#there are some story episodes in the earlier seasons but I don’t think anything important

[rosicheeks]

So I watched the first episodes or so of Adventure Time. Is there I guess....a um...breathrough episode that makes you like fall in love with it?

I just looked through them and not going to lie the first season is definitely not my favorite. The first season is where you meet a lot of the characters and see the universe. They are mainly super random and silly.

The first episode of season 2 is pretty good you get to learn more about Marceline and her dad.

S3 Ep9 - first fionna and cake episode (again not my favorite episodes but they are important to know who they are if you want to watch fionna and cake (the series) in the future)

S3 E26 - you get to meet flame princess for the first time 🥰🫶🫶🫶🫶

S4 E26 - The Lich - this is where the story part comes in and it gets GOOOOOOD. There are a few episodes before this that have some story I think but it’s very light if I remember right. This is where things kinda turn in adventure time in my opinion

S5 Ep1 - you get to meet Prismo!!! More story! Good shit

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

IG this might be the wrong blog to ask (do you have a main?) but what are some things you hate about the show/fandom that don’t relate to Zutara? Is “The Great Divide” really that bad? The comics? The Legend of Korra?

Okay, let's split these in categories

What I dislike about the original show

How we never really see much about the cultures of the Air Nomads and Water Tribes, and that the planned episode about Aang's parents was scrapped.

How Ty Lee basically has no arc and just went from "Hates being part of a matched set" to "Happily part of a matched set."

How Toph didn't really get any resolution with her parents, be it a reconciliation or a decision to cut contact like Zuko did with Ozai.

How the Lion Turtle wasnot introduced much earlier and instead used a Deux Ex Machina. We all know Aang won't kill Ozai, guys, you don't have to pretent, just let us know there's something Aang can to do avoid it and go revealing stuff about energybending little by little, then give us the final piece of the puzzle in the finale.

How the White Lotus was clearly a retcon that stopped making any sense after season two and that they're actually pretty fucking useless when you think about it.

How the show basically forgot that Iroh was very much a villain in season one, and for most of his life, therefore he has no right to call Azula crazy and dismiss her as a lost cause.

How Iroh says it wouldn't be right for him to kill Ozai, even if he could, because history would just see it as just a brother killing another brother for power, then IMMEDIATELY sending his 16-year-old nephew to a battle to the death with his 14-year-old niece - all while the White Lotus FINALLY decides to do SOMETHING and frees Ba Sing Se...

...Which looks horrible for Iroh when we think "Oh shit, last time he tried to capture it because he thought it was his destiny, his son died, and now he sent his nephew to a battle in which nearly dies and gets another scar while he's off trying to free that same city because of destiny again." (Seriously, when it comes to Ba Sing Se, don't let Iroh do ANYTHING other run a tea-shop in it. Somehow it always shows the ugly side of his personality).

How "Sokka's Master" is really an episode that did not need to exist at all because while Sokka had always wanted to be a warrior, he never really expressed any insecurity about being a non-bender and was only ever teased about it once. It just felt like an obligatory "The dude with no powers is important too!" episode and not a natural stepping stone of the narrative.

As for "The Great Divide" it is a pretty boring episode... but it's not as bad as people say. I don't think the original Avatar had any episodes in which nothing is important or at least creative and/or cool. I like the music in it, the world-building is kind of neat, the theme of helping refugees is pretty coherent with a show about war, and the animation changes when we are told the versions of the story on what these people hate each other was pretty cool.

What I dislike about the novelizations of the show

While some of the attempts of exploring how characters felt in some scenes really works and provides some interesting interpretations, others just fall completely flat and feel a bit OOC.

What I dislike about The Lost Adventures comics

That ridiculous story with Katara being way too pushy with Aang's training for no reason and refusing to communicate with him when he wants to talk about the kiss on the day of the invasion. She would never treat him like this.

What I dislike about the Azula In The Spirit Temple comic

The bits that remind me "Oh yeah, that's supposed to be set in the same universe of the Yang comics." Other than that, it is a pretty good stand-alone story and it allowed Azula to be turned into a deeply offensive stereotype about the mentally ill.

What I dislike about (most of) the comics and Korra

Nearly everything. Seriously, I don't know how the reception to these were mostly mixed instead of on the same level of hatred the fandom has to the Shyaman movie. The character assassination and lack of understanding of what made the original story good is EXACTLY the same, yet because it had Bryke's approval/involvement people expect me to take it as canon and it's NOT gonna happen.

What I dislike about the Netflix version

It exists. I'm sick of all the bullshit, souless remakes/reboots that are clearly just crash-grabs for companies that completely forgot they can make money AND art at the same time. I especially hate the trend of beautiful 2D animation being replaced with cheap cosplays, ugly CGI and poor lighting to pretend it is the "dark, mature version of the story"

What I dislike about the fandom itself

To make a really, really, REALLY long list very short and not really rank them 'cause it'd take forever:

1 - The blatant ableism towards Toph and Azula.

2 - The constant delusion about Avatar being "just like Game Of Thrones" and "not a kid's show."

3 - The people still insisting that the Netflix version, Korra, and the comics are good or "not that bad."

4 - The weird way some people act like Zuko was the first character to ever get a redemption arc and that everyone who does it now is taking inspiration from it.

5 - The refusal to accept that uncle Iroh was never perfect, both due to oversight of the writers AND deliberate narrative choices.

6 - The people that act like the show was trash just because of a few bad choices.

7 - The people that act like the show is perfect.

8 - The people that act like Bryke's interpretations are the only ones that matter.

9 - The inability to not harrass others for not agreeing with them.

10 - The weird, stupid people that act like Sozin and Azulon were not that bad and not just as power-hungry, racist and cruel as Ozai.

11 - The people that don't understand how Aang killing Ozai would be character assassination AND a deep betrayal of the themes and morals of the story.

12 - The people that keep losing their shit if you want a character like Azula to have a redemption arc because it'd "make Zuko's less especial" (it wouldn't, and I know that because HE WASN'T THE ONLY CHARACTER TO GET REDEEMED IN THE STORY, hell, he wasn't even the first).

13 - The downright offensive and disgusting need the fandom feels of sweeping Zuko's mistakes under the rug, no matter how bad they are, because they think he needs to be perfect otherwise he was not truly a victim of abuse.

14 - The way people just full on make shit up to support their headcanons, ships and theories.

15 - The blatant racism.

[colleybri]

Andor and Rogue One: Sacrificing love and sacrificing for love

I often contemplate Luthen’s monologue from Andor episode 10: the full meanings and implications of what he has sacrificed. The clues to what his backstory might be and how his future might unfold. Perhaps the most intriguing item on his list of what he has given up is ‘love’. The difficulty of analysing this one is that the word has so many different meanings, and once again I’m rueful that in English we didn’t keep the Ancient Greek tradition of having different words for the many different types of love that we can experience. There are separate words for romantic/sexual love, the love between parents and children, between siblings and between good friends. There’s love in the sense of a strong liking (as in “I love chocolate”) and the love that develops over time in a relationship that needs a lot of work (as in an arranged marriage).

Luthen might mean one or all of these, but he might well also mean a very specific type of love: the one often called ‘universal and unconditional love’. The Greek word is Agape, (pronounced Ah-ga-pay). It’s the selfless love felt for humanity as a whole, and is that behind the willingness to do anything for someone without expecting something in return. It’s the biggest question Luthen will have to face. Is he ready and willing to die for the cause - and if so, will this kind of love be the motive? The problem is that in doing what he feels he needs to do for the greater good he thinks he is ‘damned’ as his actions are anything but loving, at least on the surface. He threatens babies, sacrifices innocents and plans to kill a man at his mother’s funeral. Perhaps he is a long way from ‘agape’.

Cassian is a little easier to track as we have at least the start and end of his story - Season 2 will fill in the remaining gap. The excellent Rogue One novelisation makes explicit that within the film Cassian has an epiphany and it’s made really clear in the extract below, which is from just after where he and the others volunteer to go with Jyn to Scarif (knowing full well the huge personal risk involved).

The novel earlier emphasised the ‘need’ in Jyn’s eyes, which is ultimately linked to her love (denied at first) for her father and her faith in his message about the Death Star. Cassian couldn’t go ahead with killing Galen and it’s interesting that here he now shares that ‘need’ to act: ‘He tried to imagine executing another coldly elegant mission for Draven and finding nourishment in the stale, momentary thrills of danger and triumph… He couldn’t survive that way anymore. …Jyn was changing. And through her, he would do what was required of him. They all would”. Interesting choice of words: ‘Coldly’.. ‘stale’. This will be the Cassian of the end of Andor season 2… Needing to find his fire again. It’s no doubt why we will want to watch the film again immediately afterwards, as Diego Luna has been urging us to do. I think we’ll need the ‘redemption’ part of the story.

