#now I hear you say serpico

[alovelyburn]

This has nothing to do with anything, but after having several arguments with AI  chatbots about this (don’t ask), it occurs to me that one of my biggest pet peeves with the evil (human) Griffith crowd is the rampant hypocrisy. 

Uh, just ranting about Griffith again, it’s been building up in the like 1.5 months I’ve been semi-MIA. Nothing to see here.

I’ve said before that when I read their descriptions of Griffith’s actions and crimes I feel like they’re sitting around going, “Oh hey tripped and fell on a guy one time, let’s call that assault and battery kekekekekekekeke.” And it really does feel like that, but it also feels like another pet peeve i have just in general which is an absolute refusal to consider contextual norms. And in this case that applies when judging him and only him.

For example, one thing that has come up is this idea that Griffith has child soldiers with the examples being Casca (because she was young when they met), Rickert, Sonia, etc. 

But ok first of all Griffith is the same age as Casca and she volunteered so that’s stupid. I’m not saying 14-year-olds or however old she was should be considered of sound mind to volunteer for war, I’m just saying if she can’t be considered responsible for her decision to join because she was a child then he shouldn’t be considered responsible for having the questionable judgment to accept her, because he’s exactly the same age as her.  

But more to the point, whatever historical period the Berserk timeline primarily adheres to, it isn’t “the modern one,” right? Whether you assume its moral standards are more in line with the middle ages or the renaissance or anything in between, it was still common for 12 and 13 year olds to be soldiers, so it’s a little weird to villify him for doing what everyone did, which is also evident in the fact that Guts was on the field as a literal 10-year-old and no one was surprised.

...also Rickert’s 20 years old now - if the Eclipse was 3-4 years in the past, then he was 16-17 back then, he’s not THAT young, he’s just short.

Similarly, if you’re going to get on him for being “brutal” and “using violence to attain his goals” then you ought to be getting on literally every major character and most of the minor ones. Everyone in the Band of the Hawk was a soldier - they’ve all killed dozens or hundreds of people. Griffith was a war leader - every single general or leader of men you see in Berserk makes the same kinds of choices he had to make. Serpico burned his own mother (”but he felt bad about it” Yeah, and Griffith did too?). They all use violence to achieve their goals - if anything, Griffith was a bit of a marshmallow for being so upset about it but he still did what he had to do. Guts has the highest body count in the manga, and is so unbothered that he never even thinks about it.

One conversation I had involved a statement of the effect of, “he’s not all bad or anything, but it's important to remember that he is brutal and destructive and willing to use violence to achieve his goals and blah blah, and I was just kind of like... I’m not here to pretend that he’s never been brutal, but where are the people saying “Yeah Guts has a good heart and mostly good intentions, BUT it’s also important to remember he has the highest body count in the manga and doesn’t care about it, he assaulted Casca, he was the actual one who committed all the assassinations and he wasn’t even bothered by it, he considers killing innocents a decent crowd-management technique, he routinely kills people literally just for not moving when he’s trying to get past them, and he’s been known to use children as monster bait.”

You hear a lot about how Griffith “used” Guts to commit those assassinations but that’s out of touch with reality. What actually happened in the first one is that he asked Guts to do it, Guts didn’t care and even made a quip about how Griffith shouldn’t have bothered making it a request and should’ve just made it an order, and then he went and did it and wouldn’t have been bothered if he hadn’t accidentally killed Adonis, which Griffith didn’t even tell him to do. And what actually happened in the second one was that they were co-conspirators, not some master manipulator and his puppet, and in the end Griffith felt bad about it and Guts didn’t.

What I’m saying is, not only do I on principle object to judging characters by standards that are wholly inapplicable to them in the context of their story and world, I also think it’s weird that it only applies to Griffith. It’s like everyone else in the series gets a “well that's just part of the world” pass, and then with Griffith it’s like let's list out everything he’s ever done that a 21st century western person would find objectionable, frame them all in as hyperbolic a way as possible, and then use them as examples of why he’s an awful person.

“He’s motivated by power, money and glory.” He never mentions money except in the context of needing it to supply his men, he specifically notes that he doesn’t really like the nobles and such fawning over him and as for power, I mean I guess wanting power is inherent to ambition but the only things we really know about his motivation directly is that he wants to see how far he can go, and the only thing we know about what he does when he has power is that he tries to move toward egalitarianism, like even Neo does that and Griffith certainly did. 

Someone once told me that he’s narcissistic because he’s preoccupied with his looks, but like... no he isn’t. It’s everyone else that’s preoccupied with his looks.

It’s just a bunch of unsupportable assumptions based on vibes, I don’t know how else to frame it. If you can’t back it up, don’t say it. Especially not to me, l-lol. 

...I should probably delete this, lmao. 

[13eyond13]

Hey! What do you think about Berserk’s secondary characters? Such as Judeau, Luca, or Skull Night? Who’s your most and least favorite?

Ooh, thanks for asking! THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MORE MINOR BERSERK CHARACTERS:

BAND OF THE FALCON/HAWK: So the members that made the biggest impression on me aside from Guts/Casca/Griffith, in order of how much I liked them, were:

1. JUDEAU: he was probably my next most favourite member of the Band. I thought he was pretty kind and emotionally intelligent - I liked his loyal/thoughtful/peaceful mediator vibe, and I always wanted to hear what he had to say about everybody else. I'm still not ok about what happens to him in the end, it was one of the most emotionally upsetting parts of The Eclipse to me for sure...

2. RICKERT: He started standing out to me way more post-Eclipse as a character when he starts having to make more decisions on his own. I love the ways he's dealing with his grief and I was very proud of him whenever he stood up to Griffith, hahaha. I'm really interested in seeing what part he's going to play in the finale of the story, too...

3. PIPPIN: the only scene I can really remember about Pippin now is when he literally picks up Guts and drags him down to force him to hang out with everybody else, which was great. Hahaha I liked him, but I don't remember a whole lot else about him other than that? I think that he was pretty quiet most of the time.

4. CORKUS: He's probably the one you're kinda supposed to not like as much as the others in the group, as he's pretty abrasive at times. He added some spice to things for sure, and I could see why he might feel negatively about Guts, and some of the stuff he says made for interesting contrasts to the positivity/comradery going on otherwise. I didn't feel a ton of love for him at any point, but also I don't think he deserved what he ended up getting in the end either, of course...

BLACK SWORDSMAN PARTY:

1. PUCK: I'm attached to him quite a bit simply because of how much he was with us in the beginning / during the parts where Guts was wandering around all surly and angry and alone. I think he sort of gets reduced to only comic relief a bit much in the later parts of the story, but he definitely kept me going through some of the darker and more nihilistic parts with his cuteness and kindness and the way he always pointed out the stuff that was at times bugging or concerning me about Guts, hahah. Also, I love whatever weird thing he has going on with the Behelit, hahaha. It's like his little pet... feeding it cheese...

2. SCHIERKE: OK so I was kind of like OHHHNOOO at first about the kid characters permanently joining Guts traveling party, because I didn't really want the story to start attempting to pander to kids a bunch when it's so clearly adult in subject matter and themes and tone much of the time. But Schierke definitely grew on me more over time, especially in the scenes where she's interacting with Guts alone - I think her witch powers are pretty impressive, her quiet/nervous personality is usually cute, and her crush on Guts is endearing as well, haha - the way she's self-aware that it's because "he's an adult who paid attention to me, and I liked it" reminds me of the kind of things I would've been saying at that age myself. I was always trying to be serious and sensible and cautious and adult all the time as a kid about such stuff, too...

3. FARNESE: She had some of the most dramatic and interesting character development of any of the characters in the entire series, I would say. Thinking about who she was when we first met her versus who she ends up becoming later on is pretty impressive. I especially like how hard she works at humbling herself, learning new things and opening herself up to new people and new ways of thinking and being, even though she also feels completely useless and incompetent at it much of the time.

4. SERPICO: I feel almost like I'd have to reread the story to really get a handle on this character better, because he often slipped into the background for me? I think his fights with Guts were pretty interesting, but otherwise he just didn't really resonate that strongly with me or stand out to me that much, and I never felt that attached to him at any point tbh

5. IVALERA: sassy and cute, but I don't have that much else to say about her

6. ISIDRO: My least favourite of the bunch, because he often actively irritates me whenever he's on the page, and the comic relief he's supposed to provide never really hits the mark for me. I feel like he just throws off the tone of the story a lot with all the loudmouthed insecure spunkiness, like he's out of place and was meant to exist in a Shonen series like Naruto or something else instead, haha. IDK... maybe I'd warm up to him more and see why he's necessary to include more upon a second read...

OTHER NOTABLES: 1. SKULL KNIGHT: I love him a lot, haha. He's got such an oddly chill and polite vibe for what a dramatic and scary-looking presence he has. He definitely can feel very plot-devicey as a character at times, but it doesn't mean I'm not always glad to see him whenever he shows up, and I think his personal history with the Berserker Armour is pretty interesting as well

2. NOSFERATU ZODD: I like him quite a bit too... definitely the most chill of the monsters to me, haha. Chill is almost always a plus to me, especially when the character is otherwise a bit larger than life

3. LUCA: I liked her! One of the more palatable characters in that arc. Was glad she was watching out for Casca like she was...

4. CHARLOTTE: I worry about her, but I feel for her too! The fanart she kept making of Griffith made me lol tbh.. I hope nothing too bad happens to her now that she's actually hitched to him...

[the-firebird69]

Watch "Serpico (Mikis Theodorakis) - Notis Mavroudis & Panagiotis Margaris" on YouTube

Yeah give him a promotion for what he's doing and he later accepted it formally and said he deserved it and kind of does there's so many slaps and losers and people that don't do anything that they need to have somebody to do something and we do too but we don't need our son doing too much and he knows that. Today we started taking control of major businesses. It's cuz the boob left almost. Giant businesses and when was last talked we were around 68% and what we're at now is about 74% really approaching 75 and it's going to get faster not slower we were told they need people at the front and they need people to make weaponry for the warlock and the max. Well I have it in Brazil and the max have it all over the place but they're making tons of stuff okay we came down and we're delivering motorcycles scooters all the cars and trucks that already made huge numbers of them and these people here basically sold all the new ones and they're just waiting and keep moving their stuff around in the lot and people keep getting mad saying we don't want those used ones stop moving in them around they're making us angry Toyota had a whole load of him and they were gone that afternoon which is not really a normal rate people don't care they need cars so they went in there and bought them they're hundreds of people after. They said this week sometime and that's what it is I'm going to ship it here in the night usually bring a lot when they start somewhere in the warehouse tons of them okay like a million for this area just Charlotte county and surrounding and they're moving out right now they're shipping them here and they have about 200,000 in and tomorrow morning the sales begin and the trucks will begin shipping and they're going to ship the used cars out and they plan to. Finally. And they're doing it all over the world and all over the USA. We put in the new fuse panels and dischargers because we don't want to hear it every few seconds from idiots or other. They ruin the car we changed it over we don't have to start when you stop thing or whatever it is auto turn off is removed from every vehicle and all the other stupid s*** that they put on there man this people are so dumb they've attracted so much hate and they deserve it. What's the stuff is by Tommy f and the kept doing it and doing it they put him in charge that stupid bike show and the guy got his Eagle pumped up so high he's never coming down and that's how our son says it and that's what it is what an egotistical piece of s***. He's getting a lot of people hurt with that kind of stuff and we don't want to see it or hear it we want him out of there. Now we sent out a lot of trucks and cars today it's a huge huge number and a lot of people are going to buy cars tomorrow and a lot of people have some money and people going to be tracking that and idiots who are still dealers going to be tracking it and they're going to be buying all sorts of stuff no just mainly cars. And there's a whole bunch of other people who are wondering why are sentences just sitting there with nothing and nobody cares nobody's doing anything and they figured out pretty soon and they start getting involved and really it's about this a****** next door. And he's starting to get his ass kicked and he should he's a piece of dirt. And it's not allowed to buy new cars and it's not allowed to go to the car lots but people say that and they say I think is the car dealer and they try and figure it out and right now they're going to say we don't want you there and they're going to try and kick him out. What they're using with them is not that great I say outlandish and what we have to do about it is crazy but we are on it okay. And we're doing our job and we are coming down and we have to and there are a whole bunch of people who don't understand what that means but we do. And we want to take you to task cuz you're not letting him eat enough food or the right food and you're beating him up about it so we're going to beat you up and you people suck here no very stupid.

