#s1 and 2 I feel like they are far more subtle maybe but in s3 they don’t even bother anymore

[nostalgic-bee]

I feel like in S3 the beef between the teachers and Sibuna is so much more noticeable and i just need to know what that looks like to the non Anubis kids

[fantasticalleigh]

season 3 part one thoughts:

ok ok i did finish B S3 pt. I and it's GOOD and i was really happy with it but now that my pulse has gone back to normal i'm realizing i have a lot of nitpicks/concerns with the storytelling but ngl the carriage scene was fucking BONKERS and my mind will be in the gutter for the rest of the weekend

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!!! bc i have a ton of thoughts on season 3 so far and have to get them out:

THOUGHTS:::::

-i could not stop smiling. my face hurts still.

-i don't get people whining about colin and the threesome. when the brothel threesome scene was leaked people were losing their goddamn minds about colin not being a virgin on reddit. y'all. he spent a LONG time traveling solo around europe--did you really expect him not to experiment the entire time? the fixation on this was kinda weird i gotta say. also i really liked that in the second brothel instance it served as growth to show colin was realizing it wasn't those women he wanted to have sex with, but penelope.

it seems every bridgerton lad needs a whoring about subplot in their respective season and colin was obviously going to get one if his elder brothers did, so i wasn't surprised at all. i thought the scenes were hot, personally. overconfident and super flirty col galavanting everywhere suddenly being reduced to a pining, thirsty af insecure boy was so gratifying to watch and those scenes had a hand in showing us that.

-i hate portia's costumes this season. hate. hate. hate. she looks like she was ripped right out of DIsney's Descendants set from the costume rejects pile. woof. she was stunning in s1 but s2 were her best looks and now she looks awful. why???

-i think the mondriches are ok and i like them but their story did not need expanding here. i'm happy for them but that storyline was boring and time taken away from more important characters. i know this sounds harsh but this season was already packed with storylines. across these four episodes there was a severe lack of Lady Danbury. one of my favorite aspects of Romancing Mr. Bridgerton was her friendship/mentorship with Penelope. that instantly made her one of my favorite characters. why not keep that in the show??? i'm so disappointed but with part 2 yet unreleased maybe it will still come?

-speaking of lady danbury, something about the way her brother is presented and how she treats him makes me worry for Violet, that he might disappoint her later. idk it's just a vibe i get.

-Luke's acting is fucking incredible. all the microexpressions and the lingering stares and subtle movements. nicola is a great actor in her own right but fucking hell, every time Luke teared up on screen I was mirroring him.

the carriage scene, when he's on his knees in front of Pen and she cups the side of his head and his eyes do THAT thing and the look he gives her? i rewatched that two second bit on repeat for a minute. amazing. (that's exactly the kind of devotion i picture when I wrote dark Dramione in TEOAL towards the end)

-we get it, benedict is a slut. he fucks. i'm over it. i'm not interested in who he's fucking. i know the consensus is Lady Tilley will somehow tie in to Sophie but i just do not care about Benedict rn. he is pulling focus.

-hyacinth's actress is so stunning! all the actors are obvs but every time i look at her i see Brooke Shields. anyone else?

-i had higher hopes for Lord Debling. genuinely kind of disappointed. he's boring and feels fickle. also the abruptness of him going 'i need a wife to tend to my estate so i can go travel for 3 years so be warned that i can't love you' to 'you have feelings for another man? i'm done-zo.' like what. you just said you can't love her and will never be at home with her but it's a fucking problem that she likes someone else? even though she's is clearly willing to get over it by marrying you??? bro. bro.

-hate what they did with Colin's hair for most of his scenes. why flatten it all out and take out the adorable curls he had in the first episode????????????????? episode one hairstyle was god-tier. everything after that makes him look like he's wearing a bad and stiff wig. still hot tho. also on the hair note: please stop giving eloise bangs. please.

-people on reddit were near to rioting when they learned Kanthony was only in the first ep due to leaks. i was bummed but ultimately don't mind it. did we deserve to see more of them thanks to how badly s2 was handled?? absolutely. but if it's only sex scenes bc they're now trying for babies then i'm good for now. also glad that edwina and mary don't come back bc ngl they pissed me tf off in s2 thanks to how badly they were written. plus like i said, this season has FAR too many subplots to keep them in. the writers really should have trimmed things down. violet meeting Lady D's brother was also not necessary imo.

-i went from loathing cressida to actively sympathizing and rooting for her to snatch up debling in the latter half. well done, writers.

-all the featherington scenes were gold. pru and phillipa are incredible when in scenes together and i'm so glad we got more of that. albion finch is a treasure, too. i really think they should have spent more time on penelope and her mother's relationship bc it's a big part of the book with how portia assigned pen to be her caretaker for when she got old and that being pen's burden/reason to want to bug out and marry rather than stay with her abusive mother, not her sisters' heirs taking charge of the house. they leaned too much into the comedy with the featheringtons and forgot to remind us why penelope is so miserable at home too--the problem stems from her mother, too, not only her sisters. we got two tiny clips of that and that was it. not enough to really establish that. the featheringtons are funny yes but they are not good people (sans Pen). Portia is neglectful and rude and dismissive toward Pen and there is not enough of that so far.

-i haven't read fran's book yet so had no idea what to expect and thought i'd be bored. she is adorable and i'm rooting for her. i like john better than the other guy. but i'm not that invested in her plot. i have no true emotional attachment to her. she needed her own season or to be pushed back to s4.

-still don't like eloise but i'm warming to her. a third season straight of her being condescending to almost everyone outside of her family/friends does nothing to endear her to me. she still blames Whistledown for "ruining" her when she ruined herself by ignoring everyone's warnings and running around town doing socially unacceptable things. she still has a right to be upset with Whistledown/Pen but she needs to take accountability for her own shit. but her understanding and patience with cressida was really surprising and i liked that a lot so far. i can see why people are shipping them now!

-HOW HAVE PENELOPE AND COLIN NOT EVEN DANCED ONCE YET WHAT THE FUCK jk i'm sure we'll obvs get that in part 2 but i'm so accustomed to them having a dance in one of the first few episodes that this truly threw me.

-colin's wet dream. loved it. ngl i was fully expecting a masturbation scene in his bed and not only bc i wrote one into my fic lmao

-i fucking called it from the start that the first kiss would be in the featherington garden based off that screengrab. everything about it screamed romeo+juliet. that was my favorite scene so far it was so beautifully shot and the way he goes for the lightest kiss at first and then hesitates and then GOES BACK FOR MORE???? when he realizes he's super into it???? i collapsed. i fucking squee'd like it was 2003.

-i've been complaining on reddit that the makeup in the promos was fucking awful and way too heavy. it comes across much lighter in the final product/show and i'm so relieved because i was truly worried about that. nicola is a stunning stunning woman and i can't help but admire her every time she is on screen and the awful makeup they put on her for those promos were overtaking her face.

-two major changes i truly appreciate (bc i'm normally very critical about shondaland's writing)

1: the journal scene. i loved that colin had pen hide in his study. i really wanted them to get caught there. i love that the journal fight wasn't as huge as it was in the book because the book made it go on for too long and colin was unreasonably mad about it. i'm so glad it was a minor thing here and that they still showed that colin was really pleased when pen praised his writing and he said he'd consider letting her read more and left it at that.

2: the carriage proposal. my biggest issue with the book bc colin was borderline abusive when he pulled her out of the carriage and made her fall. hated that so i'm glad here he was pleased and still mischievous and held out his hand for her and proposed and wasn't rude and impatient like he was in the book. also the carriage scene was hot as hell and i did not fucking expect colin to fucking finger her right then and there with the goddamned WINDOWS OPEN. tbh i was expecting boob action like in the book but that was a surprising change.

-pacing. too many storylines makes for a too-quickly paced episode. i feel like we were catapulted into everything and my head was spinning. this is a show that, because it insists on such a large fucking cast, would immensely benefit from a 12 or even 20 episode run rather than eight. but we know netflix is a cheap bitch so that will never happen and shows this dense suffer for it.

-music. i do not care about covers. i just don't. it makes no difference to me who is added to the soundtrack or the easter egg hunt of finding which song was used in which scene. the original scores made for the show are beautiful on their own and don't distract like the covers do and that's all i'll say.

-already seeing reviews online from people complaining polin have no chemistry??? idk what show they're watching but it ain't this one. this has been a slow slow buildup and if you can't feel their chemistry then idk what to tell you bc it is there. (and this is gonna be a hot take and unpopular opinion but personally out of all the main couples so far i found daphne and simon's chemistry to feel really forced and kind of cringey so take my opinion as you will but pen and colin have LEAGUES more chemistry as friends to lovers here)

BUT: one could also blame this on the awful pacing of these first four episodes so far. it really would have been nice to have more filler time of col and pen doing the flirting lessons since that was cut too short too soon.

phew--.

i will most definitely have more to say later on but these are my immediate thoughts and i had to get them all down . if you got this far down then bless you and thanks for listening and lmk your thoughts! i'm dying to talk about this.

[amuseoffyre]

Fyre's OFMD Fic Masterlist - Pre S2 Roundup!

S2 is almost here and I can already feel my brain begin to fizz and froth despite life trying to steal my time and focus! So, before it hits and eats me all over again, here's the full round up of 780k of fic written in 18 months 😁

SERIES/COLLECTIONS

Immersion ® - 13k A series of short soft scenes of Stede and Ed being soft, featuring the clothing swap, Ed’s introduction to the lavender soap, some shaving and bath time

Toxic (E) - 7.3k Izzy has an urge and Calico Jack knows just how to scratch it, whether Izzy likes it or not. (Please heed all warnings and tags if you venture into this series)

Penetrative Gays (E) - 13k A silly series following every post-e3 stabbing incident in the smuttiest possible way :)

Turning Tides ® - 81k My novel-length speculative season 2, picking up immediately after the end of S1, featuring everyone, multiple POVs, drama, shenanigans and fuckeries galore.

Storm Surge ® - 62k My second novel-length series and my speculative S3, following on directly from Turning Tides. Even more POVs and far, far, far more fuckeries than you can shake a stick at.

Our Flag Means Death - JanAUry (Mixed) - 17k A series of 1k one-shots based on the Jan-AU-ry prompts list

Write It Through As a Crew (Various) - 12k A collection of 1k prompts/one-shots/missing scenes from Turning Tides and Storm Surge

ONE SHOTS

The Biblical Sense (E)  - 2.6k The first time for the lads, written before David Jenkins dropped 9 & 10 and irreversibly hurled me into pirate hell.

Ties that Bind ® - 3.3k Stede has an extensive ribbon collection and Ed realises it’s a way for him to feel vulnerable. Shibari-with-ribbons.

Bit of a Clothes Horse (E) - 9k Written in collaboration with Aivelin - the missing scene where Stede helps Ed get ready for the fancy party boat. And all that comes after ;)

Type ® - 2.3k Mary Allamby Bonnet gets a bit of a fright when she finds a scary-looking man with a sword in her front room.

Magnolia (E) - 5k When Ed - no, the Kraken - catches Stede Bonnet, he wants to use him and ruin him, but it… doesn’t quite go to plan.

Fancy (E) - 7k Written in collaboration with Aivelin - After a successful raid, Stede and Ed find some unexpected enjoyment in some interesting items of clothing.

Co-Captain Duties (E) - 3.5k After the treasure hunt, Ed tries to use bath time as a way to drop a less than subtle hint that he wants to… push forward their relationship.

Maketh the Man (E) - 6.6k When Blackbeard is captured by Hornigold, Izzy Hands is forced to turn to the only person who might be mad enough to be able to save him. Naturally, Stede rises to the occasion.

Sweet/Tart (E) - 4k When Stede returns to the Revenge, he brings a little sweet treat to try and win Ed over

A Beginning (M) - 2k Sometimes, you meet a nice girl and you get along and you start to think maybe yeah, this one might be something special.And then she murders your boss’s favourite husband.

In Slumber (E) - 15k When Stede admits he might find Ed attractive, even asleep, Ed encourages him to pursue that train of thought with his full and enthusiastic consent.

Regulations (PG) 1.2k “It had to go”

Accord (R) - 2.6k Crossover with Black Sails - James Flint comes seeking an alliance with Blackbeard

Bits (R) - 4k Ed Teach’s not-good very-bad week after he hears about Stede Bonnet’s demise   

The Names We Make (R) - 2300 A long time ago, before Spanish Jackie and Blackbeard, there were a couple of kids.

Moonbeam (PG) - 5k A little gentle swordsmanship by moonlight. My reverse-bang fic written with @cosmicyeehaws

Anchored (R) - 1k Sometimes, Ed needs to be held.

CHAPTERED FIC (Non-series)

Thunders of the Upper Deep ® - 4.4k - WIP Started as part of mermay. Only this is were-mermay and Ed is the kraken :D

Renaissance (E) - 26k What if Ed heard that gunshot in the woods that night?

Bark and Bite ® - 75k Vampire & werewolf AU - take s1 and sprinkle in a generous dose of supernatural nonsense and that’s this fic. (S2 coming with S2 :D)

A Good Impression (R) - 19.5k WIP What if Stede had accepted Izzy’s invitation to the Queen Anne’s Revenge?

Lady Trouble (R) - 54k The runaway wife of a wealthy landowner, Stede Bonnet Allamby set out to find adventure and freedom on the high seas. Things did not go as planned…

Don't Tell Mama (E) - 187k Drag/Burlesque Social Media AU - Stede Bonnet runs off to be a cabaret Emcee and crosses paths with the bone-weary Drag Impresario Lady Blackbeard

Wonder of Infamy (R) - 48k My anniversary fic :) It’s already 20k written and rising rapidly.

Everything Changed When The British Empire Attacked (R) - 9k WIP My Avatar: The Last Airbender AU :D Because of course I did one.

Steadfast (E) - 9k A study of Izzy Hands from the day he became First Mate to the Legendary Blackbeard. Written in collaboration with @waldos-art

Adrift (R) - 7k Canon-divergence AU where Chauncey catches Ed instead of Stede at the academy

A Trick of the Light (R) - 5k published so far (45k written) WIP The Gentleman Conjurer has plans to make his big debut in 1870s London's magic circuit, but things do not go as planned. My newest epic monster that I love.

