#spyglass ooc

[icyrose-cat]

comfort

[the-blank-crossing-os]

OOC icons for art fight!

[loomisheir]

i know that’s right!!!

[loomiskiller]

the scream franchise ended with vi.

[widowshill]

roger burke divorce walked so that sparbossa divorce could run.

[percentstardust]

chad is an icon because he is a himbo that simply cannot die. he is a new horror trope. the immortal himbo.

[evebeforethefall]

HDM ADAPTATIONAL RAMBLES

i’m still not over the fact that we got the atom speech AND the “let’s come back every year” speech pretty much word for word in the show. like, this is a show that has proven they care SO MUCH about the source material (jane just being a lingerer with pullman until he greenlit her to make it is such a mood).

could they have done masriel in series three better? yes, of course, we could have had much more with them. but them cutting midnight is literally my only gripe with the entire show.

like, this is how book adaptations should be. and using long form television to make it too. 💙

[torebelwasright]

and now i do need t·a·s threads...

[travellers-log-lawrence]

ooc post

Hello! Archer is going on a short hiatus (against my will) since I can't play No Man's Sky for a bit and I have no backlog anymore. I'm still around though, and if anyone has some questions about Archer (or in general) I'm down to answer OOC! No pressure, just putting the opportunity out there. My hope is I can get back to playing by Sunday or Monday. (Many thank-yous and some shoutouts under cut because I'm incapable of writing a short post)

If you'll permit me a few seconds to be a sap--thank you very dearly to everyone who follows, interacts, or even just looks at this blog in any way. It brings me great joy to see people enjoying my silly story with my silly little Traveller (who desperately needs a hug). It's absolutely wonderful getting feedback like this on one of my creative endeavors.

And a special thank you to everyone who's sent in asks. Dear lord. I didn't anticipate the sheer amount of people who would be reaching out as fellow Travellers, and it is absolutely wonderful. Multiple of you have made me cry on several occasions with how heartfelt some of your messages have been. And the goofy ones have made me laugh, and the thoughtful ones have given me a chance to really think in depth about Archer's character--I love every single one of them! (Also the advice. Spyglass, you have revolutionized how I get money right now.)

Also, if you like my blog and don't already follow them, you should go check out @iteration-anomaly and @thrice-iterations! They're two other in-character blogs from more experienced Travellers. They also do more goofy interactions than I do! (I love the commentary you two add to my posts, I just cackled at the responses to Archer using his phase beam)

Ahhhh. Sorry, I am very long-winded. (Though you'd probably be able to tell that by the sheer amount of posts on this blog already.) TLDR is I 'preciate y'all a lot, I 100% recommend following Anomaly and the Thrice iterations, and if you have any questions about Archer that you wanna ask OOC, I'm here!

[storytellingdreamer]

Watching Granada Holmes: The Final Problem

See my other granada holmes recaps here. 

So I had a choice this week. Either watch two episodes in the one week and watch FINA before a planned trip - or wait until next week. Obviously I chose the first option, so am now forced to wait to see Empty Hearse until after I get back. It feels poetic. I like it. 

This will be a LONG recap - when I first watched this episode last night I was almost incoherent with feels and these recaps have always been a way for me to process those as I re-watch. 

The first thing about this episode is that, of course, it’s not your usual story. No case, really. (The thing about the Mona Lisa is mostly window dressing.) No, the focus is the Moriarty Problem. 

The Doylian reasons for this are well established, and Granada makes it all the more heartbreaking. The moments where the (ACD canon) narrative stretches thin are given new context, and painful purpose. 

For example, the Doylian reasoning behind this story demands that Holmes and Watson do things that feel slightly OOC for a Granada story. Holmes doesn’t tell Watson some things - deliberately hides them, in the case of the spyglass moment. Watson doesn’t act or ask questions about some things. After all the time Granada’s spent building up the Holmes and Watson Team dynamic, it feels a bit Odd. 

Yet in the same breath, the script, Brett and Burke’s body language and dialogue delivery, all of it, gives the answer as to why. Holmes was scared, and wanted to protect Watson. Watson wAs allowing that, humouring (caring for) Holmes and hoping that some time away might do them both good (protective of Holmes in turn). Granada’s shift in positioning of their dynamic makes this episode all the more tragic. It makes the ending hurt all the more. 