Now you're going to be proven to be stupid more luck. Tomorrow the max don't want you to get any cars they want the cars they don't want you to get any cars at all. Or mopeds or motorcycles. Now they opened up all these plants we did and the assembly factories. And they're huge ones but we have to send all the parts and we're going to send those parts as soon as they factories get set up on an individual basis. And we're going to send as many as we can. And there's tons and tons of people who are saying send them now and stuff like that and they used to do that back in the day but now I send a bin and they use the bin in the whole process I'm going to take the bin back and you don't have to transfer it most of them are in bubblepack you just pull it out and use it. It was explained, and we talked to their boss and they fire the idiot every time. It's a lot of calls they used to stealing the parts and it sees idiot trumpsters so all day long they're trying to take stuff from us and fail all day long they trying to take it from the Max and fail all day long it's a job them trying to do this stupid s*** all day long. So we put a crazy number of apds today tons of APD huge warrants on the idiot next door he's got 20 and the max put like 450 for Florida and for Southwest Florida actually and for his name as John remillard there are 20 out of those 450 and actually there's several aliases listed. And all of them have John remillard so I'm trying to get them out of there they're going after his people. Right now I have the 25 houses that were here they're about 10:00 that packed up essentials and 15 are thinking about it no five more will probably do it momentarily and the same thing happens they go after him and then they get rid of the bosses and the underlings come out to these idiots and their army

Stan is also under siege another 2 million octillion and it'll be gone momentarily. And after that 2 million octillion and after that to a million octane in about three more runs and that whole area should be empty except for the huge basis well those are emptying too and they're emptying out trying to attack stain all of them are going to empty out at 6:00 or 8 million octillion and they'll be completely empty there won't be anything in the east. You feel that stanis hit Trump thinks he kills him as Owen and Luke's home with his wife Sherry and then goes over and hits a base in the meantime Luke and Obi-Wan return it looks like they just leave them there but no others came by and it was Biden and resuscitated Stan and his wife and Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi had to leave the sand people are on them. Darth Vader is formed but we think this is going to happen possibly tonight which is today are well really is tomorrow over there

Thor Freya

[curapicas]

broke: all the girls of the group are in love with Guts

woke: EVERYONE except Ivarela is in love with Guts

[rahleeyah]

Did somebody ask for Nick Amaro punching Elliot Stabler in the face?

It's nice to be back in New York. He wishes it was under different circumstances - Christ does he wish - but he missed the city. LA isn't the same. Zara's there, and Gil's in San Diego, and they have both grown so much in the last five years and he wouldn't have missed that for anything, but he does wish, sometimes, that they could have stayed at home. In New York. 

He's come to bury his mother and clean out her apartment. Before that gets started, though, he's got some faces he wants to see. He doesn't know for sure if they'll still be there, doesn't know what he'll find, but he knows he has to look, and in his heart he believes that as long as Liv is still alive and in possession of two good legs, she'll be at SVU. That place, it's more than just a job, to her. It's a calling. She's a goddamn crusader. 

For a minute he stands looking up at the station, weighing whether or not he wants to go in. Whether or not he wants to know what's happened to Barba, and Carisi, and Fin, and Rollins. Shit. Rollins. No way is she still there, he thinks. 

He could have called. Should have called. Friends for life, he and Liv had promised each other, and they are, and they will be, but not the kind of friends who call each other and gab on the phone on Saturday afternoons. The kind of friends who'll take a bullet for each other, who'll drop everything and fly to the other side of the country after five years of no contact, if that's what they need. But not Facebook friends. It's just not in their DNA. They're bound by blood now; they don't need a phone call. 

So he takes a deep breath and walks into the station, gets on the elevator behind some asshole in a flashy suit like the kind Barba used to wear, and the guy is talking on his phone but he's pressed the button for SVU so Nick can't escape him, just has to stand there and listen. 

"I'm not asking, I'm telling," the guy says. "why? 'Cause I'm your father, that's why." 

The guy's tone and the words coming out of his mouth remind Nick forcefully of his own father, and that makes him hate this man he doesn't even know. The door slides open and Nick goes to step out but the guy must not have registered he's there; the guy almost steps on him on his way out of the elevator and doesn't even apologize, just hangs up his phone and goes heading towards SVU and Nick is once again following him. His knee never healed right and Nick isn't as quick as he used to be, and the guy gets further and further ahead of him. 

"She here?" The guy calls to a young female detective sitting at one of the desks. The squad room looks completely different, now, and for a second Nick feels like all the breath has just been knocked out of him. The girl says yeah, go on back, and the suit heads for Liv's office. Must be the ADA, Nick thinks. And shit, this is weird. It's like walking into his childhood home and seeing another family living there. It's like finding out there's no such thing as home, really. Like whatever home is, one day you stop belonging there. 

"Help you?" The girl calls to him. 

"Yeah," he says. It's too late to pretend he's not here. There's no sign of Rollins, or Fin, or Liv, but he's gonna do what he came here to do. 

"Is Benson around?"

The girl gives him an appraising look.

"Who's asking?"

Before he can answer, a voice is calling out behind him. 

"Nick?"

He turns, and there she is. Amanda Rollins. Still blonde, still beautiful, and shit, Carisi is standing right beside her. 

"Amanda," he says, and in the next second she's running at him, flinging her arms around him. They hit so hard he could have picked her clean up and spun her around, if it weren't for his bad knee. As it is he nearly goes flying, but he catches himself, and holds on to her tight. He's missed her, more than he wants to admit. 

"Oh, my God," she says as she pulls back. "It's so good to see you. You look good."

"Yeah," he says. "So do you." 

And she does, and he wishes that didn't hurt. 

"Carisi," he says next, and holds his hand out for a shake. Carisi’s hair has gone grey, and his suit is too flash for a cop, but he’s still Carisi, and he bats Nick’s hand away, and pulls him in for a hug.

“If we’d known you were coming we’d have gotten a cake or something,” Carisi says as they part.

“I wasn’t sure you guys would even still be here,” Nick tells them. “Kinda wanted it to be a surprise. Is Liv around?” 

As if in answer to his question the door to the Captain’s office opens behind them, and she comes walking out, with the suit hot on her heels. 

She stops dead in her tracks when she sees him, and shit, he just about stops breathing. That woman; she’s like a sister to him. Better than a sister; he trusts her more than his own blood. A thousand memories flash through his mind. The angry Liv he’d first met, calling him Serpico and looking at him like she was certain he wouldn’t last a week. Remember when you asked me about my father, and I told you it was a long story? It’s not that long. Standing beside her on the porch at the beach house, her clothes ripped and burned, her body bruised, her eyes wild. Liv’s eyes in the rearview mirror, Lewis’s blood sprayed across her face. Liv’s hands on him, while the EMTs wheeled him away after Johnny D shot him. Friends for life, Nick Amaro. 

Her hair is longer, and her face is more lined, but she’s still so goddamn gorgeous. She covers her heart with her hand, and he grins, and they both start to move, then, not running, but walking straight towards each other, determined, no one else in the world but them, in that moment, and the next thing he knows he’s got his arms wrapped around her, and she’s holding him so tight it almost hurts.

“Nick,” she whispers his name shakily, and he laughs, because he can tell she’s about to cry and shit he is, too. 

“Good to see ya, Liv,” he manages to choke out, and when he pulls back she reaches up and touches his face, her dark eyes searching his. She doesn’t have to say it; he knows she’s wondering if he’s ok, and he hopes she finds the answer in his face. Truth is, he’s doing better now than he was five years ago. Better than ten years ago. He’s settled. He’s happy. He hopes she is, too. 

“You gonna introduce me to your friend?”

This from the suit. The sound of his voice shatters the moment, and Liv pulls away, and Nick is thinking he really, really hates this guy. This guy with his easy arrogance, this guy whose voice, whose posture, whose belligerent expression reveals a possessiveness towards Liv that Nick doesn’t like, not one bit. Liv laughs and steps back from him but Nick keeps his hand resting at the small of her back. There’s a petulant part of his heart that wants this guy, whoever he is, to see Nick touching her. To know that he’s allowed to, that she’ll let him, that whatever problem the suit may have Liv cares about Nick. 

“Yeah,” Liv says, and a little bit of Nick’s anger fades, because she sounds happy. 

“This is Nick Amaro, my old partner.” He can hear the grin in her voice. “Nick, this is Elliot Stabler.”

It’s not something he can control. It comes over him so suddenly, so viciously; he always thought that when people talking about seeing red they were just exaggerating. He always thought people had more control over themselves than that. But Liv says that name, and damn if he doesn’t see red.

“Elliot Stabler?” he says. 

“Yeah,” Stabler answers, taking a step forward, and maybe he’s about to ask Nick if he’s got a problem with that, but he never gets the chance.

Stabler. The one who left her. The one who was the reason she was so standoffish, with Nick. The reason she was so angry all the damn time, walking around nursing a broken heart and letting it get her into trouble. The one with the anger issues and the dinged up service record that nearly derailed her whole career. The one with the wife at home, while Liv was half in love with him - Nick isn’t supposed to know that part, but he does. And anybody who could do that to Liv, who could hurt her so bad, treat her like she was second class, disposable, anybody who could stand there and act like he had a right to be by her side after all the shit he put her through, anybody like that, they’re gonna get what’s coming to them, courtesy of Nick Amaro. It’s been ten years since Stabler walked out on her, but however he came back, whatever the reason is for him standing here right now, Nick doesn’t give a single shit. He knows Liv and he knows she would never tell this guy just how bad he hurt her, just how much she lost when he left, knows she’s got a good heart and she’ll forgive the people she loves. She won’t hold this asshole accountable.

Nick, on the other hand, has no qualms about it. 

