#though i see a bit of irony in his love of the book vs his life choices

[vickyvicarious]

I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have been the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe, and was still thirsty.

3 May

Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road—a long, agonised wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which seemed to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp it through the gloom of the night. At the first howl the horses began to strain and rear, but the driver spoke to them soothingly, and they quieted down, but shivered and sweated as though after a runaway from sudden fright. Then, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each side of us began a louder and a sharper howling—that of wolves—which affected both the horses and myself in the same way—for I was minded to jump from the calèche and run, whilst they reared again and plunged madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them from bolting. ... The keen wind still carried the howling of the dogs, though this grew fainter as we went on our way. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer and nearer, as though they were closing round on us from every side.

5 May

Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs somewhere far below in the valley, which was hidden from my sight.

24 June

A good deal of interest was abroad concerning the dog which landed when the ship struck, and more than a few of the members of the S. P. C. A., which is very strong in Whitby, have tried to befriend the animal. To the general disappointment, however, it was not to be found; it seems to have disappeared entirely from the town. It may be that it was frightened and made its way on to the moors, where it is still hiding in terror. There are some who look with dread on such a possibility, lest later on it should in itself become a danger, for it is evidently a fierce brute. Early this morning a large dog, a half-bred mastiff belonging to a coal merchant close to Tate Hill Pier, was found dead in the roadway opposite to its master's yard. It had been fighting, and manifestly had had a savage opponent, for its throat was torn away, and its belly was slit open as if with a savage claw.

9 August

As funny as the entire 'Whitby residents want to adopt Dracudog' bit is, there's a darker side to it as well. First of all, in the irony of their love being based on a complete misunderstanding of his true nature - down even to the basics. Dracula is almost certainly not transformed into a dog, but a wolf. However, there are no wild wolves in England, and so the locals don't recognize him. This sums up the entire reason he's come here, quite succinctly. Seen as dog (human), really a wolf (vampire). No wolves there (no vampires, no belief in/knowledge of them) and so they don't recognize him (can't defend against them). They want to adopt him - obviously, he has no interest in being adopted as a literal pet, but he does want to be 'adopted' in a more general sense by English society. He spent many long hours reading books and talking to Jonathan to ensure that he'd be able to fit in more easily; if Whitby is any indication, his plans seem to be paying off.

There's also something else going on with dog vs wolf here, though. I pulled a few quotes above about upset dogs. And that's because dogs aren't fooled like the people of Whitby. They seem to instinctively see through/oppose supernatural forces. While the howling on 3 May is from before Jonathan meets Dracula, it happens at the same time as he experiences a night full of 'queer dreams' and shortly after he has "[left] the West and [entered] the East" - in other words, after he has passed out of the modern natural world and entered the domain of older supernatural powers. It's a simplified and kind of racist idea, yes, but symbolically at least, this transition is something emphasized in the text. And the first night in that land, his rest is disturbed partially due to a symbol of civilization voicing its distress.

The dogs get increasingly clearer about this opposition to the supernatural and Dracula specifically. The howling on 5 May happens at midnight on St. George's day, a time when 'all the evil things in the world have full sway', on the night when Dracula collects his treasures from the ground where men have died. This also marks a transition point where Jonathan is fully under the Count's power, fully separated from civilization. And this is even embodied by the dogs' howls soon being drowned out by their wild/supernatural equivalent when the wolves howl louder and sharper. They end up surrounding Jonathan that night, while the dogs sound farther and farther away and eventually are heard no more. And another difference: the dogs howl in fear. The wolves howl "as though the moonlight had had some peculiar effect on them" - a reference to werewolves perhaps, but also, they do this while surrounding and menacing Jonathan and the horses, while hunting them.

The distant dog howling on 24 June marks the time when Dracula is kidnapping a child from the town. Their protest does some amount of good - it helps Jonathan to begin breaking free of the hypnotic trance the vampire ladies have him in - but it doesn't manage to save the child.

And finally, today's dog seems to have tried to defend its home, based on where its body was found. Who knows, maybe Dracula had a passing interest in killing someone there and it managed to dissuade him. More likely the dog just instinctively recognized him for the threat he is as he was passing by and attacked, leading him to kill it in order to be left alone. Perhaps the fact that the English dog is the only one which actually is shown to do more than cry out a fearful protest is representative of the English main characters being the humans who will eventually stand against Dracula rather than be so fully dominated by him. After all, they aren't surrounded by wolves here; it's just the one. But if so, the fact that the dog who tries him is brutally slain by Dracula cannot bode well either. After all, they have no experience with wolves here; they don't know how to fight them.

[lifblogs]

Thanks for the tag @vanillachip10!

what book are you currently reading? The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, A Soul of Ash and Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Dracula by Bram Stoker, and Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.

what’s your favorite movie you saw in theaters this year? Puss in Boots: The Last Wish! Can't really go to theaters anymore.

what do you usually wear? Currently, basically living in pajamas. Shorts and a cat t-shirt. I do like to wear dresses though, especially since they're less painful to change into than pants.

how tall are you? So I was 5'3 when I was 20, right? Recently found out I'm 5'4 and I'm horrified. Take me back! Shrink me!

what’s your star sign? do you share a birthday with a celebrity or a historical event? Aries, and I share a birthday with Cobie Smulders who plays Maria Hill in the MCU, so that's pretty cool. Ooh, and apparently Adam Scott. Also found out about this while looking it up:

1974 U.S.A. - 148 Tornadoes 

1974 : 148 tornadoes hit North America from Georgia to Canada within 16 hours and at times there were as many as 15 separate tornadoes on the ground at one time. The Super Outbreak affected a total of 11 US states and Ontario in Canada.

The irony. I'm terrified of tornadoes.

do you go by your name or a nickname? I have a close family nickname that I have tried going by outside of family, and my god it feels weird. Since I'm bed-bound, currently just hearing a lot of Li, and Li-Li. I have tried going by Lif just a little bit, but I'm too terrified to really try.

did you grow up to become what you wanted to be when you were a child? lmfao Gonna just laugh my way off stage and the lights go out.

are you in a relationship? if not, who is your crush if you have one? Nope, but would weirdly love to be in one right now. Probably because of the loneliness. No crush, but I basically got a crush on any tall person I see.

what’s something you’re good at vs. something you’re bad at? Fantastic at writing, I believe. Bad at art, which I could work on since I have the talent, but meh.

dogs or cats? Cats live in my soul. My son is a cat. I do love animals though, so dogs are great. They're just not my kitties.

if you draw/write, or create in any way, what’s your favorite picture/favorite line/favorite etc. from something you created this year? Possibly this line: "Sokka didn’t want to be a soldier anymore, didn’t want to defeat the Fire Nation. He just wanted to be in his dad’s arms, warm despite howling wind outside and temperatures that would freeze his nose off if he was out in the cold for more than two minutes. He wanted home, he wanted peace."

what’s something you’d like to create content for? I'd perish if I got to work on Good Omens.

what’s something you’re currently obsessed with? Oh, too much. Good Omens. Somehow still Supernatural. Tales of Arcadia. Teen Wolf is sneaking its way back in there. The Lord of the Rings. Always Star Wars.

what’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year? Healthcare.

what’s a hidden talent of yours? Dolphin impression.

are you religious? Buddhist, and not as devout as I should be.

what’s something you wish to have at this moment? Healing.

