crosses my dash, but I will drop everything to read a 5k fic for half an hour, you know?

There’s also event-specific tags that offer opportunities to be seen by a wider audience. For example, for the last few days, the DCBB folks have been encouraging folks to tag Valentine’s Day themed works #dcvday. This is a very laid-back and casual way to put your works out to an audience who’s looking for exactly that type of thing, you know? Other situation-specific tags like this happen frequently (like Dean’s birthday fic, or the Destiel Anniversary fic, or holiday fic, for example).

There’s also fic collections. For example, right now the @destieltropecollection is collecting fics for this year’s lists: http://destieltropecollection.tumblr.com/post/182800717844/destieltropecollection-destiel-trope-collection. If you have fic that fits into any of these tropes, fill out the form and submit them to be added to the masterpost. They’ll be posted in May, a different trope’s list each day. People looking for that specific trope will have a handy list, and you can reach a whole new audience that way. :)

Take writing prompts, if that’s something you’re comfortable doing. People with cute lil fic ideas will LOVE you for fleshing out their ideas and turning them into something beautiful. Or GIVE writing prompts to other authors who accept them. You never know what sort of creative collaboration that might spark. If you have a fic idea based on someone’s post, by all means TALK TO THAT PERSON! Express your excitement about their idea, ask if it’s okay to turn their little headcanon or writing prompt into a longer fic, and I can almost guarantee that the original poster will be THRILLED.

Take fan art as writing prompts, as well! As much as authors Die Of Squee if an artist is inspired to draw something from one of our fics, ARTISTS ARE EQUALLY FILLED WITH SQUEE if you’re inspired to write fic based on their art. Just, if you do this, please please PLEASE actually communicate privately with the author or artist in question before you do anything with it. Make it clear you’re writing out of love for their thing, and not in a selfish grab for attention, you know? Otherwise it feels a little too much like stealing. It’s a fine line, but it’s all a matter of perception to everyone involved. That communication and collaboration is key.

That said, I think 99% of it all is pure luck. But because of that first challenge I did, the next fic I posted was (miraculously!) reviewed by destielfanfic, which I don’t think is the sort of exposure most authors get on their first long fic… This was also early 2015, when there was a sort of Boom Market for fic, and I don’t even think the atmosphere for fandom is still exactly the same, you know? It feels a lot more decentralized, and a lot of the “big writers” from back then have left the fandom entirely, or else don’t write much at all anymore.

But fandom is a cyclical thing like that. People come and go, popularity rises and falls. I think my best advice is to develop friendships with people who are in that same general region of that arc as you are, you know? Build a community, support each other.

I see bitter posts all the time about how “popular” people don’t want to support newcomers, and “elite cliques” of folks are conspiring to hold on to their popularity by keeping others down, and that’s just bullshit. The little group of people I generally hang in tumblr circles with have been my friends for years, at this point. Most of us are kinda stunned that we’re all still around, you know? We all showed up around the same time, and went through these sorts of struggles together. We’re still here, and most of us recognize that we’re only considered “popular” at all by attrition. We survived while other folks rage-quit the show or the fandom. I know that’s not a particularly encouraging-sounding bit of advice, but that’s literally how the vast majority of us got recognized. We just… didn’t quit.

I was blogging on this dumb site for four years before anyone really started to notice me. (and I still know that the perception of my personal popularity FAR outweighs my actual popularity, you know? I’m not one of the elite 1% of writers around here, and I know it, and I’m perfectly fine with that. I don’t post long fic serially, and that shows in my total hit counts on AO3. Serial posting artificially inflates hit counts, and keeps works at the top of the results page week after week, and I’d personally just rather post a complete fic to stand on its own. But that’s a dilemma for another post.) Then again, I started out mostly reading meta and squealing about the show, occasionally commenting, asking questions, or adding my thoughts to posts. I learned the lay of the land, so to speak (who was receptive to these sorts of additions and conversations starting on their posts and who wasn’t, and the social conventions surrounding it all), while lurking and not even really trying to get noticed. I made friends with people before I ever started writing fic.

(but I also have a background in original fiction writing, so I already knew quite a lot about author culture in general, and had a lot of experience writing myself before I started to write fic, which likely helped me personally quite a bit. I was able to jump into writing chat groups and had a bit of writing cred even before I published a single fic, because I’d been writing original novels and had already cultivated a group of “Professional Author Friends,” participated in writing critique groups (which comprise Alpha and Beta Reading in fanfic writing circles), and therefore knew how those social circles functioned, you know? I mean, some of the authors from my “Professional Author Friends” circle, who I’ve been friendly with for more than a decade now, have gone on to Big Things in Publishing. And clearly I never did… aah health crises that knocked me off that train. But I realized I’m happier writing fic, without all the pressures that come from professional publishing, so I still consider it a personal win. But I was able to take a lot of that knowledge and experience with networking and building communities with me and transfer it to fandom, so I know my experience is not everyone’s experience.)

I think the main key thing is to create that sort of community. A lot of new writers go directly to the perceived “most popular” authors in fandom, as if they somehow held the key to understanding how to become more popular, or expecting the “popular” bloggers to “pay it forward” and give them a hand up (whether it be through asking questions or reblogging their fic posts, beta reading for them or whatever it may be). But even there, there’s a limit to pretty much everyone’s time, in a real-life sort of fashion. The more popular or widespread an author’s works become, the more up and coming writers will also see their work, and I get how people want to hitch themselves to that, you know?

Not to mention, most of us are entirely baffled by being thought of as popular writers. And again, I’m still sort of on the fringe of that kind of Big Fandom Popularity myself, and still kinda baffled as to how I got here.

But we’re all just people, with limited amounts of time to engage with other people, and a limited number of spoons in our respective drawers for social engagement. I do TRY to do what I can, but between beta reading for my already-established writing buddies (which I still only have limited time for, I AM SO SORRY ELMIE I SEE THE THINGS AND WANT TO READ THE THINGS BUT I CAAAAAAAN’T AND I’M MAD ABOUT IT OKAY?!), and still want to engage with current canon and write and read meta about it, and still want to actually write my own fic, not to mention helping to run the Pinefest (even though Cass does the bulk of the behind the scenes work, I take on a lot of the day to day general upkeep of it all) and still have to engage with reality and my human family that I live with and like… pay my bills and cook dinner and all that boring shit, not to mention coping with those chronic illnesses that knocked me off the Professional Paid Writer train in the first place… it’s not easy to balance out, you know?

It’s not so much a function of “I got mine, so screw you.” I just needed to make that clear, since I’ve seen that sentiment bandied about recently (again), and it’s just insulting. I think the main takeaway here is that Fandom is a Baffling Ordeal, and the key to winning in any way is to build up a community around yourself. If you want to achieve success as a writer, push yourself to write better. Find people you trust to beta read for you. And maybe most importantly, never “promote” your own work with negativity.

I see way too many writers who add notes to their work like, “ugh this is probably terrible.” Just… never do that. Have confidence in yourself, love your own writing, or at least present it with enthusiasm, if you ever expect anyone else to take that risk and read your words, you know?

So really? It boils down to perseverance, networking, and putting in the work to become the best writer you can, with no small portion of sheer luck. There’s no secret magical formula to success, aside from building a community that makes you happy. I’ve discovered that people are really attracted to happiness and positive energy, you know?

Heck I’m worn out just from spending five hours on this post now, in between Real Life Adulting I needed to take care of for an hour. I hope it all makes sense, but I’m gonna go surf my dash for a while and hopefully recover enough brain power to do the rest of the stuff I need to today D:

[nevada-got-screwed-over]

Taglist: @averagejoey2000

Original Inspiration / Masterpost

Chapter 2 / Chapter 4

Theta!South AU. I Guess.

Chapter: 3

Words: “lunch? never heard of her.” (2,801)

She had always liked the ocean. The sand, the waves, the salty sea air, even those annoying gulls screaming overhead. Once their parents had put up the beach umbrellas and set out those creaky chairs with their joints perpetually full of sand, South would take to the waves. She only ever left for food, water, and the occasional reapplying of sunscreen, if her mother managed to catch her. North hated the water but was happy to build sandcastles with towers and moats all day. They always ended up sunburnt red, no matter how much sunblock they used.

No matter how much she thought, she could only come up with a single solid plan where at least one of them lived. It ended with one of them running to safety, the other left behind. The warthog barely made it to the coastal base before sputtering to death just outside the wall. The only escape was a single Banshee, which seated one.

Obviously, since Wash had Delta, he should leave. And South would get a chance to make the monster who killed North bleed. Maybe even kill it. But, she would probably die. If North, with his excessive planning and carefully laid traps, couldn’t take down the Meta, she didn’t have a chance. Not alone.

They could fight the Meta together, head on in an unfamiliar base with no previously prepped traps or snares. And, not to doubt Wash, but the last time South knew him, fought with him, he frankly kind of sucked at the whole Freelancer thing. He was a decent shot, could hold his own when needed, had those snazzy EMPs, but didn’t stand out the way other Freelancers did. If the Epsilon Incident was anything to go by, she wasn’t sure he was even that good anymore.

There was another plan, buried deep in her self-loathing of even thinking such a horrible thing. She wasn’t going to leave someone else to die, not like North –

The incessant ping of wasted bullets hitting pylons stopped as Wash called her name.

“South, I need you to test something,” He said, Delta hovering nearby. South had been only half paying attention to their conversation. Washington clearly had no intention of deviating from the model Command had predicted, but South had her own schemes to attend to.

“I have concerns about our next action,” Delta piped up, stepping forward from where he was projected. South always wondered how much sense of space the A.I. units had in their projection. “Agent South Dakota was never rated for something like this,”

Her heart skipped a beat. Rated? As in rated for an A.I.? The only reason she was acting her part as Recovery Two was to keep tabs on the Meta for Command and to get the end reward of getting rated for her own A.I. implant.