With apologies to some of my Cassian x Jyn loving friends ;), this for me is the main canon ‘love story’ in Rogue One. Putting faith in Jyn’s own faith in her father’s message is for Cassian a kind of re-dedication to the cause - a renewal, perhaps, of something like the ‘vow’ that Luthen speaks of. But the motive this time seems to be something positive. In his monologue Cassian speaks of all the awful things he’s done on behalf of the Rebellion. Walking away now, as the Alliance wants to do, would be unthinkable. Making the ultimate sacrifice eventually becomes the only ‘choice’ left but I think it’s so important that Cassian makes it with a clear head and for the right reasons. It’s why I think that any heavy personal losses that Cassian might experience in S2 won’t come in the final arc, which takes place in the days just before the film - I don’t think Tony Gilroy would want us to think that Cassian is acting from any sense of ‘Oh well, my life is so shitty I might as well do this as I haven’t anything else to live for!’ That wouldn’t even be a sacrifice, which means giving up something you value. Instead, Gilroy explicitly says of Cassian that he is “someone who will consciously, open-heartedly sacrifice himself for the greater good”. In other words, he has a clear mind and is doing this for the ‘right’ reason. And the reason is love, I think - and in the ‘agape’ sense. In other words it’s not for love of Jyn or even love of himself (although I think he is genuinely and justly respectful and proud of himself when he dies) but for love of all those theoretical billions of strangers who might possibly be saved because of their sending the Death Star plans.

Cassian, Jyn and the rest of the Rogue One team make the final sacrifice for love. Unconditional love of strangers. The most selfless act of all. It makes me cry every time I rewatch, but the beach scene is a perfect visual representation. Cassian and Jyn are united in a platonic hug, comforting and literally supporting each other. No doubt thinking about all the loves and losses they have experienced in their mirror-imaged traumatic lives, war-torn from such an early age. They don’t want to die but are accepting of their approaching doom and the knowledge that in doing this they have helped each other to rediscover purpose and hope. They have “tried” as Nemik would put it. And finally, being swallowed up in bright transcendental light - recalling the sunrise Luthen knew he’d ‘never see’. Imagery of death but also of hope for ‘someone else’s future’, their sacrifice being the most selfless love of all.

So you can absolutely see the ending of Rogue One and the ending of Cassian’s story as hopeful, transcendental and inspirational as in that sense he is indeed ‘messianic’ as Tony Gilroy has described him. Not because he is a religious chosen one or a mystical figure - he’s an ordinary average man, who started out as a ‘loser.. .a nobody…’ who has done something extraordinary, for love. It’s a fully secular spiritual journey but no less powerful for that. His bible, as it were, has been Nemik’s manifesto.

As for Luthen himself… his fate is unclear. I’m not sure what might be coming for him, but I hope it does the character justice. Perhaps he will get some kind of glimpse of sunrise or perhaps his ending will - in contrast to Cassian’s - be in a totally sunless space.

“Tell him he knows everything he needs to know and feels everything he needs to feel, and when the day comes and those two pull together he will be an unstoppable force for good.”

[lostbutterflyutau]

She’s the Albatross… She is here to destroy you

This is part one of what I call the “Head Family Trifecta” of The Tortured Sohma Family Department. When put together, The Albatross, Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me, and The Prophecy tie together the stories of the head family, Akira, Ren, and Akito.

Since I would like to go in order, we’re starting with a lyrical analysis/essay about Ren’s song, “The Albatross.”

Full disclosure. I did have to do a bit of research on some parts of the symbolism from others’ perspectives, but ultimately, I will be laying out a lyrical breakdown of the song from Ren’s point of view. In other words, I will be getting into her head and how she sees things pre-canon.   However, it doesn’t mean I justify anything Ren does in the canon story. I just think the parallels in the song and story are fascinating.

Wise men once said, “Wild winds are death to the candle. A rose by any other name is a scandal.” Cations issued, he stood Shooting the messengers They tried to warn him about her

These wise men she’s referring to are the staff and any family members who were against Akira and Ren’s relationship. The old faction. As revealed in chapter 115, they had a very specific set of traits they were looking for in any woman wishing to marry into the family. Traits that Ren didn’t meet in their eyes. Ren was the “wild wind,” and the “scandal,” someone not from an elite family (not even close) and certainly not trained to be a proper wife for the head of the family. She had been a servant. One who had, to the traditional family, overstepped her bounds.

But beyond that, she is also a woman who we see can’t be easily controlled. In her relationship with Akira, this is reinforced by her pushing past their words to go after what she wants. And despite the cautions issued, Akira chose to peruse his relationship with Ren.

Cross your thoughtless heart Only liquor anoints you She’s the Albatross She is here to destroy you

I take this to be Ren echoing things said by the opposers mentioned earlier. Often, when one says “cross my heart,” it means that they are being genuine, either in telling a truth or in their intent to fulfil a promise. But it’s also important to note “thoughtless,” which often means not showing consideration for others in a negative sense. However, I think her it’s more meant to be Akira’s naivety. From the little we know, he was sickly and sheltered and given the way the family was looking to approve a marriage partner, I’d wager that he didn’t have much agency in the way his life panned out, similar to Akito before her turnaround. She says in season 3 episode 7 that, “This is the life they gave me! No one ever offered me another one!” And I think the same may have been true for her father before her, minus being told he was special and being allowed to abuse people.

Being anointed is a spiritual process. Because we know that Akira was frail and sickly, I’m going to take it as “anointing the sick” with not a literal liquor, but a metaphorical one. In romances, love is sometimes described as “intoxicating” and we know Ren loves him to an obsessive degree (even after his passing), so it’s this love, this passion of hers that acts as the liquor anointing and corrupting the naïve Akira in the family’s eyes. 

Combine this all together and it’s people thinking and saying that Akira needs to be saved from Ren. Back to chapter 115, the head maid warns him to not be tricked by a woman such as Ren, likely believing her to be someone who would bring down the family in some way. Though I don’t get the vibe that she was ever a gold digger or power seeker (since she never mentions going after power and her feud with Akito is over personal reasons), I wouldn’t be surprised if the maids and family elders did see her as a usurper, stealing and tricking and “destroying” Akira and by proxy – the Sohma clan.

“One bad seed kills the garden One less temptress One less dagger to sharpen” Locked me up in towers But I’d visit in your dreams And they tried to warn you about me

The wise men speak again in the second verse. The bad seed mentioned is obviously Ren, and the “garden” is the Sohma clan. It’s a repeat of them saying her presence is a risk to the family. As mentioned before, several marriage proposals had already been vetted and turned down because they saw themselves as looking out for the family and Akira falling for Ren challenges the plans they had. Additionally, one less temptress/dagger to sharpen may refer to how Ren was seen as the temptress who “ensnared” Akira and walked into the garden unwanted and without shame, and so, the metaphorical daggers came out, starting what would later be the divide between Ren’s side and Akito’s (AKA the “old faction” and the “newcomers”).  

While we don’t directly see this, the idea that people tried to keep the couple apart is heavily implied given the way the old maid tells Akira not to be fooled by her. The “bad seed” who will spell trouble for the family and should remember her place. And that’s just what we’re given on screen, so to speak. Ren may not have been physically locked up or barred from seeing Akira, but they probablu did try and force her back into her box of being a “lowly servant.” Yet, despite this, they can’t control what happens in his dreams. And given how obsessive her love is shown to be, of course she would believe he was dreaming about her and that, even in those dreams, the voices tried to break them apart.

We’ve already gone over the chorus that repeats here, so I’m going to skip over it and go right to,  

Devils that you know Raise worse hell than a stranger She’s the death you chose You’re in terrible danger

This part is rather simple. People that are close can be more dangerous than strangers. In the Sohma clan, this phrase rings very true. Even though they try and live in their own world, the truth is that those in the inner family are probably more dangerous, especially considering the ones surrounding Akira who are dictating his life and future. It’s them that are raising hell about the relationship. Not any of the other families they may be intertwined with. Not even people on the fringes of the inner circle. The staff and elders specifically connected to the main family.

Being a former attendant herself, I’m sure Ren knows this well and this is her being self-aware and acknowledging that by choosing her, it may stir up the ire of the family. Their inherent toxicity is that terrible danger.

And when that sky rains fire on you And you’re persona non grata I’ll tell you how I’ve been there too And how none of it matters

In Latin, “persona non grata” means “an unacceptable person.” In relation to Ren, what’s being said is that if the hate and criticism of the elders ever wears down on him, she’ll be there. After all, she says herself that no one notices his obvious loneliness and that she’ll carry his pain. It’s the same here. She’s saying that she’s been there. She understands. She’ll have his back just as he has hers.

Wise men once read fake news And they believed it Jackals raised their hackles You couldn’t conceive it You were sleeping soundly When they dragged you from your bed And I tried to warn you about them

The fake news here is rumours. We know the clan talks, as shown by what I believe are Kureno’s parents speaking between themselves about the relationship in chapter 115. In short, people talk.

To make the connection, for context, jackals (wild canines) “raise their hackles” when their hair bristles up in an aggressive position to fend off predators. So, the “wise” men are being compared to angry dogs who think that they’re doing the right thing and fending off the predator (Ren). And though she said in an earlier verse that none of their words matter, there’s also maybe a touch of guilt there for not being able to truly shield him from it all. Because as much as she says they were happy and she would take his pain, she also can’t fully protect him from feeling it.

So I… Crossed my thoughtless heart Spread my wings like a parachute I’m the albatross I swept in at the rescue

The devil that you know Looks more like an angel I’m the life you chose And all this terrible danger

In this last chorus, Ren flips the script. She’s now talking about herself and embracing being the albatross. In this case, “thoughtless” goes back to meaning “not showing consideration for others’ feelings.” Because she doesn’t care about what the family says/thinks/feels. This woman who was seen as the devil by so many has risen in her own kind of power (in her mind) by saving Akira from his loneliness and presumably whatever loveless marriage the family wanted to plan. To him, she’s an angel. Akira chose her.