Sorry, not tagging anyone. Just really not feeling well.

[fictionadventurer]

Imaginary Books Recs: Congratulations! You've been granted further ILL access to the Coregean Library. Shall we start with Ardour and Introspection? An early nineteenth-century romance that was a favorite of, of all people, Delclis.

Ardour and Introspection by Giora Shorr

Emina Verden has a passion for plants that her loving father is more than willing to let her pursue, but after his death and her mother's remarriage to a fashionable baronet, Emina is thrown into a high-society world where she is expected to attend balls and concerts and dinner parties while enduring the company of Vivana, her over-exuberant stepsister. As Emina struggles to find a place in this new family--and a moment of peace--a friendship with a young scholar unexpectedly blossoms into something that makes this new world worth exploring. But Vivana is the one who catches his eye--and, perhaps, his heart. Will Vivana keep Emina from her one chance at happiness? Is it possible for the stepsisters to overcome this rivalry, or will it tear them apart forever?

[amygdalagustd]

Kim Namjoon on Identity

Namjoon explores the concept of identity time and time again in his life and in his music. He tends to focus on how different parts of himself might be in conflict with each other, and the tensions and confusion that goes with that experience. People are filled with duality, sometimes to the point that it tears us apart. The question of “who am I?” seems a simple one, but underneath it lies a lot of complexity. Who do I want to be? Who do other people want me to be? How much of my identity is formed by my past? Can I change who I am? Can I be multiple things at the same time? Who is the real me? What does it even mean to be the real me?

The question of “who am I?” seems to both fascinate and terrify Namjoon. In this essay we will tackle the question together as I explore all the different ways that Namjoon contemplates identity in lyrics and interviews.

From his decision to become a rapper in the first place to the struggle of taking care of himself as a world famous idol to the questioning of what having an identity actually means, we will travel through Namjoon’s career and highlight all the moments that he asks himself:

“Who the hell am I?”

It’s no secret that Namjoon was a very intelligent and driven student who got good grades in school. In his earlier lyrics he often writes about the pressure that was put on him to succeed and follow a certain path in life. As someone who was good at studying it was expected of him to prioritize his education above all else. Namjoon fit into that role well, but behind the scenes his heart was longing for music. He discovered rap and decided that he wanted a different path for his life. BTS’s early work is filled with messages of following your dreams and not letting other people decide what type of life you want to live. Namjoon often talked about the struggles of living in between the expectations of those around him and his own desires for his future. Some of those conflicting feelings are expressed in Voice, the intro song to his 2015 mixtape RM:

Straight A student and underground rapper

I occupied myself all day with being graded with meaningless numbers like beef gets graded

I just wanted to succeed

because that’s the only thing I was told by others so much that I almost got sick of it

The mirage called happiness- I thought it would be held there

But, sitting at my desk, I was never happy, not for a single moment

I secretly hid a blank sheet of paper between the pages of my study book without my mom’s knowing

My identity that I wrote down along the sound of drums and bass

The feeling of breathing that is different from that of receiving grade reports

Even when I was the top of my class, my mind was never at ease

Is it absolutely necessary to want something that others want?

I secretly raise the volume of my voice

so that you can know, so that it can reach you

I again raise the volume of my voice

so that you can know, so that it can reach you

He also touches on the subject in Born Singer, which was released in 2013:

To be honest, I was scared that I was to prove myself after talking big

that I, who used to know only pen and book, was then to surprise the world

I dunno, that I and the world’s expectations are too asymmetric,

I was scared that I might betray everyone who trusted me

I stretch my burdened shoulders and step onto the very first stage

BTS and Namjoon will continue to talk about the pressure of society's expectations and the difficulty of following your own path in songs like No More Dream, N.O and School of Tears. Fighting back against the oppressive school system is a huge part of their message and mission in their early career. They ask their fans and themselves to look at the person that they are expected to become and question if that image is in line with their own dreams and desires. Namjoon wrestled with this question himself, and therefore has the experience and passion to guide others who might be struggling with their identity and the identity that is put on them.

Idol and artist

The concept of being an idol vs being an artist is one that comes back often in BTS lyrics. Namjoon is an underground rapper who ended up in a boyband, and the identity of being an idol is one that he has wrestled with quite a bit. Can you be both an idol and an artist? Does becoming an idol mean that you have to give up on being an artist? Does it matter if you call yourself an idol or an artist? Does it matter what other people say about it?

Namjoon mentions this conflicting identity in Awakening on his 2015 mixtape RM:

Every night I fight myself inside me

My heart pounds, and my colleagues stab me in the back

saying I became a cripple after going into a company

Yeah fuck you I’m an idol, yeah yeah i’m an idol

I hated it at one time but now I love to get that title

Unlike some keep denying [their identity] to the end on television,

I now fully accept myself, and I just do me

Whether I’m an idol or an artist- it actually never mattered

The way you guys look at me was what defined me

I was obsessed over titles and hung up on how people described me

Listen to the rap of the guy who became a bit smarter as time passed

Namjoon gets shit for being an idol from the underground rap scene and gets shit for being an artist from the idol scene. He is hovering in between, writing his rap lyrics with the power and authenticity of a hip hop artist while simultaneously dancing and looking like a full fledged boyband member. He responds to this dilemma with unwavering pride, the drive to prove himself and a fuck you attitude. This energy dominates a lot of early BTS music. They are still trying to find their place in the industry while not really knowing where exactly they belong. Songs like the Cyphers and Mic Drop highlight the anger they feel about the mistreatment they face from both sides of the industry while boasting about their accomplishments and pride in who they are. Just like Namjoon in Awakening, Yoongi also often mentions his struggles with the identity of being an idol in his solo work. In Idol, the title track of the 2018 album Love Yourself: Answer, BTS face the subject head on:

You can call me artist

You can call me idol

Or you can call me anything else

I don’t care

I’m proud of it

I’m free

No more irony

Because I’ve been me all the time

You can point your fingers at me, I don’t care at all

Whatever reason you have to denigrate me,

I know what I am

I know what I want

I never gon’ change

I never gon’ trade

Why do you talk loud “blah blah”

I do what I do, so mind your own business

You can’t stop me loving’ myself

Idol is a proud, joyful, wonderfully weird and confident self love anthem. It’s a celebration of who BTS are at their core. In the song, they have accepted all the different aspects of their identity and they don’t feel the need to fit in with just one label. In the future, they will go on to say that BTS’s genre is just BTS, and they see no point in categorizing themselves.

