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jamlavender · 4 years

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Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss: Mrs Coulter, misogyny and the His Dark Materials TV show

The show went hard on misogyny as a vital part of Mrs Coulter’s backstory, and I want to talk about how they did it, and why, and how it might have been done better. This is quite long (when is anything I write not, let’s be real) so it’s under the cut. Read on for thoughts on women, power and fictional villainy.

As a quick disclaimer, though: I’ve enjoyed the show a lot! I’m so glad they made it! Ruth Wilson is mesmerising as Mrs Coulter! There’s so much to appreciate about the show overall, including many aspects of Mrs Coulter’s portrayal. But the HDM team have also made gender politics and misogyny very explicit themes of the show – particularly season two, particularly season two, episode five – and I think it’s fair to critique that.

Let’s be clear: Mrs Coulter is a villain. She murders kids by tearing out their souls. She kills and tortures friends and foes alike without a second thought. She abuses her daughter. She upholds and advances a totalitarian regime. She’s a Bad Person, as confirmed by God himself with the unforgettable line: “You are a cesspit of moral filth.” She’s fucking terrible, but, in life as in art, many of us are fascinated by how such awful people are made. What drives someone to commit atrocities? I am keen to see such questions examined in fiction, because I don’t think exploring a character necessarily means excusing their actions, and because it’s interesting (I mean, of course I find her fascinating, I’ve written a novel’s worth of fic about her). However, after a few snarky comments (“What sort of woman raised Father Graves, do you think?”) and some subtler commentary on sexuality, gender and power (her unsettling MacPhail with the key in the bra in S1E2), S2E5 drew a weird line between sexism in Mrs Coulter’s professional and academic life and her vast and senseless institutionalised child murder, and the longer I’ve sat with that the more I’m like: what the fuck?

Look, Mrs Coulter doesn’t tear apart children to search for sin inside them and poison Boreal and break a witch’s fingers because she’s experienced sexism in the workplace and in her education. That’s… a very odd thing to imply. We have to remember that there are lots of women in Lyra’s world, all of whom will also have experienced sexism, misogyny and other forms of marginalisation (many in more expansive and pernicious ways than Mrs Coulter, who’s a woman, yes, but also white, wealthy, highly educated and very thin and beautiful), and none of them are running arctic torture stations. She will have experienced misogyny, absolutely, and that will have affected her in various ways that inform how she approaches her work, but to imply that being denied a doctorate is the reason she became a sadistic killer is frankly bizarre. Here are a few of the lines from that episode with my commentary:

“Do you know who I could have been in this world?” What does this mean? If she’d been roughly the same person in our world, the answer is: Margaret Thatcher, which is probably a step down for Marisa, all things considered, because the Magisterium is far more autocratic than any recent Tory government and would be a much easier institutional environment in which to enact her cruelty. What we’re supposed to think, clearly, is that she’d have been a different person: a scientist and a mother, and she’s had this realisation because she saw a woman with a baby and a laptop and had a three-minute conversation with Mary. This doesn’t make sense. We live in our world! It’s less repressive than Lyra’s world but it’s hardly a gender utopia. If Mrs Coulter had chosen the scientist-and-mother life (which, as I’ll revisit later, she could have done in her world but chose not to because of her megalomaniac tendencies), she’d still have been affected by misogyny here too. Our world is not kind to young mothers, nor young women embroiled in scandals, nor is the world teeming with female physicists. It might be a little better, sure, but it’s hardly as if those gendered challenges would have been solved.

“What do you mean she runs a department?” This is just the show forgetting its own canon. Marisa, you ran a massive government organisation (the GOB), including a huge murder science research initiative in the Arctic. That’s a much bigger undertaking and much more impressive than running a university department in our world. Pull yourself together.

“But because I was a woman, I was denied a doctorate by the Magisterium.” This is the show flagrantly ignoring the source material to make a clumsy political point. In the books, there are women with doctorates (notably Hannah Relf, also a major player in the new Book of Dust trilogy) and at least one women’s college full of female scholars. Now, would that women’s college likely be underfunded and disrespected compared to the men’s colleges? Almost certainly. But saying that is different than saying “I couldn’t get my doctorate!” when women in Lyra’s world can. The show knew what point they wanted to make, and were willing to ignore canon to do so, which is frustrating. Also, given that there are female academics and scientists in Lyra’s world, and that Mrs Coulter is a member of St Sophia’s college, it’s clear that she could have lived that life if she so desired. But she didn’t want that, because being a scientist and academic at St Sophia’s imbues her with no real power, and that’s what she craves.

I’m not opposed, in theory, to exploring Mrs Coulter and misogyny in more depth, but I think doing so through an examination of the sexual politics of her life would have made a lot more narrative sense and been much more powerful. It’s better evidenced in the text – her using her sexuality to manipulate people and taking lovers for political sway is entirely canon, as is her backstory where genuine love and lust blew up her life – and it links much more closely with the most shocking of her villainy, which involves cutting out children’s dæmons to stop them developing “troublesome thoughts and feelings,” referencing sexual and romantic desire (and what Lyra and Will do to save Dust is clearly a big ‘fuck you’ to those aims). She even says this to MacPhail in TAS, “If you thought for one moment that I would release my daughter into the care - the care! - of a body of men with a feverish obsession with sexuality, men with dirty fingernails, reeking of ancient sweat, men whose furtive imaginations would crawl over her body like cockroaches - if you thought I would expose my child to that, my Lord President, you are more stupid than you take me for.” Don’t get me wrong, she’d have been a villain regardless, but I do believe that there’s a much stronger link between her sexual and romantic experiences and her murder work than between professional and academic stifling and child murder. It would have been a lot more interesting and a lot less tenuous.

However, the show is trying to be family-friendly, and digging into why this terrible, cruel woman might want to cut the ability for desire and love (and other non-sexual adult feelings, I’m sure) out of people could get dark. We know that the show doesn’t want to go there, because they’ve actively toned down her weaponising her sexuality: in the books, she has an established sexual relationship with Boreal, whereas the show made it seem like she’s been stringing him along all this time, and made it about potentially ‘sharing a life’ together rather than fucking, which was clearly the arrangement in the books. Also, I think Ruth Wilson said she and Ariyon Bakare filmed a “steamy scene” together, and given that only a single chaste kiss between them aired it must have been cut. I think they deliberately minimised the sexual elements of the text, particularly regarding Mrs Coulter (the mountain scene with Asriel, which I did still love, was also a lot less horny than in the book) and replaced that with another gender issue, that of professional sexism, as if the two are interchangeable, which they are not. This is a shame, both for Mrs Coulter’s character and also for the story as a whole, because the characters’ relationships with sex and desire are an important part of the books! (If this minimised sexuality approach means that they don’t use the TAS scene where Asriel threatens to gag her and she tries to goad him into doing it, I’ll scream). Overall, I think they missed the mark here, which is a shame because I also think it could have been done well, if they’d been bolder and darker and more thoughtful.

Why might this happen? Why might the show take this approach? Why might it be latched onto by viewers? Personally, I think the conversations we have about women and power are very simplistic, which leaves us in a tight spot when we see women seizing power for themselves (even in fiction) and weaponising that against others, not just other women but people of all genders, because we struggle to move past ‘women have overall been denied power, so them taking it ‘back’ is good,’ even if that immediately becomes a hot mess of white, corporate feminism and results in the ongoing oppression of many people. I think we are so hungry for representations of powerful women that we – producers and viewers alike – struggle to see them as bad, because it’s uncomfortable to be so intoxicated by Mrs Coulter effortlessly dominating the men around her, subverting systems designed to marginalise her for her own benefit, and generally being aggressive and intelligent and ruthless, and then realise that you are entranced by someone who is, objectively, a terrible, terrible person. It can be hard to realise that if you channelled the energy of someone who mesmerises you, you’d be the villain. So instead of sitting with that (more on this below), a lot of legwork goes into reworking her villainy into, somehow, a just act, a result of oppression, as her taking back power that has been denied to her, rather than grappling with the fact that for anyone to desire power in such a merciless way, even if they have to overcome marginalisation to get it, is really, really dangerous.

The joy, of course, is that Mrs Coulter is not real! She’s not real! Adoring fictional characters does not mean condoning their (imaginary) decisions, nor do stories exist for each person in them to fit neatly into a good or bad box so you know who you’re allowed to love. Furthermore, fiction can be a fabulous tool for exploring and interrogating the parts of yourself that, if left to bloom unexamined, might perpetuate beliefs or behaviour that cause harm to others. Mrs Coulter doesn’t need to be a feminist or taking down the patriarchy or a righteous powerful woman to illuminate things about gender, power and feminism for those reading and watching. In fact, it’s important that we explore what happens when women (most commonly white, wealthy women, as she is) continue to perpetuate brutal systems under the guise of sticking it to ‘men,’ because it happens all the time in the real world, and it’s a serious issue. Finding characters like Mrs Coulter so cool and compelling doesn’t make you a bad person, but it might tell you something about yourself – not that you want to be a villain or kill kids or whatever, but something about how you relate to your gender or women or men or power – and that knowledge can be useful! We all have better and worse impulses, and finding art that helps us make sense of ourselves, both the good and bad parts, is a gift that we should relish.

Anyway, tl;dr, Mrs Coulter doesn’t need to be sympathetic or understandable or redeemable to be brilliant – but you wouldn’t know that from how she’s been portrayed in the new adaptation.

#his dark materials #marisa coulter #my analysis #this might be controversial idk #more thoughts that no one asked for #hdm meta

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bigg-city-riders-au · 3 years

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A Close Encounter

This takes place just as the two captains are getting ready to take off, and try to undo the curse. TW for violence, intense scenes, and some angst.

Captain Star made sure the supplies were secure in the small shrimping boat he had managed to buy at such short notice. Such an offer had been scarce since everyone else in the city had fled, either by car, bus, or boat. He looked back at the man in black, Captain Zero, his once competitor, now an unlikely ally as he stomps his cigarette out.

“Are we ready? Anything we missed? Might want to go over the list of supplies we have.” Zero narrowed his eyes at Star, who shook his head.

“We went over the list three times already. We need to get going as soon as possible if we are to get this taken care of before anyone else gets killed.” Captain Star sighed, looking back at the dark port. What was once a place of bustle and noise was quiet, and desolate. It was almost eerie. Captain Zero looked at the boat his hesitant ally had chosen. It was small, so it made it easier to get out of the port unnoticed, but was it enough to get them to where they needed to go? Only time will tell.

“Alright. Let’s get going while it’s still nighttime. We can use the cover of darkness to hide.” Captain Zero climbed into the small vessel, looking over the controls, and wheel. Deep down, he was afraid. Afraid of what may happen if they fail, or if one of the tugs manage to get out of the port, and cause more havoc. He pushed those fears to the back of his head. He couldn’t let his fear get the best of him. Otherwise, the port, and the citizens alike will likely be destroyed.

Captain Star nodded, and climbed into the boat, turning the engine, making the small boat start right up. So far so good. He could hear thunder rolling in the distance. Hopefully they can beat the storm, and get out of the port. He was almost about to take off before stopping when he heard the water being disturbed.

Zero immediately shined a flashlight where the noise came from, but saw nothing. Now he was on edge, looking around, and listening closely. The port was practically pitch black, with the exception of a few lights that remained undamaged in the tugs’ rampage.

“I don’t see anything.” Zero shined his flashlight in the other direction, and the color left his face at the sight before him, or rather behind the boat. The light illuminated the tug’s face. It was Hercules. He towered over them, glaring down at them with fangs bared, and venom oozing from his jaws, some of it landing on the boat. The venom easily corroded the metal shell within seconds. Zero was left trembling in utter fear as the ocean tug lifted his claws that looked similar to anchors out of the water, and slammed it down next to them, making the ground shake, and sending a shockwave through the water as Hercules snarled at them, eyes feral, and glowing with a ravenous hunger.

Star felt the impact, and looked back. His eyes grew wide at the sight of the tug, feeling both terrified, and heartbroken by how much of a monster this curse had changed the usual level headed Hercules into. He immediately turned back to the controls, and the boat took off at full speed. He didn’t dare to look back as he heard the deafening roar of Hercules. The whole port seemed to shake from the raw power from it.

….

Hercules let out a powerful roar before quickly taking off after the small boat, easily keeping up with it, and gaining on the two humans. He tried to snatch one of them right off the boat, but barely missed. Zero clung to the boat for dear life, terror clearly seen in his eyes. Oh how much did the ocean tug enjoy a good chase. Whenever the boat would turn, he would follow, easily turning on a dime. These new abilities… This new body gave him all the more of an upper hand over the two humans.