[aswellingstorm]

taylor swift x catradora playlist

in honor of evermore dropping tonight (midnight, EST) i humbly present the following by album break down of songs that miss swift wrote solely for catradora

taylor swift (2006)

tied together with a smile--the struggle adora faces being the hero/put on a pedestal from her horde days to becoming she ra

invisible--catra facing jealousy over adora’s new friendships

i’m only me when i’m with you--young catradora/growing up in the horde

fearless (2008)

forever & always-- broken promise. need i say more

white horse-- catra’s resentment for adora’s hero complex

breathe-- mutual catra & adora--struggling to cope with the other choosing the opposing side

you’re not sorry--adora coming to terms w post s3 catra & having to accept her former best friend has gone too far this time

change-- post s1 victory for adora

speak now (2010)

the story of us--princess prom catradora vibes

mean--unfortunately.........could see the best friend squad singing this therapeutically & adora thinking of catra

better than revenge-- ‘stealing other peoples toys on the playground won’t make you many friends//i’m just another thing for you to roll your eyes at honey’....jealous catra really comes thru here

innocent-- feel like this could be applied to adora but more specifically catra losing herself and her innocence in this war/getting caught in the cycle of abuse shadow weaver set her in at a young age

if this were a movie-- adora’s naïve hope that catra might make the right choice one day

haunted-- ‘all this time you and i have walked a fragile line, never thought i’d live to see it break’, easily fits into adora leaving the horde, but def has the angsty vibes for ‘save the cat’

back to december--regret. longing. wishing u could take something back but knowing you really cant

enchanted--ok hear me out. not necessarily a ‘meet cute’ for them, but could def see this song playing at a princess prom post s5 and being a cute look for them over all.

red (2012)

treacherous--post ‘save the cat’, catra learning redemption is....something she Wants

the last time--post-portal. def reminds me of the scene where catra saves glimmer and apologizes to adora

sad beautiful tragic-- break up sadness

the lucky one--more adora becoming she ra/learning the truth of mara

i almost do--catra & adora missing each other on opposite sides of the war

come back...be here--^^

state of grace--end of/post s5

1989 (2014)

out of the woods--i mean..........those ladies entered the whispering woods in s1 on a stolen skiff and did not leave until the end of the series

all you had to do was stay-- aside from the title... “let me remind you this was what you wanted // you ended it// you were all I wanted //but not like this”. def catra yearning

i wish you would--all of the lyrics. all of them

bad blood--warrants no explanation

this love-- “when you’re young, you just run// but you always come back to what you need”......................the defense rests

clean--s4 adora accepting and coming to terms w catra’s decision

wonderland-- really captures the betrayal/hurt of s1 catradora

you are in love-- adora POV// subtle moments leading up to realizing she loves catra

new romantics--”we need love, but all we want is danger//we team up then switch sides like a record changer”

catra’s personal memoir reputation (2017)

i did something bad--a title that could (unfortunately for everyone else) summarize a large majority of catra’s decisions. the song is very justified/righteous anger/revenge. basically a ‘fuck you, i know i’m bad’ & embracing that. reminds me of her kicking sw & hordaks ass (the rebellion could never) and her just...war criming it up in the crimson waste

Look What You Made Me Do-- void!catra void!catra void!catra void!catra void!catra void!catra--

getaway car--could see this from adora’s perspective to catra solely for the whole leaving/betrayal bit. but might be more fighting for double trouble & catra’s relationship

dancing with our hands tied-- i mean...lyrically. everything. but esp ‘I'd kiss you as the lights went out//swaying as the room burned down//I'd hold you as the water rushes in//If I could dance with you again”

dress-- “i dont want you like a best friend”. period. end of sentence. 

this is why we can’t have nice things--s1 promise feels. the lack of forgiveness, the shade. u know.

lover (2019)

cruel summer-- “i scream for whatever it’s worth, i love you--ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?” the heart. the longing. the ‘i dont want to keep secrets just to keep you’

the archer-- ‘who could ever leave me, but who could stay?’ + the rest of the song is v fitting for both catra/adora

afterglow--making up, admitting wrongs--catra perspective

miss americana & the heartbreak prince--idk just the narrative of the song reminds me of them

it’s nice to have a friend--whooooh boy this post is not about glimbow but this song works equally as well for them

daylight--enjoy the healing

lover--enjoy the healing pt 2

death by a thousand cuts-- warrants 0 explanation

folklore (2020)

finally

the 1-- definitley adora POV, reminiscing on maybe what they could have been. maybe in a world where catra never redeemed herself or they never reunited and adora watched her friends pair up/get married/build lives w each other, she might realize there is a whole in her heart. a part that’s missing and cant be explained, but she feels it every time she looks at glimmer&bow. 

cardigan-- feels like catra writing a letter to adora. reflecting on the feelings of hurt and betrayal after time has passed and the anger fades

exile -- lowkey the premise of my fic but. ‘i’m not your problem anymore/ you were my crown/ now i’m in exile seeing you out’ catra was raised to feel like she was adora’s problem to fix. she feels cast aside by her for a majority of the series etc

my tears ricochet-- “i didn't have it in myself to go with grace//and you're the hero flying around saving face//and if I'm dead to you why are you at the wake?//cursing my name, wishing I stayed//look at how my tears ricochet” tswift explained this in the doc about how no one can hurt you like your best friend turned enemy. so i think in that sense this song works from adora’s perspective--but there’s so much bitterness and anger that i feel like it fits more from catra’s POV

seven-- “love you to the moon and to saturn//passed down like folksongs//the love lasts so long” i feel like this is so young/child adora and her feelings of protectiveness over catra. their bond through trauma and abuse

august--lmaoooooo i know. ok i KNOW what the deal is. i KNOW that cardigan, august and betty are a narrative story and really there are 3 POVs--james, betty & august. but i will do with that what i please. i just see catra’s pov from this song just as much as i see it for cardigan. her losing adora/feeling like adora doesn’t want her back or will choose other ppl over her. 

this is me trying--can fit adora’s need to be everything for everyone/fear of failure--leading to burn out. also works for what i assume how catra’s redemption arc continued post s5. progress isn’t linear and this can show both of them struggling to recover from abuse

invisible string--if u strip out the imagery of taylor and her mans then sure

mad woman--i MEAN...is this not catra’s villain origin story? so often she was just poked/kicked/provoked into continuing down the dark path. not always by adora but regardless.

epiphany-- ‘with you i serve, with you i fall down’ reminding me of them both fighting/practicing/training together pre-s1 as well as them finally teaming up

betty--betty betty betty. the worst thing these two have ever done is what they did to each other. i see it more catra to adora, but it can go either way. gotta admire catra’s range for fitting into the role of betty, august + james... who else is doing it quite like her?

peace-- adora to catra. she can never not be she ra. is that enough for catra?

hoax--def more of a catra POV

evermore (2020?)

tbd......

[lesbianrobin]

have u done an analysis on endgame st ships? a penny for ur thoughts

i have not!! i would like two pennies please. my thoughts are not actually worth that much but i think i deserve them anyway. i’m gonna talk about some stuff that may seem unrelated or only loosely related to the question but i prommy it’s relevant <3 warning this ended up being like a thousand words somehow idk how that happened but i’m putting it under a cut bc i’m nice like that.

so! something that’s kinda unique/interesting to me about stranger things is how all of their ships are so clearly telegraphed and quickly developed. there’s a sense of... impatience, for lack of a better word. on the surface, it appears to be largely an effect of the cinematic style of the show; there’s very little room for questioning who someone’s gonna end up with or for slowly developing a relationship over time when you only get eight episodes every like. twoish years. AND you have about a dozen main characters AND evil government forces AND monsters from another dimension. it’s a lot to juggle!

stranger things has a lot to accomplish in a pretty short amount of time. the timeline of a single season usually spans no more than a week (excluding flashbacks/end-of-season timeskips), and well... nobody wants the important stuff to happen offscreen! i’ll use the stoncy love triangle as an example: jancy was originally intended to get together at the end of s1 after steve’s death, but since they decided to let steve redeem himself and survive, there was just no time to separate stancy and get jancy together without it seeming wayyy too abrupt. since jancy was always their plan, they didn’t want to leave nancy with steve, but they knew they couldn’t just have that boyfriend swap occur offscreen... which is why s2 Had to have a stancy breakup plot in order for the writers to accomplish their goal of getting jancy together.

the main characters in stranger things tend to maintain homeostasis between seasons, their circumstances and relationships rarely changing any more than the audience might have just assumed they would anyway (like lucas and max dancing together + sharing a kiss at the end of s2 and officially dating by the start of s3). steve and nancy are dating at the end of s1, so they must still be dating at the start of s2, and thus we must break them up DURING s2. joyce and hopper are friends with some deeply buried feelings in s2, so they’re friends with Less Buried feelings that must become apparent during s3. excluding the stancy situation (for reasons which i think are obvious but i will talk more about later), momentum is always forwards. mileven, lumax, and jancy argue, but they come back together, presumably more mature and stronger than before. 

all of this is to say that stranger things has thus far been rather dedicated to their starting ships. there isn’t much misdirection; mike’s crush on el is obvious from the start, nancy and jonathan share charged moments even while she is with steve in the beginning, lucas shows interest in max immediately and shares more significant interactions with her than the other boys from early on in s2, and the deep loyalty and care between joyce and hop is always apparent. steve and robin (initially intended to be together romantically) hold hands quite early in s3 and dustin asks steve about whether he likes her. 

the point? stranger things doesn’t dick around when it comes to love! they handle their ships with remarkable efficiency. in each season, it tends to be pretty obvious from the start who’s going to end up with who, and heading into the show’s fourth season, almost everybody is paired off: mike and el, max and lucas, joyce and hop, nancy and jonathan. which leaves us asking... are all of them going to last until the end?

we’ve only had one true breakup on the show so far, and as i’ve said before, the stancy breakup is an anomaly as it was essentially “righting a wrong,” allowing jonathan and nancy to get together as they were intended to do from the start. the only other romantic relationship to end on the show was between joyce and bob, and well... we all know why that ended, and it started/ended within the confines of a single season. 

stranger things tends to treat each season as an extended film, right? they draw inspiration from classic 80′s films, and each subsequent season after s1 is treated as a sequel (they are Literally referred to as stranger things 2 and stranger things 3). when they introduce tension in a season, they’re inclined to resolve that tension by the season’s end so that people leave satisfied, while also providing a plot hook for the next “sequel” for audiences to theorize about. this hook is always part of the grander plot, not a will-they-won’t-they tease or something else of the sort. remember, they could have broken up steve and nancy in s2 and waited to get jancy together in s3, but they didn’t! they wanted to go ahead and resolve the tension! 

while there are narrative and practical incentives that i’ve covered for this impatience/efficiency/[insert better word i can’t think of here], i also think it kinda reveals something about the writers of the show. to some degree, they genuinely care about and want their ships to be together! we’ve watched them introduce new characters just to kill them off a couple of times now, and i think it’s fair to say that the writers might be a bit too attached to the mains to consider killing any of them off (at least prior to the series finale). maybe... this reluctance to kill their darlings extends to ships.

romance isn’t the primary draw of the show, but an indulgence, something that there may not always be time for but that the writers continue to prioritize as much as they can because they enjoy it, or feel that it is important to the overall product. if we accept this idea, that the inclusion of and focus on so many romantic relationships in stranger things is (to some degree) indicative of the writers’ own desires, then it might inform our speculation regarding endgame ships.

i’m not here to like... really actually assert that i know what’ll be endgame, because i don’t really know jack shit. however, i do think that the writers are pretty invested in all of the current canon st ships (and yes, i am including jopper in that, as their romantic development was explicit in s3). i also think that the writers like catering to fans, leaning into popular jokes (steve “the hair” harrington) and devoting more and more time to the ships fans obsess over (particularly mileven). 

with this all in mind... i really think that most if not all of the current canon ships will be endgame. 

i think that barring any extreme circumstances (i.e. a character Actually dying instead of just fake dying) jopper will be endgame. they’re the only ones that the writers have had the restraint to actually do a slow burn with, and i really can’t see them devoting so much to developing their dynamic just to say it was all for nothing in the end. 

i’m less confident on the others. there are some signs in canon that the remaining couples have some serious problems and may not last, but these issues are often dismissed, played for comedy or brushed over within the text itself, and many of the details within the text contradicting this dismissal are often so small that it’s unclear whether they’re intentional or not. while breaking up mileven might make perfect sense for a fan who reads into subtext and pays attention to unusual acting choices and subtle parallels, it would be a pretty risky move on the surface level. allowing these ships to remain canon for awhile and garner large fanbases only to break them up later would require both a willingness to actively contradict the desires of their audience as well as a certain degree of restraint in their romantic storytelling, which runs counter to the impression i personally have of the st writers (this is, of course, my own personal opinion).

there’s a good chance that at least one of the current canon ships will break up by the end, if only because i think that it would be a little boring if every relationship stayed the same for almost the entirety of the show’s run, and the stranger writers like to keep things new and exciting. perhaps long distance will kill jancy or mileven, or lucas and max will go off again and never come back on, but either way i wouldn’t be surprised if we got a breakup in s4. even with that, though, i think it’s somewhat likely that a current couple may break up in s4 and get back together for the series finale, just for the sake of a little suspense. overall, though, i feel like our current canon ships are going to be more or less the same at the end of the show.

that’s about it. i suppose i didn’t really... answer the question you asked skdndsdkjc i feel like you probably just wanted to know like if i’m a byler endgame truther (which i am not but i could happily be proven wrong). thank you for asking, though! i hope this made at least a little bit of sense.

[medusinestories]

Black Sails Confinement Challenge - Prompts

Here it is! The list of 50 prompts to inspire confined fic writers to write about confined characters. Here’s how I broke them down:

The General (G1 - G25) prompts only contain ideas for settings and sometimes simple plot ideas. They can be used for any ship or character. Please fill these prompts as closely to the general idea/mood as possible.

The Specific (S1 - S25) prompts tend to be more detailed and contain a ship request. If you choose a specific prompt, please write the ship/main characters requested in these prompts, whose names you have been bolded for your convenience.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting a form to let authors claim prompts. Prompts can be claimed anytime during the challenge but prompts are granted on a first-come, first-serve basis (this list will be updated to reflect which prompts are currently claimed). Specific prompts can only be claimed once. General prompts may be claimed several times AS LONG AS the writers are working on different characters/ships (they will be asked who they plan on writing in the submission form). There is no deadline or minimum length, but authors must make some progress within one month of claiming the prompt (ie, at least an outline and a few paragraphs). Prompts for which the author has gone radio-silent or made absolutely no progress in one month will be put back up for grabs. Authors can fill as many prompts as they like, on the condition that they claim one prompt at a time and finish each prompt before starting working on another.

As always my inbox or PMs stay open if you have any questions about this challenge!

