#s1 ep 48

[7cfc00]

home is where the heart is (and yours is gone)

[dottiedrawing]

Cooking with the Close boys

I still believe that Glenn and Nick eat the dollar store tv dinners ‘cus of tight money. But, nick always felt like they were fancy for having them and it was a special night when they’d make ‘em and sit by the tv to eat while watching their favorite shows.

Spoiler for S 1 ep 48 below

What son?

Folder: fandom art—- dndads s1

[nalyra-dreaming]

Do you know if there is a way to watch the behind S2 video or the S1 cast diaries outside of youtube or amc+

Youtube has them location blocked outside of the US and canada and amc+ doesnt even exist in most countries

Okay, so the

Season ONE Episode Insiders are in this tag (scroll a bit down, there's gif sets of those insiders in there as well, but the videos, too)

Season ONE Cast Diaries are here and here

Season ONE Behind The Scenes I only have a YT link for

Season TWO Behind The Scenes I also only have the YT links (here for ep 6)

The SDCC 2024 panel was filmed and put online by someone (not me)

The SDCC 2022 panel is in parts in this tag

Someone put the IFC cast panel on YT

>> AMC has 48 IWTV videos in their PL on YT here

Now, I know what you said - but it's Very Probably Not available otherwise.

[mimicha-arts]

Date: 09/13/2023 In my previous post, I wrote that time in s2 is broken and dead. I was curious if this was true for s1, too… For me the main problem of the last month was the dates in the files (character intros), the date of Emma's death + September 9th mentioned in episode 3, so I tried to consider these as related things. I always was confused by April-September thing, I thought that it is a mistake, but. Probably not. So. Let's break down the first episode! It was a deep dive, I'm not sure how real any of this can be, but (c) Let's divide everything into three parts:

Сhronology

It's not about Quede

April is not April

WARNING: SPOILERS

Chronology

April 16, which we see hours later that day. Qiao Ling receives an order from an unknown customer.

The goal is to get financial core data of Quede company. Information has to be obtained by diving in Emma, during the last financial settlement meeting before the release of the financial report, 2 days ago, on the April 14th, photo was posted at 10 pm.

Additionally, it is mentioned that there was an earlier photo, but they start with the most recent one so that the information is not “outdated”.

Events take place from April 16th to 17th in the present for Lu Guang. From April 14th to 15th in the past for Emma and Cheng Xiaoshi.

April 14th: 10:00 pm - start of diving. As Emma, Cheng Xiaoshi lived through the events in the company's office and stayed for overwork.

April 15th: About 2:45 a.m. Emma's parents text to her, Cheng Xiaoshi decided to reply.

9-10 am, morning, the meeting began. A conflict situation occurs, the laptop falls, Emma!Xiaoshi is on the floor. Lu Guang records data from the screen - Cheng Xiaoshi returns to the present time.

Later this day. Somewhere later that day, information about the company is leaked, involved people are arrested (news from April 17th)

Before 10 pm: Emma comes home after this day, she realizes that the situation with Quede is a stain on her career, because she was Mr.Zhu's assistant, there is no way for her to find a job in this field anymore.

Lately she discovers messages (02:48, that Cheng Xiaoshi texted) with her parents - this becomes her motivation for a call. It's the same day, still today (今天）- April 15th. This is the reason why we know that the disclosure of the company's affairs occurred on the same day after the meeting.

After 10 pm, before 10:30 pm Emma goes to the train station but runs into Liu Min, agrees to go with him.

About 10:34 p.m Liu Min attacks Emma.

Somewhere between April 15th and 16th. An accident occurs, Liu Min will be left paralyzed.

April 16: At the moment of dawn, Emma jumps from the bridge.

Later this day, Quede Company was suspended (news from the 17th)

Later, Emma's body is found in the river in the evening (mentioned as "yesterday", news from the 17th)

April 17: present 9-10 am: Lu Guang gives instructions to Xiaoshi, they successfully obtain the information, Xiaoshi returns to the “present” time.” Evening, the same day: We receive information about the disclosure of financial fraud in the past tense until the 17th from the news at the end of the ep. Additional note: in these events, there is another Cheng Xiaoshi from the "future" (events of October 22-23), who hides first in Liu Min's trunk, and then on the bridge with Emma. The chronology of events can be written as follows:

So it's clear - Lu Guang himself receives the necessary information about the company on the 17th at 10 am. By that time, Mr. Zhu had already been arrested 2 days ago and the company's activities had been suspended 1 day ago. Precisely because of financial fraud.

Also his reaction to Emma's death is interesting. Okay, that's a guess, but I always had the feeling that he knew she was dead from the very beginning of the case.

2. It's not about Quede

And so, we know that data about the company and financial fraud were already published on the 15th. The question remains simple - why did the mysterious unnamed client need the data, since he would have received it only on the 17th, after information about the fraud in Quede was already made public before they (the client) offered this task/job. So what other events are happening on nearby dates? They're not in the episode, they're in the characters intro. Obviously, the unknown client was unknown for a reason. As we also know, there is a character (or characters, there are 2 signatures on the documents) who are collecting dossiers on the main trio. There is a high chance that all of this is connected. This event takes place from the 14th to the 17th in total. Date on Qiao Ling's file: april 8th Lu Guang's file: april 10th Cheng Xiaoshi's file: april 12th

Documents for Lu Guang should be destroyed on the 17th, for Xiaoshi - on the 19th. This timing is kinda perfect. In my opinion, this task/job came as part of an "investigation" so that the unknown could better study the process of trio's work, understand the abilities of Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang, probably, what their time limits are. So, yes. If we look at it from this side, this is not about Quede, it is not about financial fraud, it has never been about it. This research is to answer questions about the abilities of Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang that remained on the files.

3. April is not April

April is a lie. Events take place in September. Although it’s more likely that the time has already been broken since the first season, and we technically don’t know which one is correct. Although Lu Guang's watch and documents (character dossiers) point to April, real events cannot possibly take place in April for many reasons.

1. 3rd financial quarter This is the main reason. This is stated in the first episode by Qiao Ling, and should immediately raise questions. The third quarter cannot possibly be April, absolutely. Because the following months are considered the third quarter: July, August, September.

2. News, 3rd ep Qiao Ling listens to the news on her headphones. We are not given a name, but the circumstances are the same - we learn that Emma's "suicide" was most likely a murder. Once again, it's September.

3. Cold weather is coming Emma's parents arrive to bring Emma warm clothes and mention that it is getting colder. If it were April, on the contrary, it would only get hotter, but everything is different when it comes to autumn.

4. Murders I am firmly convinced that the numbering of victims does not correspond to the real chronology. Yes, we know that there were more victims, and Emma was never "first", I mean those cases that were consolidated by the police and are in Xiao Li's documents. We have dates for an early murder in April, Emma being somewhere in the middle of that "break", since she was killed in both “April” and “September”, and there were murders after her, where the month was not indicated. Which once again points to the fact that something is wrong with these two months. Now things are going to get confusing, we consider April like September here. I can't see and understand details, so I'm only able to find the dates, since the numbers can at least be distinguished. Emma is considered the first murder only by number (died "April-September" 16th), but number 4 (Zao Cai, a blond man) died before her, "April-September", 2nd. In the folder, her documents go after his case. I think the fact is that initially the police believed that Emma committed suicide; at first, her case was not classified as a part of a series of murders, so police did not assign a chronological fifth number, but later, with new clues, simply moved her old documents in the "correct" chronological order to fifth place.

This technically makes Emma a 5 case… Or even a 6th. Because case 6 (Nan You) is also not without mysteries. The date of death is 14. I'm not sure why they put her file after Emma. Maybe they're unsure of the date or something and it's just an estimated date? So her date of death also “fell out of space.” But if 14 is correct, then this girl died 2 days earlier than Emma herself, and Emma technically becomes case 6.

The eighth case (Zhao Lin) occurs on 25th. The mystical 7 case is somewhere before that date, but we don't know how much of this is actual April or September.

In addition to mysterious 7th case, we also have 3 other earlier victims. They had to die before "April-September" 2nd, so the time of their death is roughly "March-August". We haven't seen their documents, but we know about their cases because of the photographs (the girl in the pink suit is probably the girl with the dog from ep11, since the BG is the same)

And also Xu Shanshan.

Who technically didn't die due to the time loop, but most likely "died" (since Lu Guang was thrown out) in the original events, which was still visible for Lu Guang in the unaltered photo.

I mentioned this in the post about s2 - the interesting thing is that Xu Shanshan's phone, as shown in s2, does not have a single photo from May to the end of October (current events with unknown date), which is quite. Strange.

All the murders had to happen with the similar style and certain time frame that they could be connected as a series. Given the news about Xu Shanshan: it was written - no new murders had occurred for several weeks (数周未出现新的受害者), which fits the September-October period (s1 ends at October 23). So we know for sure that the last cases with unspecified months should have occurred in September.

So. Obtaining financial information as a goal does not make sense, "someone" studies our main characters at the "perfect time", and all the dates are intertwined and have inaccurate implications. Like, almost half a year was literally “stolen” from time? Or something similar. The dates are so deliberately strange that I am speculating solely that time was broken from this point already, not even in s2 - what happened can only be speculated for now until we are told the background of Lu Guang's story. And who is the real 7th victim if April and September are mixed up, and the time has been “changed”. The funny thing is that everything also connected to the birthdays: April 15th - Cheng Xiaoshi's birthday September 16th - Qian Jin's birthday October 23th - the day Lu Guang was stabbed, exactly before his birthday Maybe I understand something incorrectly and I'm going down the wrong path altogether. No conclusions. My CPU is blown up. Thank you @wrathyforest for discussing this with me, trying to find connections, completing everything with time points, you are the best!

[unsociabletrash]

Emeto list

Thought I'd post this now. I've got quite the list building up, and frequently add to it. Enjoy!