….

Zero can only scream as he watches Hercules easily rip through obstacles with his razor sharp claws. It seemed with every turn the boat took, Hercules kept getting closer, and closer. He could feel the tug’s hot breath beating down on him. It reeked of blood, and felt like a mighty blast from a furnace. Hercules opened his jaws, and unleashed a blast of flame at the boat. Zero immediately ducked and covered just before the flames would have burned him to a crisp. The heat was immense, hotter than dragon flame. If it were a direct hit, the boat would be destroyed, and they would be dead.

Star could see an opening leading to outside the port come into view, glancing back at the massive ocean tug, he immediately made the boat go to it’s maximum speed. Everything seemed like a blur now. One wrong move, and he and his colleague will be dead, and the curse will never be undone.

….

Hercules immediately stopped the moment the boat reached the open water, knowing it would be a waste of energy to pursue it now. He lets out one last roar for good measure before it dies down to a whine as the darkness within him lightens up.

He blinked, looking at the boat disappearing over the horizon before looking back at the port. He had left a trail of destruction in his wake, and almost killed his own captain to boot. He whines like a dog, and looks down at his claws, now feeling sick to his stomach, knowing what may have happened if he had been only a little faster. He lets out a choked sob. Why can't he be normal again? When will this end?

He never had wanted to kill anyone until now. The blood lust was simply insatiable, always demanding more than before. He didn’t know how much longer he could take this. He can only hope that his captain can fix this.

He lets out a screech as he feels the curse start to take hold again, struggling not to give in. He didn’t want this to happen again. He kept pushing the urges back until they finally overcame him. He closed his eyes, and sobbed, letting the curse overtake him once more. When he opened his eyes, his eyes were feral once more. The level headed tug was not there, only the beast remained. He snarled at the direction where the boat went, frustrated that he had lost a potential meal before silently retreating into the port.

#this is tugs #TUGS Hercules #TUGS Captain Zero #TUGS Captain Star #curse!au #tugs au #bigg city port #my writing

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borkthemork · 3 years

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Here are some deleted scenes from Falling Down Dry, enjoy!

----- [CHAPTER FIVE]

If the king really did have that much faith in her, then why would Marcy say no? The whole term didn't sound bad. If guard training had anything to go by, it sounded like a school — a school full of not only organized turntables and schedules but the potential to learn how a sword works in actual combat — and when it came to school Marcy knew how to balance her time well.

Whatever happened, she needed to think smarter, not harder.

"The training toward the role of guard is a perilous and back-breaking commitment, Miss Wu," Lady Olivia explained. As they past an intersection, it became clear to Marcy that the guards that accompanied them were getting tensed with each second. "Best for you to be careful, and make friends to guarantee your safety."

Marcy cocked her head. "Have you been here before, Lady Olivia?"

Lady Olivia stared at her, perturbed.

"It's just that you seem to know about this place in a lot more detail than I expected," Marcy said. Was it alright to ask that question? Lady Olivia did seem the kind to remain secretive, or at least unappreciative of people meddling in her business. Marcy relented nonetheless. "Not like you have to tell me, just curious."

Lady Olivia watched her from the corner of her eye. "I have visited the barracks numerous times in my youth."

"Out of curiosity for the soldiers?"

Their feet traveled the paths until eventually, they stopped at the administration's door.

"One can say that," Lady Olivia finally said, before she beckoned Marcy to the opened door.

At the administration office, Marcy listened and watched Lady Olivia as she talked to the head newt behind the desk. There were exchanged politics, talk of Marcy's species, at how her head tuckered low due to the barracks ceiling, and then a familiar set of questions about training, intermediate work.

-----[CHAPTER SIX]

"Understandable. It's not usual to be dropped into an alien world. From what you've told me, Earth sounds more foreign to any frog. newt, and toad in a hundred-mile radius; it makes sense for the reverse to be similar."

"Well, yeah. Back on Earth we had machines that can do math, and can basically teleport us to anywhere on the globe if we got the money for it. Although, I can say one thing. Your economy is a lot more forgiving."

Andrias arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You know how Newtopia is into the exchange of coppers?"

"Yes. Go on?"

"Well back home, they're basically useless. Three hundred coppers here can mean a whole life supply of beetle burgers, but for us that's enough to get us a pack of bubblegum."

"I don't see the problem here. Bubblegum is a serious industry in the city." When Marcy stared, he could only snort. "Just kidding. Very much kidding."

-----[CHAPTER THREE]

She had been lead down numerous roads. So many roads that Marcy had no clue where she first started walking off to and where she was currently in the city. Didn't help that the city was a massive place, and that the denizens around her stared as if she was a fish out of water — but that could be with the fact she was a legit fish out of water but they didn't have to worry about.

The newt general who escorted her — Yunan, if she could recall — had taken the time to lecture along the way of her military exploits.

That wasn't bad. Actually the idea of a newt general telling battles from the sand wars out in some desert area to the fact she was the youngest newt out there to conquer the ranks of the military was the most exciting parts to learn about this world.

She didn't need to worry about handcuffs too. From what Yunan told her, with the pound of her chestplate and the huffed from her chest, was that she didn't need to worry of Marcy running. And even if she did, she wouldn't get far. Which was the coolest and most terrifying thing to ever be told to her if she wanted to be honest.

Eventually the surroundings turned to higher elevation. The more she peaked at the horizon, she spotted the cool glimmer of the moon amid the tides that Marcy always suspected. The iridescent waters, the crisp brine air, the glimmering lights of the sleepy town city — an absolute delight to look at, made her lose her breath by just the sight of it.

"No stalling, creature." Yunan shoved her forward. "Sightseeing isn't going to save you under King Andrias's scrutiny."

"Well, that's a bit of a bummer," she mused.

After all, the sight of Newtopia looked absolutely lovely to look at, even more so than the lookout points Marcy liked to go to in the outer areas of Los Angeles. Something about this place reeked of nostalgic. Perhaps it was because the whole place screamed of fantasy aesthetic or that there were too many questions to shove into her darn brain. Those were all possibilities.

For now, however, Marcy just a little happy walk, climbing up the spiraling roads while the newt groaned behind her.

"Stop that! This is no happy matter!"

Marcy smiled and ceased her fidgeting. "Sorry, sorry, I'm just so excited. You have no idea."

"Yes, I do not have a single clue as to why you're like this," Yunan huffed. She kept puffing out her chest, seeming to try to catch the glimpse of the armour's metal in the moonlight. Not a bad look too. "You're supposed to be shriveling up in fear, especially under my presence."

"I don't know, dude. I mean you're a really high-class authority when it comes to this society, and I think that's really neat that you're so loyal to the king like this." Marcy meant it all too. There was always something rad about a person who knew what they want and what they wanted, grabbing the opportunity rather than having it slip to the wayside. "Especially with your claws out. What type of metal is that?"

Yunan blinked at her. She chuckled momentarily, and sheathed the blades back into her gauntlets. "Well, well. You see here, my blades were gifted to me through trial by combat in the sand wars."

Marcy gasped. "No way!"

"It is all the way!" Yunan exclaimed. "Rivorn the Scornful wanted my head way back before I garnered my many medals. He harbored jealousy, malice, and wanted to trick me by having me battle unarmed."

"And you knocked him out of the park, didn't you?"

"I crushed him to death!"

"Yeah! Wait, metaphorically or—?"

Yunan continued however undeterred, brave tears shimmering in her eyes as she once again showed off her blades in a few open slashes. "In the end he gave me his gauntlets, and I'd entrusted my safety to them ever since."

"And," Yunan continued, "We have arrived."

#amphibia #I wanted to put yulivia somewhere in the chapter but I realized that putting too much info on Olivia early on would be weird so I waited #for Olivia's arc #personal #actually I HAVE A SHTITON OF DELETED SCENES FROM FALLING DOWN DRY YOU HAVE NO DIEA #If you want to see them feel free to tell me #BUT YOU CAN SEE WHY THEY WERENT INCLUDED #IN THE FINAL DRAFT

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ihatetaxes99 · 3 years

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A Brief Retrospective Look At MVA (In The Anime)

Well. Here we are. Every end of the time is another begun. After what has felt like years of anticipation (mostly because it actually has been years), My Villain Academia has been fully animated. Well, "fully" may be the wrong word here, but that's something I'll get into later.

To honour the end of the arc, I decided to do two things: One, I re-read the entirety of the arc in the manga all in one sitting; Two, I rewatched all five episodes of the anime's adaptation back to back once again. My life is pain and I know not of sleep. Anyway, the reason I did this is because of a little project I proposed to myself back just before the first episode aired; Once MVA was done and dusted, I would go back and give my own retrospective on the whole thing. Because why the hell not, sounds like fun. This will also hopefully be less emotional than my thoughts I shared as the episodes were still airing, but who knows?

So, let's begin. And I wish to start by stating that My Villain Academia is my absolute favourite arc in the manga. It did a lot of things right. It focused entirely on my favourite faction, the villains. It offers a glimpse into their lives and goes a long way in humanising them, particularly Spinner and Shigaraki. It sets up key points for others too, such as Mr. Compress' habit of thinking more about the bigger picture than the others, which would factor into his major reveal during the Paranormal Liberation War and of course the formation of the Front itself. It introduced us to Rikiya Yotsubashi, one of my favourite characters in the manga, even if he honestly peaked in this arc and was never as good again. And it gave us a large-scale, grueling fight for supremacy in which I found myself actively rooting for the League. It is, in my mind, the very best of BNHA, the only arc I would want them to do well in the anime. They could screw up literally everything else and I would be happy if MVA was even just as good as the manga, it didn't even need to be better. I would have been delighted to have an excuse to experience the arc all over again, seeing my favourite moments with the sublime soundtrack and voice acting.

Yeah…

But before I get to that, let us take a little trip of sorts down memory lane to see the road to MVA, what led to it. So, 2021 rolls around. What a fun year. It's just 2020 without the excitement of everything being so uncertain, and frankly it's been really fucking boring as a year. However, BNHA Season Five was announced. In February, we get the first trailer for the upcoming season. It's... It's fine. Obviously, it focuses heavily on the Joint Training Arc (in fact, that is all it shows) and although I despise that arc with a passion, it's not too bad. I had not watched the anime since Overhaul ended, so my plan was I just wouldn't watch JTA and would wait until the big attraction, MVA. And so, Joint Training starts. And it goes on. And on. And on. I checked back almost two months later to discover it still wasn't over yet. Now I found this odd. Joint Training Arc was horrible for many reasons, but the big one was that it dragged on for so long as a result of Horikoshi's health complications, which is by no means his fault. But, surely the anime, which would consistently release on a weekly basis, wouldn't have the issues associated with this. Episodes of BNHA have always encompassed around three to five chapters, and Joint Training's were shorter than usual, so why was it taking more than ten episodes to adapt it?

Very strange, but I didn't question it much. Then, the key visuals released, confirming that MVA was at the very least happening. Great, wonderful. I love it. We've got the whole gang there, seeming like they're in Deika, looks pretty good.

Wait, did I say whole gang? Yeah, my bad, there was someone missing. Spinner. Now, I am not the biggest Spinner fan so I wasn't prepared to riot over his exclusion like I would have been if Compress wasn't in it. But this was starting to get strange. Spinner was the main narrator of MVA. Even if his importance was not on the level of Shigaraki, Twice and Toga, it was certainly more than Dabi and Compress, who did both appear in the art. Why was he excluded? Obviously, I bet you're all having a good old chuckle to yourselves right now because in retrospect, this makes perfect sense now.

Alright, then. I heard from a friend around June time that Joint Training was finally over. Awesome, great, time for the good stuff- why is there a Christmas episode here?

Yes, this was probably what really started to get the alarm bells in my mind going. The Christmas episode- in June. Very, very strange. Also, absolutely no mention of Rikiya, which even if they were reshuffling things, I would have expected him to appear in the episode of Bakugo and Todoroki getting their licenses, since it directly ties in. Concern levels rising, I shrugged it off and waited for next week.

Bam. Major reshuffling. Now, Endeavour Agency comes first, fuck you if you want context for who the hell the PLF are or the significance of Destro's memoirs. This was really starting to worry me now. I told myself that the key visual meant that MVA had to be happening, but it was starting to seem like the villains were being shafted. A fact not helped by the new OP.