Also, remember how in my review of Resident Patient, I railed against  “voiceover flashbacks”? Well. My position was tested this episode. There are decent chunks of the narrative that are told via those here. Most of the time, however, it actually works. 

Why? It’s simple. The voiceovers for this episode are Watson and Holmes, no one else. Granada TV has spent the episodes leading up to this one establishing “Watson as narrator” by inserting a Watson voiceover at various points over the top of some scene from Baker St. So we’re primed for it to feel more real than some of the other voiceover flashbacks did. We are then further primed by the way Watson’s introduction in this episode is by one of those narration scenes ... and what he says in that voiceover: “it falls to me now to tell the story of Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty”. 

We are directly told that we are listening to Watson recount the story. A story that has already happened. And that becomes one HELL of a gut-punch in the feels by the end. 

Onto the actual recap. 

The music in this show is EXCELLENT - the ending music last time was more sinister, and this episode’s opening tune is more frenetic. It made me sit up and take notice instantly. 

Very “!!” intro - split second of confusion that resolves into Holmes fending off three attacks in quick succession. No slow start this time. Also the title card coming after the intro as an actual card is an emphasis in itself 

Ominous music again... very spooky tinkly music. 

And yay, Watson! ... hang on, that’s a view from a scope, like a sniper gun or something. Thus, the tension continues to build. Only increasing at what Watson says in the voiceover, and what he finds inside 221b. 

Bless Mrs Hudson. She knows more than she lets on, and in this scene we catch a glimpse of one such thing. The change in her demeanour from exasperated but fond housekeeper into worried friend (of sorts) and back again is beautifully done. “... I didn’t like the look of him...” 

Watson’s expressions, too, are excellent - he knows Something Is Up. Though not everything. 

 AHHHH! The juxtaposition of Watson’s “safe and secure as ever” with the scope and the “blind” man!! And that bloody tinkly music again! It’s an obvious framing thing, but it works for me. 

Holmes’s entry... and here we are with the scene-setting of “Holmes is bloody scared (and very tired) about all this.”

That request for a match was not just because Holmes’s hands were sore. He wanted Watson’s closeness for comfort. 

Holmes’s flashback was the most boring part of the episode for me. I know it’s setting up Moriarty’s desire to get rid of Holmes, but it’s just not as interesting as what happens after it. 

Knowing me, it’s probably because it’s Holmes rather than Watson narrating. Holmes doesn’t have the cover of the Usual Narrator role after all. 

Also, the bit with the naked model was a bit of a WTF moment. 

The scene where Holmes announced how they would catch the thief then helped the gendarmes do so was good though. 

Then, after Watson helps Holmes get to the point, we see Moriarty for the first time this episode. 

I do like Eric Porter’s portrayal of him. Polished with threatening villainous potential always lurking near the surface... without being too over the top about it. 

The scowly expression... and the nails of an elegant gentleman, even if he mostly uses them to tear up paper and scratch through forgeries. Quite the detail, that!

Watson and Holmes’s little domestic moment back in 221b is lovely. Any H/W content this episode is precious, and this one is untainted by the later angst. 

A shame Watson had to interrupt it by prompting Holmes about the morning visitor. Nice touch of timing, Holmes saying “ow!” like that. Unable to be stoic after Watson’s question distracted him, perhaps?

Ah, the Moriarty scene. Some nice moments in the wordplay, if one overlooks the ACD canon words about “frontal lobe development” and such. 

No, really, once I got over my wince at that, the rest of the dialogue, and the way Porter and Brett play it, is marvellous.

Watson’s look at Holmes, after, as he says, “If he doesn’t close upon you first” is heartwrenching in its concern. 

Holmes says things about Moriarty and his gang being captured “Monday next”... and we start the clock on the “how much does Holmes really know, and what isn’t he telling Watson?” storyline. 

For if Holmes is so sure that Moriarty and gang are to be put away, why is he wanting to go on holiday now? 

Yes, his life has been threatened three times already today, but surely his life would be threatened wherever he went until the criminals were safely in gaol? Wouldn’t London - the place Sherlock Holmes knows best - be safer?

We know the Doylian reasons behind these things, but the character acting (etc.) in this episode makes us forget them. 

You’re left with a story in which Holmes knew he was staring death in the face, and he wanted to try meeting it on his own terms - by going on one last adventure with his Watson. 

Bravo, Jeremy Brett, and bravo John Hawkesworth (writer and adapter), for selling that impression to me.  