RM and Namjoon

In 2018, BTS released a documentary series called Burn The Stage. The series followed them throughout the Wings tour and was supposed to show a more raw version of them.

In episode 6, Namjoon said:

Being an idol star, you don’t have a choice but to have two identities. I invested a lot in my identity as BTS and RM, and this is really a dilemma. We need to find ways to overcome this, and I’m trying different things. I study, I read books. I need time to be wholly me, the original me that I know.

Everyone in BTS has a stage name, a person they become when they present themselves in front of their fans. On stage Namjoon is RM, a fierce and confident rapper, a powerful and charming performer, a dependable leader and someone who lives a fiery and intense life.

Behind the scenes, Namjoon is Namjoon, a man in his twenties who is trying to figure out how to be an adult just like everyone else. He likes to go on bike rides, take care of plants, go to museums, read books and spend time in nature. He gets lazy and reads webtunes for 5 hours straight and sometimes argues with the people around him because they annoy him.

Namjoon spends the years of his youth as part of BTS, in the public eye, and sometimes that causes tension between these different parts of himself; the stage persona and the private person. In Break The Silence: The Movie which came out in 2020, there was a lot of talk about identity. During one of Namjoon’s segments he said:

There is also the fear of how well I’m taking care of myself, the Kim Namjoon as a person. Aside from money, fame, and a sense of calling, what do I really have? When you have those things all other things start to feel really valuable. Those who don’t have them would find them really special. I think it’s a repetition of that, so for me, there is a fear about whether I’m faithfully living the story of my life to the fullest.

He also mentions this dilemma in Airplane pt.2 on the 2018 album Love Yourself: Tear where the lyrics go:

Who should I live as today, Kim Namjoon or RM?

25, I still don’t know how to live well

For Namjoon and anyone in BTS, there is no simple answer to this question, as the nature of their job puts them in a position that makes it hard for them to develop a sense of self outside of the work they are doing. Even though Namjoon is part of an incredibly successful band, that doesn't mean he got it all figured out. As he has poured his youth and his energy into becoming the best performer he can be, he now feels like the Kim Namjoon behind the scenes deserves some energy and space to exist too.

Rap Monster and RM

Before Namjoon was RM, Namjoon was Rap Monster, a stage name that he used until November of 2017. The name Rap Monster fits the fierce and somewhat angst-ridden style of music that Namjoon was making in the beginning of his career. He decided to move on from the name in 2017 because it was no longer representative of him and the music that he was making.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight Namjoon said that RM could stand for many things. He mentioned Real Me as one of the possibilities, but seems to prefer not to pin one specific meaning to the name.

In another interview with J-14 Magazine when asked what kind of advice he would give to himself in 2013, he said:

Hey Namjoon, Don’t name yourself Rap Monster. You’re a human. You’re not a monster. You’re a beautiful human.

Namjoon has often said that one of his missions in life is to love himself. This struggle to love himself often reflects in his lyrics, and now also in his decision to change his stage name, as the old one had some negative connotations to it. Perhaps Namjoons struggle with self acceptance, self worth and self love is one of the reasons that identity is such a big theme for him, as he is trying to figure out how to be a Namjoon that he can love. RM is a stage name that is more aligned with that goal as it leaves more room for flexibility and change.

Map of the Soul

The subject of identity is explored to the fullest in the Map of the Soul era that started with Map of the Soul: Persona in 2019, followed up by Map of the Soul: 7 in 2020.

Map of the Soul is inspired by the ideas of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. The words persona, shadow and ego that are used in Map of the Soul come directly from his theory. BTS uses these concepts to examine different parts of themselves and their career over time. A lot of this era feels like a final examination of the question that Namjoon has been asking himself in different ways throughout his entire career: Who am I?

In Intro: Persona, the opener to both albums, Namjoon writes about his journey with identity in the first few lines of the song:

“Who am I,” a question that I’ve been asking myself for my whole life

A question that I will probably never be able to find the right answer for

If I were answerable with only a few words,

God wouldn’t have created all those many beauties

Namjoon realizes that he will probably never have a clear answer to the question of “who am I?” and he accepts that. He recognizes that his identity can’t be summed up by a few words or traits and that this isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes it can feel more secure to build our entire sense of identity around one aspect of ourselves (I am a straight A student, I am an underground rapper) but that puts us in a position without flexibility and without space for growth. As different parts of ourselves clash with each other we end up feeling scattered, unsure of who we are, and angry at ourselves. It’s only when those different parts of ourselves are allowed to co-exist that we can find peace and a true sense of self.

BTS will talk about this idea in other songs too, like in Idol, where Taehyung sings:

There are tens and hundreds of myself within me

Today, I greet my another self

They are all me after all,

so I just run rather than worrying

The notion also comes back in the speech that BTS held for the United Nations in 2018. The final message of that speech was to find your name and find your voice by speaking yourself. There was a lot of talk about losing your identity as a young child in favor of fitting in, and Namjoon encouraged everyone to be their own person and to find their own voice back. Throughout the speech he mentions how he is both an idol and artist, Kim Namjoon and RM, and also just an ordinary 24 year old guy. He is saying that he can be many things at once and strives to love all those different parts of himself at the same time.

In the final verses of Intro: Persona, Namjoon boldly and confidently claims that he is no longer ashamed of the different parts inside of him, writing:

Yeah my name is R

The ‘me’ who I remember and who people know

The ‘me’ who I created by myself to speak my mind

Yeah, I might have been deceiving myself, I might have been lying

But, I’m not ashamed of it, this is the map of my soul

The lyrics continue, focusing on duality, complexity and balance within his identity, accepting the different parts of himself that coexist together even if they clash:

Dear myself

You must never lose your temperature

because you don’t need to be warm or cold

Though I might sometimes pretend I’m good and sometimes pretend I’m evil,

this is the barometer of my direction that I want to set

The ‘me’ who I want to be

The ‘me’ who people want

The ‘me’ who you love

And the ‘me’ who I craft

The ‘me’ who’s smiling

The ‘me’ who’s crying sometimes

Living and breathing every second, every moment, even now

Within these lyrics there is a tone of direction and intent rather than one of being lost and questioning. This tone is very strong throughout the entire Map of the Soul concept, especially in ON, suggesting that maybe “finding” your identity isn’t about anxiously defining every single part of your personality, it’s more about choosing who you want to be and boldly pursuing the world as an incomplete human being. In the end, there is no simple answer to the question of “who am I?” and that’s okay.