Look, I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain or whine, but season five's second OP is just bad. The music is fine, I have no problem there. But the visuals are just awful. Not only is there an extended focus on that stupid bloody trio of Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki, not only is there more screentime given to characters who don't appear in MVA or EA than the main cast of the former, but the animation itself is just so stiff and lacking. It had potential, but the visuals are the worst out of any recent anime opening I've seen in a good few years and this was what got me really panicking.

Boom, a beach episode smack in the middle of Endeavour Agency to promote the upcoming movie. Boom, adapting two chapters per episode during EA. Boom, the Shirakumo episode, which I always thought was part of the War Arc and not EA. But finally, mercifully, the title leaks came and it was revealed that episode 20 of season five would be the start of MVA.

20. Out of 25. And it was pretty obvious that they weren't going to end the season with MVA, so really, up to 24. Ohhh no…

But hey, I'm an optimist sometimes. I was excited to just finally be clear of all this nonsense and get to the real good stuff. Hell, in preparation, I watched the entirety of the season up to that point. I finally realised why JTA took so long and it's one of the most depressing things I've ever learned, in a bad way. Were all those flashbacks really necessary? EA was okay, as someone who as a manga reader, already had the necessary context for the PLF stuff. The beach episode, I watched half of, got too bored and skipped the rest of. And you know what, I liked the Shirakumo chapters. They weren't as good in the anime, but it was nice to see.

And then, finally, in comes episode one of My Villain Academia, on a cold, dark August morning. I even bought Crunchyroll Premium to watch it as soon as possible, I was excited. All the messing around, all the crap, it was finally over and the time had come to enjoy what this season was really all about.

I can now safely say why Bones kept pushing back MVA, because if I was them, I would be embarrassed to show this.

No, that's not fair. I promised I wouldn't get too snarky, so let's reek things back in. As a whole, MVA has been… fine. Just fine. Not good enough to justify the bullshit, but not horrendous (mostly.) In fact, right now, I'll give a ranking of the episodes, my worst to best:

5) Episode One

4) Episode Two

3) Episode Three

2) Episode Five

1) Episode Four

Yeah. So, there's a clear pattern here, that things more or less got better as time went on. From just straight up bad, to still not great, to alright, to the final two episodes being what I would comfortably call good. This is not a good look. I'm sorry, but Episode One, an episode that I just called bad, is still one of the season's best in spite of that. That spells out awful things for this season as a whole. But what exactly made this such a disaster?

Well, cut content is the big thing. MVA in the anime cuts out:

The League's battle with the CRC

Their struggle with poverty

The sushi joke setup

All of Spinner's character

All of Rikiya's character, including most mentions of Detnerat and Miyashita

Fairly integral pieces of Skeptic's character

Most of Giran's integrity and bravery

This doesn't look too bad at first. It could be far worse. We got basically everything else from the arc, so what? Well, I would already be annoyed about all of these cuts, but the issue is that they cause a knock on effect. Without the establishment of the League's poverty, the payoff of Toga's duffle coat now makes no sense. Without the setup of Spinner's characterisation, his battle with Hanabata now feels hollow. Rikiya's surrender to the League now makes even less sense, as his love of human life and desire to cause no more death is completely non-existent. The first time Rikiya being a CEO is mentioned is in the closing minutes of the arc. The sushi scene is hamfisted into a two second flashback just so that the payoff makes some sort of sense, but again, it is hollow without it being at the start (this is also the first mention of the League's poverty and it literally happens just as they are freed from it.) Can you see how these little seemingly unimportant cuts spiral into bigger problems? I would have been pissed even if they hadn't caused some tremendous cascades, but the fact that they did just makes this from a subjective issue to an objective one.

Yes. They did some things well. Toga's backstory is mostly intact, SMP is just as satisfying as the manga, Tenko's backstory is one of the best things the anime has ever done, the awakening is very well done, I adore the PLF formation as much as I did in the manga. Everything important is intact, but as I keep saying, you cannot just keep the bare minimum and expect it to work. How about in the next arc, they decide to cut everything involving Bakugo out, and only keep him jumping in front of Midoriya because it's the only absolutely necessary thing he does in the arc? People would be pissed, and it's the same thing that's happening here. It's a problem, it's not just a bad adaptation, it leads to bad storytelling in general.

The animation. Now, I do not believe this is a be all, end all. BNHA's anime is never going to look as gorgeous as Horikoshi's art, that is a fact and I do not begrudge them for that. They have a week to draw hundreds upon hundreds of frames, it's not a process that lends itself well to good looks and the animators and artists do their best with what they have. This does not change the fact that it is extremely hit or miss. Some things, Tenko's backstory in particular, look fantastic. Other things, mostly every action scene, make me laugh at how bad they can look and some things, particularly Twice and Re-Destro's hideous designs in the anime, make me cringe. The lighting is also an issue. Garaki's lab looked fantastic, but every other scene is just boring mid-afternoon with dull, basic lighting. I don't expect huge detail, but sometimes, it fails to achieve competency and as an extremely popular show, I don't think that's okay. I don't blame the animators, I blame the higher ups. And while I wouldn't mind the poor animation and art in an MVA that at least has all the story content, this does not have that and so I am even harsher than I would have been.

MVA was rushed. That's not up for debate. It took forever to get to it and once it came, things moved so quickly that they gave me whiplash, with no time to think or lament. Now, this could be attributed to the story structure of the arc, which is essentially a series of big fights, and it just isn't as bad in the manga because I can stop at any time to catch my breath. But I think it's worth noting that the anime at least highlights these issues. Curious dies in the same episode where she first appears, really driving home how pointless she was in the end. Episode Two alone tries to cover everything from the journey to Deika up until Jin finding Toga's body. That's a lot of content to fit in one twenty minute period and it was bound to feel messy in the end. I will say that, much like everything aside from the animation, this did get better as time went on, with episodes three, four and five adapting more reasonable amounts of content, compared to one giving us almost nothing and two giving us too much.

At the end of the day, that was it. The show's over. MVA has been closed in the anime. It will never be given a chance to improve, to go from just fine to anything even close to the manga. Why did this happen? I don't think we'll ever truly know. Some blame the new movie, others the studio's lack of faith in the villains, and there are those who say that it's just how fate turned out. I personally think it's a combination of all of these things. Without the movie, that beach episode wouldn't exist, giving more time to MVA, without the studio's hesitation, we'd perhaps get stuff like an actual good OP and perhaps some more general hype for it (I mean, MVA didn't even get a trailer.) Whatever the reason is, we got what we got. My verdict is something that's very overplayed as of late, but seriously, just read the manga with the fantastic soundtrack playing in the background. The anime's adaptation of MVA is not worth the time investment, when you could read the manga in roughly the same length of time and get more content, a more coherent plot and beautiful artwork.

So, what may come next for Season Six? I don't know. Season Five has definitely been one of the most unpopular seasons in the anime, with a lot of people speaking out against it, but this mostly seems to come from the Western fanbase, so it's up in the air if Bones will learn from their mistakes. Since they'll have a full season to do presumably the War and Rouge Deku arcs, then I feel like they'll put on a better show. But we just don't know. Spinner had his spotlight stolen this time around, will Compress suffer the same fate in Season Six? Dabi and Toga will probably be handled well, since they have inexplicably high amounts of popularity, but with his own lack of recognition rivalling Spinner's, I can see Sako ending up much the same way. Time will tell, I suppose.

#my villain academia #mva #league of villains #Meta Liberation Army #studio bones #bnha season 5

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army-of-mai-lovers · 4 years

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Ok I just finished book 4 and thus the series as a whole, here are my thoughts:

1) first and foremost: Korrasami. It was beautiful. It was gorgeous. I wept. I’m weeping as I write this. It was really gorgeous. I don’t want to criticize it because I know just how big of a moment that was for gay representation in children’s stuff, that it was the blueprint for a lot of the other LGBTQ+ rep in kids’ animation I’ve watched and loved. That said, I do wish that Asami had gotten more character development prior to Korrasami happening. I really don’t feel like I know much more about Asami now than I did at the beginning of the series. I know a lot of stuff with their relationship had to be censored and like, I get it, it was 2014. But the stuff about Asami’s relationship with her father was really interesting and I would have loved for that to have been explored in more depth, and idk, she just had interesting character traits. She’s an ace at pai sho, she’s a female inventor, she’s the only nonbender on Team Avatar. I would have loved to see more of her friendship with Bolin, or what her relationship with Mako looked like post-book 2, or just anything really. It does bother me that Varrick got a whole character arc and Asami was just kind of...there, the whole time. Idk, I think if both Korra and Asami had more and better development it would have been even more amazing and wonderful than it already was. And that’s the perfect segue into:

2) Korra’s book 4 arc!!!!!! if you missed my 3438098908080 liveblogs about it, I loved Korra from the start, and it was really hard to watch her get beaten down time and again, only for her to say that she *had* to go through all that to be “compassionate” when I knew she was compassionate from the moment I met her. The way she was written throughout the show just reeked of racism and sexism, and I wish the writers had seen this awesome character they created, who was strong and fierce and good and powerful from the very beginning, and, to paraphrase @bluberry-spicehead , let her be. She deserved so much better than what the writers were willing to give her. Maybe when I was younger, the idea of having to go through immense suffering to be good would have been appealing, but having been through a lot in the past year, trauma doesn’t make you a better person. If you become a better person, it is in spite of trauma, not because of it. I really think the way they wrote her sends the wrong message and I wish they had done something else (and there was so much more they could do!!! It really was not necessary for them to make her suffer so much and then try to justify it later!!!)

3) in terms of the series as a whole, I definitely think in terms of purely technical things, book 4 was the best season by far. However, in terms of comedy, book 1 was the best season. Simply nothing will beat the Amon is Tarrlok’s secret brother reveal.

4) I meant to have a prediction of who would get a secret sibling reveal this season (since it happened in the other 3) but nobody got one so I guess all my bases were covered.

5) oh speaking of hcs, I predicted at one point or another that all of the villains were robots, and I FINALLY (sort of) GOT IT RIGHT WITH KUVIRA I FUCKING KNEW IT!!

6) Favorite good line: “Kuvira will rue the day she messed with Meelo!” Favorite bad line: It’s a tough call between “Unalaq hired the barbarians” and “Zhu Li, will you do the thing for the rest of our lives?” so I’m just going to honor them both bc they were both the result of absolutely shit writing.

7) Favorite gaang cameo: It was SLIM PICKINGS but I have to go with Katara because she was mostly unproblematic and somewhat consistently written (would have gone to Sokka but I can’t give the lok writers for having fucking killed him even though he was a true king in that flashback scene) (although tbh if he had lived they would have made him a secret war criminal who was a dick to his kids and had a brother we didn’t know about so maybe we dodged a bullet there)

8) Favorite characters: Korra, Asami, Mako, Bolin, Shiro Shinobi, Opal, Tenzin, Meelo, Pema, Grandma Yin, and of course, Prince Wu. Least favorite characters: fucking Varrick (as well as Unalaq, Zaheer, Kuvira, and Tarrlok, but tbh, mostly Varrick) (also can we talk about how so many of the antagonists were Water Tribe???? what was up with that????)

9) the setting was...weird throughout. I posted a lot about wanting to understand how the fuck the United Republic government worked and I’m going to be perfectly real with you I still don’t know. The over-industrialization, the Westernization, the fact that they could not commit to a governmental system (and I never got to see the constitution!) it was all just deeply deeply wrong. I wish that they’d hired more writers of color, especially writers from the cultures they were trying to represent, because I think there was so, so much potential in the idea of a sequel series to ATLA, and they wasted it.

tl;dr the characters of LoK were great, the writing was not, and bryke owes me and everyone else who watched the show an apology for dropping the ball

#longpost #arthur watches lok #lok crit #caps tw #swearing tw

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oshas-mailbox · 3 years

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True Freedom

((Another fic! I rewrote the ending to this at least 7 times, but I think I'm finally satisfied with it!

Word count: 722

Potential triggers: Blood, needle, and medicine mentions. Mentions of illegal scientific experiments, as well. Also MP has a mini panic attack near the end, so. Yeah. Stay safe, and enjoy!