The next ten minutes of run time are a game of cat and mice, where only one of the “mice” knows the full scope of the problem. The other, Watson, is being deliberately kept in the dark, and is trying to enjoy the holiday. Though he still worries for Holmes.

For example, the thing with the boulders... “a common enough occurrence in the mountains”. True, but ominous all the same.

The telegram from Mycroft about Moriarty escaping the net comes - leading to Holmes and Watson’s painful discussion about the possibility of Watson returning to England. 

“You will find me a very dangerous companion, now.” [...]

“Would you be rid of me?” 

“No!” [...]

“I’m not leaving you, Holmes. Not unless you order me to go.” 

... *inarticulate screech* If that’s not the most “!!!!” moment... 

Then THE SPYGLASS bit occurs. 

W: “See anything?” 

H: clearly saw a man with a gun in the distance, who’s now gone to ground. “No, nothing. But it’s time we were on our way.” 

This was when I started muttering at the TV things like, “Holmes! Just tell him - argh, why...” - in addition to screaming inarticulately. I was beginning to understand what Granada’s adaptation had set me up for. Heartbreak. 

The bit with the note drawing Watson away perplexed me on first watch, even as I understood what Granada were doing with the episode. But on second viewing, it’s actually an excellent example of the whole thing. 

During their time in the Alps, Holmes hasn’t told Watson that they’re being followed and are in definite, not just perceived, danger. 

So when the note “from Herr Steiler” - a trustworthy source in Watson’s mind - comes, of course Watson believes it. 

And Holmes (whose facial expressions when Watson isn’t looking at him speak volumes) lets him go, because it means his Watson is safe. 

*inarticulate screech of pain*

Oh help, the intense music has started again. 

I wish they’d timed Watson’s look back slightly differently. Perhaps we’re supposed to think that he didn’t notice Moriarty’s approach because Moriarty disappeared behind the rock? It does seem like an odd detail for Granada’s Watson to overlook, so I’m going with that. 

Eep, the look of confusion-turned-dawning horror on Watson’s face as he questions the innkeeper then runs back the way he came... 

Brilliant staging with the bridge under the waterfall overhang, showing Holmes and Moriarty in classic showdown poses, then Watson the next scene later. Excellent partly because we can’t tell exactly how far behind Watson is... but the implication is he’s only a little behind. 

But still too late. 

My heart breaks for Watson in the scene above the falls. HERE is where the beauty of the voiceovers come through. 

The way his voice catches between, fumbles over or emphasises certain words sells it for me. “It - was the sight of the alpenstock (sp?) that turned me cold, and sick. He had not gone to Rosenlaui.” (Pain. all the pain. Just from that little voiceover.)

Also, two facial expressions of his stand out here - the one where he reads that Holmes had suspected the note was fake ( :( ) and the one after the dramatised fall, where we fade back from the mist to Watson’s devastated expression. 

The confrontation scene that he imagines almost snaps the tension though. Honestly Granada, that fight scene is ridiculous. *facepalms* I only allow it (barely) as the grief-stricken imaginings of Watson’s mind. 

Fortunately, there’s the bit at the end to bring us back to where we started, with heavy hearts. I love so many things about this bit. 

Circular narrative. The final words are framed as if spoken just before Watson’s introductory bit at the start. Granada has split up the first and last lines of the opening paragraph of ACD’s canon story to bookend the episode. It is heartbreaking and I love it.

Speaking to the camera. After telling us the story all episode through the voiceovers and such this technique also works beautifully. Giving us that moment of connection and shared grief. 

You know that “gut-punch in the feels” moment I mentioned earlier? This is that. I tear up every time. 

All the more poignant because this is, in fact, the last time we’ll see David Burke as Dr John Watson. I’m still not sure how I’ll cope with that. 

Then, with the beautiful (different!) violin ending music... Granada’s The Final Problem is over. As is this recap. If you’d like to read more words about the episode, Plaid Adder’s review is excellent. 

[icyrose-cat]

hi i said I'd post some catifications

[the-blank-crossing-os]

I guess i should post sneak peeks here too

[aita-blorbos]

AWTA for conning old Davy Jones? (ooc: long one, mostly because it is based off a 20 minute long song)

I guess it all starts on that day, the first of december. We (the captain and I) spotted a wrecked ship with no crew in sight. We weighed anchor and headed to shore. Climbing through a sharp break in the hull we found a man hanging from the rigging. Bloodied, beaten, bruised and dangling he rasped "beware you ignorant fools! Do you not know the look and the sign of a ship when she's taken surprised and asunder she's torn, mast, rudder, and plank as though caught by foul winds in a tempest from hell. Then comes reeking a black stench as a thousand dead rotting sailors it seems and before you can jump ship and make for land you are lost for that is the breath of the beast?"

