#rewatching it now I can definitely see why it didn't make a lasting impression on me the first time

[jebewonmorelike]

The Drag Race Debate

wc: 600 (exactly! wut) pronouns: n/a; none used warnings: angsty but it's so not serious; mention of the word s*men; fluff summary: please do not fight with sung hanbin about drag race (unless you're ready for an overload of cute and sass) ~masterlist~ ♡ ~kofi (no pressure at all)~ guys hi! this one is so silly goofy, but i just KNOW hanbin gets heated about drag race. i just know. anyway, i hope mother always mothers. enjoy :)

"I just don't get why you like Ben de la Creme more than Jinkx Monsoon. Jinkx is such a great singer. She has more versatility," Hanbin says, rolling his eyes at you from across the room.

It was a lazy, Sunday morning and you and your boyfriend were re-watching Season 6 of Drag Race. Though you and Hanbin both loved the show, you often found yourselves disagreeing over your favorite queens. Just last week, while rewatching Season 5 (the best season), you'd gotten into a little argument about whether or not Rolaskatox deserved the hype they got. It ended with Hanbin accidentally knocking a glass off the counter while he was so earnestly attempting to demonstrate his point, followed by a delicious "apology" dinner from KFC on him.

Hanbin was always the one who got more heated, his passion for the subject matter undyingly evident. But to be honest, you found it so damn cute.

How his cheeks would redden, the new dynamics of his voice, the little stomps of his feet in frustration when he couldn't think of a rebuttal right away...

Were you winding him up on purpose? No, definitely not. But once you stumbled into a good-natured debate, you weren't scrambling to end it.

Now, as you watched Hanbin sprawled across the couch from where you were cleaning the dishes from breakfast, you just can't help but smile at how his demeanor has already shifted. "Ben might not have the voice, but you know she has the better comedic chops."

His eyebrows shoot through the roof as he sits up to stare at you incredulously. "Judy Garland Snatch Game!? Delusion: Convince Yourself!? MICHELLE VISAGE IS SO FULL OF SEMEN-- PERIOD!?"

You nod, loading the last dish into the dishwasher. "All great moments, yes. But who won five straight challenges in a row in All Stars and then so graciously self-eliminated just to prove a point?"

The laugh that comes out of Hanbin is dripping with annoyance. "Actually, she won FOUR straight challenges. And why would self-eliminating be an honorable thing!? Was she taking any of it seriously!?"

You shrug, walking over to your boyfriend and perching on the arm of the sofa next to him. "Even more impressive that she could win without putting in any effort."

"No! It's not! It was rude to Ru and it was patronizing to the other contestants," he says with a huff, turning his back towards you.

"You're right, I didn't think about how much stress that would add to Mother Ru's life. She's so busy with the fracking and all..."

Hanbin whips back around at an almost alarming speed. "TAKE. THAT. BACK! Now you're disrespecting Mother Ru?"

Your boyfriend is absolutely seething at this point and it only makes him cuter. Resting your chin in your hands, you bat your eyelashes cutely at him. "Binnie, shouldn't you be living by your favorite's motto right now? Water off a duck's back, remember?"

Hanbin clicks his tongue at you, shaking his head in what appears to be disappointment but you can see the remorseful pout start to from on his lips. He sighs, visibly returning back to his calmer self. "Why do I hang out with you again?"

Your hand finds its way to the back of your boyfriend's adorable head, running your fingers through his hair as you pretend to ponder the question before reaching the obvious conclusion. "Because you're hopelessly in love with me?"

A reluctant, smile-line producing grin stretches across his face as he outstretches both of his arms, signalling for you to climb into his embrace. "How could I ever forget?"

[ctl-yuejie]

Hidden Agenda is moving very quickly -last week Zo had to get persuaded to ask for Joke's help and this week he already realises that he's catching feelings for Joke -

too fast? maybe. but I think that's the point:

Admittedly Joke is hot, suave and has shown to be kind since from Zo's perspective he's helping him on a self-admittedly ludicrous mission (getting tutored by the ex) after getting bad-mouthed by his friends. However, Zo had a bad impression of Joke beforehand and has liked Nita for a long time.

So why the sudden change?

I have to rewatch ep. 1-2 but Zo seems lonely? He has of course his club and friends but his family seems a bit absent. And even knowing he has friends still doesn't make it impossible for him to be lonely. The initial teaser mentioned that he wants to be in love.

So why Joke?

I think that puzzle can be solved by asking: why Nita?

She's hot, popular and most importantly nice to Zo. He is extremely awkward around her (and ripped her bag strap!) but she's been friendly throughout.

I think Zo is craving that. His crush on Nita is legitimate (at least I want to think it is), but he is more into the idea of her. He doesn't actually know her (my man only now scrolled through her instagram to see what she likes).

And like Joke accurately observes: he doesn't know himself and dislikes to try new things out so he's stuck not getting to know himself better, which also means: we can't be too sure he knows what he wants and likes romantically.

This is the first time he spends a lot of time with a new person trying new things. And it is intimate: they touch, mess around and have a good time together.

Or like Joke poses, and Zo repeats in his head: 1. Passion 2. Initimacy 3. Committment. I don't think his perception of what love is changes after Joke's triangle of love but someone put finally into words what love is to Zo. And intimacy seems to be a big thing for him (be it physical touch or the feeling of not being alone).

And when Joke -after Zo reads the story of Aphrodite and Adonis to him- says were he Aphrodite "he wouldn't have left Adonis alone in the first place" and their electrifying pinky touch, it becomes clear that this is is what Zo is looking for. Not only someone nice, but someone who won't make him feel alone. (That's why the date with Nita went perfectly well - it's fine to interpret stories differently and they got talking about it - but he didn't feel a spark)

Which will complicate things in the future. Not only the possible betrayal he feels when he learns of Joke's hidden agenda, but in the preview it looks like we get the first kiss. And it's initiated by Zo.

The chemistry he feels is definitely true. But can Joke believe that Zo has caught feelings when he is still on the way to getting to know himself better and seemingly craving for a romantic connection to someone ?

I don't know how to tie this back into the theme of "hidden agenda" but it is at least the reason why I see conflict on the horizon and don't believe the show is moving too fast.

Upon re-reading I might have idea, which isn't that clean but maybe workable in the future: hidden agenda also means you are not true to someone else. Zo has changed who he is for Nita, even agreeing with her reading on his favourite bed time story because he thinks that what she wants to see him romantically. But we know that what Zo wants is to be wanted in a way that - according to Joke - goes beyond what even Aphrodite felt for Adonis. And in front of Joke he is very honest, even down to admitting feeling confused about his heart not racing when he got close to Nita. Which in turn can led to more conflict, because he was so honest in front of Joke while Joke hides his motivations.

In even better news: it means I am getting the ultimate trope of them dating while thinking the other isn't into them.

[epickiya722]

perhaps nobara for the send me a character and i’ll tell you? <3

My first impression: She had me laughing when she was pressing that one man about his opinion on her being a model.

My impression now: She is best girl! I adore her! She is indeed funny as hell, a badass and also bit of a softie.

Favorite thing about that character: Jumping off from the last point, I love that Nobara is indeed a badass, but she also still has feelings, you know? She's someone who will have your back, on or off the field of battle.

Least favorite thing: That she hasn't returned yet... 😭 (Yep, I refuse to believe she's actually dead. In this series??)

Favorite line/scene: There's a lot of Nobara scenes I love, but to choose I gotta say the scene where she and Panda were teasing Momo. "Nishimiya, there in a tree! Come down and play!" I can still hear that line, makes me laugh every single time. 😆

Favorite interaction that character has with another: Oooh, it is hard to choose here because I love her interactions with Megumi and Yuji. Then there's her relationship with Maki. But I'm giving it to Fumi here. Just seeing her and Fumi as kids and growing up together really touched me heart. Fumi was like a cool breeze to Nobara's summer day. I teared up a little when they were saying good-bye to each other.

A character that I wish that character would interact with more: Definitely would love to have seen more interactions with her and Maki. I love the interactions we did get though, but damn it! I want more of them!

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character: At first, I couldn't think of anyone, but then Kendo Itsuka from BNHA came to mind. They're both these kickass girls who don't take nothing from nobody, but they also have a good heart.

A headcanon about that character: I headcanon that she didn't aim for her hair to be an orange color, at first. She wanted a more pinkish-color (like a salmon or a coral pink), but she picked up the wrong color, but decided to try the orange anyways. She immediately loved it.

A song that reminds of that character: There's actually two Shawn Wasabi songs that reminds me of Nobara. One of them is called Tokyo Tea. It's a really cute song, but also has this aggressive beat to it. It is so Nobara, I promise you it is. And the lyrics and all!

An unpopular opinion about that character: I really want people to leave the "She's JJK's Sakura" in 2023. She is not, never has been to me, I'm just saying. "She's useless", if Itadori, who whooped Mahito something fierce, can recognize Nobara's technique was used on Mahito that gave him the opening and thanked her, why the fuck can't people who call her useless recognize that she isn't?

Favorite picture: There's quite a bit of pictures of Nobara I love, but two I'll say are these. I had been rewatching season 1, and yep! I still love rose tattooed, feral Nobara. The second picture amuses me.

