#season 5 musings

[mimsyaf]

Someday I would like to write in-depth about how badly Season 5 of Cobra Kai damaged my ability to engage with that show, TKK, or even the fic or meta or fannish works around it.

It feels silly to talk about damage, because IT WAS A SILLY KARATE SHOW. But it was a silly karate show with moments of deep exploration of some of the things I’m most interested in and curious about: intergenerational trauma, restorative masculinity, the allure and danger of violence, found family and love, and finding joy and meaning in middle age - never too late to find your way.

And the writing that this community was doing, fic and meta, around those characters and topics… it was incredible. Inspirational. Deeply meaningful to me during the hardest time of my life — keeping me alive despite the isolation of the pandemic.

The fandom didn’t change. The people - whether they are still into CK or not - remain truly awesome. But the show itself did something that hurt my ability to find joy in it or anything connected with it. Someday I’d like to write about that, because as silly as I feel, admitting that hurt, there’s something I’m curious about and want to explore further: why does some writing do that, destroy a show for me, while other uneven writing I can just shrug off? What is the relationship of canon to transformative works in my brain, and how can canon sour me on transformative works in that fandom?

Also, frankly, what do women and queers see in these shows/films/video games that allows us to hurl powerful and graceful rockets of writing into the cosmos from somewhat meager source material launchpads? What are the stories we are looking to tell, and who are the creators who are equally interested in telling those types of stories? And who are the creators who traveled the same path as us for a bit, but seemingly unintentionally? Completely uninterested in the stories and narratives we go so feral for?

[physical-manifestation-of-spite]

Why yes, I will think constantly about how everything in this podcast has been building up to Episode 43. How every single season was building up to John's identity, breaking him down layer by layer. Season One was identifying what he is to the story. Season Two was identifying who he WAS. Season Three was identifying who he is to Arthur. Season Four is identifying who he is to those who AREN'T Arthur. And finally, Season Five was identifying who he is in his independence, away from everyone. He is both god and humanity, he is both good and evil, and he cannot be defined by Arthur's limited worldview of humanity and of godhood. John is entirely his own, and something to continue to learn as the season progresses, but one thing grounds him above all else: he is Arthur's friend, and he loves Arthur with everything he has.

[musamora]

twelve hours until doom.

[katherinehoughtoncastle47]

[thescullyphile]

“In four years, I have shared my partner’s passionate search for the truth.”

Mulder says this line near the beginning of Redux I, and in it, proves he recognizes something that most others in the X Files disregard: Scully’s contribution. Time and time again, the FBI and other investigators ask for Mulder’s help and insight into the paranormal because of his work on the X Files. In both I Want to Believe and the revival seasons, Scully is only shown first in order to get into contact with Mulder at others’ behest. He has the desk, and the nameplate, and the files are his life. But they’re hers, too, and Mulder has come to recognize this. Despite their differing beliefs, he recognizes that the quest they’re on is as much hers as it is his. This line reveals knowledge of Scully’s agency and motivations, that she is driven to find the truth for her own reasons, regardless if Mulder was the catalyst or not. The question is, do you really believe Scully would have been satisfied with a career teaching at Quantico? Could her innate curiosity and HIGH drive for truth and justice been so easily satisfied? She -fits- on the X Files just as easily as Mulder does. She’s not out of place. How is it that Scully can walk into Mulder’s office and within a few weeks have his implicit trust and friendship, and the role of partner for his life’s work? Because she was meant to be there, too.

[dalkyeom]

and you kiss me in a way that’s gonna screw me up forever!

[note-boom]

I'm trying to catch up with BSD s5 now that I have time and I'm less than 2 minutes into ep 2 and already I'm going insane and shaking someone's metaphorical shoulders because, because -

"I trusted my soul."

"Actually, I had no way of knowing if they'd believe me."