Anime:

Tokyo Ghoul

S1, Ep 1 (15:20)

S1, Ep 2 (0:14, 13:29)

S1, Ep 3 (7:57)

S3, Ep 9 (17:57)

S3, Ep 15 (14:10)

Saiki K

S1, Ep 2 (5:18)

S1, Ep 12 (10:10)

S1, Ep 17 (20:10)

S2, Ep 6 (9:04)

S2, Ep 11 (2:47)

My Hero Academia

S1, Ep 3 (11:28)

S2, Ep 25 (37 - 6:53)

S5, Ep 20 (108 - 9:00)

S5, Ep 21 (109 - 17:49)

S5, Ep 23 (111 - 19:49)

Haikyuu

S1, Ep 3 (21:16)

S1, Ep 5 (22:15)

S2, Ep 12 (1:20)

OVA (vs Failing Marks - 21:16)

S2, Ep 17 (16:22)

Black Butler

S1, Ep 5 (7:32)

S2, Ep 5(29 - 18:37)

S3, Ep 5 (41 - 17:39)

S3, Ep 9 (45 - 19:51)

Jujutsu Kaisen

Ep 23 (13:40)

Attack on Titan

S1, Ep 5 (11:04)

S3, Ep 39 (10:17)

S3, Ep 49 (15:17)

S3, Ep 56 (4:45)

S4, Ep 62 (10:38)

S4, Ep 83 (20:20)

Bungou Stray Dogs

S1, Ep 11 (15:17)

S4, Ep 37 (12:42)

S5, Ep 52 (4:58, 5:30)

Welcome To the Ballroom

Ep 22 (7:48)

Gintama

Ep 2 (5:53)

Ep 35 (16:48)

Ep 57 (9:09)

Ep 65 (15:35)

Ep 239 (4:54, 6:09, 7:19)

Ep 252 (9:17)

Naruto

S1, Ep 11 (9:15)

S2, Ep 2 (28 - 12:42)

S2, Ep 6 (32 - 2:40)

Re: Zero

Ep 5 (22:55)

Ep 8 (15:38)

Ep 15 (0:33)

Ep 37 (3:42)

Ep 38 (16:54)

Evangelion 3.0+1.0

(24:05, 30:23)

Black Lagoon

S1, Ep 1 (19:28)

S2, Ep1 (18:15)

Run with the Wind

Ep 7 (3:09)

Ep 12 (11:08)

Ep 16 (13:46)

Zombie Land Saga

S2 Ep 1 (11:56)

Deadman Wonderland

Ep 5 (19:28, 21:24)

Mob Psycho 100

S2 Ep 6 (17:48)

S3, Ep 8 (1:30)

Beyond the Boundary

Ep 6 (12:47)

The God of Highschool

Ep 5 (0:57)

Rent-a-Girlfriend

Ep 18 (16:54, 19:33)

The Eden of Grisaia

Ep 3 (4:43, 11:01, 13:34)

Chainsaw Man

Ep 7 (19:27)

Number24

Ep 11 (20:14)

One Piece (whump)

Zoro: Ep 402 (22:35), Ep 403 (22:50)

Luffy: Ep 393 (8:08) Live Action

Ep 2 (38:16)

Ep 4 (26:00, 33:56)

Ep 5 (37:50)

Kdrama & etc:

KinnPorsche

Ep 2 (37:45)

Ep 4 (47:34)

Ep 9 (4:42, 24:53)

Danger Zone: The Dark Night

Ep 1 (13:54, 19:30)

Live action/Sitcom:

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

S6, Ep 1 (18:02)

S6, Ep 4 (15:10)

S6, Ep 7 (18:00)

S7, Ep 2 (10:05)

S9, Ep 7 (14:56)

How I Met Your Mother

S1, Ep 15 (17:33)

S2, Ep 16 (10:07)

S5, Ep 17 (15:34)

S6, Ep 6 (6:49)

S9, Ep 1 (6:08)

S9, Ep 8 (12:57)

S9, Ep 17 (1:00)

Supernatural

S2, Ep 3 (6:30)

S2, Ep 11 (20:22)

S3, Ep 9 (21:30)

S4, Ep 8 (21:18)

S5, Ep 21 (9:37)

S6, Ep 5 (37:50)

S6, Ep 15 (7:38)

S8, Ep 12 (10:05)

S9, Ep 23 (2:52)

S11, Ep 10 (8:33)

S11, Ep 17 (30:52)

S15, Ep 10 (24:20)

The magicians

S3, Ep 3 (38:22)

[heartdrift]

Every Caryl Scene (S1-11) (1080p/Logoless)

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

PART 7

Whew. I'm not gonna lie to y'all, this took forever. My goal with this was to recreate my previous Caryl compilation with 1.) all scenes intact, not missing anything and 2.) much better quality. I ran into many issues that I won't bore you with, but in summary - almost everything here is completely lossless from the original files, aside from S10, which I unfortunately had to reencode to fix a few issues I could not solve no matter how much I fiddled with it. However, it is still much better quality than the previous file I had up! These also have 6CH audio, which means that if you make fan videos and use something like Vegas Pro, you will be able to isolate the spoken audio from the music/random background noises and have better, cleaner voiceovers!

All of the seasons add up to about 123 GB, so I'm sorry that these will take up quite a bit more space than before, but the improved quality hopefully makes up for that! These are not perfect, so please forgive any little framerate bugs or very slight (hopefully) issues with video/audio syncing. I'm aware that the audio for S10 is a bit behind, but hopefully not to an extent that ruins anything - that season gave me quite a hard time, and I'm not really sure how to get it just right. It bothers the hell out of me, so I'm sorry, but I did my best. Otherwise, any issues should be pretty minor, but let me know if you run into anything major.

As always -

Credit is not necessary.

You are free to - and encouraged to - use these for anything creative that your heart desires. Just don't claim that you put these together yourself and I'm happy.

If you want me to see something you made with the scenes, tag me! I love seeing new creations in the tag, so don't be shy.

This is my love letter to y'all. It's not much, but I hope it sparks joy!

(Pssttt, psstt. If you would like episode timestamps for each season, click the link below. It's pretty lengthy and they're not precise, I just did my best.)

Season 1

00:00 to 02:52 - Episode 5, Wildfire

02:52 to 04:17 - Episode 6, TS-19

Season 2

00:00 to 14:21 - Episode 1, What Lies Ahead

14:22 to 20:05 - Episode 2, Bloodletting

20:06 to 21:38 - Episode 3, Save the Last One

21:39 to 26:16 - Episode 4, Cherokee Rose

26:17 to 27:18 - Episode 5, Chupacabra

27:19 to 42:17 - Episode 7, Pretty Much Dead Already

42:18 to 45:16 - Episode 8, Nebraska

45:17 to 51:00 - Episode 9, Triggerfinger

51:01 to 55:03 - Episode 11, Judge, Jury, Executioner

55:04 to 57:49 - Episode 12, Better Angels

57:50 to 01:12:48 - Episode 13, Beside the Dying Fire

Season 3

00:00 to 11:34 - Episode 1, Seed

11:35 to 20:08 - Episode 4, Killer Within

20:09 to 26:13 - Episode 5, Say the Word

26:14 to 31:12 - Episode 6, Hounded

31:13 to 33:14 - Episode 7, When the Dead Come Knocking

33:15 to 39:58 - Episode 9, The Suicide King

39:59 to 43:41 - Episode 10, Home

43:42 to 44:45 - Episode 11, I Ain't a Judas

44:46 to 46:18 - Episode 15, This Sorrowful Life

46:19 to 46:37 - Episode 16 - Welcome to the Tombs

Season 4

00:00 to 02:11 - Episode 1, 30 Days Without an Accident

02:12 to 06:11 - Episode 2, Infected

06:12 to 10:03 - Episode 3, Isolation

10:04 to 13:49 - Episode 4, Indifference

13:50 to 14:53 - Episode 5, Internment

14:54 to 16:18 - Episode 8, Too Far Gone

Season 5

00:00 to 20:07 - Episode 1, No Sanctuary

20:08 to 33:23 - Episode 2, Strangers

(^tw for emetophobia at 22:27 to 22:42, I know it might seem silly since this show is full of blood and gore, but I don't want to catch y'all off guard with something unexpected that might really bother you to see.)

33:24 to 34:19 - Episode 3, Four Walls and a Roof

34:20 to 34:52 - Episode 4, Slabtown

34:53 to 01:16:24 - Episode 6, Consumed

(^yes, I included this entire ep, y'all ain't missing a second of it.)

01:16:25 to 01:23:28 - Episode 8, Coda

01:23:29 to 01:27:29 - Episode 10, Them

01:27:30 to 01:28:14 - Episode 11, The Distance

01:28:15 to 01:30:58 - Episode 12, Remember

01:30:59 to 01:33:56 - Episode 13, Forget

Season 6

00:00 to 01:31 - Episode 1, First Time Again

01:32 to 09:26 - Episode 3, Thank You

09:27 to 12:59 - Episode 6, Always Accountable

13:00 to 14:59 - Episode 9, No Way Out

15:00 to 17:18 - Episode 11, Knots Untie

17:19 to 19:40 - Episode 13, The Same Boat

19:41 to 25:28 - Episode 14, Twice as Far

25:29 to 28:38 - Episode 16, Last Day on Earth

Season 7

00:00 to 02:55 - Episode 1, The Day Will Come When You Won't Be

02:56 to 03:55 - Episode 9, Rock in the Road

03:56 to 20:43 - Episode 10, New Best Friends

20:44 to 28:13 - Episode 13, Bury Me Here

Season 8

00:00 to 08:46 - Episode 1, Mercy

08:47 to 13:22 - Episode 4, Some Guy

13:23 to 15:22 - Episode 5, The Big Scary U

15:23 to 17:45 - Episode 11, Dead or Alive Or

17:46 to 20:02 - Episode 13, Do Not Send Us Astray

20:03 to 27:51 - Episode 16, Wrath

Season 9

00:00 to 02:33 - Episode 1, A New Beginning

02:34 to 07:27 - Episode 2, The Bridge

07:28 to 08:28 - Episode 6, Who Are You Now?

08:29 to 23:25 - Episode 7, Stradivarius

23:26 to 28:00 - Episode 10, Omega

28:01 to 29:41 - Episode 13, Chokepoint

29:42 to 31:01 - Episode 14, Scars

31:02 to 58:58 - Episode 15, The Calm Before

58:59 to 01:22:21 - Episode 16, The Storm

Season 10 (Part 1)

00:00 to 09:24 - Episode 1, Lines We Cross

09:25 to 35:48 - Episode 3, Ghosts

35:49 to 38:34 - Episode 4, Silence the Whisperers

38:35 to 39:46 - Episode 5, What It Always Is

39:47 to 53:52 - Episode 6, Bonds

53:53 to 01:06:48 - Episode 7, Open Your Eyes

01:06:49 to 01:19:18 - Episode 8, The World Before

01:19:19 to 01:44:24 - Episode 9, Squeeze

Season 10 (Part 2)

00:00 to 08:41 - Episode 9, Squeeze (continued from the previous part)

08:42 to 16:35 - Episode 11, Morning Star

16:36 to 20:04 - Episode 12, Walk with Us

20:05 to 31:45 - Episode 14, Look at the Flowers

31:46 to 40:01 - Episode 15, The Tower

40:02 to 01:02:20 - Episode 16, A Certain Doom

01:02:21 to 01:07:40 - Episode 17, Home Sweet Home

01:07:41 to 01:33:05 - Episode 18, Find Me

01:33:06 to 02:05:42 - Episode 21, Diverged

02:05:43 to 02:08:40 - Episode 24, Here's Ne/gan

^I don't want this post to show up in that character's tag on mobile, it would just be annoying for those fans since this doesn't have anything to do with him.