Send Me a Character... ✨️

[aerithisms]

hi! I just wanted to share my 2 cents about your aerith post and her screen time bc after I finished the game I shared the same sentiment, but after 2 weeks of thinking, rewatching and analysing cut scenes (this game lives rent free in my head now), I realized why they pace her arc the way they did. basically her arc deals with her duty as cetra and coming to terms w/ it. however there wouldn't be any progression if she was already resolved to do it, hence at the beginning of rebirth we have aerith who is happy to start her adventure w/ her new friends (the one she wanted to go w/ her mom as we learn from her trial, so her moment of joy after leaving kalm feels even more deep). but as we continue we can see the mix of inner struggles that resides in her: being last cetra, trying to moving on from zack and dealing w/ dark thoughts about hojo. her Costa del Sol scene suggests that she'll learn how to deal w/ all of that and she believes it'll make her a better person in the future (in some way it has come true bc aerith sacrifices her life and any chance to spend it w/ ppl she loves, and of all things she wanted exactly this). despite that it doesn't cancel her desire to have a normal life and enjoy every moment while she can (in the same Costa del Sol ch. where everyone leaves the beach you can see aerith lingering and watching the sunset as she tries to take it all in for the last time). I think starting from Cosmo canyon her resolve comes into form bc she admits about the loneliness she had to face. At the temple she's willing to learn how to control lifestream (even tho you can see moments when she's upset when it doesn't work out). and at the end she's resolved to fulfill her duty not bc she's a cetra but bc of her friends.

This way you learn to care about her as a person and not just her role as a chosen one. also it's just my personal impression that the devs didn't want her to be a walking sign of death to preserve that feeling of her loss. instead they tease the player the idea of saving her to via marlene, red xiii and partially zack scenes (which feels even more cruel imho).

i can definitely appreciate your perspective!! to clarify i didn't want her to be fully formed in her identity and duty as a cetra at the beginning of the game, and this sort of arc about her learning to explore that side of herself more was in fact exactly what i wanted, i just feel the game doesn't really address it as much as i wish it did. like besides the cosmo canyon fire scene and the last couple chapters there's not a lot there and you're left to infer a little too much imo. i would've liked to see aerith voice her feelings about it to someone more so that we could get inside her head about it. nanaki would've been great since he has a similar connection to the planet/responsibility to uphold the legacy of his people, or tifa since she and aerith confide so much in each other already. or even cloud! that could've brought more attention to their relationship in the narrative so it wasn't so sparse.

i do get that they don't want it to be obvious she'll die for new players but by the same token i sort of feel like if they were that concerned about that they wouldn't have had marlene straight up say sephiroth is gonna kill her. by and large this game's story feels targeted at a primary audience of people who've already played ff7 so i don't know that i feel that's a good enough justification not to explore all the facets of her character in more depth while they could.

that being said i absolutely agree that i love her arc about her connection to the party and how she clearly struggles with but ultimately is able to accept her fate because of how much she loves them and how much they brought to her life. i thought that was really beautiful and heartfelt. and for all my griping i did sob over the ending so it's not like these critiques i have ruined the emotional impact overall!

[nanso]

I am a bit underwhelmed...

When s1 came out, people couldn't stop raving about how the changes from the book made the show better

Now for s2, people can't stop complaining about how they could have made so many things better than book

I know TVWLM is a superior book, but they had so much source material and they left out the best parts! I still enjoyed s2 because of Kate and Anthony and their chemistry! And the Violet and Anthony scenes were so heart warming and satisfying especially after their conflict in s1. But other than that, I wasn't very impressed and will simply rewatch Kathony scenes only.

I will say, on my first watch of S2 as a whole, I also was a bit underwhelmed but that had nothing to do with Kate/Anthony or Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey's performances (tbh, lesser actors would have doomed this season given the writing). The pacing and editing just were too all over the place, as was the writing. And the tone is just super uneven - someone wanted Pride and Prejudice and someone else wanted The Age of Innocence. It was a bit jarring and I say that as a supreme lover of ANGST.

I hadn't read TDAI before watching S1 and when I read it after, I definitely saw how the show version of Daphne/Simon was better - but that had more to do with the portrayals by PD and RJP. The dynamics of that fictional relationship are not something I can ever really be into, however - book or show.

Re: S2 and the changes - to me, the changes here were WAY more drastic than S1 and TDAI. I do understand why they felt like they had to change it. The obstacle in the book is not a tangible one - here they used Edwina as the actual obstacle (even though their stubbornness to their own feelings also was part of it but that's not as tangible of course).

I'm okay with the way they changed things from the book mostly - I kind of embraced the MESS of it all honestly, lol. But I really think that the subplots intervened with/diluted the main love story; there was not NEAR ENOUGH Kathony; and they HIGHLY underdeveloped Kate's character - like, I don't even know how you can argue that they didn't do this. 

And that last one really hit hard for me because had they done this effectively (and it really wouldn't have taken much, tbh), it would have deepened her and Anthony's connection for the viewer. Like - it's honestly bizarre to me that they said the reason they had fewer sex scenes this season...was that it wasn't really part of Kate and Anthony's relationship. But LITERALLY we really only see them connect together over their physical desire. We, as the viewer, know that they are similar - but we never see them make that connection together early on. We only see that happen later on.

All that said, I loved watching Simone and Jonathan as Kate and Anthony and they sold it, underdeveloped writing and all. So THANK THE CASTING DIRECTOR for them.

[bonesbuckleup]

Lord, this answer got long. I’m a little embarrassed about it, but I wrote it, so it’s getting posted. It’s a literal essay. Sorry but also not?

TLDR: Yes, the show is arguably unfair to Sokka about Kya, but it also follows a pattern where Sokka stays quiet about Bad Feelings and plays by the rules established for his character. Katara, meanwhile, grieves loudly and often, and appears to be under the impression that because Sokka’s grief is silent it doesn’t exist, which also fits her character/interactions completely. Neither of them are right or wrong, but it sets them up on inevitable collisions.

Now. If you want to join me on a cactus-juice fueled descent into madness, proceed below the cut.

Number one. We’re referring to this exchange in “The Southern Raiders,” where the Gaang is talking about Zuko and Katara going after the man who killed Kya, which is vicious and brutal and never reflected on:

Aang: You sound like Jet. Katara: It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster. Sokka: Katara, she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right. Katara (angry, yelling): Then you didn't love her the way I did! Sokka (visibly hurt, softly): Katara.

And that’s it. Upon returning, Katara apologizes to Aang and not, as Anon is absolutely correct in pointing out, to Sokka, who is 100% the more injured party. Now. Is it possible this is one of the rare missteps from the atla writers? Yes. Absolutely. Is that the answer I’m about to write a literal fucking essay about? No. Because it’s more painful fun to take it as face value and talk subtext.

First, a reminder that this show is fucking good at what it does. It teaches you how each character grieves as we go: Aang explodes, often triggering the Avatar state, usually crying or angry, and when he does try to repress his Bad Feelings it rarely lasts longer than a day; Toph either shuts down or gets mad, but either way she doesn’t like people seeing her having Bad Feelings and often storms away, knowing that she can’t control it no matter how much she might want to; Zuko yells at the sky in a rainstorm or yells at his dad in an underground tunnel or challenges Zhao to an Agni Kai or yells at his uncle in a jail cell and generally is an emotive nuclear bomb because the boy has feelings and if he keeps them inside for more than three seconds he might explode okay.

Then we have Katara and Sokka.

Let’s start with Katara, since she has the most textual and straightforward displays of grief. She’s really the only one to talk about Kya’s death in Book 1. If Sokka mentions it, it’s barely in passing. I don’t think we hear Hakoda address her death at all (which I’ll return to in a moment.) Katara’s grief is loud. It’s angry. It’s still very much a living thing for her. She thinks she sees Kya in the swamp and breaks down crying, and tells Aang and Sokka about it with no hesitation. When she’s angry and sad at Hakoda for leaving, she acts out and is visibly upset with him, yells at him, cries at him. She out-loud hates Zuko when she comes to the conclusion that he told her about Ursa and got her to talk about Kya to manipulate her. It isn’t that her grief is performative, because it’s a very real and terrible thing, but it’s a grief that’s to be witnessed.

Then, Sokka. Sokka’s grief is more complicated because it exists almost entirely in subtext, especially in regard to Kya. We really only hear him talk about Kya twice, both in Book 3. First, to Toph, when he tells her that he can’t remember what Kya looks like. Worth noting, however, that even though it is Sokka talking, this is still centered on Katara and Katara’s grief. The next time is when Zuko asks what happened to Kya, and Sokka tells the story that leads into the initial flashback. Sokka doesn’t talk about his mom. This is a fact of the show. It’s such a fact of the show that, in “Southern Raiders,” after the exchange at the start of this post, while Katara and Zuko are on the hunt, Sokka doesn’t bring up Kya again and is messing around with Aang. Like nothing has happened or is currently happening--which I’ll come back to in a moment.