“Ok,” Nick says, and then before anyone can so much as take a breath, he hauls off and punches that smug son of a bitch right in the mouth, as hard as he can. And shit, but it feels good. 

[clairenatural]

destiel, 2k. mafia!Cas/Kingergarten teacher!Dean from an anon prompt for mafia!dean or Cas protecting the other at all costs. I’m not entirely sure what this turned into but it was fun to write so I hope it’s also fun to read :) it references stuff that happens in 12x10, Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets.

“Sir, we have a problem.”

Castiel sighs. His five least favorite words. He glances up, frowning at Inias. “What kind of problem?” He doesn’t add that it had better be important to justify the younger man barging into his office like this, but it’s implied.

Inias takes a deep breath before stepping fully into the room, letting Castiel’s glass office door shut behind him. “The DA’s office is refusing to back down on the Ishim case.”

“And you paid them the standard amount?”

“Yes, sir. But one of the DDAs refused it.”

“Refused it.”

“He’s new. He doesn’t understand our arrangement.”

“Hm.” Castiel closes his laptop and leans back in his chair, considering both the situation and the man in front of him. They hadn’t had a problem with the DA in years—at least, not since Castiel had taken over. Their messes were less messy and they paid more generously for silence. “How much does he need to understand?”

“That’s the problem, sir. I don’t think he will.”

Castiel scoffs. “Anyone in power can be bought off,” he replies, because in all his years he’d never met someone who couldn’t be. Power corrupts, after all.

Inias shifts uneasily, and Castiel can tell he isn’t going to like how this ends.

“We’ve received word that he’s begun investigating independently.”

Castiel groans at this, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“But don’t worry!” Inias continues quickly, hurridly. “We can put our best men on the assignment, have him taken care of by tonight—”

“Wait,” Castiel cuts him off with a sigh. He forces his eyes back open. “I’m not mad,” he says before anything else, because Inias looks like a deer in the headlights and even after all this time his employees still need occasional reminding that he is not his brothers.

When he’d taken over for Michael he’d promised himself—he’d promised everyone—less bloodshed. He swore to defend his family, business, and territory from Crowley and his cronies, but he’d been determined to stop ending innocent lives. For some reason, though, innocents just love getting in the way. He sighs again. “What’s his name?”

“Sam Winchester.”

And, well. That certainly complicates things. He’d known when Sam announced he was going into criminal law that this was a possibility—in some ways, he thinks he should have expected this.

“Sir?” Inias asks, and Castiel realizes he doesn’t know how long he’s been staring at him. “Are you…do you know him?”

Castiel blinks back to reality and glares at him. “Call them off,” he orders, and cuts Inias off when he tries to protest. “Call them all off, Inias. Now.”

“But, sir, what about—”

“I’ll deal with Sam Winchester myself. Nobody else is to touch him.” Then, just for emphasis, “Until I say otherwise, consider him under my protection.”

Inias is still staring at him, baffled, but after a moment he nods, and Castiel is thankful that he’s decided not to argue. “Alright, I—yes. Understood.” He nods again before leaving the office and Castiel sinks deep into his chair, pressing the heels of his hands into both eyes.

His phone buzzes and Castiel watches as a text message lights up the screen, revealing the photo from his wedding he has set as his background. It’s a message from Dean, because of course it is, asking him what he wants for dinner and if he wants wine with it.

Castiel looks around his office, awarded to him based on his surname but paid for in blood, and he’s never hated it more.  

————————————————————-

They get half an hour into the low-budget western Dean had insisted in watching before his husband sighs, pauses the movie, and sets his wine glass down on the coffee table.  “What’s going on with you?”

Castiel frowns up at him from where he’s lying on the couch, cheek against Dean’s thigh, his own wine glass barely touched. All things considered, Castiel thinks he’s been doing a great job acting like everything is fine. He forgets, sometimes, how easily Dean can read him.

“Work was…long,” he answers, and it isn’t a lie. Then, because Dean is looking at him like he doesn’t believe him, he follows up with “How’s Sam?”

It’s both a deflection and an answer to Dean’s question, but Dean doesn’t know that. Dean thinks he manages a hedge fund. Which he does. Technically. Legally, at least.

Dean knows he’s changing the subject but he doesn’t press it, and his face lights up the way it always does when someone asks about his brother. Castiel loves him for it. Dean starts on about Sam, how he’s doing with Eileen, how they just moved into a bigger house because they want to start a family. Castiel isn’t paying attention, not really, because Dean’s fingers are playing with his hair and he doesn’t really want to think about anything else.

“—I said I’d help him out, though.”

That catches his attention. “What? Why?” he asks, a bit too quickly, because even though he’s missed most of the context he can’t help the sinking feeling in his stomach.

Dean raises an eyebrow. “Come on, babe. I never get to use my degree anymore.” He shrugs. “And it sounds fun, you know? Helping my baby brother take down a corrupt criminal justice system. I feel like Serpico.”

“No.” It comes out more forcefully than he had intended and he sits up, turning fully to face Dean. “No, Dean, you need to stay out of it.”

Dean blinks at his husband, and Castiel immediately backtracks. “I mean, um. You don’t—you don’t have any evidence.”

“That’s the point of me helping,” Dean rolls his eyes. “I know I chose teaching five-year-olds over working in cybersecurity, but I still know my way around.”

“You’re going to hack into the DA’s office?”

“It sounds bad when you put it like that.”

“It is bad.” Castiel knows he’s being too insistent, is pushing too hard, but Dean can’t get involved, too. He can’t. “It’s dangerous. You don’t know who else could be involved.”

“I don’t care about that.”

“You should. You just don’t understand—”

“Understand what, Cas?” Dean snaps, and now it’s the fight Castiel didn’t want to have. “What could I possibly not understand that you do? A kid is dead and the DA is trying to cover it up and just maybe I can help figure out why.”

“There are things you don’t—” Castiel is already halfway through his next argument when the second half of Dean’s sentence catches up with him, and he stops. “Did you say a kid?”

Dean scoffs. “You weren’t even listening, right? Great. Yeah, some asshole killed his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend and her kid and the DA is refusing to press charges. Says there isn’t enough evidence. Sam thinks they were paid off.”

“No,” he says, quietly, because no. The daughter was never supposed to—that’s not what happened. He had been told that’s not what happened.

“What do you mean, no?” There’s less heat in Dean’s words, and Castiel thinks it’s because he himself has completely deflated.

He stares at his husband—the love of his life, the beautiful, generous, selfless man he doesn’t deserve—and realizes he’s never going to be able to talk Dean down from this. If he could, he wouldn’t be Dean.

He thinks about all he’s done to keep this part of his life safely tucked away. He cultivated a reclusive public image to keep Dean safe from being the husband of Castiel Novak, manager of the Novak Group. He expanded their territory to encompass the school Dean works at, something his family still holds against him as a waste of resources, to protect him from being the husband of Castiel Novak, leader of the crime syndacate. He’s hidden his marriage from nearly the entire family, labeling anything to do with Dean as the most privileged of information.

The only reason he’s still doing this at all, really, is Dean. He could have jumped ship when Michael died, when Gabriel left, when Lucifer took the fall and was sentenced to life, but that meant giving everything to Raphael, who promised to hunt both him and Dean down if he left. So he took the reins instead and he’s tried his best to keep his family safe while managing the business—both the above and underground aspects.

And now, despite all that, both Dean and his brother have somehow gotten themselves involved.

Dean is still staring at him, brows furrowed, and he doesn’t move away when Castiel reaches out to take both of his hands into his own. “I’m sorry,” he starts, and Dean looks taken aback but he doesn’t break the eye contact. “I love you. I don’t want you to end up in trouble.”

Something in Dean’s eyes softens. “Hey,” He squeezes Castiel’s hands lightly. “Come on. Have a little faith in me.”

And all Castiel can do, just like any time Dean looks at him like that, is smile back. And nod. And lean forward to kiss him, just once, softly.

“I do, Dean. I always do.”

Dean leans their foreheads together and Castiel can tell he’s still concerned, but he doesn’t want there to be any more yelling tonight, so instead he pulls back to lie down in Dean’s lap again. He hears Dean sigh before picking up the remote with the hand not still intertwined with Castiel’s, and then he restarts the movie, and Castiel tries not to think for the rest of the night.

 ————————————————————-

The next morning, though, he’s storming into his office, ready to lay into anyone involved with lying to him. He doesn’t get far—Naomi is sitting in his chair. At his desk. For a brief moment, he sees red.

“That’s my chair.”

His aunt regards him, cool as ever. “Is it?” she asks, and she stands, but only to walk around the desk and into his space. “And who gave it to you?” In her heels she’s taller than him but he glares anyway, refusing to be intimidated. He doesn’t respond.

“Why are you protecting Sam Winchester?” she asks after a moment of silence, still standing just as close.

“Why did you lie to me about the incident with Ishim?”

Naomi’s expression doesn’t change, but something close to surprise flickers across her eyes and she backs off to lean against his desk. “I suspect the answer to both of those questions is the same.”

“May Sunder was never supposed to die,” he presses, not backing down, and Naomi looks at him as if he’s being an unruly child.

“Yes, but her mother threatened to go to the police. Come now, Castiel, you’re old enough to understand these things.”

“I never authorized that.”

Naomi stands again. “You think you have to?”

This, of all things, catches him off-guard. “I—yes?”

His aunt steps forward, crowding him again, and he hates himself for taking a step back. “You’re a figurehead, Castiel. You’re in power because you’re Michael’s brother, people like you, and we thought you’d at least be loyal.”

“I am loyal,” he retorts, and she sighs.

“I’m not the only one who’s begun to question your sympathies, Castiel. Who are you loyal to?”

“My family.”

“Does that mean us? Or Dean Winchester?”

Castiel freezes, stunned. “How—”

Naomi cuts him off with a smile. “You think we don’t know? We’ve been letting you play house because it kept you distracted. Now, it seems, it’s making you weak. If you don’t fix this, I’ll have no choice but to cure you of that weakness.”

At last she steps away and turns towards the door. “You have an army here, Castiel. Don’t lose it for one man.”

And then she leaves.

And then, Castiel makes a decision.

In the next few hours, he makes several more—and then he’s driving home with all his family’s secrets copied onto a hard drive, the few items from his office that he actually cares about, and a plan forming on how to take the whole system down.

It’s almost funny, he thinks, the decision Naomi expected him to make—that she’d expected him to choose the family over Dean. That she’d expected him to choose anything over Dean.

She has no idea what’s coming. 

[bthump]

Do you think there is anything Griffith could do at this point to stop Guts from his revenge quest? It's highly unlikely that it would happen in the context of the story, but I'm just curious if there could be another way. Would Guts be capable to forget Griffith at this point?

lol ngl I legit think that NGriff showing up and just saying “Hey so turns out I actually failed my feelings test on the Hill of Swords, I’m still in love with you after all, wanna join the Hawks again?” would do it. Guts would spend 2 seconds wondering if he’s fucking with his head and then Griffith would Look at him and Guts would be like, “yeah.”