However, despite their happiness, they still have the overall toxicity of the Sohma clan to contend with. It’s a bittersweet ending. They have each other. They’re happy. But also still part of this awful environment.

(This terrible danger) So cross your thoughtless heart She’s the albatross… She is here to destroy you

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Season 2 Rewatch Drabbles--2x11 The Outsider

Summary:  A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my   rewatch of season 2 of Once Upon a Time as an attempt to finally jump   start the muse again.  There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a   “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season.    Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an   emphasis on the very beginnings of Captain Swan’s epic love story, as   soon as a certain dashing pirate makes his appearance.  

Word Count: 533​

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (17.5) (18) (19) (20) (21-22) (22)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Note: This particular selection is a bit different from my previous drabbles. @kmomof4 demanded--not asked, demanded, lol--I write this drabble as a “fix-it” fic, as Belle’s reaction to Hook’s revelations about Rumple was...shall we say...less than satisfying.

“Died?” Hook spat, getting in Belle’s face “Like it was some kind of accident. Is that what he told you?”

Dread coiled in her stomach. 

“He…he didn’t say.”

“Of course not. Of course he’d leave out the most important detail of her passing,” he said bitterly.

“And what would that be?” Belle asked in a small voice, his tone of voice telling her she really didn’t want to know.

“He killed her,” he said. His voice was little more than a whisper, but he might as well have shouted for the impact his words had. “He ripped out her heart, and he crushed it right in front of me.”

“No,” she moaned. It couldn’t be! He’d told her Hook killed Milah, hadn’t he?

No, she realized. He refused to answer, cleverly sidestepping. Why wouldn’t he answer her questions? Was it possible Hook was telling the truth?

“Oh yes, yes. He would do anything, anything to hold onto his power,” Hook said, raising the gun lazily once again. “Why do you think anyone who’s ever gotten close to him has either run away or been killed? Now what makes you think you’ll be any different?”

She wanted to protest his words, wanted to insisted Rumple’s heart was true and Hook’s was rotten, but that little scene from earlier today kept running through her mind.

“Well, I’m not just gonna sit here and do nothing!” Belle insisted.

Rumple rushed toward her, white hot anger on his face. “No, you’re going to go back to the library, lock the door and wait for me to dispense with this problem.”

“And if I don’t?” she asked defiantly, refusing to be cowed by him. “You’ll, you’ll cast some spell that gives me no choice?”

He’d insisted he had no intention of doing such a thing, but Belle could see it in his eyes, the desire to bend her to his will with whatever means necessary. She’d convinced herself it was simply a matter of him wanting to protect her, but now she wasn’t so sure. Now she wondered if there might be more to it, something decidedly sinister.

“I…” she said, hating the waver in her voice, “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

Hook lowered his hand, going so far as to place the gun on the counter between them, his face showing a hint of something that might be sympathy. “I’d advise you not to find out. The woman I loved found out just what kind of man Rumplestiltskin was far too late, and I’ve had to bear the price of it ever since.”

Her heart plummeted even farther. She knew there was still good in Rumple, she knew it, but it wouldn’t do him any good if he refused to choose that good over his own power, and as much as she hated to admit it, Belle couldn’t be sure he’d ever choose her over power.

“I’ll consider your words,” Belle said, edging past him toward the door. Likely she’d think of little else for a good long time. In one conversation, everything had changed. Suddenly she began to wonder if the relationship she’d thought was so strong and enduring was actually built on sand.

                                                                             NEXT CHAPTER-->

[sailforvalinor]

I saw you post on seasons 1 through 4 of Dr. Who and I wanted to know more about your accidentally Christian pile. What are some other works do think unintentionally emphasized Christian doctrines or morals?

Ooooooh, really good question!!

So the first thing that comes to mind here is Marvel’s Agents of Shield--each season has it's own story arc and themes, so it's hard to pin down just one thing here, so I'll just talk about a few. I'll talk about the obvious one first: Season 3 in particular has a lot of Christian imagery (though in this case, it's definitely on purpose). You see a flash-forward of a cross necklace at the beginning of the season floating in a spaceship in space right before it blows up, and then you watch as that necklace get passed around from person to person, knowing that whoever ends up with it at the end of the season is going to die. I won't spoil anything more, other than to say that it results in quite a bit of Christ/crucifixion imagery and themes.

Other than this, there's a lot about the redemptive power of love (Fitzsimmons my beloved), individual guilt and how to handle it, how to let go of shame, the inevitable defeat of evil--I know there's more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. (AOS girlies/gents, feel free to chime in!) Additionally, one of the main characters explicitly a Christian, and while he's not portrayed perfectly, he's never ridiculed for it by the other characters or the narrative, which is a breath of fresh air. There are of course some things I don't approve of (prepare to have your skip button ready once or twice in the earlier seasons), but it's still a fantastic show, and by far the best show Marvel has ever come out with.

Harry Potter’s a pretty obvious one—Harry has to sacrifice himself and be fully willing to die to kill Voldemort, the fight with the basilisk in Chamber of Secrets has some Biblical parallels—but I’m fairly certain that these themes were deliberate, so I suppose they don’t really count. But they do to me, so 😂

Star Wars is another big one for me—of course, a la George Lucas’s original vision, SW is much more directly influenced by Buddhism, but I find that it often can’t help dipping into Christian themes. I find this is especially true with anything that has Dave Filoni’s name attached, likely because he in turn is pretty influenced by Tolkien and Lewis (Ahsoka is meant to parallel Gandalf, the World Between Worlds in Rebels was inspired by The Magician’s Nephew’s Wood Between Worlds, etc). Mandalorian season 3 in particular blew me away—baptism! Redemption! Rebirth! Mandalorian denominations/sects! Seriously, I was expecting them to come down hard on the strange rules that sect holds themselves to and for Mando to completely reject them—but they didn’t?? It was SO fascinating.

Kingdom Hearts is probably one of my favorite demonstrations of John 15:13: “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Otherwise, I can’t really think of any super prevalent Christian themes I noticed, but that one is just so strong and so important to the themes of the series, I couldn’t not mention it.

Final Fantasy XV has something similar going for it—although what I’m going to say has MAJOR spoilers, so if don’t want to be spoiled, go ahead and skip this (and play the game because it’s great—but Noctis having to willingly sacrifice himself by sitting on a throne in order to purify his kingdom is as blatant as you get. For crying out loud, he’s called the One True King. However this only holds true for the base game—the dlc’s (except for Episode Prompto, but that’s just because it doesn’t really apply to that plotline, also it’s incredible) and the novel in my opinion kind of ruin it.

Legend of Zelda is an interesting one, because it is of course heavily inspired by Shinto, but a few Christian themes sort of snuck their way in there. In Skyward Sword (oh and spoilers for Skyward Sword). Hylia, though certainly not meant to be a direct Christ figure, chooses to be reborn as a Hylian (basically a human) in order to save her people. The difference here is that Zelda does not know that she’s Hylia, and she never regains her goddess status (at least presumably until she dies of old age), but it’s an interesting parallel nonetheless. Also, there’s a famously creepy cutscene in Twilight Princess where we get the story of how the Twili were banished from Hyrule for dabbling in dark magic, and the sequence has always reminded me of the Fall.

Those were just a few that I thought of off the top of my head—I’m sure there are more, but that’s all that’s coming to me at the moment 😂

[mdhwrites]

In the description are timestamps for when the tierlist properly starts, when I swap seasons and a quick jump to skip the break I took between S1 and 2. Shout out to D-Man in my Discord for being my cohost for this as it helped a lot with making sure I wasn’t getting too into my own head. For those who want to see the final verdict though:

And now for some analysis of the picks for those who want the probably bigger ticket episodes on the list and don’t want to have to scrub through a 5 hour video: NOTABLE ODDITIES: Yesterday’s Lie at D: With how I’ve praised Vee and talked about how good Yesterday’s Lie is at its own goals is actually a problem for the show overall, why is it that when trying to mostly judge the episodes on their own merits, it’s in D? Well... I explained on stream that if they cut off Luz and Camila’s conversation even fifteen seconds earlier, have the guilt trip and not the promise, the episode would easily be in S tier. Objectively I think the episode is S tier. However... This is a subjective list and I could do an entire blog as to why the promise made at the end of it LOOKS like a good cliffhanger... But if you ask questions about how it can be resolved, it is just awful. And the show knew this as it doesn’t even come up for why Luz wants to stay in the human realm. They made an entirely different, far stupider, reason for it. But it doesn’t change that me thinking about the promise made me actively dread S2B because I could not see the promise leading to anything good but it’s too big and dramatic to just ignore, even though the show effectively does ignore it. Grom at A instead of S: I still can’t fully explain this one. It’s honestly as much where my gut demanded it be as much as my mind but it is absolutely the gatekeeper for S because it deserves the rep it has. Honestly, I think it’s THE episode where my shifting opinions and analysis of the show hurts it the most because I just can’t be comfortable with the fact that Luz takes Amity’s place WAY more to prove Eda wrong and do a cool thing than specifically because Amity is afraid. Amity is more an excuse in this episode which is a similar problem to Cloud on the Horizon (which I know is likely surprising not to be in F tier but it doesn’t break any continuity or the like and at least tries to give payoff to things which I can’t always say about others) since they’re both VERY important to Lumity but Lumity doesn’t feel important to them if that makes any sense and I just can’t shake that with Grom. S TIER EXPLANATIONS: A Lying Witch and a Warden: It’s a VERY good pilot. If it were just another episode of the show, it’d probably be a high A but it might still be an S just because the ideas are so much fun and so interesting in them and presented with a lot of charm and heart that I wish was in more of the series. As an introduction though, regardless of what the show will actually be like, it’s absolutely amazing. It gets across the core (for S1) of these characters incredibly well, it shows a world that is genuinely interesting and still manages a fun adventure on top of that without feeling rushed or haphazard. It is just something I marvel at and easily deserves its spot. Lost in Language: I’ve talked about this being my favorite episode and that has not changed. It utilizes the age of the characters well, it has fun magic, it actually has the line “This isn’t what it looks like” and it’s just bluntly true, it has great comedy, a lot of cheer and the final threat of the bookmaker is TERRIFYING but also heartbreaking and actually holds WAY more threat than most other villains in the series. It is exactly what I want out of a fantasy kid’s show if you were to ask me. Also while the B plot isn’t anything special, it is fun and so it doesn’t drag down the episode. Agony of a Witch: I was honestly surprised when my first instinct was to put this or Young Blood, Old Souls in S tier. I think it’s because S1′s story with Eda and Lilith is genuinely REALLY good and this is the payoff to that and boy what a payoff it is. However, it’s much more paid off in this episode and Young Blood, Old Souls suffers from the fact that a finale is still supposed to setup the next season and... We get one episode dealing with the new status of the curse and Belos isn’t touched on properly again until S2B because fuck you. It’s not enough to drag episode down too far but it definitely solidified that my good will towards the finale is a lot more from Agony. F TIER EXPLANQATIONS: Escaping Expulsion: Murders two of its more interesting elements in plotlines that not only aren’t that fun but also barely include, if included at all, the main character that these elements are connected to. The biggest plus is that Odalia is a lot of fun as a villain but that is part of also how Amity’s potential was murdered so yeah, no. Otherwise, it’s very bog standard with a completely out of character montage from Bump and just isn’t interesting from a character perspective because everything is too easy. Elsewhere Elsewhen: Remove Luz, Eda and Lilith being stupid as rocks and the murdering of any potential that Belos or the Isles had to be interesting and you have why Really Small Problems ALMOST made F tier. This is just a boring as fuck episode. The jokes aren’t good, everyone’s an idiot, nothing is accomplished, what is is dumb and not going to pay off well in the long run and I just end wishing I’d done literally anything else with my time. It’s barely even interesting to talk about despite being a time travel episode because the time travel is so pointless and it’s not exploring the past of the Isles, it’s about being the next person Philip conned out of THOUSANDS he probably did over the years and Philip is NO FUN. Dell is the ONLY good part of this episode but that’s like two minutes at best and goes nowhere in the grander scheme of things and was definitely not worth comic relief Eda which is always the WORST because Eda is at her funniest when you’re laughing with her, not at her. Sport in a Storm: This one surprised me but it comes down to Willow’s talk with Hunter feeling patronizing because “I was called half a witch because I literally was using the wrong type of magic and now am the DEMI GOD OF PLANTS” does exactly parallel respectfully with “I was born without magic and therefore am genuinely seen as potentially of this society.” Not only that but even a moral as simple as ‘don’t judge by its cover’ is done so poorly with the fact that Hunter had EVERY reason to write off all those characters and the turn around for why they’re actually impressive is mostly bullshit. That plus the fact that the Lumity stuff is fine at best and the EC is murdered in relevancy and interest just makes this an absolutely terrible episode for me because I care about no one, what is happening is actively elements worse and it really is disrespectful to any disability allegory with Hunter. Reaching Out: This is still the worst episode in the series for me. I got a headache and cut it short because I got so mad talking about it. NOTHING functions in this episode though. It can’t even do fun tournament fights because it has no interest in that. It has no interest in having Amity and Luz properly interact, something that is just a running fact about Lumity once they’re together. The final talk with Luz makes Amity’s feelings feel like bullshit because they’re never actually addressed and Amity such little of a grudge that she doesn’t even ask for an apology. She’s entirely focused on Luz and Luz’s pain so why did you run away except for a shot of the Grom tree that doesn’t actually reflect the status of your relationship because Luz could go literally and Amity would not leave her. The ONLY saving grace of the episode is a mostly boring B plot that has good emotions but has the glaring problem that Amity ditching tryouts does of “BEING A WILD WITCH IS FUCKING ILLEGAL!” I could literally go scene by scene with this episode for why the concepts are good but then just left to rot in the gutter, and the fact that the concept for this episode is so good that it makes me say, and I NEVER say this, I could have written it better, is unforgivable for me personally. Thanks to Them: I had initially planned to put this in D because I’m always told there’s a lot of fanservice and it seems like it’s at least trying to do important things even if it’s not doing them well but... I’m sorry. Amity becoming comic relief annoys me, Luz is at her ABSOLUTE WORST as a character, period, for this episode to where her decision in this episode is something I bring up constantly because its character assassination, Belos being alive is infuriating period and they get an alright fight scene out of it but very little substantially else, it’s the entire reason why so many people are pissed that Evelyn and Caleb didn’t come back in the finale because of a very half assed attempt to go “Look, we have a sympathetic villain, we swear!” It’s also one of the few episode where the little I did watch actually made me go “I’m not crazy... This just looks bad and cheap animation wise, right?” Especially the fucking hay ride which should have been hard to fuck up because it’s a not exactly a new or complex concept. For the Future: If Thanks to Them got brownie points for trying to do important things but doing them badly, For the Future gets slaughtered for the fact in a three episode season, one episode feels like filler. Not even fun filler that’s exuberant or interesting or dealing with characters who have been treated as properly relevant to the show in over a season. It’s just filler. And I know Willow stans mad at me for that but Willow has been a plot device for other characters her entire existence so why is her ONE properly about her episode in the entire series in SEASON FUCKING THREE. Other than that, Kikimora is a terrible villain and always has been so her being one of the final threats and not being an in show joke is just fucking awful and it also includes the end of Luz’s character which is done just... The worst. It doesn’t even track with the problem she was having. She blatantly ignored that part of her mother’s speech. It’s not character assassination like Thanks to Them but this whole episode admits how few characters are real characters in this show, that it never had the themes it claims it had and has no fucking clue what to do with its own story elements to make them interesting. And a small shout out to Watching and Dreaming that is probably mostly not in F tier because I didn’t want to put literally all of S3 in F tier and at the least the spectacle of the episode (much Hollow Mind which I have to respect the ambitions of even if the execution is ass) and the fanservice makes it a satisfactory ending for the show even if it’s a meaningless one. Would I have liked it? Almost certainly not but I didn’t watch S3 for a reason. I also want to mention a final bit that I added in the stream once I had the whole thing done: I think TOH is a series that is worse than the sum of its parts. Frankly, the only episode that probably would have been S tier would have been Lost in Language if I was judging in the grander context because so much goes nowhere, or terrible, that it really does damage the enjoyment I have of the show as whole. A perfect example is that Lilith and Eda interactions are GREAT in S1... But knowing Lilith’s fate will always taint those for me unless I manage to shove them out. Similarly goes for Lumity, to such an extent it still affected the ranking of Grom. Nonetheless, this is my list. If you want my opinion on the rest, buy the right- Sorry. How bizarre. I mean go watch the video at the top of the blog. Otherwise, i hope you have a wonderful day and thank you. =========== I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[officialjeffprobst]

Survivor 46 Week 2 Winner Rankings

After two episodes, I am ready to give some winner rankings. It is so hard to tell what may happen this early, and it seems like the show is throwing a lot of possibly misleading hints at us this season, so my rankings are subject to massive changes every week. Right now it’s less of a winner ranking and more ranking which people I think are important to the story/going far in the game.

1. Maria - Despite being on the tribe that we have spent the least time with, I feel good about Maria. She is depicted as level-headed and intelligent and has what seems like a tight alliance of two within a larger alliance. She was also compared (alongside Charlie) to Denise, the winner of Philippines. They wouldn’t make a comparison like that for someone to exit the game in the next few episodes!

2. Tevin - Tevin has had a strong presence from the first moments of the season–his introductory monologue alone tells us he is critical to the season. His extroverted personality and ability to get along with others tell me he has what it takes to make it far. He has already been clocked as a social threat, which makes it seem less like a winner edit and more like someone who makes it to finally only to be cut before the Final 3. Either way, I think we will be seeing him for a while.

3. Tiffany - Within her alliance of three, I feel like Tiffany is the least likely to be perceived as a threat. I think she is intelligent and has good instincts on who to trust. I can see her going really far in this game and I feel like she would definitely be respected by a jury.

4. Kenzie - I feel similarly to Kenzie as I do to Tevin. She is clearly important, but she has already been clocked as a social threat. I think she’s more likely to leave earlier than Tevin because Tevin had the intro monologue, but I think she is smart and quick to adapt to other groups, which could propel her forward for a long time.