So while we can use Kya as a perfect example of how Katara grieves, we can’t really use her for Sokka. So let’s use Yue instead. Moments we see (or don’t see) Sokka grieving Yue:

In the opening to Book 2, we briefly have a shot of Sokka with the moon imposed behind him.

“The Swamp,” where Sokka’s vision is of Yue accusing him of not protecting her. This one is one of the more textual moments of grief--”I think about Yue all the time”--but what’s awful great about it is how Sokka tells Aang and Katara. Aang, obviously, has no qualms about sharing his vision. Katara openly talks about seeing Kya. Sokka only tells them about Yue when explicitly asked. Even then, he doesn’t mention what she said to him. From this, we can assume that Sokka is still holding onto a lot of guilt over her death--guilt that he won’t let Aang and Katara see. Anyway. Moving on.

“The Serpent’s Pass.” After spending all day panic protecting Suki, he tells her that he lost someone, but doesn’t go much further into detail, just saying that he can’t when she tries to kiss him. Of course, this is all happening in front of the moon. Again, though, Sokka stays vague. He doesn’t tell her any details.

“The Puppetmaster,” Toph posits that maybe the moon spirit has gone mean and is kidnapping people. Sokka snaps at her, in a moment definitely meant for laughs, saying, “The Moon Spirit is a gentle, loving lady. She rules the sky with compassion and ... lunar goodness!” It is a funny moment, but here’s what we can take from it: Toph doesn’t know about Yue. Toph is a Feral Bastard a lot of the time, but she also knows where the line is, and I don’t think she’d’ve said that if she’d known.

“Boiling Rock,” in arguably the most quoted (and well deservedly so!) line in the entire show. “My first girlfriend turned into the moon.” “...that’s rough, buddy.” COMEDIC GOLD. Also, weirdly, the literal only time that Sokka explicitly tells someone about Yue in the course of the show.

“Ember Island Players” which I haven’t hit in my rewatch yet, but I definitely remember a moment where Suki asks Sokka when he was gonna tell her he made out with the moon, and he tearfully shushes her. Again, played for laughs, but the implication is that he still hasn’t told Suki about what happened.

This plays perfectly into the same way that Sokka (doesn’t) talks about his mom. When the Bad Feelings come, Sokka either avoids them and finds a distraction (Goofs with Aang--see, told ya we’d come back to that) or stays silent. When someone explicitly asks him about the Bad Feelings--what he saw in the swamp, what’s eating at him in “Sokka’s Master,” why he’s panic-protecting Suki--he’ll answer, but often talks around the actual issue. (Interestingly, it’s in regard to Suki we see the most explicit manifestation of Sokka grieving as Azula taunts him during the invasion: he cries, he attacks Azula, he yells and questions her despite the fact he knows she’s wasting their time. I think this one hits him because, as this beautiful post points out, Suki’s the protector in the relationship, and Sokka can actually chill out for 2 seconds. But he let his guard down, and Azula got Suki. Anyway. That’s probably a different essay: back to the matter at hand.) We even see this in “Boiling Rock.” There’s a moment where they think Hakoda is not with the other political prisoners. Sokka’s tense, drawn tight, but the only thing he says is, “No.”

Basically, we’ve got Katara, who grieves loudly and rages and is kinda like white-water rapids that churn and churn and churn. And we’ve got Sokka, who, to quote John Mulaney, looks at his grief and says, “I’ll just keep all my emotions right here and then one day I’ll die.” Iceberg grief, to keep the water metaphor going.

And where did these come from? Yup! Water Tribe gender roles! What we know from the show is that, while the South is typically more progressive (women can train as benders and marry who they want, at least) than the North, it’s still very rigid: the men are warriors/hunters/protectors, the women stay home to cook/clean/child-rear.

Now: subtext! And why I think they are this way!

We’ll start with Katara. The last waterbender in the South Pole. She no doubt grew up doted on. If I say she’s most likely a little spoiled, I don’t mean it in a bad way--I mean it in a she’s the last living remnant of this aspect of their culture kind of way. When raiders come, she’s probably the first priority to protect. Kya dies to keep her safe. Her needs are generally put before the community as a whole. (This isn’t to say that Katara doesn’t contribute or care about her community, because she 100% does). But! Especially in Book 1, we see Katara often considering her opinions as facts (trusting Jet, the waterbending scroll) and doesn’t always pause to consider the larger impact that her actions will have (scroll and Jet again, challenging Pakku, dressing up as the Painted Lady despite the fact the factory will hold the village responsible). And many of these actions are good! But we see a lot of Katara being pretty self-centered--what can I do, how does this impact me, how do I feel about this? And this isn’t a bad thing! This aspect of her character makes her complicated and complex! Katara loves her family and protecting people and caring for them! She’s extremely empathetic! But she also struggles to meet people where they’re at when they emote in a different way than she does (see: her clashes with Toph, her initial problems with Zuko joining the group, the above interaction with Sokka). It’s also worth talking about how Katara witnessed her mother’s death, which no doubt makes her grief about it a sharper thing.

Then, again, Sokka. Also loved in his community! But a normal kind of love, I’d assume. He probably was raised on stories of the Fire Nation dragging waterbenders away. No one exemplifies the Water Tribe ride-or-die mentality quite as well as Sokka, or the gender roles of the man as the warrior/protector, so you gotta believe Hakoda raised that kid to look after his sister at all costs, which we see throughout the show (already preparing to go after Aang in the South Pole because he know Katara’s going anyway, “You burned my sister!”) And he isn’t there when his mom dies. He finds out later. He goes from feeling like a victor who helped chased the raiders away to the worst realization of his life. I have to imagine he’s ashamed by the fact that he thought everything was going to be okay, which leads into his worldview of assuming that nothing is okay ever in any circumstance.

Finally, Hakoda. Who never, unless I’ve forgotten something, talks about Kya. All we know is that their family fell apart after her death (per Sokka in “The Runaway,” learning how Katara stepped up to hold everything together) and sometime after he took the warriors and straight up left. He apologizes for leaving but doesn’t address the fact that he left Katara and Sokka with no parents at all, only the war. This is, uh, not exactly echoing a healthy coping mechanism?

My theory: Kya dies. Since the Water Tribe is so embedded in gender roles, Hakoda probably shut down and/or checked out emotionally for a while. This leaves his kids on their own to deal with their shit, and we learn Katara does everything she can to keep her family going. As the most protected individual in the South, Katara’s probably been taught that emotions equal attention, and uses her temper/caring/sadness to help bring her community closer. Meanwhile, Sokka, who hero worships his dad, watches Hakoda go stoic and learns that “real men” shove their shit down. Additionally, Katara’s grief is deafeningly loud, and Sokka’s number 1 role is to keep Katara safe. He’s taught that the Bad Feelings only get in the way and make things worse, and so he learns to be fine no matter what kind of terrible is going down around him.  Basically, Katara learns to use grief as a needle and thread, and Sokka learns to bury it as deep as he can and avoid it at all costs. Opposite reactions to the same trauma. Katara gets mad and demands to be heard and listened to and seen, and Sokka gets sarcastic and prepares himself for the day the Fire Nation ships come back for his sister.

So. Back to those above lines from “Southern Raiders.”

From a writing standpoint, I do wish the final moment was between Katara and Sokka versus Katara and Aang. They could’ve had an almost identical interaction, but it would’ve been more nuanced. I don’t think that Katara needed to apologize, but I think we needed some acknowledgement from both of them: Katara continuing the lesson she’s learned about how her pain doesn’t entitle her to hurt other people (including Sokka, who is there no matter what she says or does), and Sokka that Katara’s process of grieving had to involve this catharsis.

Or. Maybe not. Because again--subtext. Their grief works in such different ways that I have to imagine this isn’t a new fight. It was probably brutal and vicious for a very long time. Maybe that’s part of what made Sokka try and go with the warriors. Maybe that’s part of why Katara gets mad so quickly in the first episode of the show. But eventually, unable to find an answer, they just...stop talking about it. Because the two of them don’t talk about it. Katara only talks about her mom with people who aren’t Sokka, and Sokka does exclusively to Toph and Zuko.

The only time I can think of Katara and Sokka talking about it together is the exchange at the top of this post, and it gets ugly fast, and it isn’t brought up again. It’s a fight that will never be resolved, because they fundamentally can’t react to one another in a way that can be universally understood.

“You didn’t love her the way I did!” Katara yells, loudly, because if Sokka loved her then why isn’t he raging? Why isn’t he getting his sword and coming to help her? Why doesn’t Sokka want to burn this firebender to the ground and make him see and hear and look at what he’s done to the world? To their family? He must not understand. He must not care as much or he’d be screaming with her.

“Katara,” Sokka says, much quieter, and adds nothing else. Not because there isn’t anything else to say, but because Sokka can’t talk about this kind of thing. Not doesn’t want to, but can’t, because it’s his job to protect people, protect Katara, and if he lets all those old hurts come boiling up he can’t do that, because that ends with losing focus and losing control and people getting hurt or going away. Why can’t she understand that?

And then they do what they always do. They don’t bring it up again.