That's how a story WORKS. The story only has power over you so far as you give it power over you. And if you are a reader or the author of a story, you have that choice to break free from the narrative that's entrapping you. It's like when we get so invested in a piece of fiction and it starts taking over our lives and we have to take a step back and go, right...this is fiction. I know what reality is because I am an individual soul, not a narrative's character and plaything and this story only have power over me as much as I give it power. The characters in BSD might be the characters of the BSD narrative, but they are not the characters of the Book. They are people. Unpredictable, beautiful people that even Ranpo - who CAN predict everything that follows the pattern of a story - cannot fully predict. Because you cannot predict a person's actions or thoughts or future, you can only trust in them

[claudiatherelentless]

Thinking about Nadjas line

"You could've been turned by a Legendary Vampire and instead you Gave It Away to Derek?!"

And like. Obviously she was talking about Nandor but at the same time, Guillermo knows and has encountered So Many Vampires who are legitimately Legendary in their own right like

Nadja who was not only Sired by Baron Afanas but was handpicked to be one of the overlords of The New World, she was also called up to serve on the Worldwide Supreme Vampiric Council, and then gave them the middle finger quit her government job and opened a nightclub she's probably known Worldwide

Laszlo, another person chosen by The Baron, he's literally Jack The Ripper, and he seems like he's got a pretty good reputation in the vampire community

Baron Afanas himself. Do I even need to say how cool he is?

Carmilla. Literally the second most famous vampire after Dracula. [The Countess who was one of the representatives of the Vampiric council who came to dinner]

The freaking Sire Himself. The literal OG[ornery grandma] of Entire The Vampire Race.

But instead of having any one of these cool ass vampires turn him he went to a literal rando off the street.

Another thing is, in most Vampire Lore there's an almost Monarchical hierarchy amongst Vampire Bloodlines, and all signs point to a similar social structure in wwdits.

Guillermos not even part of the same Vampiric Dynasty as the rest of the household. He's a Bastard Vampire sired by a Bastard Vampire.

Who knows who Derek's Sire is? Either Guillermo killed them in his massacre or they abandoned Derek after his turning.

[fortheloveoflatinum]

Unsolved Mysteries of Disco

🦋 How in the heck did Disco spore jump without Paul or anyone seeming to be manning any stations but the Captain's chair?

🐝 Why Michael got back together with Book - a man who betrayed her on the day they met, which is forgivable, right, they just met, kiss kiss make up; but then he betrays her, the crew of Discovery, the entirety of the Federation, and the whole rest of the galaxy. Albeit out of grief. Also is it really a good idea to fall in love with the very first person you meet on your one-way trip to the future? There's a whole galaxy out there, Michael!

💖 What *actually* happened to Oros?

🏳️‍🌈 Did Adira and Grey ever meet again? Or did it kind of dissolve into well-thanks-for-letting-me-transcend-death-is-it-alright-if-we-start-seeing-other-people that quickly?

💐 What *was* Paul's legacy? I love him. I adore him. I wish the show had been about him. Give us a gay captain! I mean, besides Kirk, who is clearly in love with his Number One, Spock.

🙏 Is there a limit to how many Commanders can be on one ship? Or how many Captains can sit in one chair? Ahem might as well ask how many angels can dance on the head of that pin. Thoughts, Aquinas?

🙀 And finally, why didn't we get seven seasons?

[sage-nebula]

Thinking about how when baby Tails met little Sonic, and Sonic was so nice to and supportive and encouraging of him, and that was the first time in so long that anyone was nice to or actually liked Tails, and so an achievement was unlocked for Sonic: Miles Prower will now die for you.

And then a little while after that, when Tails tells Sonic that he's already got the best family, and that Sonic is his best family, and he loves and cares about Sonic more than anyone else, and so an achievement was unlocked for Tails: Sonic the Hedgehog will now die for you.

These brothers just love each other so much, I cry.

[kyliafanfiction]

There’s really no indication that Wolfram and Hart actually had any real plan behind bringing Darla back. Like, apart from ‘mess with Angel’s mind’, it seems clear from 2x07′s final scene they weren’t expecting Darla to give him a happy, so what on earth was their plan? Bring on the mauve phase that we see later? That sure accomplished so much for them.