And now, without further ado, let yourself be inspired by these prompts and choose your favourites (1 main, 2 backup) for signup tomorrow! (write down the FULL code, fx G5 or S22)

GENERAL PROMPTS (any ship/character)

G1 Place: inside a whale Reason: the whale swallowed them Mood: banter, done with this shit, crack-y

G2 Place: a subaqueous lab Reason: the inaccessibility of the lab Mood: UST and a tinge of horror Extra: the heater is malfunctioning and they have to huddle for warmth

G3 Sexy times feat. character 1 being tied up and waiting for character 2 who's left them alone for a while.

G4 Place: a safehouse  Reason: they're in witness protection  Mood: sexual tension, banter, funny?  Extra: Character 1 is in witness protection but hates it, thinks it's unnecessary and is trying to leave. character 2 is personally responsible for their safety.

G5 Place: at the Oglethorpe plantation Reason: fear of disease Mood: bittersweet

G6 Place: a part of the ship Reason: punished by the crew Mood: cracky, ust. Extra: there is only 1 hammock

G7 Place: an elevator in an office building Reason: it broke down, nobody's responding and it's Friday night Mood: banter, arguing, enemies-to-friends-to-more? Extra: one of them isn't feeling well because of a medical condition (can be claustrophobia) but is trying to hide it

G8 Place: at the top of a Ferris wheel Reason: power cut Mood: funny, bickering

G9 Place: a supposedly haunted house Reason: the door is mysteriously stuck Mood: creepy, funny, possibly UST/smutty

G10 Place: a closet/wardrobe Reason: they're hiding from someone Mood: ust/smut

G11 Place: a tent Reason: it's pouring with rain Mood: first time, smutty

G12 Place: a store (grocery, book, clothes, you decide) Reason: they got locked in after closing Mood: funny, cracky, fluffy

G13 Place: a ship Reason: becalmed Mood: angsty, delirious, desperate

G14 Place: Miranda's house Reason: someone is sick/wounded Mood: angsty, hurt/comfort, confession (no death please)

G15 Place: mysterious Aztec/Mayan/Inca ruins Reason: they were looking for the Eldorado and got lost/trapped in the ruins. Mood: adventure, friendship, maybe hurt/comfort Extra: there's a jaguar lurking about

G16 Place: the Otherworld (heaven, limbo, hell… you choose) Reason: the last thing they remember is getting hit on the head. Mood: thoughts about the Afterlife. Could be as dark or as cracky as you like. Extra: The Good Place AU?

G17 Place: a library Reason: someone dared them to stay in after closing time  Mood: fun, cracky, adventurous

G18 Place: two houses far away Reason: quarantine Mood: longing, lonely, horny, smutty Extra: they're writing/texting/talking on the phone to keep in touch but It's Not Enough and it's driving them nuts

G19 Place: a steampunk Jules-Verne-ish submarine Reason: there's a giant squid outside Mood: spooky, adventure

G20 Place: a lighthouse Reason: a terrible storm with crashing waves Mood: intense, passionate

G21 Place: a cabin in the middle of nowhere Reason: zombie apocalypse (or other supernatural invasion/pandemic) Mood: horror, tension Extra: Character 1 arrives at the cabin after having fled the monsters, thinking it's empty. It's not, and Character 2 isn't all that happy about the intruder.

G22 Place: Skeleton Island Reason: marooned or left for dead Mood: spooky, angsty, paranoid

G23 Place: a hut on Maroon island Reason: Hurricane Mood: ust, angst, comfort

G24 Place: the Fort in Nassau Reason: they took the fort but now they're besieged Mood: bickering, going stir-crazy

G25 Place: a room in the brothel Reason: they're hiding from someone/something Mood: pining, ust Extra: everyone is having sex around them but they're not (yet) and it's driving them nuts

SPECIFIC PROMPTS (specific ship/character)

S1 Ranger trio is stuck in space prison and have to try to escape ft. Space ship Captain Vane, Anne with blaster shooters (or maybe a lightsaber if it’s a star wars au) and hacker Jack. Mood: Funny.

S2 Thomas and Silver are stuck in James' flat... without James. They're stuck there separated from James until the shelter in place order is lifted (pick your poison - pandemic? Bad storm? Dangerous escaped convict on the loose?). Sexual tension ensues.

S3 Inspired by S4: Madi and Eleanor are confined together in the hidden cellar of Miranda's house when Spanish troops are invading the island (and this time they don't get assaulted/killed). Unresolved sexual tension, unresolved sibling-like rivalry. Bonus: just some angry ✂️✂️✂️ 

S4 Eleanor is imprisoned in England and thinks about Max. Mood: angst, broken heart, angry.

S5 Silver is stranded at Miranda's house, could be with or w/o the captain. Reason: suspect outbreak on the Walrus, Silver can't go back on board, Flint doesn't want his map wandering around Nassau. Mood: funny, smutty, up to the writer.

S6 Israel Hands + character of your choice. Place: a ship, in a locked room Reason: misbehavior? crew shenanigans? Mood: writers choice.

S7 Utley pisses off a superior officer and gets locked in with Flint. Place: the cell in the fort. Mood: ust, smut!

S8 John Silver and the companion of yr choice. Place: an island. Reason: marooned by a pissed off crew. Mood: up to the writer (not too tragic?)

S9 Flint is stuck on shore and runs into someone he knew (and liked) in his old life. Place: a terrible tavern or a room above. Reason: too stormy to return to ship. Mood: friendly to smutty? I just want Flint have a little bit of happiness.

S10 Miranda comes to meet Flint but gets stuck at the brothel as things get dangerous on the streets. Reason: some kind of unrest, riots. Mood: fluff or smut or anything as long as Miranda is not miserable.

S11 Modern au first meeting Silver & Miranda. Place: Elevator. Reason: breakdown. Mood: up to the writer.

S12 Muldoon is sick and no one knows what with. Silver is worried and Flint extends a rare offering of comfort.

S13 It's 1721. James and Thomas are still incarcerated at the plantation but at least they live together in a separate little cabin. With smallpox spreading from Boston to the rest of the colonies, Oglethorpe shuts down work for a few days and has everyone shelter in place.

S14 Silver showed up on Flint and Thomas' doorstep and the reunion isn't going well. Just when Silver is about to leave in a huff, they get stuck indoors (b/c weather, plague, authorities looking for Silver, etc) and Thomas is stuck with Flint and Silver's angry/awkward UST. He knows the only way to resolve this is in bed, and starts dropping less-than-subtle hints. 👉🏻👌🏻 Mood: funny, smutty.

S15 A scientific research station in space (Solaris AU but with a happy ending!). Flint is sent to investigate a space station after receiving some weird reports. Silver is one the few remaining members of the crew. An incident make them unable to leave without some major repairs. Angsty, slow burn, where Flint slowly accepts to move on after the death of Miranda&Thomas. 

If you're not familiar with Solaris (book or movie) check wikipedia but: the space station is doing research on a mysterious planet covered with an ocean; but that ocean gives the crew some strange "side effects". Their secrets/fears/guilt take a material (often human) form. Flint sees Miranda (or Thomas, or both, as you prefer) for example. As Flint learns to deal with the loss of his loved ones he grows closer to one member of the crew, Silver.* Their bond help them break from the planet's melancholic influence, give them motivation to repair the station and finally leave together. *That could be a great opportunity to write about Silver's (probably very dark according to the BS writers) past!

S16 Silver / Flint - modern era, fake dating for some reason, now they're stuck together for a long time. Place: Somewhere travel related like a hotel room. Reason: quarantine like we're in now. Mood: angsty, UST.

S17 Flint's cabin on the Walrus. Silver is recovering from the leg amputation and discovers Flint has locked him in the cabin. Mood: angsty, angry, fluff if you want?

S18 Flint and Silver captured by the Spanish and Flint learns the truth about Silver’s past. Place: The plantation. Reason: Took control but hit some problems. Mood: Hurt/comfort or angst with happy ending.

S19 Silver & Flint reunion fic – they are stuck together in the room because of the snow and there is only 1 bed. Place: an inn. Mood: UST

S20 horror movie au (not really scary) silver & flint spend the night at a scary cabin after reading one too many ghost stories. Reason: someone locked the keys in the car and there's no signal. Mood: cracky.

S21 Silver and Flint in a magical au get stuck together by either a spell gone wrong or a curse and they find this frustrating in every possible way but have to get on the same page to reverse it.

S22 Flint and Silver are neighbours, but haven't spoken before. They both have gardens and can see each other through gaps in the fence. During the lockdown (because of a disease), Silver and Flint become aware of each other in close proximity but separated by the garden fence. So begins an odd flirtation involving sunbathing and topless gardening and water fights. Mood: Sexual tension. Flirting. Maybe voyeurism?

S23 Place: a house with large backyard (probably farmhouse?) Reason: Snowstorm for a week. Snowstorms happened and they had blackout in the house. Silver doesn't like darkness and he keep clinging to Flint. Flint doesn't like Silver's but he had to because Flint doesn't remember their house (floor plan, I mean) and ended up spending their time in other bedroom. Mood: sexual tension, confession, first kiss and first time.

S24 Silver and Flint bicker about emergency prep and then make up. Place: modern apartment. Reason: some disaster.

S25 Silver is talking to Flint, Flint is avoiding De Groot and so Silver finds himself manhandled into a very small compartment he'd never noticed on the Walrus. Mood: silly, ust

[tb5-heavenward]

After that splendid episode (which I only just rewatched to imprint it in my brain better), may I ask for your Top 5 Pen & Ink moments from the show so far~?

Thank for this question! I am thrilled and delighted to answer it!

It’s funny, for the first two seasons there was so very VERY little to work with, and it’s only with S3 that we’ve got hard and fast confirmation of what’s been obvious throughout the series: that this is The Ship in this show. But with the length of time in between seasons or parts of seasons, it’s always fairly desperate what my shipper heart will cling to, and so I have a particular fondness for some of what are actually the tiniest moments of Pen & Ink in the series.

Under a cut!

In an approximate chronological order:

Ring of Fire - Part 1

The first scene they have together is one of my favourites, actually. I don’t know if it’s still true, but I’ve always felt about S1 that it has a certain kind of heart and soul about it that sometimes seems like it’s fallen out the bottom of some later episodes. Early on they cared so much about deeply establishing a lot of what we now take to be fundamental truths about these characters, and it’s always personally meant a lot to me that from the very beginning, it’s evident that Gordon feels Some Kinda Way about Penelope. Even as early as this scene, he breaks from an established pattern of his behaviour so far, and he’s a little bit different with her. He’s shy and kind of awkward and very much treating her with a deferential sort of familiarity. It’s very subtle but still very good.

Tunnels of Time

The entire spear-corridor scene in Tunnels of Time is perfection, but this specific moment where he says “Thank you” is just pure unfettered adoration from him, and the voice acting is just absolutely note perfect. I think it’s probably the single most sincerely delivered line in the entire show to date. It’s weird, I feel like the VA that Gordon and Virgil share is foremost associated with being the VA for Virgil, and then Gordon’s sort of a second thought, but I think his performance as Gordon is vastly more subtle and complex and layered. This might just be because I pay more attention to Gordon than Virgil, but I can come up with far more moments like these for Gordon than I can for Virgil. ANYWAY. This whole scene is amazing. I could go on at length (and you know what, I just might) about this episode as a whole being the sort of crown jewel of this ship in this show, but the corridor scene in particular gives them a moment of bickering like an old married couple. Which, in turn, gave me life for the next four and half years.

Escapeproof

ZOOM. ENHANCE.

Do you know how pathetic things were on the Pen & Ink front in S2? Because I do. I know exactly how pathetic things were as far as Pen & Ink in S2, because this image entirely encapsulates it. Very little direct interaction between the two of them at all, maybe one or two moments across the whole season that could be considered flirty (and it’s very possible that I’m forgetting something major, my brain is full of the details for a cross country move right now, and there is not a lot of room for very much else at all), but S2 on the whole is pretty dry for Pen and Ink.

But you know! Someone had my back here (kinda like how he has hers ❤) because that is the tiniest, but the loveliest little thing. He’s just automatically very protective of her, and that makes me so very happy.

Also, I won’t devote a screenshot to it because I don’t have the episode readily to hand, but he does something similar in Lost Kingdom. He hangs back a moment and holds out a hand to make sure she goes past him to somewhere safer than where she is. It’s miniscule. It lasts less than a fragment of a second. It was all I had to go on for the duration of 2017. I can go on at length and in detail about What Was Wrong With Lost Kingdom. And maybe I will! I have a very strong opinion about what that episode should have been and I very much feel a rant coming on. Anyway. Onward to rather richer territory!

Deep Water

Do you know that this the second of three occasions where they’ve returned from a hiatus with an ep that includes a lil Pen & Ink Moment? In this case rather more than just a moment? in S1 we came back with Falling Skies, which isn’t a favourite of mine, but has an objectively flirty moment between them. S3 as a whole and Deep Water in particular marks the first time we start to see Penelope do anything that actually acknowledges and begins to reciprocate the long-running and obvious truth that Gordon has feelings for her. The whole episode is her being very demonstrably worried about him for the duration of it, and culminates with this. This is someone experiencing a very new emotion and not knowing what it means or what to do with it.

SOS 2 

and then there’s this.

and that’s just it, isn’t it?

[msbeccieboo]

Arrow 8x03 Brain Dump

ASDADGHSADFSAF!! Back on form this week, with more returning guests, massive sibling feels and concentration on characters that we love, AND THE COLLISION OF FUTURE AND PRESENT TIMELINES IN THAT EPIC ENDINGGGG!!!!!!!!! YAAAASSSS!!! I’m still spiralling now!!!

Oliver and Thea

Welcome back Thea Queen!! Oliver had missed his Speedy 😍

So following on from last week, Oliver travelled to Nanda Parbat (which looked suspiciously like Lian Yu...the S8 Budget was clearly too used up on guest stars to recreate the outdoor Nanda Parbat scenery we saw in S3 😂), where he hoped to find some answers about The Monitor. I’m not actually sure if he intended on visiting Thea, or if her appearance was just a happy coincidence! But either way he was able to tell her about Mia and show her the picture of his new little family GAJKFSDGHFHDSGFS!!!

Source: oliverxfelicity

More below the cut...

In a shock move for Oliver Queen, he is open and honest with Thea straight away about his prophesied and imminent death. Thea wasn’t buying it, and Oliver even made a little sarcastic comment to “take as much time as you like to be upset” 😂😂 I’ve seen a few people say that they wanted to see more emotion from Thea here, and in later scenes. My take is that Thea/Willa’s nonchalant air is just classic Thea Queen Swagger™, but did feel like Willa maybe wasn’t really all that present in all of the scenes (mainly the LoA stuff though really). I however loved her total chill at the prospect of Oliver dying...not dissimilar to us...we know what's what! Our boy will be okay in the end!

