#there's only so many times i can keep watching episode 5 before i eventually get sick of it

[ladykyriaa]

Waiting for Jinshi's originial hair stick to finally return to either him or Maomao is literally the equivalent to me waiting for Marinette's scarf reveal i cant keep doing this😭😭😭

[missglaskin]

Yandere (HOTD) Targaryen/Velaryon/Hightower family (together) HCS part 3

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Note: Finally part 3 is here! Also, this probably is some of the longest hcs I have done. This starts from episode 3 to episode 7. Mainly platonic, but there could be a romantic pairing. Also, the reader is basically trying to keep everything from going to shit

The conflict between Alicent and Rhaenyra has persisted over the years. And you tend to find yourself directly in the heart of the fights. However with Viserys there; he’s made sure that you diverge away from their disputes. He has long accepted that his wife and daughter will never get along, but what they will not do is involve you in their conflicts. 

Many children have been born throughout the years, and the two women made sure you were there for each. They secretly want you to prefer one over the other. Although you lack a dragon, Alicent and Rhaenyra made their children believe you are related to them by blood.

Similar to their mother, Jace and Luke are a bit possessive. While they can be a bit mischievous, the two typically listen to you, even more than their mother. Their faces light up when they see you and they run right up to greet you. Also, they like it when you watch them spar, asking whether they did well, grinning back when you tell them they did. While you have noticed how different the boys are, you chose not to say anything, even when Alicent argued with Viserys regarding it. 

At least for the time being, Luke is the youngest of the bunch. He takes full advantage of it when the other kids are fighting for your attention. Such as pretending to be hurt so you can comfort him. It is well known that he follows you around the court and becomes agitated when you focus on someone else.

Like Criston, there’s a very similar chance that Harwin also begins to have tendencies for you. His fondness for you doesn’t go unnoticed by the court. He trusts you well enough that he isn't afraid to show affection towards Jace, Luke, and Rhaenyra. Harwin feels so strongly about you that even the smallest remark about you will prompt him to intervene. 

Since they've likely spent the most time with you, Jace and Luke are the most jealous of Aegon and Helaena. Aegon and Helaena are also very attached to you. Aegon is frequently pressured by his family to fill in a role he doesn’t want. He appreciates having someone who is gentle and doesn't push him as the others do. Helaena, on the other hand, is attached to you because you're the only person who doesn't think of her as strange or give her odd looks; instead, you sit with her and listen to her go on about all the kinds of insects she has. 

Aemond is a completely different case. You're used to possessiveness, but Aemond is almost always by your side. Being the second son, he is frequently overlooked or passed over in favor of his brother, never mind the fact that he is still without a dragon. Because of all the love and attention, you show Aemond, he grows quickly fond of you. Including his siblings, he is jealous of everyone. The fact that Alicent also forces particular ideas into Aemond's mind is not helpful. 

Aside from Helaena- in contrast to his two brothers, Dareon is also the most pleasant. Throughout the years, he has always been gentle and sweet and has often given you the prettiest flowers as they remind him of you. Dareon had to eventually depart from King's Landing in order to go to Oldtown and serve as Lord Omund Hightower's squire. Before leaving, he embraced you and made you swear you would exchange ravens, no matter what. 

You occasionally also spent time in Driftmark with Rhaenys and Corlys. Rhaenys makes you ride her dragon back and forth, as it is the fastest way to travel. There are times when you run into Daemon and Laena, and they are thrilled to see you. Likewise, Baela and Rhaena become very excited whenever they get to meet you.

Similar to the other kids, the two girls adore spending time with you. They find themselves missing you when they have to travel with their parents. Rhaena sometimes feels left out compared to her sister and enjoys any attention you give her. Baela, on the other hand, is more demanding and jealous than her sister. She often reminds you of Daemon. 

Speaking of Velaryons, Laenor is content to reside in King's landing, even though he longs to return home and engage in battles. Your presence there is one of the few pleasant things he anticipates. Laenor, unlike the others, enjoys sparring with you and will gladly teach you how to fend for yourself. It's one of his favorite ways to spend time with you. 

Rhaenyra has objected to the idea a few times, but when you beg her to reconsider, she eventually gives in. She has Harwin watch and Laenor promises that only wooden swords will be used. Alicent and Criston, on the other hand, are horrified at the thought of you wielding a sword even if it’s wooden, and possibly hurting yourself. 

Criston develops a rivalry with Harwin regarding you. And it's possible that Criston already dislikes Harwin as a result of jealousy or a bruised ego.  Criston is supposed to be your sworn protector, not him. He will not only support Alicent's animosity toward Rhaenyra, but also ensure that some of Alicent's animosity is directed at Harwin.

Viserys occupies most of his time with you as he gets older and his health deteriorates. While he prefers Rhaenyra to his children with Alicent, it gradually becomes clear that he favors you even more. Viserys always relies on you for solace, and you never fail to reassure him. He feels comfortable sharing his shame and suffering with you, particularly regarding Aemma.

As Rhaenyra gives birth to Joffrey, you and Laenor wait outside. Only to be confused when you see Rhaenyra carrying Joffrey already walking and ascending the stairs. Apparently, the queen wants to see the baby right away. You insist she rests while you bring the child to the queen, but she refuses. There is a glimmer of hope in Rhaenyra that this will help you realize just how cruel Alicent is in this whole situation.

Your focus is now on Joffrey in light of everything that is happening. You are the one holding him the most, along with Rhaenyra. Luke, who is accustomed to receiving the majority of your attention, is a little jealous of his baby brother. As Harwin requests to see Joffrey, you place the child in his arms. While rocking the baby; he grins, saying you’d be a great aunt to the boy. 

Since you lack a dragon, the kids quarrel over which one you should ride. Jace argues you should ride his dragon, but Aegon counters that since his is larger, it’ll be better. Aemond says nothing during the entire conversation. 

When the boys offer to give Aemond a pig for him to ‘ride’, Aemond immediately goes to you; telling you what they did as you console him. You confront the boys to scold them on the matter and Aemond can be seen almost smiling in the background. 

At Pentos, Laena wants to leave, but Daemon is adamant about staying. The truth is that Laena misses her home, her family, and occasionally, even you. And to make matters worse, Laena is worried about the hightowers, and she can tell that her husband feels the same way. Besides, her daughters also miss you. 

As stated, you frequently watch the boys spar, and they all like to show off. Viserys occasionally join you and express his desire for the boys to bond through sparring. However, an unfortunate event occurs when Harwin lunges at Criston. As Harwin is pulled back by four men and forced to leave, Criston feels victorious; this will make you see Harwin as the man he is.

Before departing, Harwin bids you and the children farewell. He promises to come to see you someday and exchange ravens with you. Harwin advises you to take care of the boys and your "sister". You're not aware that this is the last time you'll see him.

Like her father, Rhaenyra attempts to keep you in her vicinity as much as possible during that time. The rumors surrounding the court become too much, and she feels as though her friendship with Alicent will never be repaired. Laenor is also preoccupied with drinking at the moment. This all just makes her feel more isolated than ever. She desires to depart for Dragonstone and wishes for you to accompany her.

As you might expect, Alicent declines and assumes you'll stay in King's Landing. But Alicent is taken aback when you ask to accompany Rhaenyra. This was brought on by guilt—the guilt you felt for siding with Alicent more than Rhaenyra, and the guilt you felt for not being a good sister to her. Otherwise, she wouldn't feel so alone. Even when Alicent is pleading otherwise, Viserys allows you to travel with Rhaenyra for a time. 

You are greeted at Dragonstone with the most heartbreaking news: Harwin and Leana are dead. Knowing how much she cared for him, you take a moment to console Rhaenyra. Jace comes to you for consolation as well, and you let him grieve. Luke is still too young to recognize Harwin was his father, but he claims to miss him and exhibits sadness over his passing. When you finally get to Laenor to comfort him over the loss of his sister, you don't hold any of his tears against him.

When you attend Laena’s funeral, there seem to be only a few who are truly grieving. While you’re used to everyone’s eyes on you, this time it feels unsettling. Baela and Rhaena are the ones you approach first, and you take them both in your arms. Later, Rhaenys joins, and the two of you share a hug and a private moment. Then you find yourself walking up to Corlys, who is speaking to Jace. The instant Corlys notices you, he immediately stands up and embraces you, too. Jace is gently nudged by you to go comfort the girls.

Your eyes meet Daemon's, but Otto stops you as you try to reach him. Otto hugs you while expressing his regret for what happened; all in front of Daemon. You both can see the anger on Daemon's face as he walks to you. Otto is pulled aside, and the two of them have a brief conversation; you can tell from the look on Otto's face that Daemon said something demeaning. 

Aegon seems to prefer being anywhere else than here. He is standing near you most of the time and will occasionally take a cup whenever a servant passes by carrying a tray. Helaena chooses to entertain herself by catching a spider. She shows it to you, and despite your sorrow, you smile at her. You are aware of Criston and Alicent watching you the entire, and wonder why Criston seems content. 

Later at night, you are summoned to the room because of an incident involving the children. Luke, Jace, Baela, and Rhaena come running to you the moment you enter the room. As Luke's face is the most battered, your attention is drawn to him. But when you see Aemond on the chair, you are horrified. Aemond then turns to fully face you, wanting you to see what they did to him. 

Nearly in tears, Alicent demands justice. When Viserys refuses, she is left with no other option. Alicent grabs the king’s blade and heads to the children. She is stunned to witness you quickly running to put your body between her and Luke. More so, the look on your face when she cuts Rhaenyra. It was a look of fear. She could still hear Rhaenyra's words, "Now they see you for what you're."

Aemond breaks the silence by telling his mother not to mourn over him, and that this is a fair trade. He leans on his mother, but she is perplexed when he abruptly leaves her side to approach Rhaenyra and those nearby. 

They realize you are what he is actually heading toward, not Rhaenyra. You still have Luke in one arm when he approaches you, and Aemond rests his head against your shoulder. You reluctantly embrace him while everyone looks on. With his good eye, Aemond turns to Luke, glaring ferociously. No one notices.

You then remain by Rhaenyra's side as the maester sews her arm. In another room, Alicent is distressed. She tells her father about the looks you gave her that night and how she might have lost your favor. How she must have frightened you. But she is reassured by Otto that this is untrue; you embracing Aemond that night proved there’s still a chance of you being on their side. You’re fond of the children, and Otto will use that to his every advantage. 

At night time, you're taken aback when Laenor wakes you. He apologizes for being absent when the incident happened and for failing to offer you comfort when you needed it, as he was too preoccupied with his grief. Strangely, though, Laenor bids you farewell and mentions how much he values having you in his life. 

In the early morning, you’re in Rhaenys’ chamber consoling her for the loss of her son. Viserys had intended to take you with him to King's landing, but after seeing how Rhaenys became childless in a span of days, Viserys let you stay to aid Rhaenys in her grief. 

You soon serve as one of the witnesses at Rhaenyra and Daemon's marriage. You are surrounded by the children, who are all in your immediate vicinity. You knew the marriage was not done out of love, but to prepare for something, and for that, you have begun to dread the future.

---

Taglist: @westernbaby @elsyyie @athelleen

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Late top 5 ask because I just thought of it: 5 shows that you are always down to rewatch

What a great question that is also such a mean and incredibly evil thing to ask me, wen-kexing-apologist, Chronic Rewatcher lmfao

So fun fact I have seen KinnPorsche 14 times, Our Flag Means Death 11 times, The Old Guard 11 times, Heartstopper 11 times, The Eclipse probably 6 times, Bad Buddy and ITSAY 4 times, etc, etc, etc. And those are counting all the times I have watched a show all the way through. This is not counting the number of times I have actively gone back to watch specific episodes or specific scenes.

See the problem is sometimes I hyperfixate and then I just have to watch it until it is out of my system, sometimes an OST pops in to my head and then I get the urge to watch the show again, and sometimes I agree to edit the transcripts for the backlog of @the-conversation-pod and @bengiyo and @shortpplfedup start talking about a show and I'm like "ahhh good times! I should rewatch that!"

So you can imagine the stress I am under. I'll have to do this by category

Show I Am Constantly Rewatching: Bed Friend

gif by @perths

I know what you may be thinking, and yes you are correct I am in this rewatch for Uea's emotional journey. Uea is my sweet summer child, I love him, I have adopted him in to my family, his happiness is my happiness and I love love love watching him go from a quiet, reserved, unhappy character who keeps getting put in unfair situations through no fault of his own in to this confident, vibrant, happy person who is on his way towards healing. Often times it can be hard for me to pick A Favorite thing; a favorite character, a favorite scene because there are so. many. good. ones. But I am constantly, and I mean constantly rewatching the scene in Episode 8 where Uea tells King about his past. I have lost count of how many times I've seen it, no even kidding I watched that scene before I went to bed just last week. I will always always be down to watch that show because I love seeing how far my boy is able to grow with just a little bit of love, care, and therapy.