Or yk, just “I realized I still want you, Guts.” boom, friendship ended with revenge, now Griffith is my best friend again.

I actually completely think that Guts’ revenge campaign was like, half-assed at best, not something he’s ever been genuinely committed to, and pretty much just a way to get Griffith’s attention again. I have some posts that get into that point further, but basically it’s in the way Guts can’t finish his “when I see him again I’ll-” thought most of the time, it’s in how he still sees Femto/NGriff as a True Light, it’s in how he forgets his urge to kill, it’s in how the moments that really upset Guts post-Eclipse are when he sees Femto and NGriff again and they say “lol idc about you anymore,” how Guts fucking moped about Griffith abandoning him after the Hill of Swords, like, this is not a dude who is actually committed to killing this guy.

Like Guts is not ideologically or morally opposed to NGriff. He doesn’t care about Falconia or Fantasia, he’s not out to protect people from evil overlord Griffith or w/e lol. And he’s not even avenging Casca and the rest of the Hawks - he tells himself he is, but in chapter 130 he pretty much admits to himself that he’s just lashing out.

Guts wants 2 things in his life: to kill shit when he’s mad and for Griffith to look at him, and his revenge campaign was his attempt to get both.

SO BASICALLY YEAH I think Griffith admitting Guts still has his attention would completely derail the revenge thing.

I mean to be perfectly fair I think to make it work in fic or something Guts would still have like, a lot of inner conflict lol. You could make a p good argument that the “get Griffith’s positive attention” ship has sailed thanks to the eclipse rape as well as NGriff saying he has no regrets (tho considering how easily Miura ignores it when it comes to eg the aforementioned Guts moping when NGriff takes off it’s also easy to argue the opposite imo), and now the only attention Guts wants is for Griff to look into his eyes as Guts stabs him or w/e. Personally if I was writing this scenario I’d take an extra step and make Guts go beast of darkness and do something unforgiveable like murder Isidro before this happens so he can go “fuck it I’m a monster too now we might as well be monsters together.” Just because I think it would be easier to justify as in character lol. Miura seems to ignore the eclipse rape half the time while writing the post-eclipse story but fandom doesn��t really so, yeah.

But yeah idk it’s not a hard sell for me that if Griffith admitted he’s still hung up on Guts then Guts’ urge to kill him would disappear, never to be seen again.

BUT ALL THAT SAID re: that last bit, no I don’t think Guts could actually get over Griffith and forget him. My answer so far is only shifting Guts’ obsession back to wanting to be Griffith’s bff/fuck him, because I don’t think there’s a single thing Griffith could do to make Guts like, lose interest in him and move on.

He’s been obsessing over a single glance across a vast plain since he got on the boat. Maybe if he’d never laid eyes on him again after Griffith’s “I am over you, and that, my friend, is what they call closure” moment on the Hill of Swords he’d have had a tiny chance of moving on eventually, but imo Griffith looking at him intently is a one hit KO for Guts’ chances of getting over him. Like idk maybe if he encountered Griffith one more time only for Griffith to reiterate being totally over him for real and then they never saw each other again and also Casca ran away with Farnese and he never saw her again either eventually Guts would fuck Serpico and start to move on? But even then he’d still know Griffith is out there in the world doing stuff ~where his sword can reach~ and he’d probably hear about him occasionally since he’s now ruler of remaining civilization so...

Mmmaybe if NGriff went back to being Femto on the astral plane out of sight and out of mind and inhuman and unreachable? Or if he, like, died and Guts could maybe finally start to mourn the human version of him since he’s fully gone now? Even then it would take years and years and a lot of positive influences around him imo, and I still wouldn’t bet on Guts moving on lol, he’d be more likely to go back to aimlessly fighting monsters to cope with his feelings til something killed him.

[devilsrecreation]

You know what? Just have a LIST of muppet headcanons

Deadly can walk through walls (he IS a ghost) and it scares pretty much everyone (especially Link)

Polly likes to sit on his boyfriends’ hats. He could be chilling on Monty’s hat, or he could be on Clueless’. He prefers to be on Monty’s hat, really. His favorite spot to be in is in Clueless’ arms....with his shirt off...he cannot help his gayness with that one

On a different note: All the muppirates (even Clueless, though he just complains) hate bathes. If you try giving it to one of them, they’ll go apeshit. Deadly tried it once with Pew and it was torture for the both of them

Deadly sometimes acts like a damsel in distress to amuse Link. What Link does next varies and by “varies”, I mean sometimes he’d play along and try to impress him and other times he either gets confused or it goes over his head

When Clueless wants to flirt with Polly and/or Monty, he uses his deep voice (the voice he uses for singing, but this time he’s just talking) and it always gets them. Bonus: Sometimes Clueless takes his shirt off (you know, since I hc that he’s kinda buff) and they just freeze up

In the Muppet Character Encyclopedia, it says that Mad Monty likes to make lacy pillows with messages on them and now I’m imagining him making them for all the muppirates. What they do with said pillows is anyone’s guess (Polly and Clueless, however, treasure it)

Even though Big Mean Carl fights with his family, he’s still pretty protective of his siblings. For example, if someone were bothering his sister, Carla, he’ll punch them in the face....or eat them, whichever comes first

Sometimes, Clueless’ beard tickles Polly and/or Monty when they’re kissing. Polly and Monty act annoyed, but they secretely love it

All of my otp’s accidently said “I love you” to each other

Polly hates crawfish/crayfish and will 100% butt heads with one

Zoot lowkey shows off any Jewish stuff to protest against Anti-semetism Like if he’s hearing shit about Judaism or the stereotype that Jews are greedy, he’ll quietly put on a necklace with the star of David. If he’s feeling ballsy, he’d cuss them out in Hebrew

Lew Zealand is the type of guy who wants to be friends with everyone. The only muppets he doesn’t like are Walleye Pike (which I have mentioned before) and my oc, Serpico. Why? Cuz Serpico ate Lew’s boomerang fish

Joe and Clueless sometimes team up to spy on their otp’s

You remember how I said Clueless writes fanfics? Yeah, they’re actually GOOD (like, well-written)

The Mayhem’s #1 nickname for Zoot is “Mr. Saxobeat”

The band likes to give Zoot funny nicknames just to annoy him. However, when Lips does it, he doesn’t mind

You know how Clueless has knowledge in fashion (based on the At the Bar sketches)? Deadly sees that as a threat

Lew Zealand has two moms. That is all

https://youtu.be/xBCGVqyWrSQ is Lew Zealand’s favorite song

While the gilts (Miss Piggy, Annie Sue, Spamela, etc.) would try to avoid the mud in any way possible, the boars would gladly yeet themselves and wallow in it

Link LOVES belly rubs. At first, he didn’t think he’d want/need one, but when Deadly did it, he was like “O-oh yeah. Ohh, right there. Wow, that feels so good! A little on the top—yes!!”

Clueless likes to go swimming with Walleye just because. It’s a friend thing they do just for fun

Blind Pew just knows whenever someone is looking at Sally in a certain way. And by that, I mean whenever other kids are looking at her in a romantic way. That’s when Pew has to get REALLY overprotective (as if he wasn’t already)

When Zoot tried drinking coffee for the first time, the band was like “Who are you and what have you done with Zoot?”

Bobo’s daughter’s name is Ursa and she’s a toddler

Strangepork went on ONE date with both Emily Bear and Mama Fiama (not at the same time) and they actually enjoyed it. No, Fozzie and Johnny were NOT happy. For example, Mama Fiama said she was going on a date and when Johnny saw Strangepork at the door, he was like

[aion-rsa]

Cobra Kai Season 3: Does Young Kreese Redeem Cobra Kai’s Founding Sensei?

https://ift.tt/3q87H7F

This article contains Cobra Kai spoilers.

Cobra Kai season 3 revealed the backstory we didn’t know we wanted – the harrowing Vietnam experience of Cobra Kai’s biggest villain, Sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove). Cobra Kai has been on point when it comes to filling in the personal histories of their characters. The writing team of Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Bob Dearden have keen eyes for details and find reasonable justifications for the actions of its villains. Johnny’s (William Zabka) abusive father Sid (Ed Answer) has provided some redemption to his character’s initial villainy. But Kreese has remained villainous throughout the entire franchise. We don’t need to rehab all the villains, do we? 

Kreese’s origin tale is told across three episodes. Despite their brevity, they’re packed with clever Easter eggs for fans to find over repeated viewings and tricky red herrings that toy with fan expectations. They also give us clues to what season 4 might bring. 

Enlisting Kreese and His Son

Episode 2 “Nurture vs. Nature” begins with the grill of that iconic yellow 1947 Ford Deluxe, the very model that received Daniel’s (Ralph Macchio) wax on wax off treatment. As the car pulls into a soda shop, the driver is a cocky kid in a varsity jacket with a bullying attitude. He even says “They’re the opponent. You don’t show them mercy,” but in a quick Cobra Kai red herring, it’s not Kreese. The owner of that Ford is the first bully of the canon. Young Kreese (Barrett Carnahan) is his server who gets bullied mercilessly. 

The exquisite irony here is in the casting. Playing the Varsity Captain David is Jesse Kove, the son of actor Martin Kove. It’s a deliciously brilliant play by Cobra Kai. The first person to bully anyone in the history of the franchise and set off the chain of events that led to the formation of Kreese’s ultimate villainy is played by the actor’s son. 

The rest of the flashback scenes reveal how Young Kreese’s hard luck life became the building blocks of his character. His mother committed suicide and is branded as crazy, giving rise to the implication that Kreese may have inherited some of his mother’s mental illness. Kreese is a naturally gifted fighter. When pushed, he is able to defend himself against the Varsity Captain and his thug buddy, and steal David’s girlfriend Betsy (Emily Marie Palmer). However, with few options for advancement at the soda shop, he enlists for the Vietnam War and heads out for basic training at Monterey. He wants to be a hero.

Episode 2 has an unusually redemptive moment for the present-day Kreese. We see him do something good for a change. Kreese reaches out to Tory (Peyton List), offering her free tuition to come back to his Cobra Kai Dojo. While he’s visiting her, he picks up on the fact that she is being sexually harassed by her landlord, Rodney (Grayson Berry). Kreese returns and solves that for her in his usual Cobra Kai way, by striking first, striking hard and showing no mercy. Although recruiting Tory back into his fold serves his own selfish purposes, he does get her out of a sticky situation, but it’s not enough to redeem him entirely.

Prisoner of War

Episode 6 “King Cobra” takes Young Kreese to Vietnam in 1968, where he is pulled aside by Captain Turner (Terry Serpico) to join his special team. Serpico bears a passing resemblance to actor Anthony Michael Hall, so much so that many fans thought it was him, sparking a wave of chatter on the web and subsequent articles refuting the mistaken identity. Given the playfulness of Cobra Kai casting, perhaps Hall will have a cameo in season 4. 