Oliver seeks out Talia Al Ghul to use the Leagues archives (?) to find out more about The Monitor, because she owes him one. I love the idea of Oliver collecting his debts for once...this could fill the rest of the season to be honest; he’s racked up rather a few favours over the years. Talia’s help comes in the form of an Indiana Jones-esque scavenger hunt to uncover an ancient League book, and some special Demon’s head sword (?), with interruptions by the pesky Thanatos Guild from last season, who Thea is at war with. Honestly, plot-wise, I struggled a bit this week; even on rewatch I found it hard to concentrate😂 . I just zoned in on the character moments to get me through. But luckily, there were lots of those! 

One such beautiful character moment with the Queen siblings was on the side of a mountain, and reminded me a little bit of the Will/Mia scene up the Glades wall back in 7x16, I think? Oliver getting all emotional about missing his family and doubting his decisions every single day just punched me right in the feels 😭😭

Source: feilcityqueen

Then his explanation for trying to find answers before the Crisis: “My sacrifice, my death will protect the people I love. I need my family to be safe.” MURDERER!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Thea reassures him with some sage Queen family words, that their parents also made some questionable choices regarding them (that’s putting it lightly), but it ultimately made them heroes because of them. I think this scene was one of my favourites this episode, if not the season so far. Love me some Queen siblings 💗

The upshot of this random adventure with Talia was that Oliver read that the upcoming Crisis will actually be caused by The Monitor (dun dun DUUUNNN!!), complete with a lovely drawing of him 😂😂 But what Oliver doesn’t know, cos The Monitor doesn’t tell him anything is that there is also an Anti-Monitor, who will be the big bad of Crisis...so this may be a bit of a red herring for now!

Oliver ends his time in Nanda Parbat by saying one final (in his mind) goodbye to Thea, which actually made me sob like a baby out of nowhere, and has done every time I’ve rewatched the clip haha! Thea didn’t see it as a goodbye (cos Oliver dying? Pass!), but Oliver just cracks and won’t let go of her, and now I’m tearing up again 😭😭😭

Source: smoakmonster

I think by the way the goodbye scene played out that that will be the last we see of Thea, and ugh it’s such a shame because she has always brought out something special in Oliver, but we know she’ll be with him the whole time...😭😭😭

Stray thoughts:

They had Thea acknowledge Moira as her namesake (still think it’s a stretch, Moira-Mia? No.) but also had a callback to Thea’s Corto Maltese alias, which made me lol, and frankly, I find a better reference 😂

“All beings burn but a Phoenix rises from the ashes”. The Phoenix references this week were as subtle as a sledgehammer...Oliver is the Phoenix, and he will rise from the ashes following his death!

The Guild calling Oliver and Speedy ‘outsiders’ 🙄🙄 Oliver was Ras al Ghul and Thea is heir to the demon; get your facts right, biatch!!

Thea was a total badass this week, taking down Talia was sooo cool, and shows how far she has come as a fighter/hero.

Nice drop-in that Felicity gave the hozen to William!

Thea and Talia joining forces to raise a female ‘League of Heroes’; better than any faux-feminist Canary bullshit!!

The guest stars are fantastic, but their novelty and distraction is wearing off...I MISS FELICITY SMOAK 😫😫 Next week should hopefully tide us over, though!!

Dyla

Dyla had their own little adventure this week, that  echoed their suicide squad mission in Season 2. Bronze Tiger killed a bad guy whilst working for Lyla, and in revenge, that bad guy’s son kidnaps Sandra and little Connor Hawke, then also tries to kill Lyla, but obviously she’s a total badass so that doesn’t happen! Anyway, all’s well that ends well and Dig rescues Connor and his Mum, and that’s about all I can remember plot-wise 😂😂

What we got character-wise, though was really cool! We got the first hint of JJ’s story of being 'neglected' by Dyla...with Dig and Lyla being increasingly away on missions and unable to call him, and in turn finding Connor and obviously starting to fall in love with him because he is the softest little bean 😍 When ickle Connor said “thank you Mr Diggles” I was a goner 😂😂

We saw Dig having a crisis of faith (pun intended) after seeing Earth 2 disintegrate before him, but ultimately he realises (after some Lyla wisdom) that they just have to hold on to each other and do their best. Lyla made a few comments and pulled some ‘I’m keeping secrets’ faces, asking Dig to remember the good times no matter what happens, and I need to know what Lyla knows dammit!! I still believe that she is on the good side, and her appearing to double-cross Dig and Oliver with The Monitor last week is a little bit of a red herring. I need to believe, ok!!!

Flash-forwards

Plot-wise, I actually think the flash-forwards were the strongest storyline this week. Following on from last week we had the team rushing back to the bunker to check on William, after JJ threatened him. This scene brought us another “frack” from Mia 😍, and a mention of Felicity as “Mom” from William 😭, as he managed to electrocute the bad guys all by himself! Will being a techy little badass is a forever mood and is yet another reminder of our Felicity. She is never really gone.

With the Deathstrokes now targeting William and other members of the Star City Unification Movement (SCUM, really?? LOL), William offers himself up as bait. As Oliver’s daughter, you can imagine how that went down with Mia. Badly. Big nope from Mia, who decides on a more direct approach of going to their HQ and kicking all of the ass 😂. Zoe is very much against this, but Mia is all “I know best, we’ll just storm in and take them all out myself” (S1 Oliver anyone?). Said storming in leads to this absolute beauty of a moment:

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!

Prior to kicking all of the asses, Mia and William have a heart-to-heart, with Will still angry at Mia for not trusting him to go into dangerous situations. Will thinks it’s because he’s not a fighter, but Mia comes back with “it’s because you’re my brother” 😭 😭 😭

Source: olicitygifs

In another Felicity-worthy pep-talk, William tells Mia that operating out of fear is not the way to go, and that they need to trust each other to survive. I’m really gonna need a Mia/Will hug soon, please and thank you. Honestly, Will is the perfect balance/offset to Mia with his easy humour and quick wit, but he ALWAYS brings the feels as well. He reminds me so much of Emily’s portrayal of Felicity, and not just in the way that his character has been written, but just by what he brings to the role. Ben is a wonderful actor; I adore him and he and William must be protected at all costs!

In the final confrontation, Mia, Zoe and JJ storm JJ and the Deathstrokes, but JJ gets Mia by the throat in an awesome 3x23 Felicity/Slade parallel. Mia couldn’t save herself like Felicity did in this instance, but we must remember that this is just the beginning of Mia’s journey. She has time. Unlike Zoe, who saves Mia, but is then fatally stabbed by JJ 😬 Poor Zoe dies in Mia’s arms. Kat’s acting here was perfection. I may have shed a tear. They had kept Zoe pretty much in the background in the FFs, so I wasn’t particularly attached; if one of FTA needed to die, then I’m good with her. Sorry Zo. But in all honesty, this fridging trope really needs to end. Another female character didn’t need to die in order to elevate JJ’s evil-factor, or to spur on Mia’s hero journey, or Connor’s struggle with his conscience. Enough now. Hopefully, being a bird, Zoe will be back from the dead soon enough anyway 😂

Source: 1-crazy-dreamer 💗

Connor sees Zoe die and goes after JJ. Hard. Tries to kill him. Between 2 generations of Queens and Diggles, the sibling parallels were so strong this week, and I’m loving it! I wrote a little meta here about it. But does Connor have the guts to actually kill JJ? JJ taunts that he doesn’t, Connor disagrees, but then the bright light comes for all of FTA and so we come to…

THAT ENDING

OH MY GOD ALL OF FTA IN THE BUNKER IN 2019!!!!!!!!!!!!

So most people following any kind of interviews or spoilers had a pretty firm idea that Mia would come back in time at the end of the episode. We were expecting it. What the show did was really quite clever...they allowed these pretty big spoilery-type interviews and tweets to be released, heavily implying that Mia would rock up in the last 30 seconds. They let us think we were all clever and had figured it out then BOOM! EVERYONE CAME BACK (minus Zoe 😬)! 

I am so pleased with this!! All the paparazzi pics etc that we’d seen of Mia in the crossover etc had made me so happy, but equal parts sad that William couldn’t go back and see Oliver too, but now he can!!!

Uggghhhh it was so fucking goooood!! Oliver’s initial confusion of being beamed back to the bunker, stunned Dig, Dinah and Rene (I can live with their 5-second appearances this season 😂😂), then the camera and Oliver pan around to Mia, William and Connor just stood there!! Mia still had tears running down her face from seeing Zoe die, and she has her Arrow suit on and is covered in blood and she sees her Daddy for the first time in her memory!!!!!!! Just one word is delivered in those last few seconds and it was still one of the best moments of the season so far!!

Mia’s “Dad”, followed by Oliver’s confusion, realisation, then shock was just gaaahhhh!! But my absolute favourite reaction (I decided after multiple rewatches, for science, haha) was William’s 😍😭😍 His eyes full of tears, and utter gobsmacked-ness was fucking sublime!!  

Source for all 3 reaction gifs: tylerposey

Next week is going to be so epic!! We have Mia, who has never met Oliver and who has built him up so much in her head and heart from Felicity and William’s stories, and also the tainted Star City archives, getting to finally come face-to-face with him. Then conversely, there is William, who got a few years to know his father, but then left him and eventually believed to have been abandoned by him and Felicity, and has had to live for 20 years until very recently still believing that, and now he gets to see him again, only a few months after little William left! Then there’s Connor, who Dig barely even knows in 2019 and he’s gonna call him Dad and then have to tell him that he nearly just killed JJ, who just killed Zoe, and Rene is right there and I AM HERE FOR ALL OF ITTTTTT!!!! 

There’s so much content coming in next weeks episode it’s going to be so beautiful!!  I wrote a post of things I really hope to see here, and I’m pretty confident we’ll get most of them and so much more!

Then there’s the implications of what FTA being in the present means for the future!! I had a bit of a spec meltdown here about how this could end up saving Oliver, and I think that’s pretty much just wishful thinking, but either way, them coming back to the present to help with the Crisis and to try and stop future Star City turning so bleak is going to make my head hurt and my heart sing in equal measure, I’m sure! After all, what is the point in having the multiverse, time travel, super powers etc in Arrow if we can’t reap some benefits from it somehow? The ending to this episode, and hopefully next week will be our reward for the fuckery we’ve had to endure with the more sci-fi-esque elements since Larry rocked up and the Arrowverse was extended. And I. cannot. wait.

Thank you to the beautiful, talented, and super speedy gifmakers for blessing us with all the amazing gifsets from this episode!! Mwah! 😘😘 (Uncredited gifs are mine)

💗💗💗

[alexzalben]

(1/4) Hey Alex, I have a long question that I’ve divided into parts, lol. I hope that’s okay. But feel free to ignore this if it’s too much. I know you said S3 of Killing Eve is better than S2, but I just don’t see it yet. I was always part of the group of people who defended S2, because I personally loved it and I was willing to overlook its weaknesses, because I thought it had more positive elements than negative. (I actually asked you a question about this last May, too.)

Okay, gonna paste the rest of your ask here and then answer it. Cool? Cool:

(2/4) I never quite understood the issues people had with the season, because everyone seemed to contradict each other. Some people had issues with the overall plot of the season, but it’s not like people cared that much about the Twelve plot either. Even the Twelve plot in S1 didn’t make perfect sense, but people didn’t seem to have problems with that. Maybe the plot’s execution wasn’t as strong, but I still don’t think that took away from the point of the season.

(3/4) Other people had problems with the fact that they had Villanelle and Eve working together because it didn’t seem plausible, but again, I feel like people have always prioritized Eve and V’s relationship more than what serves the plot, so I didn’t get that either. Other people had issues with Eve and Villanelle working together because it dissolved their tension — but so many fans actually loved episodes 6 and 7, so that also seemed contradictory to me.

(4/4) Maybe it lacked focus, but it was still excellent imo. I actually loved the shift from subtext to text. Something about S3 just feels...off to me, especially with Villanelle. A lot of details with her character feel OOC to me now. I know the events of S2 changed her, which addresses the shift in her behavior, but it still doesn’t feel justified to me. We got that glorious ~bus scene~ and they brought the Twelve back, but I just keep finding myself getting so frustrated every five minutes.

Hi, back now! So all of this seems extremely well reasoned to me, and I definitely see where you’re coming from on it. And art is subjective, so we’re all going to get different things out of nearly any piece of entertainment. In this case, to me, Killing Eve Season 2 was just too big of a swing to force Villanelle and Eve together. It became formulaic and procedural and stretched the reality of the situation. It felt more like a high concept American thriller -- Eve is forced to team up with the very criminal she’s pursued! -- than the show I knew and loved from Season 1.

Season 3 is nowhere near the heights of Season 1, which was razor sharp in exactly the right way. But it is consistently hitting that weird mix of violence, comedy, strangeness, drama and mystery that I want out of the show. It’s not the same, at all, which is why I get you saying it feels off -- it is like a copy of a copy -- but that works better for me than Season 2, which felt like the American remake of a British show: brasher, more in your face, far less subtle.

The other thing is they’re expanding out the cast, and Fiona Shaw’s storyline is excellent. The show (in my mind) will always be about Eve and Villanelle first; but I really love what they’re doing with her, as well.

I’d also recommend waiting to watch the next two episodes, which make some big, interesting moves. Don’t know if you’ll feel differently afterwards, but they definitely start taking a lot of chances.

[ayankun]

AoS S2 Rewatch Briefest of Thoughts

Maybe watching a thing five times is too many times lololol

First I have to admit, I found myself spacing out through a lot of this season.  I mean, my annual rewatches are typically always in the background of other activities, but this time through I definitely just didn’t pay attention to a lot of it.

Even so, here is a list of Things I Noticed This Time:

Not sure if watching S1 directly before this really made a difference or not, but this time I have a much clearer understanding of “S2″ and “S3.”  When I first started watching this show, I shotgunned 2 and 3 back to back, and have done that once a year since, causing the two seasons to feel like one mega-season in my mind.  Not this time!

A lot of the stuff I consider to be “the show” is introduced in S2, sure, but isn’t developed until S3.

Daisy Johnson

Terrigenesis & the Kree (wow my new band name)

Mack and Daisy brotp

FitzSimmons as an actual item

Collecting/protecting Inhumans

Talbot and Creel

The Monolith

Lincoln (gross)

And a lot of the stuff in S2 doesn’t even make it into S3!

Cal :<

Raina :<<<

Afterlife and all those poor fools who just wanted to grow up and get wings or whatever

Edward James Olmos

Agent 33 lol GOOD

Fitz’s brain injury

And of course there’s also big S3 specific stuff that hits you right away in the season opener, like Rosalind and Maveth.