All lyrics translations come from Doolset. Visit the website for additional notes and interpretations of BTS lyrics.

[whentheynameyoujoy]

So the ATLA Movie Is... Good, Actually?

Just kidding, of course it’s not, it’s so bad it sucked the paint off my walls. But after ten years of people pointing out its glaring flaws, why would anyone bother talking about this garbage heap if not to go the other direction? So here’s a very brief and very superficial list of things the movie does get kinda... not atrociously wrong.

And they won’t be fake hipster pokes, like “It’s fun to laugh at”, “The Rifftrax for this is OK”, or “Kudos to the actress for managing to say we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs with a straight face”.

(though now that I mentioned it, it is fun to laugh at, the Rifftrax for this is OK, and massive props indeed.)

Rasta Iroh

Yes, I know it’s not exactly the aesthetic of the real Iroh or that it makes no cultural sense for him to sport this do when no one else in the racebended Indian “OMFG what were you thinking Shyamalan” Nation does but goddamn, long-haired dudes are my one mortal weakness and I will ogle the hell out of him.

Jesus is that a man bun I see that’s it mum I’ve been deaded

Yue’s hair

No.

Now we’re talking. Yue’s hair turned white when the Moon spirit gave her life, so it makes sense for it to go black again when she sacrifices herself to revive the koi fish. It’s a neat detail I find myself expecting whenever I rewatch the scene in the show. Yes, I realize it’d be a pointless hassle to animate since she, unlike in the movie, immediately goes on to become the Moon herself but still. I like.

The Blue Spirit’s mop

Zuko, hun, what’s with the dance-off?

First of all, I want to imagine that Zuko the Theatre Nerd was about to leave his ship with just the mask like in the show but then stuck his head into the cleaning cupboard and went, “Yeah, more coverage might be good, even though it do seem mighty fried to shit”.

Which makes me giggle. I like to giggle.

And secondly, the hair’s movement is what makes the static mess of the Blue Spirit’s solo fight scene appear at least bit more dynamic because God knows the cinematography isn’t doing it.

Any particular reason why it’s at the edge of the action, shot all boring-like?

Now, I get why circular shots would be reserved for Aang while he’s in the practice area and then used once the two join forces. What I don’t get is why Aang’s part of the action scene has a defined visual style while Zuko’s delegated to a few stationary wide shots from afar as though he’s a tertiary goon, meaning that when the time comes to combine the respective pieces of cinema language and visually convey collaboration, there’s not really much to combine.

But as long as Zuko is stuck in this static mess, it’s that awesome disaster on his head flopping about that draws the eye, helping me understand that something even is going on over there.

It also prevents me from paying much attention to how the extras are mostly just staying put and a lot of the hits don’t land, so that’s good.

The music slaps

James Newton Howard is too good for this.

Pls ignore that the word “gods” is used in the ATLA universe

I can’t be the only one who constantly uses this piece to daydream about writing specific fanfic scenes instead of, you know, actually sitting down and writing them. It’s just so good at communicating a sense of sorrow while speaking of rebirth that I find myself getting misty-eyed whenever I listen to it. Unfailingly, the soundtrack as a whole manages to break through the mile-thick crust of horrible acting, confusing writing, and uninspired cinematography and make me feel things. And considering how everything on screen is working against it, that’s no small feat.

Imagine what a powerful experience it would be if the score was used in service of an actual movie.

Dev Patel

No wonder since he’s the only one in the film occupying that crucial intersection between “is a good actor” and “was given something to work with”. It also doesn’t hurt that he breaks with the trend of actors starring in martial arts flicks despite never having done any martial art.

And all EIP-jokes about “stiff and humorless” aside, he’s a pretty decent Zuko considering how abridged this version of the character is. A while ago, I remember hearing a reviewer say that with his comedic chops, Patel should have been cast as Sokka. And on one hand, yes, god, absolutely, I need to see that asap. But on the other? He captures all layers of Book 1!Zuko, the desperate obsession, rage, and self-loathing, and at the same time gives you a peek at the soft momma’s boy dork that’s buried underneath. For Christ sakes, he exudes intensity and ambivalence even when acting against an emotionless hunk of wood that’s giving him nothing in return.

Oh, and I guess there’s a tree in the frame.

Ba dum tss

What can I say, the guy’s good.

Showing vs telling

OK, so this movie is all tell and no show, except for one single moment. And it’s the exact moment where the original goes in the other direction in terms of how information is conveyed.

See, I never liked this. The revelation is preceded by Iroh giving advice to Zuko who scolds him for nagging. Iroh then apologizes, moves in to say the line above, and is interrupted by Zuko who seems rather uncomfortable with Iroh laying his feelings out like this. And once they’re out, Zuko verbally confirms that he knew already and Iroh didn’t need to bother.

All this extraneous information and pussyfooting ends up weakening what should be a profound scene that reveals to us, the viewers, how deep the relationship between these two in fact runs.

Compare to the movie where Dadroh acts like a parent by fussing and worrying, with Sonion needing a single look to tell him and us that he understands what it’s all really about.

It’s genuinely efficient and just good.

No Cataang

Fine, a bit mean-girl bitchy from me since I only start minding the ship in Book 3. And probably unintentional on the part of the creators since there are moments where I think they’re trying to set the romance up? There’s a, well, an attempt to recreate the famous introductory shot of fateful meaningful destiny of meaningness, there’s some slight note of saving each other’s bacon going on, I’m pretty sure they’re the only ones in the film who smile, and oh, right, Katara’s shoved into her post-canon useless role where she doesn’t ever do anything, and is all about Aang right from the get go.

Yes, I will blame the “executive producers” because a) I’m incredibly petty, and b) it’s perfectly in line with their vision of the character so why the hell not.

Hilariously, none of it reads on screen because the actors are just... yeah. These poor kids are struggling so much with delivering their own lines and portraying their own characters they don’t seem to have any strength left to create something between them. To be fair, the bare-bones shot-reverse shot style of their scenes doesn’t exactly lend itself to the idea they occupy the same universe, let alone are friends or each other’s crushes.

And I enjoy this immensely because it allows me to forget the depressing horror show Katara’s life turns into post ATLA.

