#overarching plotlines

[bobauthorman]

The Iron Wizard

I was just thinking. You know how the narrative diverted us from Ironwood's more negative traits by constantly using Jacques Schnee as a foil? That we were so busy cheering to see the weaselly rich jerk getting shot down that we didn't pay much attention to the smug, bullying dictator in the making?

I can't help but wonder if we're not making the same mistake with Oz...

[atthebell]

tbc i don't think em's death should be reversed it's a completely legit death it just feels narratively awful and if they want eggs to feel in danger again i wish it would be in a different way that does take into account player agency and doesn't involve yet another third party that i don't care about and muddies the waters of what the fuck is going on

[boasamishipper]

i think the biggest problem of season 3 (of which there are Several) is the shift away from football being the crux of the story, which has undoubtedly resulted in the aimless, overstuffed, unfocused narrative we've been seeing for the last eight episodes. season one was as excellent as it was because whether richmond won or lost a match actually mattered; if they lost too many matches, they'd be relegated, and relegation was always treated as a distinct, tangible threat. there were stakes. and while season two had its issues with pacing and unnecessary subplots, no one would call it aimless. the characters had a goal (pun intended): to get promoted back to the premier league. if they lost too many matches, they would stay in the championship league. we as the audience were invested in whether or not richmond won or lost, and the narrative was all the stronger and more coherent for it.

season one asked us, can afc richmond avoid relegation? and we were invested in the answer. season two asked us, can afc richmond be promoted? and we were invested in the answer. now we're eight episodes into season three, and the overarching goal of the season, the question it is asking its audience to remain invested in, is...what? what are we building towards? is afc richmond's goal to win the whole damn thing? to beat west ham? to beat man city? to do just enough to avoid relegation again?

and because we can't answer this question, the narrative has suffered greatly. how are we supposed to believe beard when he says man city is the team's white whale if we haven't even seen them play each other yet this season? if ted's total football epiphany was so life-changing for richmond, why did we speed past all the matches this episode where the team won using that strategy? if this is all leading to a final nate-ted west ham-richmond match, why haven't we spent any time with nate at west ham? why haven't we gotten to see him grow and develop as a coach? at one point, the team was doing so badly that higgins suggested firing ted, who has been visibly struggling on and off the pitch - and the narrative did not give that suggestion the weight it might have had in season one or two. we spent an entire episode watching rupert, rebecca, and chelsea fight over zava - and then two episodes later he was gone, and we haven't so much as mentioned him since. just last season, sam was being heralded as the star of afc richmond, highly sought after by other club owners - but we haven't gotten to see any of his alleged brilliance on the pitch this season at all. i have to kick a little ball around, which those same people love me for, sam said in 3.07, that is, until i fuck up or miss a penalty, or i decide to fight back - a speech that was excellently delivered by toheeb, but loses some of its weight because we haven't actually gotten to see any negative reaction to sam missing a penalty or fucking up or deciding to fight back (not even in season 2 after the dubai air boycott).

(all this to say: i do enjoy the show. i love the characters, i've been enjoying the episodes as individual units, and i'll continue to tune in week after week. but for a show that once boasted football was life, it's sure been suffering since it decided to stop focusing on that.)

[presiding]

genuinely admire those who were optimistic for dishonored 3 but in this videogame industry climate and [insert a 4hr video essay about arkane's recent history here], honestly, not getting dh3 is good news

[stampstamp]

Zombieland Saga is like 'Watch this ragtag zombie idol group gain popularity in Saga (WHICH IS AMAZING OMG PLEASE VISIT SAGA) and get yelled at by their eccentric producer (in the best prefecture in Japan); it's funny and their limbs pop out a lot!' and the next thing you know, you've just watched one of history's best pieces of media on the theme of resilience.

[dinitride-art]

Mike Wheeler in Season Four (Analysis/Theory) Pt.3/3

Ignoring most of the symbolism in this scene because I simply don’t have the space here (I will later in my lighting analysis, though so. Part like... 45-50 will be an absolute banger of a post)- I’m going to focus on Will.

Will’s been the one keeping Mike together this season, but as they’ve come back to Hawkins that has evened out. And now it might be flipping slightly. Will is still in the light/Mike’s light, but clearly is the one who needs someone to lean on.

Will’s still in the light but it’s becoming more obvious that now that they’re back in Hawkins, he’s struggling. He’s reaching out to Mike for the same comfort he’s given this season. The same way that Mike was with him in season two. The way that Mike and Will are looking for comfort in each other is becoming more equal. 

They’re both struggling. But Will still has a blue background, and Mike a yellow one. And Will’s still in the light, and Mike’s left eye is still in shadow. The way we see Mike is in a juxtaposition to his background. His left eye is next to a window with a yellow curtain, and the side of his face in the light is next to the dark. Similarly, Will is in the light, but behind him is a blue tinted background- like that of Vecna’s trances. 

Neither of them are doing well. But they’re still looking to the other for help. 

Will’s reaching for Mike and Mike’s meeting Will halfway. Just like Will’s done for him, and like he’s always done for Will. But they might now be able to fix this on their own. Not when they’re both starting to crumble. 