[xiyao-feels]

I'm so confused. can jgy reincarnate or be resurrected? I know fanfic can take liberties but I've read conflicting things. plus the untamed didn't show his body or explain anything and I believe the novel says something else entirely? 😔🥺😕

So "can JGY reincarnate or be resurrected" is not a question I can really properly answer. My understanding is that the answer is yes if he's not stuck in the coffin (and a friend of mine has read a bunch of Chinese fic, albeit through Google translate, where stuff like that does in fact happen), but I'm not confident I'd know it if the answer were no! So I'm afraid I can't really help you there, I'm sorry. This is normally where I'd link you stuff from people who know more than I do but while I know I've seen stuff on the subject apparently I didn't save it, and I couldn't find anything relevant searching, either. That'll teach me not to save my links...

But I can show you what happened to JGY in MDZS, and then contrast with CQL! Let's go.

So, end of ch. 108, JGY pushes LXC away from the coffin and NMJ (not, note, out of the temple, which isn't crumbling!) and then NMJ immediately drags him into the coffin and kills him:

Yet, just as the hand was an instant from grasping Lan XiChen’s neck, Jin GuangYao used the only hand he had left to strike Lan XiChen’s chest, pushing Lan XiChen away.

He, himself, on the other hand, was dragged into the coffin by Nie MingJue, then held up like holding a puppet. The scene was beyond frightening. Jin GuangYao used his one hand to peel away at Nie MingJue’s steel-like palm. He struggled ceaselessly from the pain, hair tangled, as heavy malice shot from his eyes. He cursed with all the energy he had left, “Fuck you, Nie MingJue! You think I’m really scared of you?! I…”

With much difficulty, he coughed up some blood. Everyone present heard a crack that was abnormally clear and brutal.

A whimper of a last breath left Jin GuangYao’s throat.

There's a last short couple of sentences about JL's reaction, and then at the beginning of 109 you immediately have:

Lan XiChen staggered a few steps back from the push. He hadn’t realized what happened yet. Meanwhile, Lan WangJi struck the back of the fair-featured Guanyin statue at the center of the temple. The statue vibrated as it flew towards the coffin. Nie MingJue was still inspecting the corpse in his hand, the head had already dipped. As the heavy statue hit him, he fell right back where he’d been.

Wei WuXian leaped over and stepped onto the Guanyin’s chest. The coffin lid had broken already. They could only use the Guanyin statue as a lid to seal away Nie MingJue and his rampage. Down below, Nie MingJue struck the statue again and again in attempt to break free, while Wei WuXian also shook again and again, reeling so much he was almost thrown off.

And then LWJ lifts the coffin up, seals it with seven quqin strings and lets it fall again to the ground.

Then for the rest of chapter 109 and the beginning of 110, LXC and then WWX ask NHS some questions, after which:

After a while of silence, Wei WuXian spoke, “Let’s stop standing around for nothing. Get a few people to go find assistance. Save a few to stand by here and watch the thing. The coffin and the guqin strings won’t be able to seal ChiFeng-Zun for long.”

As though to verify his judgement, loud noises echoed within the coffin again, along with a nameless fury. Nie HuaiSang shivered. Wei WuXian glanced at him, “You see? You have to switch to a firmer coffin right now, dig a deep ditch, and bury it once more. You won’t be able to open it in at least a hundred years. If you do, it’s guaranteed it’ll continue to haunt, resulting in endless consequences…”

Right after this, the crowd comes pouring in. Some of them do indeed work on strengthening the seal; we're also told that it requires careful handling (which is why it's a few of the sect leaders who volunteer to handle it), and WWX anticipates the near future of the coffin:

Soon, this coffin would be sealed within a larger, firmer coffin. It’d be secured with seventy-two mahogany nails and buried deep underground, sealed under some mountain with stone tablets of warning.

Then we see some sect leaders carrying it outside the temple, and later LQR watches it be hauled onto a cart.

The next we hear of it is in overheard rumour in ch 113, three months later:

Someone switched the subject, “Enough, enough. Why talk about these things? Eat up, eat up No matter how powerful that Jin GuangYao used to be, right now he could be stuck in a coffin brawling with Nie MingJue.”

“I don’t think so. They loathe each other to the core, after all. I bet his bones have already been torn apart by Nie MingJue.”

“Indeed! I went to the sealing ceremony. The resentful energy in that coffin was so strong that no life grew within five hundred feet of it. I’m doubting it, really—could the coffin really seal them for a hundred years?”

Overheard rumour is not the most reliable of things, especially in MDZS—for example, I would not be surprised if it wasn't really five hundred feet. But it gives any sense, and certainly—as WWX indicated above—the coffin is /meant/ to seal them for a hundred years. (Though I have my doubts on this actually working; see here.)

Now let's look at CQL:

After JGY breaks the seal on the coffin, the blood drops onto the Tiger Seal, and resentful energy emerges and the temple starts to crumple; pretty much everyone but wangxian and xiyao flee the temple. LXC lifts his hand to push JGY away, but can't bring himself to do it; JGY asks him to stay and die with him, and he agrees. JGY then pushed him away to save his life, and wangxian catch him and LWJ brings him out of the temple to make sure he actually leaves insead of e.g. running right back in to die with JGY. WWX stays and watches a little; we see JGY turn and confront the resentful energy: "Nie Mingjue. Do you think I will be afraid of you?" The temple continues to collapse, WWX flees, and JGY runs towards the coffin.

(I'm having a hard time with the blocking on this one, I watched it a few times and it looks like they are a) immediately over the coffin when JGY bleeds on it and then immediately after they're...not? Despite not moving??? But the above is what I think is supposed to be going on.)

They're then sitting around in the courtyard outside. They seem to have been sitting around for a while even before WWX's wound heals (not a feature in MDZS, because in MDZS MXY's revenge didn't include JGY); it seems likely that JGY died before that, I think, but that's at least an end point. After this the cultivators rush into the courtyard. Now we finally get people going into the temple again, but there doesn't seem to be any sign or mention of sealing. I thought I remembered mention if a ceremony of some sort, but I can't find it in the rest of the episode and a friend doesn't remember it at all so I think it's pretty likely I was just misremembering/crossing it with MDZS.

But basically: in MDZS, they seal them together /immediately/ after JGY dies, and they proceed very quickly to a stronger, more permanent seal. In CQL, there's no sign of any of this at all! It seems quite plausible that they're not buried together, never mind sealed together. And regardless, it couldn't have happened nearly as immediately; JGY's spirit could have time to flee the coop.

It's also worth remembering that in MDZS when they seal the coffin at the end, it's to immediately deal with /fierce corpse NMJ/, who otherwise would be an extremely powerful, extraordinarily dangerous fierce corpse, made even worse—as WWX notes in ch 107—by having killed JGY.* In CQL it looks like the problem is more the Tiger Seal, I think? And it's not like they need to immediately seal it into the coffin which JGY is also in? It's not even clear that JGY's body actually ends up in the coffin, from what I can see. As far as I can tell there's not really any reason to believe they're buried together. If I had to guess (though I didn't rewatch all relevant scenes, or even all the temple scenes, and I could easily be missing something) I'd say NMJ might be going back to Honourable Burial Nie Land, and JGY's corpse....

Hmmm. That's kind of interesting, come to think of it. If it hasn't mysteriously vanished I'm not sure what would happen to it; I'm inclined to say it wouldn't be treated well except LXC is right there and he might like. Stab someone, honestly. If it /has/ mysteriously vanished—I just might change my mind about CQL LXC killing himself.** In Which a Twin Jade obsessively searches the world for their loved one because there's the possibility they might not be dead, huh.

*"After he killed Jin GuangYao, his killing intent would definitely become stronger, and he’d be more difficult to subdue!"

**I don't think this is the impression CQL as a whole is trying to give us, to be clear, it's just what I think happened.

[lnevada]

DF S2E2 Things You Missed

Or that I'm obsessed with.

First, a retraction: Having rewatched the first season more closely, I realized Ray figured out a similar solution/plot in a convoluted stream of consciousness of not really connected but loosely connected ideas on his own in S1E23, just as he did last episode. This can probably be considered a new established formula and running joke in the series (at least they're acknowledging Ray's intelligence more).

On to the new stuff!

Ray finally wore JORTS. Silly.

This is only the second or third time Ray has used the "Danger Force, ASSEMBLE" line. (A MCU reference).

Bose has to wear a baby harness to an amusement park.

Ray is such a capitalist. Despite having unlimited wealth (I assume, through the city's budget for superheroes), he is so stingy.

And Miles is such an anti-capitalist! I adore his leftist rants. Too few and far between, but I guess they pack more weight that way.

This is the first time anyone has stopped and waited patiently for Miles to process his vision (and make sure he's not drained/shaken by them). Makes sense it would be his sister, but its still progress. I expect everyone to start doing the same (*wags finger warningly*).

Among Us references. Ugh.

Schwoz in his boxers is a reference to some old movie, but more importantly a repeated joke that Jasper was given in S4E19 (pretty sure that one). Which just reminds me of how good of friends those two were!

Even though Ray 'yells' at him/hurts his feelings, when Bose gets scared he turns to Ray and is visibly shaken by not understanding what's going on. (Again, reminiscent of Jasper, but the mentorships are slightly unique.)

Needles get bigger every time. Cute.