I feel like ultimately I’ll have to say from now on that S3 is my favorite season.  More on this as it develops -- only just started ep 2 today.

A note about Lincoln.  Since actually he’s going to be way more important in S3 than he was in S2, let’s talk about his introduction.  So far, there’s really nothing about the character that warrants my knee-jerk dislike.  The character is supposed to be good for Daisy!  He’s soft and patient and sort of cool and is one of the first people she’s met who is honestly supportive of her new situation, a situation that he understands from experience. 

I guess maybe I don’t like the trope of pairing people up with their primary physician?  There’s a conflict of interest there, I think.

Also that dude’s performance rubs me the wrong way (and I only found out like 35 minutes ago that he’s Australian so I’m going to blame it on the fake American accent?).

There’s no narrative symmetry in the structure of S2.  I got really excited at first because there’s a ship in ep 3 and I know that the season ends on Edward James Olmos’ ship, but that was about it.

However, they did purposefully split it down the middle, 10 eps and a break for Agent Carter, and then the last 12 eps.

The story of part 1 takes us to Daisy and Raina’s Terrigenesis, and part 2 is about A) Daisy has superpowers now whoops and B) Edward James Olmos is in charge whoops and these two storylines smash together at the end.

But the story of the whole season is trust.  Not an exploration of the concept, not “what does it mean to trust” or “how is trust earned” but a literal “man nobody trusts nobody and it’s probably for the best.”

Heck the season straight up tells us we shouldn’t trust anything by opening with with Team Coulson monitoring a black market deal between an ex-SHIELD agent and some mercs -- the mercs are also SHIELD agents and it’s a sting -- the sting team doesn’t know Team Coulson was sent as backup etc etc

Ward swears never to lie to Daisy ever again

Fitz can’t trust his own physical self

Nobody can trust Simmons because she’s undercover at Hydra

Nobody can trust Coulson because he’s whacka-doodle (see what I did there) cray cray

Hunter whining about his she-devil ex-wife, but she’s delightful and perfect

Hunter’s ongoing and ACTUALLY QUITE VALID protestations that he can’t trust Bobbi when it comes to her angle on their relationship

Brainwashing is a thing now

Hydra’s still doing Hydra things and blaming them on SHIELD

Man, anything either of the Ward brothers say at any moment is to be distrusted as a Rule

The heads of Hydra can’t trust each other

Daisy gets powers and she and Fitz decide they can’t trust anybody else with this information because errybody acken’ cray cray

Simmons is SO MAD that Fitz didn’t trust her with this information

Daisy is never quite sure if she can trust her dad (because he cray for sure)

You can’t trust May because half the time she’s Agent 33

You can’t trust Bobbi and Mack because they’re working for Edward James Olmos

Edward James Olmos doesn’t trust Coulson AND doesn’t trust that Fury left SHIELD to Coulson and also I guess just doesn’t trust Fury

Turns out Coulson was doing some secret stuff, too, so better not trust him even if he’s not crazy anymore

Nobody can ever trust Ward, no matter which side you’re on, even if he’s actively helping you at the moment

You can’t trust Raina’s vision until you can

You can’t trust Jiaying after all!!  Edward James Olmos wasn’t going to be the bad guy!!!

I think a lot about how this show has such active characters.  Like, there aren’t just plots for plots sake or characters for characters sake*, events happen to shape character motivations, and then character motivations go on to shape events.  I’m thinking about how Fitz’s condition in the first half is almost complete plot-less -- he’s just a character living through some stuff, and it effects ... his interactions with other characters, mostly.  There’s no narrative “point” or payoff to it (other than to remind that Ward Is Bad), until -- until Daisy comes through the mist and

12 episodes of frustrated aphasia, feeling like he’s letting the team down and they’re letting him down, of struggling to cope with Simmons’ abandoning him and then struggling even more with her return ... until ep 12, the only real, uh, utility Fitz’s condition brings to the story is as a means to introduce Mack as 100% Best Guy. 

And then ep 12, getting to see these two beloved OG characters have this moment that only the two of them can have

.... as far as moments go, second best only to the Skimmons quake/hug in 4x15.  My ship sails, my dudes.

I got way off track here, sorry

Anyway my point is sometimes, in other shows, giving a lead character a brain injury is probably a Major Plot Point that is Meant To Be Resolved (and within 40 minutes if at all possible), but on our perfect show, characters are allowed to Just Be -- and the things that they Are will always manifest in narratively satisfying turns of events.

I’m trying to think of any of my “this time I noticed” items and

Not to be all down on 2/3 of my OT3, but especially after watching their siblings dynamic in S1, and seeing just how painfully awkward their relationship is throughout S2, the Simmons-has-feelings-for-Fitz moment REALLY came out of left field.

S1 gave you the Exact Moment that Fitz realized that his crush was on Simmons instead of Skye, and you saw him live with that information for like 16 episodes.

Knowing that they end up together AND always starting my series rewatch with S2 makes her coming to him at the end not just reasonable but inevitable.

But lol no?  They literally never talk about it for the duration of the season?  Fitz talks to Mack and Simmons talks to Bobbi, but they never talk to each other.  Her change of heart is strictly subtext.  Which isn’t the worst, but given their literal text is either antagonistic (see: his reaction to her abandoning him; her reaction to his hiding the truth about Skye) or just ... their regular schtick. 

They’re antagonistic until Edward James Olmos comes on the scene, at which point they bond enough to play the I’m-on-to-your-plan doublespeak shenanigan, and the sandwich moment is arguably the best thing to happen to this ship up until that point BUT she made him away mission sandwiches when he was just her friend too so!!!

Ok when they see each other next there is a specific moment mentioning The Sandwich in the context of love that makes sense (unlike whatever it is that Agent 33 and Ward have) -- but it’s very subtle and the scene is really just a set up to Simmons’ plan to splinter-bomb the hell out of Ward as revenge.

Their next scene together is bonafide FitzSkimmons OT3 grilling Sky about her time at Afterlife which, again is vanilla S1 schtick, and it’s immediately hijacked by Ward and Mission Talk anyway.

It goes straight into the mission where their only interaction is Fitz telling Jemma to be careful but not in a way where she can hear.

Next they debrief Mike Peterson after rescuing him, which is just an excuse to see Simmons not own up to her killing Bakshi on accident.

New episode, now they’re just stalking Skye and (rightfully) giving her new boyfriend the stink eye, then they talk to Agent 33 about her brainwashing -- just a moment for Simmons to feel guilty about never admitting to killing Bakshi/setting up the fact that Bobbi saved Simmons and not Agent 33 so that Agent 33 has a revenge plot for the remaining 2.5 episodes of the season

THEIR NEXT SCENE TOGETHER IS ANOTHER OT3 MOMENT WHERE SIMMONS PRESENTS SKYE WITH THE HULA GIRL ORNAMENT FROM SKYE’S VAN AND FITZ RIBS SKYE ABOUT HAVE EARTHQUAKE POWERS -- FITZSIMMONS DON’T EVEN DIRECTLY ADDRESS ONE ANOTHER.

Ok and then Fitz makes up a reason to go talk to Simmons, and opens up to her about how he’d have tried to kill Ward if he’d been a lesser man, only to find out that Simmons DID try to kill Ward and is actively upset that she failed, so they’re still at odds, philosophically at least, at this point.

Then they split up again and aren’t on the same continent until a third of the way into the next episode, where they’re STILL talking about Agent 33.

The only other thing they do on screen together in this episode is to fight Skye’s dad like they’re on Scooby Doo running away from a guy in a monster mask

Season finale, they have two scenes working with Coulson on mission stuff in which they don’t speak directly to one another, and then

As Fitz is gearing up for his mission, Simmons pops up out of nowhere and drops her bombshell on him

ok, no lie, as I started compiling this and getting closer and closer to the end, I figured it out:

everyone was so collectively heartbroken at the prospect of Bobbi not making it that they all had to go talk to their loved ones before it’s too late.  May does it, too, and it’s framed with Hunter standing over Bobbi’s hospital bed in the background, and Simmons goes directly from Bobbi’s bedside to Fitz to say “because I just saw Hunter with Bobbi, and it made me realize” --

ok, my bad.  I did state up front that I wasn’t always paying attention, okay?!

I take everything back.  We do see the moment Simmons realizes she has feelings for Fitz.  It just comes at the tail end of a string of episodes  where they barely interact, is all.

Man, I gotta pay better attention next time.

Anyway this is not as brief as I thought it would be, nor have I covered all the thoughts I had.  Real quick, though:

Agent 33 is the worst.  I’m not sure what else they would have given Ward to do (gross double entendre intentional :< )  this season, though.  But did it have to be this?  Did you notice that when she picked faces, it was either May or Daisy?  And then used them on Ward, someone who sexually and/or emotionally manipulated both these women in the previous season?  Gross gross gross.  And obviously the grossness of this pairing is literally called out by several in-world observers, but, still.  I’m not sure that they actually wanted me to believe that there was still some humanity in Ward, that there was still a person who could settle down and buy succulents to put on windowsills in houses he shared domestically with another human being, but mostly I’m wondering why they thought they wanted to want me to believe that.

*as stated previously, one of the weaker parts of S2, that I still find weak having rewatched S2, is the use of the character of Trip.  POOR GUY.  Watching S1 first doesn’t do him any favors, either.  At least when you forget exactly the contents of S1, his being in S2 just feels like “guess this is how things always were, oh wait, sucks he's dead now.”  BUT NO things were NEVER like this.  We don’t know who this guy is at all!! 

His purpose in S1 is to be Not!Ward,

and his utility is to have some sort of internal logic to the team getting their hands on the low-tech WWII spy gadgets.

and he’s a very slight catalyst to Fitz’s needing to get his act together and get Simmons off the market before it’s too late (which is a couple of different yikes in my book, as far as "here’s what this character’s here for”)

So I kept my eye on him in S2 and the results were not good.  I think the only time he had lines was to ask questions to allow another character to respond with exposition, or to make jokes that any character could have been on screen to make. 

I want to say he was a side character dressed as a lead character, but HELL he shared scenes with a Koenig and those fools got WAY more character building/backstory/motivation over the course of the series than what Trip got.

Dearest Trip, our very own Red Shirt.  Rest In Pieces

[flatsuke]

Thoughts on Yosuke’s S3

Spoilers below so read at your own risk:  

Damn, I normally don’t do this but hoo boy this story 👀

I usually try to be open-minded with Voltage stories especially since 1) they have a very specific time frame for their stories (10-13 eps), 2) they’re meant to be character-driven not plot-driven, and 3) they’re otome games, not feature-length films. In that sense, my expectations are usually pretty low and I’m easy enough to impress.

But man, his S3 gave me a lot of mixed feelings.

I get that the premise of KOP in general is the slow process of healing from emotional scars, and I think Yosuke’s S1 did a good job tackling the topic, especially from MC’s perspective. She was emotionally hurt from her husband’s betrayal and she became reluctant to open up to anyone because of that. S1 (and S2 by extension) had Yosuke be there for her to help her heal, albeit slowly. The execution of the premise was pretty solid, and even if there were moments when I felt like the story seemed preachy/moralistic (more on this later), it was still enjoyable to me imo.

S3 shifted its focus from MC to Yosuke, and damn I was really expecting a lot especially since Yosuke was written to be the darkest among the four love interests. I was hoping for more insight into his backstory and the reason why he became the manipulative, conniving ball of issues he is today. I also wanted to see how he and MC’s dynamic would move forward from here.

Sadly, I was a clown for expecting too much.

Essentially, the plot is that Yosuke tries to reconnect with his family (his stepmom, specifically), but his trauma with being unable to eat homemade food is his biggest obstacle. His stepmom, Sumire, is known for making homemade food, and Yosuke forces himself to eat it out of politeness (with him getting sick afterwards). The conflict in the story was that Yosuke didn’t want to show MC how “weak” he was every time he’d eat homemade food, so he’d hide away instead of confiding in her. 

Drama happens, and essentially the reason why Yosuke has a hard time eating homemade food is because.....his stepmom never seasoned his food the way he liked it. Apparently, Yosuke never communicated this to his stepmom, and she in turn never asked him about it, so it snowballed into a big misunderstanding between the both of them.

Now, I understand that trauma is complex and can come from virtually anything and anywhere, but the way they handled Yosuke’s issues really fell flat to me. I honestly thought his story would’ve been darker (Yosuke was poisoned, starved, etc.), but to have all his characterization built on a misunderstanding over seasoning? I try to suspend my disbelief with Voltage stories, but even I have a limit to how far I can go. 

It really didn’t help that MC essentially forced him to get over his trauma. In the story, MC felt alienated at the fact that Yosuke didn’t completely open up to her in spite of all the time they spent together. It’s understandable that she’d feel hurt at being shut out, but the way they wrote her this season really made me 👀. In order to have Yosuke heal from his trauma, she basically tricked Yosuke into eating homemade food that wasn’t hers. Granted, Yosuke knew about it and ate the food anyway (and passed out after eating it), but goddamn man. It took a long time for MC to heal from her emotional scars, and she even admits that she’s not completely healed yet.....so I’m just ???? at why the writers would make her rush through Yosuke’s healing. 

While she did acknowledge that doing that was a huge dick move, I’m really iffy about two things, specifically 1) how easily Yosuke forgave her for it and 2) how his trauma healed from that One incident. I mean, I understand that Yosuke loves her and that MC’s intentions were to help him, but holy shit, forcing someone to get over their trauma through tricking them into exposure therapy (at least, I think that was what MC was aiming for)? Damn. I guess Yosuke really loves MC that much, but still....

Also, I understand that the story was only 10 episodes, but Yosuke’s trauma automatically healing right after MC did that? Really??? I know that people heal at their own pace, but I think the pacing here made no sense at all because this was Yosuke’s lifelong trauma. 

I’ve always had beef with KOP for being preachy, but this takes it to the next level. From the get-go, the game promotes not-so-subtle messages about how to have a healthy relationship with your partner, how to heal from emotional scars, and how to open up others. They’re very blatant about it, and I can see why, but man Yosuke’s S3 really gives off an unfortunate message: namely, that you have to get over your trauma so your partner isn’t unhappy, and that hiding it from them is bad because it means you’re lying to them.

Yikes.

Maybe I’m being too nitpicky, maybe I interpreted the story the wrong way, or maybe there was something I missed, but man, this really disappointed me since Yosuke’s my favorite KOP boy. 