Season 11

00:00 to 09:55 - Episode 1, Acheron: Part I

09:56 to 15:29 - Episode 9, No Other Way

15:30 to 18:51 - Episode 10, New Haunts

18:52 to 24:27 - Episode 14, The Rotten Core

24:28 to 27:26 - Episode 17, Lockdown

27:27 to 37:24 - Episode 18, A New Deal

37:25 to 57:18 - Episode 20, What's Been Lost

57:19 to 01:19:32 - Episode 21, Outpost 22

1:19:33 to 01:20:56 - Episode 22, Faith

01:20:57 to 01:32:27 - Episode 23, Family

01:32:28 to 02:00:35 - Episode 24, Rest in Peace

[risetherivermoon]

here have a sparrow related rant :D (dndads ep 48 spoilers!!)

btw, my entire perception (or all together understanding) of sparrow oak has shifted after this episode-

i think unconsciously i saw the twins as completely different people, like wildly different from eachother, after season 1 and in season 2

but honestly- after we find out that sparrow is the one who enacted code purple, the conversation with henry and mercedes? i still see them as different characters, but i feel like they are actually way more similar than i initially thought

they're just both two guilt ridden idiots, and at first i was really confused why it seemed like sparrow would always group himself with lark when talking about who "ended the world" or whatever (i thought it was probably him saying it in solidarity or whatever, which i think is still partially the reason) but now he also basically did what lark did

i think thats whats heartbreaking to me, because henry immediately forgives lark after he releases the doodler, but sparrow is immediately told he will never be forgiven, and where lark has the motive of wanting to defeat the doodler and become stronger, sparrow has the motive of just wanting to protect his family-

im not saying this is out of character of henry, i definitely think this is how he'd react since he has the knowledge of exactly what code purple will do, and we also know that sparrow tried to lie to him to enact it as well, but its just- fuck

personally i think because of how lark and henrys relationship is in late s1 (and afterwards) henry probably was unconsciously more attentive to lark afterwards, trying to repair that broken relationship- and so his perspective of sparrow is different, sparrow usually goes along with lark and backs him up but he never actually argues with henry or whatever,

so when sparrow does something that he does himself, it seems so off and random to henry, personally i think if he had to think about it that lark would be the twin that what would be most likely to be the one to do it, a lot of it is sparrow acting on his own principle and we really don't see that often, (blah blah, its lark and sparrow not sparrow and lark, blah blah)

basically i think that it was so unexpected of sparrow that henry immediately freaks out and is more aware of the betrayal than he was back when the doodler was released,

im relistening to the mummy issues arc in s1, and was listening to scene of henry and darryl arguing about the pyramid, and i think that's really the thing yk? because henry's moral compass is more pointed towards being selfless, where sparrow seems to be on the opposite side of that in this situation

for example, henry wants to go and get arrested by neverwinter because they had let the pyramid fall instead of trying to save lark and sparrow from the omegadads, which makes sense that he doesn't approve of code purple because it would put faerun in danger, even though it would mean his family would be safe,

and then sparrow, who enacts code purple because even though it would destroy faerun, he and his family would be safe,

ive seen people compare code purple to the trolley problem- and honestly, i agree so much, its similar, where if the same amount of people are on both tracks but one has your friends and family/people you love on one side as well,

really sparrow was put into such a huge position of either way he will end up hurting someone, his 6-year-old son is attacked by a flesh hoard that he can get rid off by flicking a single switch, and of course he's going to do it, even if that means his parents never want to speak to him again and that he dooms another plain of existence to destruction

im just in love with how much this podcast spins morality around, it can be so incredibly philosophical for being a dungeons and dragons podcast about a bunch of stupid dads, it really makes you realize how complicated humans are

[sarucane]

OFMD Meta Series Master Thread

My brain works in meta series for some reason, and a couple of my individual metas have been really popular! So in case you're looking for more of my stuff, or to read a meta related to one you already liked, here're my series. I'll update them as I go.

Metas about Stories and Storytelling in OFMD

Do we just keep telling the same story forever? Meta on OFMD S1E7 "This is Happening"

(Note: writing this while on a holiday, there'll be more metas in this series once I get home and go through drafts ;) )

The Fuckery's the Thing: Finding truth through lies in "The Art of Fuckery"

True Stories, False Stories: "The Best Revenge is Dressing Well"

Stories within Stories (within more stories!): OFMD Meta Analysis of Ep 1 E4

Stede Bonnet's Stories (S2)

Ed Teach's Stories

Stede Bonnet's Stories (S1)

Storytelling in Our Flag Means Death

Character Analysis Question Metas

Why was finding Stede's letter so important for Ed?

Why did Ed think becoming a fisherman made any sense at all?

Why did Ed throw away his leathers?

Why did Ed want to "take it slow"?

Why didn't Izzy shoot Ed (then)?

Why did Ed headbutt Stede?

Why didn't Ed always protect Stede?

How did Stede leave pirating so easily?

Did Ed really want to die?

How did Stede know that Ed wanted to "watch the world burn"?

Why did Ed shoot Izzy then?

Spiral Parallels: The second season of OFMD references the first a lot, generally in ways that add a lot to the emotional depth of an original scene. Here's a heap of metas about that because I think it's cool.

53: Ed's Suicidal Spiral (S1E10, S2E1-3)

52: Weddings (S1E4/10, S1E1/2/8)

51: Pinocchio (S1E1, S2E1/8)

50: Beards and Unconditional Love

49: Whims, Self-Knowledge, and Commitment

48: Lessons of Episodes 5 (S1E4/5 & S2E5)

47: What would Jeff do? (S1E5 & S2E3/6/8)

46: Izzy Being Wrong Part 4--Izzy's redemption (in which he learns to be right) (S1E10-S2)

45: Izzy Being Wrong 3 (S1E6-9)

44: Izzy Being Wrong 2 (S1E5)

43: Stede's Fantasies Creating Reality (S1E1/3/8, S2E1/3/4/8)

42: Sandy Beards and Self-Hatred (S1E8 & S2E3)

41: Izzy and the Queer Community of the Revenge (S1E5 & S2E6)

40: Izzy Being Wrong Part 1 (S1E2-4 & S02E8)

39: Wearing Fine Things Well (S01E05 & S02E05)

38: Mad Devil Blackbeard (S01E04/10, S02E01/02)

37: Ed and Izzy in Those Scenes 2 (S01E10 & S02E08)

36: Ed and Izzy in Those Scenes 1 (S01E10 & S02E08)

35: Lighthouses (S01E04/10 &S02E06/08)

34: Manipulative Pirate Buddies 5 (S01E08 & S02E04)

33: Manipulative Pirate Buddies 4 (S01E08 & S02E04)

32: Manipulative Pirate Buddies 3 (S01E08 & S02E04)

31: Manipulative Pirate Buddies 2 (S01E08 & S02E04)

30: Manipulative Pirate Buddies 1 (S01E08 & S02E04)

29: Silk Robes and Ed's Self-Identity (S01E10 & S02E07

28: Izzy and Stede Talk Blackbeard (S01E06 & S02E03)

27: Ed's Despair (S01E10 & S02E02)

26: A Fall into Dark Water (S01E10 & S02E03)

25: Mary and Stede, Stede and Ed (S01E10 & S02E08)

24: The Character Development of a Belly Flop (S01E01 & S02E03)

23: Stede's Duels (S01E06 & S02E07)

22: Ed Leaves Stede (S01E08 & S2E07)

21: Executions of Stede Bonnet and Ned Lowe (S01E09 & S02E06)

20: Lucius and Pete (S01E6 & S02E05)

19: Ed and Izzy Sing (S01E10 & S02E06)

18: Izzy's Interventions (S01E06 & S02E01)

17: Stages of Intimacy (S01E06 & S02E06)

16: Poison and Positivity (S01E06 & S02E06)

15: The Kraken (S01E06 & S02E08)

14: Party Time 4 (S01E05 & S02E07)

13: Party Time Part 3 (S01E05 & S02E07)

12: Party Time 2 (S01E05 & S02E07)

11: Party Time Part 1 (S01E05 & S02E07)

10: Attention Crew of the Revenge, may I present… (S01E04 & S02E05)

9: Breakroom Chats (S01E04 & S02E06)

8: Ed, Izzy, and the Death of Blackbeard (S01E04 & S02E02)

7: Blackbeard and his First Mate (S01E03 & S02E01)

6: Cowards (S01E04 & S02E07)

5: The Unicorn (S01E04, S01E08, S02E04, S02E08)

4: Stede's Letters (S01E04 & S02E08)

3: Rise and Shine, Pirate (S01E04 & S02E04)

2: Stede's Grand Entrance (S01E03 & S02E08)

On the Spiral Narrative of OFMD 1: Pirates and Mermen (S01E03 & S02E03)

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Tuesday everyone. One ep left before the S1 finale. Wild. Excited to wrap up S1 but what a ride its been so far. The last two have lots of Chenford Goodies so buckle up ha

1x19 The Checklist

I LOVE this episode so very much. It’s got a lot of underrated moments in it. But so much growth on both ends. Let’s get started.

Ep starts out with a bang. Or for them a stress really. The Rookies/T.O.'s find out last minute they have to have them do a checklist for certain crimes. Needing them to be primary on the paperwork in order to do so. Beyond unfair. Lucy looks panicked as all hell. Especially since she has 7 to cross off. Jackson has 3 and Nolan of course has none. They have only 2 days to accomplish this task. Ridiculous.

Lucy needs auto theft, carjacking, ethical dilemma, meth possession, a false I.D., assault on a peace officer, and damage to city property. Tall order to say the least. Tim is raging in his seat. Can feel the waves of anger coming off of him. Completely BS to ask this of them so late in training. If they don’t accomplish this they fall behind in the program and are extended. Putting them all under the gun for the next 48 hours. Well except bloody Nolan haha

Tim tries to find an easy check mark for Lucy. A guy named Fred who always is carrying meth comes up clean. Lucy is instantly irritated this guy isn’t carrying. Fred tells him sorry LOL That he got clean has his 30 day chip. Tim makes a joke to Lucy about it. Saying never thought he would. It’s inspiring actually haha. Lucy is having none of it. She’s been pre panic spiral since the news hit. Look at her flexing fingers. Girl is stressed af. Understandably so.