“What have you gotten me into, Wash?”

“I didn’t get you involved in anything. It did, when it went after your brother.” Maybe she had gotten herself into this mess, taking the deal with Command, becoming Recovery Two, letting them use her own damn brother as bait-

“Agent Washington believes that something is hunting the Freelancers, one by one.” Delta explained, tone evenly paced and clear. He kind of sounded like a school teacher that always confused South and North. She hated that teacher.

“In the last month I’ve been ordered to the sites of five dying Freelancers to recover their intelligence units for the Project.”

“Why you?” She already knew why, of course. She had read the files, been briefed on Wash’s role in her mission, and even asked this same question to Command when they first mentioned it. But she had a role to play. For now.

“Agent Washington’s experience with Epsilon makes him a prime candidate-”

“Epsilon? The batshit insane A.I. fragment that killed itself inside his head? You even went nuts yourself, from what I was told. Weren’t you certified Article 12 for that? Unfit for duty?”

South knew it was exaggerated. She was there after he had received Epsilon, and she was there after the A.I. was removed. He didn’t seem all that different, besides the comas. Just quieter than usual. But Command didn’t trust him, so neither could she.

“The people who certified me were the same people who uncertified me, when they needed me. Funny how the system works.”

“Regardless, Agent Washington is a logical choice. It is highly unlikely he would steal an A.I. for his own purposes.” Delta’s voice grated on South’s nerves, but it was better than Wash’s half-serious half-cryptic entirely excessive round about way of explaining things.

“Then why does he have you?” South asked, genuinely curious.

“Every Freelancer I’ve seen in the past four weeks had three things in common, the first being that their A.I. was missing. I think Delta was fluke-”

“Correct,” The fragment interrupted. “My assignee was killed in an unrelated firefight.” South was still grieving North, now York was gone too? And Delta didn’t have the, the decency to at least say his codename? Washington didn’t seem to care either, and it kind of pissed her off.

“Still, didn’t think you’d be so comfortable getting an A.I. in your head, after what happened,” 

“Technically, I’m not in his head,” Delta explained. “I offered, but he insisted on exporting me to storage. We aren’t synced the way A.I.s are with their assigned Freelancers, and therefore, I’m not ‘in his head’ as you put it.”

“Oh,” South said, something in the back of her helmet humming softly. She still didn’t trust Wash.

“Right. The agents were dead too by the way, except for you. The other agents were also alone, but that doesn’t make the difference any less important.”

“That’s two. What’s the third thing they all had in common?”

“What enhancement did you get?”

“Bubble shield. Same as North.”

“Can you make one now?”

“No, never could. Can’t use enhancements without an A.I. Wash, unless it’s a last resort. I always thought of it as keeping around a backup for North. Oh, wait, did he-?”

“The third thing they all had in common was that their enhancement was removed. It’s almost as if whatever killed North completely ignored you, and I want to figure out why.

“The Freelancers are being killed, South. At least the ones with synced A.I. units. And someone, or something is stealing those units and the armor enhancements they can power.” Wash explained, Delta nodding in affirmation.

“Now Agent Washington is escorting us back to headquarters as quickly as possible-”

“No, I’m not.”

“Why?” Delta asked, genuinely confused. That was as good of evidence as any that the two weren’t synced, Delta would share Wash’s thoughts otherwise.

“We don’t need to run. I’ve been following the trail of this thing for a while now, but once I got you, Delta, that changed. Now we’re the ones being followed. South was left behind as bait to slow me down.” He turned to the other Freelancer. “This thing has killed four different Freelancers, including North, South,”

“All with higher rankings than Agent Washington,”

“Thank you for that helpful reminder, Delta,” Wash snapped, turning back to South. “That’s why I’m not taking it on by myself. I need someone else to help me protect Delta.” So, they were doing the ‘pretty much 100% chance of total mortality’ plan, huh?

“Ah, I see now,” Delta said, monotone voice almost emulating feigned enlightenment, though it was likely sincere. “So that is why you want me to implant in Agent South Dakota.”

“Excuse me?” She stuttered, looking between the two.

A.I. implantation. That’s why she took this stupid deal with Command. Why she begrudgingly used her brother and his A.I. as bait. Why he died. And now Wash was giving her Delta, completely off the books and against Recovery Two mission protocol models.

But if she had Delta, if something went wrong when they were against the Meta…it would be her bloody corpse strewn on the concrete, not Wash’s. And given the already slim chance of surviving a head on attack from the Meta in uncharted territory, undersupplied and outgunned…

She stole a glance at the Banshee. Last resort. The horrible plan.

“The only way to properly protect me in combat is to allow me to integrate with your armor. Agent Washington will not allow me to do that.”

“I can’t, and I – I was never even rated for implantation, Wash.” Something in the back of her helmet was buzzing again.

“Make up your mind fast, it’s here,” Wash said, turning to the base. South felt a wave of dread. They couldn’t be out of time, not already, she wasn’t ready, she didn’t have a plan, not with Delta involved-

“My motions sensors-”

“Are going to be useless, it stole North’s motion trackers and can hide itself from the system.” Wash said, making sure his rifle was loaded. “South, get Delta in your head and flank left. We stand against this thing now, or-” A rocket came out of nowhere, exploding against the wall above Wash, showering the two Freelancers in dust and bits of rubble. “Move!”

South reached out to Delta, the glowing green form flickering in the ash that rained down from above. She thought only the Omega unit had been observed in remote transfer to other implants, but she wasn’t surprised Delta had picked up on the trait. She hesitated for a split second, a thousand thoughts running through her head, but she reached out nonetheless. In another second Delta would share those fears and concerns.  

“I should warn you,” Delta said, monotone voice fading briefly before becoming startlingly loud as he integrated with her armor’s systems. “The first implantation can feel a little…odd.”

---

The world flashed, alternating between a haze too bright to see through and an oppressive darkness that clouded out even sound. She closed her eyes, but that didn’t help much. Her ears were ringing, millions of calculations, probabilities, and statistics flooding every thought in agonizing cacophony. She barely kept herself standing as the influx of information sent the world spinning.

North said sharing thoughts with Theta took a bit to get used to. The A.I. always had anxieties, fears that no amount of logical reassurance could quell. At the same time, North’s own thoughts being Theta’s made even simple tasks complicated. Those brief, meaningless thoughts that every person constantly processes and recycles, repeated in the back of his mind as Theta echoed the data those ideas held. It took North a few weeks to get the fragment to stop echoing his thoughts.

Now South understood that horrific echo tunnel that kept North awake for days on end, both A.I. and Freelancer keeping the other from rest with their individual thoughts crammed into a single mind.  Delta’s calculations, statistics, some irrelevant to the current predicament and some fine tuned to every piece of rubble and equipment within 50 meters of their location, overlapped with his conscious voice.

“Agent South Dakota, can you hear me?”

“South! I need you out here, now!” Wash’s voice was a whisper, the rattle of gunfire distant and distorted. She opened her eyes, the world a haze through her HUD. Delta’s projection blocked the center of her line of view, making the world even less focused.

“Try to keep breathing,” Delta advised, South releasing a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. “Hearing my voice internally can be jarring at first. I am told it helps to focus on something concrete. May I suggest-”

“Will you shut up for a second?” South snapped, world slightly more focused as she struggled toward where she had heard Wash. “That might help,”

“Technically, I’m not talking.”

“Delta, please!” South hissed, the ghost of a whimper in her voice betraying her legitimate discomfort. Delta could feel it, being inside her mind. The A.I. was silent for a moment, though the background chatter of statistics and probability didn’t stop.

“My apologies,” Delta said, the agent taking a few deep breathes to clear her vision and steady her world. The background noise was still overwhelming.

“Can you stop that?” She thought, words caught in her throat.

“I cannot stop running these calculations. I apologize, but in battle, it is imperative that you be aware of every potential-”

“South, where are you?” Wash shouted, voice hoarse against the explosions in the base courtyard. South was lucid enough to try and find the source of his voice.

“Are you feeling better now, Agent South Dakota?” Delta asked, voice still too loud.

“I’m feeling better, thank you,” She said with a breath, the courtyard regaining its familiarity. “How many enemies?”

“I do not detect any on my sensors, but the gunfire would indicate there is a single adversary.”

“South, now!”

“On my way!” South shouted back at Washington, now able to tell where he was. The background noise of Delta’s calculations was still distracting.

“Can you please quiet it down? Or something?”

“I normally export data results to the extra storage unit in my assignee’s helmet. Your’s, however, is full.”

“What? Never mind, just, be quiet. Please.” The noise didn’t stop.

“I’m here Wash.” She said, crouching behind his cover, the concrete wall peppered with bullets.

“Good. I need help on the left. This guy moves fast, so you need to be alert, South. South? Are you okay?” Wash’s voice faded in and out, Delta’s data cutting in.

“Injuries noted...Decreased chance of combined survival...Increased probability of individual escape...”

“She is having difficulty with my presence,” Delta said, projecting outside of her HUD.

“How difficult?”

“Patient has trouble-”

“I can do this. Let’s catch this bastard already,”

“No,” Wash said, firing back across the courtyard at the apparently invisible opponent. She hoped he was about to say they were going to kill the monster that took North from her.

“Then what are we doing?”

“See that ship?” The Banshee. The horrible plan. She wasn’t about to run away, not when she and Wash could take down the Meta. Delta wouldn’t shut up.

“Statistical probability of individual survival: 68.4%. Probability of combined survival: 23.4%. Probability of successfully neutralizing target based on previous encounters: 1.2%. Mission success probability with combined survival and target neutralization: 0.0047%.”

“Quiet,” She thought to him, focusing on Wash. South hoped his plan didn’t involve one of them being left behind. Him being left behind.

“Get to it and take off, get yourself and more importantly Delta back to Command. I’ll cover you as best I can.” South did not like this plan. Before she could object, Delta piped up again.