Yes Zutara

I need to delve into this because it’s fucking hilarious. So in a movie which fails to establish the original’s central romance so spectacularly that if Aang got lost in a crowd I don’t believe Katara would notice, SomEOnE thought it’d be a good idea to add an utterly unnecessary non-canon moment where Zuko for some reason feels the need to pause his character-defining hunt for the Avatar which otherwise has him ignore everything and snap at everyone, and explain his central conflict to an unconscious peasant he doesn’t know, complete with gently pushing the hair from the pretty girl’s the soulmate’s the Water Tribe Ambassador’s the Fire Lady’s the love of his life’s her face away, AFTER his uncle nagged him twice to find a girl and settle down.

I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page and this is what we really saw.

Celibate Avatars

I have no idea why the decision was made, if TPTB thought expecting viewers to understand the story through the lens of Buddhism would be too much, or if the “executive producers” already worked their retconny magic. What I do know, however, is that there’s a big shift in worldbuilding and Aang’s struggle with his role as the Avatar stops being a personal conflict defined by a) his grief for Air Nomads, b) his notion of being robbed of the loved ones in his life, and c) the selfish attachment to Katara he confuses with true love. Instead, what he has a difficulty to accept is apparently a general notion of who Avatars are supposed to be, i.e. a fantasy version of Catholic monks, no family and worldly relations, period.

I guess either someone understood the original’s portrayal of de/attachment as “hermit no freaky”, or thought the audience would so why not go there outright.

Now, do I like this on its own? No, God no, it makes the world infinitely poorer and changes the story from an exploration of ideas which aren’t all that ingrained in the West, to a cliché tropester about a Catholic priest going Protestant so that he could be with a girl.

At least I assume that’s where they were going to take this eventually.

I mean, I think the direction was “look conflicted, this isn’t the final stage of your journey”?

But consider this—the show went there, it built on the concepts of Eastern philosophy and touched upon the ideas of spiritual awakening, only to swerve in the end and strongly imply they’re bullshit and Aang should have never wasted his time with them.

So honestly, I much prefer scanty worldbuilding to an insulting retcon by a damn rock.

Multiracial Air Nomads

Probably the most substantial “no hint of irony” point on this list and a genuinely good addition to the universe’s worldbuilding.

See, the notion of the elemental nations being perfectly separate and never mingling before Sozin has always been sketchy but it’s especially ridiculous in the case of airbenders. It never made sense to me for all airbenders to be Air Nomads and for all Air Nomads to be monks and for all monks to be chilling at the temples all the time to facilitate a quick everyone-dies genocide should an imperialistic warlord ever decide to commit one.

Because committing everyone to a single way of life at a handful of places kinda goes against the central philosophy behind airbending. Like the freedom and nomadism part.

Instead, there should be more variety to the airbending culture, with some staying at the temples as monks, hermits, and teachers while others live as nomads, travelling the world and creating more airbenders, with the resulting children in turn being influenced by the non-airbending cultures they grew up in.

And thus, not only should airbenders not be modeled after a single culture to create a one-size-fits-all lifestyle, but they should have the most diverse and dynamic culture out of the four nations.

And it’d be precisely this diversity which would pave way for an eventual reveal that some of them survived, that their complete extermination is impossible.

Because they’re everywhere.

You know.

Like air.

[struwwelzeter]

For a variety of reasons, I got into a bit of a rabbit hole about Richard's guitars, and my brain went "oh I know someone who will probably have opinions on this" so essentially, if you feel like it, pretty please talk RZK guitars to me? Favourite? Retired one that needs to come back? (Though I probably already know the answer, that fancy black one?)

Allrighty, buckle up because this is gonna be long. After much consideration I have decided to split it up in two parts because I don’t think I can make it fit into one post that is still vaguely tumblr appropriate, and I really wanted to do it some sort of justice. I still feel like I don’t. But oh well. Full disclaimer, I am NOT a guitarist, but I lived with a few, two of my best friends are pro players and I’m a sponge so I kind of soaked some bits and pieces up over the last 15 years. But in case any lost guitar hero finds this and disagrees with me over the finer points of tone wood: I know honey, I oversimplified, and I am wrong. I tried? 💜 for easier read I formatted everything specific to Richard’s guitars normally and anything general about electric guitars in cursive.

My main sources besides watching about a 100 a month of guitar tube videos (that is youtube for guitarists) with my ex, my main sources will be this interview and this.

Richard Z. Kruspe (of Rammstein and Emigrate)’s Guitars - In Order of Appearance, Part 1/2

Diamant (Les Paul Style)

“I traded the acoustic for a guitar called Diamant, which was like a Les Paul version in East Germany.” - RZK

Now I’m skipping the acoustic he started out with, because it’s basically impossible to know what that was, and go straight into the electric. Now presumably, it would have been something like this, a soviet build Les Paul rip off. The irony is that these still go for several thousands up on reverb today for being historical and collectors pieces. The thing is, that while anything east build might have used cheaper materials, I would assume this thing isn’t worse than any of the beginner/intermediate models sold today, if not better, and kids all over the world do decent stiff with those.

Something general about electric guitars is that you don’t really so much play the guitar, you play an entire system. The instrument doesn’t make the sound, it only influences it. You play a guitar - but you even more so play the amp. Which makes this a bit tricky, because an e-guitar is a slab of wood and a copper coil, and amps are way more complex. You can make the exact same guitar sound so many ways. Still - there are tendencies. The fact how and why and to which degree the shape and wood of a solid body (a guitar without a hollow wood piece) influences the sound is highly debated and can get a bit esoteric sounding to sane people non-guitarists, but there are some differences in how the general set up and build of the guitar changes things, and tendencies how they are traditionally outfitted. Les Paul style guitars are normally humbucker guitars, Stratocasters and Telecasters normally are outfitted with single coils. Usually a guitarist can switch - between using the bridge, the neck, or both (or more) pick ups and depending on where the pick up is located they pick up different frequencies, different aspects of the sound. Humbuckers produce a richer, deeper or fuller sound than single coils. Very roughly speaking, think the Stones vs. Metallica.