Still, the story wasn’t all bad, though. The smut was extra detailed and that art was once again phenomenal. Yosuke and MC’s lighthearted banter was also really precious to read. I just wish that the writers would’ve put a little more thought into his plot.

[sol1056]

more ask roundups: about the VLD writers

several anons, and pulling out three to represent: 

I saw that Tim Hedrick was Voltron's lead writer and story editor. Not to single him out or anything but does this mean that he is likely the reason for VLD's plot being as disjointed as it is?

What do you think of Tim Hedrick and Joshua Hamilton?

Hamilton said in the podcast that Hendrik had worked out pretty much the whole storyline.... [If] he wrote S1-2 and laid down consistent facts (five teens, Shiro is hero not mentor, strong lion bonds, Keith's issues etc) that were later changed [did that cause] the delays?

From what Hedrick has said about his writing, I think we would’ve had a very different story had he mapped it out. I wouldn’t say better or worse, simply a different tone/feel to it. 

Hedrick has expressed a preference for digging deep into characters, finding out what makes them tick, and letting the story unwrap around them. He probably felt right at home in the staff of AtLA. That series was fairly strong on giving new characters some kind of an introductory or background episode, and the story wasn’t afraid of quiet episodes, when needed.

In a very early interview, Hedrick mentioned his original idea had been an episode focusing on each of the paladins, possibly including how they found/bonded with their lions. Six, maybe seven episodes in, we finally would’ve had Voltron --- which, obviously, was not going to fly with the execs (and Hedrick says as much).

Truth is, Hedrick’s idea matches my instinct, were I doing VLD as a novel. Flesh out each character, make sure they have want/need or goal, some reason to be in the story --- and then bring them together, and then we get to Voltron. Most of the Gundam stories follow this pattern, too, with an episode focused on each pilot and/or important side character, usually with the previous ones introduced showing up in the next episode. It becomes a series of links, tying the cast together.

However, as long as VLD isn’t focused on each lion, but on Voltron itself, the big machine has to make an appearance as soon as possible. That means moving faster, using some trope-based shortcuts to get the story going, and coming back around to each character later. With 78 episodes, they had the room to do all that and then some.

My guess? I think May Chan was what made the difference in S1/S2, and she left right at the midpoint of S3 (with only one writing credit in S3). Unless there was an exec hovering in the background willing to give a great deal more mentorship than anyone’s credited, May Chan was the one in the writers’ room, with direct access to the team’s notes on each season’s structure.

With Hedrick’s comments about his own preference --- and the EPs’ apparent interest in trying to drive the story despite having no experience helming such a complicated vision --- I think what we ended up with was a conflict between two styles. Left to his own devices, Hedrick would’ve slowed things down, dug in more to go deep and layered. He’s probably the one who added a lot of the subtle notes like Keith protesting that the Galra took Shiro’s arm, and other echoes of certain lines.

But the EPs make it pretty clear in interviews (especially after S3) that their idea of plotting a story is to pull out the specific plot-points --- ie, Keith being revealed as Galra --- and then move to the next. When you do that, you’re skipping reaction beats. It’s not just emotional beats, it’s the moment where a character gets what we call a ‘sequel,’ a scene to react, consider, and decide their next step.

Those kinds of scenes don’t have to be extensive, but they are utterly crucial, because that’s where character development usually becomes apparent. It’s also how we regulate pacing and modulate tension. If you just go from plot-point to plot-point, skipping the character reactions, the audience will end up feeling like they haven’t been able to catch a breath all episode.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Hedrick overwrote, wanting to go deep, and the EPs summarily cut two-thirds, insisting they needed a filler episode or two, while seeing no value in those sequel-scenes. It’s a common newbie writer mistake, and then the newbie writer is left baffled as to why their beta readers find the entire thing boring, a slog, or erratically paced.

Ultimately, Hedrick bears some responsibility for the story going so haywire, but realistically? He may’ve gotten overridden an awful lot; JDS (and LM, to some extent) strike me as two people who aren’t quite secure enough yet to handle underlings who are smarter or more knowledgeable. Lotsa managers find that threatening.

On the other hand, if Hedrick’s preference is for that slow, careful, reveal, that’s not exactly a good fit, either. With him driving the vision, we’d be on S7 and only just met Lotor and the generals. Truthfully, if the EPs’ instinct was to have the story move at a quicker clip, they weren’t wrong. They just didn’t know how to go about making the story tight, so they may’ve cut the pieces that didn’t seem plot-relevant, not realizing they'd successfully cut the very struts holding the story together.

Which means the story suffered double: Hedrick slowed things down too far, and the EPs sped everything up too much. With no one able to provide a seasoned storytelling balance, the audience is stuck with the thankless job of finding the few bright spots in the wreckage.

[elizbethweir]

if you could change ten things about the writing of the originals what would you change?

Oh man,that’s difficult. I’m actually not sure I’m good at this. Iknow lots of people think they could write the show better than the writers do and they might be right,but I’m not sure I’d be able to. (Yousee, instead of writing badly, I just don’t write at all. That helps.) I know what I like and what I don’t, but being able to spot problems is not the same as fixing them, and having better ideas. Writing well is hard. I don’t know how people do it.

Anyway, I dohave lots of vague awful ideas. I’m not sure these are THE ten things I’d change, because I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot of important things. These are just 10 random things I thoughtof first.

1)      I wouldn’t introduce a new villainor threat each season. I wouldn’t constantly have them run around on the vergeof death. Characters shouldn’t always be reactionary, fleeing away from onethreat or the other; they should be pro-active too. Their goals should gobeyond just surviving. It’s not always about who you’re fighting against, but also about what you arefighting for. In s1, this was kindastill the case, with Klaus and Elijah actively engaging in plans to turn NOLAinto their home again, rather than constantly being in mortal danger. In s2 thethreat of a villain worked really well, so I would’ve kept that one. But in theother seasons I would’ve put the focus on the family and the city, thedifferent factions and all the conflicts and alliances between them. I’ve saidbefore that my favourite plots are character-driven. I like internal conflictwhere there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong side. So this means getting ridof villains like The Hollow, and focusing more on the familial relationships,the alliances, the different conflicting visions for the city (which couldstill be dangerous in many ways). It should’ve been all about making NOLA thehome they would’ve gladly raised their daughter in. And if an actual villain/deaththreat does pop up, it’s probably amore effectual one because you haven’t been oversaturated.

2)      Sort of related to that: I wouldn’t constantlyintroduce new secondary characters only to get rid of them again. A couple ofconsistent familiar faces among the werewolves/vampires/witches, even whenthey’re just in the background and don’t have a major role within the plot, areunderrated. It adds to the entire atmosphere and sense of reality of the show. TOreally only seems to create secondary characters so that later they can bekilled off again or something, but it’s not really that impactful if you hardlyknow the character, and it’s difficult to construct better secondaryrelationships if the characters keep getting replaced. By sticking with somesecondary characters for a longer period of time, it’s possible to give them alittle more depth and development. It makes them more interesting (secondarycharacters are often forgettable on TO, and that’s a shame). Josh is about theonly example of a familiar face. He’s stuck around. Even when he wasn’trelevant for the plot and sometimes didn’t appear in a lot of episodes, he stillserved as a reminder: there are more vampires than just Marcel. Sure, he usuallydidn’t add much to the plot, but if the politics of the factions had been abigger part of the show instead of the constant death threats (like I wastalking about in point 1), then these secondary characters would’ve automatically been more relevant. The show should’ve utilised the characters they already had, rather than inventing new ones all the time.(And again: if the plot were character-driven, the characters would automatically have had a role inside of it)

3)      More flashbacks. Of the Originals,but also of NOLA, and the different factions, and the Trinity. Give us somemore historical perspective. The Originals are 1000 years old, they’ve seen andexperienced a lot in their time, so it makes sense that everything that happensto them in modern times looks similar to a certain part of their lives before;after all, history rhymes. Flashbacks of NOLA in the past also makes us betterunderstand the dynamics within the city, in line with the earlier points, andcould help to expand the mythology of the supernatural beings.

4)      When Father Kieran died, I wantedCamille to take over his job as the representative of the human faction. Sheshould’ve been the bridge between the humans and the supernatural world. Tryingto make sure no humans get caught up in the mess of the supernaturals,advocating peace, balancing her obligations towards the humans with herintimacy to Klaus… it would be good. I also would’ve scrapped her turninginto a vampire and turning off her emotions etc. If she had to die, I would’vedone it in 3x10; I would’ve let her decide not to go through with thetransition. Butif I had full reign, I actually don’t think I would’ve killed her at all. Irather liked the perspective she brought to the show; she just needed betterwriting and a better purpose, and being a champion for the humans could’ve beenit.

5)      I wouldn’t have put Hayley andElijah in a romantic relationship. I have a very complicated opinion about themas a ship. There are things I like about them, though those were mostly ins1-2. I liked that they were basically these polar opposites in almost everyway imaginable,  who still had anunderstanding despite of that, and who became more and more similar as timewent on (mostly due to changes and developments on Hayley’s part). I might talkabout that some more later, because this is not really the place. But all ofthose things could still be part of their relationship if it was platonic and Idon’t think they have the type of chemistry to pull a romantic relationship off.They became very drawn-out in s3, and they kind of stopped making sensealtogether in s4. I think I would still have Hayley have a crush on Elijah atfirst in s1, since he was kind to her and protected her, but I would let thatfade away once she got closer to Jackson.  

6)      Elijah’s arc in s4 and s5. I thinkit was a good idea to have Elijah unravel in s4 just when Klaus got it moretogether, but the way in which they did it was very half-assed and the reasonfor it was not very clear. Elijah in an existential crisis because he thinksKlaus doesn’t need his help anymore is good, but that doesn’t explain whyElijah felt that way. I’ve tried to think of a reason, but so far I haven’treally come up with a satisfying one. I also would not have framed Elijah’scharacter as if he’s always been extremely violent, and this is just his realcharacter surfacing. I mean, he isviolent, but not more so than the rest, so that angle is just really odd to me.(I already wrote something about Elijah’s arc after s4 here,which I still mostly agree with – it’s kinda long though.) And the lack ofHope/Elijah scenes would only have made sense if we saw Elijah make a consciousdecision to avoid a relationship with Hope. I think maybe it would’ve been niceif it was similar to how he avoided a relationship with Marcel due to Klaus’ jealousiesand insecurities, but I’m not sure I like that yet. Idk, nothing I think of fors4 Elijah satisfies me, so I’m still unsure exactly of how I’d change it. Itdefinitely needed a lot more subtlety and a lot more screentime than it got though,that much I do know.

As for Elijah losing his memories in s5… The concept of the Red Dooris that Elijah hides things behind it that make him feel guilty, so that he canforget about them and doesn’t have to feel guilty about it. However, some of Elijah’s feelings of guilt have never been placed behind the RedDoor… like those towards Klaus. What if,  instead of making Elijah forget all of hissiblings entirely, they would just have made him forget all of the things thatmake him so blindedly devoted to his brother? All of the things that madeElijah feel guilty towards Klaus, especially Mikael’s abuse, placed behind theRed Door and therefore out of Elijah’s conscious memory. I’m really curious ofwhat Klelijah’s relationship would look like then. Tbh I’m not even suremyself, but I think it would still lead to a fracture of their relationship,because Elijah now remembers a lifetime of doing everything for Klaus withoutquite remembering or understanding why he’d ever go so far for his brother. This could still lead him to decide to live his life away from Klaus, to create his own life elsewhere. Klaus would still feel abandoned. But he’d stillbe Elijah; he’d still love his family, and recognise their faces. I think it’dbe interesting without being as infuriating as the memory loss storyline was now. It’d be more subtle.

7)      This is completely self-indulgent,but if I could choose without restrictions… I’d make all of the incestexplicit lmao. Same goes for their sexualities.

8)      I wouldn’t have got rid of theTrinity so quickly. This is also self-indulgent, because I know it wasfrustrating that they weren’t killed off because it should’ve been so easy forthe Mikaelsons to do it, but I just liked them as characters so much, and therewas so much history and potential to explore. I’d still need a plausible reasonfor how this would work, but I haven’t figured that out yet. Ah well, details.

9)      Hayley’s death. She should’ve lived. 

10)   More family moments. This is clichéand obvious so I put it last, but I couldn’t think of anything that I was moredesperate to have than that. Always more family moments.

[squirenonny]

Clone Shiro Theory in Season 5

Okay, so this mess was inspired by talking with several people on Tumblr and discord about the Clone Shiro Theory in the wake of Season 5, as well as seeing posts in the fandom tags. And...I’ve noticed some common themes in arguments against this theory.

Please note that this is not meant to be a direct rebuttal to anyone, more... working out for myself why I’m so convinced that Shiro is a clone because I’ve got all these nebulous thoughts running around in my head and I need to organize them somehow. So feel free to read, respond, reblog, ect, but also feel free to ignore this completely if Clone Shiro isn’t your thing.

Season 5 spoilers and a very long post under the cut.

I’m going to break this down into three parts:

I. Why a clone and not something else (mind control, magical spyware, ect)

II. Why I won’t accept anything but clones at this point without crying foul

III. Clone Shiro vs Galra Keith

I. Why a clone?

I think at this point there’s no way to deny that something happened to Shiro in Operation Kuron. We’ve seen Haggar spying through him, the headaches are a recurring theme, and his behavior has changed to the point that he’s going behind his team’s back and lashing out at the team in ways he hasn’t before.

With most of the proof, you can make several arguments. Haggar’s mind-controlling him directly, but he still is Shiro. Haggar’s spyware is giving him headaches that’s making him more testy than usual, but he’s still acting under his own free will. Ect. But I think there is enough evidence to give the clone theory specifically an edge over other explanations.

Shiro’s hair grew roughly a foot during his captivity between seasons 2 and 3. There’s no clear answer on how long this was, but it seems like a fairly short time period. At the start of the season, Keith is still raw over Shiro’s disappearance, and though they’ve done a few missions without Shiro, they haven’t run up against anything that required Voltron. Which... considering how often they form Voltron both before and after this period, suggest to me that we’re talking a time frame of weeks at the longest. Then episodes 1-3 happen in pretty quick succession, with the lion switch and Keith immediately charging off, almost out of spite. We pick up with Shiro a day or two before episode 3 (which is where Shiro finds Voltron and then loses them.) He spends another week chasing them before Keith and Black find him. All told, this is probably in the realm of one month since his disappearance, maybe two. For reference, human hair grows on average half an inch per month. Shiro is shown to have significantly more hair growth in this time frame than anyone else gets in the entire series--even people who have been prisoners for extended amounts of time. Matt and Sam each get maybe a few inches, and Shiro’s hair was kept short during his stint in the Arena. This tells me that Shiro’s hair growth for The Journey is not an artist’s exaggeration to show that he’s had it rough. If it is, then it’s sloppy, and the animators on this show are typically pretty attentive to detail. If this is intentional, I can only conclude that Shiro has been in captivity for far longer than the timeline allows and/or the clone was grown in a short time and the accelerated growth also affected his hair.