A cold breeze immediately hit his face as he stepped inside. The ground was cold beneath his feet, old flooring creaking. The smell of mold permeated the air, faint undertones of disinfectant and formaldehyde alongside it. The whole place reeked of death and decay, somehow still better than back then. Water dripped from somewhere above, splashing into dark puddles beneath his feet. He reached an open door, leading into a cramped office. Wood crumbling as he pushed the door open the smallest bit more, he entered the office. Papers covered the floor, drawers pulled out of the messy file cabinet on one of the walls. A photo in a cracked frame sat on the desk in the centre of the room. He picked it up, tears welling in his eyes. He slumped to the floor, ignoring the chilly wetness. The too-large sweater he was wearing snagged on a loose piece of wood, tearing a bit. Tearing it loose, he looked at the photo.

A tear slipped free, falling onto the photo, blurring the image of two smiling faces. A young man in a lab coat grinned as a well-dressed woman hugged him. They were outside a large building, painted white. Several others lurked on the edges of the photo, confetti and ribbons falling from above. They looked so happy, an emotion that felt so distant. He rubbed at the photo, trying to clear the dust and tears off it. Satisfied with the cleanliness of the photo, he slipped it into the bag hanging off his right shoulder.

He struggled to his feet, ignoring the flash of pain that shot through him at the movement. Another tear slipped free, hastily wiped away with a sleeve. He turned back to the desk, almost able to hear the voice of its owner. “C’mon bud, quitting your job? Runnin’ off? Hehe, kiddo, you’re better than that! Be strong!” No such voice sounded out, no warm tones and bright smile. He fought the urge to sob as he turned away, swamped with memories. Reluctantly leaving the room, he slid the door shut behind him. The puff of dust and mold that followed made him sneeze, rubbing his face with a dirtied sleeve.

As he walked through the decaying halls, scenes played around him. White coats, angry eyes. Needles, knives, blood. A warm hoodie, bright eyes. Comfort and joy. Freedom. A quiet voice in the back of his head screamed that this wasn’t freedom, that he had just left one hell for another. It wasn’t wrong. It never was.

He passed one of the labs, cracked glass tubes scattered on the floor. Unknown substances glowed in the standing containers, floor-to-ceiling tubes half full of blue liquid leaking over the ground. He shuddered at those, clutching his bag closer. Just a little more. Just a little further. Speeding past the labs, and several other offices, he finally reached it. A white-lined cell, like one might find in an asylum. Sliding a heavy metal door open, he suddenly felt weak. Bile rose in his throat as he looked at the plants climbing over the walls. There was a massive hole in the back, leading to the forest beyond. Swallowing down the memories, the pain, the tears, he pushed aside the bushes. Finally reaching the cot on one end of the room, he reached under it, to find… nothing?

“What-t?” He whispered, legs hurting from the position he had stopped in. “No. No. Nononono p-please it can’t be missing-” He let out a choked sob, collapsing on the ground. Thorns poked at him through the sweater, catching on the bandages beneath it. “Please…” The tears were falling freely now, breath catching on choked sobs.

A gust of wind swirled into the room, bringing with it the first few drops of rain. He shuddered, pushing himself to his feet. His steps were uneven, stumbling. He hurried out into the forest, rain soaking through his sweater. He shrugged off the damp object, shoving it into his bag. The tank top underneath did little to help, quickly getting soaked. He looked at the looming OSHA building in the distance, massive enough to be seen from the other side of the forest.

He took one step forward, before hesitating.

He didn’t have to go back.

He was free.

Truly free.