*Wait a minute! Schwoz recommended the blood test. Don't gaslight Ray! Also, I knew it wasn't Schwoz because he did his science thing. And it can't be Ray because, well, no one can mimic Ray.*

"I like it when they run." A callback to Piper's line in S5E15 I Dream of Danger (and recalling Ray/Piper's mentorship).

"Ray-by" - why is he so cute? Also, pinball/victory dance.

1000 rooms in the Man's Nest is a lot. But more so what I would have expected from the Man Cave and reminds me of, say, the Tardis. Unrealistic, but now there's infinite possibilities to build new sets and explore the Man's Nest further in future episodes (without relying on the four or so new ones we see in this episode). It's always cool to explore the living spaces of MCs.

Ray...speaks another language? Fluently?! (Good job Cooper!) So does Miles (at least a farewell)? We're just now bringing this up? (Also, Chopa needs to speak more Spanish, conversationally. And everyone being bilingual, at least partly, kind of makes Bose learning 3, or however many in the quarantine special, a little less impressive.) Alternatively, if Mika can learn French or multiple European languages, the whole team would be able to act as translators for half the damn globe! They could go anywhere!

Unfortunately, RT being in Helper Monkey probably should have been obvious. I definitely didn't catch any of it on the first watch.

Does Ray wear the antlers the entire time? How annoying for filming.

They are not being held prisoner. They are in jail because they're criminals/mutations that would scare and/or terrorize the town. They're at the Man's Nest because Ray's lazy, so they don't overcrowd the Swellview prison and they are more contained by Scwhoz's tech. It's that gray area you work in as a vigilante superhero. Keep up Chopa (whose back and forth mood swings between wanting to be good and wanting to act morally questionable give me whiplash and prevent her from being my favorite; although my theory is they make her swing back and forth to prevent her from being too much like Max Thunderman's character; or maybe they're just trying to write her as complex?).

I don't judge you darling, I'm all for it. But also, 'just in case', lmao. Great line delivery.

I was going to say, hey eating is Ray's schtick, but then he came back and shoved the piece of cake in his mouth, so we're good.

As an unrelated aside, I had the epiphany of, how many African American twin teenagers could there possibly be in Swellview? Meaning that if Miles and Mika are going around telling civilians they are twins in uniform, it would be fairly easy to narrow down their real identities if one wanted to. However, that gets thrown out the window with Chopa barely covering her face as she walks past the video cameras and dies her hair RED! How many Hispanic teenage girls in Swellview have the reddest red hair possible? Loopholes! what secret identities?

Also, also: It makes me sad that the only kid who doesn't have a unique, banter-filled mentor/sibling-like/cool, older uncle relationship that I can point to with Ray is Mika. She's kinda trying to fill in for the role of 'mom' in the group but, due to her age, it doesn't always land (for me). So instead, she just kind of scolds Ray (which everyone does) and continuously brings up her intelligence. I just hope that as the seasons drone on the two can find common ground.

Bandages on the necks. (continuity)

No one is going in the trash rocket!! (And I thought we ran out last episode?)

Chest Monster saying Scooby Doo's catch phrase + the SD chase sequence in the hallway.

The Hybristophiliac in me is being fed by this episode (if you're under 21, don't google that ;)~). Go off Ray! (Also, I think this episode tracks with Ray's trajectory for getting increasingly more vigilante in nature and more violent in his tendencies/proceedings with villains. That, or he really does hate Drex.

There is nothing 'dad bod' about Ray (nothing wrong with one though). They are dad clothes though. Again, I'm not mad, it's just facts.

I super appreciate that cut back to Ray's reaction after Chopa blows Drex away. Just showing how proud he is of his wards.

I already bragged on how much I love seeing each kid face Drex and win!

They had that actor monkey doing all sorts of stuff this episode. I hope he got all the treats! And everyone on set was nice to him.

Cooper flexing in the scene with Rick Twittler is just silly. Stop trying to one up the villains! You're distracting me from the plot!

Also, Chest Monster is a part of this family now. He's my favorite, forget everyone else.

Another cardio joke! And yet, these two guys are the most fit people on the planet, what gives!

MIKA GETS A SUPERHERO LANDING BECAUSE SHE'S A SUPERHERO!!!!

Sending all of the school up to space (where it would realistically disintegrate) is a little dramatic, but makes for a good visual.

Theory time! I know this is late, and the new episode is tomorrow, but I have speculations to get out!

Of all the directions I expected this special to go A) I didn't realize Henry wouldn't show up until the tail end of part 3 or part 4 (he'll be in like 3 scenes, what gives? Why hype it so?) and B) I could never have called going to space. Ray's line confirming they're heading to space seemed a little unnecessary/forced. I assume Schwoz will get them back to earth?

Drex: I mentioned in the last post how Drex feels severely underpowered this episode/special. I think from a production standpoint, this is because he was the big bad in Henry Danger. Henry had to overcome Drex and save the world to reach his full potential as a superhero/character. Rt was too, but he only appeared once whereas Drex was a rule of 3 situation. RT is meant to be a big bad in Danger Force's canon. Drex is only a minion/distraction and minor threat, so he's easier to defeat. From a canon perspective, I think the fact there are more superheroes and they all have powers that they can now control for the most part means they can handle Drex pretty well. This is still no excuse for the continuity error confusing whether Drex recovered his indestructibility or not (I'm certain he should have it, but I suppose the kid's powers are long distance and bypass it?).

Part 3: Part 2 almost felt like an extended episode. There were so many scenes, and character moments, and new things learned (the Man's Nest), and it moved the plot along. Especially if Henry doesn't show up to somehow bring the group back to earth, I really hope Part 3 doesn't feel like a filler episode. The first two have been great, so hopefully the momentum doesn't slow down until after the special.

Format: I guess we're dropping Mika as our omniscient narrator/main character? I loved having her be in the know and narrating in past tense (and bringing importance to her character). It told us bad things were coming but also that everyone (or at least Mika) survived. Without the narrator, the audience is in the dark, we don't know if everyone survives, and it makes it harder to theorize what will happen in the last two episodes :( . The format totally changed between parts 1 & 2.

Villain team up: Rt is smart but has no brawns. He needs Drex to fill in the role of fighter (even if he has an army of upgraded viruses). There are more superheroes, so there needs to be more villains for the kids to face. I hope there's a purposeful villain team up and a big show down rather than Drex getting a 'redemption arc' because he's stuck with the group and has to help them return to earth. We've been through so much with Drex that I'm hoping he doesn't suddenly turn 'good'.

*Ray: Remember how I said 'no one can mimic Ray'? I still think this is true. Ray/Cooper is pretty in it in the final scene and is acting normally. However, both times I watched the episode, it bugged me to no end that he went from trapped in the cell with no way out to in full uniform coming up the tube. We don't see him released/escape, or blow a bubble. Just a hard cut away from his character and then he appears in a new scene with the kids. Speaking excuses that can't be proved because the audience doesn't see it happen.

We know RT is returned to his own body by the end. I don't think RT is possessing Ray. Unless, he can divide his consciousness into multiple places/beings (like Ultron in the MCU) or RT has made 'smarter' viruses that can mimic people/not appear outwardly like viruses. Again, I don't think this is the case. I think this would be too confusing for a kid's show to make Ray 'bad' without context and in such a sneaky form. Maybe they ran out of time at the end of the episode and just had to get Ray into the main room.

But, I don't think it's an accident that earlier in the episode Ray was gaslit by the kids. Mika and others claimed it was Ray who suggested the blood test to find Rick when it was blatantly Schwoz who did. Mistakes can happen in script and continuity errors are not always caught, but this seems like a big one that is blatantly thrown into the script to cause confusion for the kids/audience. Ray was not affected by RT at this point in time because he hadn't had contact with Rick. However, once he goes down into the dungeon and is trapped in the cell, he is left alone with Rick for an extended period which would be the perfect opportunity for Rick to mind control/possess Ray in some fantastical way. I think that if this was a smarter show, Ray would be possessed/controlled by RT in some way to distract the kids and keep Danger Force in space. So if this does manage to happen in some convoluted way, and say, Ray and Drex team up as villains to distract Danger Force, remember I called it here first!

Your word for the day is convoluted because of course the show is! Send me asks if you have your own theories for where the special is going and/or how it'll end! What has been your favorite part so far?

[ginkgomoon]

Gavin's 'Falling Slowly' and Film 'Once'- Analysis

Since the beginning, I’ve wanted to do an analysis on the song Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, but since it was only mentioned twice (in Mark Date and Gavin’s Music and the Past Call), I thought it was going to be left at that. But because of the mention again in @cheri-translates' post, perhaps... there could be more to it. Because this song was made for the film Once, I had actually watched it earlier this year. I wasn’t going to post this analysis originally, but the trailer literally made me cry. After watching it with the knowledge from my first viewing, the trailer had a bigger impact on me that I didn’t expect. This allowed me to push on. Rewatching the film for this helped me realise some parallels between the film and Gavin’s history with MC, along with its song Falling Slowly. For me, the film was so heartfelt, vulnerable, honest and real. Just like the side that Gavin shows MC. It also had super hilarious moments that made me laugh so much while crying over the sad bits. Highly recommend this movie (if you don’t mind some occasional cursing!) Now I can say I’ve watched Once twice.