Fender Stratocaster

“Then in East Germany, we had this imagination to get one of the great guitars, to me it was always the Fender Stratocaster because it was the Jimi Hendrix guitar. I didn’t know anything about pickups or humbuckers or whatever. So there was this guy that I met in a café in my old hometown and he was buying all these books because he could get all the books out through customs and he would store them in my apartment. So we became kind of acquainted. He would come over and pick up the books. So one time he came over and I asked him if he could get me a guitar and bring it over. In East Germany, if you exchange money from East to West it would be like 1 East mark and 20 West mark. SO everything I had, I changed it to West Mark and I gave him the money and I gave him the money and asked him to please buy me a Fender Stratocaster. I gave him the money and I didn’t hear anything for like three months, nothing. I wasn’t able to call because we didn’t have phones and stuff like that – it was a different time. So I thought fuck, I gave him 1400 west mark and now he’s gone and never coming back. [...] Then my imagination was so high, I thought the guitar would just play by itself and I wouldn’t really have to do anything, which I found out was bullshit. I was really happy that I had the guitar but it wasn’t really the sound that I had in mind.” - RZK

The first time I heard that story, I literally went “no, no, no, don’t be stupid, don’t give him your money, you won’t even like that guitar, stupid, lost dumbass.” I can not, for the life of me, imagine him play anything other than humbuckers. He apparently does use single coils for some things today again in the studio, but still, it’s so obviously wrong. He did play one again sometime during the late 90s, but I couldn’t find anything on the pick ups he used with that, but can hardly imagine he kept the original, unless he needed it for a specific sound maybe in one or two songs. I get it though. For many, many people the Fender Stratocaster is THE guitar. Jimi Hendrix is the main reason for that, but it’s also the countless idols that picked it up after him for the same reason, people who ended up plastered on the walls of angsty teenagers in their own right. This totally has to do with the whole amp thing aswell. You see your idol play that type of guitar ... but it’s not even half of the sound, and it won’t sound the same. Maybe probably they changed the pick ups, they have an effect rig, the spend hours fiddling with the knobs on an amp you can never afford. It’s never the same. Which is why ...

Fender Telecaster Black Gold

Then I had a guitar that I was very fond of. It was an older black and gold telecaster – there weren’t very many of them made at that point. I put a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck SH-4 in there, like a humbucker. I remember it was like my beauty guitar and I needed someone to put that pickup in and I was with Paul and he had more experience with that stuff than me so he would get out a hammer and a chisel and he start banging away on it and I was like ‘Fuck! Fuck! Don’t do that!’ but we put the thing in there and it was one of my favorite guitars” - RZK

... this one first didn’t really make sense for me for him. It’s even more a classic single coil guitar than the Strat is, and it only really started making sense for me when I learned he Paul indeed put a Humbucker in there. It’s a stunningly beautiful guitar, and weirdly non-modern for him. I don’t know why and this is completely instinctual on my part, but I find it fitting he played it during that time after the wall came down, which seems to have been a rough time for him generally, it seems like a somehow super emotional guitar, this relic. Telecasters were some of the first electrics ever build, it’s such a pioneer, but it’s also one that alot of punk bands used, possibly because they were old and cheap in the 70s and noisy and people customized it and put other pick ups in. The whole putting a chisel to it and adding a humbucker into it is such a “I’m gonna make whatever I have fit for me, and I’ll love it” move. If you look at it, a double coil pick up is really something you have to force to go in there, you really have to break it open. There is also this:

“... and then I think I had to sell it because I needed drugs or something. I was really sad that I sold it because I was at a very low point in my life.” - RZK

If I would get the chance to do one thing only for him to thank him for his music, I would go back in time to that Richard who is just sad about selling that guitar and hug him, and tell him he doesn’t need to worry, because they will name guitars after him in the future. It breaks my heart so fucking much. But of course, it’s what opens the doors to what happens next, which is ...

ESP 901

“That led me to my very first convention in Frankfurt. With guitars, it is like with women, you have to fall in love. Sometimes you get a guitar and you fall in love later but there has to be some sort of connection with it. So I was walking around that convention and I saw that guitar hanging at the ESP stand. It was a 901 ESP Sunburst and I was looking at it because it was such a beauty. And I was walking around for hours – they probably thought I was some weird guy who wants to steal the guitar. I bought that guitar and that’s how I got connected with ESP.” -RZK

He might have fallen for it because it is pretty, but it did come with a ESP double humbucker set up, with an added condensator to muffle up the sound, although not yet an active one (more on that later). It was a 90s metal guitar, one of those things marketed to the Metallica generation, something loud and heavy and full. Also, and this is where I will put in another general insert, there is something else about the choice of electric guitars that we haven’t talked about yet.

Now, I’ve discussed that you can push or pull the sound of a electric quite far in one or the other direction with what pick ups you use, what effects, what amps. But what this ignores is that especially standing up a guitar is a really shitty asymmetrical piece of equipment. And what that does to your body is that it needs to fit you, your hands, and your playing style. Some people prefer it chunky, others like sender. Guitarists, especially the 80s shredders, like to talk about a “fast neck”, which is another one of those things that get slightly esoteric, but which usually means a slimmer neck and slightly bigger frets, that need less way for your fingers to press until the string gets stopped. Someone who plays very bendy blues might dislike that and prefer something to dig in their fingers more down to the fretboard to get more control over how they bend the string. There are different neck profiles, there are different neck lengths, and all of it contributes to how comfortable someone might find their guitar.

I am mentioning this, because until today, Richard’s guitars are build very similarly to that ESP 901. His Eclipse Model is a tad different (again, more on that later), but the one he uses the most, the RZK I, has the same neck scale, similar frets, and that comfortable ESP slender neck. Even the shape seems to be inspired by turning it upside down. He has said in interviews that he hasn’t got very strong hands, and it makes perfect sense to me. I bought my own electric (again, more on that later) purely because I wanted to own one and not even so much because I ever had any real ambitions of learning to play it, but my friends at the time (10 years ago now) forced me to try out alot (!) of models (despite me knowing what I wanted), and the only guitars that I tried that had slimmer necks were Ibanez guitars, which in turn were wider. Ironically Frankfurt is my hometown, so the place to try a lot of different models is That exact convention Richard went to, and I haven’t skipped a Musikmesse in the last 15 years. I was at atleast one were Richard was too (I just didn’t care at the time, yikes), and it somehow greatly pleases me he found “his” guitar at that particular convention. Things have changed in recent years, but electric guitars always were in Hall 4.01, with ESP being left of center in the middle, and I don’t know, I can just see him walking in circles around it, and it makes me so emotional for him because it’s what musicians do at that place. It’s really loud, everyone is playing, there is someone better noodling around at every corner, and it can be quite an intimidating setting I think. And every year you see that one kid coming back and back again to that same stand, staring at that one guitar until they finally work up the nerve and ask to try it (or the staff takes pity on them and offer). And it’s the same everytime, they think “oh god they must think I am crazy” but really, nobody does. Everyone in that hall who owns a heart knows what those dreams are made of, and all it maybe does inspire is a “oh god, I hope that one makes it”. I digress. I think it’s more common now to look for different neck styles and companies started caring about it, but especially coming from Fender and Gibson guitars, that neck is honestly just very, very nice for weaker hands.