And he wasn’t going back.

~~~

Ye))

#toast writes #ooc stuff #oshaverse #osha fanfiction #still scares me that that's a tag i use-#oshaverse fanfiction #mp speaks #mp lore #fuck this shit im out arc

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route22ny · 4 years

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One Life

For the love of God, white America, which part of this don’t we get?

Do we not see the armed cop’s knee pressing down for senseless, endless minutes on George Floyd’s neck as he begs for air? Do we not hear a helpless, handcuffed, unarmed man’s pleas for breath and mercy? Do we not register how the whole murderous scene reeks of ownership, control, smug supremacy, and indifference so brutal and inhumane it is sickening?

Do we not see Ahmaud Arbery being killed by white men who had no right to accost him, let alone to shoot him dead because they “thought” he might have committed a crime? Do we not see their grotesque certainty that they had that right, because this man was black and they had guns and suspicions and questions he didn’t answer?

Do we not see how, until the videos held them accountable, the law was absent?

Do we not see, amid a pandemic that is killing black people at disproportionate rates, how decades and centuries of racism, discrimination and deliberate impoverishment of an entire people perform the same function as gun and knife and knee? Do we not see the line etched through history and drawn in blood from those deaths to Ahmaud Arbery’s to George Floyd’s?

Do we not see the irony in the protests? White protestors angry over public health measures storm the holy houses of the people’s democracy in military garb, waving military weapons, to intimidate cowed legislators into bowing to their threats—and are treated with kid gloves. Black protestors in Minneapolis taking to the streets to protest an unjust death are met with tear gas and militarized police. Be peaceful, they are told. But when Colin Kaepernick quietly took a knee, what then? And who would take a knee now, a peaceful symbol forever remade by violence?

When will we finally be honest with ourselves? This isn’t about how someone protests, or whether they transgressed, or any excuse we can possibly dream of to excuse our inhumanity and push away the discomfort. This is about skin. This is about belonging. This is about who gets to live truly free in America, and even more tragically, about who simply gets to live.

When I heard about George Floyd’s death and finally brought myself to watch the sickening video, I was reminded of a poem by the Irish theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama, who for many years led Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation organization. A segment of that poem is worth rendering here:

"When I was a child, I learnt to count to five one, two, three, four, five. but these days, I’ve been counting lives, so I count

one life one life one life one life one life

because each time is the first time that that life has been taken.

Legitimate Target has sixteen letters and one long abominable space between two dehumanizing words."

One life. Ahmaud Arbery. One life. George Floyd. One life, died by gun noose fire COVID neglect poverty racism. Each the first time that life has been taken.

When did we stop counting in this country? No, better to ask: when did we ever count? Slaves were numbered as property but never counted as lives. Not until Bryan Stephenson built the National Memorial for Peace and Justice just a few short years ago did anyone bother to count and name the lynched. The ease with which we swap one precious life of a fellow human being for the cheap currency of legitimate targets stretches deep into our past and well into our present. We live in a country still doing its official damnedest not to count black votes, and in the Census, not to count lives at all.

Which part of this don’t we get? Oh, I think we understand most of it just fine. We see what we want to see, what we are trained to see. We too often ignore experience that is not ours. We choose this not seeing, this not hearing, this not caring, every time we excuse racist comments, police brutality, voter suppression, the discrimination that locks neighborhoods and families into poverty for generations. Every time we make it the victim’s fault, convince ourselves there were “special circumstances,” we lock in the guarantee that it will happen again, when we will pretend to be shocked once more, asking how it could happen in today’s America when what we should be asking is, how could it not?

I’ll tell you the part I think we miss, though, the part we never seem to get even if we “mean well”: how this affects us, all of us, even those who imagine themselves to be cocooned safely in their whiteness. How it corrodes our humanness. How it perpetuates division. How it limits potential. How deeply it degrades the country we purport to love and defend and honor. How bound we are, every one of us, to those who are killed. The perpetrators of these crimes make corpses of their victims and murderers of themselves, but they make monsters of the rest of us. In 1963, after the racist bombing of a Baptist church in Birmingham killed four young girls, the Atlanta Constitution columnist Gene Patterson wrote a blistering column indicting the ethos of the white South that tolerated and fed such vicious hatred. It could have been written today. Here is a segment, with one change—I have replaced the word “South” with “America”:

"We watched the stage set without staying it. We listened to the prologue unbestirred. We saw the curtain opening with disinterest. We have heard the play. We -- who go on electing politicians who heat the kettles of hate. We -- who raise no hand to silence the mean and little men who have their [racist] jokes. We -- who stand aside in imagined rectitude and let the mad dogs that run in every society slide their leashes from our hand, and spring. We -- the heirs of a proud America, who protest its worth and demand it recognition -- we are the ones who have ducked the difficult, skirted the uncomfortable, caviled at the challenge, resented the necessary, rationalized the unacceptable, and created the day surely when these children would die. Let us not lay the blame on some brutal fool who didn’t know better. We know better. We created the day. We bear the judgment. May God have mercy on the poor America that has so been led. May what has happened hasten the day when the good America, which does live and has great being, will rise to this challenge of racial understanding and common humanity, and in the full power of its unasserted courage, assert itself."

One life. Addie Mae Collins, age 14. One life. Carol Denise McNair, age 11. One life. Carole Robertson, age 14. One life. Cynthia Wesley, age 14.

Patterson’s point was that responsibility for ending the violence that led to the loss of those four precious lives lay with white Southerners whose sins of omission and commission seeded the soil in which such acts took root. All of society, not just people whose black skin makes them the target, must recoil in disgust and rise up with one voice to demand, no more. In the 1970s, a decade after my family moved from our native Australia to a land with an even more troubled history of racial injustice, aboriginal activists in Queensland adopted this saying: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

It was the same concept articulated a decade earlier by Martin Luther King Jr. when he spoke of the “network of mutuality” that binds us all together. We cannot dishonor someone else’s one life without denigrating our own. We cannot stop the cycle of dehumanizing violence without giving up the idea that we are doing someone else a favor to stand alongside them in the call for justice. This is not altruism; the freedom, dignity, life we are fighting for is our own.

What does that mean for America, and for white America in particular? It isn’t complicated. Stop making excuses for the perpetrators and hold them accountable. Demand better of our leaders and hold them accountable. Change the laws and policies that devalue black lives and black communities. End the practices that lock in disparity and poverty. Stop dismissing racism as just another “issue” and see it for what it is: poison in the well from which we all drink.

Recognize, finally, that this is our collective fight—a fight for the soul of who and what we are.

***

Written by Grant Oliphant, President, Heinz Endowments.

source: http://www.heinz.org/blog-the-point/blog-detail/?id=75

***

“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

#racism in america #grant oliphant #george floyd #heinz foundation #social justice

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nellied-reviews · 4 years

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The Sound and the Fury Re-listen

Well, I've reached episode 7 in my Wolf 359 re-listen, which means it's time for:

The Sound and the Fury

In which Hera and Minkowski are fighting, Eiffel gets caught in the middle, and Hilbert just wants them all to submit to the biologically superior will of the Blessed Eternal.

Straight up, I should probably admit that I forgot about this episode, or rather I didn't link the episode title to the episode's events until I was listening to it. And then I was like "oh, yeah, this is that episode" all the way through. For whatever reason, I thought, in particular, that the plant monster didn't come back until Season 2, with The Paranoia Game. That said, I love the plant monster to a possibly unreasonable degree, so its return here was more than welcome, and the rest of the episode was also fun!

We open in the middle of an argument - and for once, it's not Eiffel's fault. In fact, Eiffel isn't even involved, except insofar as he's trapped in the middle between Hera and Minkowski, and is forced to be the voice of reason as the two of them have it out.

And look, that is always going to be a funny set-up. Hera and Minkowski are both incredibly stubborn personalities, and not at all shy about asserting their opinions, so there's definitely potential for a comically drawn-out, petty argument there. And casting Eiffel as the reasonable, level-headed peacekeeper, in contrast to the two of them, is perfect. It's in character - Eiffel always has been the most pacifist crew member - but it's also a role he's just totally unsuited to, because faced with the combined stubbornness of Hera and Minkowski, he's outmatched, and he knows it.

In an effort not to get involved, then, Eiffel briefly runs through the week's schedule, in a section that isn't really linked to the rest of the episode, but is full of little oddities that remind us just how weird the Hephaestus is. They have a compulsory chess tournament that Hilbert always wins. They have movie night, but only a VHS of Home Alone 2. "On Friday we'll have mustard." It's so weird, and I love it.

We're interrupted, at this point, by Hilbert, who sounds very strange, even for him. And naturally, Eiffel ignores it completely at first, focussed as he is on the unfolding Hera-Minkowski conflict. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, for such a pop culture-savvy guy, Eiffel falls into literally every horror movie cliché. He's so oblivious!

For the rest of us, it's obvious that something's wrong, and our suspicions are confirmed when we learn over the course of his conversation with Eiffel that Hilbert went looking for the plant monster, which now seems to be mind-controlling him, to the point where he's convinced that it's "the most evolutionarily competitive lifeform on this station, the most deserving of life."

And okay, I love the plant monster, but that's very alarming, and is made even more so by the fact that it's something that Hilbert might conceivably have said anyway? I mean, it's cold and Darwinistic and smacks of eugenics, yes, but it also has a callous ruthlessness to it that's totally Hilbert's style, as well as that trademark lack of concern for human life. It's like the plant monster just exaggerated what was already there, turned the mad scientist dial up to eleven. In other words, it made Hilbert even more Hilbert-y.

Luckily, Eiffel realises soon enough that something's wrong, and goes to warn Minkowski. Minkowski, being a mature, rational individual, immediately drops her argument with Hera and goes to - oh, wait, no, she does basically the opposite of that, ignoring Eiffel in favour of continuing her argument with Hera. Great. Good job, Commander.

It's at this point, of course, that we finally learn exactly what Minkowski and Hera are arguing about. And is it petty. Turns out, Minkowski wants Hera to submit reports on the various systems she runs around the station in case there's an emergency, but also just because Minkowski wants to know what's going on behind the scenes. We don't get to hear Hera's side of things just yet, but already, we can see the irony in Minkowski's arguments. Sure, she wants to be better appraised of everything going on onboard the Hephaestus in case of an emergency - but her stubbornness here means she's missing the emergency that's unfolding right under her nose!

Eiffel's attempts to make her see sense don't really help either, at this juncture. Instead, they just get him dragged into Minkowski and Hera's argument. Which I'm sure is that last thing he wants, because those two play dirty. First Minkowski pressures him into saying, to Hera's face, that he doesn't think AIs should be trusted. And then Hera, angry, plays Eiffel's words from earlier back to Minkowski, twisting what he said around so that both parties are angry at him. As a result, Eiffel ends up walking an impossibly thin line, trying to appease both of his friends, while keeping himself out of their argument as best he can and while getting increasingly frustrated with the both of them. It's a painfully awkward situation, and I genuinely feel sorry for him.

That said, the argument that then plays out is fascinating to me, because I think it shines a really interesting light on the power dynamics onboard the Hephaestus, putting the focus on Hera and Minkowski's relationship in a way that we haven't really seen before. Up until now, after all, they seem to have worked in tandem pretty well, with Minkowski giving orders and Hera carrying them out. Here, for the first time, we see a tension between them, stemming from the fact that Minkowski, as the commanding officer, nominally has the most power onboard the Hephaestus, while Hera, as the ship's AI, probably actually has the most power, between her vast sensory array, her huge databanks, and her literally running the entire Hephaestus. Yes, Minkowski is technically in charge, purely by virtue of her being a human. But Hera, on a day-to-day basis, is actually more crucial to their ongoing mission - even though, as an AI, she doesn't get to hold an official ranking position.

That's possibly why Hera takes Eiffel's well-meaning dismissal ("It's just her programming") so personally. It's a reminder of her different, subordinate status, and it reeks of a double standard - she's right that nobody would think to blame a human's erratic behaviours on their biology. That would be patronising, right? As much as Eiffel means well, writing Hera's reactions off as mere programming strips her of her agency - something that comes up again and again in her character arc. How much is Hera responsible for her actions, if she can also be programmed to act a certain way? In what ways has she been "made" a certain way, against her will? And how can she best deal with that while still retaining a sense of agency and control over her life and identity? They're big, complicated questions, and we're only really scratching the surface here, but I do think it's a solid foundation for later developments. At the very least, we get the impression that Hera doesn't like to be reduced to her programming - and rightly so, I suspect. To some extent, at least, she is more than just the code that she is made of, just like humans are more than the sum of their biology. And that's a good thing to be establishing now, buried in the middle of a relatively low-stakes argument, before the more plotty stuff kicks off later on in the show.

And of course, it also bleeds into Hera and Minkowski's argument, which really picks up steam at this point, after an impassioned but ultimately futile speech from Eiffel about how it's a stupid fight to begin with and how making him pick sides is dumb and unfair. Hera, ignoring this, accuses Minkowski of feeling threatened by the big, powerful AI. That, for Hera, is why Minkowski is micromanaging her. It's because she's a typical human, insecure about an AI having more power than her.

Hera's point is almost immediately complicated by Minkowski, who rightly points out that the issue, for her, isn't that Hera's an AI. It's that Hera' unreliable. She keeps breaking down and glitching, and so the crew keep experiencing emergencies that could maybe be avoided if Hera would just give Minkowski the reports she wants. We've seen Hera break down as recently as last episode, and so this does kind of ring true, even if the way that Minkowski brings up Hera' vocal glitching feels like a bit of a low blow.

Both of them, then, have a point, and I think it's also worth noting that it's also, as Minkowski points out to Eiffel, a question of protocol. Whether Hera likes it or not, Minkowski is, technically, her commanding officer, and should be able to just give her commands and demand reports from her. Refusing to do so undermines Minkowski's authority. That said, Hera didn't exactly have a choice when it came to joining whatever weird sort-of military thing Goddard has going on. She never signed up for the whole "commanding officer" thing, so why should she obey Minkowski? Because she's programmed to?