Below contains spoilers for Gavin's CN content (referring to Cheri's translations) and on the film.

“Your performance… was a miracle to me.” -Gavin

Once is a 2007 Irish romantic drama about two struggling artists in Dublin, Ireland. The film was turned into a musical and won various awards, with Falling Slowly winning at the Critics’ Choice Awards and the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Song. This was on top of receiving a Grammy nomination. Once only had a budget of only $150,000 USD.

In an Interview with Glen Hansard (male lead), he stated that during the scene of Falling Slowly in the music store, director John Carney wanted this shot to be the centrepiece- just two musicians connecting through music. This scene where the actors first got together to perform and sing in harmony allowed the crew to maintain the perseverance needed to finish the film despite various major setbacks. (People kept buying the same piano in the music store featured because of this film LOL)

“The closest a non-musician will ever get to feeling what it feels like to write the song… or to discover… it was the most moving scenes of the film.” -The Interviewer

The first impression some viewers may have upon watching would be criticising the shakiness of the handheld cameras. However, the actual intention (from the ex-film student perspective that I had) was to give it a sense of realism. This film aims to depict more of real-life from the perspective of the main characters. Even the characters' names weren't disclosed as they were literally 'unknown artists' in everyday life. It was ultimately based on Carney’s own personal experience, while Hansard, wrote the music for the film.

“The movie is sad, funny, real, everything that life is and it gives you hope. It's about a moment that happens in life that may not come by again or may not last forever, but it just might have the greatest impact on you. I know I'll be watching "Once" again.” -A fellow Once viewer.

We are introduced to the male lead (Guy), playing the guitar and wanting to make it big with his music, who also fixes vacuums with his father for a living. He meets the female lead (Girl) and she bugs him into fixing her vacuum. In the beginning, he’s cold and doesn’t want to associate with her (especially after when she gives him 10 cents for his busking).

Look how grateful he looks-

Even when Gavin and MC met again after their separation, Gavin puts up a fragile guard in front of MC while protecting her from a distance, like in high school. And just like how Joe Zieja stated in his MLQC interview-

“Gavin is a really interesting character, especially when we first started out before he and the producer really had a relationship… Gavin’s very cold. He’s very business-like, he just wants to get stuff done. But it’s really neat to see Gavin’s shell melt over time as he develops a relationship with the producer.”

In the film, Guy finds out that Girl can play the piano, who learned it from her father before he passed. Turns out, Guy is heartbroken from his ex (who’s currently in London) who cheated on him. Girl tries to convince him to get her back with his songs.

Similarly, Gavin discovers MC’s music during his fall shown Campus Date, in the moments where he received his Evol. Gavin devotes his life to protect her.

(I also did a timeline of MC and Gavin’s high school history together here that also references these parts.)

*Casually dragging vacuum*

Together, they go to a music store and she plays Mendelssohn for him. Then finally, at 15:42 of the film, they start to play Falling Slowly.

(So good! So good!! When they start harmonising!!! No fancy editing or cuts- it’s just two artists and pure music.)

Through music, they connect with each other’s souls. Just like how MC saves Gavin with her music that fateful day. And soon enough, Gavin comes across MC playing another song in the music room.

That song was Falling Slowly. He doesn’t know the name of the song though, only remembering the melody. Later, he learns how to play the guitar because he liked it and thought that perhaps he could perform it to his special someone one day. Such moments had inspired Gavin to write and make his own songs then record them onto his CDs so that maybe one day she could listen to them.

A thought I had was that did Gavin hear the piano and decide to make a guitar version, only to figure out that he was the missing piece?

Even the music store owner was very impressed-

Just like how Gavin slowly begins to soften up to MC, in the film, the instrumental of Falling Slowly plays when Guy and Girl start to bond. Guy tries to talk to her more but she states that she “has responsibilities”. It’s revealed that she has a daughter at home and a husband still in the Czech Republic. Even so, together, they write and record songs for his journey to London- back to his ex and to pursue his dreams as a musician.

Later, they go out for a spin on his father’s motorbike- he even prepared another helmet for her (SPARKY 2.0??). He asks her to teach him how to say “how much do you love him?” in Czech when they talk about her husband upon finding out that she’s married. She replies with, “it is you I love” in Czech. But he has no idea what she said. (*Grips heart*)

He wants her to go to London with him, start a band, and sell out shows. But she can’t. The song they recorded together “When your mind’s made up” (I have this song on repeat) plays in the car as they drive to the beach before he leaves for London the next morning.

So, if you want something And you call, call Then I'll come running To fight and I'll be at your door When there's nothing worth running for

The music producer is clearly so impressed-

Together, they schedule a time to meet up just before he leaves for the airport. Guy waited all night till morning for her.

But she still doesn’t come. And that was the last time he ever saw her. Just like how MC wasn't able to see Gavin who waited the whole day before he left. This was shown in Old Days Date that I did a heart-gripping analysis on here.

Guy’s father had said, “make your Ma proud.” (*Cries upon remembering Gavin’s loving mother*)

In the end, still unable to reach her, Guy gifts Girl a piano. In the beginning, they had a conversation where they spoke about pianos being too expensive, hence why she kept going to the music store in order to be able to play. Even though they are both short on money, he still manages to buy her a piano- the same one they played Falling Slowly together.

And while the film comes to an end, Falling Slowly plays in the background while Guy is off to the airport.

*Dramatic power-walking*

This was a heartbreaking ending for the viewers because not only that they didn’t end up together, they weren’t able to see each other before he left. And it wasn’t disclosed why she couldn’t make it.

Nothing too fancy happens because again, this was to show a slice of real life, and this proves it to be more tragic and beautiful. It can’t really be described unless it’s experienced. And I had the chance of viewing it not once, but twice.

This film (and song) is important for Gavin and MC because, despite their complicated history of misunderstandings, he always wants to put their relationship first and make the most out of what they have now together. Girl had helped Guy achieve his record deal and pursue his dreams. She had done her part on his journey to becoming an artist and both had to part ways. Without her, he wouldn’t have been able to record his songs and leave. Likewise, without MC, Gavin wouldn’t be the man he is today (hence, Winter World). Gavin is very vocal about this as well.

Gavin lowers his head, and the light follows his movement, descending onto the scrapbook, illuminating every word he writes- “I’m very happy to have met you in the past.” -CN Mark Date

“It doesn’t matter what happened in the past. What matters is every moment I spend with you now.” -Sugar Figurine Phone Call

“Seeing you again is the best present I could hope for.” -The Best Gift Phone Call

"Even though I'm curious about the future as well... I care more about the present. For me, it's good enough to seize the day. As long as you're here. The next second will be everything I need. Protecting what I have now, is the best plan for the future." -School Legend ASMR

With Falling Slowly, it’s quite a straightforward, romantic song. Originally in the film, Guy wrote it about his ex-girlfriend so it does has some sad lyrics. MC didn't know how Gavin knew about it.

Teacher Zheng: Just now, MC mentioned that you play the guitar and bass incredibly. Could you let me hear it? It’d be best if the two of you could play together. I haven’t heard my Orchestra Leader play the piano in a very long time.

To be honest, this is not a “request” at all. If Teacher Zheng wants to hear it, I’ll definitely be willing to play for her. But Gavin…

I cast Gavin a probing glance, wondering if there’s a need to persuade him. To my surprise, he nods.

Gavin: I could, but I’m really not as skilled as she says.

Teacher Zheng: Haha that’s all right. I just want you to use your heart when performing. What’s important isn’t how good it sounds, but the heart.

Gavin: Could I borrow the guitar over there?

Teacher Zheng: Of course.

Basically shown in Mark Date, Gavin’s been preparing for this moment all this time. He already knows what song to play. And what’s so amazing is that the first instrument we hear is the guitar which leads the piano. Therefore, once Gavin plays his piece, MC would know what song it is and then join in with her piano. AND THEY WOULD SING TOGETHER.

Maybe it’s just my misperception, or the sunlight just happened to fall onto his eyes, but I keep feeling as though his eyes are even brighter than usual. It’s as though they are flashing with light.

This is a slightly melancholic song, but the moving light and wind seem to make it refreshing and clear.

🎶 Lyrics 🎶

It's a slower song to help listeners slowly take in the emotions, lyrics and main dueting instruments of piano and guitar with the occasional violin in the back. It's so simple, and yet so powerful.

The guitar has its solos and the piano appears more prominent in the chorus. In the beginning, it's just the guitar, with the piano joining in after.

[GUY & GIRL] I don't know you but I want you All the more for that Words fall through me and always fool me And I can't react And games that never amount To more than they're meant Will play themselves out

Gavin never got the chance to be close to MC in high school, so he showed his affection through other methods. He walked 10 metres behind her after school and was her silent guardian against those who had negative intentions towards her. In the library, he had tried to introduce himself to her, but she had already dashed off.

Before waiting for him to say the introduction he had rehearsed countless times in his heart, the girl had already uttered a “thank you” and hurriedly fled. -CN Tilted Time Rumours and Secrets

Gavin couldn't help but develop this softer side for her and didn’t know how to control it or express it other than doing things such as leaving strawberry milk on the piano and learning guitar in hopes of playing it for her one day.