5. Charlie - I think that Charlie is in a really good position right now. He’s incredibly likable and has great relationships in his tribe. He was also compared to Malcolm from Philippines, who made it far with his partner, Denise. If he plays his alliances correctly, he can go far.

6. Q - I really enjoy watching Q play. He’s straightforward and intelligent. He is thinking ahead examining threats and what is the best path forward for his game. I fear that due to his physique and his bluntness, he will be seen as a threat post-merge, but I do think he has the ability to keep his head above water for a while.

7. Soda - Alongside being on the dominant tribe at the moment, Soda seems like she has a likable personality. She’s been thinking about strategy since day 1 and is good at making connections. I don’t think that she would be seen as a threat until a lot later down the line.

8. Hunter - Hunter seems like the dark horse of his tribe right now. We don’t know a lot about him, but we haven’t seen anything negative and he has the advantage of being on the dominant tribe. He has a close relationship to Tevin that I think will stick, and I don’t see him being voted out if he is able to stay close to Tevin and make other connections across tribes.

9. Jem - Jem is someone who I would like to see higher on this list. She has the Charlie’s Angels alliance and at the moment seems like a non-threat, but unfortunately we just aren’t getting a lot from people who aren’t going to tribal.

10. Randen - It seems like the only reason Randen was on our screen was because he found the Beware Advantage. This, along with him telling Venus, could lead to something more down the road, but right now I don’t feel confident about him going far in the game.

11. Bhanu - I love watching Bhanu, but he is a mess. He isn’t good at keeping things close to his chest and I fear that he isn’t long for this world.

12. Ben - Ben is super fun character wise, but I don’t know much about his strategy and he seems like he is at the bottom of his tribe.

13. Mo - Mo is basically invisible. She seems likable but we just aren’t getting enough coverage for me to feel like she is important.

14. Venus - There is so much negative Venus content :( I think she is being unfairly treated but at this point I think it's a long shot to think that she has any chance of getting votes when this many people are against her, even if she flips and gains allies.

15. Tim - To me, Tim is the first to go if his tribe loses. I find that he isn’t super great socially and he doesn’t stick out as a main character to me.

16. Liz - Liz is obnoxious. She isn’t connecting with her tribe on a personal level and it rubs everyone the wrong way when you flaunt your money. She isn’t winning by a longshot.

[bronyinabottle]

11 Years of I Dream of Twilight Sparkle & Plans for the near Future

Hey everyone! Just a message I wanted to make now that it’s been 11 years since I started the blog. I was going to have something special out for today, but I thought instead of simply delaying it for either as early as next week or sometime this month. Playing the Sonic Frontiers DLC among many other things got in the way of sharing what I wanted to do next in a manner fast enough to make it for the blog’s anniversery.

I should at least leave you all with this. I admit there’s not much left I have planned for the future of the blog that doesn’t depend on your asks/interaction to keep alive. I think Earnest Empathetic Change was the last lengthy story I have in mind. Anything else that comes after would likely be one-shots if at all. Although to assure you, that asks are very much still on the table. 

Perhaps at the very least. I should share I plan to do next: There will be another timeskip coming, though it won’t be tied in with a story like EEC was. It’ll simply give an idea of where the IDOTS universe is by the time of The Last Problem’s own timeskip (The general idea is the same as in that episode, though there are some important differences too that I want to lay out).

The version of the characters from shortly after Season 9/Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear and the 10 year timeskip related to Earnest Empathetic change are still very much able to be asked if you’d prefer. You won’t be locked into getting answered by this coming timeskip if you feel the question works best for an earlier point in the timeline.

I would also like to tell you that a 3rd timeskip will eventually be shown too. Which I promise will be the last one. Although I don’t plan to show it until sometime next year. Hopefully earlier in the year rather than later. For the most part the timeskip coming this month will just get into more of a “Where are they now?” sort of thing. The timeskip in 2024 I may at the very least design a short story for. Other then that though, it’s really winding down to a real finale for the blog. But not in a way that permanently closes off the blog off to any asks/interaction. Asks have been slow anyway for years so it’s very possible that it may end up being a real finale anyway. But at some point, more I Dream of Twilight Sparkle stuff will count on all of you. As all that’s left is some feel-good stuff in the future for many characters.

The blog has lasted a long time, longer then a great many Pony ask blogs have. I’ve had a lot of fun and even if no more asks are ever sent. I want to say that I appreciate everyone who has ever sent an ask, collaborated, liked, reblogged, etc over the years. I hope in some ways I’m not entirely done even when I’ve laid out all the timeskips I want to do.

Remember that even if IDOTS ever grows too quiet for too long, I haven’t left Pony ask blogs completely. As I still want to try to get as much as I can through Geniequestria. But I Dream of Twilight Sparkle was where I started, it will always have a special place in my heart. I know Geniequestria’s not going to appeal to everyone who liked I Dream of Twilight Sparkle since its definitely much more geared to mature subjects. I didn’t want to abandon IDOTS completely just because I have Geniequestria now, as I feel that’s unfair to people who may not find Geniequestra to be their cup of tea.

It's just fairly obvious that I have more plans on Geniequestria currently then I do for I Dream of Twilight Sparkle. I feel I've told a majority of what I've wanted to tell on IDOTS, and I'm just getting started practically with Geniequestria (Although I am starting to be afraid the amount of ideas may take too long to ever get to before something happens that makes it difficult for me to continue doing ask blogs for much longer). However, I will always be open to doing something more for IDOTS if there's an ask/suggestion I'd love to do with it.

Remember that I did open a roleplay askblog not too long ago that's good for quicker answers in the iDOTS universe that doesn't take long to do anything with. That'll remain open for as long as I can.

One more reassurance that this is not a message about ending the blog entirely, but coming soon how much this blog gets updated may depend on you guys more than me heading into the coming year.

However uncertain the future is, I want to thank you all again for these 11 years. and I still look forward to my next post whether it's on here, Geniequestria, or elsewhere.

[postguiltypleasures]

My Peak TV Journey *Ted Lasso*

Almost tv for people who don’t like TV. The people in media I have found most enthusiastic have been from those who write about other topics. But anyway, I agree with these tales more than the “it’s bad now” ones. I’m not sure what this says about me as a viewer. Maybe it says more about me as someone who is fine taking weeks to gather my thoughts before posting anything? Also over the course of writing this I’ve decided I can’t offer anyone who was disenchanted by the second season reason to try the third. 

Before getting into my thoughts, I want acknowledge all the lovely thoughts and metas about it have popped up on my dash since the finale. They think through relationships like Ted’s to Jamie’s, which I wasn’t invested in, but are complex and deserve the interpretation. Thank you for doing the good work. 

The episodes this season were generally about twice as log as the first season, appropriate for the transition from sitcom to dramas. The length was probably to sett up and test unannounced spinoff ideas. This is something I’d hate in an established franchise, but was fine with here. Characters who had previously barely made an impression on me, such as Collin, Zoreaux/Van Damme, and Bumbercatch registered and I was charmed. I was happy Collin got to kiss his fellow on the field after the big game. The Van Damme / Dani brief sojourn into international rivalry was really funny. As is most of what Bumbersnatch said.

Was kind of indifferent to the Keeley-Jack story line. I hat venture capitalists on principle, so I was not surprised that Jack became emotionally abusive. Keeley’s story the entire series has been about making something new for herself. So it sort of makes sense that she not be with any footballer in the end. But was Jack necessary? Was it to set up a possible Keeley and Rebecca in friendship and business together spin off? If that were true would that change feelings about it? At least we got Barbara, my favorite new character. 

I never write these posts all in one sitting, so it’s worth noting that while this was a work in progress I went to a concert and heard some people discussing the show. Neither of them liked Nate’s second season arc. They thought it was all bungled writing and that his speech near the end was unearned. (I did not hear them discuss the third season at all.) I thought his second season arc was great, including his speech to Ted at the end. There was not enough of him in the third season. His disillusionment with Rupert was great, and part of me even wants to defend him getting to date Jade, the hostess at his favorite restaurant. (Jade is not really a character who stands on her own, making things harder to defend.) I agree with complaints that he did not make amends to all the people he needed to make. Though for the sake of the show, the most important relationship is with Ted, and Ted failed Nate as much as Nate betrayed him, so them reaching a detente where they can move forward. Which is sort of the theme of the season. 

I feel pretty ambivalent not continuing the Rebecca and Sam’s romance. There was some wistfulness, but not a lot of action. I liked Sam’s story about opening a restaurant and a wealthy man hating him. I didn’t love Rebecca’s relationship to a psychic prediction. But she’s charming, and I like her interactions with everyone. I especially liked the wrap up of her relationship with her ex Rupert, and the jokes about how she actually is out of touch and rich. She is someone who actually enjoys her money, which is kind of refreshing, especially as she shares the actress Harriet Walter, who plays her with the awful adult children Succession.

A lot of the first part of the season was concerned with superstar Italian footballer Zava. Zava isn’t much of a character. He’s egomaniacal, but doesn’t need to learn anything. He is sort as a metaphor for the season. Comes with impossible expectations, seems to contradict the messages from earlier seasons. He comes in, if briefly the center of everything for the team, and leaves with the realization that the team will have to change without him. (Also he grew huge avocados.) He wasn’t that memorable on his own. Part of me wanted to see him have some kind of dark reveal, especially after seeing his back tattoo. Plot wise his biggest influence was indirectly getting Jamie and Roy to train together. And that was some of the high points of the series. (It’s good that they were ultimately forced from their love triangle with Keeley.)