Show I Would Rewatch for an Instant Mood Boost: If It's With You

gif by @jimmysea

I have a difficult time understanding/feeling emotion in my body unless I abstract it in to fiction. So when I experience strong emotions it is typically when something super happy or super tragic happens on screen, in a book, during my D&D game, etc. One of my absolute favorite things is when something makes me so happy that my body is no longer able to contain it and I have to do the Neurodivergent Hand Flappies(TM). I think I spent 80% of this show grinning so hard it hurt my face and doing the Neurodivergent Hand Flappies because it just...they made me so happy. Amane is so sweet, and he deserves happiness, and he is getting his happiness and he's just full of sunshine and I already rewatched this show like immediately after it finished. This show joins my This Could Fix Me list.

Show I Would Be Down to Rewatch for Emotional Catharsis: Eternal Yesterday

gif by @duckflyfly

I have not rewatched this show...yet. But I want to, and I know that I will eventually. I can only imagine that it is sadder and more evil the second time around. I cried soooo hard over this show. But it is beautiful, and it is healing, and the pain is a good type of aching pain that comes with coming to terms with grief. With acknowledging grief. With finding where the beauty and peace lie within death and memory, and the way its claws dig in to you and leave you changed forever. Ghosts can be warm, and this show makes me warm despite it all.

Show I Would Be Down to Rewatch for Content: I Told Sunset About You/I Promised You the Moon

gif by @thii-nii

I think I am in @shortpplfedup's camp about how you find new things to think about every time you watch this show. I actually desperately, desperately own I Promised You the Moon several rewatches because I have seen ITSAY four times at this point and IPYTM once. I am currently rewatching IPYTM with a friend who is seeing it for the first time, so that should help. But the first time I watched this show I was unable to function to notice anything, and it wasn't until the third time I'd watched ITSAY when I was rewatching it to prepare for the podcast panel, that I finally was able to form any level of coherent analytical thought to it. So I would rewatch this at any point just to see what more I could pull out of it.

Show I Would Be Down to Rewatch But Haven't Yet: 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us

gif by @dingyuxi

Bold, based on how intense of a reaction I had to this show, I know. But this was one of my favorites, I never wrote anything about it because I was too busy having a literal mental breakdown over it, one that was so bad I almost had to bail on the entire show with like...20 minutes left of it, and I originally nixed my plan to show it to a friend. BUT I have watched the specific scene that did me in (and only that scene) and it went over fine once I knew to expect it so I do want to watch the whole thing again. I have a friend who I have been forcing to watch BL shows I liked and I watch them with her, and this is on the list. However, I am currently running her through I Promised You The Moon and What Did You Eat Yesterday? Season 2 so this show is still quite a ways out from a rewatch because I am not a total monster and want to give her some modicum of emotional break between those two shows and 180 Degree.

Bonus:

Show I Would Never Rewatch: Enchante

I hate this show truly an unreasonable amount. I hate Theo so much oh my fucking god. I refuse to watch this again and I'm mad that I finished it.

ASK ME MY TOP 5 OF ANYTHING BL

[mr-stottlemonk]

1-7, 14-21 and 28-35

+

+

gonna combine all of these, dears!

1. Who is the better cook?

Leland. Sometimes, Adrian doesn't quite manage to get the food ready on time. he doesn't like some spices and if he does like some, he only adds those lol. if one side is slightly burnt they'll go hungry xD.

2. Who gets up to cook at 2am?

Maybe Adrian?? maybe meal prep 🤔. Leland wouldn't wake up cook at 2am even if you held him at gunpoint lol.

3. Are they into PDA? Who initiates most?

Not particularly into PDA but they don't avoid it. I think they both have times where they initiate it but most likely Leland who initiates it. Adrian never stops blushing whenever he holds his hand in public and kisses his cheek grateful years later.

4. Their favorite show to watch together?

@s-misaki said cooking shows! and i went :0 gasp, agreed. Hell's Kitchen to be specific (it started airing in 2005). plus, i think Leland would love it and then Adrian would get drawn into it.

They could also watch Deal or No Deal + Who wants to Be A Billionaire :D. I think Adrian would love those shows.

5. Who is the cheesier one of the two?

Leland. He is so cheesy. But Adrian is cheesy too. All those cheesy apology cards, birthday cards, valentine cards 😭😭💕.

6. Who is always, always running late?

Leland. Comes with the job. He hates when he is cause he knows Adrian gets all nervous and likes people to be punctual. he makes up for it, though.

7. Who's clumsier?

Adrian. It's the anxiety 😔✊️.

14. Who falls asleep during a movie?

Both of them xD. i don't think they watch movies together very often cause they're tired. and when they do, they're so comfortable they fall asleep against the other.

15. Who's the first to cry during movies that don't seem sad?

Adrian. He can find the smallest thing and make it absolutely morbid...

16. Who hogs the covers?

Adrian. They each have their own covers though, honestly. Leland spends too many nights grumbling about having ¼ of the covers xD.

17. Who is more competitive?

They're both competitive but Leland has the streak more than Adrian does. Adrian does win a couple of times though.

Don't ever ask them to play scrabble.

19. What do they fight about most often? (Alternative: what was their biggest fight?)

Oh this is loaded xD. I don't think they fight often. i think Leland has learnt that it's best to confront issues there and then - and since it's Adrian, he does.

i think they'd bicker and maybe get a bit irritated eg: when Adrian keeps tidying up Leland's office. Leland has his own system and he likes his office the way it is. it's his space.

Adrian would probably grumble about a few things like keeping the house clean and the carpet nicely vacuumed.

the biggest argument they might have is Adrian putting himself in harm's way during a case or Leland taking on too many cases all at once and thinking he can do it all on his own.

the biggest argument they HAVE had was definitely about Linda -> i think after that episode they took a while to get back to the usual flow.

20. Who randomly brings home a stray puppy/kitten to adopt?

Adrian rarely does. Leland would only do so once in a while. Because he kept feeding this little kitten on the way home... I like to think they eventually get a dog :3c.

21. Any routines one has that the other had to get used to (ex. morning, nighttime, sleeping habits)?

Leland has more nighttime routines than daytime. He likes to come home, occasionally have a beer which Adrian takes to restocking on often. before bed, he likes to read a book - he does so in the sitting room because he doesn't want to bother Adrian in the bedroom.

😂 there's a lot of routines Leland has to get used to for Adrian. garbage day, cleaning day, laundry day...

@s-misaki also suggested the days/times Adrian gets all the fire alarms in his house rechecked and re-installed xD.

28. Who always steals the other's food? How does their partner react to it?

Hm. I think Adrian might steal Leland's food - maybe some parts of Leland's food is perfectly done more than his. Maybe he just didn't feel like ordering and now that Leland is eating in front of him NOW HE'S FEELING PECKISH.

30. Pet names? Yes or no?

Leland for Adrian? yes.

Adrian for Leland? yes and no?

i've tried out 'dove' for Adrian a few times. i think it works best. i think honey could also work, ha. Adrian would probably call Leland -> 'Lee' :D.

31. How do they spend their anniversary?

Probably doing or going somewhere simple. if they go on a vacation its to somewhere they can both enjoy and offers things they both like. they just want to spend time together. without having to worry or think about a case.

maybe they go to the theatre. or they go out for dinner or Leland claims his free days and they stay home and enjoy each other's company and time.

32. Who's so affectionate they can't stop touching the other?

Both of them. They are both affectionate and affection seeking men.

Leland just doesn't hesitate to take it and reach for it. Adrian does, he sometimes takes it slowly because he isn't sure or he's thinking about something but eventually it becomes pretty natural.

They love leaning against each other. They're in each other's space often. Reaching and holding and pulling and- ahhhhhh.

another friend of mine said that Leland definitely has tiny cues as well -> grabbing a cuff, hand on his shoulder. it means a lot more than you'd think :3c.

33. What is their wedding day like?

quiet. small. just a few people. people they love; close family and friends. they cry at their vows. sure, Adrian cries more because he's finally in love again. but Leland cries too because he can love Adrian in all the ways and spend the time they have left

(╥_╥) oh.

34. How do they cheer the other one up during sad times?

Adrian plays a few songs Leland likes in the background. He records shows and games Leland misses. He pops over to the office with lunch or to get him to take breaks.

Leland talks to him. Lets him know he's always there to listen. He buys him these silly cleaning supplies even though Adrian has them. He keeps this little rock collection that he occasionally gives Adrian some of.

35. What are their tastes in music?

Adrian is definitely a classical music guy and occasionally soft jazz plus country. Leland is classic rock and roll :D!

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Loki 2x6 Review (Spoilers!)

Phew, so that episode was quite the ride. Overall as an episode I really loved it. Were there some things I feel a bit conflicted about? Yes, but for the most part I thought it was an epic finale to the season, also I am pretty sure I cried my way through about 70% of this episode. Fair warning I have a lot of thoughts so this is another fairly long post, sorry bout that. So lets get into the episode.

Spaghetti Loops

The episode starts off exactly where we left off at the end of ep 5 and this is one of the very few predictions I made that actually came true, Loki just kept going back and trying it again and again trying to do it faster and poor Victor got spaghettified over and over. Now don't judge me ok, but I just found this whole sequence hilarious. Loki getting more and more exasperated every time it fails. Also the way everyone was looking at him like he had gone completely mad and being confused when he keeps saying again and faster this time because for them this is the first and only time its happened. I also loved when Loki gets the loom model out and says 'Mobius you're in luck. It looks like Mobius but its actually Victor Timely' about the little figurine. Loved the call back to the argument they had in ep 4.

Another moment that had me cackling like a mad woman was when after asking OB how long it would take to learn everything to know about mechanics, physics and engineering, and Victor answering centuries, it comes up with the centuries later text screen. This guy legit spent centuries learning everything he needed to know to make that multiplier faster, he's dedicated that's for sure.

A concept I did like about this sequence was how Loki would take all the things that go wrong each time and then ensure they don't happen the next time, like making sure Victor's suit is taped in all the right spots, that his visor is locked properly, that he doesn't trip on the first step, that he doesn't put down the multiplier so it won't roll off the gang way. Eventually he is able to guide Victor through a successful attempt. Well successful in the sense that he is able to get the multiplier to connect to the loom and make it back. I'll admit when they were celebrating and for a moment it looked like it had worked, my first instinct was nah this is too good to be true, it is way too early in the episode for this to be fixed. Which is when we learn that actually the Loom is impossible to fix.

A Looming Problem.

I felt so bad for Loki in that moment when they realise that the Loom can never be fixed because you can't scale for infinite. I mean he looked so damn relieved and happy when it seemed as if it had worked, poor Loki had done that scenario and watched it fail who knows how many times and for a moment it finally seems like its going to be ok but then you realise the terrible truth that all your efforts will always be futile.

I do feel like the whole sequence before that was played off in a very comedic way despite the scenario actually being rather dark, Loki has to watch Timely and his friends die over and over. But I do think choosing to give it this comedic tone was a genius move on the writers' and producers' part as it puts the audience in a good mood, so when the moment when both the characters and we the audience learn the Loom melting down is always doomed to happen, its even more of a gut punch. It really puts you in Loki's shoes, like him you're on a high and then you just get dragged right down with this drastic tonal shift.

Sylvie saying that as soon as the timeline branched this was doomed to happen gives Loki the idea to go back and try to stop her from killing HWR. I loved the scenes that took place in the citadel particularly the conversation between Loki and HWR. I loved how it seemed like once again HWR is the one in control and in the know. He reveals to Loki that the time slipping, Victor and the Loom were all part of his plan too. That the Loom was actually a fail safe to protect the sacred timeline and a way to ensure his own resurrection. It also explains why everyone was sent to their branches when the Loom exploded. HWR says that the TVA was collateral and easy to rebuild, so the Loom resets everyone and then HWR just goes around and collects them all and on and on it goes.

I love when Loki stops time and its revealed that actually Loki is the one that is a step ahead of HWR and has already had that conversation with him. I really loved that moment. When HWR tells Loki that the equation always has the same outcome, loki loses, Loki decides to 'change the equation'. This reminded me so much of the end of ep 5 when he says he'll rewrite the story. His plan is to just break the loom. I think it is interesting that HWR actually looks surprised by this. He immediately starts trying to manipulate Loki into not doing that. In episode 4 Sylvie wonders if HWR was scared when she killed him and she just didn't notice, well I can't help but wonder the same now, is HWR scared in this moment, is he scared because he knows that Loki could destroy the Loom and if he does then all of HWR's plans come crumbling down, Sylvie will kill him and with no Loom there's no failsafe, no resurrection.

HWR's response to this is to try and scare Loki into doing what HWR wants. Its like what Loki said in 1x01, its an illusion conjured by the weak to inspire fear. The illusion being this threat, if you destroy the loom there will be a war that will kill and destroy everyone and everything. Now I don't think he's lying about all of it. I do think with HWR gone there will end up being a multiversal war between his variants but do I think this war will kill everyone and destroy every timeline? Nope! This is a superhero franchise so obviously our heroes are going to band together and save the day.

Before the episode was released I made a prediction post, well there was one thought that crossed my mind that I didn't put in that post because it was more of a deep fear than a prediction and I didn't want to accidently manifest it into being. That unwritten prediction (fear) was that as a last, nothing else has worked so this is the only option left, move Loki would go back to the citadel and kill Sylvie. So you can imagine my distress when we first have Sylvie, repeatedly, saying you'll have to kill me. Then HWR says Loki has two options, destroy the Loom and unleash a war that destroys everything, or kill Sylvie and protect what you can, ie the TVA and the sacred timeline.