Turner is the second significant bully to shape Kreese’s villainy. He instructs Young Kreese in the martial art he learned in Korea from Master Kim Sun-Yung and it’s not Karate. It’s Tang Soo Do. This resolves an issue that martial arts savvy fans have had with the series since the original films. The martial arts choreographer for The Karate Kid was Master Pat E. Johnson, who also played the Referee throughout the original trilogy. Johnson is a black belt in Tang Soo Do under Chuck Norris and well respected within the martial world. Martial arts aficionados always knew that the style propagated in the Cobra Kai Dojo was more like Tang Soo Do than Karate, so the quick clarification was welcomed. Despite this being Chuck Norris’ foundation style, most Americans don’t know enough about the martial arts to know about Tang Soo Do even today. During the era when the Cobra Kai Dojo was founded, Tang Soo Do school owners advertised Karate instead as a marketing ploy so this tiny rectification resolved a lot for martial savvy fans of the show.  

Read more

TV

Cobra Kai Season 3: What Happened to Aisha and Stingray?

By Gene Ching

TV

Cobra Kai: How the Show’s Martial Arts Level Up in Season 3

By Gene Ching

Zabka continued to study under Johnson after the original film wrapped and that still shows in his fight scenes in Cobra Kai. And given that season 4 is headed back to the All-Valley Karate Tournament, Johnson would make for a great returning cameo.

Young Kreese pulls two of his comrades into Captain Turner’s special team, Twig (Nick Marini) and Ponytail (Seth Kemp) teasing another major cameo that fans are anticipating for season 4 – Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), the main villain from The Karate Kid Part III. Silver was Kreese’s old war buddy and he rocked a sleezy ponytail years before Steven Seagal broke into the movies. Silver has been referenced throughout Cobra Kai, and many fans believe the phone call Kreese makes at the end of season 3 is to him, so his inclusion in Young Kreese’s Vietnam years was essential. 

Turner establishes the foundation of the Cobra Kai creed while training Kreese, Twig and Ponytail when he espouses his philosophy “No hesitation, no second thoughts and no mercy.” It’s only a short jump from that to “Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy.” However, their mission goes awry. Radio feedback gives away Ponytail’s position as he is laying explosives in the enemy camp and the whole team is captured. And then, shockingly, Ponytail is executed right in front of Young Kreese, Captain Turner and Twig. It’s another superb red herring. Clearly, Ponytail is not Silver. Twig is Silver.   

Twig’s parting line to Kreese is “I owe you man, you saved my ass. Anything you need, I’m there for you, your whole life. You hear me Johnny? Your whole life. I owe you.” We’re all expecting payback in season 4.

The Snake Pit of PTSD

The Kreese back story concludes in the season finale “December 19.” As Captain Turner’s special team is imprisoned in a bamboo cage, Kreese blames himself for their failure. Turner taunts him about it, deepening the psychological damage. The weight of that guilt surely drives Kreese’s psychosis. 

Their captors force Kreese to fight Turner to the death over a snake pit. Cobra Kai overplays that. There’s a lot of snakes in that pit, dozens of them, but they appear to be constrictors, not cobras. When Young Kreese kicks Turner into the pit, we can hear them striking, but constrictors don’t strike. They constrict. It’s a picky point, and it’s understandable that the show creators went for the quantity with a brimming bed of snakes for dramatic effect, but it was a heavy-handed play. A lone king cobra would have been better. King cobras are indigenous to Vietnam albeit endangered now. And a king cobra is the world’s longest venomous snake averaging 12 feet in length. The largest measured one was over 19 feet long. A cobra would strike, first and hard. 

We already know the rest of Kreese’s story. He returns from Vietnam as a hero, as well as martial arts champion, but he’s psychologically scarred. Season 3 made us understand Kreese’s motivations and justifies his character flaws, but it doesn’t absolve him. We honor our military veterans for their service and now have a better sense of post-traumatic stress disorder, but no one has the right to stand above the law, no matter how much they have sacrificed. Will Kreese finally have to answer for his wrongdoings? Or will he find peace? We’ll just have to wait for season 4 to see. 

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Cobra Kai season 3 is available on Netflix.

The post Cobra Kai Season 3: Does Young Kreese Redeem Cobra Kai’s Founding Sensei? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[yourdailykitsch]

Taylor Kitsch on '21 Bridges' and Taking Pride in 'John Carter'

The actor, who has experienced ups and downs, notes his high-profile Disney flop has had a "mini-resurgence" in recent years: "People stop me all the time for that."

[This story contains spoilers for 21 Bridges]

Taylor Kitsch takes everything in stride — including his career. The 21 Bridges star became an overnight sensation in 2006 via NBC’s critically lauded TV series Friday Night Lights, whose devout following refused to let the football drama die after each underviewed season. Because of his breakout role as fullback/running back Tim Riggins, Hollywood quickly created movie star expectations for Kitsch, but once his first two blockbusters, John Carter and Battleship, vastly underperformed at the box office, Hollywood quickly threw the baby out with the bathwater. Fortunately for Kitsch, he soon found his footing with a string of well-reviewed performances including HBO’s The Normal Heart, Lone Survivor and True Detective.

While Kitsch couldn’t control the expectations placed on him, he appreciates the ups and downs as well as the continued opportunities to jump back and forth between leading man and character actor. In his latest movie, 21 Bridges, Kitsch plays a supporting role as Ray Jackson, a war veteran and small-time criminal who’s being hunted by veteran police detective Andre Davis (Chadwick Boseman). Soon, Kitsch will return as the lead in Neill Blomkamp’s Inferno.

  “I could honestly give a fuck if I’m fifteenth on the call sheet or first,” Kitsch tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I see myself as a character actor first, and it really boils down to that. I love coming in and playing a flashy guy like Ray and supporting Chadwick… So, I have no problem doing one scene if it’s something worthy or something that makes me uncomfortable.”

Oddly enough, Kitsch has noticed a recent resurgence for Disney’s John Carter, one of the films that didn’t meet box office expectations.

“I think it got another life when it went on Netflix not long ago… People stop me all the time for that, especially in Europe,” Kitsch says. “Maybe, at the time, it was more of a knee-jerk reaction of ‘let’s see how we can bury this and everyone that has a part in it.’ Over time, I think you take a breath and understand that it is what it is... I guess people who watch it now for the first time can take a lot more away from it than people did at first… I learned a ton on that movie. I honestly don’t see it as a failure.”

 In a recent conversation with THR, Kitsch also discusses his upcoming lead role in Neill Blomkamp’s Inferno, his memories from the series finale of Friday Night Lights and his experience on True Detective season two.

 My favorite part of movie robberies is the mask choices, and in 21 Bridges, your character, Ray, wears a skull bandana of sorts. If you ever performed your own make-believe robbery, what would be your go-to mask?

 Ooh. It’s funny because I do it in Savages as well. There was a long debate — and no one knows this — but we were going to wear old man masks. We screen-tested it, and I was just hoping that [Oliver] Stone would go for it. But, they went away from that, obviously. I would probably do something more enveloping — more like a full head thing. The old man mask — I was dying laughing in it. It’s a little more self-deprecating, and maybe a fuck you to whomever is coming after you. I’d probably go in that kind of direction. Point Break had all those President masks, and that was a lot of fun because you’re along for the ride.

 It seems like there’s less and less crime drama these days — at least on the big screen. Do you also get that sense within the industry?

Without a doubt. I notice it with scripts to be honest. It’s the stuff that I grew up on. This is kind of an ode to those thrillers: the Heats, the Serpicos, the Dog Day Afternoons, the Mean Streets. Obviously, I’m not comparing it to those classics, but I think we all know the game has changed with the studios and their direction. I think I’m doctoring up the stat, but I think 21 of the last 22 number-one movies have been superhero, or sequel, or prequel, or something like that. Original content from major studios is getting rarer and rarer to hit theaters. Hopefully, this does well, and we can keep making these types of movies.

There's the cliche that villains or antagonists think they're the heroes of their own story. Actors are also taught to not judge their characters. With that in mind, did you find a way to humanize Ray Jackson even though he’s one of your most ruthless characters?

I think you have to. You have to erase your own judgements like you said. It’s imperative to go in with a clean slate as much as you can. That loyalty with Stephan James’ character, Michael, is a beautifully tragic thing for Ray, and that was my hook into it all. He is a stone-cold killer, but for me, personally, he’s willing to literally die out of loyalty to Michael and the guilt over losing Michael’s brother overseas. There is humanity, and it is gray. You’ve gotta tip the hat to Brian Kirk, our director, as he really gave me the reins and that responsibility to go there with him. We reworked it a bit to infuse that. If Kirk called me and said, “Your character just kill cops,” literally anybody could go do that role. You always want to make it as deep as you can. That’s why we do this.

Ray also reveals he’s in recovery at a certain point in the film. Besides loyalty and guilt, was that character detail another major draw for you since it gave you something else to play?

It was everything. It starts with this stone-cold guy that you don’t think is gonna crack, and to see that, to understand that and to relapse because of the circumstance, that is everything. The scene at the vault was a pivotal scene — to see him start to unravel. He also mentions the loss of Michael’s brother in this moment. This guy is human, and you have to show that.

My screening was so loud that I couldn’t hear Ray’s final line, but it seems like he died trying to take all the blame off of Michael. Before giving your thoughts on his death scene, do you remember the final line?

Of course. It’s “Michael, he’s not like me.” That was two takes. It was one of the last scenes and my only scene with Chadwick (Boseman). That’s literally his last breath. Thankfully, we shot that later in the shooting schedule. Kirk and I really worked on that in the script: what would he say, how do we want to end him and make this an earned beat in the film, especially for Ray. We really didn’t rehearse, but we talked about that moment when I signed on and then we reworked it to that. There was a little bit of luck with Chadwick’s character in that moment, which really grounds it. I think he was gonna lose that gunfight if that innocent guy doesn’t come around the corner. Ray was just trained on those steps. And, just as important, the moment where he lets go of the woman. He’s dying, and he knows it. Ray dragged his hand across a handrail and wall so that Chadwick would follow his blood, giving Michael more time. That’s why Ray told Michael they had to split up; Ray didn’t want to tell him he was gonna die.

You've handled weapons in plenty of past projects. Did you have to do weapons training again, or have you maintained those skills over the years?

You always want to press the refresh button. A lot of these weapons are different as well. It’s repetition, repetition, repetition. I feel I have a good base for it. I feel very comfortable with it, but I don’t really handle weapons unless I’m working or the job calls for it. I don’t do a whole lot of that when I’m at home. I just practice those reloads, learn how to unjam and all those kind of things. You want to be comfortable, and you want it to be a part of you so you don’t even think about it while you’re working and in character. It’s a great tool to have.

Do you ever try to avoid using the same style or moves as Lone Survivor’s Michael Murphy or True Detective’s Paul Woodrugh?

To be honest, I’m not that conscious of it. The characters are just so different. I had the same Navy SEAL teach me the handgun stuff and the M4 stuff — from Lone to True. They just say, “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Take your time. You’re in no rush. Make sure you have the target before you shoot.” I think it’s more what’s behind the eyes in that sense. The movements are usually pretty similar if you really train with a gun. Certain people may have their own movement, but SEALS or police officers know the second you pick up a gun if you know what you’re doing or not.

  Is 21 Bridges the most night shoots you’ve ever done?