It's messy, grey situation, with no clear answers, and it's worth noting that the argument doesn't really get resolved. Neither Minkowski nor Hera back down at any point. Instead, a combination of Eiffel calling them out for being childish and Hilbert attempting a coup snaps them out of it, reminding them that they have bigger problems right now. There is a time and a place for the discussion they were having. But that time is not now, and so they decide, without really discussing it, to set aside their grievances. It's not that their respective opinions aren't valid. But keeping each other (and the rest of the crew) safe comes first, and so they bond over being annoyed at Eiffel, and they set off to save Hilbert. It's sweet, in a way, and I like how quickly they both just get on with it. And Eiffel's dejected resignation at the end is the cherry on top. Bless him.

And so we get to the end of an episode that, while it's reliably funny, also gives us an outline of the main points in an argument that we probably should have seen coming. It's yet another example of how stress and tension can easily build up in the contained, isolated atmosphere of the Hephaestus - only this time, we don't get Eiffel cracking and hoarding toothpaste, we get Hera and Minkowski cracking and unleashing the titular sound and fury. The points raised get us thinking, in particular, about Hera's status, as an AI, but also just as a member of the Hephaestus' crew. Eiffel, meanwhile, is forced into a responsible, mediating role that he is neither comfortable in nor particularly good at. And at the end of the day, we're reassured that Minkowski and Hera do, at least, have their priorities straight. Arguing over reports is fine and dandy, but it's not worth getting killed over.

And of course, perhaps most excitingly, the plant monster returns. Surrender your flesh, and feed your new master :)

Miscellaneous thoughts:

It doesn't escape my attention that this is the second title that's a Shakespeare reference. Keeping it classy there, Doug

"Umm... that's all it says for Friday."

The schedule bit is basically the Night Vale Community Calendar segment, but in space

Hilbert's voice in this is sooo weird and dull and creepy ugh

I know the science of it isn't really the focus here, and I'm 100% down with that, but also how does a plant mind control people?!? I want to know!

"Our operating system is a tin-headed, insubordinate, feckless fool!"

"Sit your Swiss ass down, and take a side, Doug."

Aww, Eiffel just sounds so confused and stressed-out by the whole situation :(

And finally we get the obvious Little Shop of Horrors plant monster joke :)

I didn't go into much detail about Eiffel in this, but his speech where he finally gets them to shut up and work together again is also great and I love it jsyk

"Shut up, Plant-Hilbert." Bwahahahaha.

#wolf 359 #wolf359 #w359 #wolf 359 relisten #the sound and the fury #nellied reviews #time to overanalyse Minkowski and Hera's argument #also #plant monster!#my not-so-small herbaceous child is back #gotta love it

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ao3porcelainstorm · 4 years

Text

poison ivy & stinging nettles 26

On Ao3

Masterlist

Pairing: Sherlock/OFC

Rated: M

Warnings: eventual violence, torture, swears, adult themes (no explicit smut)

Chapter 25 - Chapter 27

Chapter 26 - Fall

The Journal of Amelia Brenner

My therapist suggested I try writing down my thoughts. She said it might help me reflect on all that’s happened, a way to take on the grief.

I don’t really have a lot to say. I don’t think. I’ve never really been a writer, words are hard to come up with. It’s fair easier to throw a bottle of red paint at a wall and call it anger.

So I’ll just write down what I know.

John’s started up with his therapist again. I guess he’d stopped since meeting Sherlock, but since everything- he’s not doing well. I don’t think any of us are.

We moved out of Baker Street. There’s too much there. Everything just radiated Sherlock Holmes and I think the memories are still too fresh for both of us.

Ruthie is letting us rent the apartment above the old flower shop. The whole building was rebuilt and renovated. It’s better than it was before the fire- if I’m being honest. Not to mention, it’s bigger and doesn’t have the distinct smell of human flesh and sulfur.

John’s at work a lot more. When he’s home, he goes straight to bed. Sometimes he’ll come home stumbling from the pub.

I get it. I’d done my fair share of drinking alone, watching Doctor Who reruns all day.

Molly won’t answer my calls. I’m worried she’s not doing well, but I can’t find the energy to get dressed and visit in person. I can’t find the energy to do much anymore.

I tried painting the other day and ended up kicking a hole through the canvas. John came home and found me with a bottle of Merlot, laying in the middle of my room- the walls coated with thrown bottles of paint.

He suggested I get a day job to pass the time. Maybe he’s right.

All of my free time had become Sherlock.

I followed him to crime scenes, talked to him, laughed with him, slept with him. Everything was him. I didn’t mind. It wasn’t bad at all. For once, it was nice to feel important, to help bring happiness to others. I was spending time with the man I love and my best friend, every day.

Who could ask for anything better? I loved my life and now it’s careening off the rails and no matter how long I stare at the cliff I’m headed toward, I refuse to accept the reality for what it is.

Sherlock Holmes is dead, and there’s nothing that will change that.

(--)

Amelia had been through her fair share of no-win scenarios.

It wasn’t missed that the majority of them had happened since Sherlock stumbled into her life, but she wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything. Life lessons and finding love; all that nonsense.

So, when Moriarty wasn’t convicted for his part in the large crimes he’d committed in broad daylight, she realized that once again, they’d fallen into his game. A game where there were never any winners in the end.

Sherlock didn’t handle the news well. He was short-tempered, distracted, and when the little girl screamed as she’d recognized him, Amelia didn’t miss the murmurs and rumors that stirred after he fumed out of Scotland Yard.

She didn’t miss the uneasy look John shot her, or the other officers’ eyes boring into her back- more rumors that connected dots regarding her relationship with the detective.

He’d had a meltdown before they tried to arrest him, ranting about Moriarty making his move.

He was in the spotlight now, John had mentioned so much after the painting had been returned and Sherlock’s photographs peppered the front pages of local papers.

It was a wise time to strike, on Moriarty’s part, even Amelia had to sheepishly agree with the logic.

When Sherlock, and soon John, were arrested, Amelia hurried out to watch the men run off- Sherlock acting like he’d lost his mind.

She sprinted after them, promising Greg she’d calm them down. Figure out what happened.

Clear his name, was the unspoken promise between her and the unnerved inspector.

The boys moved fast, reminding Amelia exactly who she was working with. They were a step ahead of her the whole day.

Sherlock was getting desperate and did his best work in those cases. People tended to underestimate those at the end of their rope, and she’d almost fallen into that trap.

Thankfully, John shot her a text after an hour into her search.

An address tied to some reporter Sherlock had mentioned during the trial.

It was something, and she hoped the detective hadn’t mucked up the whole thing. The media would have a frenzy with his seemingly insane actions of the last twenty-four hours. She already was dreading the newspapers in the morning.

The British media was a brutal, cruel monster.

She arrived at the address, electing to listen to the voices inside bickering when a familiar voice commented behind her.

“You know what I love about a tragedy?” Moriarty purred when Amelia spun around. “It’s always preventable. Some miscalculation, some overzealous emotional decision- but the hero overlooks the obvious solution.”

Something snapped in Amelia. Fueled by a rage she’d ignored in lieu of healing, she shoved him back against the hallway wall.

He seemed genuinely surprised by the outburst, laughing quietly when she pinned his neck under her forearm, cutting off his breathing.

“Why shouldn’t I kill you?” she snarled. “I have every reason to.”

“They’ll think Sherlock did it-,” his face was turning blue, but still he grinned at her. “Fraud.”

Amelia hissed an insult under her breath and pulled away. He was right. Of course, he was right. This was his show, his story, and they were all playing their parts perfectly.

“Keep an eye out for the papers tomorrow, love,” he coughed, grabbing a grocery bag off the ground, humming a familiar tune under his breath.

Something clicked in Amelia’s brain and before he could unlock the door, she whirled around and slammed a fist into his gut.

It wasn’t the most powerful hit, but he still reeled over in pain, and that was enough for her.

“You’re not going to win,” she snarled in a low voice. “I’ll kill you myself if it comes down to it.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second,” he smirked and slipped into the apartment.

(---)

John met up with Amelia at the Diogenes Club.

He was thumbing through paperwork that he’d taken from the reporter when she’d arrived, frowning deeper with every word he read.

“He was sold out,” he murmured, handing her the files.

“What?” Amelia blinked in confusion, reading through the intimate details of Sherlock’s life.

A twisted review of the good he’d done, skewed by some distorted story about some actor named Richard.

Richard, whose face belonged to the monster from her nightmares.

The whole thing reeked of Moriarty, but the details...

They involved things only she or John would know and included some things she never knew. Intimate details. Personal details that only family might know.

“You think Mycroft told him?” she whispered, handing the file back to her friend. “When he in custody? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know he did,” John stated firmly. “Who else? We didn’t.”

The thought sent a chill up Amelia’s spine. His own brother. No wonder Sherlock seemed like he was slipping. The whole world was attacking him at every side.

“Is he on his way then? Mycroft?” she asked and John sighed, shrugging.

“Apparently,” he murmured, shaking his head at something he read. “They said he’s usually here by now.”

Amelia nodded and stood up, hand on her phone in her jacket pocket.

“I... I’m going to wait outside,” she mumbled. “I don’t think I could look Mycroft in the eye if he actually did this. We can... Just let me know when you’re done.”

John wasn’t paying much attention when she slipped out and started dialing Sherlock’s phone.

It rang twice before someone picked up.

“Sherlock?” she inquired quietly into the line.

“Are you safe?” he quickly questioned.

“Yeah I’m- I’m with John,” she replied. “Where are you?”

Amelia swore she heard a breath of relief through the line.

“Hospital,” he answered briskly. “Molly is... She agreed to let me stay out of sight here.”

“What’s your plan?” Amelia asked.

“Not yet,” he replied tersely. “I can’t tell you yet.”

“Then you know whatever it is, I’m here to help,” she stated firmly.

“I know,” he paused. “Just stay with John. I’ll be in touch.”

The line went dead, and Amelia shoved the phone back in her pocket. She paced around the sidewalk in front of the Diogenes Club, head ringing.

Moriarty’s words kept playing in her head. A tragedy.

It was clear what was happening, between the story and the doubt the maniac had sowed in everyone’s heads. The public would slaughter him alive when that bullshit story hit the shelves the next day. Sherlock, while a difficult and moody person, was sensitive to the opinions of others, no matter how he tried to play it off.

This had the potential to break him.

Amelia didn’t like the thought of where this could lead. She didn’t like the thought of losing what little peace she’d cultivated in her life. She was scared shitless and shaking when John found her waiting outside.

“I was right,” was all he said before tucking her under his arm and pulling her into a hug. She sighed, wishing that all her worries could wash away with the brief respite. When John pulled away, he looked at her directly.

“I’m scared too.”

(---)

The trio reunited at the hospital laboratory.

“The computer code,” Sherlock explained, bouncing a ball between cabinets, eyes fixed forward. “Somewhere in Baker Street... on the day of the verdict, he must have hidden it.”

“What did he touch?” John asked, approaching, eyes following the ball as it bounced between the floor and counters.

“An apple, nothing else,” came Sherlock’s response. He stood up, fist-clenching around the rubber ball, eyes scanning the air as if the answer would appear.

John tapped idly on the counter, throwing out ideas when Amelia saw Sherlock suddenly tense.

It was subtle, but she watched him glance at the pair before turning away, fishing his phone from his pocket and quickly typing out a message.

When he turned back around, John had been oblivious to the action, but he met Amelia’s questioning look with a frown.

He wasn’t going to tell them his plan, she realized when he started wordlessly bouncing the ball again.

A few hours passed, with John falling asleep about halfway through their waiting. Amelia sat propped against the cabinets on the ground next to Sherlock while her phone charged in a nearby outlet- just watching him.

She watched him fidget and check his phone from time to time. She watched him pace, eyes searching for something not present.

Occasionally he’d mumbled under his breath or bounce the ball again.

She watched him do everything in his power to avoid looking at her or John.

That deep, unnerving feeling she’d felt at the Diogenes club had re-emerged.

This wasn’t going to end well, she predicted. She didn’t know how or what was going to happen, but she knew Sherlock well enough to understand when he was a dozen paces ahead and he didn’t seem pleased.

He knew the endgame, and he knew she would immediately be able to tell that something was off. That’s why he didn’t say anything about his plan.

John’s phone rang, pulling the doctor out of his brief nap. A few quick words and bolted up, looking to the pair while he threw on his coat.

“Paramedics, Mrs. Hudson they say she’s been shot,” he explained breathlessly, tossing Amelia her coat off a nearby chair.

“What? How?” Sherlock’s response came coolly. Unphased. Unsurprised, even.

“Probably one of the killers you managed to- Jesus, she’s dying, let’s go,” he started for the door, Amelia following behind without question.

“You go, I’m busy,” he stated, staring off in the distance.

That wasn’t the right response. Amelia stared in shock, looking to John then Sherlock, for someone to say something else.

John’s expression shifted in awe- anger, surprise, frustration all bubbling to the surface.

“Busy-?” he choked out, hands shaking at his sides.

“Thinking- I need to think,” came Sherlock’s short reply.

This didn’t read right to Amelia. He wasn’t that heartless-

“You need to- doesn’t she mean anything to you?” John’s voice broke slightly. “You once half-killed a man because he laid a finger on her.”

“She’s my landlady.”

“She’s dying- you machine,” John spat out, hands body shaking. When he realized the truth to his own words, something crossed his features and he backed away “Sod this. Sod this. You stay here if you want, be alone.”

“Alone is what I have. Alone protects me,” Sherlock replied, still unmoving.

“Friends protect people,” John snapped. “C’mon Mia.”

Amelia sent a final look to Sherlock, her expression falling when he wouldn’t break away from his selected spot on the wall in front of him. Avoiding her.

This was wrong. This was all wrong.

Hurrying after John, he was about to slide in the cab when she felt her pockets, realizing her wallet and phone had been left behind in the lab.

“Go ahead,” she called to him, turning back to the hospital. “I’ll be right behind you!”

John took off without a second thought, while Amelia raced back to the lab, stopping when she saw Sherlock in one of the back halls- headed for a staircase.

To her surprise, he didn’t notice her, his expression lost in thought while he marched forward, almost trance-like. She stood and watched until he was out of sight, her heart thrumming against her sternum.

Something wrong. Her mind repeated over and over.

Her gut said to follow him, but against her instincts, she let him be. She slipped back into the lab, spying her phone on the counter with a new message from John.

Mrs. Hudson is fine. Somethings wrong.

She knew it.

Racing up the hall, she could hear a closing door above her when she reached the stairs.

Rooftop, her brained supplied, and she sprinted up the steps two at a time, pausing at the metal door leading to the roof.

“...nice you choose a tall building, nice way to do it.”

James Moriarty.

There was a beat before Sherlock’s voice sounded.

“Do it? Do what?” he asked. “Yes of course... my suicide.”

Amelia’s chest tightened.

“Genius detective proved to be a fraud, I read it in the papers so it must be true. I love newspapers,” Amelia could hear the voices stepping away. “Fairytales... and pretty grim ones too.”

What could she do? What was there to do?

She wasn’t supposed to be here.

She wasn’t supposed to be listening.

She fumbled with her phone, shaking hands trying to type out a coherent message to John.

Sherlock in trouble. Moriarty here.

Anything-! But before she could send, an adrenaline rush sent a hitter through her arms and the phone tumbled out of her hands and down the stairs.

Nononononono

This was like her nightmares. Her inability to save anyone. Her curse being forced to watch while-

A gunshot rattled the door and Amelia decided she’d had enough. She’d face whatever awaited on the other side, regardless of who pulled the trigger.