“Agent Washington, is your armor adequately compensating for your wounds?”

“You’re hit?” South asked, though she wasn’t surprised. She had definitely heard ‘injuries’ somewhere in the oppressive chatter in the back of her mind.

“Just twice,” He said, Delta immediately flooding South’s head with a new wave of statistics.

“Agent Washington has sustained wounds to right shoulder and upper thigh. Blood loss Class II, shock and unconsciousness likely within next 3 hours, immediate effects include reduced reflexes, tachycardia, etc. It is unlikely he will be able to provide adequate cover fire for statistically acceptable chance of individual escape. Statistical probability of individual survival reduced to 34.7%.”

“Shut up,” South thought, the data conveyed in less time than it took for Wash to continue his sentence.

“Movement on twos. On my mark: sync,”

“Calculating alternative routes to increase survival probability to acceptable limits. Analyzing past encounters. Completed. Conclusion: your incapacitated presence did not significantly affect the Meta’s attack of North because you had nothing of value to it. An extra bubble shield and no A.I. meant you were effectively useless to the Meta and killing you would be a waste of its limited resources.”

“Shut up!”

“Agent Washington, however, is still in possession of his unique armor enhancement. You and he are equally balanced in terms of value to the Meta, one A.I. and one unique armor enhancement. There is no statistical difference to show that the Meta prefers A.I. fragments or armor enhancements. This encounter could be used to determine a potential preference. Best course of action: incapacitate Agent Washington and escape. Statistical probability of individual survival based on alternative: 78.9%.”

“But-” South said aloud, the numbers spilling over from the background to cloud her active thoughts. She had to do it. They had to do it. The plan was logically sound. They were the priority, not Agent Washington.

“Probability of 100% survival of both host and Agent Washington: not applicable.”

“Sync!” Wash shouted, South suddenly cold. Her fingers twitched at her rifle’s trigger.

“Sync.” She responded, lips numb, the word repeated on so many missions it had long lost meaning.

“Move!”

“We have to do this, there is no other acceptable alternative.” She really fucking hated Delta’s voice. She also hated that he was right. Wash moved forward, to draw the Meta’s attention while South was supposed to break left for the Banshee. South raised her rifle.

A single shot went off above the indiscriminate spray of bullets in the courtyard.

---

I mean, logically, that was the best course of action. I guess. Oh well. Also in case you were confused: thoughts between A.I. and South will now be italicized. Hopefully that’ll make some of these scenes with the AI communicating telepathically as other characters talk verbally less confusing. If it doesn’t, I’ll try writing the scenes differently. We’ll see how it goes.  

[poeticsandaliens]

Sinners Masterpost + Meta Commentary because I’m extra

Sinners Trilogy - set in a universe where Scully married Daniel Waterson, and meets Mulder one night in a bar:

Sinners Come Down (Part 1)

This Heart of Mine (Part 2)

Need You Now (Part 3)

Full Series On AO3

As for the song:

“Sinners” by Barns Courtney , which is one of my favorite songs of all time

Some meta bullshit on the part of the writer:

1. Scully is fascinating but also a beast to write in this universe, because her character arc seems kind of backwards. Unlike in the series, I wanted to portray her as being less jaded as she gets older, while Mulder has grown more cynical.

2. I ran with the idea that had he never fallen in love with Scully, Mulder would have attached himself to the X Files in the same way he did his partner. The cases themselves would become his constant and his other, but also the thing with which he constantly bickers and struggles. His love affair would be with the X Files themselves, and I don’t have much to back up that notion.

3. The most significant moments in the entire series are when Mulder writes his address down on the napkin, when Scully closes the front door between her and William, and when she sits next to him on his couch.

4.  I said when I started this project that I only intended to write one installment. I wanted to end the series on a bittersweet note, and I wanted the ending to reveal what you infer about Mulder and Scully through the show and through the fic. If you believe Scully will leave her husband, if you believe Mulder will keep his life together alone with the X Files. If you think they’ll ever see each other again. 

That said, I like ending this on a cautiously optimistic note, and I feel like I did create something realistic out of the sequels. I couldn’t bring myself to believe Scully would leave Daniel immediately, and she doesn’t. I also couldn’t bring myself to believe she’d stay married to him for much longer, or decide to have kids with him in the picture. I felt like the most future for Scully would be one in which she cuts Daniel from her life, and has a very close relationship with her mother instead, perhaps closer than in the series, because she’s such a crucial hand in raising William.

5. Mulder in his middle age writes science fiction mysteries. I struggled to decide whether Mulder would be out of the sinkhole of the X Files enough to even write about it, especially when he doesn’t have someone else in his life. But I felt like the books would provide somewhere for him to put his thoughts when he talks to so few people, and doesn’t have a partner like Scully whom he can talk to at any hour. Ergo, he does write, and that’s one of the things that keeps him sane, or at least sane enough that Scully believes she can have a relationship with him given the place she’s at in her own life.

6. I know Pirates of the Caribbean was a very strange analogy to run with in Part 3 but if we put aside my pirate obsession for a moment, I felt like it was a fitting homage to canon Mulder and Scully. It felt like a way to watch them on screen, a passionate rebel and a woman who starts out angry and along for the ride, but who ends up becoming a pirate queen. It felt like a way to pay my respects to the partnership that didn’t happen in this AU. 

[kelolon]

On “Agape”

(Or, The Closest I’ll Ever Get to Meta, Probably)

This is like some kind of weird, disjointed masterpost on why I love Agape. It’s not particularly deep or thought-provoking and it has a lot of bad words (sorry) - I’m not the best at this stuff. But it’s something I felt like writing about, so here we are. Enjoy! (Or don’t, see if I care.)

6/22/17: Updated with info from the guidebook!

So. Agape.

Where to even start? I love everything about Agape. The song, the choreography, the overall message - it’s far and away my favorite program. Please allow me to talk about it at unnecessary length.

Yuri: “Damn it. Who cares about agape?”

Me, that’s who.

The official stuff

The guidebook has this to say about Agape (this is a somewhat rough translation - feel free to correct!):

With unconditional love as its theme (in opposition to Eros) is the impressive "In Regards to Love ~Agape~", with its boy soprano overflowing with the feeling of translucence. When he was assigned the song by Victor, Yuri said "this innocent image makes me wanna barf," but during his mandatory trip to a waterfall, memories of his time with his grandfather surfaced, and he put those feelings into the program. He had realized that the feelings from when he was very young and he skated to see the joy on his grandfather's face were agape. From the choreography, it was said to be "made in the image of things like a white bird or something holy (Miyamoto)", so it feels light as a feather, and yet you can also feel the strength of the will of someone who has something to sacrifice.

There's beauty in the limit of what can only be done "now" with an androgynous appearance. It's an earnestly flexible and delicate program, but the jump composition includes two quads in the second half, putting it at a high level and prompting Yuuri to name him "a beautiful, ever-evolving monster." Although the triple axel is in the first half, you could say that the program composition is challenging for Yuri, who is still young and lacks stamina. Also, in the same way as Yuuri's "Eros", the filler between components is strong, making it a difficult program as well. With a firm foundation in ballet thrown in, movement is in the orthodox Russian skater way, and the costume can't be overlooked.

The concept

What is agape? baby don’t hurt me Okay no, this is serious shit. It’s one of at least four Greek words for love, two of which should be immediately recognizable to YOI fans (the other being eros, of course). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a lot to say about love, including agape-flavored love:

Agape refers to the paternal love of God for man and of man for God but is extended to include a brotherly love for all humanity. [...] Agape arguably draws on elements from both eros and philia in that it seeks a perfect kind of love that is at once a fondness, a transcending of the particular, and a passion without the necessity of reciprocity.

Beautiful, right? Almost brings a tear to your eye. Or maybe that’s just me. Anyway, I feel like this sets the stage pretty well. Agape evokes certain themes: purity, selflessness, clarity, innocence. Not necessarily traits that embody Yuri as a character, but that’s what makes it interesting, isn’t it? (I’ll go into this more later.)

The song

Yuuri: “It’s very clear and innocent, like someone who doesn’t know what love is yet.”

Holy shit. I really, really love this song. I can listen to it over and over and have done so many times. It’s just gorgeous. I do enjoy Eros, too, but something about Agape just really resonates with me. I’m going to punctuate this liberally with lyrics (fun fact: music with lyrics wasn’t allowed in ISU competition until 2014), which I have taken from the YOI wikia in the case of the Latin-English translation. The Japanese-English ones were done by me.

Since my life is only temporary, it desires ardently the eternal love

The translation of this line from Japanese to English (rather than Latin to English) is somewhat different:

This life, driven by passion, is like the briefest flicker I pray for an eternal love

The addition of “driven by passion” is fitting (as opposed to the Latin’s use of “desires ardently”). It makes it seem a little more forthcoming, which is very appropriate for Yuri, who is very obviously driven by passion.

I will believe, I will give, I will wait, I will honor I will work, I will give thanks

Here, too, the Japanese-English translation differs slightly:

I believe, I sacrifice, I seek, I revere, I bear it and I give thanks

I feel like these lyrics in particular do speak to him at least a little. When you remove the religious connotations (whether or not he’s actually religious at all seems to be up for debate - personally, I take the giant, gaudy cross necklace he wears in WttM with an equally giant grain of salt), a lot of these words ring true. Sacrifice? Check. This kid provides for his family, who he rarely gets to see, and has little in the way of friends. Work? Double check. He’s been busting his ass almost his whole life. The waiting part is iffy, but I guess I have to give him credit for holding off on doing quads while still in the junior bracket, even if that was only to get Victor to choreograph his next program. It totally counts.

And at the end, opening doors hidden to us, solemn and famous, it will take care of us to us, solemn and famous, it will take care of us

And the Japanese version:

At last the hidden door is exposed God's great spirit appears, bringing with it pure healing

Clearly, the second is more explicit when it comes to the religious themes. I think in some ways the Japanese version kind of expands on the Latin version, which seems a little more vague.