Calling attention to the difference between Shiro(s1-2) and Shiro(s3+). These, I’ll admit, are more suspicious than damning, but they’re worth mentioning. The animators made a deliberate decision to give Shiro a new look after his return. We’ve seen people in different outfits, and Allura has a few different hairstyles (up, down, mice poofs), but no one has changed their “default” outfit like Shiro has, only their armor or other special outfits (pajamas, swimsuits, ect), and no one has gotten a new haircut, except Pidge (in backstory, as a plot point) and Sam and Matt (compare to Shiro on the Kerberos mission vs post-escape in s1.) They want you to be able to tell the difference between Shiro 1 and Shiro 2. At the same time, they call attention to this change by having Shiro comment about his “weird headache.” The writers also made a point of having the Galra refer to Shiro differently in the context of Operation Kuron (Subject Y0XT39 vs Prisoner 117-9875.) From a writing standpoint, this is a strange choice--not necessarily significant, but likely so because both designations are mentioned in passing and without context, so tossing both out there without reason is more confusing than world-building. And in-universe, it tells us that the people in charge of Operation Kuron couldn’t or didn’t want to refer to prisoners by their already-assigned number. Possibly this is for internal organization--i.e. if not all subjects were prisoners or if they had completely random prisoner numbers. But if it is clones, they would need new ways to identify them, since they’d all have the same prisoner ID. Again, not proof, but suspicious.

Shiro appeared in the Voltron bond. And it seems as though the Shiro with the team didn’t. Not just his head is fuzzy about it. He wasn’t there. Did you notice how Shiro-in-the-bond was translucent, only seen from a distance, and almost completely lacking in detail in the head area? Maybe to obscure the fact that he has his old haircut (both from us and from Lance)? Did you notice that he didn’t appear with everyone else, and how desperate he was to communicate with his team? There are two Shiros. The only question is whether the distinction is physical (clones) or mental (mind control with the real Shiro’s mind completely suppressed by Haggar’s persona)

Following up on this point, Shiro himself is questioning things. If this was a case of mind control, of Haggar taking over Shiro’s body, there is no way she would allow her puppet to question his own identity. If she has direct control, she certainly wouldn’t mention it to Lance, and if the real Shiro is still in there waiting to take his body back, she absolutely would put safeguards in to make sure her controlled personality stays in place.

And of course, the single biggest argument in favor of Clone Shiro: Operation Kuron = literally, “Operation Clone.” This can’t be a coincidence. It can’t. With everyone working on the show (how many of whom are anime fans and have at least a rudimentary familiarity with Japanese pronunciation?), and with Lauren Montgomery having talked about how Laith is a much better ship name for Keith and Lance, because Laith means Lion, I do not believe that they accidentally chose a name for this major plot point that means “clone” in Japanese (which is either Shiro’s native language or at least connected to his heritage.) I also don’t believe that it was chosen as a red herring to make us think this is all about clones when it really isn’t, because the target audience (which is, what 8-12 year olds?) will not pick up on that hint. It fails as a distraction for the core demographic, which makes me think it’s far more likely that it was meant as an easter egg and the writers didn’t necessarily intend for people to pick up on it. It’s like... This post about English name symbolism in FMA. It’s a clever nod to character traits for people who are in the know, but then you give that same name to an English speaker and it’s almost laughably on the nose. For people who don’t speak Japanese (most of Voltron’s audience) and don’t have social media to point it out (unfortunately, comparatively little of the fanbase), “Operation Kuron” is a subtle nod. In a novel, where people likely won’t engage with the fandom until they’re finished, it would work. Hell, for people not actively engaged in fandom, it works. The problem is that we’ve had months upon months and the power of the internet, so now everyone knows that JK Rowling named her werewolf Wolfy McWolfenstein the Galra named their secret clone project Project Clone. That isn’t bad writing. It’s perfectly fine writing tossed to the wolves of a global fandom that loves to theorize.

(Also, I was curious, so I checked, and “Operation Kuron” is called the same thing in the Japanese dub, so lol if it’s not clones, Dreamworks is going to have some explaining to do.)

II. Why having the answer be “Not Clones” at this point would be bad writing

Okay, see, this is way more subjective than part I, which was already pretty subjective. But here’s the thing. Dreamworks has set up Clone Shiro, almost blatantly so. I can forgive the fact that this twist is obvious to the Tumblr fandom, at least, because (a) the show is for kids, so the foreshadowing has to be a little bit more obvious, and (b) you cannot judge subtlety based on thousands of people working together to figure things out. Most of the fandom figured out Galra Keith before season 2 dropped. Some people hated it, but then, some people were incredibly resistant to the Clone Shiro Theory--still are. It feels like everyone and their grandmother figured these twists out way in advance, but if you took away the part where we all screamed about it and laid out our arguments? If you somehow reached out to the viewers who aren’t involved in fandom? I’ll bet you good money that a lot fewer of them have picked up on the hints. (And if they have, they aren’t nearly as certain about it.)

But if we get to season 6 and suddenly find out Shiro has been Shiro all along, just with magic in his head letting Haggar watch him? I’m going to be disappointed, because that resolution is almost guaranteed to leave plot holes. How did Shiro get recaptured/how did he disappear from the Black Lion in the first place? Why did his hair grow so fast? What’s with the change in behavior (I’m not talking about the snappishness and arguing with Keith and Lance, I’m talking about directly undermining the very teamwork he’s been the single biggest proponent of from the start by going behind the team’s back again and again)? Why didn’t Black accept him at first? Why did he have to prove himself to her again, after they’d been more closely bonded than anyone? Why was the project named Operation Kuron? Why did Shiro see another, hollow-looking, him on the exam table in that flashback? Why hasn’t he used the bayard yet?

The show might explicitly answer some of these, but I think we all know by now that it won’t slow the pace long enough to explain all of them. The clone theory explains or implies answers to almost all of these (especially if you couple it with “the original Shiro is stuck in the astral plane” or some such.)

So, no. Clone Shiro isn’t a twist at this point. Maybe it’s just me, because I’m usually pretty good at picking up on foreshadowing and figure out most twists ahead of time, especially if I’m given time to ruminate. But I’m fine with not having big, shocking reveals. Something doesn’t have to be a surprise to be interesting. I don’t have to feel like I was clever for figuring it out. I can’t wait for season 6 because I’m desperate to know that both my sons (Shiro and Ryou) are going to be okay--because I think, at least, that the Shiro with the team right now is not being set up as a villain. He may become a martyr, but he’s meant to be sympathetic, regardless of where he came from.

In the end, I don’t mind that the Clone Shiro Theory seems obvious, because the foreshadowing is aimed at kids and the adult fandom is bound to pick up on those hints faster. And clones explain everything so well that I honestly don’t think any other answer would make for a satisfying conclusion to the Kuron arc.

III. Clone Shiro vs Galra Keith

Okay, now this is interesting, because these are the two main theories that the fandom swarmed. One turned out to be true, and I honestly think the other will be proven right in June.

Also interesting is that, in terms of episode count, they both are paced about the same. It’s just that the Galra Keith plot happened over the course of 1.5 full seasons, while the Operation Kuron plot is going on 3.5 half seasons. Same number of episodes, but more spread out and with more breaks in between. Galra Keith was dropped into a single seven-month gap with a growing fandom and then confirmed immediately with the next batch of episodes. Operation Kuron was introduced in August, fans jumped on it, season 4 dropped, the fandom was split on it (because, admittedly, s4 didn’t add anything to the argument that couldn’t be explained by trauma and/or mounting pressure on Shiro), fans wrote a shitton of Ryou hcs/fic and drew a lot of Ryou art, season 5 dropped, with major new developments but no confirmation, and now we’ve got another break. At the earliest, it will be confirmed or debunked in June, a full ten months after it was first hinted, and with three season breaks for people to theorize, create fanworks, and otherwise dig into Camp Clone.

Can you imagine if the first two seasons had been done like that? (Note: I know I’m fudging the midpoint of season 1 a little bit, but bear with me here. I want to do a thought experiment.)

Season 1: We get hints of Keith’s knife and the major red flag of Keith opening doors that have been implied to be species-locked, so Hunk has to use a Galra arm to get past one door in the same episode Keith uses Galra tech with no problems. There’s also the word of god that says Keith is an orphan, so speculation runs wild. The fandom is split, with a small but vocal group on Team Galra, a vocal opposition, and a whole bunch of people on Team “Can’t we just wait and see what the writers have in mind, guys? We don’t have to fight!”

Season “2″: Little movement on Galra Keith Theory specifically, and both sides have arguments for what little we do get. Are those purple patches the effect of Galra heritage or is that supposed to tell us Quintessence does freaky things? Does Zarkon’s, “You fight like a Galra soldier,” mean anything (and is there a comma there/does that change the meaning? I can only imagine the comma drama if that had been one of the only new points for debate after three months.) The only major development is explicit confirmation of the species lock on Galra tech. All this is exacerbated by growing concerns in the autistic fanbase who worry that Team Galra Keith is starting to twist the legitimate autistic traits to support their own theory. (Believe me, I was there, and I was scared of Galra Keith for a good long while because of this.) The debate starts to turn bitter.

Season “3″: Ulaz shows up, we see Keith’s knife, we have Keith worrying that Zarkon “imprinted” on him, and though nothing comes of that, it still says something that the writers are even willing to acknowledge the theory. The season ends with no clear answer, but by now most of the fandom is on Team Galra. There’s been fic. There’s been art. There are headcanons and metas galore. The evidence is all laid out, and there’s really no denying it at this point. Some people are angry about it, and lots of people are hoping for Altean Keith or something, just because it would still be a surprise.

Season “4″: The Galra Keith reveal happens in episode one or two, and literally no one is shocked. Some people are angry, everyone is pissed that there wasn’t more fallout after four seasons of buildup. But we all knew it was coming.

Think, in contrast, how the Clone Shiro Theory might have gone if we hadn’t switched to half seasons. (In a hypothetical world where the theory is true, and it’s getting revealed next season.)

Season 3 now covers everything through Naxzela. Operation Kuron is huge in fandom discussion, but it’s partially overshadowed by everything else that happened--Keith joining the Blade, Lotor’s offer of talks, Keith’s near sacrifice, Matt’s return... Fewer people are as adamant about the clone theory because we’ve already seen Shiro back in the Black Lion and fighting alongside the team. There are lingering doubts, and people still lay out all their arguments, but it’s less splitting hairs and more the broad range we saw with Galra Keith, from adamant arguments on either side to a broad, casual fanbase in the middle who doesn’t know if it’s gonna happen and honestly couldn’t care less but sure as hell likes to play around with the idea. Like with Galra Keith, there is some evidence that’s either straight-up confirmation or lazy writing (Keith opening doors vs kuron meaning clone) but for the most part people are still uncertain.

Season “4″ drops and hits us all hard with new evidence. People are getting behind the Clone Shiro Theory in earnest now, but somewhere near the end of the season it’s confirmed, forestalling another round of theorizing. Lots of people are caught off-guard, lots of people are edge-of-their-seats “Holy crap, is that actually true??” The major, irrefutable pieces of evidence (Ulaz, Keith’s knife, his nightmares vs Shiro lying to the team, Haggar’s spying, Shiro calling out to Lance in the bond) are immediately followed up by confirmation.

Can you see how the spacing of the episodes drastically changes the perception of the theory? In all honesty, Galra Keith and Clone Shiro feel extraordinarily similar in terms of pacing, evidence, and alternate explanations--it’s just that Keith’s story happened much quicker, in fandom time. I can’t fault the writers for that. I just think half seasons were a bad idea, especially when the show was clearly written with full seasons in mind.

TL;DR Version:

There’s enough evidence that specifically points to clones that I’m 99% convinced that Shiro is a clone at this point. That last 1% is reserved for skepticism because, while I don’t believe the writers could provide me with a different explanation that fits as well as clones, they might try in the name of pulling one over on the viewers.

Galra Keith and Clone Shiro are set up in a very similar manner, and the latter suffers primarily from half season releases and a fandom who knows what tricks to look for.

The fact that the show is geared at a younger audience and so isn’t going to be super subtle is not a mark against it, but unfortunately if you’re active in the fandom, there’s a good chance you’re going to see a solid argument re: upcoming plot twists that spoils the surprise.

[nothing-personal-my-dear]

Spartacus : Vengeance Rewatch - Episode 4: Empty Hands

Sex Scene: 2 (plus lots of slave entertainment sex)

“Cock”: 3

“Cunt”: 2

“Fucking Gaul”: none because Agron doesn’t have any lines.

Slow motion Face Punch: 1

Episode Name Dropped by: Ilithyia

Memorable Death:  Acer… obviously. He deserved so much better!

Favourite Line: “They shall learn a wounded animal may yet bear teeth.”

 - I was so damn worried they were gonna step on that frog.

- I love me some foggy forests.

- I don’t get why Mira keeps moving, like stay still woman, you are trying to hide.

- I remember when I first watched this I was so mad at Naevia for running and thought she was so freaking stupid, but like that girl was traumatized. It makes total sense that she ran, it’s classic PTSD (as someone with PTSD I totally understand this reaction). I think my main issues the first time was that I was getting used to this new actor and comparing her to the s1 actor.

-  IT WAS A HISS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Seriously, the way that soldier took down Naevia is brutal, and I love it.

-  “I fucking hate running,”…….somehow this is the most Aussie thing they’ve ever said.

- Fuck I love Mira. She just full on jumps on the dude and knifes him. She’s like a jungle cat. Seriously, Mira, will you marry me?

-  I always feel so bad when the background rebels die, poor babies.

- I LOVE THAT THEY WANNA BURY HIM!!!!! That means so much, it’s respect and loyalty and honour. BUT SPARTY IS SUCH A DOUCHE (even though I understand that they don’t have time, but cmon)

- I get so bored with the Romans sometimes.

- I feel we were robbed of the religious aspects of the time. But maybe that’s just me, I love the whole wide world of Gods and Goddesses.

- Albinius is not subtle in his interest in Lucretia (to be fair, neither am I)

-  Glaber is SUCH A DICK TO HIS WIFE, OMG! .... And Ilithyia is so crushed.

-  I’m honestly a little surprised Nasir would say he needs a rest, because wouldn’t he want to be seen like a warrior. Especially in front of the Gladiators? But then again, he also completely diffused that tense situation, so maybe he’s a genius.