Ted himself was forced out the show’s center. This allowed more characters a chance to shine and him to face the less pleasant aspects of himself, including that he’s abandoned his son for a couple years to avoid the pain of his divorce. It was inevitable that he’d choose to leave the team to be with his son. He was still engaged himself in the team’s’s business, changing strategy to get everyone more energized, but he still has to go and work on himself. The season highlighted his less appealing parts, his suppressed resentments and jealousies. After the first season people had projected an unrealistic expectation on him of him potentially being a role model for non toxic masculinity. That was a bit much. No one real or fictional could live up to that. He’s a work in progress aspiring towards that, but not even close to it.

Finally I want to makes some notes on the use of music throughout the final season. Trent  getting into the Richmond locker rooms while The Kinks “Well Respected Man” played was perfect. Leonard Cohen”s “Everybody Knows” playing while Trent saw Collin kissing his fellow was a bad take, the song is much darker than the scene. Roy wearing tied dye while Nick Cave and the Bad Seed’s “Red Right Hand” played was funny, but I didn’t love it. I did love that Keeley was listening to Sharon Van Etten’s” Mistake” while ending her relationship with Jack. I wish the show had used New Order at some point in the series (though not “World in Motion”, their FIFA song), because I’m a fan and would be thrilled if it was used in Richmond’s rivalry with Manchester City. Alas, it wasn’t to be. 

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

My thoughts on the first Long-Running Panel Show Friday of 2023.

Would I Lie to You: Obviously, the most important thing about this episode is I went 4-1 in guessing the answers before they were announced, which is a strong start to a new season. The only one I got wrong is the This Is My round... sorry I didn’t guess that Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith play pranks on each other by mimicking autoerotic asphyxiation and urinating in offices.

Anyway, the episode was good. I’m impressed that I don’t feel like this one’s sagged even into its sixteenth season; David and Lee both still appear to be enjoying themselves. They both ran out of stories years ago, but not out of enthusiasm. Also, why is this the first time I’ve ever heard someone on a panel show tell the audience that if anyone on the other team is your friend, get some new friends? That seems like the sort of thing people should be saying all time.

QI: That was a good time. Not a standout episode, but a solid one. Lou Saunders made me laugh almost every time she opened her mouth. Classic play from Alan Davies, getting excited about blue whales and talking shit about Top Gear. He and Ross Noble play off each other well. And I think Rose Matafeo made me laugh literally every time she opened her mouth. I love her style on panel shows, of sort of sitting back (often literally leaning backward a bit) and sounding vaguely apologetic for interrupting every time she interjects, and it’s always funny.

The News Quiz: “We are barely a week into 2024, and I have already broken my two New Year’s resolutions: not to add one to all numbers.” – Andy Zaltzman

I mean, what more can we ask for from a radio panel show than that as the first line? That was so entertaining that I barely noticed anything else that happened. Chris McCausland and Lucy Porter are always good on this show, and they both came well prepared for this one. Had quite a bit of pre-written material on very recent stuff, I guess they were busy over Christmas. And of all the journalists they cycle through on this show, Samira Ahmed has become one of my favourites.

Andy Zaltzman referring to Rishi Sunak as “the first Prime Minister of 2023″ was good too. He had a number of nice lines. I love the little ways he commits to bits; anyone else would have dropped the thing about not giving out points after the first couple of times. I’ll be honest, it was just nice to hear from him. Missed you, Andy. Glad you’re back for another year.

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown: You know what? After I’ve made two posts in the last few weeks about how this show’s gone stale and they need to respectfully lay it to rest, I thought this episode was good. It wasn’t the lineup I saw announced earlier, and I was immediately annoyed when I saw Jonathan Ross, but actually, it worked well. My favourite part of the episode was Ahir Shah, in his Catsdown debut. He was some of the things that used to make it so much fun to watch Jon Richardson on this show - a genuine Countdown fan who was excited to be there and got really into trying to do well. He paired nicely with Roisin, who’s always good on this show (I mean, bad at the actual puzzles, but her type of humour fits well with the format). Even Jonathan Ross, whom I normally dislike, was funny a few times. And I thought Joe Wilkinson was on good form; he made me laugh several times.

I also liked the stand-in for Rachel Riley. I’d be very happy to have her on all the time instead of Rachel. The dictionary corner guest annoyed me at the beginning - I tend to cringe at too much of a millennial/gen Z self-parody schtick - by the end she’d completely won me around and I though she was fantastic.

I hate saying that I think this episode was so good because Jon Richardson wasn’t there, as my favourite versions of Jon Richardson are pretty much my favourite comedy out there. I absolutely love Jon Richardson, when he’s good. He and Sean Lock had something perfect going for a while, on this and 8 Out of 10 Cats. Channel 4 struck gold with that chemistry, and they were right to get as much mileage as possible out of it. But that’s gone now.

Jon had something very good going before Sean Lock too, of course, the radio show with Russell Howard being much, much better than something like that had any right to be. So one of his partnerships ended in the most dramatic breakup of the twenty-first century, and one ended in a premature death. No wonder he’s tired. Anyway, I think Jon needs to find a new challenge if he’s going to be as entertaining as he used to be again. Maybe if he got paired with Ahir Shah sometime it would bring some of the spark back, get him competitive about something.

[winderlylandchime]

Hi! I hope you’re feeling better after your booster. I remember I felt like I was going to hell and back every hour of the day when I got mine but i agree, way better than covid. I always feel like I forget to reply to literally anything you say and I always feel bad because I swear it’s because of the fact that I’m busy babysitting a grown man. But to respond to some stuff:

Yes, he did accidentally steal a dog. Our mom took the dog to the groomers and he went to pick it up and they gave him who they thought was our dog. Turns out they accidentally made a mistake because there were two dogs that were identical (my mom looked for pics because i refused to believe it but nope, they looked like siblings and they gave them the same grooming style or whatever). He then all confused sent a pic of the dog to mom and was like ‘why is he acting so weird whats up with him?’ And even jokingly blamed her for the reason why the dog hates him bc how dare she groom him. And then they called from the groomers because they realized the mistake. At least it was the same dog and not a completely different one because that would be actually dumb on his part.

Also yes, our parents are going through it because of him. The parts that I don’t tell you guys about are when they text or call me to cuss me out because he’s annoying them. The rest of the family finds it hilarious but they unfortunately get the constant texts and voice memos and calls about a fictional character. Earlier this week (i think it was this week? Time is not real for me anymore, my bad) he woke them up at 3 am because he couldn’t sleep because he had thoughts about Britin. Our dad actually blocked his number for a full day after that which didn’t work because my brother ended up calling his assistant at work and pretended that it was an important family emergency (about him btw!!!! Which is fucked up on so many levels right now) and when dad answered all panicked, he went ‘did you seriously block my number because I asked you if you thought Brian is going to profess his love for Justin?’ So they are tired of him for sure. But i think we all know that this is not going away any time soon.

And yes, he is getting more and more curious about the cast. I think it’s because he knows he’s close to the ending so now he has a ton of questions that he didn’t care for at the start. I’m genuinely leaning towards showing him the out of the box interview and Randy’s podcast. Gale’s because it’s so interesting and since he’s obsessed with him, he’ll probably love learning more about him and with Randy he will be for sure shocked by what Randy is like. And omg I actually almost broke character and had an actual reaction when he lowkey went into RPF territory. I have no clue how we/he ended up here but oh boy. I also weirdly can’t wait for him to find out Gale is straight. Because i swear, this man genuinely has a crush on him and i can no longer tell if it’s in a bromance type of way or not.

And he is feeling a little better but unfortunately he had a tiny setback with his recovery this week which sucks. But he is much better and i can tell because for the past few days he didn’t want to watch new episodes and didn’t even speak much about Brian/Britin (except while rewatching old eps) because he was actually worried he wouldn’t be able to give his full attention and watch it properly. And today he was talking to our uncle about how much Brian has changed in the last season and how he has many thoughts about the last season. Which he still has to share with me. And when he does, best believe I will be here in a heartbeat.

Haha no worries! No one is here to hear about my boring little life. You and your brother are the content people are here for.

I am dying over that dog grooming story. I can see how that could happen. One time when I was very little, I fell asleep at my friend’s house. My parents were coming home late from a date night and had the key to my friend’s apartment to let themselves in and grab me. When they got back out into the hallway (this was in an apartment building) where it was light, they realized they had my friend and not me!

Your brother faked a family emergency so your dad’s assistant would put him through? OH NO! That is a bridge too far. Your parents must be so annoyed and angry.

I think we are ALL wondering if what your brother feels for Gale is bromance or perhaps a little something more.

I am excited to hear your brother’s thoughts on Brian’s growth. I totally get only rewatching until he’s in a place to give his full attention.

[imperialkatwala]

Okay so!! I just finished season two of the Owl House and watched Thanks to Them like. two days ago. So I have no idea if this has been said or not, I have not a clue what the current fanon is, I just had a Thought and wanted to share. This might be an ice cold take. I have no idea.

Anyways here's my Theory On Flapjack (spoilers for the whole series pretty much)

I think Flapjack was originally Caleb Wittebane's palisman.