One can certainly speculate that there are death themes at play in this song, with death presumably being the “hidden door.” The final two verses can be interpreted to be a reference to death as well (the Japanese version is not much different, so I’ll only share the Latin):

The grand, grand Mercy. Ah! I hear your voice My freedom is near! My life with love, the peace of benevolence That this is the eternal happiness, I pray.

The only real difference between the Latin and Japanese versions are that "Mercy" is replaced with "god's love" in Japanese. Whether this “eternal happiness” refers to something like the afterlife is probably subject to interpretation unless there’s some translated commentary floating around that I haven’t seen (which is certainly possible).

On the other hand, it could just be some kind of reference to opening your heart to God’s love or whatever. Who knows? Not me, clearly. 

Yuri: “Switch them! That piece isn’t me at all!” Victor: “You have to do the opposite of what people expect. How else will you surprise them?”

Yuri makes it no secret that he doesn't care for this song. He's Not Into It. When Victor plays it for him and Yuuri for the first time, he proclaims that "this innocence crap makes [him] want to barf." He wants Eros, but of course that's not how Victor assigns them and he winds up with Agape. This is the part where I admit I'm really glad, because Yuri is my favorite character and Agape is my favorite program. What can I say.

The choreography

How do you take a song (and concept) like Agape and a character like Yuri and make it actually work? The program itself, of course. Choreographed by Victor (as he originally promised), it does a fantastic job of turning an angry little hellspawn of a teen into the embodiment of the highest form of love.

(Please excuse my extremely fake photoset - tumblr will not let me do what I want. Thanks tumblr.)

The program begins with him facing the ground, and then reaching up towards the sky. Possibly to a higher power? As the program comes to an end, he’s got both arms extended upwards, hands clasped together as if in prayer. That makes it a little less ambiguous, especially considering the song closes with the words esse oro, or “I pray.” 

The program composition is as follows, according to the official guidebook:

Triple axel Flying sit spin Change-foot camel spin Quadruple salchow/triple toe loop Quadruple toe loop Step sequence Combination spin

It also notes that the planned components were not changed for the Grand Prix Final.

You can watch the choreography as performed by a real person on the second BD, and you can also watch Johnny Weir do part of it on Instagram!

The costume

Yuuko: "It's the see-through costume of legend from Victor's junior days! I never thought I'd see it in person! It's so beautiful..."

I don’t know what to say here. It’s pretty. Look at it. (It’s my phone case.) I do think it’s worth noting the vague cross shape over the chest and the fact that the shoulders look somewhat like angel wings, tying into the religious themes of the song.

The part where I ramble aimlessly

Yuuri: "Everyone's drawn into Yurio's agape performance. I can tell it's completely different from what I saw in practice. No one can look away from this beautiful, ever-evolving monster!"

I think the fact that Agape is at such odds with Yuri's personality has a lot to do with why I enjoy it so much. He's called "a beautiful monster," and aside from the implication that his off-ice persona is quite different from what he typically exhibits on the ice (with the obvious exception of Welcome to the Madness, which is basically him going “hahaha, fuck you” and finally doing what he wants - I highly recommend reading @ice-tiger-kitten​‘s fantastic WttM meta!), Agape (and Allegro, I guess) really embodies the “beautiful” part of that, whereas the monster comes out in WttM. Agape is very ethereal and angelic, playing into his “Fairy” nickname quite well. Which he undoubtedly hates, but hey. I happen to enjoy it. In the end, the “Punk” nickname comes out on top, anyway - WttM cemented that pretty solidly.

Yuri: “Agape... unconditional love. To me, that means grandpa.”

With that said, I don’t think Agape is that outlandish a choice for him. He did find his “agape” in his grandpa, after all. It takes him a little while to realize it - and even longer to really embrace it - but it’s a perfect example of unconditional love. It’s when he’s with his grandpa that we get to see what he’s like underneath all the prickly bullshit. He may not form relationships easily, but I think when he loves someone, he really loves someone. Maybe not unconditionally, but it’s obviously a mistake to think he doesn’t feel things besides anger and arrogance. Aside from the scenes where he’s with (or thinking about) his grandpa, he also shows this side of him when he goes out of his way to bring Yuuri pirozhki on his birthday and in his friendship with Otabek, who he actually roots for in spite of their inherent rivalry. Honestly, that’s a post of its own for another day, but I think it’s worth mentioning.

Yuri: “Sorry, grandpa. I'm too busy trying to skate the program to really think about agape at all!”

At Yuri’s first performance of Agape at Hasetsu, his performance is technically correct, but the “agape” feeling isn’t there, and he winds up losing to Yuuri. The next time we see it, at the Rostelecom Cup, he’s thrown off when he discovers his grandpa can’t stay to watch his performance and becomes angry, falling on a jump he hasn’t screwed up in a long time. In his inner monologue, he claims that he’s “not feeling agape at all.”

Despite the initial difficulty getting into it, though, Yuri nails Agape during the Final and manages to break Victor’s world record short program score. If he was simply going through the motions, stringing together jumps and spins, he would not have scored as highly as he did. This isn’t to say he doesn’t employ strategies to maximize his points (like backloading programs and doing Tano/Rippon jump variations, aka the thing where you raise one/both arms in the air), but there are elements of IJS scoring that focus on presentation - the program components score, which includes the following:

Performance/Execution: Performance is the involvement of the skater/couple/teams physically, emotionally and intellectually as they translate the intent of the music and choreography. Execution is the quality of movement and precision in delivery.

The performance aspect of this score includes “style and individuality/personality.” In addition, choreography is scored based on things like “purpose (idea, concept, vision)” and interpretation is based on the following:

Effortless movement in time to the music

Expression of the music's style, character, rhythm

Use of finesse to reflect the nuances of the music

Needless to say, if Yuri wasn’t able to pull off the concept of Agape, his scores would have suffered. It can certainly be argued that it’s just the performer in him that gets the job done, but I think the fact that he becomes able to infuse his own feelings into the program is what closes the gap.

Lilia: "His short program will have 'agape' as its theme. I believe he's found an entrance to 'love' through his many encounters with others. People shine brightest when they seek to understand what kind of love sustains them."

He may not like it - indeed, when left to his own devices, he does things like WttM, which could not be more different from Agape - but it works. They both do, somehow. He really does make Agape his own, and it’s completely believable.

...Well. Mostly.

[stillness-in-green]

Human Debris Masterpost (8/?)

So in the wake of the series ending, I have several other meta posts I want to write eventually (another one on Gaelio, one for my sparkly new ship, one on spirituality in the setting...), and I am still working on some fic stuff, though the second half of that Gaelio+Rustal fic is on temporary hold pending verification of some information circulating on Japanese Twitter about Gaelio in the epilogue. 

But in and around that, there’s still no shortage of red-stripe watch to document.  I actually went over the word limit on Tumblr for this post (at least, that’s what I’m assuming by the fact that Tumblr won’t let me post the damn thing), so I’m going to do a two posts back to back.   Sorry for any inconvenience, but the first two episodes’ worth of material are too short to post on their own, and I worked too long on Episode Thirty’s post to let it sit another two weeks.  Lets get on to it, with...

EPISODE TWENTY-EIGHT — Battle Before Dawn

We go a little while with no sightings, but Shino’s unit is on the advance patrol in the hunt for the Dawn Horizon, meaning we get their reaction to the bad intel.  

The complaining Dante we only see from the back (you can spot his red hair), but they show Derma’s face as he reacts to the rather more ships then they had been expecting.

As the battle gets properly underway, Akihiro gets launched in the newly remodeled Gusion (Full City, a coffee roasting term?), proving much more capable of speaking up and giving his men orders out on the battlefield than he is in the cafeteria.  He tells his boys to go dance with death (or so the subtitles claim; I am a tad skeptical of this), providing a marvelous example for Ride in going all out.    

Shino, being Shino, gets distracted admiring Akihiro’s sweet ride and gets caught by surprise by an opponent who wasn’t as K.O.ed as he thought, but gets rescued by his underlings.  Derma lays down some covering fire to fend off a new enemy trying to close in, and Dante swoops in to finish off the opponent Shino was engaged with.  He tells Shino not to go charging in alone, to which Shino replies that he trusts them to have his back.  

I‘ve talked a bit before about how I’d like to see more interaction between these two, but I wonder how much time they really have clocked together?  If Dante is a habitual back-up for Shino (as seen here, but also in the Brewers arc, and even as far back as the very first episode), it’d suggest they’ve been paired at work for quite some time.  Perhaps that influence helps explain Dante’s unusually chipper attitude compared to Akihiro and Chad in season one?  

Akihiro being a little unnervingly excited about The Clamps that Seisei mechanic (who has a grisly imagination for weapons and a quirky difficulty with naming themes, it would seem) has equipped Gusion with.  He’s actually a little annoyed by the surrender signal he gets in response to this, the latest in a long string of them, which definitely draws some attention to all the hot-bloodedness boiling beneath that straight-faced surface of his.  I suppose he’s not actually used to surrender signals—the Brewers never went in for them, nor Gjallarhorn.  It’s probably the first time he’s had to take personal surrenders since the CGS days, and I suspect he wasn’t in a position to be doing much of that back then anyway. 

He wants to stay out on the field, not considering being completely out of ammo reason enough to go back and resupply when he still has The Clamps, but Lafter points out that Ride is not fine (Ride has, in fact, been getting kind of nervy and desperate as his first true space battle wore on), and Akihiro is his captain.  He accepts the rebuke without further debate, painting as true what he will be awkwardly telling Lafter considerably later—that he trusts her wholly on the battlefield. 

Sandoval’s ship, we find, is largely defended by Human Debris—like Akihiro back in season one, they don’t seem to wear the stripe on their flight suits—who won’t surrender because they don’t have that option.  Sandoval finds them convenient in this regard, but unlike Kudal Kudan, does not seem to take a tremendous amount of pleasure in it.  Mikazuki goes through them like wet paper.  