I did a series [Shadowplay] in Europe right after this, and we did a crazy amount of night shoots on that. I don’t wish it on anybody. You literally kind of lose your mind. When you’re a month in, your off-days are messed up because you don’t want to screw up that pattern. You’re doing these scenes at 4 or 5 in the morning. You go to bed at 9 a.m. and you’re up at 2 p.m. or 2:30 p.m., hopefully you can work out first. Then, you’re on set rehearsing the scene during the daylight, and the second it gets dark, you’re shooting it. It’s tough on the crew; it’s tough on everybody. It’s obviously a huge part of this movie since it takes place in five allotted hours. So, you know what you’re signing up for.

When it comes to shooting on location, do you prefer shooting all over a major city, or are you most partial to remote locations around the world?

Whatever suits the script. I will take locations any day of the week over a fucking studio. I’m not a huge fan of studios, but I understand you have to use them. 21 Bridges was all on location, and I love that. It just puts you in the moment, and you’ve got all these factors that you probably wouldn’t have to deal with in a controlled environment.

You're an actor who can be a leading man and a character actor as needed. When making choices at this point, are you less concerned with the type of role as long as the writing, cast and filmmaker are compelling?

Obviously, I’ve had great lows, great highs and this and that. I’ve worked with some amazing people. That’s always been the target — just be scared, be uncomfortable and take risks. My next one with is with (Neill) Blomkamp, and it is the lead. My character is basically in every scene of this movie, but the character and the tone of this is what draws me. I could honestly give a fuck if I’m fifteenth on the call sheet or first. I see myself as a character actor first, and it really boils down to that. While kind of impossible, if David Koresh was seventh on the call sheet, I still would’ve done Waco. I love coming in and playing a flashy guy like Ray and supporting Chadwick, a guy who’s been doing great work and is an even better guy. So, I have no problem doing one scene if it’s something worthy or something that makes me uncomfortable.

Jumping back a bit, I’ve heard a surprising number of people celebrate John Carter in recent years and how it deserved a much better fate. Have you noticed how well Carter has aged?

 I think it got another life when it went on Netflix not long ago, maybe a year ago or something, but, yes, to be blunt. People stop me all the time for that, especially in Europe. It’s had a little mini-resurgence. Maybe, at the time, it was more of a knee-jerk reaction of “let’s see how we can bury this and everyone that has a part in it.” Over time, I think you take a breath and understand that it is what it is... I guess people who watch it now for the first time can take a lot more away from it than people did at first. It’s always flattering, and I learned a ton on that movie. I honestly don’t see it as a failure. I have great memories from it, and I still talk to a bunch of the cast. It is what it is, right?

True Detective has helped fill the big screen’s crime drama void, and I actually enjoyed your season from an actor and character standpoint. Was that a great experience regardless of how it was received?

Yeah, it was. I still check in with Nic once in a while to see how he’s doing. Selfishly, probably, because I’d love for him to write me something. (Laughs.) Going back to that first beat, these noir movies or shows aren’t really getting made much, and Pizzolatto is a beast. I’d work with him again in a heartbeat. I loved his process. I watched True Detective Season One, and I remember saying, “This is the kind of stuff I want to be a part of.” Obviously, it worked out, and I’d do it again. But, yeah, I’m a huge fan of Pizzo, and we got along incredibly well. I’m still grateful for that opportunity.

I’m not gonna ask you about a Friday Night Lights reunion or revival since you’ve been pretty consistent about not being interested.

Right. Thank you.

Since the finale is where you’d prefer to leave things, what do you remember most about those final couple scenes of yours with Adrianne (Palicki) and Derek (Phillips)?

 It was sombering — metaphorically, literally. Doing that sunset scene on this house they were trying to build is such a metaphor. I like that they left it open, and that’s very FNL. We made the audience work for everything, and I love that process. I try to keep that with me in everything I do. It was just a beautiful moment, and you’ve gotta tip your hat to [showrunner] Jason Katims. He was really receptive to our ideas and applied a few of them. I’m still best friends with Derek Phillips, who was obviously Billy Riggins for five years. He actually came to Prague and visited on my last gig. I’m a big supporter of his, too. We laughed a lot, but it was just sombering, not just with that scene, but because it was over. It was a 5-year run against all odds. I don’t remember a day where we weren’t being told it was going to be canceled. I think we ended up on 25 networks, on 16 different days and at 12 different times. (Laughs.) That allowed me to just enjoy the process because it can be taken away from you in a minute.  

Is there a Friday Night Lights cast group text?

No, we’ve moved forward. I'm still in touch with (Kyle) Chandler, Connie (Britton), Derek (Phillips) and (Jesse) Plemons. I wish everyone all the best, and it all ended on great terms.

You touched on it already, but how did Shadowplay go?

Well, I think. I’ve seen a baby teaser of it, and it’s beautiful. I love that period piece. Nina Hoss is one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with. The cast is great including Mike C. Hall. It was a long shoot; we were all just exhausted, but I can’t wait to see how it turned out.

What else can you say about Neill Blomkamp’s Inferno?

It’s about a guy who loses everything and will do anything to get it back. There’s some beautiful undertones with addiction and immigration. It’s something that I can’t wait to dive into. It’ll be very challenging; it’s emotionally raw.

[medea10]

My Review of Prison School

But I still find myself hating on Shingo. He literally turns on his best friend, has everyone else turn on him so that Kiyoshi is solo in everything, and won’t even give Kiyoshi the benefit of the doubt. Yes, Kiyoshi did some sneaky things in order to be with a girl he really liked and even almost screwed up their peeping mission, but Shingo went too far. I’m glad Shingo came to his senses and realized Kiyoshi is pretty damn loyal (especially all he’s done for Gakuto). It’s just after Kiyoshi was found out, Shingo turned into such a jerk that I hated seeing him for the several episodes he had his broodish behavior. SHIPPING: So there were several ships worth mentioning. *Kiyoshi x Chiyo: It was weird how they came to meet because Chiyo noticed an item on Kiyoshi’s desk that had to do with sumo. Meanwhile Kiyoshi only had it because his grandma likes sumo and he doesn’t. But it doesn’t stop him from flirting with Chiyo. And you know that saying about how men will do anything for a pretty girl? That’s pretty accurate here as Kiyoshi was desperate enough to escape from prison by disguising himself as a girl, and hang out with Chiyo at an event that bores the fuck out of him. But hey, he’s with a girl that actually acknowledges his existence, so why the fuck not?! It’s clear that Kiyoshi does care for Chiyo. As for Chiyo, she sees the good in him (despite some of the questionable things he’s been involved with). She goes as far as to stand up for him when her older sister Mari tries to expel Kiyoshi and his friends. In fact, she downright disobeys her older sister for the sake of a boy. Yep, this ship has just left port! *Shingo x Anzu: I know Anzu was only around for the sake of leading-on Shingo per Mari’s order. But the fact that she did the right thing by being truthful to Shingo before he could be expelled from school was good on her part. I know her infatuation was fake from the get-go, but that kind gesture at the end of their “date” makes me think she might come around later. And she does in the finale. But after the OVA, I’m pretty sure they’re on good footing.

*Kiyoshi x Hana ... ...I don't know what you want me to say here. Crazy Bitch Hana has been on a crusade to crush Kiyoshi personally after he accidentally was in the same area as her as she took a piss in the forest. And ever since that day, she has done everything in her power to destroy him for what he (accidentally) came upon. And all times have kinda backfired on her with her being R. Kelly'd all over, feeling an unwanted mushroom touching her, and a kiss that'll leave her stupid her for three weeks. In a strange way, yeah, I can see her being obsessed over Kiyoshi (especially after that last kiss they had). But I'm not a full supporter of them. *Mari x Meiko: I’m not even going to discuss how many fanarts involving these two I had to go through in my research. But seeing as there’s some history involving Meiko being indebted to Mari from their middle school days, it doesn’t surprise me that this ship is heavily sided on Meiko. Meiko does everything for the sake of her madam president. And if she feels as though she has failed her madam president, she will punish her own self. I can’t really tell if this requited love or not. I'm leaning on Mari just using Meiko and doesn't return the feelings. Maybe if we get another season, I’ll change my thoughts on this. *Kiyoshi x Gakuto ... Only in Shingo's imagination. NO! Fuck no! By the end of the special OVA, it seems as though all 5 boys had some girl that seemed semi-interested or fully interested in them. Kiyoshi x Chiyo is a definite big one. Shingo and Anzu might be a little rocky, but a few hints were dropped. As for the others, Andre has a few admirers, Jo got a special surprise in a random girl, and Gakuto found luck in the world’s unluckiest girl. OMG MOMENTS: So I’ll admit that what peaked my curiosity with this particular series was some of the O.M.G. moments. I saw and heared about these certain moments and I wanted to hear more. Now, the two moments that first caught me years prior was Hana peeing in the woods and Gakuto deficating in class (yes, you read right, a guy shit his pants in class). Certainly that should be the end of this disg…Not by a long shot! There were plenty of jaw-dropping, O.M.G. moments to go on! Accidental panty shots, squat-thrusts that go on longer than it really should, graphic details of a high-heel shoe in a boy’s ass-crack, a girl getting aroused by a stray hair on a boy’s nipple, nudity of just about every variety, and a girl being R. Kelly’d all over (a.k.a. golden shower). And those are just the ones I could remember from the top of my head! But seriously, I think Hana getting R. Kelly'd was the one that did me in. ANIMATION: I will say this anime can go very creative when it comes to the animation. Many scenes go completely different from the norm. The facial expressions for one are VERY detailed (especially in the suspenseful scenes). But one scene I want to mention was when Kiyoshi and Gakuto were planning their escape and the animation decides to use legos to detail the escape. That was very fun to watch. Though I’m sure when it first came out The Lego Movie was probably still a big thing and this series wanted to use lego-mation for a few scenes throughout the series. Whatever the case, I loved it. But for me, I feel like they go WAY over the top when it comes to animating Meiko. And to tell you the truth, it’s probably the creator’s fault with this too, but getting several moments where the viewer is face-to-face with her taint as she does squat thrusts. Her ass literally swallows up panties. But it doesn’t help when this teenager… (REMEMBER SHE’S A TEENAGER) ...has overly-exaggerated drawn body parts. Like dominatrixs show more than she does, it’s so insane! THE DUB CONTROVERSY: So dubs can be notorious for putting unnecessary lines into the series. It could be one line in an episode or movie, several lines throughout the series, or in special cases like Shin Chan and Ghost Stories, the entire series. And trust me, Rica Matsumoto never once insulted Vikings or Minnesota in Pokemon the First Movie. You may blame the good folks at 4Kids for that line! In a couple of their dubs in the past five years, FUNimation inserted a few dub lines in animes including Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, My Girlfriend is a Gal, and Prison School that did not go over well with anyone. And the one that seemed to set people off the most was when Shingo was asked if he was a “GamerGate creepshow”. It caused so much controversy that fans got into a fight with the writer on Twitter, angry letters were sent to FUNimation, and the line was eventually changed for DVD release. I’ll be honest, I was never aware of this particular term or the controversy that surrounded it until I heard about the mess the Prison School dub wound up in because of it. Probably because after 2010, I stayed clear from those certain topics/sites/etc. But I’ll admit that this was very out of place and things like that really shouldn’t be in that unless the dub is supposed to be out of left-field like in Shin Chan and Ghost Stories. But it isn’t! This is Prison School! This anime has enough going on without out of place lines being spouted! ENDING: It is clear that the girls of the Underground Disciplinary Committee hate these men. Especially Mari! Actually, Mari has a strong disdain for the male gender due to her father's dirty little habit of lusting over Brazilian ladies with big asses. But all of them hate the boys. Hate them so much that they would go so far as to mess with their brains and set them up for failure as long as they remain prisoners. Kiyoshi’s escape arc caused the boys to get another month to their sentence and giving them one strike. So the girls figured two more offenses were going to happen one way or another. Once they get three strikes, they are eligible for expulsion. And that’s where Operation D.T.O. comes in (Destroy Testicles Operation). The girls were devious enough to lure Shingo with a plant and have Meiko mentally destroy Andre with “punishment”. Shingo was allowed a couple of hours out of the prison, but had to be back at a certain time.