My immediate reaction to this was something along the lines of, no, no, NO, NOO! Not going to lie they had me going, I really thought they were going to go through with it and have Loki sacrifice Sylvie to protect everyone else. Especially when he goes back to speak to her in timeline OB's workshop. And I will come back to that scene in a moment but first I want to talk about how great the transition was between the scene where HWR lays out the two options and you see Loki looking at Sylvie as he slowly approaches her and then you hear Mobius asking 'What are you going to do?' and then we're back to when Loki was first arrested and interrogated by Mobius.

What is really interesting about this scene is that looking back at it now they give us the answer to the question here, they tell us what Loki is going to do, past Loki tells us himself, when Mobius asked what he was going to do he replies, 'Finish what I started... Claim my throne.' Then when Mobius asks if he wants to be king, Loki responds 'I don't want to be. I was born to be." Throughout the whole franchise this idea has been pushed that Loki was born to be a king, he says it multiple times himself, but Odin also tells him as a child that even though only one of his sons could sit on the Asgardian throne they were both born to be kings. Come the end of this finale Loki is now on his throne. There is also this idea of Loki being burdened with glorious purpose that's repeated throughout the franchise and that is something else we see him find in this episode. I just find it funny that they told us all the way back in 1x1 what choice Loki was going to make in the season 2 finale. One little detail I like is that both ep 1x1 and ep 2x6 have the same title 'Glorious Purpose.' It's a neat way of bringing it all full circle.

The story Mobius tells about the hunter and the 8 year old boy he couldn't prune was also really interesting to me. Firstly because it reveals that Mobius, like Renslayer, was once a hunter before he became an analyst. Also that Renslayer was his partner which explains their bond. I do wonder if the reason why Mobius couldn't prune this boy was because he was just a kid playing with his brother and maybe subconsciously it reminded him of his own boys and even though he didn't remember them, some protective instinct kicked in and stopped him from pruning the boy.

I also feel like this story about the boy is supposed to be a mirror to Sylvie's own story. They were both kids who were minding their own business playing, when the TVA showed up and destroyed their realities. In the boy's case he was pruned to boot. In both instances it was Renslayer who was the responding hunter. I think its fascinating that Loki is trying to make this impossible decision on whether he should kill Sylvie and in that moment he is told a story that has to have reminded him of Sylvie and how she was a little girl who had everything ripped away from her.

Whilst they told us in that scene with Mobius what Loki would ultimately decide to do, obviously whilst watching the episode I hadn't figured that out yet, so when Loki went to see Sylvie right after this scene, the moment in timeline OB's workshop that I promised I'd come back to, I was filled with dread. To me at first it seemed like a goodbye scene and like he had gone there to kind of explain why he was going to have to kill her. I am not ashamed to admit that I did tear up at that moment, the mere thought that they might go through with having him kill her for 'the greater good' was heartbreaking to me.

But once I had pulled myself together I rewatched that scene and what is really interesting about it is how it parallels and links to their pie room scene. In the pie room scene you had Sylvie saying that it would be easier to destroy the TVA and start from scratch and Loki saying fixing things is hard, hope is hard. Here in this conversation those two ideas combine and meet. You have Sylvie explaining to Loki that growing up in apocalypses taught her that sometimes its ok to destroy something and that's when Loki realises and finishes for her 'if there is a hope that thing can be replaced by something better.' Loki is being asked to make the hard choice and here Sylvie is asking him to have hope that destroying the loom will lead to something better which links back to what Loki said in the pie room, hope is the hard choice and therefore the choice he chooses.

King of Time

Sylvie asks Loki some really good and deep questions in this scene as well which I think influences the decision he makes. She asks him what kind of god he wants to be, whether he really wants to be the kind that takes away people's free will, aka the god he was in the first Avengers film. She also kind of points out that he is asking the wrong questions. He's asking what good is free will if everyone is dead and she's asking but who are you and what right do you have to make that decision for everyone. They have the right to chose to die trying, fighting for something better. I just think its a really interesting debate.

Another little clever detail that I noticed is that after making his decision when he timeslips into the loom room the aura reader announces 'welcome he who remains.' Loki is about to become the kind of new HWR and it's almost like they are announcing it in that moment.

So now we get to the hard part, and yes I did bawl like a baby during this whole scene. Loki heads down into the Loom and looking back to where Sylvie and Mobius are behind the locked doors he says. 'I know what I want. I know what kind of god I need to be. For you. For all of us.' Again I think this is a parallel back to the bar scene between Sylki where she asks him what he wants and also the scene in this episode where she asks what kind of god he wants to be. I know there is some debate over whether Loki was speaking to Sylvie or Mobius or both here when he said 'for you.' Personally while I do think it was partly to both I do think it was mostly directed towards Sylvie. My reasoning being that it was a reference to those conversations he had with Sylvie alone.

The scene where he was walking down the gangway and his clothes turn into his new King of Time outfit was stunning, like breathtakingly so. Him breaking the loom and setting the timelines free was also really beautiful imagery. There's a moment when Loki reaches for one of the blackened branches and tries to bring it to life with his magic but the moment he lets go it begins to die again and that's when he realises that he is going to have to weave the branches and hold them stable himself. It's such a bittersweet moment as he takes one last look back at the ones he loves and cares for before making the hard, the impossible choice to isolate himself at the end of time. Again the scene where he is weaving those branches together and the way what once was HWR chair turns into a pure golden throne that Loki takes his seat in, stunning, visually it was stunning.

Yggdrasil

Just when I thought nothing could be more stunning than that sequence the camera panned out and showed us that the timelines were now woven together in the form of a breathtakingly gorgeous tree. I mean it was such a stunning image that I want to get a copy to frame and put on my wall.

But I am sure I am not the only one who saw it and instantly thought of Yggdrasil, the world tree of Norse Mythology. So here I have, well I don't know if I would call it a theory or not, but a thought at the very least.

So something that I think is really interesting that I think might possibly have some significance later on, maybe, is that in some versions of the myths around Yggdrasil (there are different and varying accounts and sources) the tree has three main roots. One is rooted in Midgard, the realm of men. The second is rooted in Jotunheim, the land of the giants and the third is rooted in Hel, the underworld.

I think these three roots are symbolic of Loki, Sylvie and Mobius. Mobius would represent Midgard, he's a human who had a life on Midgard. Sylvie would represent Jotunheim, as a Loki variant she would have been born on Jotunheim and is a frost giant. Then Loki would represent the root for Hel, he's currently at the end of time and in season one to get there you had to go through the void and when Loki first woke up there he asks if its Hel, it definitely has that imagery or symbolism of an underworld.

I don't know exactly what this could mean going forward but I think the three of them are going to be the key to keeping the tree together and protecting it. Or I could be looking too much into it.

Sylki

So anyone who has seen any of my previous posts will know that I am huge sylki fan, so obviously I have to talk about them in this review, feel free to skip over this section if you aren't a fan of sylki.

But anyway, before this episode I was of the opinion that if we didn't get a kiss or at least a scene where they talked about their feelings and cleared the air, then I would be really disappointed, and whilst yeah it would have been nice to get those scenes I am surprisingly not disappointed because in my opinion what we got might have been even better, or at the least just as good. After this episode I am in no doubt that these guys love each other, Loki was particularly obvious about it.

I've said in previous posts that in my opinion everything Loki has done this season has been for Sylvie. His motivation was simple, what he wanted was simple, he wanted Sylvie to be ok. This episode is no different it only further reinforces that this is Loki's desire.

He is faced with this impossible choice kill Sylvie and save everyone else, or risk everything by protecting the free will Sylvie gave everyone, that she fought for. Give her the chance to live a life. HWR I think thought Loki would choose himself, would choose to sacrifice Sylvie to ensure he wouldn't be alone and so that he could get a throne. But I think HWR underestimated the love Loki felt for Sylvie. I mean he replayed that citadel fight over and over because he was not willing to hurt Sylvie even to stop her from killing HWR. Again it all circles back to what Loki said in 1x6, he doesn't want to hurt her, he doesn't want a throne he wants her to be ok, and this is something HWR doesn't understand and that is why he loses.

The moment when Loki chooses to sacrifice himself for her is so heartbreaking, the way Sylvie immediately followed him down to the loom and how she desperately said she had to get in there when she realised what he was doing. There is also a moment when the portal thingy opens to the end of time and Loki knows what he has to do, he looks back to Sylvie and she shakes her head at him, he just gives her this sad smile and does what he needs to do. It reminded me so much of the moment in 1x5 when Sylvie says they need a distraction for Alioth and Loki puts a hand on her shoulder, Sylvie shakes her head because she doesn't want him in danger. It was clear how deeply she cared about and loved him, it was just so bittersweet.

Sylki's romance in season 1 was very different from season 2, last season they were very flirty and cute whereas this season has been mostly angst thanks to the fall out after the citadel in 1x6. But I still think it was still a romance in season 2. Loki sacrificed his own happiness for Sylvie, there are so many quotes out there about sacrifice being the purest form of love and I think that is what they were going for here. Loki choosing to sit at the end of time and hold the timelines together was the burden he chose to carry for her, what's more romantic than that? I mean it hurts and it sucks and makes me want to cry, but its still the epitome of romance.

Also I couldn't help but see the parallel between Thor choosing to destroy the bridge and therefore separating himself from Jane for the greater good and Loki choosing to trap himself at the end of time away from Sylvie to protect her and his friends, as well as the greater good. Both brothers end up away from the women they love in an act of heroism. The glimmer of hope for me is that Jane searches for Thor, eventually they are reunited. I'm just saying Sylvie still has that tempad. I would love if we get to see these characters again in a season 3 or other Marvel project, if we find out that Sylvie has been searching for a way to free Loki but still keep the branches stable. Maybe she could even team up with thor and mobius. Or she could seek out Wanda or Dr strange to get more magical knowledge. The possibilities are endless.

After

So lets talk about the ending and where everyone ends up starting with B-15, Casey and OB. So I like that they all stayed at the TVA and that B-15 seems to be kind of running the show. I also loved that OB wrote another TVA guidebook edition 2, I feel like it might be a bestseller. I also love that it is yellow as that colour symbolises optimism and the promise of a positive future which I think will be good for the TVA going forward. Another thing of note and which I really loved was that when they show the new TVA with its new 'growing together' propaganda posters, everyone look really happy and content, like they've got this new purpose and its one they feel good about.

Well everyone looks happy but Mobius. Both his and Sylvie's endings were left very, very open. I do get the sense that they are both feeling lost now that Loki is gone. That could be why Sylvie seeks Mobius out, she knows he too feels lost without Loki. When asked what she's going to do now Sylvie shrugs because she doesn't know, which is interesting to me because if she is happy on her branch like she has been saying all season, why wouldn't she just say she's going back to her life there? Unless Marvel have other plans for her character. Same with Mobius we don't know what he's going to do next. Though the door for him to return to the TVA has been left open with B-15's offer that there is always a seat for him if he wants it.

Ok so let's talk about Loki. Now can I appreciate the character development of Loki going from the selfish, narcissistic god who wanted a throne and who tried to take away people's free will, to a hero who sacrifices himself for the greater good and to ensure people get to keep their free will. Yes. Do I think it was hella romantic that he chose this path because he couldn't bear to hurt Sylvie? Oh yes that was some real romantic stuff right there. Do I think his arc was well written? It was, beautifully so. Am ok with Loki ending up trapped at the end time alone, something he feared? ABSOLUTELY-FRIGGEN-NOT!!! What the hell marvel! Honestly if this is the end of the story for this character then Marvel and I are going to have issues going forward.

A Glimmer of Hope?

The first thing I did this morning was hop onto google to see if there was any information on whether we'll get a season 3 because I had seen alot of talk about season 2 wrapping up the story and I was met with a little spark of hope. There are several articles out covering an interview from producer Kevin Wright where he says this about a potential season 3:

We take it season by season, and there are certainly things that Tom and I and other casts have talked about of where we see this going, and I know there’s some excitement for that internally, but just from a storytelling standpoint, I think we always conceived of seasons 1 and 2 as a whole."

The producer went on to describe both of the Tom Hiddleston-led seasons as "two chapters of the same book," but admitted that there are "other stories" or "new books" to be told:

"That these are two chapters of the same book, and that season two is finishing that book, and there are other stories to be told there, but I think they would be new books, if that’s not too coy."

"It was similar to Season 1 in we wanted to tell this story and tell it well, but even in Season 1, we obviously were thinking about where we were going. I would say Season 1 and Season 2 were developed and created as, like, kind of two chapters of the same book. We felt pretty strongly, all of us involved, that Season 2 was about closing that book but that there are many other books on the shelf for this character and for this world. But this felt like it wanted to be the conclusion of these great things that we set up in Season 1. We don't want to constantly leave people with drastic cliffhangers for our finales."

So it seems like all the talk about closing the story was actually just in relation to the storylines they had set up in season one and that this isn't intended to be the end of these characters' stories full stop.