Shino’s group comes in to relieve Mika just in time for Sandoval’s personal goons to come out, and Dante shoves Derma away in favor of drawing attention to himself, leading him to get tangled up by the first proper showing of the nonsense the Hexa frames can get up to—not just the wires, which we see Gjallarhorn using periodically, but the grappling hooks.  He takes Shino’s order to jettison the arm they’ve caught, and the trio retreat.  

This could all start to get a little bad, as Tekkadan is getting worn down, falling behind in repairs, save that Arianrhod takes this opportunity to show up and start attacking just everybody, starting with Derma, who has no idea why this is happening to him.  

The show is not entirely clear on this itself—I assume Arianrhod’s claim is that they’re here to break up the squabbling, and that means putting down both sides, which means some attacks dished out to Tekkadan while there’s still plausible deniability about their alliance with Gjallarhorn-via-Isurugi.  

In any case, Orga and Isurugi both know who the big prize is here, that being Sandoval himself, and command their pilots to focus on capturing him.  And here comes a bit I mentioned way back during the introduction of the Turbines—the reason you would ever even consider putting your one hacker in a mobile suit.

And it’s so he can hack into the systems of defeated mobile suits and get you data from the enemy side!  It’s seriously gutsy, too—you’ll notice he’s just floating there in his flight suit, hatches open, easy victim to any stray shots fired his way—though I assume Shino and Derma were covering for him here.  In any case, good job, Dante!  Seriously, this is really cool—the long engagements, the pit stops for repairs and snacks, the electronic warfare, just the whole nine yards.  I’m hardly a connoisseur of robot anime, but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen anything with this particular touch of realism, and I very much enjoyed it.  

And that brings us to the end of this episode, as Iok and Juliette enter the field.  

EPISODE TWENTY-NINE — The Trigger of Success

There is a lone snippet of Akihiro at the beginning of the episode as the fight wraps up, with Akihiro suggesting they need to go fight Arianrhod as well to claim their prize, being told by Lafter and Azee (much as they did when the boys were ready to take Carta up on her 3v3 challenge) that doing that would be the stupidest possible decision and they should definitely not do that.  

Later on, though, we get a bit more material, as Hush corners Mikazuki in the cafeteria hoping for some personal mentoring.  Akihiro bails out the door immediately, saying that he’s going on ahead.  

It would seem to suggest that they were eating together, though we weren’t shown that directly.  It wouldn’t be much of a surprise, though; they’ve been exercise buddies for goodness knows how long.  Akihiro was not the only red-stripe in the cafeteria, though!

As Eugene and Shino do some mild heckling from the sidelines about Hush asking Mika to intervene with Orga re: him being able to pilot a mobile suit, the conversation is getting some very close attention in the background courtesy of Dante and Derma.  

This was, I think, the second I fell in love with Derma on my first watch-through; I adore him and Dante hanging out and watching this conversation with the intensity of people who know they aren’t at the top of the pecking order around here and have a particular interest in how newbies trying to jump the chain on seniority is going to affect them personally.  It’s also the first confirmation we have that they’re actually hanging out together outside of deployments and man, I’m so curious as to how that relationship looks.  

I generally get the feeling most of the Human Debris cast don’t really hold grudges (other than poor Vito, anyway), focused mostly on just trying to stay alive, and expecting much the same from everyone else.  Also, it’s easy to imagine the Human Debris kids with the Brewers were largely sorted by squad and didn’t socialize much with other kids outside of that unit.  You wouldn’t want too much communication going on; after all, all indications are that they actually outnumbered the non-slave Brewers pretty considerably.  Not a situation in which you want dissension bubbling under the surface.  

That is to say, I doubt Derma holds all those dead kids against Dante in particular, but I wonder how they first started bonding.  Under Shino?  Some kind of common interests?  Dante making a particular effort to extend a wing after Aston (the only surviving member of Derma’s group) went with Chad to Earth?

Anyway, Dante and Derma’s stink-eye here delights me to no end.  

We move onward to Allium Gyojan’s office, where Orga is having the single most Mafia Shakedown style scene he will ever get, a task for which he has, hilariously, brought along Akihiro’s team to assist, giving us this great bit of Akihiro getting to menace Allium over the phone line.

(Ride.  Ride, please.)

I checked, but Shino and company to not appear to be in with the crowd on the street.  On the other hand, I can imagine Dante’s computer abilities being put to good use as they were moving in, so perhaps they’re elsewhere.

And that’s it for this one!  Not a huge amount of activity here, but we’ll be getting loads of it as we move forward into the next arc, so lets get at least a start on it, with the next post.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 25, part one

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Holy crap, Episode 25! We’re halfway through! *Cue Bon Jovi*

Hunt Invitation

After taking a nice long break to watch Word of Honor pick lotus pods, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli return to stressing over the shitshow that is the post-Sunshot cultivation world. Jin Zixuan has come to invite them to the Phoenix Mountain Hunt, with a special invitation from his mother to Jiang Yanli. Jiang Cheng reacts to this in a mature and reasonable manner, while Wei Wuxian...doesn't.

On the surface, Jiang Cheng has matured in recent months; much more than Wei Wuxian, with his secret burdens, has. But it's only on the surface, as we'll see later in the episode, when Jiang Cheng's insecurity will take the reins.

Jin Zixuan is adorably pleased by Jiang Yanli's acceptance of the invitation. Wei Wuxian is less pleased, but sort of tries to suck it up. 

Jin Zixuan kind of undercuts the romance of his errand by asking Wei Wuxian for the Yin tiger amulet as soon as Jiang Yanli is out of earshot. 

As always, Jin Zixuan makes an impression by being the best Jin currently in existence, but the Jins are terrible. JZX is working to advance his dad's ambitions, and as such he is currently Wei Wuxian's enemy.  

(more after the cut)

Opening Ceremonies

There's a bunch of cultivators arranged for the opening ceremony. Later someone will say that this is more than 5 thousand people. Ok, sure.

As I've said before, it's best to think of it like a theatre production and assume the other 4,900 people are offstage or, you know, painted on the backdrop.  

The young lead cultivators from the four main clans are standing together. Nie Huaisang is trying out some new body armor.

The clan leaders are seated up on the stage, along with Jin Furen and Jiang Yanli. Unfortunately Jin Furen doesn't seem to have a personal name that I can discover. Her title Fūrén ( 夫人)  means she's the primary wife of the head of the family, according to this excellent meta. 

So “Madame Jin” is a decent translation...if you're French?  I feel like instead of English subtitles including borrowed words from French (”Marquis” in NIH), Greek (”Water of Lethe” in WOH), and other European languages, we could try borrowing Chinese words instead. Jin Zixuan's mom is titled, not named, Jin Furen. Since we don’t know her actual name, I'll call her that and abbreviate it JFR.

Wei Wuxian's childishness continues at the opening of the hunt, as does Jiang Yanli's encouragement of his childishness. I know she's had a rough couple of years, and it's understandable to want to baby her little brother out of a sense of nostalgia. But it's not good for him, and she shouldn't do it; she should encourage him to be more mature, just as she does with Jiang Cheng.

War Crimes Contest

Jin Guangyao says they're going to have an archery competition, and they're going to liven it up by endangering some prisoners. These prisoners are Wens in Wen cultivator uniforms, meaning they're not the noncombatants that were being hunted down earlier. But they’re still helpless people in chains. 

There are three different reactions when the Wen prisoners are brought out.  All the Jins are pleased, or neutral. All of the Jiangs, including Wei Wuxian, are upset.

The Nies and the Lans, what we see of them, are a little shocked, but not obviously upset. Based on those reactions, it seems like this is a maneuver that in-world is considered shocking and cruel, but not necessarily unethical or immoral.  Shocking, cruel displays of power are pretty normal in this world; remember when Wen Chao lit a Lan cultivator on fire just to say hello, and nobody complained? 

This whole scenario, of course, has been designed to provoke Wei Wuxian. One major goal of this event, and the whole reason for wanting Wei Wuxian to come,  is to get the Yin Tiger amulet.  Making him lose his shit in front of 100 5000 cultivators is a good step toward compelling him to hand the amulet over.  

We see Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli both signaling Wei Wuxian to keep it together, and he takes a step back and tries to chill.  

Meanwhile, Jin Zixuan seems annoyed by all this, and goes to take a shot at it, making it clear from his demeanor that this is easy and JGY is making a show of nothing. 

He hovers in the air and makes a perfect shot, pleasing most of the crowd and impressing Jiang Yanli. 

Then his cousin Jin Zixun taunts the crowd, challenging anyone to do better.  This presents a bit of a problem for Wei Wuxian. For the sake of the Wen prisoners, Wei Wuxian should just take this taunting and let the contest end, if no-one else is willing to take a shot. But for the sake of the Jiang Clan’s status, and his continued control of the Yin Tiger amulet, he needs to put the Jins in their place.  

Every Day is Blindfold Day

This moral dilemma is resolved with an abrupt tonal shift, where the humanitarian concerns of all parties seem to vanish. Wei Wuxian flirts embarrassingly with Lan Wangji and then goes as far over the top in besting Jin Zixuan as it's possible to go.

The flirting hits differently, incidentally, when you edit Jiang Cheng's annoyed reaction out of it: 

Lan Wangji doesn't seem embarrassed by Wei Wuxian's request, despite it happening in front of 100 5000 of their fellow cultivators. He looks Wei Wuxian straight in the eye for longer than necessary before turning away; it’s not exactly stern disapproval. We’ll get very used to this look, in Wei Wuxian’s second life. 

Fortunately, Wei Wuxian carries a blindfold with him wherever he goes, (gifset here), and he is such a good cultivator he can hit 5 parallel targets simultaneously without even holding his bow straight or tightening the string.