He died after finishing that.

We thought nothing of it until three years later, on the first of June at Tortuga. The sky turned green and the sea, red, and before the captain could rouse me or the crew a maid rushed in and told him "we are under attack, come with me." It was a ruse, he was lured to the ship and then the ship was set alight, with him aboard. When I woke, I found the crew gone and the captain dead.

I found another ship to sign onto, and kept on till the thirteenth of march. We (not the captain and I, the crew I had signed onto) had just unearthed our trove of treasure, we had one more journey to make before we could disband.

Then a storm came in an instant, and soon from the deep came a reeking black stench, it seemed like a thousand dead and rotting sailors, and soon I saw the face of the beast.

The other captain shouted "To arms! put fire and sword to the beast, to fight is our only hope!" We rallied with cannon and sword and the captain himself cut out the beasts heart, and died in the act.

I repeated the first line of the warning I had heard four years before, and an old man who survived next to me said "Every sailor and scalawag knows of the beast, by the green of the sky and the red of the sea. This is the work of old Davy Jones - he'd have dragged us down to his courts." and continued "there is a girl that I know at the tavern down by the bay. Her hair is red as the flames of hell and her tongue drips with honeyed lies. Her skin is pale as silk-covered bones and her eyes are as green as the sea when it crashes and pulls you under to sleep until judgement."

They appointed me captain, and I felt I had business with the maid whom I had met before.

On the twenty seventh of may we reached tortuga and divided our plunder, and I went in search of that woman. I found her in a brothel where I gave a few coins to have her sent my way. I followed her to her chamber and she offered a cask inlaid with gold, which I knew to be my doom. After I drank she cried

"Beware, you ignorant fool! greet my husband when you descend to the ship that will never set sail!"

I fled and cried "though my spyglass had seen through your plans, still the loneliest hearts may be swindled and bled"

I was greeted by a dead man, the flesh eaten away from his skull.

"welcome, you're a corpse among many, I'll take you to see Davy Jones"

Well the captain had been here eleven long months and denied Davy Jones his service every day of them. He recognized me and pleaded Davy Jones to not hurt me.

Davy jones said "this isn't the last you've seen of me nor the first, but it may be the worst. This man who stand before you, beloved of yours is he not? Trustworthy to the end he has come to save you from rot. I'll be plain, I need a crew, and you have denied me eleven months as if you had something to prove. Withhold yourself today and my wrath will come in full to your crew and this man who wished to save you.

The captain agreed to serve, and me as well.

It was midnight after thirty long years of work so that Davy Jones may leave on his ship to find his bride and his heart when the captain pulled me aside and said "the repairs are nearly all made, when the anchor goes up and the sails will raise and Davy Jones will be away."

I realised that that would be the worlds doom and asked the captain of it. He had in secret planned.

he said "

"Davy Jones I have done as you said, Every order fulfilled without fail. But now we're going home, and we're leaving you here— It is you who shall never set sail!"

Davy jones scoffed "it is my ship, what gives you the right to come aboard. "

He said that he was the first innocent man down here that Davy Jones came to trust.

Davy tried to play our sympathy, but the captain saw through him. We pushed davy off the deck and raised anchor for fiddlers green.

But what if Davy Jones was not lying, what if just leaving this once would have him let go of his hate. Surely then we should have listened to him, but Jone's deeds were that of a heartless killer and slave-driver, so I do not know what the proper course was.

[sharp-teeth-and-archived]

( ooc ): It's so funny to me that the Battle of Setauket gif of Hewlett cringing when lowering his spyglass is so meme worthy on tumblr, it just shows up in unrelated posts

[astraseason]

me, quietly remembering the hc that claude snuck his spyglass into fodlan anyways despite his mother telling him not to, given she didn’t want it getting confiscated from him if it was discovered--

[paradisecost]

zzapzzaptasers replied to your post: “Captain, what does this word mean?” Riona pointed...

(I will never get over how much fun the word mizzen looks tbh)

I KNOW RIGHT IT’S DELIGHTFUL.