A few of the articles also talked about Marvel's plans for their tv shows going forward:

Contributing Loki's Season 3 odds is Marvel Studios' new direction for its Disney+ shows since, via The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel is reportedly "leaning into the idea of multiseason serialized TV" a la Loki instead of the "limited-series format:"

"And just as 'Loki,' which returned Oct. 5, marked Marvel’s first season two of a series (out of nine TV shows to date), the studio plans on leaning into the idea of multiseason serialized TV, stepping away from the limited-series format that has defined it. Marvel wants to create shows that run several seasons, where characters can take time to develop relationships with the audience rather than feeling as if they are there as a setup for a big crossover event."

So if they are going to be leaning more into multiseason shows it would make sense to me for them to make Loki one of them as it is one of, if not the most, popular shows they've done so far. So I would expect that they would monopolise on that.

So I do think there's a good chance that we'll potentially get a season 3, I for one would love to see where they take these characters next. And that is all the thoughts I have on the finale, sorry this got so long but if you did read all the way to the end thank you.

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "Shroud of Darkness"

Heading back to Lothal for the beginning of the end arc.

We start right away In Media Res with Kanan and Ezra fighting the Inquisitors. And man is it amazing to watch how far they've both come in their lightsaber combat.

Ezra could barely duel Seventh for a minute back in "Always Two There Are" and now he's holding his own against her AND Fifth, with help granted but still.

Part of the reason why I think Season Two has to span the longest length of time out of all the seasons.

This is almost over-choreographed, lots of spins and lightsaber twirls that are frankly superfluous but they look cool so you know, whatever.

"I don't go for crazy... anymore." Do tell Kanan, lol.

It's funny because the voice actors are married.

NO I DON'T THINK THE SYMBOLISM OF EZRA DANGLING PRECARIOUSLY OFF A PRECIPICE WITH KANAN AS THE ONLY THING PREVENTING HIS FALL IS ANY KIND OF COINCIDENCE, GIVEN LATER IN THE EPISODE.

Rebels tends to be very deliberate about these things lol.

I don't think I noticed before but the past several episodes have had no fanfare and I think we all should have taken that as a clue or portent of things to come.

A+ padawan tossing Kanan, slick move.

Ezra's effortless flip over the Inquisitors. <3

Kanan complaining but ultimately having full trust in Ezra and the proud look he gives him. <3

Ezra being polite and thanking the tibedee, aww.

Okay I should stop before I gush over every second here.

Kanan expresses some rather natural worries about the fact that his and Ezra's presence is going to put the rest of the fleet at risk, since the Inquisitors keep finding them, and determines to bring in the big gun (Ahsoka) on this one. The expressions in this scene and the quiet subtle emotion is just beautiful, Kanan's worry about how to keep everyone safe just palpable.

RIGHT, SURE. SMACK ME IN THE FACE WITH PRE-VADER ANAKIN FEELS WITH ANAKIN MAKING HOLOCRON LIGHTSABER TUTORIALS FOR YOUNGLINGS.

Anakin would have loved Ezra. *sobbing*

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Ezra creeping around very carefully so as not to disturb Ahsoka's meditation, and the way his hand fumbles out for the seat.

Ahsoka talking so fondly about Anakin, ow.

I remember when this aired Ahsoka's line about, "The last time I saw him, he was running off to save the Chancellor." caused quite a bit of hullabaloo in fandom because, well, TCW Season 7 wasn't actually a thing yet, from our perspective she'd just walked off in Season 5 never to be seen again.

Writers decided to be all, "Let's incorporate unfinished storylines as if they're canon!" much to fan confusion, lol, wonder if they knew at that point that they were getting renewed to finish the last season.

"I can barely protect you." "I don't need protecting." *LAUGHS IN THIS ENTIRE SEASON* Right, how many times exactly did you get captured or in trouble this season Ezra? Yeah.

Our first hints of Hera's worried misgivings about Kanan's eventual plan to separate from the fleet.

The blockade hasn't returned yet to Lothal airspace, interesting. Maybe with the Spectres gone they loosened things just a little.

Our first time hearing Ezra's theme since I think "Legacy", a nice marker of us coming home.

Did... Ahsoka not know that Ezra was from Lothal before this? What's with the question? Did she think the Spectres just picked him up randomly on one of their adventures and take him with?

Still as pretty as ever.

Ahsoka's not confident enough in calling herself a Jedi to believe a Jedi Temple would open for her, boy this girl and her self-identity issues.

She doesn't think she deserves the title. She left and then everything fell apart and there was no more Order to return to, so she couldn't return, even though she maybe wanted to, even though she realized being a Jedi was what she did truly care about.

OH HEY, THERE'S THE DOOR PALPATINE STEALS.

And they walk down the exact same hall that Ezra would later walk down in the finale into the bowels of the Temple, excuse me, I need to--

*weeps*

I do love the Force Weirdness of this episode, how only Kanan can see the door bathed in light, how Ezra just sort of slips into the ether that is between the Temple and the Nexus of the World Between Worlds and disappears.

And I love Kanan's portion of this episode. Confronted by a vision of a dojo in the Temple and a Temple Guardian, Grand before he was an Inquisitor, who warns that trying to fight will result in failure and Ezra's fall to the Dark Side. (This speech sounds eerily similar to Grand's demoralizing speech to Ezra in "Gathering Forces" in fact.)

That immediate cold protective fury aaaaah I love it!

Grand's threat here was taken way too literally as prophetic foreshadowing by fandom BTW. Still is.

So Kanan and Grand square up and in the meantime the Inquisitors have found them. Again. I don't think they ever explained how, perhaps it's just that Inquisitor intuition that made Kanan and Ezra have to separate the first time, back in "Gathering Forces".

Hi Seventh! Hi Fifth!

Ahsoka reminiscing about Yoda. :(

Ezra, meanwhile, casually chatting the man up. XD

Kanan doing some casual Jar'Kai. Just cause.

[Insert "You're doing amazing sweetie" reaction image.]

OH BOY NOW WE GET TO DELVE INTO AHSOKA'S GUILT ISSUES ABOUT ANAKIN.

Bby girl knows deep down that he's become Vader but is still so vehemently in denial of it, the Force is smacking her in the face with the weight of her own guilt. Ahsoka feels like, "Maybe if I hadn't left..." but it's not about her, Anakin made his own stupid choices, there was nothing, metatextually, that Ahsoka could have done that would have prevented Anakin's fall it's not her fault.

:((((((((((

This is something I hope we will finally delve deep into and get over in the Ahsoka show. Babygirl needs to forgive herself for the wrongs she imagines she's done Anakin and accept that he made his choice, just like she made hers.

A snippet of Ahsoka's theme here, just for extra sads.

Oh good! It's time to play my least favorite game: Is this scene a commentary and critique of the actions of the Prequel Jedi Order or is this in-text Unreliable Narrator from Yoda as a person with obvious Survivor's Guilt.

It's especially annoying because Filoni you worked on TCW, remember all that enslaving, war criming, and general evil the Separatists were involved in on a daily basis? Are you saying the Jedi were wrong for wanting to try and stop all of that and protect the people put in harm's way? THIS WAS YOUR MATERIAL DUDE.

Love the subtle effect of the ring patterns turning red and the clear effort it's taking Seventh and Fifth to force their way into the Temple.

Kanan, meanwhile, confronted by his worst fears parroted by the vision of Grand, accepts that he cannot control his or Ezra's future, and that he should not try to. He lets go, gives up his fear of failing, gives up the instinct to cling tight to Ezra, his attachment, and acknowledges that what happens will happen, he will just do the best he can.

AND HE PASSES THE TEST AND GETS KNIGHTED BY THE FORCE ITSELF BABY!

I'm so proud of him. :)

Yoda is frustratingly cryptic, only telling Ezra, "Find Malachor" (which made KOTOR fans go nuts) before letting him fade back into realspace. To this day I'm still not quite clear just why Yoda decided to sent them that way except maybe to prove a point about what can happen when you act out of fear. Malachor does contribute to a lot of Ezra's character development, for both good and bad, so... I dunno.

Vision!Grand fighting his former co-workers aaaah I love it.

Yoda waving fondly at Ahsoka awww.

AND THE BIG DARK ASSHOLE HIMSELF IS HERE TO OVERSEE THE IMPERIAL DISCOVERY OF THE TEMPLE.

Again, I do wonder just how far back they planned the World Between Worlds reveal. Because yeah an ancient Jedi Temple is a pretty nice find but Palpatine being personally pleased with its discovery?

This episode is obviously very Plot Important but I do tend to skip it when I'm rewatching episodes, I'm not fond of the kind of downer ambiguous ending or the vaguely Jedi-critical sentiments that maybe lace through the episode.

That being said, it is a good one and definitely worth at least a couple watches. Contributes to the melancholy, "Everything is going to change" feel the last few episodes leading up to Malachor had. And that was one of this season's strengths, the build-up to what they knew would be a status quo-changing finale. Also contributes to the wider arc of the "five year plan" and the secret reason Palpatine was interested in Lothal, laying down the tracks for that reveal eeeearrrly so that it feels completely natural.

Love that. Between that and Ezra and Kanan being badass it's not terrible, just not my favorite.

[logically-asexual]

Thomas has done to Sanders Sides what Jacksepticeye did to his Egos. (Except Jack made his fandom wait 5+ year's)

5 years ago Jack's Ego videos would get 4+ million views within a few days. Then he started making Merch for them which was fine for a while until he stopped making content about them and only did things with them for Merch while endlessly teasing his fans with false hunts in videos that never went anywhere or amounted to anything. Fans eventually gave up on him ever doing anything but make excuses and shill Merch so they left the fandom. Now he has hired a Fan to write his Ego Lore and is once again making big promises that he will have more content "Soon" but the video's he has released so far have done terrible.

Jack waited too long and now the audience is gone and not here for his content now. I fear the same thing for Thomas. 3+ year's filled with false hope and Merch drops disguised as actual content has made his fandom weary and bored. No one is excited anymore about SS stuff because we think it's just going to be another money grab with no actual story or relevance.

🪦

yeah i’ve heard several takes on this jack guy and i can’t say anything about that because i am not familiar but what you describe does sound like what Thomas’s fate could be.

because like. the long waits are annoying, yes, specially if you’re an active fan and want to do stuff but you feel that you have nothing to draw upon to get inspired. but the Sanders Sides fandom —like as a crowd— had always been willing to move on to other things and then as soon as a new episode dropped everyone came back. and then you had your dash full of Sanders Sides even though you didn’t even remember that the blogs you followed posted that kind of content!

so yeah the fandom could stay dormant for months and months and then wake up and shoot to top ten trending hashtags whenever there was a video. and that was fine. but that can stay happening only under the condition that people like what they see when they return.

if you wake up the fandom to say “hey!! here’s content!!” and they all come running and see that it’s an ad, many will be disappointed. but okay. they’ll wait for next time.

few months later comes thomas saying “hey!! here’s more content!!” and they all come running and. it’s another ad. well. maybe next time? two in a row is enough surely? but by then lots of people no longer trust you. and maybe next time they won’t jump to watch the new video, but wait until others confirm that it’s not an ad or something similar before they go watch it. and once they do they don’t have much energy to rewatch it and post about it.

one or two more episodes come out and they seem alright. you’re thinking okay maybe that was all and well get back to the normal show. so you keep paying attention and then thomas goes “hey! content!” and you go and see the thumbnail and it’s a goddamn ad again! so you get sick of it. you don’t come back. you gradually lost your emotional investment that was previously just saved for later. now it’s gone. how do you get those fans back?

[littlewalken]

mar 5

For those who don't know the whole star Trek TNG Brothers thing it's roughly that this guy Brent Spiner-

(The one on the right is part of the Accidental Renaissance Pictures thing if you don't watch Trek) Was also playing this guy in the episode-

And it was sort of kind of maybe we can keep it a secret from the viewing audience as long as possible for funsies sort of thing.

And for the record this is how Brent Spiner actually aged-

Seeing more lady b*ners before lunch than some people have had hot dinners.

Because like with Alexander Siddig and his aged make-up, there was no way for Michael Westmore to know that becoming a silver fox would somehow make them even hotter.

And all of this has me telling myself to keep the plot complication based on not knowing who it is under the make-up going for a bit longer in my Hollywood story.

Last chance to read it in it's current state before I get out the hard copy and start making notes and stripping it down to its bare bones for a complete rewrite.

And I found the paper bead maker so I will then be able to cut all 250+ pages in to triangular strips and make however many cone shaped beads out of it.

But let's give that the rest of the year and know I will not delete the previous version until a newer one is typed in to the puter. Or the previous file gets something like 2023/old version so I know which ever one is the latest is the one to go with.

Something something the first few Gashir episodes, ponder if it was until The Wire or not, Sid-

Had no idea what Andy (Garak) looked like under his make-up.

So imagine flipping thru late night TV or something and suddenly you hear Garak's voice coming out of the Scorpio killer or the asshole of the week on 70s TV, extra points if you catch Dukat somewhere, and... Like hello, how many times might a young Sid have seen something like Hellraiser only to have it eventually click in his mind that's the bloke I just did one of the greatest of-course-it's-not-a-love-scene-they're-just-friends things to ever come out of television.