(OP fixed the angle of the bow for this gif, which is why everyone is standing on a hill in the background).

Everyone is pleased by this shot except Jins Guangyao and Zixun; even the Jin cultivators are clapping, and Madame Jin is presumably this happy any time Jin Guangyao’s plans go wrong.

With that they start the hunt. Jin Zixun challenges Wei Wuxian to do the whole hunt blindfolded. Wei Wuxian agrees, but the censorship committee said no, apparently, so we don’t get to see that.

Flute Hunting

We do get to see Wei Wuxian luring monsters into his nets by being too sexy for his robe, too sexy for his robe, and playing the flute.  

We also get to see Jiang cultivators looking puzzled while random monster roars happen in the woods around them. We do not get to see any monsters, which is probably just as well.

Jiang Cheng is annoyed and concerned, muttering "I told you not to overdo it" which means he didn't, you know, tell Wei Wuxian NOT to do this, just not to do it quite so well. Jiang Cheng knows what Wei Wuxian’s abilities are and he is making use of him, as he should, but he doesn’t have the courage of his convictions. 

Tree Confession

Wei Wuxian sees Lan Wangji and starts to say hi, but then he has a desaturated flashback to Lan Xichen telling him to back off, so he stops himself.  But then Lan Wangji comes over to talk to him.

Lan Wangji starts off talking to him about his latest anti-resentment musical discoveries, and Wei Wuxian pushes back, even calling him Lan Wangji, but gently.  Wei Wuxian asks "who am I to you?" and Lan Wangji turns the question right back at him, then waits a looooooong time, eyes downcast, while Wei Wuxian thinks of a serious answer.

Wei Wuxian says "I used to treat you as my zhījǐ" --which, as we’ve discussed before, is variously translated soulmate, confidant, intimate friend--with a strong meaning of "the person who truly knows me." Lan Wangji says "I still am." Coming from Lan Wangji, who NEVER says how he feels about Wei Wuxian or about anything, really, this sounds a lot like a confession of love. 

It definitely takes the form, visually, of a love confession, as Lan Wangji speaks, then gazes at Wei Wuxian while he waits for a reply.  Wei Wuxian's reply is this:

I don't think Wei Wuxian is oblivious (I'm speaking strictly of CQL, not MZDS, as always with these posts; they are different works). I think he loves Lan Wangji back, and knows it. But Chenqing and everything it represents are between them.

Lan Wangji is quite literally NOT his zhījǐ any more, because he doesn't truly know Wei Wuxian right now. He loves him desperately, but he doesn't know about his core, and hasn't accepted his cultivation method.  So Wei Wuxian answers his confession by showing him Chenqing, effectively declining to accept his still-conditional love.

Snake Measuring

Next we get terrible hetero courtship in the form of Jin Zixuan finding snake discharge on the ground and talking to Jiang Yanli about comparative snake measuring. Seriously: that is the actual conversation that they are having.

Jin Zixuan boasts for a bit, and then awkwardly tries to ask Jiang Yanli on a date. When she turns him down he gets mad, because he's a typical heterosexual dude even though he's secretly a delightful person...very, very secretly. Jiang Yanli, for her part, can't string a fucking sentence together to save her life whenever he's around, so she's not helping their mutual understanding. 

Lan Wangji attempts to hold Wei Wuxian back from beating Jin Zixuan’s ass yet again, but eventually JYL wants to leave, JZX tells her to wait, and WWX intervenes. Why doesn't Jiang Yanli have a maid or Jiang cultivator with her while she's on a date, incidentally? These kids are confused about whether they're doing feudal patriarchy or whether they're doing modern social life.

Jin vs. Jiang

Wei Wuxian jumps in between Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan, which JZX objects to. Jin Zixuan has no fucking business objecting and Wei Wuxian is 100% right, at this point. As soon as WWX shows up JZX should hand her off to her Shidi, bow, and leave her the fuck alone. Instead, he draws his sword on Wei Wuxian, and kind of on Jiang Yanli since she's right behind Wei Wuxian.  Fortunately, Lan Wangji blocks him. 

This instantly blows up into a Jiang-Jin Clan conflict, with Jiang Cheng unfortunately absent since he let his unmarried sister go off in the woods alone with the son of the Cultivaton world's most famous lecher. It looks like it’s a personal conflict, but since Jin Zixuan already told Wei Wuxian directly that Jin Guangshan wants his amulet, any arguments between them are part of a larger power struggle. 

Cousin Jin Zixun comes running up to start shit. Wei Wuxian pretends--I am SURE he's pretending--not to know who he is. The dude hassles Wei Wuxian every time he sees him; Wei Wuxian is a troll, and right now CJXZ is butting in to something that doesn't concern him. Rather than argue, Wei Wuxian insults him by telling him he’s not memorable.

Jin Furen shows up with several maids and cultivator dudes in tow, which is the proper way for a highborn woman to wander around in the woods. She also brings Clan Leader Yao, because if it's Wei Wuxian Blaming Hours, Yao is going to be there.  

I initially found the deep friendship between superhot Yi Zuyuan and dumpy Jin Furen implausible, but then I remembered that my lifelong bestie is a smokin' hot redhead with impeccable fashion sense, while I am a roly-poly nerd.  Friends don’t always match. Also, Jin Furen's actress, Hu Xiaoting, looks like this: 

...so she is actually hot in real life. Not as hot as Zhang Jingtong (who plays Yu Ziyuan) but literally nobody is as hot as Zhang Jingtong. Don't @ me, you know I'm right.

This is a heck of a long scene, so we’ll pick it up in part two! 

Soundtrack: Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi

Writing prompt: Newly-divorced, cold-hearted CEO Yu Ziyuan buys an apartment next door to newly-divorced, warm-hearted pastry chef ...uhh let's call her Jin Dàngāo (蛋糕), sure. She can name her business after herself. 

They discover their daughter & son are in the same college class, and so they meet up over coffee....several times...trying to matchmake their hopeless, hapless kids, while bonding over their own terrible (former) taste in husbands. Who will Cupid strike first, the kids or the moms?

[spaceorphan18]

Finding Kurt Hummel: The Hurt Locker, Part 1

Masterpost

6x04: The Hurt Locker, Part 1

It’s weird that this is, really, the only two parter of the entire show.   I mean some episodes had drastic cliffhangers, and others aired together, but this is one of two -- which makes me wonder if this was originally all going to be one episode.  It’s hard to tell.  

We’re also getting into that cracky, cracky fourth wall breaking part of the show.  I know some of you don’t like it - that it feels like they’re putting too much of a spotlight on fandom and the audience.  I guess it doesn’t really bug me? I think they’ve always done this, even so far back as mid-season 1, it’s just a bit more concentrated now -- and I think there’s a part of them that just didn’t give a shit either.  Not many people were watching at this point anyway.  Idk...  

The Hurt Locker

So - we start this episode off with the bizarre crackiness that is Sue’s hurt locker -- where she her psychopathic tendencies and her meta commentary come to collide.  And when she’s not making voodoo dolls out of Will and Rachel (and plotting that bizarre and icky hypnotism stuff on Sam) she’s daydreaming about Klaine’s fabulous gay wedding because it’s her dream to be flower girl.  

Now - at his point, I’m not sure I can even meta this.  I mean, yeah, I can go into the whole thing where Sue’s always had a soft spot for Kurt - and she has.  And a lot of this is wanting Kurt to have a happy wedding (because apart she finds them both shrill and annoying).  But, you know what, let’s just go with it.  Sue’s mega shrine to Klaine is really a stand in for us shippers.  

Honestly, I think it’s kind of funny.  This particular episode - are the writers poking at our eccentricity? Maybe, sure.  But - it’s also celebratory in its own twisted way.  And idk, in a way - Sue’s pushing them back together because ‘we’ want them back together.  But also - because the narrative (the writers) want them back together, too.  

Would they have gotten back together if Sue hadn’t gotten intervened?  Idk - that’s not the story the writers are telling.  So, if you want to explore that, go write the fanfic about it! But the writers are telling the Klaine gets back together story -- and this is the insane way the chose to do it.  

Alright, so beyond the fact that this is utterly terrifying - I find it fascinated that she places Blaine as the bride.  Make of it as you will - but I do think it’s an interesting departure from the idea that Kurt is the ‘girl’ of the relationship.  [side note - they are two guys - there is not a girl in their relationship.]

Blouses

Alright - so Sue hauls Kurt into her office and you know what? He’s totally not having it.  He’s been done with her shit for years, and I’d like to point out that his unwilling attitude is their from the beginning of the scene.  The minute he sits down, he’s over it - and that’s before Sue goes on to declare that his life ambition is to get back together with Kurt.  

I also - kinda think the whole idea of blouses, light and airy femme-ish gays, is kinda funny.  

So, here’s my thing about this scene.  Kurt firmly tells Sue that he doesn’t want to get back together with Blaine.  And in this scene, it may be firm, but it’s not harsh.  

At the end of the series, Kurt’s going to tell Sue that he’s grateful she pushed he and Blaine back together -- because apart, and even after trying to heed to Britany’s advice and move on - Kurt’s not happy.  In fact, as he says in the series finale, he’s miserable.  So yeah - him telling Sue that he doesn’t want to get back together with Blaine is sorta like when he was declaring them friends and wanting ‘desperately’ to be over Blaine back in season 4.  He’s trying - because he doesn’t think it’ll happen.  

But beyond that - it’s good to remember that this is Sue we’re talking about.  She once tried to shoot Brittany from a canon.  She’s been an adversary since the beginning. Do you really think he’s going to trust her? Or really take any part of her shenanigans?  No - he really doesn’t want to do any of that, nor open up emotionally at all.  

The last episode was extreme on Kurt showing emotion - and in this one, he’s closed right up - because, god damn it, it freakin’ hurts when he goes there.  So why not listen to Brittany? Why not just compartmentalize and move on - because he thinks Blaine has.  