This is where I will stop, because it makes a good moment for a break and this post is honestly getting too out of hand otherwise. There will be a part 2 - where Richard starts using active pick ups, starts playing my favorite guitar in the whole wide world (and stops playing it), and finally, set up his own signature.

This is him with that 901 though: when he must have had it pretty much brandnew, while he used it, and right before he sold it.

[goblinconceivable]

braindump: betty/daniel

I’ve been living with them for a while, notes taken, a few stories significantly started but there’s a gelling issue, which I’m hoping is at least partially down to a lack of proper braindumping.  So, in no particular order and certainly not comprehensive:

Frankly I also got too hooked on the last 2 eps, which is likely where I’m blocked.  It’s an abrupt emotional twist for them (esp Daniel), and in trying to make sense of that I’m losing focus on the 4 previous years.

- I’m a little bit obsessed in the scene where Betty tries to convince Matt she’s fearless by pointing out her bang-less-ness.  And then runs into Daniel, who is at that moment half brain-washed, but yet when she asks about her fearless quotient his response is immediate and natural and entirely lacking in irony: “no bangs.”  It’s a tiny little moment that shows how well he not only knows her, but understands her.  Without judgment, without fanfare.  Were I to have a husband, this is the sort of response that would confirm I’d married the absolute perfect guy for me.

- They’re too close for mirroring to be an important indicator, but there are two scenes that stand out in this vein: the first is when Betty thinks he may have pushed Christina down the stares and steals the video.  She’s backing out the door, and he follows, matching her step for step.  I love the direction choices because from her perspective there’s a sense of menace, Daniel as potential villain is stalking her.  But from his guileless perspective he’s talking to her and if she’s moving, so is he.  The second is from the penultimate, talking about Trista, where Betty’s rolling back and forth and he moves with her, rather than simply turning his head.  It signals his full engagement in the conversation, seeking her attention, and is why the scene plays as flirting rather than their normal banter.

- That bulletpoint was getting a bit long, so second point on the flirting is that it plays against Betty shutting down the conversation “none of my business,” leading to the fight over involvement in each other’s personal lives, leading to the revelation that they know each other at that deep personal level so very, very well.  Which was a very clumsy leadup to Daniel’s revelation during Hilda’s wedding speech, that could have been handled so much more deftly but those last two eps were quite rushed, I don’t know when they found out about the shortened season but it feels like they’d planned for more space and had to jab in exposition.

- Becaaaaause: they narratively broke his ‘aha’ moment onto “know you better than you do” while the strength of the message is really in the “do anything to protect them.”  Which is, I believe, where they cut to his softened expression.  Not coincidentally, this is precisely what a lot of fan-readings of the characters focus on: Daniel will do anything to protect Betty.  Bobby might have said he’d throw himself under a bus for Hilda, but Daniel HAS done that for Betty- in fact literally doing so would probably have been easier than publicly shouldering the blame for the Tornado cover and giving away the profits.  Due to the fact that he had time to consider the consequences and did it anyway.

- Which is tidy segue into an admission that I’m flying mostly blind on the Molly arc because I basically skipped all her scenes, but it’s my understanding that Daniel doing this was a pivotal moment for them.  Ie, she was impressed that he did this thing.  I mean, I really appreciate that he spent the whole press conference scene looking for Betty, so the show in no way undercut their relationship.  But then they very clearly built the Molly relationship on the foundation of not only the man Daniel had become due to Betty, but choices he was making in large measure for Betty: it’s not that he saw Betty beaten down and resolved the situation: he was upset but lost, she yelled at him, and THEN he resolved the situation by taking the bullet.  Did I break grammar by ending up with two colon’d clauses in the same sentence?  It’s a braindump, ain’t gotta be pretty.  XP

- Quick sidebar that the same thing happens with Alexis.  She was expecting to come back to one brother, but then listens in on his pep talk with Betty and finds she’s returned to a different brother.  This may be where I got the “an assistant” phrasing, if so, my bad.  But basically, she was impressed with Daniel’s actions, not understanding that it was Betty specifically inspiring his actions.

- Follow that a step further and did Molly ever acknowledge how important Betty is to him?  Legit question.  I think her line here was about him doing it “for an assistant” (?) rather than even “his assistant,” establishing Betty as a non-entity for her.  (Quoting a summary but I think I’m in the ballpark.)  And I’m sure I’d have read about it somewhere if she brought Betty up during their discussion on who he’d date when she was dead.

- Just one last note on Molly, (okay it’s a multi-part though it veers off her as a character) but a possibly incorrect beef is that I hate the Daniel/Molly relationship because there’s no interesting or even real conflict?  It’s perfect?  I’m supposed to think this is magical “true love”?  Molly has apparently been engaged for years to a man she doesn’t really love (and um... that’s lazy not strong), and helps inspire a vengeance filled betrayal by her ex because she’s so awesome everyone loves her?  But she comes out squeaky clean because any emotional cheating on her part is balanced and thus “justified” by Connor falling for Wilhemina.  And then the only “conflict” is that she’s dying, and is perfect throughout it?  That’s...  weak.

-That poem thing WOULD have been an interesting point of conflict but it was resolved by Betty’s intervention, rather than within the relationship.  Which actually is an incredibly interesting beat.  The problem with that being it’s so entirely consistent with the role Betty plays in Daniel’s life that it’s treated as just another beat, as if it doesn’t MATTER that a fundamental moment of intimacy and growth of vulnerability in Daniel’s very important romantic relationship is a door opened by a third party.  There’s a strong argument to be made for something but I broke off to write the next point and now can’t remember what that strong argument is.  I might remember later.  It may have had something to do with Molly being a stepping stone in Daniel’s arc, but the cult-thing was so long and dominating that it didn’t work, it tied him too tightly for too long and coinciding with a loosening of his relationship with Betty there was flailing.

- Quick one: Daniel’s fast-forwarded and time-bounded relationship with Molly is the analog to Betty’s time-limited relationship with Henry.  Which is a discussion I would like Daniel and Betty to have.  Esp. noting that Betty and Henry had issues they worked through together (ice cream foreplay being one.)

- Player!  So going back to a happy place, when Betty’s on the phone trying to fix the apartment situation and the camera pans onto Daniel just leaning against the doorway: this may be a legitimate little moment of “squee!”  There’s so much denial in his laid back attitude at Player, but I still love watching how the informality of the environment reflects in the informality with Betty.  He gives her free reign, and there’s many answers to “why,” and I (almost) don’t want to go into them because I totally adore how this Daniel is basically a College!Daniel only he’s latched onto Betty, who, meanwhile, is just being Betty.  OMG how different his life would have been if he’d met Betty in college...