First piece of evidence: The first time we meet Flapjack, he's living with the Bat Queen, which implies that he had a witch at some point, but something happened and he had to go live with her instead. The scar over his eye suggests that whatever happened was traumatic, at least for Flapjack, though quite possibly to his witch, as well. When he decides he wants to be Hunter's palisman, the Bat Queen implies that it's been a long time since Flapjack chose to go with anyone. 

(S2:E6 Hunting Palismen, 19:20)

We don’t know how long palismen live, but the Bat queen herself has been alive for thousands of years. Hundreds of years (say, the time between Caleb being alive and Hunter being alive) isn’t out of the question.

(S1:E10 Escape of the Palisman, 19:23)

Based on earlier lines in the Hunting Palismen episode - e.g. "What a wonderful idea" - we can assume that the picking of palismen hasn't happened before, at least not in this way, so whoever had Flapjack last was probably the one to carve him. It's suggested in Thanks to Them that Caleb was learning to do magic, like Luz (or at least wanted to), so it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to suggest he might have carved a palisman.

Second piece of evidence: Hunter is a grimwalker clone of Caleb, or however the verbage works, but Hunter doesn't know that for a good portion of the show. This is important because when he goes undercover at Hexside, he uses Caleb as his fake name. This is, crucially, not Hunter’s idea. He scrambles for an answer when Willow and Gus ask for his name, and Flapjack is the one to suggest the name Caleb.

(S2:E13 Any Sport in a Storm, 7:58)

Third piece of evidence: In the episode King’s Tide, during the final confrontation, Belos nearly attacks Hunter, but stops, shifting his face back to human and guilt tripping this poor kid yet again. Then he sees Flapjack and immediately goes back on the offensive - it’s made very clear, Flapjack is the one causing this switch, not anything Hunter does or says.

(S2:E21 King’s Tide, 17:05) 

It’s interesting that the subtitles say “kill him” there. That’s a bit of an odd phrasing when Belos is acting alone. Also, the intonation is strange for it to be “kill him” - I hear it as “Caleb.”

Fourth piece of evidence: This screenshot from Thanks to Them, during the story of how Philip and Caleb disappeared. The accompanying line is “[The witch] dazzled [Caleb] with magic and visions of a strange yet beautiful place.”

(S3:E1 Thanks to Them, 31:53)

Fifth piece of evidence: Also from Thanks to Them, Flapjack knows things he would have no reason to know. He knows there is something hidden in that house, in the human realm, where he has in theory never been before. It’s unclear if he knows exactly what is hidden there, but he is the one who leads them to the rebus map, which is implied to have been Caleb’s means of traveling back and forth between realms.

(S3:E1 Thanks to Them, 8:48)

And finally: This has been pinging around in my brain since I first learned Flapjack’s name. “Flapjack” is not a Boiling Isles word. In fact, I can’t think of a time where pancakes were referenced at all (I could be wrong about that but nothing comes to mind).

In fact, Hunter comments on the name the first time he hears it.

(S2:E9 Eclipse Lake, 21:38)

Flapjack is an old-timey human word. Very interesting name for a palisman on the Boiling Isles. Unless, of course, he wasn’t named by a witch.

These have been my extensive thoughts on Flapjack. Canon has hurt me so I turn to writing essays on obscure details. Have a good night

[vagabondangel]

Prodigal Son S1 Review

Plot: Season 1 told a really solid, cohesive story. The mystery of “The Girl In The Box” is the cornerstone of the whole season, and it comes to a really nice resolution by the end of the season. My only complaint is that I wish a certain Very Important Character was introduced a bit earlier in the season, instead of towards the end, almost like an afterthought? 

Characters: Okay, let’s do a quick assessment of each major character.

Malcolm- He’s a decent protagonist. It’s kinda fun to watch him endure mental and physical trauma in literally every single episode. Pretty sure this show broke some kind of record with how much they torture this man on screen. Good thing he’s, like, canonically a masochist.

Gil- I’ve never been a fan of heroic mentor characters, and Gil is no exception. I enjoyed his romantic subplot that unfolded throughout the season, but besides that, I found him rather bland.

Ainsley- Malcolm’s younger sister, and by far my absolute favorite character. Can’t say much about her character arc without spoiling a bunch, but I love her development. I’m eager to see how she continues to develop in S2.

Jessica- Malcolm’s overbearing and overprotective mother. She’s actually a delightful character, and I love her interactions with Malcolm, Martin, and Gil. I’d be an alcoholic too, if my ex-hubby was a serial killer and my son was constantly throwing himself into active danger.

Dani- One of Malcolm’s detective friends. I like Dani, I really do, but I feel like I don’t have much to say about her? She’s interesting, and I wish we got to see more of her backstory. I think she has decent chemistry with Malcolm, and I can see them dating by the end of the series.

JT- One of Malcolm’s detective friends. Again, I like JT. I just feel like we don’t see enough of his personal life, his backstory, for me to really have anything meaningful to say. 

Edrisa- A medical examiner with an obvious crush on Malcolm. Every crime procedural needs a quirky lady with niche expertise, right? That’s Edrisa for this show, and she’s definitely a fun character. Her crush on Malcolm is cute.

Eve- Malcolm’s girlfriend in the later parts of the season. She’s an interesting character with lots of layers, and it was fun to see her secrets unfold throughout the season. I genuinely wasn’t expecting a lot of the twists and turns of her character.

Martin- Malcolm’s incarcerated, serial killer father. I said Ainsley was my fave, but honestly, Ainsley and Martin are tied for this spot. I love them both equally, for different reasons. Martin is a genuine delight whenever he’s on screen, often providing quick humor and comic relief, but able to turn absolutely menacing and threatening on a dime. 

Final Thoughts: Looking forward to watching Season 2!

[randommusingsstuff]

Why Ben and Devi are Endgame (Meta)

At the heart of every rom-com, it always comes down to this: what does the protagonist truly want? 

Why Devi and Paxton Don’t Work

In the season 2 finale, Devi triumphantly says “So, I guess I'm Paxton Hall-Yoshida’s girlfriend now”. She got what she thought she wanted at the start of her journey, only it’s not what she wants anymore. 

Although Devi cares for Paxton, she views him as a status symbol. Paxton, for all his growth, still sees himself as cooler than her. And no, he was not just embarrassed because she cheated on him. Before he knew she was cheating, he invited his friends on their first date and refused to call her his girlfriend. In the finale, it once again takes someone else to point out that he shouldn’t blow her off. As Devi and Paxton walk into the dance, he gives his friends a sheepish look while they judge him. Not only does he still have lingering feelings of embarrassment, his friends’ reactions suggest turbulence ahead for their relationship. 

There is also a lack of communication between Paxton and Devi. They have a magical kiss by the window, and makeout sessions afterwards, but they don't actually talk about their relationship in that elapsed time. Devi makes the assumption that they are together and Paxton doesn’t articulate what he wants until it is forced out of him. 

What can we conclude from this? Paxton is a great character, but he is not the one for Devi. They have differing interests and goals, a lack of communication and they do not see each other for their true worth. 

Can the writers surmount all of these issues to give them an endgame? Yes, but it would require fundamentally changing who Devi and Paxton are. 

Why Devi and Ben Work

In episode 1 of season 2, Devi wants to pick Ben but her friends talk her out of it. This is crucial to understanding why they belong together: her gut instinct has already revealed the truth. She had both guys vying for her and she wanted Ben. Just by this one fact alone, we can infer that Devi’s relationship with Ben was more meaningful to her than her pursuit of Paxton in season 1.

When it’s revealed that Devi is two-timing the boys, Paxton is hurt but Ben is devastated. Paxton likes her, but Ben connected with her on a deeper emotional level. Devi follows Paxton out of the party, which is understandable because he is the one walking away. Again, this is cleverly hinting at their communication styles. Paxton wants to avoid the situation and Ben wants to talk about it. From Ben’s perspective, Paxton is the guy she has wanted for so long and he is the second choice. 

Throughout the season, Ben never considers the fact that Devi could want him over Paxton, which is equal parts sad and infuriating. Her therapist asks what she wants more than anything and she says Ben. In context, it’s a comical line, but it’s also Devi revealing her truth. Like she does at the beginning of the season, she makes a choice and it’s Ben. She pursues Ben romantically before Paxton even though Paxton is the one more willing to forgive her. 

It takes Ben longer to forgive her, and yet he is still there for her when she needs help. The little things he does like give her advice about Aneesa and make her feel better about Paxton’s rejection all show Devi’s ability to be vulnerable with Ben. 

As an aside, they had the opportunity to show Devi being vulnerable with Paxon but didn’t take it. In episode 8 of season 2, Paxton sees Devi crying and she reveals that she got into a really bad fight with Eleanor. I was thinking: here it is, here is the moment that Paxton finally helps Devi with her problems... but no. His response is “seems like you’re in a fight with lots of people” and the conversation quickly shifts to her apologizing and helping him yet again. Devi is able to open up to Ben and be supported by him in a way that she can’t with Paxton.

Before I talk about the finale, which is arguably the biggest point in Ben and Devi’s favour, I want to look at the season overall. The entire story arc is Ben and Devi wanting to be together but constantly running into roadblocks in the form of Eleanor/Fabiola, Paxton and Aneesa. It was so alarmingly obvious they belonged together after season 1, that the writers had to find ways to forcibly separate them for the time being. It’s important for Ben and Devi’s relationship that she dates Paxton first. If she had been allowed to go for Ben, they would have had to explore Devi wondering what she missed out on. When Devi and Ben do get their happy ending, it will be because Devi has realized that Paxton is not the person for her. 