Anyway - back to Sue - case in point, at the end of the scene, she declares that she’s set up an invitational to destroy the glee club once and for all.  And she tells him that straight up (instead of voice over!!). So yeah - Kurt is not going to be open about his most vulnerable emotions to someone who is actively trying to destroy him in other ways.  I mean - that’d just be stupid.  

Bears

So... there’s an invitational.  Did you know there was an invitational during season 1? Yup - it was the episode with April Rhodes if you can believe it.  

Anyway, Rachel’s already talked to Will about going easy.  And now - Kurt and Rachel confront Blaine.  And Blaine is having none of it.  And I love it.  Because for the first time since... season 2? Blaine’s standing up for himself - being his own individual person, and not caving in to whatever Kurt wants.  That’s actually a good thing - because one of the issues they were having was that Blaine wasn’t his own person - he was kind of lost in Klaine and I’m thrilled to see him doing alright on his own.  

Meanwhile - if you watch closely, there is a slight look of amusement among the eye-rollyness we see from him here.  Kurt never wanted Blaine to be his lapdog either.  They’re on an equal playing field now - which is actually pretty good! 

So - in the middle of all the stand-off over invitationals, Blaine gets a text that there’s an intruder in his and Karofsky’s apartment.  I kind of love that they don’t call the police or anything but all go running over there to check it out.  This show and logic, man...  

Anyway - I think it’s kind of cool that Kurt (and Rachel) both go over to help Blaine! If the first few episodes of the season were about Kurt coming to terms with his feelings and the status quo, the next few (as told by Sue in the next episode) are about Kurt and Blaine becoming friends again.  And no matter how much is going on with the competition between glee clubs.  Kurt and Blaine are still in each other’s circles, and are still there to help each other out.  

So, um, yeah, there’s a literal bear in the apartment (and I think that the Karofsky freaking out about it part of it is to a) be funny, and b) show that Karofsky isn’t the scary dude we all knew from season two).  It is bizarre that a literal bear would be in the (brightly rainbow colored) apartment.  But, you know, that’s Sue for you - and Kurt catches on pretty quickly.  

I also kind of wonder if this is the first time Kurt’s been over there.  Huh. 

Delicious Porcelain Rump Roast

So, Kurt’s second trip back to Sue’s office is less lighthearted and annoyed - and more just plain angry.  And, I used to think this was slightly over played by Chris, but now that I’m watching this within context, I think maybe it’s not... 

Sue, literally, put a live bear in someone’s apt - and even if it was a cub, it’s still incredibly dangerous - and could have hurt someone badly.  Not to mention the cost of getting it out was probably not cheap.  Sue’s meddling dangerously in his life now - so of course he’s going to be adamant that he doesn’t want her help -- because it’s supposedly the only way it’s going to get her to stop.  

He also takes the moment to tell Sue that he’s met someone online.  And I have to figure that after the Brittany conversation, he went onto the dating sites he was using before he figured out his feelings, and tried again.  And this time met a dude who seems to really like Golden Girls, too, and I’m sure they’ve been up talking a lot.  Which I’m sure is a nice thing -- because having fun talking about old TV shows vs drowning in the misery of watching the person you’re deeply in love with live with your old tormentor - I can see why Kurt’s in the mindset he’s in.  

Anyway, he tells Sue to stop - but then Sue goes on another meta rant about how he can’t date because the dude will eat him alive because, let’s face it, after six years, Kurt Hummel has become a delicious little porcelain rump roast.  Thank you, Glee, for that nice long pan up and down Kurt’s full body.  Lol.  

As funny as Sue’s whole thing is, Kurt backs away slowly because she is freakin’ crazy, and she does need to butt out cause it really isn’t any of her business.  

Prep Work

So - this little scene is about Rachel and Kurt being teachers - and dumping a lot of exposition about the invitationals.  There’s not a whole lot of meta-ish things to say (other than Kurt’s literally twitchy at Rachel’s new piano skills), but it’s a fun and comedic little scene - where they try to give a nice pep talk to the newbies, but you know, there are only four of them and there are lot of things that could go wrong.  

Btw - is it just me or is Lea Michelle extra orange in this episode? 

I suppose this is the point where I should probably mention that season 6′s actual driving plot line is the same as season 1 - to get these kids to sectionals.  And a lot of effort is placed into that, and you know, we have a tendency just to forget that because we’re so focused on the Klaine aspect of everything.  But I’m saying this now because I think when looking at it in full context, the last three-ish episodes before the end make a lot more sense when we see that the story isn’t about the personal lives of Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson (or even, really, much of Rachel Berry) but getting the glee club back on track.  And, eh.  Fine.  I would have preferred a different direction - but they’re trying hard to recapture that season 1 stuff.  And while I enjoy season six more than maybe most people - I still think they could have gone in maybe a more interesting and less rehashed direction for their last season. 

But, eh, they’re doing a full circle thing - so I get it.  

Ex-Lovebirds

So, Blaine comes in looking for Rachel for piano lessons - but she’s off sharing a pretzel with Sam because -- you know what, let’s not talk about that plot line.  Anyway, Kurt’s in the auditorium, too - and they both kinda eye-roll Figgins (who’s been reduced to janitor, btw).  Which reminds me - the scene before this is the scene where Figgins’s sister shows up as the Carmel High principal, and it is utterly one of my favorite things they’ve ever done.  

As soon as Figgins leave - we get Blaine in an upset pout.  And you know what, Kurt’s gonna go ahead and see what’s up.  Cause you know what? Kurt does care - and because they care.  And because they’re getting that friendship back.  It’s interesting to me - that even though there’s a high level of angst in this scene (and god is there) our beloved obligatory Klaine scene is the only scene in which Kurt is mostly relaxed? I mean - he’s not having to yell at Sue, or be professor to a bunch of kids, or have a super awkward date.  He’s just Kurt here - and Blaine’s just Blaine.  And I think it’s the first time in a while that they’re kind of openly just being themselves! 

The awkwardness is stems from the fact that this conversation? It’s about being romantically involved with other people.  Which - is a super weird conversation to be having with your ex.  But interestingly, pushing that awkwardness aside, they both seem to be there for each other.  Kurt’s going to reassure Blaine that Sue’s just messing with he and Karofsky - and they aren’t actually related, while Blaine’s going to wish Kurt best of luck on his upcoming date.  

Even if they didn’t get back together - I get the impression that they still benefit from being in each other’s lives.  As much as this scene is awkward - neither of them are being open to anyone else on the show right now.  It’s baby steps for them - but they were (are) also best friends - and not to diminish the friendships they have with Sam and Rachel respectively, there’s a bond that they share that’s...different than what they share with Sam and Rachel. 

There’s an interesting additional layer of complexity on this scene, though.  First of all, Kurt telling Blaine about his date -- it’s the first signifies to Blaine that he can be upset with Kurt all he wants, but he’s got to sort out his feelings.  Because if he doesn’t, maybe he and Kurt are really over.  

See - before Kurt says his little admission, they discuss Sue trying to get them back together.  And Blaine’s very adamant that as nice it was that they’re each other’s first everythings -- they’ve moved on and don’t want to get back together.  Blaine’s totally on the same page on that sentiment.  Maybe even more so than Kurt, because Kurt’s definitely more hesitant when they discuss it.  But then, bam! Kurt has a date and -- oh shit reality time for Blaine.  

Kurt says they’re being adult about it -- and they really are.  But saying you’re over your ex and actually being over your ex are two different things.  And I think this is the wake-up call Blaine needed. 

Meanwhile, Kurt is open and honest with Blaine -- and ACTUALLY TALKING TO HIM! Can we not down play that aspect? Communication has always been their hard spot, but here, despite the level of difficulty, they’re having and open and more mature conversation.  And yeah - angst flying everywhere -- but you know what? They’re growing up, too, and will be soon ready to be in that adult relationship. 

Well - maturity aside, it’s still not an easy conversation to have, and Blaine kinda gets outta there before they can get into it any more.  

There’s another awkward hug - not as weird as the Scandals one, but it’s always strange having to distance yourself from someone you’ve been very intimate with - and while they’re beginning to get comfortable with each other again, the physical intimacy boundaries are still very awkward.  

But then we have this last little moment of Kurt by himself.  Despite actually being interested in going on this date - he’s not Blaine, and that hurt and sadness and longing are still there.  He can yell at Sue all he wants, and he can tell Blaine they’re fine all he wants, but when he’s alone, he allows his misery to show through.  

Walter

Oh man - where do I even begin with this, lol

So, first of all, Walter totally was not what Kurt was expecting - and Kurt’s first reaction was to get the hell outta there.  It is creepy - this dude in his 50s purposely did not disclose the fact that he’s twice this kids’ age - and had kids, to get a date.  I’m sorry, like, creepy vibes all over.  I don’t necessarily think Walter turns out to be that way - but Kurt has every right to just jet -- which he kind of tries to do at first, honestly. 

Kurt’s face when Walter says he’s on instagram! 

So - here’s the thing to remember about this.  Despite the fact that this whole Walter thing is going to go on for a few episodes -- Glee is going out of their way to show that this is totally not a thing to last.  First of all, Walter is much older and just not on the same wave length as Kurt -- I mean, all the old people jokes from the earlier episodes in the season were totally setting this up -- but Kurt doesn’t necessarily want to date anyone his dad’s age.  

Secondly, this dude’s got a ton of baggage - he’s divorced, has kids, and is just coming to terms with the fact that he’s gay -- and which can be super awkward on a whole lot of levels.  There are a ton of red flags here, which is why, again, Kurt’s first instinct is to get the hell outta there. But it’s also a way for the writers to show that -- this isn’t a love connection or a good match.  Enjoying the Golden Girls is not a basis for a full functioning romantic relationship when there are a ton of other red flags going on.  

But to clarify a little bit - it’s obvious that Kurt and Walter are at two very different points of their lives, and that alone shows that this isn’t something that’s meant to last.  It’s here to be the last roadblock before Kurt and Blaine reconcile.  