Tim goes into the mode he does best with Lucy. De escalating her. Gives her a dose of logic with a hint of funny. I still love the funny has been added in. Tells her that there are 18 million people in LA they used need them to break very specific laws for them LOL Tim is actually very funny in this episode. Trying to keep it light for her while also taking it seriously. It’s a great balance from him in this one. Poor Lucy is not about it right now. That is all over her face when their next call comes in.

She could not be more agitated with this whole situation right now. You can tell she's so close to losing it. On the razors edge really. Tim once again makes it a little lighter and says hey maybe he’ll attack you? It cracks me up because you can see the hope in her face after he makes that joke. I love these two so much it’s insane. Tim trying to make each call positive and an opportunity for her.

She’s actually excited this call could turn ugly so she can get something checked off. Possibly get 'Assault on a Peace Officer' knocked out. Too funny. I just love how much he wants her to succeed. He is doing anything to keep her head in the game. Can't let her get into quit mode whatsoever. Lucy has a pep in her step after his comment and that’s all he’s wanting right now.

They hit mid day and go get lunch. Tim and Angela talking about how stressed they are. Lucy hasn't gotten one box checked yet. Jackson has gotten one and he only has 3 total. Much easier than what Lucy has. A call comes in that could check something off for her. Unfortunately it can for Jackson too. So Angela jumps on the call as well. Tim is instantly livid. I love him saying she needs it more. That's right she does. They’re drowning and this is a life raft Lopez is trying take from them. He won’t stand for it. I love it sfm. You can see his stress here. Only time he lets it out when he's not around Lucy.

They miss out on Lucy getting the call and it goes to Jackson. (Boooo). They've reached the latter half of their shift still nothing. They’re going through a neighborhood running plates. Tim's informant told him this would be a good spot for auto theft or car jacking. They've had high amount of reports lately. This begins my second fav moment of the entire episode. Something finally pops up and they pull a lady over for plates not matching her vehicle. Lucy gets excited as does Tim and he tells her to light them up.

What goes from excitement about a box being ticked off quickly dissolves. Lucy can instantly see this lady didn't mean anything malicious by switching the plates. They just simply couldn't afford to register both. This goes from a simple stop to something much more. They both know it and its clearly written all over their faces down below.

The silent communication in just this one gif my god. If you needed an example of that on full display look at this beautiful gif. Sweet lord. Lightning in a bottle chemistry these two. I have no words other than i'm in awe. Lucy goes from excited she got a box to this isn’t the right way to get it. That’s what’s being communicated in these looks right here. That ethical dilemma presented itself and it’s known between them with just a look. Lucy’s empathy is kicking into overdrive here and needs a minute to confer with Tim.

It’s very obvious Lucy doesn’t want to get her checkbox this way. I love her so very much for it. It’s killing her she has to pick between her empathy/what's right and what she needs to do not to be held back. This whole scene is a window into who Lucy is as a person. Who she longs to be as a cop. If her father could see this moment he wouldn’t chastise her so damn much. See how her empathy drives her decisions in the best way. Wouldn't look down on her being a cop as much as he does.

This part here is what impresses Tim the most and me too tbh. Despite all the pressure Lucy is under she refuses to let it change the kind of cop she wants to be. Won't sacrifice this woman for her one box to be checked off. Isn't willing to compromise her morals for it. Tim gives her advice in this scenario but ultimately lets Lucy be in the drivers seat for the outcome. Lucy decides to cut the lady loose and let her off with a warning instead of citing her.

What I love the absolute most about this scene is how Tim lets her run the show. He gives minor advice but she makes the call in the end. How far we’ve come since 1x14 where all Lucy did was second guess herself. This scene shows growth for the both of them. Tim in trusting her to make the right call. No sass, no hard ass just trust. Lucy for going with her gut without question even if it might cost her. Doing the right thing instead of just checking a box.

Lucy is so caught up in the ethical dilemma itself she doesn’t realize it ticked a box. That her empathy could be used to do as such. Tim didn’t interfere at all for that reason. He knows one of her biggest strengths is her empathy. He didn’t sway her one way or another. Much different silence for this than his silence for the van incident back in 1x14. He too learned from that day. He knew she’d make the right call and she did (again just like Plain clothes day). Tim see's that empathy as an incredible asset for her and she just showcased it without realizing it. One down. It doesn’t seem like a win to Lucy right now, but in the long run it most definitely was. For far more than just crossing a box off her list.

Makes me so happy you can see the absolute pride on Tim’s face in both of these gifs. These are the moments that truly reinforce that belief he has in her. He's proud for a couple reasons. One. Lucy went with her gut under pressure and didn’t waver. Not even a little bit. She talked it out with Tim but was firm in what she wanted to do and why. Two. Tim is so proud of her for doing the right thing. Even if it meant falling behind in the program. She was willing to do that. So just like in 1x15 when Lucy was impressed with his moral compass, Tim is with hers in this moment.

Next day rolls around and they’re still 6 in the hole unfortunately. Despite the morale victory of the night before, Lucy is very defeatist at this point. Feeling failure is nothing but imminent now. Tim refuses to let her feel this way. Won’t let her start the day like they’ve already lost. They’re getting across that finish line even if he has to drag them across it by the skin of their teeth.

They get a call as they’re gearing up for one of Lucy’s boxes. Tim being confident as ever tells her they’re still in it. Right now she needs that cocky Tim Bradford swagger. The same confidence he had in 1x05 for the round up. He’s just as excited if not more than that moment to get this call for her. Lucy can feel the tide turning. She is feeding off of his energy now. The fuel she needed to start the day.

It’s written all over her face in that last gif how much it means to her. That smile she can't contain. The 'No Quit' he has for her. She knows he has her back. Will go to the ends of the earth to get this done for her. If Tim has to carry her with that confidence the rest of their shift he’s going to. He won’t let her be defeated by this. He can’t.

Their destruction of city property call ends up racking up boxes for Lucy. Good karma from the night before I think. Tim is smiling every time they get a new one. As is Lucy. This girl has no idea how she’s making their day. Tim and Lucy are both beaming at their luck. They get all the way up to 4 boxes in that one call. 6 down one to go. All that's left is meth possession.

We get to end of shift and see Lucy is short a box. She is deflated and sad that she is going to be held back. Lucy starts to put her stuff away assuming its over. That's when Tim catches her. This is my favorite moment of the ep. Why you ask? It’s because he refuses to let her fall short. Tim is battling for her career. (And it wouldn’t be the first time.)

While she was packing up the shop he was getting OT approved for them both. Amazing. Before Lucy his rookies could wash out and it didn’t mean much to him. Hell I think he thrived on when they did. To him he was weeding out the bad apples before they could hit the streets. If they couldn’t make it through his training/standards they had no place being a cop. Then comes Lucy Chen barreling into his life.

The woman who not only has thrived and grown off his challenges but challenged him back. Tim saw the instinct in her from day one. When she brought that “low hanging fruit” in and started her career off with a bang. He saw her with the potential to be the best rookie he ever trained. (spoiler alert she is) She proves him right on a daily basis. Tim wasn’t going to let some bureaucratic bs take her out. If it took OT to save her then damnit it all that’s what they were going to do.

Look at the relief and joy on her face. Also a little shock mixed in as well. Just like in 1x14 Tim is fighting tooth and nail to keep her. Lucy needed this not only for her checkboxes but her self esteem. Her self worth. Showing she is worth it. Lucy is almost in disbelief he’s doing this for her. Like I said in my 1x18 review her and I have similar parents.