Those "games" he's referring to were those things they did, such as MC smiling at him when crossing each others' paths in the hallways, and Gavin buying her hot drinks and only looking at her among the snowball fight chaos at school in the Winter. Gavin has no power over how everything will turn out, nor does he try to have complete control over it either.

"... I believe that some things are destined. Like..." -Gacha and Destiny Phone Call

[GUY & GIRL] Take this sinking boat and point it home We've still got time

This "sinking boat" of the relationship is what they're both trying to save. For Gavin, this could be suggested to be about himself.

In a split second, the noise ceases abruptly. After a moment of silence, whispers surface in the crowd. Vaguely, I can catch a few phrases.

“Bad.” “Fighting.” “Misfit.” -CN Mark Date

Gavin had a tough time in high school being the outcast, but MC kept him going, fighting in the name of justice. And had quite literally saved his life. She was his lighthouse when he was battling the rough waters back home. And MC- she was also his home.

“As he clenched his fists, a power deep down within awakened. It was a rapture of rebirth. A declaration of the end of darkness and the advent of the light.” -Campus Date

[GUY & GIRL] Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice You've made it now

Gavin wants her to realise his feelings, be around and talk to him more- and say "yes". But even so, he still gives her a choice not to, and would have to live with that. Gavin thought she already had when he departed and spent years thinking that her absence showed all of what had to be said.

[GUY & GIRL] Falling slowly, eyes that know me And I can't go back

Gavin's falling slowly for MC (compared to when he fell really fast before MC saved him LOL). Once he starts, he can and would never go back. He hopes that MC would see him the way he truly is.

MC: “I have one more thing to tell you. MC is a bit slow. She is not as good as you think, and will also be blinded by rumours…”

Gavin: “She’s a very nice person. What she thinks of me has nothing to do with anyone else." -Old Days Date

[GUY & GIRL] Moods that take me and erase me And I'm painted black

Gavin can't handle his feelings. (*Cries*)

After being in a daze in the piano room, he’d be in a daze in the library, continuously staring at the empty seat where MC used to sit, and I have no idea what he’s thinking about.

But I really didn't expect a person who sleeps in class to be in a daze in the library for an entire afternoon... Did Bro Gavin and MC have a fight recently? -CN Minor's Memos

[GUY] You have suffered enough And warred with yourself It's time that you won

He states that he understands that the girl had it rough, but if she was to be with him, she wouldn't get hurt. Gavin wants to be the one for her.

"MC, I want to make you happy forever. If... I hope that person is me." -First Year In-Game Birthday Visit

[GUY & GIRL] Take this sinking boat and point it home We've still got time Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice You've made it now

[GUY & GIRL] Falling slowly, sing your melody I'll sing it loud

Gavin recognises MC's "melody", and urges her to sing (her presence) and Gavin will listen and follow, singing his one, too. Together they will harmonise.

[GUY] Take it all Oh, I played the cards too late Now it's gone

The song finally ends with both the guitar and piano, whereas at the beginning it was just the guitar.

This part is the most powerful and heartbreaking. Gavin regretted not giving the farewell letter to MC directly- from "playing the cards too late", then suffers the loss of her, her presence, and her melody.

But fortunately, in the end, Gavin successfully returned home- to MC.

"Want to play for a while tonight? I haven’t heard you playing the piano in a long time too.

If possible, I’d like to make a song request.

How about “Falling Slowly”?

We could sit by the window and play it together again." -CN Gavin’s Weekly Text - Piano Concert

Somewhere, Gavin is happily playing Falling Slowly with MC.

[norgestan]

You mentioned that you didn't know Skam had a Spanish remake until s2, so I got super curious. Did you watch Skam back in the day? Had you watched any remakes before eskam? What made you start watching eskam, and what were your thoughts on Nora and Alejandro (individually and as a couple) before s3?

oh i will put a read more on this because it got too long

i watched skam before, yes! i got to know about it in 2016 and the first clip that i ever watched on real time was the speech eskild gave isak about pride. i really loved s3, so i watched s1 and s2 and kept up with s4 for about half of the season - i can’t remember why i stopped watching but it probably had something to do with the little time that i had back then and the work that one had to do to search and watch every individual clip subtitled on dailymotion.

when i came to know about the remakes idea i was like, fuck no. lol, because i thought og was pretty good on its own and the idea of having the same show in so many other versions is just so weird to me? i still kept up with some remakes via seeing their tag whenever it trended on tumblr, like skamfr and skamit. those were the most popular ones, and also the ones with evak seasons, ha. that is why austin, wtfock and nl were the ones i knew about the last.

i tried watching skamfr to see what was all the fuss about, i remember i chose that because i like the language and i was trying to learn french. you can imagine how that went lol i gave up on like, episode 8? because i was honestly bored and watching the super unnatural, fast delivery of the actors made me miss og SO much (i still watch og s3 every once in a while, it’s for me what the kids call now a comfort show).

i only came to know about skam españa when the trailer for cris’ season dropped and everyone started to freak out because a) finally another evak season, and b) it’s about two girls! i was pumped bc the wlw rep and THEN i realized it was a remake in my first language. if i had known about it before i definitely would’ve watched that one first. i kept up with the remake because it was super easy with the clips dropping in youtube, and though i wasn’t the biggest fan of cris back then and it didn’t resonate w me the way og had done, it was well done and i didn’t need subtitles to understand it. after i finished it, i watched s1 and found it way more compelling than skamfr s1 had felt to me, but i really didn’t have any desires of watching every single remake, until i made this sideblog.

i never really cared that much about nora on s1 and s2. i think josefine’s portrayal of noora was so charming and iconic on s1 and nicole didn’t get to those standards, but she def was a really good friend to eva. my problem is that her actions seemed way too... performative? in previous seasons. a highlight of that would be nora telling eva about her “joan of arc” nickname in s1. having s3 to close off her development makes it all really nuanced, but at the time i just didn’t buy her feminist rhetoric - although that’s more of a noora problem. it also reminded me a bit of myself, the kind of things i’d say because i read them on tumblr and how there was always a challenge to stand my ground whenever i tried to pull that with my family or my classmates, that helped me to shape my morality. and i think skames got a bit of that, too: the whole pansexuality thing, nora telling cris that she didn’t have to put up with joana’s MI, etc. i think it was refreshing to see a character that thought so highly of herself and her morality, be put on her place by people who knew better, and she never took it hard or got angry because of that. because there wasn’t a lot of depth to her in s2 and just kept on being the cool, supportive friend, i was okay w her but didn’t like her as much as the others. with s3, of course that drastically changed for me.

i think i summed up my impression of alejandro really well on my s1 review, and because i watched s2 first i immediately assumed he’d be the typical william and i was an anti noorhelm when i watched og, so i was super wary of him (there’s also my tags here that sum up how i was feeling about him at the time). rewatching og s1 and s2 made me really appreciate some of the changes: small things like alejandro wearing a condom to have sex with viri, inviting the girls to his halloween party as an apology, being invited to cris’ house party where she came out to her friends, and big things like him not gifting girls he slept with hoodies to mark them, instead causing a (hilarious and skames’ best choice in s1) std outburst that only talked about his promiscuity and status as a fuckboy; apologizing to viri because he realized he was in the wrong and not because nora “promised” him a date if he did it; despite his william-esque “i won’t stop until you say yes” line in s1, effectively stopping to try to creepily hit on nora in s2 and instead becoming friends with her and the girl squad; and then everything that happened in s3.

about norandro, i was never a big fan of them. i had the same concerns about their relationship that i had with alejandro, and i thought they would be the annoyingly toxic token straight couple of the show. during s2′s airing i was pretty pissed that skames kept shifting the pov to develop their relationship, because i thought (and still think) that they could’ve squeezed more growth out of cris, although looking back it’s fine, really. before s3 i saw what they were doing to build them up and i was pleased and VERY curious about it - until i learnt about miquel’s existence and realized that skames would go for the toxic relationship route. absolutely nothing would’ve prepared me by how charmed i was by their dynamic and how they became my favorite couple in skames, lol.

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 3x17 Enemies

aka bad break-ups

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and rant about it in 10-3k words. What you can expect: long run-on sentences and disjointed observations, often focused on one tiny detail about the episode. What you shouldn’t be expecting: actual reviews that make sense.

And today’s episode finally brings Buffy and Faith’s relationship to a breaking point, in all of its subtextual glory. Meanwhile, I kept rewinding as I tried remembering where the layers of deception started, and the “they don’t know that we know that she doesn’t know that we know” games ended.

And I guess the honest answer is that I still don’t know. The episode doesn’t really end with a flashback answering at what point did the characters realize that something was off… But that’s also part of the fun, as one tries to look for the small signs they could’ve noted as well.

First of all, let’s just all acknowledge this delightful outfit:

We’re entering the stage of truly iconic Willow looks, folks.