Even if you aren't a Star Trek or a sci fi person and just appreciated great acting the Star Trek DS9 episode The Wire is worth watching. No prior knowledge or back stories required.

[astrologypersonalityandcartoons]

Supernatural Favorites

(Note: I said I was gonna be doing this for all my fandoms, and here is the second one. For those who don't know, I'll be putting these out for all my fandoms listing my favorite charcters, a quote from them, a song or two that make me think of them for whatever reason, and the reasons I love them,as well as a song that reminds me of the piece of media with zero context on that, okay let's get started.)

Supernatural: I was here by Beyonce,Fire by Gavin Degraw, The Resistance by Skillet

Jack Kline-"I guess my point is that... if I don't make it... The stuff I'd miss... it wouldn't be things like Tahiti. Or the Taj Mahal. I'd miss more time with you. I'm getting that life isn't all these big, amazing moments. It's time together that matters. Like this" Songs that remind me of him/them-Let Your Heart Hold Fast By Fort Atlantic, Heirloom By Sleeping At Last, Reasons I love him: He started out as a simple comfort character that reaffirmed many of the other character’s choices and ability to choose, and ended being a slightly more complex character than any of them. Plus he had so much untapped potential for character moments that would have been great.

Castiel-"Now I realize that there is no righteous path. It's just people trying to do their best  in a world where it's far too easy to do your worst." Songs That Remind Me of him: Hey Jude- By the Beatles, Soldier By Fleurie Reasons I love him: Again mostly comes down to his connection with characters major and minor in this case, he never fails to see the good in a situation though in his beginning stages he sometimes failed to see the bad. He believes in chances for almost everyone even the son of his worst enemy and goes on to make a great character. Who while the love confession  towards his  best friend/ could have been boyfriend Dean was great did the writers have to use it to make his entire character and growth based on the person he loves romantically even in this case, and then have him die, No very clearly no.

Sam Winchester- “It doesn’t matter what you are. It only matters what you do. It’s your choice.”- Songs that remind me of him: Zero By Imagine Dragons, Breaking The Habit By Linkin Park,  Reasons I love him: My favorite most consistent main character of the bunch. He loves the helping part of the job is what it’s always seemed like to me.I especially love in later seasons how with so much experience in being the weird guy in the fam, he just goes full hearted on helping the other black sheeps in the families. He sticks up for choice consistently and believes in his own family . Overall the kind of guy who if he wasn’t a hunter, I could see myself getting along with.

Bobby Singer-“FAMILY DON’T END WITH BLOOD, BOY.” Songs that remind me of him: Bad Liar By Imagine Dragons.Reasons I love him: How does one describe why they love original Bobby Singer’s character? Well I’ll give it my personal take. He is not only a great father figure and balance between the boys when he is in the show, but also a great character in his own right. While I originally would put Dean higher before watching season 7-15,and Bobby Lower (still #5 don’t worry), that changed heavily based on the Bobby episode  Deaths door. It made me retroactivelly rethink about Bobby everything I knew,and made me love his character for the little time he had on the show moving forward. Also this, and what I’m about to say about Dean are purely my opinon,so don’t spread hate in my comments. 

Dean Winchester-“That's crap. You always have a choice. You can either roll over and die or you can keep fighting, no matter what.”- Songs That Remind Me of Him: All Alright By Fun, Shots By Imagine Dragons,   Old Time and Rock and Roll Bob Seger and the silver bullet band. Why I like this character: His character early on easily persuaded me on why he was one of the main characters, but eventually the show took Dean’s angry phases and almost controling/overprotective nature a little bit to far for my liking, and then kept doing it for long enough periods of time that it got very annoying very quickly. In the begging tho, I loved his character he hardley ever gave up, he cared about his family in a weird but understandable way, he was absolutely a delight to watch. In the end he end up making me almost keyword almost agree with the many that say that Supernatural should have ended in season 5. Because after that is when his character quickly started getting stale. But he started out great so point for that. But part of the only reason I’m even putting him on is people would have bitched otherwise. They did his character dirty, (yes dirtier than they did Sam’s) sorry not sorry.

[incognito-lionbeast]

Three Months Later, I’ve finally finished writing my Aotu World season 2 episode guide! I procrastinated a lot on writing Episode 20′s summary, which is why it’s taken so long.

As always, I retain or omit detailed spoilers on a purely subjective basis, so you’re gonna have to watch some of these episodes to get the full picture. :3c

Season 2:

1: After struggling with nightmares, King finally wakes up three days after the events of Season One, oblivious to the aftermath of his & Fox-G’s battle. Feeling that the contestants have had sufficient time to rest, Daniel addresses their concerns and introduces the rules for an intermediary round: a race sponsored by the Director of the ESP Research Labs. The contestants select their vehicles.

2: The race begins and we’re introduced to the rest of the audience. King’s team struggles to make any headway. This becomes a problem when the rules of the race are finally announced – the most pressing of which being that the vehicle in last place will eventually explode. Phantom is particularly distressed by this, but believes he may have a solution to keep everyone safe. Thus, using the power of teamwork, King’s team catches up to the lead racers and Phantom pleads his case to Ray’s pirate crew.

3: Ray refuses, preferring to antagonize the other racers–including both Phantom and Godrose’s teams–instead. However, though seemingly downed by Ray’s lightning, Kalie reveals that their vehicle has one last trick up its sleeve. Elsewhere on the track, the dorky knight Anmicius introduces himself to Abby & Emy to lukewarm results.

4: King’s team manages to narrowly win the race, earning the privilege of learning this round’s new rules before everyone else. However, King is 0 for 3 versus large walls of text and doesn’t pay attention. With only an inkling of what’s going on, King & everyone else–who are much better informed–are sent into the second round: a Labyrinth where collecting another contestant’s hidden “Points Card” is essential to winning. King runs into Palos, who may have gotten away with stealing an extra point if not for the shifting labyrinth.

5: Wandering the Labyrinth, King is accosted by a monster claiming to be the Labyrinth Master – the Final Boss. Shenanigans ensue, revealing the monster to not be a monster at all but a spherical, amnesiac robot named Robbray. King agrees to help Robbray find his missing parts in exchange for information. Meanwhile, Palos makes the first of many questionable decisions, attacking former Top Five contestant Silver. After which, Palos is given an offer he can’t refuse. 

6: Elsewhere, Phantom hides from the twin contestants Melly & Reddy – only to witness them commit mutual sororicide. He recalls the fate of Riena, fleeing the scene and eventually coming across King and Robbray. Although they initially distrust one another, Phantom still has to properly explain this round’s rules to King. After which, Robbray agrees to share information of his own.

7: Robbray explains Meta Energy – an innate form of energy that all people possess which can be strengthened & manipulated with practise.

Meanwhile, Palos is temporarily reunited with Ray – who asks after Palos’ points card and remains unimpressed by his suspicious behaviour. However, before anything can come of that, a new hunting game is announced to the contestants. The Point Value & Location of Ray’s little brother, Camil, is publicly broadcasted, prompting Ray to leave. After which, Palos is quickly found by Pelley… who’s found a very interesting L-shaped block. Palos makes his second questionable decision: they’re going after Camil, too.

8: The first ones on the scene, Abby & Emy plot to steal Camil’s points card. However, they quickly discover that Camil is much stronger than anticipated, struggling to even escape from the youngest pirate. Caught, their certain demise is interrupted both by the appearance of Palos & Pelley–the first of which tries bargaining for the right to Abby’s points, hoping for an easy score instead of actually committing to his first plan–and eventually Anmicius. Unlike the pirates, Anmicius aims to rescue the Twins, protecting them from Ray’s crew just long enough for Ray himself to show up. After a brief scuffle, Ray tells his dorky rival to fuck off – to which Anmicius obliges with both twins in tow. 

Meanwhile, witness to everything happening, King & Phantom have been surreptitiously trying to steal Pelley’s L-shaped block (one of Robbray’s missing parts). This doesn’t work.

9: Cornered and in serious danger, Phantom tries to bluff his way out of the situation… unsuccessfully. However, the appearance of other hunters distracts Ray’s crew, allowing the two to escape. Pelley & Palos give chase, intent to dispose of them lest the “secret about Ray’s life” Phantom mentioned somehow be about them. They are also unsuccessful. Once safe, Phantom & King undergo some minor Meta Energy training. However, King’s sudden burst of strong Meta Energy attracts all of the nearby top-ranking contestants. 

10: Palos & Pelley are the first to arrive, using Pelley’s uncanny sense of smell to sniff them out. This leads into a fight wherein King struggles to control his powers whilst the likes of Grey, Godrose + his followers, Ray, and even Silver show up. This ominous get-together is interrupted briefly by two new targets being announced: Phantom and a mysterious girl named Lemon – all decided by none other than Phantom’s own father.

11: The fighting continues as the Labyrinth begins to shift. Yet, with unexpected help from Silver, King & Phantom are allowed to escape. None of this deters Godrose from fighting Grey. Meanwhile, now led to safety, Anmicius attempts to leave the Twins… adding yet another tally to the number of Unsuccessful happenings so far. Abby insists that she isn’t giving up her personal bodyguard so easily, and so the three of them set off to find Lemon together.

12: Having freshly suggested that they split up, Phantom’s attempt is thwarted by the appearance of Lemon – the other targeted contestant. She suggests that there may be another way to win the round without killing people, albeit the posse of folks hunting her haven’t listened so far. Neither do those who came to hunt Phantom.

Kalie intervenes, causing the two hunting parties to fight each other while she, King, and Phantom escape. Lemon follows. As soon as they’re a safe distance, Lemon gives Kalie a telepathic vibe check. Kalie doesn’t appreciate this nor King’s insistence that Lemon doesn’t look like a bad person. Wannabe villains Strange & Grotesque show up at precisely the wrong time.

13: Kalie berates and summarily outclasses Strange and Grotesque, and they’re spared only by King’s intervention. He doesn’t want to see Kalie kill anyone. Thus, they retreat, leaving King’s team to bicker amongst themselves on where to go next. Kalie suggests that they split into teams to cover two potential locations – irritated when King suggests that he stay with Lemon while Kalie takes Phantom. Forced to accept, she proposes a wager: whichever girl finds one of Robbray’s parts first gets to stay on the team.

14: After splitting up, Kalie is uncooperative, bullying Phantom into doing all of the searching so that she can run off on her own – with intent to cause trouble for Lemon’s search party. Meanwhile, following Lemon’s divination, King and Lemon run into Final Boss-sized trouble.

15: King & Lemon attempt to run from the monster, only to discover that it both has a piece of Robbray already inside of it & is seemingly able to control the Labyrinth’s movement. Robbray confesses that this is the monster that he based his previous disguise on – the real Labyrinth Master. Back in the metallic ruins, Phantom’s mini spartans discover one of Robbray’s parts, but so, too, has he been found again by hunters. For a second time, Phantom is saved by the appearance of Silver, who offers him the same power he gave Palos.

16: On her way to King & Lemon’s location, Kalie comes across Anmicius and the Twins. Although initially hostile, Kalie sees an opportunity. Emy may not realise it, but he’s already found one of Robbray’s pieces and has been carrying it with him. Thus, Kalie attempts to beguile the three of them into giving it to her. However, having lost track of its previous prey, her ploy is interrupted when the Labyrinth Master arrives for Emy’s part. All attempts to fight it fail. Thus, King and Lemon show up just in time to watch it absorb its second piece.

17: Robbray beseeches the assembled contestants (King, Kalie, Lemon, Anmicius, Abby & Emy) to work together to defeat the Labyrinth Master – or else everyone may be in danger. Yet, before they can act, the Labyrinth Master flees, leaving King with the startling realization that Phantom may be its next target. Meanwhile, exactly as anticipated, Phantom is confronted by the Labyrinth Master… all on his own, he can only hope to stall the giant. Not even the might of the Great Spartan is enough, and Phantom quickly falls into despair. He accepts the power Silver offered.

18: Using this newfound power, Phantom temporarily dispatches the Labyrinth Master. He’s then found by Grey – who’d expected he and King to be together and not for Phantom to be shrouded in darkness. They fight while Pelley & Palos watch from a distance. Eventually, the others arrive, including King’s large group and Ray. Everyone is uniquely concerned by Phantom’s transformation, though King pleads with them not to hurt him. It’s ineffective. Phantom is fully possessed by the being responsible for the corrupted Meta Energy. Elsewhere, Daniel is tasked by the Envoys to do something about it.

19: Because the Invader is far too powerful to let live, the Envoys decide that it must be destroyed alongside the Labyrinth Star. As Arbiter, Daniel is forced to make that decision work within the tournament guidelines. Thus, he tasks the contestants to defeat the Invader within a strict 30 minute time limit. Should they succeed, they’ll all pass this round. If they fail, however, then they’ll perish along with it. Godrose joins the fight alongside the other main characters. They struggle.

20: The labyrinth begins to break apart now that the Labyrinth Master has activated the planet’s self-destruct sequence. This process will take the 30 minutes Daniel gave them to defeat the Invader. Lemon claims that there’s another way to get out of this mess & summarily pushes King off of a cliff. Lemon (holding Robbray) and Kalie dive in after him, though King is able to save himself just fine. Thus, after clearing up their little misunderstanding, they continue further down to the core of the planet – where the Labyrinth Master is.