She didn’t expect to find Moriarty, dead on the ground, Sherlock looking panicked, and a gun in the maniac’s hand.

“What are you doing here?” Sherlock was on Amelia in a heartbeat, grabbing her arm and spinning her to face him. “You’re supposed to be with John.”

“My phone-,” she stammered gesturing toward the door, eyes still wide. “Sherlock, what’s happening?”

Moriarty dead. Sherlock on the roof. Suicide.

“No, no, you can’t be here,” he ran a hand through his hair. “Amelia, you need to leave. You can’t see this.”

“He’s dead, what are you talking about? He’s gone,” she tried putting words into sentences that would make sense, but the way he was stumbling around made her second guess her attempts at calming him.

“He’s going to kill all of you, he hired assassins to-” he finally managed, his expression resolved in the information. “Unless...”

“You jump,” she whispered, a hand moving to cover her horrified expression. “Sherlock, think logically, there’s- he’s playing on your emotions. He wants you to think there isn’t another plan- we can call Lestrade or your brother-.”

“There’s no time,” he explained, grabbing her arms. “Please, do this for me. Go downstairs. Forget this, forget all of this.”

“Sherlock you can’t be serious,” tears sprung up in her eyes. “You’re being irrational. Let John and I help, we’re your friends-.”

He cut her off with a frantic kiss.

It was a desperate last kiss that would have normally swept Amelia straight off her feet.

Instead, she clutched into the front of his jacket when he tried to pull away and back toward the edge of the rooftop.

“Please, Sherlock,” she begged. “You can’t- I love you. So many people love and cherish you and I... please.”

He was on the edge of the building, legs wavering slightly when he looked down. He took a breath, pulling his cell phone from his pocket.

“I’m calling John,” he stated, hand holding the phone up for her to see.

Right. John.

John would talk some sense into him. He’d see reason when John-

She didn’t hear much of what was said. Her mind was racing, running through ways of saving him.

Pull him down, stop the jump- anything, but every scenario still ended with him plummeting to his death.

Amelia felt so useless. So pathetic. So helpless.

He was determined to make things right and, in his mind, this was the right path. He’d do what he had to in order to see this through to the end.

She stepped closer while he was distracted, and when he turned to drop the phone, he gave her a final look, a sad smile.

“I love you, Amelia,” he said. “And I beg you, please, don’t watch.”

And before she could reach for him, he jumped.

An inhuman noise escaped her, and though every temptation was there for her to watch his descent, she threw herself to the rooftop and buried her screams in her knees.

Screams filled the street. Onlookers yelled for help.

Her heart felt like it’d been ripped clean of her body. Disbelief danced with the reality of what just happened in front of her own eyes.

Everything felt like a dream after that.

Mycroft ended up being the one to find her, his agents approaching the scene first.

Normally, Amelia would have given him a piece of her mind regarding his place in all of this, but she numbly let him guide her to where John was on the street below.

She caught snippets of conversations. People being interviewed by the police, the random clicks of journalists documenting the famous detectives fall from grace, EMTs murmuring about what it all meant.

Her mind was trying to make sense of it all. Trying to pry some semblance of sanity from the chaos around her.

She found John sitting on the back of an ambulance with a patch on his head.

She didn’t say a word as she approached, instead just wrapping him under her arms and letting him choke out a few tears into her jacket. They’d both been left behind.

The tragedy of Sherlock Holmes wasn’t the unpoetic end he’d faced, it was the guilt and questions he’d left behind in those who cared the most for him.

Chapter 27

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scgdoeswhat · 5 years

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The Royal Masquerade - Finale Thoughts

Sorry in advance for the rushed, discombobulated, non-edited thoughts, but I’m running late and I need to get this out now before I forget about this...again 😂

I started writing this during the hiatus of TRM and then honestly? I forgot the book existed and forgot to finish writing this. That is a sad reflection on a book that held such promise but then sputtered throughout its entirety.

So now, with today being the finale, I'm posting this with my thoughts, criticisms and what this book could have been.

I had such high, high hopes for TRM. Sure, I became a bit skeptical after seeing it connected to Cordonia, but I pushed aside my cynicism to enjoy the book with a clean slate.

I remember being on the plane back from NY with WiFi (free, thanks to my status), firing up the app, geeking out with the quotes on the loading page, ready to dive into the scandal and intrigue of the Renaissance era, despite the setting of Cordonia.... which brings me to my first point that I’ve held from the very beginning:

TRM should have never, ever, ever, never ever had it in conjunction with Cordonia or the The Royal Romance verse.

They implemented a similar social season with balls, parties, and having to win over the other houses and while it worked in TRR, TRM was not the environment for it. I was looking for something with more grit, closer to A Courtesan of Rome and The Crown & The Flame than TRR/TRH.

With today’s final chapter, they very hastily weaved some of the missing links between TRR and TC&TF, but you could tell everything in the last 3 chapters was squished in to finish the story in one neat, little package.

It’s unfortunate that it took the whole book to get to the meat of the plot seen in Chapter 14 onward, especially since having it set in a fictional locale meant that they could have taken liberties not bound to historical facts, but honestly?

TRM has been one giant clusterfuck of pacing and WTFery that is unnecessary to the plot. Not to mention...

The 30 diamond booboo the fool "gotchu!" scenes.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

The first 30 diamond fake out left such a bad taste in my mouth, reminiscent of the time in Nightbound, but what really pushed it over was the second one.

The second one was set after paying diamonds to peek into other characters’ pleasure rooms. I bought that initial scene thinking it would unlock our LI’s, until the actual LI diamond scene popped up after. This move reeked of a cash grab, with PB trying to squeeze every penny possible because this book hadn’t done as well as they hoped.

The third and final diamond scene today with Kayden was pretty good, although the problem I’ve had with these diamond scenes are the dialogue contained within. There seems to be no flow between words and it comes off very choppy. I will say that the description of the actions, though? Some of the better ones in the app.

What made the idea of a Renaissance book so enticing was the possibility that it was going to be something like ACOR, full of intrigue, using wiles, manoeuvring around the court full of powerful people. Instead, we were left with a plot that felt like the writers themselves didn’t know where they wanted to go with it.

On one hand, I think they had a distinct plan on where they wanted the story to go. On the other, they fell back on the tried and true formula of unknown/poor MC stepping into the high life to figure it out, a la TRR and Desire and Decorum.

It's a shame because TRM had so much potential but it was squandered away because plot points such as MCs parentage, magic, etc were left untouched for the majority of the book and instead we were given life or death scenarios... only to be followed up by parties because "Look! We got out of it okay so let’s hit up a party and have loaded innuendo from Cyrus!"

I really wanted to love TRM. I did.

Except I found myself getting bored about 4 chapters in because it was turning into TRR 3.0, which I don’t think the majority of players wanted. I know it got my kiss of death (along with some other players I’ve talked to) when they pulled the FIRST 30 diamond fake out because we’re used to a certain standard for 30 diamonds and they didn’t deliver.

Speaking of diamond scenes and LIs, Hunter and Kayden are solid characters and LIs... except that we were pigeonholed into picking one for the rest of the story and customization was great, only having 2 LIs doesn't cut it for me. Despite my known history of my OTPs, I’ve found that most of my MCs have a tendency to sample the entire platter and TRM didn’t allow me to do that

The most solid writing came in the last three chapters, which was to be expected, but imagine if they had done this for the entire book. What transpired over the last three weeks is what we wanted, instead of lots of filler.

The magic and parentage storylines could have been so much more, except that they neglected these major plot points for most of the story. Obviously with how it ended today, we got the main questions answered, but there are still others like who was Renza married to or was the assassin just a nobody or was it another magic user?

I suppose the biggest question we had answered was how the Rys/Rhys bloodline continues into modern day Cordonia, as we all thought it ended when Kendra was killed. I think the initial plot was to have MC as the magical, missing heir somehow, but with only one book, it is what it is.

The overall feeling I’m left with is that PB hoped people’s love for TRR, the inclusion of Maxwell’s face, and the familiarity of the Houses would carry TRM to success. I think a bunch of us wanted MC to be similar to Renza’s character, not the incredibly green, naive one.

I’m hoping with JBH back, we will now get a proper Renaissance book that uses Tuscany as a backdrop, but I guess we’ll see.

Tagging @queen-of-effing-everything @ohsnapitzlovehacker @brightpinkpeppercorn @choicesarehard for the interest in this from like, a month ago lol

#the royal masquerade #trm #hunter fierro #kayden vescovi #kayden x mc #hunter x mc #the crown and the flame #tc&tf #the royal heir #trh

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thefudge · 5 years

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‘aight i saw this movie finally (the pirated version, cuz i dont shill anymore) and

it was okay. chaotic and uncoordinated and clearly unplanned - i mean it reeks of “throw everything at the screen because we’re out of time” - but i enjoyed parts of it and i can see a good movie buried under all of this lost potential. in order to make TROS good, however, you’d have to rewrite the whole trilogy. you’d also have to rethink this world. i think the folks in charge committed a “prequels” error in thinking that the universe of star wars matters more than its characters. so you got all these kooky planets and alien species, and you’ve got side-quests and a dozen new characters/creatures, added without forethought or real stakes, just to show us how big the star wars playground is. whereas, going to a new location should be about the characters first, and the location second. lucas did the same in the prequels: crammed every frame with a million things because he had a thirst for his own universe, but at least he was passionate. disney is just calculated.

i do think this movie’s better than the prequels lol, it’s just that it could have been proper good if they didn’t try to appease the fans so much and play it safe. i’ve written about kylo/ben’s death in other posts and what i think about his character. as for rey “palpatine”, ehhh. in the context of the movie i give them points for trying their best to sell it, but it would have been far FAR more powerful if she really was nobody. if you wanted a compromise, she could’ve been palpatine’s experiment or a clone, and that would’ve made her “nobody”, while also his creation. but i would’ve preferred it if she really had nothing to do with all of this BS. because a) it’s obvious they didn’t plan rey palpatine from the start, and b) if they did, it was very poor storytelling. the palpatine reveal should’ve happened in the second movie so that rey could actually react to it, so that the conflict about her dark lineage could be explored in depth. TLJ!rey seemed at peace with finding out she’s nobody, like that was her closure. to retcon that in the 3rd movie just because some folks didn’t like TLJ is cowardly. if they really wanted to do rey palpatine, they should’ve committed to it. idk which reviewer mentioned smth about how rey’s past ultimately was more important for these people than rey herself. they invested so much in this “secret” that they kind of forgot about her as a person. i wish these movies weren’t just her running around, mouth agape, chasing this illusory secret. TFA!rey, before she got dragged into this legacy shit, was far more interesting. rey skywalker is also just...really weak. i get what they were going for thematically, but again, the stronger message would’ve been: “i’m rey. just rey”. earlier she gave the same answer to that little girl in “burning man” village, but feeling sort of ashamed about it. now at the end she should’ve said it proudly. “i’m rey, just rey, and that’s enough.” but what do i know. old lady sigh

i liked some of the action sequences and the indie “a new hope” vibe of the resistance. i didn’t like the side-trips and all the macguffins, kerri russel’s character was...really unnecessary, i’m sorry, janna was fine, at least she made more sense in the story. and rose was shafted because of racist assholes on the internet. OLD LADY SIGH.

i liked the reylo interactions and their saber fights (when she stabbed him with his own saber? noiiiiice), but i think it would’ve been cooler if they’d kissed during one of those fights, actually. the kiss at the end was nice...but as always with these two, it felt very kindergarten to me. i’ve complained elsewhere that they keep making them act like uwu shy space babies. i would’ve liked a hate/love kiss mid-battle and for them to pull back sort of shocked but unrepentant. a lot of their fights had that kind of UST and i think that’s where they should’ve capitalized on it. but i guess that’s too sexy for disney. OLD LADY SIGH. i would’ve preferred a more sober moment at the end, like touching foreheads as he dies or smth, because lol it was inadvertently funny how quickly he died after they kissed, the tonal dissonance was aaall over the place.

OH and finn/poe’s dynamic in this movie was weirdly belligerent and i didnt get it. maybe because these two didn’t get to spend enough time together in TFA or TLJ to set this up, but having them act like #married rebel veterans who’ve been together for years and resent each other was...weird. they jumped into this snippy, almost aggressive banter waaay too fast. i know folks think they should’ve let them be gay, and while i would not be opposed since they have a lot of chemistry....i...actually....maybe....ship finn with rey more.

yes folks, this movie actually made me ship finnrey more.

i think it’s the fact that they finally addressed force-sensitive finn, although they did it in a pretty lame fashion. but at least they did (there were many missed opportunities where finn could’ve acted on his force-sensitivity. that scene where rey and kylo both wrestle-levitate that ship in the sky...and finn just watches from the sidelines...instead of trying to control it too...OLD LADY SIGH). anyway, rey and finn’s connection within the force was subtle and i liked it. i liked the unspoken yearning between them that felt a bit more mature here than in previous films. the final 2019 twist is that i’m tentatively back on finnrey (2015 me also liked them but i quickly lost interest when finn was infantilized and then put into a coma...).

i DIDN’T like that finn/rose was totally forgotten (not a pair i ship but rose nearly died for him...wtf). and i also don’t think the finn/rey/poe trio works...as a trio. there was this painful scene towards the beginning of the movie where poe and rey started levelling playful insults at each other and it was awwwwfuuuuul. it felt like recycled marvel humor. and it got worse when it was the three of them bantering. they could have been a really fun trio if they had actually spent more time together in previous movies. here it felt really forced, sorry.

oh yeah, the chewie medallion scene...less painful than i thought it would be. chewie mourning leia, though? oooouch, i felt that. probably only really heartfelt moment in this movie (i’ve written elsewhere how i think the ben/han moment was robbed of its weight, though i can see why people love it).

in terms of comedy, though, hux’s death has to be number one.

anyway! glad this is over and done with. maybe now they’ll start telling star wars stories that don’t always involve the “empire” and the rebels or the fkin skywalkers. here’s to hoping.

and whew, thank god for fanfics

#tros review #tros spoilers #tros #my thoughts #sw

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cherrymoonvol6 · 5 years

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the worst thing about the politician is that it reeks of missed potential

like, the whole politician thing, the way payton and his team are analyzing their chances and the way they can plan forward to turn the tables on the election, i thought it was a good beginning for a further conversation on political correctness, and i was so excited to see what they could do about it since i don’t think any other teen drama has ever touched on that subject. and they did... nothing about it really, more than poke fun at the concept whenever the tone wanted to and just leave it at that.