-  I am 1000% here for a Nasir, Mira, Naevia friendship. WHERE ARE THE FICS!?

-  I am so surprised Liscus is so quick to say Crixus is dead. I thought Gauls were super loyal and devoted.

-  Sparty don’t like people dissing his new bf.

- Holy shit, I cannot get over the utter disrespect of desecrating a corpse. I mean I know Sparty did it in the first ep of this season, and I think I was fine with that cos it was a Roman corpse. But this time, it’s a gladiator. I know, double standards, but I can’t help it.

-  Am I seeing things, or does Ashur also look offended/uncomfortable by the corpse defiling? Shit, am I agreeing with Ashur, noooooooo.

-   “Slave, true, but far from common”

-  I cringe every time Seppia speaks

- “The morning cock has better chance of crowing to such heights”

-  “Empty vessel, barren of life, and prophesy” – did Ilithyia really have to go the barren route.

-   I was so damn happy when Rhaskos was alive……. If only he’d stay that way forever.

-  It’s awkward how excited everyone is, but sucks to be them cos it aint Sparty.

- “I stand with you in this life, and the next” HOLY SHIT I DIDN’T KNOW ACER SAID THIS OMG! This is exactly what Naevia says to Crixus later on. WOW, these are such romantic words, makes me wonder if Acer had a thing for Crixus??? I’m here for it!!!

- Oenomaus and Crixus back together again!! Yay!

-   I really hate broken hearted Oenomaus. Let Crixus smile for a god damn minute would you!!

-  For a second I really though Liscus went mad and killed Naevia.

-  Every time there is a slow-mo fight, I get butterflies. I love this show, okay?!

-  Nasir being amazing. That is all.

-  You know what I find odd, even though Naevia is super traumatized I almost feel like all this fighting and death would be comforting in a way?? because she grew up in the ludus, she was around fighting every damn day, shouldn’t she not freak out and cry about a little battle?? Am I just being insensitive?

-   I am living for all this hissing!

-  Oh gods, seriously the slow-mo scream of Nasir is fucking awful. As in it’s tragically hilarious. He sounds so stupid, I hate it.

-  Mira and Nasir, I love them.

-   Omg, Nasir sounds like he’s saying goodbye. No baby.

- Seriously, the way Naevia walks up to Nasir all possessed like, I honestly thought she was going to kill him. It was freaky.

-   Ilithyia’s party dress is the most beautifully stunning thing I’ve ever seen.

- There is a LOT of boob sucking going on.

- Varinius is so waiting for the other shoe to drop.

-  Okay, I know Seppia and Seppius are brother and sister but when I first watched this I REALLY shipped them. And even now, I still kinda do. I know it’s all kinds of wrong, but the heart ships what the heart ships.

-  It seriously looked like one of those guards rushed up to make out with Acer….. I aint even mad about that.

-   “Cut the pig” … background actors are hilarious.

-   “Boy fought well”

-  I LOVE LISCUS SHOWING NASIR RESPECT!!! Even if it is kinda short lived.

- NEVER EVER MENTION VARRO TO SPARTY, EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NEVER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-  I usually hate it when Sparty slaps his rebels (I will never be over how he slapped Agron) but in this case, I’m okay with it. Liscus talked about Varro, just …. You deserved it, man.

-  My little shipper heart wishes Sparty wanted Agron there was so Agron and Nasir could see each other again … my logical brain says Agron is the reinforcements they need. Sigh.

-  I love watching Fortis run, that man is so majestical.

-   All the other slaves look mad, Crixus looks confused.

-  A PENIS!! I always said I’d make a point to mention the penis’ because it’s so rare to see them, compared to the amount of boobs you get in EVERYTHING.

-  “We are politicians are we not”

-   I love how Albinius is just watching this dick measuring contest, giving no fucks at all.

-  Jackals, that’s a new insult. I love Jackals.

-  Okay I know I said Ilithyia’s dress was divine but so is Lucretia’s. wow damn.

-   I love Acer.

- Lucy Lawless acting is phenomenal. Every time she’s in eyesight of Crixus she holds her stomach. That is so beautifully done and makes the character all the more real.

-  Lucretia and Crixus scenes are so amazing.

-  OHMYGODS THE TONGUE CUTTING!

- I really love the Ilithyia and Albinius scenes, they have good back and forth.

-   Gods, the amount of fun they are all having at Acer’s expense. I could go on another rant about slavery but I think we all get the gist.

-  “You carry his child”… hilarious.

-  NASIR WANTING A GLADIATOR MARK IS SO FUCKING PRECIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

- “Do not cry out”

-  Sparty actually looks upset at having to burn Nasir, but dude, it’s gonna save his life.

-  I don’t think anyone realises how strong Nasir is. He didn’t cry out when he was being burned. Have you been burnt? I have, it fucking hurts. Nasir wasn’t a gladiator, he wasn’t used to pain, he was a house slave, he was used to sex. He’s used to pleasure and discomfort, not brutal pain. And yet, he didn’t scream. That’s my baby!

-  I hate that Varinius is into Seppia, it’s kinda gross.

-  I do love that Seppia can’t cut Acer though, it really shows her youth and in that split second I actually like her as a character. She seems real for the very first time.

-   “Absent attempt to fuck your sister” HOLY SHIT I DIDN’T NOTICE THIS BEFORE, THIS IS FUCKING HILARIOUS.

- Hot damn, Ilithyia is so damn sexy. I mean sucks that Acer died and I liked him, but I NEED TO FAN MYSELF COS ILITHYIA IS HOT LIKE BURNING. Seriously, damn.

-  I kinda like a Lucretia and Albinius friendship, for a minute, then it all goes to hell.

- Wait, so Liscus never made it to Agron? But …. I’m confused now.

-  Seriously, these actors that play the entertainment slaves, like they are basically having sex, so do they hire pornstars??

-  Once again, still shipping the incest, but I can’t help it! gah!

-  Holy shit, Ilithyia and Varinius sex scene is hot as hell. Ilithyia makes the best faces when she has scenes like this.

-  All this talk of Crassus makes so much more sense now that I’ve seen s3

-  Poor Nasir being carted around like a sack of potatoes.

- “Fuck the Gods.”

-   I seriously hate the Romans, leave our poor gladiators alone and stop fucking up their corpses.

- How did Sparty hear them coming?

-   LISCUS! NO!

-  FUCK YOU ASHUR. FUCK YOU ASHUR. FUCK YOU ASHUR. FUCK YOU ASHUR. FUCK YOU ASHUR.

-  Wow damn, that pole, flipping over, thing, was amazing.

-  Sparty took on a Roman army, all on his own and he won.

-  I appreciate Marcus’ belief in his people, but he’s way too cocky.

-  “I am not a Roman. I will not fucking die this night”

-  I don’t get why Nasir was allowed to live, but Liscus wasn’t. I mean I know his wound was in the chest so it was serious ….. I’m just sick of all these Gladiators dying!

-  Sometimes Ilithyia needs to calm the fuck down

-  Ilithyia is so vicious. Who knew the ditz from the pilot would end up being one of the most amazing characters

-   Ilithyia/Lucretia kiss, how I have missed these.

-  “I long to see what dawn shall bring”

-  This show has the most beautiful scenery.

-  My warrior queen!

-    I love that Naevia has a tiny blade to protect herself and Nasir.

-   AGRON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at that nerd smile. I love him so much.

- I love that Agron barely acknowledges Sparty and runs straight for Nasir.

- Donar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-  OMG this Nagron scene kills me. Nasir’s little smile, the way Agron’s whole face just melts and you can see the absolute LOVE in his eyes.

[alisayangds]

Voltron: Legendary Defender Thoughts, Post Season 6

I finished Season 6 earlier this week and I’ve been a little out of touch with the online fandom since Season 3 (VLD is literally the only reason I subscribe to Netflix, so I waited until there were enough episodes to justify subbing for a month). So I ended up watching S4-S6 in one large jump.

This is a collection of random thoughts about the writing, the characters, and other things.

Pacing

I think the 6-7 episode short season format from Season 3 onward doesn’t work in the show’s favor.  The first two seasons had a lot of room to stretch their narrative legs, but the later seasons are not that great at having an ending.  I was watching the end of S5 and rolled on to S6 without realizing there was a season change right away except that something in the pacing felt a little “off” so I checked the Netflix episode number and discovered I’d move into a new season.  I can only imagine how annoying that would have been as a S5 viewer to realize it just stopped when it did.

Season 6 itself, however, has a very nice ending, and I think if S5-S6 had been a single season it would have been amazing.

But I guess breaking things up into smaller episodes is better business. People who can’t wait stay subscribed or subscribe more often.  I’m clearly not Netflix’s primary customer.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Personally, with 3 hour long seasons, I’d rather see something closer to movie style pacing, which VLD does not do.  They always want to add a humor episode in there somewhere, and with the shorter seasons that has actually turned into more humor episodes, so we get two every thirteen episodes instead of one.  But the humor always puts the rest of the story on hold while the team gets goofy for a while.

Some people like these episodes, but humor is always a matter of personal taste and unless the series is primarily intended to be comedic, I prefer my humor in smaller doses woven into the main narrative rather than to have a break episode with some yuks.

Clone Shiro

I can’t believe it took this freaking long to reveal clone Shiro for what he was.  I thought it was bloody obvious he was a clone ever since he showed up in Season 3, but the writers took so long to finally reveal what was going on that I started second guessing myself because geez by now we’ve spent more time with clone Shiro than real Shiro.

I know part of this was that Shiro’s return was mandated by Dreamworks, but I think they could have done the clone reveal a lot sooner.  We were stuck with the fake for four seasons.

Hat tip to the artists and writers though for consistently portraying clone Shiro as being a little “off” compared to the original. His demeanor, even before the rest of the cast really got suspicious, didn’t feel right, and clone Shiro’s casual wear is just different enough that I knew something was wrong but not specifically what until I pulled up images side by side.  You can see all of this as far back as his return in S3.

Maybe I missed it, but I don’t recall the team ever really grilling Shiro about how he disappeared from the Black Lion and ended up being a Galra prisoner.  Even if he’d claimed no memory, one thing does not naturally lead to the other and I would have liked the team to have built up suspicion or done independent investigation sooner.

The Keith vs. clone Shiro battle was fantastic though.  I don’t know why it had to be in a facility full of more Shiro clones, but the choreography itself was spot on.

Actual Shiro

When Shiro’s “ghost” in the Black Lion revealed he died back in S2, I thought he was going to stay dead (and maybe be ghostly adviser to Keith when needed), and I would have been okay with that.

I have mixed feelings about it being that easy to retrieve his soul and just shove it into his clone’s body and that making everything okay again.  I like Shiro, and I’m glad he’s back, but that felt a little too easy.  Allura spends so much of S5-S6 fussing over her ability to use alchemy as well as her father, but then she resurrects Shiro like it’s no big deal.

I know, it was in the closing minutes of the episode and time was probably a factor (and they probably wanted that out of the way before starting S7), but it felt too pat.  I don’t know what’s going on with his hair turning white, if it’s just part of the resurrection or indicative of something else, but it doesn’t bother me.

Keith

Related to Shiro coming back, I hope Keith stays in the Black Lion and Shiro takes on an auxiliary role.  It’s the role Keith was primed for and obviously intended to take when Shiro died back in Season 2.  The Blade of Mamora side missions were interesting, but we spent a lot of time with Keith away from the rest of the team, which felt really weird, especially knowing that he’s intended to be the Black Lion’s pilot.

I was glad we got to see the story of how his parents met though and the two year time dilation/time skip he went through was neat.  The changes are subtle, but he looks just a bit older and more like his original 80s Voltron: Defender of the Universe self.

He seems to have gotten himself sorted out and knows where his priorities are now.  I don’t think he’ll give up the lion, but who know if there will be more executive interference.

Lance

I’ve been largely ambivalent towards this Lance.  Because my sense of humor doesn’t line up with the show’s, he’s been difficult to accept as a comedic character, especially since the original was a very flexible character.  DotU Lance could be both the butt of the joke, a skeptical badass, or the most considerate member of the team, depending on the episode.  VLD Lance is mostly jokes.

But he’s grown since then and I really like that he’s been maturing in S6.  I’m seeing sparks of DotU Lance and what essentially made him a reliable second in command if Keith wasn’t around.  He also shows some of his trademark skepticism, and surprisingly it’s not always clouded by hormones over Allura.

And related to that, I didn’t ship VLD Lance and Allura before, but I do now.  He clearly cares a lot for her and they had some good moments together.  I have a feeling it’s one-sided, but Allura knows, and I can’t imagine that the fact she does will never come up again.

Romelle

Too little too late?

I don’t know.  I’ve been waiting for Romelle since S2.  Granted, she was late to be introduced in the original series too, and I knew she wasn’t a character you’d add during S1, but I didn’t think we’d have to wait all the way until S6 for her!

While I like her backstory up until meeting Keith, once she arrives at the Castle of Lions she doesn’t actually do anything.  She’s mostly standing around because obviously this isn’t her home and she’s not a soldier.  She likely wouldn’t know how everything works.  But it’s kind of disappointing because all her interesting moments are summarized in a flashback.

I remember Romelle for kicking ass.  She might have been running around in a pink dress with a short skirt, but she was rocking that laser rifle and a bandoleer of grenades.  I want VLD Romelle to be like that too!

VLD Romelle shares the original’s sense of determination, but comes across as more passive than I remember.  She’s closer to original Allura than original Romelle.

However, she is still with the main cast at the end of the season, which likely means there are plans for her in S7.  They easily could have left her back on her colony as a cameo appearance, only to show up again when the Voltron Coalition needs to go do something, but they didn’t.  She’s still with everyone and I’m pretty sure the writers aren’t going to leave her hanging around at whatever their new base is going to be all the time.  That would be a waste of a character.

Shiro x Romelle Romance?

I realize that everyone has preferred ships, and the VLD fanbase is no different, some of whom probably don’t give a fig about the original series, and that’s fine.  But I’m not one of those people.

Shiro and Romelle are different people from their DotU incarnations, and Romelle is coming in ridiculously late into the story.  Realistically, there might not be the time to develop anything, but assuming Shiro is freed up from Voltron piloting duties in S7, it would be a fantastic time to spin him and Romelle off on side missions, much like they do towards the end of the original DotU.

I can’t see their VLD incarnations as being in a relationship right now.  There’s no spark, but obviously the writers are super aware of the original series and its Japanese counterpart, so I have some difficulty imagining that they would ignore this.  If that was their intention, it might have been better to leave her out entirely.