Anywho, back to the Fath/Buffy/Angel mind games

Not to toot my own horn and say I told you so (like some characters), but by the end of the episode, I once again got stuck on the deliberate parallel drawn between Angel and Faith as Buffy’s love interests. It’s no coincidence that Buffy asks for a break between her and Angel just when her relationship with Faith has completely fallen apart.

During this rewatch I definitely got the impression that Buffy’s decision there was more of a result of where the whole thing with Faith left her emotionally, than Angel pretending to be bad for the episode. His betrayal was fake and pre-agreed upon. Faith’s was real and devastating.

I guess there’s also a weird BDSM theme here with the comments they make around the chains… So if we roll with that, the comparison is that Buffy and Angel had their safe words there. With Faith… not so much.

To drive the point home that Buffy’s conflict here is with Faith, and this is all about that broken trust, let’s also look at the scene between her and Willow, where she’s talking about seeing Faith and Angel together the night before.

Willow: No way. I know what you're thinking and no way! Buffy: You're right. Faith would never do that. Willow: Faith would totally do that.

We again see here Willow’s clear dislike of Faith, which I find especially fun as we also have Xander voicing some of his classic anti-Angel sentiments in the same episode. I do hope that I’ll have the energy to delve a bit more into that a few episodes from now.

But more importantly, look at Buffy’s line. Her response to the idea of Angel and Faith getting it on isn’t that Angel wouldn’t do that. (Remember, Angel, her boyfriend, the one who’d be cheating on her?)

It’s Faith wouldn’t do that. Faith wouldn’t do that to her.

The conclusion one can draw from that is that either she doesn’t trust Angel to begin with, or that her trust and faith in… well, Faith, is much more important to her right now. Personally? I’m leaning towards the latter.

There’s once again a lot of innuendos as well. (That we’re calling subtext for some reason, even though the sexual and romantic undertones are essentially textual at this point…) Like after Buffy and Angel come out of the movie theater, all full of pent up sexual frustration, and Faith shows up to steal Buffy away literally saying “Don’t worry big guy, just keeping her warm for you”.

I’m…

Faith: *does or says something that defines her relationship with Buffy in an undeniably sexual / romantic way*

me:

And then when they meet up at the library afterwards, and Faith does her usual routine of calling Buffy “girlfriend”, and is all touchy with her… Buffy shies away from her touch, and the rest of the Scoobies note how chilly the atmosphere suddenly became.

All that is to say that while Angel plays a prominent role in how this episode unfolds, and the parallel raised between him and Faith aren’t just serving the theme of Buffy’s relationships with them, but both of their characters as well… The real conflict itself plays out between Buffy and Faith, with all of its subtextual and romantic undertones that the show is once again leaning into.

It’s a break-up. It’s Buffy and Faith breaking up. That’s what’s happening here.

Something that I was struggling with however, is pinpointing where Buffy or even Angel and Giles started suspecting that there was something else going on with Faith. When Faith goes to Angel first, I was still unsure on where he was coming from, so I kept looking for signs that he was already reading her intentions. In retrospect though, I assume that Angel’s reactions there were actually genuine, despite Faith laying it on all pretty thick.

On the other hand, she also appeared with bloody hands after killing sympathetic demon guy who tried to help against the Mayor. So that was probably a dead giveaway once Buffy and Angel started putting two and two together.

With Buffy herself, there’s a pretty great little detail that happens when she and Faith discover dead demon guy in his apartment. (Which I wish I noticed myself, but was pointed out to me by someone else.)

Faith reaches into the other room for the light switch, not even looking, and Buffy sees her doing it. She completely gives away herself and the fact that she was in this apartment before, and the show smartly doesn’t draw our attention to it.

So when Buffy afterwards comments about how the way the demon guy was killed was ‘somebody’s idea of a party’, I couldn’t help wondering if that was a pointed jab at Faith. To get a reaction out of her and confirm whether or not she was involved.

Still, I remained unsure as we actually get the scene between Buffy and Willow after this happens. It’s also implied that Buffy hasn’t actually talked to Angel about what she saw between him and Faith the other night at that point, so they haven’t yet had the chance to cook up their Faith reveal plan.

On the other hand, she’s talking to Willow here, and we find out later that Buffy, Angel and Giles were all keeping their suspicions and the plan a secret from the rest of the Scoobies. So she wouldn’t have told that Willow quite yet either way.

Willow also comments about Buffy being “on edge”, which once again points to her probably thinking about Faith going rogue already here.

I do believe that Buffy’s “Faith wouldn’t do that” line is genuine though, even in that case. Buffy still wants to believe in Faith, even if they’re preparing for the worst.

So when Angel and Faith show up in her room, part of her must be devastated as the confirmation of Faith’s betrayal sinks in. As well as just being on edge, knowing what’s coming.

And what’s coming is a whole lot of classic posturing and sexual innuendo from Faith’s part, as she’s tempting Buffy with making out with Angel in front of her just to spite her (we already established which of their betrayals sting for Buffy more…), and being very up-close and personal with a supposedly chained up Buffy.

There’s a lot more going on in this scene of course, with Faith somewhat sarcastically rambling about her horrible childhood, and Buffy delivering some pointed jabs about being better than Faith, or Faith only being able to turn Angel to her side with a magic. We once again see proof of just how low and fragile Faith’s self-esteem actually is, and how easy it is to hurt her, despite what she claims.

I guess Faith’s speech about how she constantly felt inferior to Buffy is especially worth repeating:

Faith: You know, I come to Sunnydale. I'm the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. What do I hear about everywhere I go? Buffy. So I slay, I behave, I do the good little girl routine. And who's everybody thank? Buffy. Buffy: It's not my fault. Faith: Everybody always asks, why can't you be more like Buffy? But did anyone ever ask if you could be more like me? Angel: I know I didn't. Faith: You get the Watcher. You get the mom. You get the little Scooby gang. What do I get? Jack squat. This is supposed to be my town!

It’s one of those lines, where you’re not exactly sure how much the character actually believes of what they’re saying. Faith putting on Buffy the fact that she was unable to connect especially rings false, when you think about just how hard Buffy worked to have that connection with Faith.

But there’s also no denying in that Faith feels like the world let her down. And that includes Buffy. Because despite Buffy’s best efforts, she could never take Faith’s side unconditionally. She could never be just like her.

Buffy doesn’t have the luxury of losing herself in someone else, or to choose them over her responsibilities. (Well, I guess we’ll have to re-examine that in a few seasons from now though…) She needed Faith to meet her halfway, but Faith was already too far gone to turn around for that.

But hey, at least Faith’s got a new apartment out of the deal as of last episode. Evil does take MasterCard I guess.

[arabela25]

sooo, thoughts on our first semifinal? listen, I love a good ballad, but lord that was one sneezefest! I only really enjoyed the one in english (which didn't pass??!) and the last one, which was the only out of those 8 that I could see going to esc. god I hope next semifinal has better songs D:

*snoozefest

Agreeeeeed, it was pretty boring.

I liked "without you” at the time, but rewatching it right now... I don’t feel the same. On sunday it stood out, because it was uptempo, there were dancers and it was in english, but watching/listening to the performace by itself, I don’t think it’s a very good I don’t see it making a big difference in Kiyv. And they all looked terrible, wtf were they wearing?

Speaking of bad clothing - Viva La Diva. Now, I’m all for bright, bold colours, but that’s not working here. Their styles should complement each other and that’s not happening here, but hey, that’s easily fixed. As for the song, “Nova Glória”, it would be better, imo, without the opera part. It doesn’t add anything more, it doesn’t make the song better (I’m talking specifically about the part at minute 2:26 in the video I linked)I do think there’s a good song in there, and I’d be interested in a version sung only by Kika (and regular backing vocals)

Fernando Daniel and Deolinda Kinzimba are great singers but I can’t remember anything of their songs, only that I was not impressed by the songs. I rewatched their performances tonight and yeah, still not in love with either of the two songs. Personally, I prefer Deolinda’s song but maybe in Eurovision Fernando Daniel would do better because we already have one billion female ballads and not so many male? They’re both average songss, maybe they’d qualify to the final and finish around the 20th place?

The fourth finalist, Salvador Sobral, is our most interesting offer atm. He’s the one I’m supporting right now. There won’t be anything like it in Kyiv, that’s guaranteed, so it would definitely stand out. I can see the juries going for it and I can see it do okay with the televote. Apparently Salvador is having surgery tomorrow, I hope it goes well and he recovers soon

As for the other songs, they were not that interesting. I liked the Golden Slumbers quite a lot (one of my faves tbh), but the song, while very pleasant to listen, wouldn’t stand a chance in Eurovision. Márcia wore a pretty dress. Rui Drummond sang well, but Héber Marques has written much better songs.

A few more random thoughts on the show itself:- I liked the studio they use, I liked the stage- Sónia Araújo and Carlos Malato were fine as presenters- I don’t think we needed to talk so much with/about the jury, specially when they don’t even have anything interesting to say (”oh it’s political that’s why we don’t win” and stuff like that)- We still focus a lot (too much?) on the past- The show took too loooong. We were done with the songs in one hour and then there was another hour with interviews and medleys and more interviews and more medleys (I actually really love the medleys and remembering old contests)

But yes, it was boring overall, I hope we have better songs next week