Mari sets up a plant to distract Shingo. That plant managed to seduce him during his time out of prison and while his back was turned, changed the time on his clock so he’d be late returning back to the prison. Meanwhile, Andre is the biggest masochist in this anime, quite possibly in the whole anime world. He lives for being struck by women when he’s been bad. So when Meiko held back her punishment tactics, he went crazy. So much so that when Meiko called him over, he crashed through barbed wire and the girls considered it as a prison break. That’s strike two! And even though Shingo’s plant broke down and confessed what was going on and Shingo managed to get back to campus on time. He didn’t technically make it inside the premises. So now the boys are at strike three and up for expulsion. Meiko, Hana, and Mari are some manipulative bitches! With any luck, the principal will go easy on them. On the plus side, he’s an ass-man and can understand the boy’s lust for ladies. But then it gets ugly when you realize this guy is also Mari and Chiyo’s father. While Kiyoshi was able to get favor points with the principal by giving (false) praise to the booty that would make even Space Dandy proud, the principal was only able to give the boys 24 hours left at the school before they are fully expelled. If the boys have one more plan, they better pull it off and FAST. Actually, with the help of Chiyo, Anzu, and the other boys, they were able to pull off one hell of a method to combat D.T.O. The boys distracted Meiko with an arm-wrestling match. Anzu distracted the girls by sneaking around the prison. Gakuto was able to hack into Mari’s computer to dig up dirt for the principal. Kiyoshi got the final laugh with crazy-bitch Hana by sticking his tongue so far down her throat she won’t think straight for a week. And the sprinkles on top, we got Chiyo to pose as Jo, Jo pose as Gakuto, and then have Gakuto get the final nail in the coffin to take down the Underground Disciplinary Council. With this amounting evidence, the principal felt that the boys more than enough did their time in prison school and have all earned their freedom. And yes, they can stay admitted to the school. As for Meiko, Hana, and Mari, those three have won a one-way trip to the clink. Now this didn’t turn around like having the boys become the warden and the girls become the prisoners. Actually, the REAL president of the student council stepped in as warden for this special occasion. We meet Kate Takenomiya literally in the final five minutes of the last episode (despite so much more discovered in the manga). And she wastes no time chastising, embarrassing, and breaking the girls of the underground disciplinary council in a private and even public setting. But enough about Meiko, Hana, and Mari’s backstory, we now rejoin the boys as they are enjoying their freedom. MAD WAX: This is the sequel OVA to Prison School where we see what life is like for the boys after leaving prison and watch as Meiko, Hana, and Mari are sent to prison and literally stripped of their dignity. Actually, we don’t even watch more than 2 minutes involving the three witches. Most of the episode does consist the boys interacting with the girls of the school. Kiyoshi and Chiyo are cute together. And there’s some hope for Anzu and Shingo after all that has happened between them. That just leaves Gakuto, Andre, and Jo. Andre quickly became popular with the ladies for being strong. Gakuto got lucky with the world’s unluckiest girl. Since it’s a given that Gakuto risked being an outcast through high school and quite possibly a virgin for life after he shit his pants during class. This girl understands due to a similar incident that happened when she was younger. And like I said before she’s the world’s unluckiest girl. She ends up in mishaps where we end up seeing her panties or her being half-naked for some reason. But all wasn’t good with one of the boys. Jo started to feel that he’s unable to survive in the outside world and misses being locked up. And he was willing to fondle a girl’s ass just to go back in the system. Kinda relatable to people who are locked up for a long time and they know no other life outside prison. Really sad! But Jo gets a surprise by a female classmate as she took the time to give him a baked good personally and even address him by name. This actually touched Jo and made him second-guess the whole prospect of living outside the system. And through some accidents, Andre wound up naked, bondaged, and kicked by scared, naked females. Don’t ask. It’s an OVA. OVA’s are notorious for kinky shit like this happening. Despite a lot of fanservice (not aimed at me whatsoever), I was really captivated by the story of these boys trying to survive the prison school. The animation was very inventive at times and fun to watch. I just think I could do without constant close-ups of Meiko’s taint. And while I’m on the subject of Meiko, who put bull hormones in her milk?! Not since Eiken have I seen a high school girl with overly-eggagerated proportions and clothing that doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Okay, I'm being too harsh here. But if you watch this girl, you'll understand where I'm coming from. But I enjoyed the story overall. Shock factor and all! There were so many shocking moments in the anime that might scare off some folks. I leaned in closer, jaw-dropped waiting to see if there’s another scene in this anime that’s going to top this one! My only issue was with the dub. Yes, controversial line aside, some of the voices just feel like they didn’t belong. Particularly when it comes to characters like Gakuto and Andre! But I honestly think it’s because I was never a fan of Eric Vale voicing a high school student…yes, even when he was doing that on Fruits Basket. And Andre…who told Sonny Strait it was a good idea to do Jarjarbinks through the entirety of the series? If you’re looking for a thrilling anime filled with escape plans, sweat dripping from between girl’s thighs (skeet, skeet, mother fucker), clever moments, oh my gosh moments, big ol’ jiggly bits, and moments that’ll keep you at the edge of your seat, check this one out. Just watch the dub at your own risk. And if you want more of that, the manga goes much, much, much further than what the anime tells. Currently, FUNimation and Hulu are the only ones streaming the series. The OVA, Mad Wax is not streamed on any platform. I’m also pretty confident it’s not on the home release either. So you might have to do some digging around for that one. Okay, that's done. Okay what anime on my LONG list of FUNimation licensed animes am I going to watch next? Let's fire up the random... Yes, I see you Zombieland Saga. But I really need to do the randomizer and... Yes, I realize Mamoru Miyano is in this and is at his maximum craziest. It's just that I have a long list to get through and...

OKAY, FINE! I'll watch Zombieland Saga! I'm hoping that this guy is crazier than Cilan, Rintaro Okabe, Light Yagami, and Tamaki Suoh.

[the-firebird69]

Watch "SERPICO (1973) | 4K Restoration | Official Trailer | Dir. by Sidney Lumet & starring Al Pacino" on YouTube

And they're trying to blame BG all the time and I'm trying to pin stuff on him constantly just like our son to identifies with it it says the crazy but they're in a position as we are just a little bit better and that's actually pretty good cuz that's what it is similar and you can get out of it but it's very difficult the trouble that they cost and it causes more trouble and that's what they're looking to do so goes up there it is doing serpico and in standalone it's not busting anybody it goes around and he finds these guys d****** with everybody and it's Trump and it's after they're found out and people go after him slowly but they're going after other people it makes a note of it and it says you know about it and they're going after you and you're not doing anything she made a big deal out of it up in New York City and starts tomorrow and they say we want you out of here you keep making trouble so you can make in trouble for me everywhere I go I can't give anything I can't go anywhere with you goofballs all stuck to me and I can't even do anything I can't go to the movies and have a decent time at all without just sitting behind me and threatening me I can't go out to eat just you're sitting there babbling and babbling and babbling just like him and you're f****** stupid there's no real reason for it except you're dumb he said it too I think they're just really stupid people and he said we're trying to get stuff I said you're giving up your stuff you're battling it away people are killing you cuz you can't stand hearing you I want you away from me why don't you leave me alone because you hit us from a far I don't have that kind of s*** and you're nuts. So they start yammering back seeing all this s*** this is look you know I'm going to be somewhere I don't have time for this why don't you go to hell and it takes off so follow him around saying go to hell you sound like idiots you might be stupid and he said that like 20 times and it's not tripping that and he says some stuff and it goes backwards and they said forwards and people are starting to start going after him he knows what about this one you got so much money you don't have to worry about anything he walks around and they start saying it to people and then they go up to and say you got so much money then they say we have it and serpico said where'd you get the money send other people's bank accounts recently when they died in battle there are people we have a right to it he knows you do and that was it a few minutes later there's news on TV that those guys are killed and they were killed very badly and people know who it was it was people who heard them talking about it and they're more people from the neighborhood they're part of those 25 and even though 10 left they're still getting the 25 and they're taking their money so beet juice is the game and after a serpico tomorrow and several other movies it's not getting ground down to the bottom.

I'll mention another movie and it has BG in it it comes after serpico tomorrow and starts tomorrow night partially and it's Scarface and this is a very violent movie there's a whole bunch of people to get hit. And a bunch of them are out of those 25 no they're out of the 50 keep in mind that about ten out of 50 said they aren't coming back. Huge episode issuing regarding the statement and everything about it now there's tons of stuff to do and these people have nothing to do except sit here and rant so they come in and pull them out soon they'll be dead.