Meanwhile, Godrose, Grey, Ray, and Anmicius do battle with the Invader once more, working together to bring down a lava flow upon him. Yet, it isn’t enough. 

King’s squad confronts the Labyrinth Master, entreating him to stop this. Yet, their plea falls on deaf ears; unlike Robbray, whom the Labyrinth Master calls a traitor and a coward, he’s steadfast in his duty – even if it means sacrificing himself alongside the Labyrinth Star. Amid this scathing review and subsequent beat-down, Robbray’s true identity is revealed, along with his innermost desire to understand the nature of their existence.

The Labyrinth Master also claims to know what happened to King’s sister. This information is met with skepticism and outrage, pushing King & co to finally start fighting back. Although, presently they aren’t any match for him.

Back upstairs, the Invader is momentarily distracted, and though Silver defends him… his body has begun to deteriorate. Phantom isn’t a suitable host. As such, the Invader leaves Phantom to Silver, revealing that Phantom has been holding one of Robbray’s pieces the entire time. Silver leaps down the chasm to reunite it with its host. The others follow, save for Palos, Pelley, and the Twins. This doesn’t bode well for the siblings.

Below, Robbray manages to calm King down, allowing him to fight back like a true protagonist – til they’re interrupted by Silver, Phantom, and the others. They’re still intent on taking Phantom out. Though, Kalie helpfully reminds everyone that there’s still a whole Labyrinth Master to worry about first. However, before he and Silver leave, Phantom gives the Labyrinth Master the final part, triggering yet another transformation and fusing himself with the Labyrinth’s core. Upon which, the planet begins to deteriorate even faster, though Robbray has an idea. So, while the others provide cover fire, King delivers Robbray unto the Labyrinth Master, forcing them both to accept who they truly are.

Thus, they merge, and Robbray – finally, truly rebuilt – awards King and all the other contestants with the points necessary to leave the Labyrinth Star. Robbray says his goodbyes.

[golden--doodler]

Hey there it's me :D! Just gotta ask you back your, hmm, favorite bobs burgers episodes?

Omg, thank you so muchhhhh this question is too good (and also too hard ahhhhhhhhhh there are just so many and too many good episodes). This show, I swear, so thank you for giving me an excuse to ramble about it. I shall try to make a Top Ten or Top Eleven episodes, depending on how I feel right now:

--First of all, I gotta mention Season 3, Episode 7 "Tina-Rannosaurus Wrecks" because of that iconic opening scene alone, oh my lord, Tina (Tina, you're kinda gonna hit the only other car in the parking lot. TINA FOR THE LOVE OF GOD EITHER TURN AWAY OR STOP YOU'RE GONNA, HIT THE BRAKES--). Also, that freaking scene of Bob and Linda pretending their kids drowned because of the dark humor alone and Bob just ripping his shirt and shouting, I can't.

--Season 3, Episode 16 "Topsy" also keeps coming back as one of my favorites because Gene's song "Electric Love" is just so--how did he write this, it's such a beautiful masterpiece, it plays on repeat in my head, it's the best love song ever. Also, Louise just having beef with the teacher, Mr. Dinkler, is quite entertaining. And Gayle and Mr. Fischoeder having a romance that only lasts this episode is pretty great.

--Season 4, Episode 3 "Seaplane!" is great as well just because of how loyal Linda is to Bob ("Yeah, I'm married, you idiot!"). And also her headbutting Kurt and saying "I was gonna punch you, but I'm holding wine" is hilarious. Plus, it's great seeing Bob and Linda each have an awesome moment with Bob cutting the rope and Linda navigating the plane upwards at the last moment. And Tina having her moment fantasizing about kissing a bunch of people on the island, hahaha.

--The Wharf Horse Season 4 two-part finale is a masterpiece and no one can tell me otherwise, God, why does this two-part finale continuously live rent-free in my bed (it has ever since I watched it for the first time, and I vividly remember watching it for the first time). "Nice Things Are Nice" and "Bad Things Are Bad" are a couple of my absolute FAVORITE numbers of the show, they're just structured so perfectly and satisfyingly, it's almost hard to put into words why I love them so much ("Ooh, I love this dress, does it come in size three?"). And the outro for part one is incredible, shout out to John Roberts because yes. I just love the little things in this episode--in my opinion, this two-parter is a better introduction to Felix Fischoeder than his actual introduction (yes, I do enjoy that episode, and I'm sorry if I offended anyone, and I do love how he changes up the bathroom and the new design is kept for the rest of the series) but he's just so deliciously malicious in this two-parter before eventually having a change of heart, only for Fanny to swoop in. These were definitely the biggest stakes the show had before the movie swooped in with Grover Fischoeder and Cotton Candy Dan's murder, and I love the family reaffirming their love for each other when they think they're gonna die. And the detail that Bob was told about Linda being pregnant with Louise on the Ferris Wheel and screaming. Also shoutout to Tina for at least trying to save Mr. Goiter and being absolutely adorable as a toddler.

--I also really like Season 5, Episode 5 "Best Burger" and I don't know if that's an unpopular opinion or not. I love that it's one of the first big Gene and Bob moments we get, with Bob telling Gene that he loves Gene, faults and all, it's adorable (I could talk all day about why I love Bob and Gene's relationship in particular). Also the gag with the kids telling the storeowner they ban him when he tries to ban them, hahahahah. And then the judges hating Jimmy Pesto Sr.'s burger at the end is so satisfying.

--Also love Season 6, Episode 1 "Sliding Bobs" simply because it told the story of how Bob and Linda met (Boblin forever--I could also talk all day about why I love them). The rest of the episode I might not rank as high, only because it mainly just consists of the kids telling random "What-If" stories, but Tina's "What-If" story with Linda marrying Hugo instead is actually hilarious, especially Louise calling Tina a monster for making Charlize so sweet.

--Season 7, Episode 5 "Large Brother, Where Fart Thou?" because Gene actually being a big brother and standing up for Louise is just the best and sweetest thing ever. Also, Bob and Linda tripping out on weed cookies together is amazing ("We're old! We have kids!" :O).

--Season 7, Episode 18 "The Laser-Inth" because Bob is at his best in this episode as a Father. His comforting Gene after Gene has sensory overload while watching the show is incredible, poor Gene, honestly, just because of how excited he was before they got there. And then Gene actually enjoying the song when Bob just plays it in the car, and then them figuring out a way to sneak back in. Oh yes, this episode also contains one of my favorite inappropriate Gene lines (still have no idea if he knew what he was doing or not with this line): "Just imagine being in there, having an incredible climax!" And also when Bob mishears Gene at the end "I love you too son! :D" awwwwwwww. The side plot is kinda fun, too, but admittedly not as memorable as the main plot. I do love seeing Gretchen again, and Louise actually getting attached to her dinner doll, and Tina, despite her fear of the dolls, wants to give Louise a chance to sneak it out and keep it. It's nice but pretty simple.

--Season 8, Episode 21 "Something Old, Something New, Something Bob Caters For You" just has my whole heart because of how freaking sweet it is the entire time, it's almost like a cupcake in episode form. Linda comforting Bob and trying to remind him that he does make a difference making burgers, and then her realization that the couple they're catering for DO care about each other and lot and WILL make it after all is just great, and the fact that a couple fell in love in the restaurant in the first place is so, so heartwarming. The kids' subplot is pretty simple, but actually pretty sweet as well because they're just hanging out and having a contest to photobomb as many pictures as they can, it's great. And Louise actually upholds her word at the end when she loses. Also good lord, what was Bob looking up that had Linda so impressed and even slightly turned on? Hahaha.

--Season 3, Episode 10 "Mother Daughter Laser Razor", because Louise affirming the fact that she does, in fact, care about Linda is just very nice. Also, the flashback with Linda and Louise as a baby had me in stitches. Also, that scene where Louise punches Logan for liking "Freaky Friday". Ooh, ooh, and the "Where is Harry Truman" song. Wonderful. Plus, I love how much Gene wants to get his legs shaved like Tina and Bob.

--And finally, after a lot of deliberation, the last episode on the main list is Season 5, Episode 17 "The Itty Bitty Ditty Committee". I love seeing how Gene's band came to be and just learning that he only knows one chord is hilarious. It was interesting seeing him question if music was the right path for him, only for Tina and Louise to sweep in and remind him why he loves it so much in the first place.

Here are some Honorable Mentions (episodes I also love but didn't quite make the full cut):

--I gotta mention Season 4 Episode 17 "The Equestranauts" real quick for giving Bob a tattoo which they kept for the rest of the series, and the lengths he went to for Tina in this episode. Also, her wanting to stop playing with toys after everything Bob went through and him getting super mad and forcing her to play with Chariot at the end pffffffffft.

--I have to mention Season 4, Episode 5 "Turkey in a Can" because of Bob's line "I'm straight. I mean... I'm mostly straight". Yes. Perfection. One of the best lines. And him remembering potty-training Tina is just so sweet, I love it.

--Season 7, Episode 9 "Bob Actually" because it's adorable all around, I love the Louise/Rudy kiss in particular and Louise slapping him, hahaha. Also, Bob learning breakdancing for Linda is incredible, he needs to do it more in the show.

--Season 10, Episode 1 "The Ring (But Not Scary)" deserves a mention because it seriously shows just how dedicated Bob is to Linda, getting her the engagement ring for her that he was never able to when they actually got engaged (made me very emotional). Also, Linda's speech to Bob about their love not being in a ring but in everything they built together is one of the most beautiful things ever. It just loses a few points because of the fact that dang it, I just wanted Linda to get the darn ring because even though she doesn't need it, she does deserve it. At least the kids were genuinely remorseful about losing it and seeing Nat the Limo Driver is always a treat.

--Season 11, Episode 6 "Bob Belcher and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Kids" is one I'm mentioning literally just because of the song in this episode. God, why do I love it so much??? Why is it so catchy??? I particularly love when Louise is just like "It's nice to get to blame someone else" when it's revealed Hugo started the fire. Is it kind of a copout having Hugo start it? Eh, maybe, but I still like the reveal because it absolves the kids from guilt after they've been completely wracked with it the entire episode. Also, it's just kinda funny, because he acts like an angry kid when Ron forces him to confess.

--I gotta mention Season 11, Episode 11 "Romancing the Beef" because of Hugo finally finding love (I have to admit I was convinced the entire episode that he didn't have anyone coming to meet up with him, but he actually did--good for him) and Bob and Linda saying some of the things they love about each other is the softest, most domestic thing ever, God, everything they do during the Valentine's Day episodes is the best. Also, the outro is hilarious and wonderful.

--Season 11, Episode 12 "Die Card, or Card Trying". Am I just mentioning this because of the outro? Yes. Yes, I am. "Candy Cane Moose" is a masterpiece. And it's always lovely seeing the kids when they were younger in family photos. Plus, I loved seeing Bob get so excited about a juicer Linda got him.

--The "Some Like it Bot" two-parter, Season 12, Episodes 21-22. I really, really dig the musical numbers in both of these episodes that make up the two-parter, especially the one in the second part ("This JPEG is amazing!"). It really does hurt seeing Tina be made fun of so harshly, and her trying to get revenge in such a harsh manner is almost hard to watch. But I love it for that. Also, the fantasy sequences that take place in the "Blade Runner"-inspired world Tina makes up are super fun as well. Also poor Bob--glad they never showed who wrote the graffiti, but I also can't help but be super curious as to who did. It's also interesting seeing Tina actually making some peace with Tammy, even though it doesn't last for that long.

--Season 13, Episode 10 "The Plight Before Christmas" simply because the ending of this episode was EVERYTHING, easily one of the best in the series. It might even be my favorite Christmas episode. I love seeing Louise show her softer side again, her poem legitimately had me in tears. Also, Gene saving the show the sixth graders are putting on was absolutely glorious, and showing him telling Ms. Merkin the entire story during the dialogue-less montage was so sweet. Plus, the outro is just really nice, another one of my favorite outros I didn't mention in my ask to you.

--I gotta mention Season 3, Episode 14 "Lindapendent Woman", because of Linda and Bob's song together and their meeting up again in the store only to get interrupted by a shrimp, I can't with these two. Also, Teddy saying that Linda controls the thermostat masterfully is hilarious, and getting upset that Bob can't do it right. Also, it's extremely impressive that Linda has such a complex monetary system to keep the restaurant from going under. She's so dedicated, it's amazing.

--Season 9, Episode 16 "Roamin' Bobiday", literally just because that ending musical number made me cry, it's so freaking beautiful. Bob's passion is so palpable. Also, seeing the flashback to when he first got burnout is terrifying and hilarious.

--Season 11, Episode 7 "Diarrhea of a Poopy Kid", because I love "Turkey I Need You Beside Me" with all of my heart, and Bob's whole speech about loving to feed Gene is adorable, and just them bonding over turkey/other food during the outro, I love. The stories everyone tells are fun, but unfortunately not nearly memorable enough to be put on the regular list. Plus, I just have to say it's not an actual Thanksgiving episode like all the others.