So when you find someone who believes in you, fights for you and builds you up it’s almost hard to accept. Because you're so used to being torn down. Even though as a viewer we can see Tim would do anything for her, Lucy still finds it hard to believe. He is saving her career here and not batting an eye to do so. I love it so much. I love them. Fantastic episode. Such good stuff. It's definitely one of the best of the season IMO.

~~~~~

Side notes-Non Chenford

Meh. Not much Chenford drove this episode like they do most. You can see Jackson starting to crumble a bit. He's letting go of who he thought he should be for his dad. Interesting arc for him. Makes him more human. That's about it for non chenford for me really ha

As always thank you thank you to all who like/comment/reblog these reviews. Highlight of my day when I see those notifications pop up on my phone. I shall see you all in the finale 1x20 :)

[gifmourningu]

Yes! Precure 5 Gogo! Episode Guide

In case you want to watch Otona Precure but completely forgot what happened in the Yes! 5 series, here's a refresher on the eps that are actually important. Season 1's list has also been updated.

Plot is bolded. Recommended filler (character development oriented) is italicized. Skippable episodes grouped in block quote. For insight into how I decided what was what, look at the read more.

1 — Start

2 — So what even is going on, anyway?

3 — Syrup & Mailpo (+Komachi highlights, Emerald Saucer)

4 — Urara’s audition pt 1... +1 Monarch, get! (+ Syrup focus, Prism Chain)

5 — JK the Monarch’s snoozing. Here’s Karen’s student council duties (Sapphire Arrow, some Syrup focus)

6 — Donut King wakes up (Rin + Syrup focus, Fire Strike)

7 — Visit to Palmier Kingdom (Milk focus; Nozo x Coco, Koma/Nuts bait) Main thing that’s important (blue seed) is flashbacked to later. 

8 — Letter from an unlikely sender (Syrup focus) Anything important is covered again in ep 13 

9 — Detective Komachi (comedic)

10 — Milky Rose

11 — First Henchman defeated

12 — Kurumi joins school 

13 — Syrup lore

14 — Kurumi’s identity 

15 — Childhood Best Friends Refresher #1: Rin & Nozomi (+1 Monarch, get!) More of Rin protecting Nozomi (like her first Cure episode in S1) 16 — Childhood Best Friends Refresher #2: Komachi & Karen Basically S1 Ep28, which they directly reference. 

17 — IRL comedian propaganda (not really funny)

18 — Urara trying at her job pt 2 (Urara + Syrup focus)

19 — Karen writes a letter to her parents (Karen & Kurumi focus)

20 — Komachi & Madoka

21 — Group cooking (Rin & Nozomi focus)

22 — Nozomi teaches Rin’s siblings (Nozomi, Syrup, Coco focus)

23 — Midseason Crisis

24 — New Finisher

25 — New henchmen, Syrup moves in 

26 — The Precure save a city

27 — Komachi conducts exposure therapy on Rin

28 — Monarch #3...and she’s really annoying...and in love with Coco. And doesn’t say anything new lore wise.  29 — Yet another new henchman who plays tennis. (Rin & Karen focus) 30 — A wonky Kaguyahime (Nozomi & Kurumi focus)

31 — New powerup for Milky Rose (Kurumi & Nuts focus)

32 — Ant-sized Precure  33 — A friend's curry shop needs to curry favor with the public! (Urara focus)

34 — Goodbye annoying Monarch (Nozomi x Coco) Honestly, I feel like this is skippable too but if you don’t watch this you won’t have any episodes with this Monarch according to this guide.

35 — Bunbee Cringe Reel

36 — Rigged Quiz Show Part 1 (Karen & Kurumi focus)

37 — Rigged Quiz Show Part 2 (Karen & Kurumi focus)

38 — Red & Blue Rose Powerup that is never seen again (Kurumi & Nozomi focus, henchmen defeated)

39 — Last Monarch (Karen focus)

40 — Urara’s audition part 3 (Urara + Syrup focus)

41 — Tennis/Magician henchman finally reveals his identity to them (Rin focus)

42 — Goodbye Evil Granny (Komachi focus)

43 — A visit from the Director (Nozomi focus)

44 — The Precure act as Santa (Syrup focus) The fight with the henchman is basically all that’s relevant, since it alerts him to the existence of a letter

45-48 — Finale

Long explanation of methodology below:

When I make these guides, I generally aim for the least amount of required episodes to follow major developments. If an important fact is introduced in one episode and then is flashed back to in a subsequent episode, I'll just mark the second as plot instead of the first because the necessary information is repeated. As such, I may mark the introduction (and sometimes death) of a villain as non plot if they don't actually introduce any new mechanic or real threat and are just showing that they exist or don't exist anymore. This is also because most villains in Precure don't actually get a development arc.

In this season, plot refers to Syrup's storyline, the rose garden, and any new major Precure powers. I also bothered to mark villain defeats for this one since they seemed to be trying a little more than normal to show us villain relations (primarily in Anacondy's cruel desperation). And the ones that had nothing to do with anyone's character development got vaporized in new powerups which would have been marked as plot anyway.

As for the monarchs, well. They're technically plot since they need 4 of them to open the road to the rose garden, but they also don't add much to the show in terms of character development (besides the first one, Donut King). At some point when it feels like a "gotta catch 'em all" situation like in S1, I really didn't feel like people would be missing out on much by not seeing all their introduction episodes.

Recommended filler indicates one or more of the following:

There is some form of character exploration here, whether that's development, talking about their past, or showcasing a new relationship dynamic between multiple characters. Basically, if I feel like it's somewhat new to them and not just reaffirming the status quo at the end of it, I mark it as recommended.

They get some small new attack that didn't have a ton of buildup to it. (If it really feels like it's pulled out of nowhere I may just mark it as filler, though that didn't happen in this season.)

The episode is particularly comedic (these are always marked in case you still want to skip them.)

The episode is strangely well directed and yet it isn't a plot episode, or it generally stands out in setup

They had some plot information that is sort of repeated in the future but not completely flashed back to. In which case it's a gray area and I just threw it in here and probably left a note.

And filler is everything else. Maybe it's really boring or annoying to watch, maybe it's just an okay episode that would be enjoyable for someone who isn't looking for much character development. Maybe it's a character learning the same lesson over again and was marked as filler for repetition. You can always watch the previews from previous episodes to see if the content piques your interest.

[lonelylittletofu]

That’s IT. I can’t quite contain it anymore. I need to share this analysis, right now. Art or no art.

Let’s chat about, what I persist, to be one of the most important character building episodes of all of Osomatsu-san: the second half of S1 ep23, “Dayon Tribe.”

Bit of a shocker, ey? I think it’s kinda funny. It’s not the infamous S1 ep24, the pear incident, or the ESP kitty bit, but it means so much… In regards to Choromatsu. So, let’s go!

Seasons 1-2 of Osomatsu-san, English subbed, are available on YouTube, if you weren’t aware. So, if you’re really interested, the important bits are from 18:56 to 21:48. You’ll probably see me talking too much in the comments.

The Dayon Tribe plot goes like so: The eldest trio gets sucked into Dayon’s mouth which, while initially scary, turns out to house a bustling village utopia in which everything is given to you and you can be a NEET forever, free of judgement and societal pressure. Naturally, the boys want to stay forever. Choromatsu in particular getting married to a Dayon village girl. When the younger trio come looking for their other brothers, they try to convince them to come back. Choromatsu’s especially reluctant, having a breakdown.

This episode means a lot for Choromatsu as a character in particular because as he argues why he HAS to stay, he’s admitting to his flaws and how stressed, overwhelmed, and trapped he feels — by his insecurities and perceived shortcomings.

He was trying to get better just a skit earlier in the Kerosene half of the ep, and can be seen reading a self-help book to overcome his self-absorption, self-consciousness, self-awareness (whatever, translations vary) at 2:03! But he doesn’t think he’ll ever get better.

He doesn’t think he’s good enough to become the productive member of society he desperately, genuinely wants to be, so that’s why he wants to stay so bad — settling for what’s available and comfortable.

But, comfort isn’t synonymous to happiness.

Something his fiancé, who truly loves him btw (and highkey deserves better), realized and, thus, forced him to make the right choice. To take risks for a true chance at being happy. Even if it means risking a future where he fails. Even if it means leaving her, the comfortable, behind.

Staying seems so perfect-

-but Choromatsu DOES want to be more than a NEET and she realizes it’s what’ll make him truly happy.

That he’s staying because he trapped himself mentally — as a NEET, as a failure, as someone who’s so far from being good enough it’s impossible to imagine anything better.

S1 Ep23 Choromatsu character analysis. Part 1/2.

[fandom-panda]

Liveblog-ish Dimension 20 S1 Ep14 & 15

(time stamp of slightly after what im talking about) my thoughts/questions/reactions. just so its easier for you to read/know what im talking about

ep 14 (5:30) YEAAAAAA GORGUG W THE NAT 20 CHA SAVE!!!!!! LETS GOOOOO!!!!!

(15:50) yooooo fig has dimension door?!?!? :DDDDD

(1:03:33) im so proud of riz, good job my guy on overloading the downloding thingy

(1:19:38) OH MY GOD GORGUG TAKES 48 DAMAGE BUT HE’S STILL UP!!!!!! WOOO!!!

(1:26:17) oh thank god riz is safe (or… well… his palimpsest is no longer in the machine). i feel bad for zelda and the rest of the girls :,(

(1:28:50) OH MY FUCKING GOD FABIAN ROLLED A NAT 20!!!!! HE DID IT!!!!!! MEETS IT BEATS IT AND HE MET THE OTHER ROLL!!!!!

(1:31:01) fig, ily, but please dont kill biz. you might need him to get riz free, and possibly the other trapped kids too

(1:39:22) ajdhjd biz: “im cool too” adaine: *doubt*

(1:40:27) ohhhhh shit. all there families are threatened. i mean, adaine’s family, i don’t particularly care about, but everyone else!

ep 15 (12:36) ohhhhhh shit theyre under arrest for killing a bunch of people. i was wondering when this was going to bite them in the ass but like,,, why now??? why couldnt it have been after they solved this mystery and saved everyone?

(25:16) AKSHDJBDJD THE PRINCIPAL SAID TO KILL WHOEVER THEY NEED TO KILL TO GET OUT. OH MY GOD DAMN

(28:39) oh man i feel so bad for fig 🥺

(33:25) oh no why does bill seacaster have a palimpsest???? please tell me this is just a coincidence and hes not actually a bad guy

(35:00) …ok that does not feel good. like, bill might not actually abuse fabian, but that feels like its toeing the line at the minimum. like oh my god dont fucking shove your son!!!

(43:40) ohhhhhh my god those cops are SO incompetent

(47:15) omg they’re missing prom!

(48:30) oh my god those fucking halflings /pos

(58:30) ohhhhhh shit. kalvaxis cant touch that book and the only reason why adaine removed the book was bc aelwyn told her to

(1:00:30) oh my god is adaine the next elven oracle?!?!?!

(1:06:00) ok ill be honest, ive seen the clips of the finale(?) so i was just waiting for them to notice something was off about goldenhoard, sorry, goldenrod

(1:13:50) NOOO THEIR FAMILIES!!!! well ok i dont care about adaine’s family, bUT EVERYONE ELSES!!!!

(1:25:30) oh kristen 🥺 she saved adaine’s family

(1:32:50) oh thank god gilear is ok!

(1:33:50) AJDHSJDJ “do you want to go to prom with me mom?” “kiddo i was so afraid you would ask”

(1:36:35) oh my god gorgug’s parents 🥺😭🧡

(1:49:01) oh no brennan why’d you have killed off one of the parents?!?!?! 😭

(1:52:30) that was a really cool way for him to die but bill dying makes me so sad :,(

[mnkiss]

A quick list of animes I watched and don't want to forget 2:

Spoiler, duh

OG post here:

Corpse party - similar to Another: I watched it and forgot about it…kids being creepy and killing a lot (i think) (2/10)

Yuri on Ice - loved it for the romance and the soundtrack but couldn’t care less about the skating lol Cute anime tho, I recommend it (8/10)

Kimi no nawa - cute, I cried of course, but i really wish we could have learned about their relationships more. I wanted to see them falling in love slowly and helplessly, not just a montage haha. Maybe a 7/10. Wasn’t thaaaaat great.