then we see the scene where payton and river meet and not only they have this instant chemistry, but they establish river as the second person (payton’s mom being the first) which whom payton can behave like a normal person with, and a healthy outlet for his feelings. but then river is dead halfway into the episode, and payton loses that chance immediately. since river ends up being so underdeveloped, he reads more like this manic pixie dream girl character lmao, as he only is there to help and smile lovingly at payton and nothing else. then, river transforms in this ghost guru sort of figure than payton can fucking “conjure” when he feels a lost (tbh i’m so fed up with shows pulling this dumb stunt, yes i’m looking at you 13rw)

and just speaking of payton and river in general, their whole relationship goes to the bin in the very first episode. i like the subtext of river trying to use romance to evade talking about his own feelings and they did a great job at implying river wasn’t okay (though it would’ve been better if it had came before river talked about his first suicide attempt, but whatever), but again he dies before anything can be done about his character, missing another chance to speak about mental illness/suicide. we can see that they have this instant chemistry and we appreciate it on other flashbacks, but like, nothing is done about it. river kissing payton is then used by astrid to get payton to be in a threesome with them, which just ??? happens??? and doesn’t affect the plot or the characters in the slightest, besides just being used as a petty tool to blackmail/humiliate the other (only twice and it doesn’t even WORK). and we’re supposed to clap and cheer that we got that “bi representation” with a stereotypical threesome and then payton only saying he’s “obsessed” with him to his girlfriend alice, never once saying he’s attracted or in love with him (there’s subtext, yes. but since they made them fucking kiss to put it on the trailer and get those sweet sweet views, they should’ve also declared if they were actually in love or not)

river’s death doesn’t impact the plot in any way, and it only serves to tell the audience that payton can’t “feel” his feelings (and i’m pretty sure it’s established in other scenes too), and that’s it. it’s not a turning point for astrid either, as she seems to frankly not give a shit about it (and when that’s discussed with her dad, again, it’s never a source of change for astrid as much as running away with fucking ricardo is). the election isn’t affected by it because astrid jumps immediately to take river’s place as a candidate, which was more or less what was happening when river was the candidate, so nothing changes. and then there’s the anti-gun campaign, that has payton using river’s suicide to justify its existence and since the scene is part of a plan to discredit astrid’s candidature, it’s super impersonal and disingenuous to payton and river’s relationship. not a hint of mental health talk here either.

every established or introduced romantic/sexual relationship is like, shredded to pieces for whatever reason, and while some of them make sense (infinity and ricardo, maaaaybe payton and alice) there’s not really a point in showing us that x and y character are happy together in one episode to fill them with problems in the next one, and this happens multiple times (with mcafee and skye being the WORST). after payton ignores alice and only uses her like a tool during the election, with him only showing affection to her when she’s helping him or getting him out of troubles, i find it hard to believe he’d be sooo in love with her (in the very last episode, jfc) to try to convince her to abandon her fianceé. if anything, i think that’d be a good place to state that since payton has been dealing better with his emotions, maybe he’s clinging onto the idea of loving his “high-school sweetheart” because he feels like he has to, or to justify his impulsiveness, but again there’s absolutely no depth to payton’s mental health besides the payton-the-politician vs payton-the-human-being tension.

just... i find it hard to believe they missed so many things they could’ve talked about. for fuck’s sake, payton (and us) witnesses a fucking suicide from someone very dear to him and it never impacts anyone in any way, and only river’s “ghost” tells us his suicide motivation in the cheesiest way possible. not only that but the tone in this show is all over the place, sometimes being too overdramatic in the darker scenes that you just don’t know if this is supposed to be funny or be taken seriously, or weirdly timed comedy being slapped in one scene because hey audience, laugh a little more i guess. it’s too bad that i’m already to attached at some of the characters, a real boomer because i know nothing will be done to expand on these issues on the next season.

#tw suicide #the politician #the politician spoilers #me patting myself softly in the back: there there... its okay it's only a ryan murphy show #lmao i just needed to let all of this out #now off to write fic to give some dimension to rivers character

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jonsa101 · 5 years

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Fuck It! Here’s My Episode 2 Analysis Now!!

*SPOILER ALERT* I really wanted to wait until the episode actually premiered tonight to write this but since I already watched it and I have so much to say about this episode, I’m going to share my thoughts about this now!

First of all, I LOVED THIS EPISODE!! My favorite scene by far was Brienne becoming a knight! Wow just wow!!! What a beautiful scene. I wish the show would spend 80+ minutes on emotional scenes like this. These are the type of scenes I want to see above everything else because this to me is truly the heart of the show. With that said, let’s dive into this thing!

First and foremost, POLITICAL JON HAS ABSOUTLEY BEEN CONFIRMED!!!

Like this shit is so obvious now it’s not even debatable. The first dead giveaway was Jon’s nonreaction to news of Cersei not bringing her armies. Y’all he was so nonchalant about it. I don’t think the show even gave us a reaction shot of his face hearing the news. When he finally did speak, he still didn’t have much of a reaction to the events unfolding before him. This behavior perfectly aligns to the behavior we have seen from Jon thus far and why many of us believed in political Jon in the first place.

The Second and most important giveaway was Sansa’s and Dany’s conversation! Again wow! Just wow! What a fucking scene.

WHO’S MANIPULATING WHOM?!! BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and that dawn of realization on Sansa’s face!!!!!!

Sansa literally came into that conversation thinking Jon was in love and came out of that convo realizing that he has been manipulating her the whole time. The best thing about it is Dany spilled the tea herself without even realizing it. Fuck Jon telling Sansa shit! Sansa finding out about political Jon straight from the horse's mouth was the scene I didn’t know I needed!!

Moving on, let’s talk about the elephant in the room...Theonsa.

I just want to say, I absolutely understand why their scenes can be viewed as romantic. It’s not, I don’t ship it in the slightest, but I understand why. During my first watch, when I saw their soup scene I was like “oh no,” but after my second rewatch their scenes read as platonic to me. Let me explain why. First of all, the only scene that I potentially viewed as romantic in my first watch was the soup scene. That’s it. Their reunion was beautiful and emotional but it came across as familial to me. It was like Sansa was reuniting with a long lost brother or a friend that she had missed dearly. I also think people need to realize the context of this scene. Theon left the safety of his home, where the white walkers weren’t likely to attack, to serve Sansa. He didn’t have to come. He didn’t have to risk his life to help the Starks but he did. That speaks volumes and Sansa in that moment understood the magnitude of his actions and was deeply moved. This is a deep bond that was formed over shared trauma and the journey that they’ve been through to overcome said trauma.

For the soup scene, I think on Sansa’s end it’s more astonishment than her or Theon catching feelings. First of all, Theon still faces a tremendous amount of guilt even after everything. He’s on a path of redemption after all which is the main reason why he’s at Winterfell in the first place. During their interaction, he looks at Sansa but can’t fully look at her before he tears his eyes away. He’s still guilt-ridden and is clearly uncomfortable. Sansa, on the other hand, is full on staring at him. People need to realize that the last time Sansa saw Theon he was practically still Reek. So the fact that he’s even there, in his right state of mind, eating soup in front of her, must be jarring to her. But she’s relieved and happy that Theon is there. That’s my interpretation of that scene. It’s similar to Jon and Sansa’s scene in a sense with how Jon had the same astonished look, looking at Sansa after they just reunited. But I think overall, Jon and Sansa's scenes were romantically coded with added context. Plus they were alone. Another thing I want to point out is that the “couples montage” was NOT A COUPLES MONTAGE!!

If anything, it was a montage of the last things these characters were doing before the White Walkers attacked Winterfell. The montage showcased everyone who has played some sort of role in this story. The scene truly started with Poderic and company. Former enemies, deeply bonded by the events that just took place. Seemingly united under one cause. Then it led to Sam with his family, Theon and Sansa eating soup, a sleeping Gendry, and a pondering Arya Stark (I will address this next), Missandei and Greyworm kissing passionately, Jorah on his own and before it finally cut off, Dany staring at Jon looking at Lyanna’s statue. If this was a couples montage it was one hell of a disjointed couples montage and I’m going to explain why. First thing, Jorah appearing solo in a montage that features “couples” doesn't make sense. This is one of the main reasons why I’m adamant that this montage was just showcasing what the main and secondary characters were doing before the WWs arrived. Secondly, Arya and Gendry people. This might be an unpopular opinion but they’re not a couple. That look on Arya’s face said it all and I think showing a sleeping Gendry and a pondering Arya was meant to showcase the emotional disconnect Arya feels in that moment. I think Arya definitely is still struggling with her identity as Arya Stark and No One. Nothing wrong to hook up just to hook up, but that’s exactly what it was. They looked like two separate entities.

Other things I want to quickly point out, for some reason, I was getting deep friendship vibes from Jaimie and Brienne rather than romantic. Maybe I need to do another rewatch. I do think they love and care about each other deeply but I wasn’t picking up on the obvious romantic vibes that I used to get. If anything maybe their relationship is built on deep respect and admiration for one another. IDK these are just my thoughts. That knight scene moved me like no other though.

The last thing I want to address is Dark Dany. I’m not going to go into detail but at this point, if you don’t recognize this, that’s on you. It’s there. It’s as plain as day and there’s no need to keep beating a dead horse about it. Dark Dany isn’t coming; dark Dany is HERE!

Again these are just my thoughts. As for Jonsa, I definitely still think it’s at play. Jon and Sansa still don’t have a resolution to their tension and I am excited to see that unfold. Especially now that Sansa knows that political Jon is at play. Also, she’s still not aware that Jon is her cousin and this matters!

#Jonsa #got spoilers #jon snow #sansa stark #got s8 speculation #jonsa is endgame

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astralaffairs · 5 years

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freedom of the press 04 || thomas jefferson || TEASER

hey loves!! this is only the very surface of what I have in store for part 4 -- the story gets both softer and steamier, and that’s all i’ll say on the matter. it’s a bit self-indulgent, but self-indulgence was the whole reason i started writing this.

Y/N spent the following days, the next weeks, focusing on herself. She was letting herself get distracted, and with that, distracted by precisely the person she was supposed to be focusing on. It felt ironic, really, but she wasn't amused.

She spent time tapping her sources from and around the campaign trail, trying to establish a connection with other politicians who had been identified as potential candidates for the election, trying to expand her network beyond her small corner of the policy scene. ("The policy scene" was much bigger than she'd thought.)

She reached out to think tanks, to analysts, economists -- she was getting a little off track, but basically, she talked to everyone with no link to the name "Jefferson," despite the precise nature of her assignment.

Her stab at freedom from the now-former Secretary of State was to little avail. While he was the foundation of his campaign, there was enough else going on surrounding the election that she could dance around confronting him.

Yet, not for as long as she'd have liked.

She was knee-deep into finding the perfect person to cold call at Brookings when the crucial blow came.

"Y/N!" Her boss's perpetually peppy voice rang through the hall toward her office, and our fatigued heroine looked up with a brow raised. Ashley stopped in the doorway, appearingly elated. "Guess what?"

Her eyes flashed with crazed excitement, and Y/N almost didn't want to ask what. It felt very much like a trick question.

In response to Y/N's expectant stare, silent and unmoving, Ashley sighed and entered. "You should be a lot more excited when I come running down to your office with a 'guess what,' y'know."

She sighed. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry! What ever exciting news could I be missing out on at this very moment?" Her contrived enthusiasm reeked of sarcasm, but Ashley's spirits were too high to be quashed, and she only rolled her eyes in response.

"So, you've been covering the Jefferson campaign for months, right?" Apparently, she was ignoring the less-than-thrilled response. Y/N nodded. "And you were out in front of it before anyone else was, right? You know more than anyone else about his platform and history."

Grudgingly, she nodded again. "I suppose so." She was equally unexcited to claim to know Thomas Jefferson's past better than anyone else.

"And, he's projected to be the Republican frontrunner."

"The debates haven't even started, everything could change in a night," Y/N pointed out. "You know that."

"You're right, the debates haven't started." Y/N was clearly missing something. Ashley seemed to be unreasonably thrilled about the lack of pre-existing clash between the candidates. She raised a brow, and Ashley appeared to be holding back a squeal with how she was grinning. "But, the debates are only a few days from now, so, I called in an old contact from NBC, and of course, they'd heard of you--" She paused for dramatic emphasis, but the anticipation wasn't exactly killing Y/N, "And... since the Washington Post is co-sponsoring the event, they want to have you as one of the moderators for the first round of debates!"

With that, Y/N was struck silent. "They...?" She could only gape for a moment, and Ashley nodded excitedly.

"Mm-hmm. It's against precedent, but since you've become the most prominent and consistent reporter covering Jefferson the past few months, they think your input would be invaluable."

"But what about my live commentary?" she asked, still dumbstruck. Everything in her was telling her this was a bad idea; she needed to protest her way out. "I won't be able to provide as good of coverage of the debates if I'm not taking notes and writing during them. It'll hurt my articles. This is too big of an event not to write for."

She knew she was rambling, but Ashley only let out a sigh, as though Y/N was being absolutely ridiculous. "Oh, come on. Your commentary's more valuable on the spot if it can be used to grill the candidates and get Jefferson to talk."

"'Get Jefferson to talk'? This is a debate, not an interrogation." She blinked, visibly put-off. "Besides, it's not like I'd be controlling the floor. I wouldn't be doing much good anyway, and it really wouldn't get me much notice." She paused a moment, trying to gauge Ashley's reaction, and swallowed. "I think I should stick to my own territory."

"Y/N." Her tone was firm now. "This is the biggest opportunity you're going to get for people to notice you as a political journalist. It wasn't easy to get you this position, and besides, you're perfectly equipped for it. You've spent hundreds of hours by now researching the issues, contacting think tanks for different perspectives on them, contrasting Jefferson with the other candidates, and..." She took a thoughtful pause. "And I can't even scratch the surface of what you've been spending all this time on. If anyone should be moderating, it should be you. This isn't the time for cold feet."

Ashley had begun monologuing, and Y/N knew right there that there was no getting out of this job. It's not about getting cold feet, though, Y/N thought, I can do it, easily. What Ashley didn't know, though, was that there was more there.

The growing pause following her boss's speech was heavy with expectation, and finally, Y/N sighed, knowing she didn't actually have a choice in the matter if she cared to keep her job.

"Fine. Should I book myself a hotel in Detroit?"

"Don't bother. It'll come out of company funds; it's the least we can do."

She sighed, turning back to her computer, closing the tab she'd just opened. "Michigan, here I come."

#freedom of the press #enjoy!#this chapter gets more....#intimate #than the others #😏

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