--Finally, I must mention Season 5, Episode 1 "Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl" because that song is so glorious. Gene is somehow so incredible at writing music in this universe. Also love seeing Courtney back, and her and Gene working together.

I could list so many more episodes (tbh, I want to list them all, but that would defeat the purpose). I'm sure there were so many more I wanted to mention but these were all the definite highlights (also, the initial list wasn't in any particular order, I just wrote them as I remembered them). Did I put more episodes in the Honorable Mentions than in the actual list? Yes, yes I did.

I really loved doing this, actually!

[luthienmpl]

Watching/Rewatching/Planning to Watch List

I was tagged for this weeks and weeks ago by @mellens but I kept not doing it because I was stuck in a MUST!FINISH!STICHING PROJECTS!!!! phase and was watching quite literally nothing at all except Critical Role (no need to read subtitles or even look at the video footage most of the time with that one), so my list would have been very uninteresting for readers and frustrating for me personally. However I have now FINISHED THE PROJECTS (YAAAAY!!!) and am trying to coax my brain out of hyper fixation mode and back into watching some stuff. I'm partially doing this post now to hold myself accountable, lest I end up just aimlessly scrolling through tumblr still not watching anything instead.

Watching:

Between Us: I'm uhhhh *checks Wabi Sabi page* in ep 4. I watched 4 1/4 probably like.... 3 weeks ago? I will start this ep over this week probably. I'm enjoying it so far and like many others, it gives me an urge to rewatch UWMA.

My Tooth Your Love: I had to log back into Viki to check where I was, that's how long it's been. Apparently I have watched eps 1-4. I watched this more casually while I was still keeping up with it but I do wanna know where they're going with bar-owner's trauma induced anxiety issues (literally I can't remember what anybody is called in this, it's been so long) so I'll probs pick it up again at some point.

Big Dragon: Gaga tells me the last ep I watched was ep 5. I did quite enjoy that one while it was going even though it's ridiculous, the problem is that I've been spoiled a lot with this one so there's less of an urgency to pick it up again. On the other hand there's only 3 episodes left so it still shouldn't be much of a problem to finish.

My School President: This is the first show I have picked up to get myself back into watching mode, I started it Friday night and caught up with it yesterday evening. It's very cute, and surprisingly I'm enjoying all of the singing so far.

Dropping: I was watching Remember Me and Eternal Yesterday before the big break but from what I've heard Remember Me has gone off the rails hard and Eternal Yesterday ended about as you'd expect so I think won't bother with either of them.

Re-watching: Bad Buddy. I ran out of Critical Role and I was obsessed with BBS enough while it was first released that I can just let that one run in the background without looking at it a lot and still follow what's happening. Ngl though, the evening that I hit the Rooftop Kiss not a lot of stitching got done.

Planning to Watch:

Those coffee shop shorts that Vibie is putting out: I loved GHGH and am not averse to seeing more of Boy and Tod (also i hear there's a GL ep!)

GAP: I WILL START IT TODAY. I WILL OKAY. LISTEN THE SHOW IS JUST.... !!GAP!! IN MY MIND OKAY IT'S LIKE A BIG DEAL SO THAT TRANSLATES INTO ME BEING RELUCTANT TO START IT FOR SOME REASON? I DON'T UNDERSTAND EITHER BUT I'M STRUGGLING UGH IT'S LIKE

Never Let Me Go: I hated FUTS and dropped it halfway through but it's not like the bad writing was the actors' fault and I hear good things about this one so far, so yes.

609 Bedtime Stories: I'd like to see OhmFluke in something other than UWMA but the Sunshine Night one certainly Wasn't It so I'm hoping this one is at least a little better. It's low priority though, I'll get to it when (if) I'll get to it.

History 5: I was not impressed with H4 At All but, well. It's still History. I hear there's time travel involved somehow? At least that's creative.

I'm vaguely aware there's a couple Korean office ones floating about, I'll probs watch those ones eventually, but the Korean stuff is so short that half the ones I've watched had no emotional impact on me at all, so they're also low priority currently.

Feel free to leave recommendations in the notes, I'm pretty out of the loop and unaware of release dates atm.

As I feel like I'm the Last Fucking Person to do this and I know quite a lot of my long time mutuals have done their lists already, let's take this as an opportunity to get to know some newer follows a little better. So I'm tagging @boosnbugs, @aliceisathome and @chimerasinourskyline. Feel free to ignore if you don't wanna and sorry if you made a list already that I'm unaware of.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

9 People You’d Like to Know More

tagged by @neuroticbookworm

Last Song I Listened To

The last song I listened to is one of my most very favorites, Gymnopédie No. 1 by Eric Satie. I have been listening to it for the last couple weeks to help me fall asleep. It is so pretty and reminds me of rain drops.

Currently Watching

Be My Favorite

The surprise show for me. I was not interested in this show, in it's concept, or in seeing Krist in anything. Ilike Gawin but didn't think he would be strong enough to carry half of this show. But after everyone I knew was saying week after week how surprised they were that they were actually liking it, I said "fuck it!" and tried it too. It has been very strong so far, and I owe Gawin an apology because he has been killing his role as Piseang.

Law of Attraction

Decided to get myself aboard the LoA train, mostly cause I like talking about shows with my friends, and my friends are watching this show. Also because I figured it is one that isn't deep enough to require my full attention and therefore something that I could watch at work. I've been enjoying it so far.

What Did You Eat Yesterday?

I've been showing my friend different BLs for the last couple of months. We just recently finished I Told Sunset About You and so I decided she needed a reward/cool down show, and this is one of my most favorite shows. So here we are, and can I just say, she is loving it so far!

Breaking Bad

Fun fact! I had seen the first season of Breaking Bad three separate times before I ever got past seeing any more of the show. This was not because I didn't like Breaking Bad, this was because different situations kept arising that prevented me from watching further than season 1, and eventually I gave up trying. But a friend of mine recently wanted me to watch it, because he likes it and thought it would be a good way for us to hang out together. I just finished Season 4 the other day and holy shit it is a really really good show. I was blown away by the episode Crawl Space, I was so shocked that it was not the end of the season because it felt like such a great place to end.

On Deck: Only Friends (coming out this Saturday and I am SO PUMPED, this has definitely been my most anticipated show of the year), Black Sails (@bengiyo has been wanting me to watch this, so my friend and I are gonna start season 1 as a palette cleanser before Season 5 of Breaking Bad)

Currently Reading

Currently, the only thing I am reading is Effective Data Visualization, 2nd Edition by Stephanie D.H. Evergreen. (I am going to be honest with you, I decided to answer this challenge mostly because I thought it would be funny for me to answer this question). I will say though, actually, this is a really easy read, Evergreen writes in a very conversational voice, so it keeps me reading, and I am learning so many Excel skills from it. Honestly, I think the name of this book should be changed from Effective Data Visualization: The Right Chart for the Right Data to Effective Data Visualization: How to Make Excel Your Bitch, but that's just me.

Current Obsession

uhhh, hmm. I think my current obsession is just...BL, I have been watching BL and writing and talking about BL almost non-stop for the last year. Go gays, woohoo!

__

Okay, now that I have made myself seem like the absolutely most boring person in the world, I guess I will tag:

@solitaryandwandering, @respectthepetty, @dribs-and-drabbles, @asdfghjklmpff, @shortpplfedup, @rocketturtle4, @colourme-feral, @bengiyo, @emotionallychargedtowel

[2023-records]

Day 4 __ Wed, Jan 4

OOPS forgot to journal for today

I slept at 4 am... LOL, I didn't feel tired at the moment since I drank Alani Nu's coffee around 8 pm before volleyball open gym. I kind of enjoyed the Maple Donut flavor and the caffeinated feeling it gave, which wasn't jittery at all. It was sort of a nice caffeine high where I didn't realize I was on awake on coffee. I had planned to watch only 1 episode of the new season of Emily In Paris and then fall asleep. Little did I know, I finished the rest of the season and then went to bed LOL I kind of regret it since the day I have off from Shumai, I spent sleeping in until noon and then working out and getting back home by 5:30 pm. I really need to get to studying for the exams... I basically have a week left and haven't started and it's mostly because I have to watch Shumai. When she does sleep, it's only for short moments now. Before, she would be sleeping for a few hours straight. Analyzing this more, this next semester won't be easy if I continue to take on watching Shumai. I will need to tell Youki that I won't be able to watch her all day as I'll also have to make time for assignments and studying.

I realized that the NYE party had me feeling fed up with feeling responsible for making things happen when I would rather be doing something for myself. I invited Betty and Mitch, hoping that they would mingle with my friends, however, they were on their own a lot and separated from the group. I felt torn between talking to them and talking to my friends... I chose to hang out with Betty and Mitch more since they were the minority and my friends were all together already. I realized that I felt FOMO and that this event was to hang out with my friends again. I don't think I'll be inviting Betty and Mitch to another gathering as it would probably happen again. I'm going to keep family and friends separate so that I can spend quality time with them separately. I also realized that maybe that's why I felt even more down on myself when I heard that my friends caught covid and how it's affecting their lives. I invited my sister who maybe shouldn't have been invited to not spread covid and to not make me feel responsible for mingling with my friends. It's definitely not Betty's fault but this situation made me rethink trying to be too generous to too many people without thinking about the consequences or possible outcomes. This relates to taking too much responsibility taking care of Shumai for Youki. I love her like a sister but I should really stop trying to help people ease their problems especially if I compromise my first obligations (school and physical/mental health).

Wow, typing this all out really helped me figure out this previous paragraph.

I played a couple solo OW games after working out. It was nice playing with randoms that weren't spamming the chat with negative shit. I wanted to play to (1) 65% just to have fun and (2) 35% to get better so that I can eventually play with my friends and at least be closer to their level of play. This 35% keeps dwindling since every time I do play with my friends now, Shumai always happens. I feel like I'm keeping my friends from getting dubs and from getting better. Which I totally understand since for the most part when I'm playing volleyball seriously, I'd want to play with people who can keep up with the same or close to the same level. Saying this, I really don't mind just watching and supporting my friends! It's nice not to feel the pressure of being the reason why my friends can't continue getting better. It's actually amazing seeing everyone's abilities and IQ develop.

[norahastuff]

penny for your thoughts on salmondean codependency ?

Sure. Fair warning it’s long (was longer but I stopped myself.)

I think it’s complicated in a show that’s had so many different showrunners because they’ve all handled Sam and Dean’s relationship very differently. In Kripke’s era (s1-5) there was a romanticization of the bond. Sure there was a lot of in-depth exploration of how they wound up at the place they were at, spoiler alert: it was all because of John and his obsessive crusade to find the demon that killed his wife. That’s all he cared about and as a result, Sam and Dean had to be everything to each other. But Kripke had no intention of dismantling that at any point because he was (and always had been) writing a tragedy. Gamble continued that too. There was no room for anyone else in their lives and it would always just be the two of them against the world. So Cas had to go. Bobby had to go.

(Actually, it's funny because Gamble didn't intend this at the time, her plan was to kill Cas off, but by Edlund creating the masterpiece that is The Man Who Would Be King, he not only saved Cas from being seen as a villain, but he also deepened Dean and Cas' relationship in such a profound way and inextricably linked the two of them emotionally. And since Cas was eventually brought back, that laid the foundation for a lot of what their relationship would become.)

Up until this point, there hadn’t really been any significant dismantling of perhaps the more unhealthy parts of Sam and Dean’s relationship. Enter Carver. He stripped things down and started to explore what drove these characters. What they wanted and why they couldn’t have it. It starts with Dean being mad at Sam for not looking for him in purgatory, which sets up the whole speech in the s8 finale of Sam’s guilt about letting Dean down, but the thing is, Dean was never honest with Sam about his year away either. He never told Sam he could have gotten out much sooner if he hadn’t stayed to find Cas. I mean Dean had assumed Sam was up there alone doing God knows what to try to bring him back, and yet still he stayed in Purgatory because things were clear there. He needed Cas. Anyway, I just find that interesting, but Cas isn’t a victim of Sam and Dean’s relationship in s8.

Who gets the honour of being cast aside? That would be Benny and Amelia, two characters they introduced in s8 specifically to highlight that Sam and Dean’s relationship doesn’t allow for anyone else to be a significant part of their life. I mean that’s nothing new, we’ve watched that happen many times before. Lisa even said as much to Dean. The thing is this time? It’s framed as a truly sad thing. That moment at the end of 8x10 when Dean has just ended things with Benny and Sam leaves Amelia, and they’re sitting alone drinking beer and watching tv is such a hollow empty moment. This is not what they want. But it’s the way things have to be.

I’m actually fascinated by Sam and Dean’s conversation in the church in the s8 finale. Not so much Dean’s assertion that there is no one else he would put before Sam, but more so what provokes it, which is Sam saying “who are you going to turn to instead of me. Another angel? Another vampire?” See the thing is Dean saying he would always put Sam first is not news. We know this and it’s not really an unhealthy statement in itself either. A lot of people would put their sibling above anything else, not less a sibling who you raised and is the most important person to you. But in this context? After what Sam said? It just highlights how unhealthy they are if Sam believes that Dean having other people in his life means he doesn’t love him enough. That he’s a disappointment to him. That’s so profoundly fucked up.