Still, Will looks to Mike for help first. And Mike tries to reassure him and comfort him the best he can. Mike doesn’t reach out to Will a lot this season. It’s Will that has to ask him what’s wrong, or bump into him. Sometimes he’ll look to Will for reassurance, but he hasn’t really initiated any physical contact. 

As soon as Will asks him for it though, he reaches out. 

And holds onto to Will for as long as he can.

(Again, I am skipping past so much stuff here. So ignoring 90% of what’s happening here-) We see Hopper and El looking at the Byers family reunion. Mike and Nancy are also in the middle of this shot, looking at the Byers. If Hopper didn’t immedietly talk to Mike after, I wouldn’t say there’s much backing up the thought that Hopper is looking at Mike here. But I think he is. Because Mike’s not with El in the cabin where Hopper found her, he’s with Will. And Hopper sees that.

El and Will on either side of Mike is showing that he really sees that. Another person is taking note of Mike and Will. 

They’re staying by each other’s sides. And it’s becoming a lot more obvious to the other characters- and the audience- as to what that actually means. 

And that’s terrifying. 

They can’t hide anymore under the shelter of being traumatized kids. Not when Mike can’t tell El he loves her until she’s dying on the table in front of him. Not when Will’s the only one who Mike talks to. Not when Will and Mike are meeting each other halfway every time. As they’re getting just a few years older, the people around them are starting to look further. And they’re starting to understand exactly what’s going on. 

Before Mike and Will even have a chance to let their relationship change, people are noticing that it might. 

[wheresurboytonighthelookslikeenj]

sorry

[solarpunkani]

I think one of the first Solarpunk-adjacent medias I ever engaged with was the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and I'm simultaneously being sarcastic but also 100% serious.

Raise your hand if you want me to talk about it.

[gierosajie]

Okay but the build-a-god plan the Abyss Order has going on plus whatever the Loom of Fate is makes me think that they're trying to bring back Istaroth or a mechanical imitation of her

Because they're using Venti's Statue of The Seven as a base to hold the eye of the first Field Tiller and Idk man, the closed statue wings and the eye kinda give a similar silhouette to the Omnipresent God statue's necklace. Not to mention the fact that Osial's arms (or uh...heads? Idk I'm just going off of memory here) are also a component. And what's the other thing with the Statue of the Omnipresent God before the name got changed besides the eyes? Arms.

Anyway haha wouldn't it be messed up if the mecha god ended up looking like Venti

[planet4546b]

kotor is so good...like i wish i had more cohesive thoughts. the issue is just that so so many aspects of it are so compelling and so interesting. so i simply have to be like. Oh my god its so good. but thats because it is

[kindaorangey]

last post before i sleep i hope in s6 alya gets to have an arc about investigating who monarch was. like obviously marinette may just tell her the truth but i'd thoroughly enjoy a plotline where alya is investigating marinette's refusal to tell her monarch's identity, causing a (temporary) rift in their friendship -- it'd also give us focus on alya independently of marinette, which we still don't see nearly enough of

[prompt-master]

didn’t have much interest in it but I decided to watch the recent two episodes and does the pacing always feel like a cheetah that drank 10 gallons of 5-hour energy?

Things are just happening there’s no moments of downtime no buildup to songs I swear I looked away for one minute and a person who was just introduced had a while character arc.

like I’m like did I miss something?

I do think the pacing is one of the bigger flaws, altho it's likely they had to jam a bunch into a set amount of episodes in case they couldn't make more in the future.

I think one of the biggest flaws of the show unfortunately is that a lot of the writing feels as though it expects us to know the characters already, rather than be a standalone show.

This leaves certain moments that I really like not hitting as strongly as they could have! For example I liked Alastor and Lucifer arguing over who's Charlie's real dad figure, but the issue is without more build up to this it doesn't really have a lot of impact! It would have been a much stronger moment if there was some prior bonding moments between the two!

[pastafossa]

No one can convince me otherwise that Taylor Swift hasn’t secretly read TRT and then wrote The Great War song. No one. 😂

FOR REAL THO. Great War definitely hits like whoa, and works REALLY well as an overarching song for the entirety of TRT in a spooky sort of way, especially considering some coming events around S3.

Also no one can tell me this section isn't referring to her hiding what she did in Los Angeles from Matt (I LITERALLY REFER TO HER SECRET IN TRT AS POISON), who is desperately trying to get her to open up.

You drew up some good faith treaties

I drew curtains closed

Drank my poison all alone

You said I have to trust more freely

But diesel is desire

This was def a good rec from you and @your-not-invisible-to-me and it is now on the TRT playlist!

[tillman]

beginning the process of uploading every text/pdf/link online i have onto one page of my website for ease of access for me and others who want it and oh fuck yes. 

[yume-fanfare]

(opens phone notes) damn there are actually some good ideas in here (unconnected sentences) (part of a monologue) (half written dialogues in three different languages) (two word concepts) (second part of that monologue)

[princessmo]

f is for family is at least a better show than it should be