No no change on the Eastern hemisphere there's still four or five huge areas of the warlock is five there's four that are 300x200 too that are 100 by 100 and that's what it is well six and a couple more and they're going to go after him most likely but what's happening now is Stan is under attack by Trump the others are stopping him and Max there too and they're going after the idiot and he's sending tons of troops huge numbers and about 600,000 octillion now and right now and people can't figure out why. In about 20 minutes they're going to hit the wall things are going to attack the base and with a lot of firepower

Thor Freya

I hope this doesn't happen but we see them amassing and we're getting ready and we see Max and more luck and they were getting ready to hit them too and these people are idiots okay we spent a long time listening to this crap she's stupid morons

Stan

Olympus

[serpico4815]

PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL PASSES POLICE REFORM BILL NOW YOU THE PUBLIC CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA WILL GET INPUT AT THE HEARING TO BEFORE POLICE CONTACT IS APPROVED. History in the making first time ever in the city of Philadelphia. Now the public will have say in what the Philadelphia Police contract should be and look like. That’s right folks city cancel has finally given the public the right to voice their opinion and have input in the city of Philadelphia Police Department new contract. This is Historic we are truly making serious changes and not only should other states Philadelphia is stepping up to the plate and it’s truly serious about police reform. I thank those city council members who voted for this change that was long overdue. Now it’s time for you the people of Philadelphia to stand up and let you’re voices be heard loud and clear. This is your opportunity to shape in the mall your plan if he’s department. You now has say in the structure and design of the contract. Serpico News reached out to the Fraternal Order Of Police president John McNesby and Vice President John McGrody for comment unfortunately both were unavailable for comment.  https://www.instagram.com/p/CFZuB40h00a/?igshid=1cbe1wy5979l8

[serpiconews]

SERPICO NEWS RIGHT IN YOUR FACE. PHILLY COPS IN THE WAKE OF THE SHOOTING STANDOFF ARE NOW GETTING IMMEDIATELY NEW ACTIVE SHOOTER TRAINING. Well this is all good and dandy but there’s so much more to this story. And what went wrong on that day and it sent a strong message to cops and Commander we are not truly prepared. First l would like to say thanks to all those that wear the badge with honor. I would also like to congratulate those officers that were involved and injured during in this active shooter standoff. But however let’s keep it real for one moment and tell it like it is what happen. by not following the departments procedures and protocol that we’re designed for incidents like this. This would have not happened in the first place if the Philadelphia Police Department Commander had followed there own rules. But let’s start with what you the public don’t know and would have never hear. First the Commander are not on the scene and calling the shoots over police radio. But you won’t hear about that. Second conflict was the Mayor nor DA should have been at that scene giving orders or interfering with a police investigation. SWAT supervisor tells Ex- Commissioner Richard Ross let me and my team do our job this is what we train for the Mayor nor the DA have the training we have to give you any advice in this situation. Commissioner Ross should have taken the advice of his well train SWAT supervisor and SWAT Officers. But instead you punish the officers for doing the right thing and their job. Now in the After mass of the shooting Philadelphia PD wakes up and realizes they are not truly ready or prepared for active shooters. Commissioner Coulter have seen the Light but at the cost of 6 cops shot and others hurt just trying to get on location. So starting this week all officers in the Philadelphia Police department are receiving immediate mandatory active shooter training. The moral of the story is Commanders Let’s you’re train professionals do their job. Don’t ever put officers lives in danger again by playing the political football game remember these men and women have families to go home to at the end of the night. Newly appointed Commission https://www.instagram.com/p/B1yMEk6hVHl/?igshid=hsai9tey3eb9

[bthump]

Is it worth it to read past Golden Age in your opinion?

lol I read the whole thing twice within like a year and a half so I’d say yes but tbh it probably depends on what you want from the story. Like yeah I do think it went downhill after the Golden Age in a lot of ways, and obviously griffguts are separated for the vast majority of it, but imo there’s still a lot to enjoy.

It’s long but imo the pacing is still pretty good until you get to the Fantasia arc, give or take some draggy fight scenes. I really like some of the new characters, like Farnese and Serpico, and a lot of the apostles on Griffith’s side. I mean I complain about Farnese’s character shift often lol but I still like her a lot as a character.

Guts’ positive character development isn’t my favourite thing ever lol but it’s not badly done (for the most part) and he has some good character moments that I really like. NeoGriffith’s side of the story is short on character stuff (at least overtly, bc ngriff is supposed to be emotionless lol) but it’s interesting thematically imo, at least throughout the millenium falcon arc.

And despite them being fewer and far between, some of my favourite griffguts moments (and some of the most homoerotic) happen after the Golden Age. Plus Guts and Serpico have a bit of a mildly gay vibe too that helped tide me over while reading it lol, and Farnese and Casca as well despite Casca’s state of being for most of it. And with minor characters too there’s some fun homoeroticism if that’s one of the main draws of Berserk for you, like Rosine and Jill’s relationship. And as a bonus there are griffguts parallels everywhere even when they’re separated, so there’s still stuff to pick up on and overthink lol.

And if you hear a lot of complaining about the art that might sway your opinion, tbf while my favourite Berserk art era is late Golden Age I still really like it up until the Fantasia arc, which is relatively recent in the grand scheme of the sheer number of chapters lol. So I don’t think you’d have to worry about that for a while.

That said it is really long, and if you don’t enjoy fight scenes a lot of it will probably be kind of tedious lol. Plus without knowing how it’s going to end it’s hard to say whether it’ll ultimately turn out to be a giant disappointing waste of time or not lol. As of right now I still have some hope that things will get interesting and darker again, and Guts and Casca won’t end up together, but at the same time there’s a reason a lot of Berserk fans think the story’s heading towards Good vs Evil followed by Guts and Casca riding away into the sunset with some affirmation of them being a family.

So yeah basically I thought it was worth reading and still pretty enjoyable throughout, but if you’re mainly into the story for the griffguts relationship and aren’t too attached to Guts outside of that, and/or you’re not into action, and/or you don’t end up liking the new characters much, etc, it might not be worth it.

My advice would be to try it and read til at least the Hill of Swords scene after the Conviction arc (til ch 183 iirc), and then decide whether you’re invested enough to keep going. The Conviction arc is kind of weird and campy tonally and a bit confusing imo so it might be offputting, and if you really dgaf you should quit whenever you feel like it lol, but I think it’s worth giving it a shot at least.

[farnesca]

How do you think Farnese and Casca's relationship would develop after Casca is healed based on the current point in the manga? I wonder if Casca would keep her memories of her current state? I'd love to hear your thoughts ^o^

Oh boy, what a good question!  I, personally, will be Fucking Pissed if Casca doesn’t remember her experiences post-Eclipse and pre-healing.  That would just be way too much of an easy out.  The Eclipse was obviously the Pinnacle Of Trauma or whatever, but Casca’s been through so, so much since then.  I’m working on the assumption that she does remember given the number of phallic monsters compared to the number of times men have tried assaulting her post-Eclipse.  That and tiny Casca - imagery from these dream chapters has made it pretty apparent that tiny Casca represents Casca’s heart, and tiny Casca’s been there the whole time.  She’s just been quiiite weak.  There’s also the chapter where Casca kills a couple men even in her regressed state pretty early on, which showed that Casca is Still In There, Somewhere.  Of course this could just be my “wishful” (praying for some decent writing) thinking, but, hey.  Fingers crossed.  I’m hopeful.

This is going to be long, so here’s a cut.  This kind of ended up being a Casca post-healing character development answer more than anything, but there’s plenty of Farnesca conceptualizing in it.  ;D

I’d really like to see a rough transition.  Not that I want more Casca suffering time, it’s probably going to kill me, but for the sake of some spicy realism.  Sure, they can go in there and piece Casca back together again after all this trauma, but they can’t just Erase the fact that she’s still been through it?  She should still have to come to cope with it all.  Her experiences are what’s being shown to Build Her Character.  Her experiences are currently literally shaping and changing her.  The Eclipse is going to be one hell of a puzzle piece to adjust herself to.  If that final piece is successfully obtained (which @Miura It Best Be), I want Casca to wake up really solemn and downcast.  She doesn’t talk to anyone for a long while, and if she does, it’s short questions in a quiet, rough voice.  She only asks Schierke, at first.  She almost brushes Farnese off, which Farnese is like, a bit hurt by.  She keeps trying to help Casca with things, just on instinct, but every time she finds a sharp pair of eyes that should be so familiar but suddenly they’re not, locked with hers.  She quickly remembers the new situation and leaves Casca to whatever she’s doing.  She gets SO sad about it.  Caring for Casca is the one thing that’s forced her along to become stronger, and it had become a second nature, and now it was ripped out from under her.  She feels kinda lost.

I imagine Casca to be eating soup dinner with Schierke + Farnese + perhaps some fae folk when the boys roll in.  Casca’s eyes lock on Guts.  Guts’ one locks on her.  There’s a beat.

“Casca,” and Guts takes a step forward.  “Cas-”

Casca absolutely beams him with her soup bowl. 

Scheirke ends up in a little tizzy and tells him maybe he should keep his distance for a while yet, she’s still got a lot of settling to do- cue emo Guts time.  He understands, tho, sadly.  They eat dinner from opposite sides of the I’m assuming fire.  

It’s incredibly quiet and tense.  The fae folk, sensing the Mood, have kind of given them their space.  Guts is always looking at Casca, Casca’s on her defensive looking at Guts the entire time, Farnese keeps looking between them, like, “huh.  Unexpected and interesting”.  After Casca’s eaten, Schierke offers that she could have a bath, and they could try to find her some better clothes for her in the meantime.  “That would be nice,” Casca says, still all quiet, but Guts can hear it over the fire and basically internally nuts because holy shit he hasn’t heard her talk in FOREVER.  Schierke gets up and Casca goes to follow, but she pauses.  

“Farnese, would you help me with my hair?”

and that’s when Farnese falls in love.

Thanks for reading my one-off fanfic blurb I hope u enjoyed

No but like, imagine her surprise?  The expression on her face?  Her flustered “s-sure, of course!” It’d be so cute.  Farnese has been dealing with a free-spirit runaround version of Casca for quite a long time now, and it’s going to be Really weird for her to interact with her on a person-to-person level and basis.  It’s so awkward for the both of them- “We’ve both seen each other naked a ton of times, but only just now is it actually a reality we have to deal with” type shit.  “We’re best friends but also know very little about each other actually as people actually, only small weird habits.” It’s hilarious but oh so painful.  Farnese helps Casca wash her hair.  Casca instructs Farnese on how she’d like it cut - very short, “like it used to be.”  Like Farnese has never seen it before.  Bonding moment.

Casca has many soft moments with Farnese after her healing (Farnese helps Casca get acclimated again, Farnese fills Casca in on some things to help her better understand all the shit they’ve been thru, they tell each other about their lives, Farnese petitions Serpico to help Casca in her training b/c she wants to get back in shape, in the long-term Casca teaches Farnese about the sword and takes her turn protecting Farnese which is beautiful and gay) but hard ones with Guts.

I want Casca to be SO mad at Guts.  She does have a moment where she has a heart-to-heart with him, but it’s short.  She Understands. She’s Thankful.  She’s also Fucking Pissed, and she needs space to sort that out.  She needs space to sort a LOT out.  When she’s ready to come back and regard Guts as a friend and kick ass, it’ll be with a smile and a readied sword.

Please @Miura, I need Casca to recognize how women have been the ones to take good care of her in her time of need.  Erica, Luca and her girls (Nina kind of sucked but whatever), and Farnese have been her Best caretakers in her regressed state - treated her like a person, greatly concerned with her wellbeing and protecting her, didn’t tie her up and drag her around when she was difficult, etc.  Before her regression the only girl we saw her actually interact with was Charlotte, crybaby gf of the dude she loved for years that never loved her.  The only other scene was with all the adoring girls at that little parade thing and Casca was so cute and flustered.  Suddenly when Casca comes to she’s smacked in the face with how all these women she didn’t even KNOW cared for her the best of anyone.  She realizes how she’s just been a pawn and a plaything for all these men she’s crossed paths with.  Casca realizes this and has an inner lesbian revolution, thanks.  

Thanks so much for sending an ask!!!  I think I’ve gone on long enough.  I have ideas for the whole, “her wish may be different than yours” forewarning bullshit that I almost broke into, but I think that’s for a different time in a different place.

Reminder to anyone that made it this far that my inbox is always open~