Dororo - I’m not as a big fan as others, but it was an interesting journey on the historical side with a much less repetitive story than I expected. It’s an old tale, a myth, told by an old man about demons and humans, and two children’s (well, an adult-ish boy and a kid) fate and character development. The show shows war and all it’s gory, terrible reality so be ready for some depressing episodes… The message of the anime is very clear and heavy. This is a remake, there is supposed to be a much older version of the anime with not 12, but 48 demons and missing body parts, but I’m not really sure if I want to watch it again. (7/10)

Citrus - Yuri, cute, well-done, but 1) Yuzu is sooooooo ugh, she is nice and kind but so easy to influence jesus she really is not the sharpest tool in the shed and that got soo annoying around ep7. >< 2) The story is weirdly written, they introduce characters as they go and as it gets comfortable for the plot, which feels like a rookie mistake but ok. Only 12 eps, two sweet girls and lots of sexual tension between them. Btw some people have misconceptions about the manga/anime. There is no incest as they are both teens and strangers when they happen to become step-sisters, and sexual assault does not get romanticized because if somebody is uncomfortable they struggle and voice that they don’t feel comfortable. That being said “You should consider other people’s feelings” is a fucking stupid answer to “Hey I don’t want to have sex with somebody”. Also the silent treatment? AND always coming with the “I had a bad childhood” shit? I’m treating the kindest, dearest person on earth like shit just because I was rejected once? Really? Fucking Mei lol. Yuzu deserves better. Like Harumi. You know, somebody who actually cares about her. 5/10

Baccano! - Gory mafia stories are always amazing but this one is like… dude. Watch it. It’s beautiful, has an amazing opening, wonderful characters (Naaa Miriyaa!!!! Neee Isaccu!!!!) and weird ties to the supernatural. No tears only happy smiling even during the 13th episode. One of my favourite stories of all time. (Oh and if you're one of those weirdos who love it when animes use weird brand names instead of the real ones [like hollywood becomes woodland, daily mail becomes daily days, hersheys becomes baccano] then you’ll love the small details lol) (11/10)

Tower of God - S1 is only a prologue :/ I usually don’t care about isekai or isekai-like stuff but this story is pretty immersive. I loved that there is only a moderate amount of gore even though people dying is half the anime. All the supporting characters are easy to remember, have enough screen time and we learn their history so we do care about them, the main character has all the characteristics a shounen protagonist needs but the anime itself is not in the shounen category. The soundtrack is phenomenal except the opening (sorry stray kids). Yeah, go watch it and be ready for the webtoon, they say its super long but worth it (8/10)

Wolf’s Rain - i love animals/shapeshifters in animes, but this was boooring. I was hoping for a crazy adventure with ancient legends and animaguses and stuff instead I got bored cuz nothing actually happened. I got to 17 episodes and just stopped watching. The story had potential, the wolfish behavior was fun. Maybe I'll try watching it again...later...some day (5/10)

Cyberpunk Edgerunners - Found family? Check. Cute girl? Check. Worldbuilding, sexy superpowers, neon lights, awesome action, greedy capitalism? Check. But for 10 episodes you’ll have the feeling that something will happen and yes, that thing indeed will happen (8/10)

Jujutsu Kaisen - S1 only yet. I'm - again - more invested in the adult's story and scheming behind the scenes. Character development? It is there, baby, and it is not just thought-provoking/brooding all the time. Competent enemy? There it is, the menacing, cunning, sexy-sexy enemy. Bro time? There is some healthy, masculine bro time! (9/10)

Chainsaw Man - This is a Jujutsu Kaisen 2.0. Teen boy gets adopted to an organization that uses dark superpowers that come with a price and they kill demons but they also are too crazy for the world and die easily. Also 2 boys 1 girl, the girl is nonconvenional but looks cute, the black haired friend of main character is super cold on the outside but has a heart of butter and is like a strong brother for the MC... I'd also really love if they'd STOP FUCKING KILLING ALL THE CHARACTERS. Seriously what's up with that nowadays?? They show you how friendly and happy they are together, and the next episode is just filled with deaths. However the story is fun, I like the pacing, the artstyle, the enemies and the music sooo S2 when? (8/10)

Spy x Family - Superduper cute, feel good anime with some badass characters. Some second hand embarrassement is in order tho lol (9/10)

Sailor Moon (90's series) - It's. So. Good. Such a comfort show. It has it's problems (the combat seems very... repetitive, the girls forget about their new powers, SM doesnt do much except in the movies), but a) this show is gorgeous b) it has characters that you wish they were your friends c) it's long so the story is well paced. It has good humour, super powers, a long and immersive story, surprisingly well made character arcs, ammmmaazing opening (and overall the soundtrack is ICONIC), 90's aesthetics and lots of gay vibes. However, it's extremely romance-centered, so probably not the best choice if you are in search for an action anime (9/10)

Soul Eater - 51 episodes of a surprisingly good story with surprisingly bad characters. The ending was disappointing, and the most powerful or intriguing characters just... weren't used? The monologues made no sense? Guy who can't die literally only fought 2 times? Madness wasn't mad? Brave girl wasn't brave? Like what even happened in this show? (5/10)

[inverts]

Sam watched Tiger & Bunny 2 and HAS GOT SOME THOUGHTS

so! the latter half of Tiger & Bunny 2 released yesterday, so of course I spent every free moment i could watching it instantly. i’m going to put my thoughts behind a cut, but i am at least going to preface it with: i had a really fun time with this season! if you’re worried about watching it b/c you think it might not be good b/c many times, let’s be real, sequels suck, i want to say that it was enjoyable and i think really maintains the spirit of the first show.

there are, of course, more specific positives and negatives of this season, but that’s SPOILERS CITY so you gotta click the read more for that shit.

these are all my initial takes--i may come back feeling differently after rewatches, or discussion with other ppl who’ve watched! i would LOVE some discussion but just please use cuts to spare ppl from seeing spoilers, this shit came out like less than 48 hours ago and not everyone is as feral as i am for it.

SO i think this season, far more than season 1, was an ensemble piece. this is neither bad NOR without precedence--the movie The Rising, for example, is basically Tiger & Bunny & Fire Emblem, almost even more than it’s Tiger & Bunny & Ryan, lmfao. and the first half of season 1 had a lot of focus episodes to give many of the heroes a chance to shine on their own--even a couple eps of the second half of s1 did this as well. so it’s certainly fitting for the second season to also give the secondary characters a lot of chances to shine.

the negative of this, i think, is simply that our titular characters have less _time_ to shine. that’s ok--in some ways they don’t need it. they’ve got a balanced relationship, they understand each other. they still are flawed individuals and they still trip each other up, but their bond is truly unshakeable and there are several times where this gets a nice spotlight.

however, i’m not going to lie--i think the biggest downside of kotetsu and barnaby being benched so much is that the ending feels flat. i almost wanted to give it another episode to really dig into kotetsu and barnaby’s feelings. they’re really the two whose arcs somehow _don’t_ feel resolved at the end. is this because sunrise is angling for a THIRD season? it would honestly make more sense with the lack of emotional closure we get with kotetsu and barnaby in the final episode. as an act 2 out of 3, it feels sensible. as a finale, it feels... anticlimactic.

the positive, however, is that a lot of other characters give us SO much good development. i took particular joy in everything with blue rose and ryan. Karina’s character development made me scream, squeal, and cheer. Her growth and maturity is phenomenal. She’s still the young woman in love with Kotetsu, but she’s aware of herself, she understands her emotions and desires, and it’s EXACTLY the development of a natural crush on an older, unattainable figure that many young people go through. She really comes into her own and i LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! also, Ryan’s steady descent into falling completely head over heels for her is so fucking good. the balance between these two! the dynamic! THANK YOU FOR THE FOOD, SUNRISE!

likewise, origami and rock bison, sky high and fire emblem... seeing their relationships grow, struggle, and become stronger was a delight every time. Dragon Kid and Magical Cat were also personal favourites of mine. I could write about every beat of their story I loved, but I’d just be summarizing every beat of their story. They’re really good!

Sadly I didn’t really care much for He Is Thomas or Mr. Black... I don’t even remember their civilian names. I can see why Sunrise decided to add them, but truthfully, I wish that some parts of the story had been pared down and they’d been cut in order to give Kotetsu and Barnaby more time. But I can also see how that would have had quite a ripple effect on other parts of the story... still, I think they were sadly the weakest part of season 2.

And another character who really got a big spotlight that many fans of season 1 were surely hoping to see....... LUNATIC MY GUY

I’m gonna talk about my negative impressions of Lunatic’s arc and then work my way into my positive impressions. The biggest negative is that the moment he hallucinated that resolution with his father, I knew the story was going to kill him off. Rather than put in the effort of him attempting to atone for his various murders, or deal with guilt or shame at the fact that perhaps he DIDN’T handle things in the best way, I knew the show was going to simply ... not get into that any further. I was sad to be proven right. It’s true that the Next who possesses him says that his body is fuckin done for right when she abandons ship, so it’s possible that he might have died even if he hadn’t tossed himself off a million foot high overpass. But the story still wrote him choosing suicide rather than face his actions. Is it consistent with his character? In many ways, yes. It can’t be understated how he’s still grieving for his mother--more on that in a bit. Also, he now sees himself as an unjust murderer, and must deal with himself accordingly. But it also feels contradictory to the ways in which he’s learning and changing--the fact that he sees his actions as unjust, but is now going to continue those actions against himself.... Of course, emotions often contradict logic, so I guess this is fair as well. In the end, this is simply a trope I hate--the “villain” experiences regret, or determines that they were wrong after all, and then dies.

another place where i feel that the character actions and story direction are giving mixed messages is when Yuri confronts kotetsu with the knowledge that kotetsu’s hero Mr Legend beat his wife and child behind closed doors. kotetsu at least has the wherewithal to realize that what he’s said to yuri at the end there was fucked up and uncalled for. however kotetsu says ‘because it would piss him off,’ essentially. but kotetsu he’s pissed off b/c u literally said “rip to ur dad but i’m different” LIKE WHAT THE FUCK MAN. “i’m sure ur dad wouldn’t have beat ur wife if he’d just had a friend like i do” KOTETSU STOP. PLEASE STOP.