I will say that I do find it kinda funny that Kurt got completely distracted by someone agreeing with him about Golden Girls being the best sitcom ever.  

However! Here’s the thing - Kurt’s got a ton of baggage, too, and like Adam - I’m a little sad we didn’t see these midgames explored just a tag more - because it would have been fun to see just how much Kurt goes on about Blaine unintentionally and be just as awkward and weird as Walter is when he’s talking about his ex-wife and kids.  

Why does Kurt end up sticking around? Because fundamentally - Kurt is a good person.  And he knows what it’s like to be gay, and just need someone there to know that you’re not alone.  He doesn’t owe Walter anything, but Kurt does have compassion, even if it’s for this late bloomer gay.  

Meanwhile, I know what you’re thinking -- do you think they hook up?  After this scene, no.  Walter states he’d like to start as friends, and that’s the only reason Kurt sticks around.  

Later? Well - I could make a case for either way.  The narrative is going to go out of its way to show how they’re rather platonic (really - while Blaine and Karofsky get jokes about their sex life, Kurt gets jokes about how he doesn’t have sex).   I also think that being someone’s first experience could be pressure that Kurt may not want to take on.   

At the same time, I think Kurt enjoys sex - and kind of the way Blaine’s not letting his relationship with Karofsky be intense, I think Kurt could be fine with some casual sex.  I think he has gotten to that point in his life where sex and love/romance don’t need to be so tangled with one another.  He’s still in love with Blaine, his heart won’t change.  But enjoying the physical side of things - I think he’s grown up enough to feel okay with doing that.  

And like Adam - it’s your choice.  I’m kind of indifferent on it, and like I said, could easily make a case for either one. 

That all said - do I think Walter was a necessity? No - I think there are other ways you can show someone moving on from a relationship that don’t involve dating another person.  But this is a) Glee - where they don’t know how else to tell these kinds of stories and b) mainstream society in which it’s routine to tell stories like this.  So I get it.  

Invitationals (Part 1)

Meanwhile, back in the overarching plot of the season - invitationals happen.  And Will decides to not do as Rachel asks and actually preps his group and not throw it.  To be fair, she should have never asked.  Still - he’s kind of a dick about it.  

And we’re forced to sit through two unnecessary vocal adrenaline songs because the episode was running a little light on music.  

I’m with ya Kurt.  Because while VA is flashy, there is almost no vocal showmanship when your lyrics consist solely of ‘rock lobster’ and ‘whip it’.  How can these even be songs for a glee club? Ug, this show.  

The only meaningful thing is that Kurt shares a ‘wtf’ look with Blaine.  They may have opposite groups, but they both can agree that Will and VA and this whole ending five minutes is just stupid.  

Get back to the more interesting plot, show, no one cares... 

[spaceorphan18]

Finding Kurt Hummel: All or Nothing

Masterpost

4x22: All or Nothing

And we’ve reached the end of season 4.  It’s been a long and hard journey, but we’ve reached the end of it.  And, you know, this is kind of a weird episode, but I like it.  

Kurt’s not in it a whole lot - and man, it would have been nice for just a smidgen of where his thoughts were, but the Klaine plot is going to move forward in a positive direction, even if there’s one big tragic thing on the horizon. 

Proposal Plans

Again - Kurt’s not really in any of this, but I should mention Blaine and all his plans to propose.  And, idk, I kind of went over how I feel about it in the previous episode.  I feel like now, I’m just watching it as a fun thing.  

Some thoughts: 

Blaine is incredibly enthusiastic about this plan.  My headcanon is that post-Burt getting the all clear he and Kurt have started sleeping together again.  There are some deleted season 5 stuff that leads me to believe this, too.  

Sam brings up Adam - but we don’t get a definitive comment on the state of that relationship.  Mostly, because it doesn’t matter.  And because there’s not anything to say - and Adam or no, Blaine’s gonna propose anyway. 

I’m really sad we never got to see Sam acting as a best man - or Kurt have all his ladies help him with his wedding.  Ah well...  

Why is Tina speculating of a future with Blaine?  Also - Tina’s so over listening to Blaine talk about Kurt. 

I like Jan.  I think she’s a little ridiculous for encouraging an 18yo to get married, but I like her as a mentor for Blaine. 

Mentors

Ah man this scene.  Which as gotten so much flack over the years.  Here’s my two cents about the production.  No - it’s not the best Klaine scene we ever got.  Maybe some of the acting was a little understate, maybe some of it was overstated.  And maybe both the editing and direction weren’t exactly what this portion of the story needed.  Looking at it in a bubble, it’s a little weak.  That said - I don’t think it’s as bad as everyone makes it out to be.  And I personally have more issues with the editing then I do with the acting.  But that’s just me.  Moving on to the story.... 

First of all -- let’s address the issue that Kurt’s cold and distant in this scene.  Well.  I don’t really think that he is.  Distant - maybe.  But let’s put it in some context.  He has literally just met these people.  And they’re sweet and nice, and Kurt does say it’s nice to meet some older gay people that they can look to.  But they just met - and we all know how Kurt is about opening up to people.  And it’s a little different than, say, meeting Isabelle - whom he clicked with immediately.  This is someone Blaine’s met initially, and Kurt still needs to feel it out on his own terms.  

Plus, he does look and smile at Blaine on a few occasions.  Most of them are when the camera are pointed at Blaine, or from up above, so it’s hard to tell, but it is there.  (Which is why my issues are with editing.) 

See - Kurt’s smiling and having a good time.  :)  They’re even sharing one plate of dessert with each other.  

Yeah the line where he claims they’re not a couple is a little awkward.  And I’ve read some great meta about how whatever’s going on with Blaine at the moment is complicated, and Kurt hasn’t fully worked it out - but he’s not really going to get into /that/ with a couple of strangers that he’s literally just met.  I mean, c’mon, he didn’t even get into that with Rachel.  Besides - he lifts the coffee cup to cover his mouth - which is a deliberate direction choice, because people often hide their mouth when they’re lying or trying to cover something up.  They may not officially be a couple, but they’re not /not/ a couple.  

Anyway - the lesbian couple talk about their life together - and it’s a run down of a lot of gay culture and history.  I do want to mention that they say they broke up twice and got back together twice.  And I know there are two groups of people - the people who believe RIB planned out the Klaine story, and those who don’t.  And while I don’t think they had every detail planned (I mean - Cory was still alive when they shot this) - I do think the they knew the long term plans for Klaine.  And I think that line was intentional - especially when all the precognitive lines from Burt earlier about Kurt getting married and having babies, and telling Blaine they’ll be fine turned out to be true.  And they knew the show would be on for two more years and that’s it.  So yeah, I think they knew there’d be another break up in the cards. 

But Jan and Liz are sweet - and Kurt is endeared by their story. 

Kurt’s face when Jan asks Liz to marry her.  Kurt is just so thrilled to witness this surprise show of romance.  And a second later, he just adores it.  This is the first of two major romantic things to happen within this episode, and Kurt reacts positively to both of them.  Hmmm.  ;) 

But also - the significance of this being two women who decide to get engaged in a small town restaurant, and everyone’s clapping and happy for them.  The Jan and Liz stuff is about more than being mentors for Klaine - it’s commentary on gay rights - as is all of the marriage equality stuff.  

I’m a little sad we didn’t get to see any more of Jan and Liz... 

All or Nothing

So, it’s Regionals ----- finally.  And Brittany has a big announcement.  She’s pregnant!! No.  The actress was.  But Brittany herself was headed off to MTT.  And she goes around the circle and tearfully says goodbye.  And weirdly, has a line for everyone but Kurt.  It seems super strange -- especially since they’ve been unicorns together.  But it makes me think one of two things - the line for Kurt was cut, or Kurt wasn’t originally in the scene.  I can see either being true - more so than they just forgot to write in a line for him. Man, why didn’t we have the scripts for all the episodes? 

Speaking of scripts - we did get some deleted dialogue from this moment during Blaine and Marley’s duet of All or Nothing. 

Kurt: “Why am I so nervous?” Santana: “Because you still love him, you dope.”

First of all - I’m entertained that Santana calls him a dope.  Ah the love in their friendship.  

Yeah this would have been nice to hear.  And yes, I get the criticisms that it’s not Kurt being the one to say it.  I mean, we really haven’t had Kurt explicitly say anything about how he feels towards Blaine since....  Thanksgiving?  God damn, all this subtext is exhausting.  But - I do think this is the show telling us how he feels.  And I think, possibly, one reason why they cut it is because they felt they were being too explicit about it.  Oh show....  

At least kept in is this nice moment of Kurt getting teary eyed at Blaine singing. 

So - New Directions win, and Will and Emma decided that it’s a good time to get married.  And look who’s excited about a surprise wedding.  I mean, Kurt’s jumping up and down excited. 

So, seriously, the next person who tries to convince me that Kurt’s not alright with either his surprise proposal or his surprise wedding - I will throw this episode at you!! 

And as we pan out of season 4 - we’re left with the promise of a ring and a continued story.  I know a lot of people weren’t thrilled with it - I know I was antsy to have more of a conclusion than /that/.  But maybe now that I have the full picture, I don’t mind so much.  

I mean - Season 4 was about them being apart.  And yeah - there were together in the first three episodes, but not really.  And they were technically apart at the end, but I could argue not really there, too.  But it’s weirdly symmetrical.  Because season 3 and 5 have them together.  And season 2 and 6 have them finding each other for good.  Idk - it’s an interesting pattern. 

And, I can’t quite explain why, but the proposal feels like it belongs to season 5.  Now that we’re years later - season 4 ends just the way it’s supposed to.  With a lot of hope. 

But also - going forward, Klaine is going to be the main couple of the show.  And Kurt gets to have a story again.  And really - I’m excited for both.  So bring on season 5 ;)