(Note, Dean tells Sam that he killed Benny for him but he doesn’t say anything about Cas. I think like I said before, this is because Cas and Dean’s relationship has largely existed out of the Sam and Dean stuff up to this point - Sam and Cas don’t even really have much of a relationship yet besides both of their connections to Dean.)

And then from here, things start getting steadily worse. But we also keep being shown how bad they are. Dean lying to Sam, taking away his free will by letting Gadreel possess him. Dean sending Cas away, Kevin dying. It’s all awful. The whole “there ain’t no me if there ain’t no you line” from 9x01 isn’t really said by Dean, it’s Gadreel, but that is how Dean feels. He does think that’s all he’s good for. And over the season we’re shown how much of himself and what he truly wants he’s had to give up because of his ingrained “Save Sammy” and “Sammy comes first” mentality. It’s always been this way for him. In 9x07 we see that he had found a happy home, a good father figure, and his first love, a first love might I add that he had to leave behind with no real explanation because Sam needed him, and Sam comes first.

I mean just one episode earlier we had him rushing out the door elated about seeing Cas and spending time with him, only for their time together to come to sad and melancholic end when Dean once again leaves Cas behind without any real explanation, because despite what he wants Sammy comes first. What he wants doesn’t matter.

See I think after the Gadreel stuff comes out is where the narrative starts to get a little wonky for me. You can clearly see that this was intended to be a shorter story that they ended up stretching out to a much longer one because of renewals. There’s also the fact that this is a formula show so they can’t necessarily be separated for longer than an episode or two. S10 is a rough one to get through at times, I think the themes still mostly hold up but it’s a rough one to get through.

S10 highlights all the connections that Dean has, Cas, Charlie, Crowley even, but Sam doesn’t really have those bonds in the same way.  For Sam it’s just Dean, so he goes down a reckless destructive “do anything to save Dean!” path and so many innocents pay the price, and ultimately with the release of The Darkness, the whole world.

They skirted right up to the edge of exploring just how toxic and dangerous their relationship had become in the season 10 finale.

DEAN: I let Rudy die. How was that not evil? I know what I am, Sam. But who were you when you drove that man to sell his soul... Or when you bullied Charlie into getting herself killed? And to what end? A..a good end? A just end? To remove the Mark no matter what the consequences? Sam, how is that not evil? I have this thing on my arm, and you're willing to let the Darkness into the world.

I can’t say evil is the right word, they were never evil, but they were wilfully blind to everything and everyone else when it came to saving each other. S10 tested my love for the show because after watching it, because there was certainly a feeling that the two of them had become the villains of this story. And don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have a problem with that, it’s just after 2 seasons of this I can’t say I had a lot of faith that this was going to be properly addressed or if we were going to keep going in circles around it. Keep being shown, it’s bad and then nothing much being done to fix it. Your mileage may vary on how it was handled, but I think s11 did a relatively ok job considering it wasn’t the end of the story, and the show needed to keep going.

See from Dean’s side a lot of the codependency rests on 1. His father’s orders to always save Sammy 2. His low self-esteem where he sees himself as nothing but a blunt instrument. 3. His guilt at not being able to perfectly fulfil every familial role in Sam’s life 4. His belief that no one could choose to love him but family has to love you. 5. The unhealthy example of what it should look like to love someone that he got from John. You give up everything but them.

For Sam (and honestly it’s not as clear for me as Dean’s side is so feel free to correct me/disagree on this) 1. Everytime he’s tried to leave and create his own life it’s never ended well. 2. His guilt over wanting freedom and a normal life when he was younger (I’m referring specifically to Stanford era here) 3. His guilt over everything Dean has given up for him. 4. John. 5. Jess.

Ultimately it all comes down to isolation. They both had to be everything to each other, and the deeper they got into this fight, the more people that they lost, the tighter they clung to this notion of family and brothers. I think s11 (and 11x23 in particular) was an important turning point, both for Sam and Dean’s relationship, as well as for them as individuals. Because they weren’t alone there anymore. Cas was there. Sam let Dean walk to his death. Of course, it would devastate him, but he knew it was what had to be done. And he didn’t walk out of that bar and go back to the bunker alone. He had Cas, he had someone who cared about him and wanted to help him and talk to him. Sure Dean asked Cas to take care of Sam for him (you know after Cas offered to walk to his death with him) but Sam let him. He let him be there for him. We didn’t get to see much before the BMOL showed up and blasted Cas away, but still, we saw enough.

I think that’s a significant difference to note why their relationship was different in the Dabb era. It wasn’t just them anymore. Cas was an important member of their family and given a level of importance he’d never been given before and couldn’t have been when the story they were telling was of the dangers of their codependency. Mary was back. Eventually, Jack would become a part of their unit too. Just the two of them wasn’t enough for them anymore. This is made abundantly clear with all of Dean’s desperate attempts to get Cas to stay in s12, followed by his inability to keep going when they lose Cas and Mary in s13. Similarly, Sam really struggles when they lose Jack and fail to get Mary back later in the season.

Another big moment is Dean letting Sam go alone to lead the hunters against the BMOL in 12x22 while he stays back to try and reach Mary. Like he tells Mary, he’s had to be a brother, a father and a mother to Sam and he never stopped seeing him as his kid, but in that moment he makes a choice. He lets Sam take charge and he shows that he trusts him and believes in him. He knows he can handle it.

Sometimes it’s not even a character growth thing. Sometimes having other people there stops you from making destructive choices even though that’s still your first instinct. I’m thinking specifically of 13x21 after Sam was killed. Dean would have run headlong into that nest of vampires and got himself torn apart, but Cas was there to stop him. He was able to make him see reason.

Basically, I think that for a long time, they thought the only relationship they could have was each other, which then became a self-fulfilling prophecy because their desperate attempts to keep each other around led to them losing the people around them. They eventually started to learn that that wasn’t true, they could have more, they were allowed to want more, and that it wasn’t an either-or situation. Dean didn’t have to choose between Sam and Cas. They didn’t have to choose between each other or Jack. The same goes for Mary. Different relationships can coexist without threatening each other, and not say that their relationship in s12-15 was all smooth sailing, but it was certainly so very different from everything that came before.

(There’s maybe a point to be made about how they didn’t have anyone or anything in the finale and how that relates to the story we got, but honestly I have no idea what the intention was with any of the choices made in that episode so I’ll leave it at that for now.)

[lovee-infected]

So Merlin the goddamn great, smh but no ROOK LORE I AM FURIOUS! I STILL WANT TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS

Warning: Spoiler alert!

Oooooofff the final episodes of chapter 5 did seriously explode the fandom I see, from the overblot Grim to our twst Merlin, everything literally everything about the end of this chapter was a big surprise but... This chapter has also brought up a considerably huge wave of drama along with it, which is basically because of Rook voting for RSA instead of NRC. I, personally, considered it to be just a reason to laugh and make a meme or two about this chapter and all. But looking at the fandom, I can clearly see that it's been causing some serious consequences, some fans/creators are leaving the fandom, there has been a couple of offensively worded Rook hate posts (small memes and jokes aren't counted) and there's ever a #RookIsOverParty on Twitter now.

Okay but, it was all cool and chill until it was just a joke. Can't you see? This happens in many fandoms! And is often a good chance to laugh! But...This is getting serious. A huge majority of this fandom (even Rook/Vil shippers and Rook stans themselves) are hating on Rook/Rook stans and fans are leaving, therefore I believe the situation needs to be clarified before it leads to more dramas.

Many of you had also requested a Rook analysis before sooooo- here we go!

First off, this episode did eventually give us a considerable amount of Rook lore although it wasn't as perfect as we wanted it to be. Most of us wanted to get to know him more, but I'd say focusing on all we've got already would do for now. But before that, let's talk about what exactly happened in chapter 5 and why are fand hating on Rook rn:

after the performances are voted on, it’s revealed that nrc lost to rsa by just a single vote. that vote turned out to be rook, who voted for rsa in favor of their own team as he was moved by their spirit. the whole nrc team is shellshocked (of course) and vil faints

it’s also later revealed that rook is one of neige’s biggest fans, possessing albums full of his bromides, going to each meet and greet, and even writing him anonymous fan letters.

Okay okay I know this was quite unexpected and resulted in NRC's loss, but before you say how much of a shitty character Rook is consider this:

1) He was totally honest with his opinion and thoughts.

One of the interesting facts regarding Rook's character design and presence in chapter 5, is how he played the role of both the huntsman and the mirror.

He was honest with his beliefs and decision, although it was against his friends. Just as how the mirror introduced Snow White as the fairest one of all although Evil Queen didn't want to hear of her.

This is also what Rook did, he judged based on his idealistics towards beauty. NOT because he's a screaming Neige fanboy and NOT because he disliked Vil.

Honestly, if there's one person whose judgement would be strong and on point, that'll be Rook and only him; in parts (2) & (4) we'll explain why.

2) His decision has nothing to do with his personal relationship with Vil!

Yes, he voted for RSA, but to assume that this means he secretly preferred Neige over Vil all this time and call him a betrayer now, that's wrong.

Look, if there one person who could judge NRC's process through the training sessions fairly, that'll be Rook. He's been there all this time, watching each and every second of Vil's coaching and team's progressing, note that he also helped Vil the most, this performance would've been impossible without his help!

But, he was also there when Vil lost it, when Vil's fear of not being the winner took over him and made him even try to poison Neige. At some point Vil was nothing like the perfect coach he was at the very beginning, and if Rook hadn't told Neige to escape who knows how terrible the whole think might've gone.

His decision, on the other hand, was HIS decision. He was asked to choose one performance, and he chose what he liked; that's all, no big deal. Note that the silly thing with the whole issue isn't mainly how Rook voted for RSA, it's also about how half of the audience as well voted for RSA which makes it sound almost stupid, this point will be explained in part (5)!

3) Have you all really forgotten what Rook is like?

I mean, come on this is what he is in general! This is Rook Hunt we're speaking of, one of the rarely known characters of the game and mister of surprises and unpredictable decisions!

Him being a Neige fan is no big deal, and I assure you, he probably stans a lot of other people else than Neige too. Don't forget that this is the same monseiur Rook who gave 100 points! to anyone who participated in NRC's VDC test, so there shouldn't really be a panic taking all over the fandom just because we know he stans Neige, Rook is one to greatly appreciate the concept of beauty in general, and Neige is one of the most famous and beautiful people in the whole twisted wonderland, so other than this being much of a snow white reference, it was totally expected to see him stanning Neige as well. Keep this in mind that just because he's a fan of Neige, it doesn't mean that he hates or he has betrayed Vil.

In Rook's point of view, there is no such thing as rivals in beauty, he just appreciates both Vil and Neige's beauty regardless of what's going on between them.

4) This chapter proved that Rook is indeed a perfect friend for Vil.

While there hasn't ever been a mention of a canon relationship between Vil and Rook, shipper may be happy to know that this episode didn't sink the ship at all. And if you judge and see through what happened in the right eye, you'll see it even shows how strong their friendship is.

Note that this wasn't the first time Rook criticizes Vil either, back in Vil's SR lab coat story he openly criticized Vil and said he's gonna get fat if he continued to eat like this. See? Rook never the once lied to Vil, he openly judges him, and his judgements are logical and on point.

Vil on the other hand is always working his hardest to improve, to become better and completer by each and every day that passes. He needs such a friend by his side to judge him nonetheless, a friend to judge him just like the mirror judged the Queen. But there's a difference, Vil accepts and appreciates criticism BECAUSE, he wants to improve.

A friend like Rook is seriously what he needs, Rook supported and helped him all the way as RSA was getting prepared for VDC, he could've just made them lose and by ruining their training sessions if he wanted to! Can't you see? He helped Vil more than anyone else, but didn't lie to him when it was the time to judge. Vil still has a long way to go, and Rook is aware. He wants Vil to see that he isn't yet complete so that he can become better than he already is.

That's it, that's what a real friend would do.

5) Twst needs to be more considerative toward story line and sudden reveals.

On the one hand, it's mainly fans who are exaggerating the whole issue and starting drama over a simple voting and all, but twst itself as well is partly guilty. This is such a huge and active fandom, each and every detail about the story can be super effective (ex: Sebek being half human, Malleus being an orphan, etc). After making RSA's Yahoo performance look super silly they worst thing they could do was to make NRC lose like this, meaningless, silly and helpless. Why?

Twst seriously needs to take details more seriously as they could've AT LEAST made this comparison sound reasonable by choosing a better and stronger song than a twisted version of Heigh-Ho.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Rook voting for Neige, but seriously? Rook voting for Neige had to be a symbol of honesty and Rook's loyalty toward the concept of beauty itself and not Vil, not an stupid decision to make Rook prefer a childish song over NRC's wonderful performance and look like a helpless Neige fan boy.

-Sigh- Well, I guess that's all I had for now, hope I didn't miss anything. But anyway, the Rook drama is slowly getting overwhelming. There's nothing wrong with memes and jokes AS LONG AS THEY'RE JUST A JOKE- offending characters with clear intention and causing drama because of it is not okay. I know that was unexpected please remember not to exaggerate the story too much either!