--but on the other hand, like, it’s true that having any kind of support network could have helped legend. kotetsu’s depression when he started to lose his powers in season 1 is largely helped b/c he has people around him who care and who know it sometimes happens to ppl, that kotetsu isn’t the first person it’s happened to, and also kotetsu isn’t the single great hero that everyone is looking up to. there are others to share the burden. additionally, ur wife should not be ur therapist--i’m sure yuri’s mom tried to support legend when things were going down, but it was 1) not her job to shoulder ALL his baggage and 2) she’s not like a trained therapist? frankly all the portrayals of yuri’s family when yuri is a child feel like toxic nuclear 1950s family dynamics, wholesome on screen, vile behind closed doors. if this is a purposeful critique--and it may well be--then it’s frankly muddied by kotetsu’s hero worship. i also think that considering the ham fisted nature of some of the other storytelling in this show, it would be okay to hammer messages like this a little harder, too. it’s ok to say legend was a victim of circumstance but it’s not ok to say it in a way that absolves him of responsibility for abusing his family, if that makes sense.

i don’t think yuri hallucinating a resolution from his dad muddies the message or story in any way--tho unfortunately it’s set up as prompted by Kotetsu’s shitty words. but of COURSE yuri wants approval from his dad. i’m not going to get too deep into this but it’s entirely consistent and makes a lot of sense to me that he’d crave that kind of validation, acknowledgement, and forgiveness--ESPECIALLY because he can’t get it from his mother.

Speaking of! the portrayal of his and his mother’s relationship really hit me. It’s clear across both seasons that he wants to protect his mom--he’s always wanted to protect her--but he also winds up hurting her when he does this. He is angered by her delusions and her selective memory of their mutual abuser. Hiring a caretaker for her--specifically one that the show demonstrates is an actual kind, gentle person who is good at their job--is a good solution. It gives Yuri the distance so he can allow her to have her delusions (which IIRC is really the best way to deal with someone who has dementia anyway, rather than arguing with their perceptions) as well as knowing she’s as safe and cared for as she can be.... at least until she’s not.

I find this family dynamic to be portrayed really well, at least in my experience. There are sometimes families who hurt each other despite their best intentions, and constantly return to each other for more of the same. It’s rather understated, but Yuri’s decision to hire a caretaker and allow his mother her delusions breaks that cycle and allows a fragile peace. It’s clear he’s still not wholly content with it--perhaps what he really wants is for his mother to hate his father as he does--to validate and justify how Yuri accidentally killed Legend. It’s clear it still hurts him, but he’s choosing to take that hurt to allow his mom peace in her final years. And how he grieves in the kitchen that he hasn’t yet been able to clean up after her murder--fuck, man, everything about this just personally hit me really hard. I still don’t like how it all ended but I’m really, really glad that Lunatic got this spotlight, and personally I found it to be really well handled. YMMV i guess but that’s my initial take.

hey that was a lot about lunatic. let’s talk about some other characters, lol

KAEDE! i loved kaede and kotetsu’s relationship, especially in the first half of the series. they’re getting closer although she is still not letting him off the hook for a lot of the shit he did when she was younger--and honestly GOOD FOR HER, he deserves to be held accountable more! The final episodes tho felt like a little bit of a let down with Kaede--almost like they were setting her up to take SOME action, but then ran out of time? Add “Kaede gets to do things” to the list of stuff I wish had happened instead of Mr Black and Thomas, lmao.

also let’s talk about Agnes. I was holding off commenting on this in the first half of the season, but I love that they had Agnes gain weight. I feel like her body type is one i see RARELY in anime--she’s got proportions I see regularly, every day, and I think that she’s drawn very well (barring some shots where the animators didn’t quite keep her on model, but that happens to everyone in the cast at various points). The reason I didn’t want to say anything in the first half of the season is that the narration has multiple characters comment on her weight gain, and I was afraid that the series wanted to point it out so that later there would be a reveal that she was an impostor or something, and surprise, skinny agnes would show back up. But no! This is Agnes all the time, she’s EXACTLY the same person, she’s beautiful and desirable and she gets shit done, she has feelings for Kotetsu, meanwhile Antonio has a crush on her, it’s GREAT. she just happens to have more body fat now and it changes _nothing_. (also, iirc the people who comment on her weight are Ryan, who would have been out of town and wouldn’t have noticed a gradual change, and Saito, who likewise doesn’t often interact with Agnes as he’s often in the R&D department while Agnes is in the Hero TV van, so it’s actually pretty logical for both of those characters to be like, “huh?” Having them comment on her weight may have simply been sunrise’s way of telling the viewers, no, youre not misremembering what she looked like before, but we changed it and it was on purpose, now get on with the show.)

i was also very glad that Mattia and Little Aurora 1) weren’t evil and 2) didn’t die, lol. in the case of Mattia, it’s so rare that Barnaby gets to have ppl he cares about who DON’T die or turn evil, so i was very glad mattia got to live, lmfao. with Aurora i actually at one point hypothesized that she was the head of ouroboros, but i was wrong! that was neat.

overall i feel like s2 does a good job carrying on the spirit and feelings of s1. both halves of s2 are even structured very similarly to both halves of s1, with the first half being mainly focus episodes for 8 or so eps, and then 4 or so eps of a bigger storyline that concludes foreshadowing put down in the first 8. and then the second half becomes one very big storyarc. around ep 17 or 19 i was like “this is really good, i’m having a lot of fun, but i don’t know if anything can really compete with the emotional intensity of everyone forgetting about kotetsu and he goes on the run from them, etc.” and then i ate those words! i think the final arc was really exciting! now, emotionally, i think i do still prefer the final arc of s1, because let’s face it, i love when kotetsu suffers a little bit. i love him. but i think in terms of raising the stakes and interest and rising action, s2 is an entirely fair entry to the series, i loved watching it, and i think i will love rewatching it with friends.

but the ending.....

the ending really feels like they want a season 3. and personally, i kind of wanted to just end things at season 2, because i don’t want to wait another eleven years for a third season. unless we get season 3 next year.... 2023 will, after all, be the year of the rabbit once more.

but that scene when all the heroes are standing together, agreeing to have dinner togehter, and then they just... part ways? and then barnaby’s like “so my leg didn’t fall off so i’m going to keep being a hero” like SIR you still don’t know what’s WRONG WITH IT!!!! that fistbump between kotetsu and barnaby just feels so, so lackluster after everything! so lukewarm!

“sam did you just want them to kiss”

I don’t think that’s it? i mean not gonna lie, i would have LOVED it--the show has multiple canon queer characters, like of course there’s Fire Emblem who basically got a whole movie to flaunt being the best okama ever, but there was also the one lesbian NEXT who was sad that her hot butch girlfriend had dumped her, and then Ruby has two dads if I parsed that correctly, and then there’s Pao-Lin and Lara--

but no i don’t think that’s it. it’s just. these two are so important to each other, whether it’s romantic or not. and their partnership is ending. and that’s just. that’s that? that’s it? no scene of bunny out there heroing on his own while kotetsu and kaede fondly watch? they even set the stage for bunny to take over the wild tiger mantle and then did NOTHING with it. (though props to one friend for being like “hell yeah barnaby was inside tiger” fuck yes)

(ALSO FUCK YES KOTETSU GOT TO PRINCESS CARRY BUNNY FOR LIKE 5 SECONDS??? and their relationship is so solid that neither of them even comment on it???? I LOVE THEM)

so while there’s that last little clip with the image of tiger and barnaby in the hero museum, emotionally it just feels like the real ending was chopped off. like the studio is holding something back. and certainly there’s more of ouroboros we could explore. but where do we even go from here? kotetsu has NO MORE POWERS (which, btw, ballsy move on sunrise’s part, i’m genuinely impressed, but i’m also scared of what they’ll do in s3 because a lot of anime haaate actually committing to taking powers away from their characters and will then bend over backwards to return their powers or equivalent to them. please do NOT let mattia develop a drug that gives kotetsu his power back, do NOT, i don’t want that. make kotetsu deal with his body taking its course dammit!)

so like, idk. i really enjoyed this second season a lot, and while i don’t think they fucked up the ending, i don’t think i can confidently say they stuck it, either. :(

but that’s only if this is meant to be the conclusion to the series. if they _are_ gunning for a third season....

well i hope they fuckin get it then and i hope they do a damn good job and i hope kotetsu and barnaby fuckin KISS! FUCK!

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (13-19 Nov 2022)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😍 👂‍Ocean's Echo (Everina Maxwell, author; Raphael Corkhill, narrator) - same universe as Winter's Orbit but completely unrelated so you absolutely can read this standalone. where WO was a sci-fi romance, this is more a romantic sci-fi. Lots of space military and politicking and being used as pawns in everyone else's games. I absolutely adore Tennal, who shows up to everything with an "I think I will cause problems on purpose!" mindset and Surit, whose steadfast moral compass makes him a great soldier right up until orders conflict with that bone-deep conviction. I also really dug the expanded world building; genuinely hope there'll be more books where we get more of it.

😍 Itsy Bitsy Yoga (wearing_tearing) - reread, 59K - Stucky no powers AU with single dad Steve and toddler yoga teacher Bucky - soft & fluffy as a fleece blanket straight out the dryer

😍 Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots (The Cabots #3) (Cat Sebastian) - every book in this series is solid gold and this is no exception - great execution of the 'didn't realize we were already dating' trope. also Cat had this to say about it in her last newsletter and I think it's so dead on accurate: Earlier this year I read a slew of Kirk-McCoy fanfic in which those two fools didn't realize they were dating. I was enthralled. Delighted. Mesmerized. I took to social media to complain about the lack of this trope in commercial fiction and, predictably, within 48 hours was drafting this book. And thus was born Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots, in which two people love one another very much and then later on realize they've been in a relationship all along. I think (and I'm spitballing here) that there may be something inherently queer about this trope, maybe because in order for it to work, the characters pretty much have to be in some kind of queerplatonic relationship to begin with. Also, there may be something queer or queer-friendly about how even discussing this kind of relationship involves getting into the weeds about what constitutes a relationship in the first place, which kind of goes against the grain of a heteronormative prix fixe one size fits all relationships? 

💖💖 +107K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

love you like rlb (orphan_account) - MCU: Stucky, 3.4K - reread of this fave - forever grateful the original creator chose to orphan it and leave it available rather than remove it entirely

Ninety-Nine Problems (lordeofstucky) - MCU: no powers omegaverse, 27K - reread; semi-traditional omegaverse with some absolutely premier dirty talk from steve

Stevie Doesn't Know (aaliona) - Stranger Things: Steddie, 34K - a fun little rock star/barista AU

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

The Big Brunch - s1, e1-3 - this has the same peaceful vibes as the original flavor GBBO and I love it

Death In Paradise - Christmas Special 2021; s11, e1

Leverage: Redemption - s2, e1-3 - delighted to have my beloved thief family back again

Abbott Elementary - s2, e8

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Ologies with Alie Ward - Bryology (MOSS) Encore with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer

Switched on Pop - Willow Smith rocks harder