In the finale of season 2, we get 3 crucial scenes from Devi and Ben. The first is the bathroom scene which reaffirms Devi’s ability to be vulnerable with Ben and his ability to support her (something she doesn’t have with Paxton). The second is their tension-filled scene at the dance where they longingly stare at each other. This directly contrasts the scene in episode 8, where Devi tries to reframe her mindset and stop seeing Ben as someone she is attracted to. Here, it becomes apparent that she is unable to stop thinking about him in a romantic way despite actively trying. 

The third scene is basically Eleanor saying “you dummy, she wanted to choose you!”. The writers intentionally reference the pros-cons scene from episode 1, re-affirming that Devi wants Ben. The only reason they are not together is because he is not an option. 

Then we get the line “it wasn’t always him”. Many Devi and Paxton fans believe her choice was Ben, but he took too long and now it’s too late. But when has it ever been too late for a main love interest in a rom-com? Mindy Kaling is a rom-com savant, and she knows as well as I do that it’s only ever “too late” for douchey guys who do not acknowledge the self-worth of the heroine. That’s not Ben though, he has always seen Devi for who she is. 

The heartbreak on Ben’s face is infinitely worse than Paxton’s voicemail at the end of season 1, although these scenes are meant to parallel each other. Devi and Paxton are two people who like each other but do not work as a long-term relationship. Ben and Devi are two people who work as a long-term relationship but never acknowledge their feelings for each other at the right time. It’s a tragedy just waiting to be rectified in season 3.

Season 3 Predictions

Now that I've given my analysis on why Devi and Ben are meant to be, here are some predictions I have on the Devi-Ben-Paxton love triangle for season 3.

Fabiola/Eleanor will be the ones to help Devi act on her true feelings for Ben. This one is a no-brainer for me. After sabotaging their chance to be happy in the first place, Fabiola and Eleanor will decide that they want their friend to be happy and set things right. It will also parallel Ben mending their friendship in season 1.

Paxton and Devi will have some sweet moments in the first half of the season, but not without their issues. The lack of communication and their respective status (the way they view each other) will cause them to fight. They will break-up mid-season, but the ending will leave hope for reconciliation.

On that note, I do not think they will kill the love triangle. Even though we will likely see Devi confessing her feelings for Ben and saying that she wanted to choose him all along, this is still a TV show. Contentious love triangles = buzz and money.

Ben and Aneesa will break up by mid-season, but probably earlier. Ben will find it hard to be in a relationship with Aneesa as he grapples with his feelings for Devi.

Ben will be a pillar of support to Devi as she navigates how to be a girlfriend. It’s the classic trope of the guy helping the girl win over the man of her dreams, only to realize that the person she wants is right in front of her.

 Devi and Ben’s friendship and lingering feelings will culminate in an epic finale confession and kiss. Everything that they were unable to say to each other last season will be spoken aloud in season 3.

Ben and Devi are soulmates, drawn to each other and unable to avoid their feelings. I can’t wait for them to take over my life again next year.

[sxfik]

let's talk about episode 16 and why it confirms solhwi endgame

back to masterlist

a/n: as always, this is just my opinion and what i interpreted from episode 16! some of this might be a stretch (or wishful thinking lol) but ya know, feel free to start discussions etc.

just through my time scrolling here on tumblr and on twitter, i've seen many viewers be disappointed with the last episode and it's lack of confirmation for solhwi (and also like understandably so, we'd all love to see a more "firm" confirmation). but i genuinely think that this whole episode was a confirmation of their feelings for each other, that there was something there.

the most important thing to remember about this show is that it is not a romance. the main plot is centered around the mystery but also these students learning how to navigate the law and trying to show the different sides of the law (ways the law can be used to help vs. ways the law can be used to harm). we, of course, also get to explore the relationships of the group with their family, their professors and with each other. so overall, i think we can all agree that we weren't going to get an "explicit" confirmation of their feelings for each other.

i think one of the things law school does really well as a show is that it doesn't give a "perfect" ending to every story. for example, in many shows, we see every plot line resolve in the show with no open endings and in general, it ends up all resolving with in the span of two episodes. but with episode 16, especially the ending scenes, we see that not everything is resolved. we don't get an answer for every single mystery, such as seung-jae's story line or the full extent of professor seo and assemblyman koi's relationship. what we do get instead is a "set-up" to show or hint at how the relationship might develop in the future. this also applies to the relationships within the story: for example, we don't really get a full ending for kang sol B's issues with her family. rather, we see that they are going to therapy and working it out together. we don't get a true ending to the court case with ji ho's dad. even with kang dan and her story, we don't get to see a "full" resolution to it, but we do get a hint/a sense that everything is on track to be resolved. many people might argue that this is a sign of bad writing but i disagree. i believe that this is realistic writing, because the issues that are faced by the students in the show is not resolvable in one year and neither are their relationships.

with that in mind, i would apply the same logic to solhwi. like i said, i didn't think we'd get a kiss scene or anything similar to that in their 1L year. through this season, we are tracking joon hwi and sol A's relationship as it grows from classmates to acquaintances to friends to in like to in love (especially for han joon hwi). if you go through and rewatch the show, you can see that as the episodes go on, we see han joon hwi and sol's relationship develop into something that is based on trust, care, appreciation and communication.

i've seen many people say that we've over hyped their relationship in the last couple episodes but i don't believe that's true. i believe that the show is trying to display that both of them are falling for each other, they're both seeing each other in a "new light." for joon hwi, that moment came much quicker; like i said in this post, joon hwi is realizing the extent of his feelings towards her when he says that he owes her. and this last episode proves it! this whole episode we see the camera focus on han joon hwi's reactions and his love for sol, except he's actually aware of himself. earlier, the reactions came out without him realizing or being aware that he's in love with her. but this episode? he is aware of his feelings for her. throughout this episode we watch as his admiration for her grows louder and louder, from smirks and soft smiles at her to appreciation for her knowledge and talents. we see the hint of defensiveness cross his face when ji ho insults kang sol (which by the way definetly felt more like ji ho was taunting joon hwi that he was actually insulting kang sol). even sol B knows when she asks to start but he makes her wait for sol A.

and in the end, we see that sol is realizing her feelings too. i believe for her, the change came through ye-seul's trial. some part of her always loved his company and his friendship but after the trial, and their friends teasing their jealousy, i think sol definitely took more note of joon hwi. i think it's evident in their 1L year in this episode, the looks of appreciation she gives him, the way her eyes seem to always land on him in the end. and ESPECIALLY the courtroom scene where sol and joon hwi were practicing her argument, we can see her feel the tension and his presence as he grows closer to her, we can see her getting flustered and nervous around him in a the way you would with someone who's position is your life is graduating from friends to a crush. the beginnings of this episode definitely show that solhwi is starting to full on fall for each other.

THEN during their 3L year, we can see how they're full blown gone for each other. i genuinely think that at this point, they are in a relationship with each other and here is why.

one: the moment sol sees joon hwi walk by, she calls out his name asking him what he's up to. then when he responds "i want to wind down" she follows him. when they get out of the elevator, she says "you said you wanted to wind down?" and he lets out a teasing laugh at that. i definetly think that she was talking about/expecting something completely different when he said he wanted to wind down, because as he explains that he wants to wind down by "watching the trial," you can watch the gears turning in her head before answering "right, i should wind down too" in an embarrassed way, with joon hwi teasingly smiling at her (obviously he knows where her mind went to). and then after stretching, sol makes her classic "you're so annoying/you're so frustrating" face at him.

two: as kang sol and joon hwi provides counsel to the old man, we see joon hwi once again watch kang sol but the expression on his face this time, is a lot different to the expressions that we've had previously. before, the reactions and expressions were more distant, more "in admiration" and in amazement (about her and his feelings for her). but in his reactions this time around, we see it's more firm, it's more confident. it's a completely different expression of love than what we've seen before. it's a lot more similar to one that a boyfriend or a husband gives their significant other than the expression a boy gives to his crush. it's a lot less amazement and enamorment and more content, proud expression.

(honestly it's kinda hard to describe how different the expressions are in words, but if you watch the moment around 1:00:00, you'll see what i mean)

here's the thing: the concepts and issues that law school is showing us are not resolvable issues in one year, and they are not "easily" resolvable issues either. that is what this show has been trying to show us: that the law is complex and it's application in the real world is even more complicated. so it would not make sense for this show to wrap everything up in a neat bow and present it to us in the final episode. moreover, solhwi has forged a friendship through the pressures of law school as well as the overarching mystery and plot of the show. this season was centered around watching them develop a relationship together and this show hints and shows that solhwi are soulmates, their relationship will not be an epic love story where there are grand gestures or confessions of love. it is a gradual change from friend to lovers, while having independent development and maintaining their own goals in life. the very ending, we see them reach their goals as lawyer and prosecutor but they still come together. if they were to have a confession scene in the very end of the show i believe that it would have been too rushed without enough development on both sides. i think that law school ended in the best way for both characters without reversing or skipping their development while leaving room and hinting at the possibilities for the future.