Wolfram and Hart never really seemed to have any plan for Angel, beyond fuck around and find out.

[decreedfate]

//damn it I wanna rp as Sam so bad

[quenchiestcactusjuice99]

okie I am taking a break from house md for a bit

[trsf-theblog]

S5.E4 "The End" Musings

Okay, okay, I thought of something to discuss! I've got the boys playing on my TV as I (attempt to) write and it's the 2014 Croatoan episode. This is one of my favorite episodes. But I have thoughts! And questions! So why not share them :)

It's never clarified in the show, but I always assumed that Zachariah didn't throw Dean into the future so much as...craft one that served his purposes. My reasoning!

Chuck: Chuck as God ditched once the apocalypse was averted in the OG timeline (end of Season 5). I don't think he'd stick around in the Croatoan verse. Zachariah obviously didn't know Chuck was God, which is why I think he threw him in. (side note: this could also be because the writer's hadn't decided Chuck was god yet, but since we're going with canon, it is what it is :D)

Future Dean's Behavior: It's not out of character for Dean to be cold, hardened, and angry. It worked so well for this episode. But the fact that like, the second thing out of his mouth is "Say yes to Michael" just had a liiiittle too much of Zachariah's influence. It was very convenient, serving the angel's purpose. Perhaps too convenient. Not to say that Dean didn't go through a lot. Oh boy, he did. But I always felt even a broken Dean would have had a couple things for 2009!Dean to do, and saying yes to Michael wouldn't have been the first (and only) one.

Multiverse: the show never clarifies how time travel works, so it's hard to say if Croatoan 2014 was an offshoot of the timeline. A possibile future, but not the only one. I like this theory more than there being one fixed future. Which is why I think Zachariah either rooted around for the perfect one (he's kinda too lazy for that...), or picked one close enough and made some tweaks.

Angelic Pocket Dimensions: The show did make pocket dimensions as an angelic power canon (at least archangels). Zachariah may have the ability, or may have asked Michael to craft what he needed (I'm not entirely sure it's Michael's style, so this may be a little wiffle-waffly)

Dean Suspects its a trick: Dean even asks Zachariah if this is a trick, and that douche only says "the time for tricks is over". Convenient, now that your last trick is over :D It's just too fitting for Zach's normal tactics for it not to be at least somewhat of a manipulation.

Anyhoo, nothing particularly solid, just my thoughts as I watched through it over the years. It actually took all those years before it even occured to me that it wasn't just a manipulation, and it could have been meant to be a real future. Why is this important? Omg, it's totally not XD Just the musings of a writer who may, or may not, be including this episode in TRSF (which means I may, or may not, need to define the guidelines of throwing a human into the future and/or crafting one around him). But I'm curious what other fans' take on this episode was! Do you think it was a legitmate future, untouched by Zachariah? Or a full pocket dimension instead? Something in between? Gimme your thoughts on how this one worked! And any other musings. I may or may not need the inspiration in the future XD (The way, waaaay future. Oh god, Season 5? We have soooo far to go. But let's just pretend we don't for the sake of some fun conversation :D)

[katherinehoughtoncastle47]

[yogsothott]

Was just thinking that while I'll happily push through lower sound quality in a smaller audio drama (or earlier seasons of one that gets better), I've dropped entire high production quality audio dramas I was hooked on because of an episode where some voice effect made it unintelligible or too hard to follow without a transcript. I'm down for podcasts that I know I'll need to read along to, like The White Vault with all the accents and foreign languages, but when I'm listening on my commute or walking my dog and I suddenly need to have that aid I will put it off forever. Plus transcripts aren't even guaranteed.

Granted there were other factors, such as having caught up on backlog and I'm 100% more likely to drop something I gotta watch/listen to/read episodically, I was like that even when my choice was between finished or ongoing stuff n the Netflix full season drop style has only made me worse. But even so, even within my weird ADHD brain that is terrible at finishing things I'm not actually bored of there's some factors that can make it 100 times worse n more likely to happen.