Decoder Ring Plus - The Truth About #TheDress

Vibe Check - All Skinfolk Ain’t Kinfolk - this podcast is THE BEST WAY to start your Wednesday!

It's Been a Minute - 'Abbott Elementary' gets teachers

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Trailing of the Sheep

Shedunnit Book Club - Clerical Crimes

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - African Heritage House

99% Invisible #405 - Freedom House Ambulance Service: American Sirens

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Larry Spring Museum of Common Sense Physics

One Year Plus - 1942: When Internment Came to Alaska

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Tanks of Flamenco Beach

Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - Synth War II: Digital Doom

Song Exploder - Omah Lay "Never Forget"

Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster - Ep 151: Rob Brydon

Into It - 'Wakanda' Over It or: How I Learned to Come to Terms with 'Black Panther' Ambivalence

Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster - Ep 21: Dara O Briain

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

my "Invisible Miracle Sledgehammer" playlist - basically just all of Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins & Mike and the Mechanics discography 😆

CREDITS: Joe Strummer

Meet Me @ the Altar

The Donnas

Swinging Sixties Hits

Bruno Mars Radio • Upbeat

[toomanylegos]

Back at it again with another post about my journey through/thoughts on The Magnus Archives! This time, I'm tackling Season 2 of the horrifying podcast : )

Also, a small warning, this post is much more wordy than the last Magnus Archives review. I felt like sharing a lot of my little experiences this time and I didn't know how to shave the writing down 😅 So, yeah, it's gonna be a read.

Without further ado, I present...

My Journey Through Season 2 of The Magnus Archives!

!!!MAJOR Spoilers for MAG S2 Ahead!!!

So, I gotta admit, it was really hard to get back on the MAG train because I just needed a break after S1. That and school picked up for me again, so my free time got eradicated. The thing that got me hopping back onto the train was Eggo, my other lovely friends, and my bad habit of accidentally spoiling myself 😅

I roleplay with Eggo frequently and we like to use MAG characters in our roleplays. I like having a full visual of what a character looks like, so I obviously looked up some fanart to see how other people have drawn the MAG characters which, uh, gave me many questions and even more encouragement.

On top of that, my other friends were zooming through Magnus Archives like nothing and I certainly didn't want to be left in the dust! Not to mention that Eggo kept dropping little hints about future events without spoiling too much; even warned me about how Jon will get "very paranoid and turn into a bit of an ass in Season 2."

Damn you Eggo you magnificent bastard-

Anyway, I continued the second part of my auditory journey on March 27th and finished it on April 12th; I decided to take notes on each episode as I listened to help keep my thoughts together. Notes which I then polished up and am now going to share since I thought it'd be funny to expose my mostly unfiltered thoughts about this lovely series :D

My Silly Notes~

Ep. 41

Damn Jon sounds tired already I just want to give him a hug

Oh no, the paranoia arc has started oh shit-

Ep. 42

Pretty cool story but I'm waiting for the supplemental

NO NOT MARTIN!! JON NO! HE'S JUST AN INNOCENT BEAN!

Ep. 43

Man, even the police is pulling cover ups. Makes sense though.

Oh shit he got access to Gertrude's tapes oh shit!

Ep. 44

Oop- Gertrude recording 👀

Okay apparently body horror is the thing that fucks me up

Patience is a virtue Jon, and I'm worried about how paranoid you're getting. I've seen Marble Hornets I know the writing on these walls

Ep. 45

Ima be honest I spaced out in the middle of this statement, and then came back to right when the guy got all the blood sucked outta him exCUSE ME-

Every time Jon comes on with his frantic voiced supplemental I always sigh heavily

Oh shit Martin caught him-

Jon, my brother in Christ, you're stalking Tim???

Ep. 46

My flight or fight response went off at both the mention of a bookstore and the name Michael. Bro the statement just started-

"It was February when I got the Leitner book." moTHERFUCKER NOT AGAIN-

Figured it was The Vast yikers

Considering Sasha got fucking bodysnatched last season, I think I have a good idea about who's going into the tunnels

Oh shit spiders? The Web?? Funky monkey time???

Ep. 47

Oh, this poor woman. She went through a real House of Leaves situation

Nice hearing Jon say he believes a person's statement out loud

Eggo mentioned something about Micheal and doors and now I know what they meant and I am so down

Whomst??

Oh fuck it's Micheal-

OH. MY. FUCKING. HELL MICHEAL!

I take it back I'm not down-

Ep. 48

"...he felt he should at least let me know that I was marked." "...telling me to remember my mother. To keep her face in my mind." Oh. Oh, this sounds familiar...The Stranger?

I was incredibly wrong, but the statement is still terribly nerve-wracking since I'm not fond of large crowds

Well, at least Michael warned Jon about Sasha albeit vaguely

Oh shit Jon got told on!

Not Elias being on the suspect list. It's gonna get wild

Ep. 49

Butcher shop? Cannibalism?? We doing a cannibalism???

Nope it was way worse

Oh Sasha's computer keeps breaking I wOnDeR wHy-

Tim being the honeypot of the group has me cackling-

Elias being a pothead in college also has me cackling

Ep. 50

Love hearing more about Robert Smirke. I'm genuinely curious about him and his weird architecture

Damn this statement has me at the edge of my seat! Jonny Sims truly has a gift for storytelling dear goodness

Oh Tim! It's nice to hear his voice again : )

Tim completely misunderstanding why the policewoman keeps coming around to see Jon made me laugh into my pillow

Oh my Lord I'm sobbing Tim my beloved-

Ep. 51

Ding ding ding! Another name drop: Simon Fairchild! Last time I heard that name a guy got eaten by the DAMN SKY

Oh shit that means this is gonna involve The Vast fuck-

It seems Jon has caught Sasha staring at the table and got a recording of them chatting about it. Very glad about that

Ep. 52

Damn! Another name drop: Robert Montauk! I'm super interested in this statement

Oooh! Jon's getting another Gertrude tape let's go!

"No, the hot one" lol I'm crying

And the awkward explanation y'all I'm dead-

The lights are blowing and the water is bad I am seeing patterns

Thank you nightlight for turning off right when the statement mentioned the completely dark ass room; very appropriate

Another name drop: Maxwell Rayner. I don't remember where I've heard it before though...

Jon just sounds so tired. Please rest my dude

Ep. 53

Woo-hoo! Another statement with Gertrude! And it's both direct from subject and recorded on my birthday :D

Oh this one is rough

Ep. 54 to Ep. 68

Notes have been lost due to failure to save my draft before closing out Tumblr (I'm on mobile)

Ep. 69

Oh Martin, Jon... 😢

Jon why in the hell would you think it's a good idea to go alone oh my god sir

Ep. 70

The statement just started and I'm already being mildly jerked around by the dark humor

This journal is giving a particular energy

...well shit, rest in peace Christopher...

Yup this has gotta be another damn Leitner

Oop- I stand both corrected and disturbed

Ep. 71

New fear unlocked: Subway trains

Annnnnd we're back on the body horror hnnnnngh

This is the most straightforward statement I've ever heard damn

There's someone living in the tunnels, but at least Jon decided to stop going down there 😂

Ep. 72

Revisiting Maxwell Rayner the cult leader let's go!!

👀 🍿

And we back on the cannibalism ho boy

This statement writer thinks like me and I'm kinda unnerved by it...

"Meat is me" I felt my veins turn cold shit-

Holy. Shit. So many name connections!

Ep. 73

Hell yeah! We getting Basira's account of Maxwell Rayner's arrest!!

Okay, I already don't like the dark; this whole statement is just making my minor fear towards it worse

A cult never dies, Jon. It just sleeps for a while...

Ep. 74

As someone who likes to stay up, this one is...deeply upsetting

I also woke up sick so the description of physical fatigue matched up perfectly with how I felt this morning so that added some eerieness-

"Sleep is for the weak," is something I quote often as a joke. This statement made me shiver at the phrase.

Micheal scares the shit outta me

Welp I knew Not-Sasha was lurking in the tunnels, but who the hell is the other guy???

Ep. 75

Man with a lightening scar...why does that sound familiar...?

Ooooooh I remember now

This just made my fear of heights worse ack I do not like Michael Crew

Oh shit! Officer Basira came through hell yeah!!

Ep. 76

Yoooo the ghost hunting lady is back! Melanie King!

Haunted train you say?? 👀

My jaw is dropping at the first hand account from the guy on this train Holy crap!

It's. Not. Sasha. Jon! Listen. To. Melanie!

Ep. 77

Let's hope this Gertrude tape can help give Jon the push he needs to take care of Not Sasha

Hell yeah!! Thank you Gertrude you just gave Jon some very good information!

A proper name for the creature: The Not-Them. An aspect of The Stranger. So much good information...

I'm sorry, it travels??? Horrifying

Jon, my brother in Christ, please don't do this on your own

Ep. 78

The amount of concern I have for Jon, oh my gosh bro-

Something about this scenario just sets off a primal fear in me

Decker...why does that sound familiar too?

AHHHHHH!!!

And now I know why it was in the damn table

Oh, oh Jon....

Please listen to Jon please please please

Ugh or don't cause he shouldn't be alone I'm so torn-

Jon no nononONONO WRONG MOVE!!!!!

Hello Michael 👋 how's it going

hahaha I'm dying

Ep. 79

...are we really opening with one of Martin's poems right now?

Oop- never mind Tim and Martin are on their way! Haha

This is gonna be bad

Oh Martin, my heart goes out to you-

AH SHIT JUMPSCARE

Tiiiiim you can't leave him bro-

Yeah, you kinda jumped the gun Jonny boy...

Oh shit-

Boys, please stop fighting-

Micheal I swear to everything-

I'm not okay Holy shit

Jon, I love you dude, but shut up you'RE TRYING TO HIDE

I'msotenserightnowmyhandsareshakingholyfuck-

"The house of its enemy with the biggest eyes you've ever seen" oh how telling! I'd be intrigued if I weren't fucking terrified

I can't handle Jon breaking down I'm about to cry oh my god-

WHOMST IS THIS NOW!?!

I feel like I need an oxygen tank cause I can't breath enough holy fuck bro-

Ep. 80

I figured Sasha was dead, but...damn, it still hurts a little cause I liked her.

Leitner? As in the Jurgen Leitner?? Are you fuckING KIDDING ME BRO??!?

At least he's...helpful so far...

Yes, your master, Jon...hehe

At least Leitner is taking responsibility for his actions. Can't hate him for that.

I absolutely adore how everything is tying together in this episode. It feels so neat yet still so mysterious, like I'm getting answers, but not as many or as fast as I would like. I love it!

"...something with too many teeth and limbs like knives" "...ran into a door that shouldn't have been there" 👀

Damn, 20 years?? Goodness, Leitner...

"I-I didn't know Gertrude had assistants." "Of course, three of them. Each meeting an unpleasant end." For the sake of both Jon and his remaining assistants, I pray he's not part of a chain either...

Mr. Leitner you are a well of much-needed information huhuhu~

So that's where Eggo got the ant analogy...

Micheal is named The Distortion and The Spiral. Good to know.

I had a feeling it was Elias- wait Gertrude was going to destroy the archive??

Jon, we don't have time dude

Oh shit oh fuck I have fear-

The Unknowing???

THE WAY I FUCKING JUMPED EXCUSE ME WAHT-

Oh Martin, you sweet bean...

Bro, days??? He's been gone for days???

Oh no....

TL;DR

I firmly believe that the goal of any series should be to improve as they tell their story; The Magnus Archives achieves that goal beautifully. Last season, there was some episodes that I didn't find very entertaining. This season, however, I was enthralled by nearly every episode.

The writing, the reading, the sound design, everything just got better and better!

I felt my blood run cold and chills run up my spine several times throughout this season; I was all in on the mystery of Gertrude's murder; I was nervously biting my nails as Jon slipped further into paranoia and Not-Sasha continued to be more suspicious...

I am beyond excited to move on to Season 3 and, eventually, finish the entire series! I have truly and wholly fallen in love with this series 💚💜