- Okay I actually don’t feel like going into whys, it’s just an arc to enjoy.  With a small mention of how he TOTALLY was playing with the MODE book and handed it to Betty knowing she’d understand and use it to get them back in.  Such a crazy subtle manipulation, to the point where I’m not sure it wasn’t almost entirely subconscious on Daniel’s part.

- The YETI recommendation letter.  What I love is that this is another time when Daniel fvcks up, but fixes it, and more importantly displays competence and ingenuity alongside authentic caring and effort.  Here’s the thing: YETI wanted Betty, even if it was just a quota thing (which it wasn’t entirely, at least one of the board was generally enthused.)  So all that was necessary was to have them re-label her as from Player.  Daniel knew this and did this.  And told Betty that.  BUUUUT that point was purposefully (by script and character) overshadowed by the gesture of the lengthy rec letter he put significant time into.  Whose real audience was... wait for it...  Betty.  He even did a second draft!  Which is more time and effort and a cleaner product.

-  Also flaking on her practice run.  I also enjoy how he (finally...) bounced back into the office clearly having forgotten her schedule, but having mentally shifted from Molly-space into Betty-space.  He’s enthused, he’s engaged, he’s sort of bantering and I’d like to see where that scene would have gone if she hadn’t immediately gotten the acceptance call.

- So there’s this moment somewhat early on, pretty sure when Betty’s taking the writing class, and wants Daniel to give her feedback.  And he’s all “why?,” coming from his “I don’t actually know what I’m doing” place.  She responds that he’s her friend and wants to know what he thinks.  And he does a little double-take at that word.  Because until that point Daniel totally sees Betty as HIS Friend, and they’ve referred to each other as friends, with a little “f,” and he believes that.  But it wasn’t until this moment that he even considered that HE might be HER Friend.  Presumably because he doesn’t believe he has anything to offer her, beyond the power he holds as EIC and her boss - ie, “here run this show” and other such responsibilities.

- Which is a recurring theme.  Pronounced on relationship stuff especially.  When she asks him for input on the Henry vs Gio situation, when she’s trying to date the playwright.  His response is always “I’m in no position to offer relationship advice/judgment on relationships.”  He sorta dodges the first and is permissive on the second.  I don’t know where to go with that so I’ll leave it (for now).

- When  he was supposed to be in Rio, Betty wasn’t even at MODE, she was working for the “enemy,” and he was sending her regular postcards?  First, they’d have been postmarked in New York and presumably with local stamps, so I’m not 100% on Betty not cottoning on.  But it’s super cute that he was thinking of her when he was incommunicado with literally everyone else.  Did he want her to figure it out (subconsciously)?  It’s an act of reaching out, but also of convincing: he’s created a fictional narrative of being in Rio, fed and embellished by the media and swallowed by coworkers, but it’s through Betty that he’s establishing the fiction in a definitive way.  He wants HER to believe it, because if SHE believes he’s there and having a good time, then he can believe it too, with a small piece of his imagination.

- Same convincing as in Player.  BTW, how did all those messages on her phone work?  He was 99% totally hiding the situation from her.  a) why wouldn’t he just call her from his phone, as he always did in the past?  b) he was creating another fictional space.  Where her “number” was literally on a post-it on his temporary assistant’s monitor.  It’s all play: “call Betty” happens many times, and every one is the act of doing it while knowing that he’s not really doing it.  c) Betty does not point out that he should have been confused he never heard back, or more to the point, that he never heard her voicemail message.  d) he was in a state of limbo waiting for her to come back, nothing is real until she does.  At which point there’s lovely dramatic tension since he both wants her to fix it and get them out of there, and wants to draw her into this new reality and thus make it feel viable.

- 100th Anniversary edition.  I love the idea that he’s hep on her writing his bio because he needs her name, at least, to be next to his.  His identity as EIC is predicated on her being his partner, and needs that shown, even if it’s functionally an “in joke” because it’s not like she can be featured.  In musing over his thoughts while flipping through the book right before deciding to quit, I usually come back to a realization of the transience of the role, but I want it to be a gutpunch of how he assumed, without being aware, that Betty would be next to him in picture, and that’s what they were heading for.

- I’ve actually got through most of my notes, so just a couple more.  Daniel is super impressionable.  He did what Becks told him to in the pilot.  He did what Natalie told him in the cult-situation.  Both against his better judgment - his look after Betty when he kicked her out for being “drama he didn’t need” - that’s the same look when he told her to clock out and was dragged off by the not-16-year-old.  I’m too tired to go check the pilot, but assuming similar look there.  He does what he’s told by anyone telling him to do something, but he WANTS to be rescued from the bad influences, who are so often so forceful.

- Final scene: okay so it turns out quick a lot of my thoughts are trying to understand Daniel.  His growth is blatant and deep.  So a second round will be more Betty-focused.  ‘Cuz I identify strongly with her and don’t have a lot of surface questions about her motivations, but I’m LOST on side of the romantic coin.  And plus she deserves a close look regarding how she grows during the series.

- I watched at least part of the reunion and very much like how AF answered the question of the final scene versus what EM says.  Because I think they each, as actors, see it from the perspective of their characters, which means it was played authentically and grants insight.  AF basically says that she saw it as Daniel coming to say thank you, and how it came down to Betty teaching him that he was good enough.  Which came across a little funny because her phrasing implied they’d never talk or see each other again or something and that’s an alarming finality.  But also implies that Betty really did see moving to London as a significant parting of ways, something that started as soon as she became an editor and their relationship changed.  Probably before.

- She then challenged EM as to why Daniel didn’t say goodbye (as if she didn’t know and hadn’t thought about it?  I’m guessing this was panel performance: asking the question “in character” and throwing the question to the other relevant actor.)  But anyway, EM’s answer was “Because things were just starting.”  Which is blatantly a shippy answer, and he even explains Daniel’s “revelation” as when he “really saw Betty for the first time through and through.”

- At some point in these things you’re like: oh but I thought of something else, and only stop when your brain falls asleep.

- I thought of something else.  And then I forgot it.  My brain is failing!  But not yet failed.

- After Betty gets her braces off there’s this scene near the end, at the shoot.  Daniel sees her and crosses quite purposefully to talk with her.  He wants to banter and share this exciting moment with her.  And the scene goes a little strange when Betty kinda goes “yeah, going now bye.”  I expected more eye contact, a big smile, more conversation.  That’s Betty.  That’s them.  But instead it’s a little awkward so Something Is Happening Here.  Is she self-conscious?  Did she see and hear something in Daniel’s look and comment right after she was detached from the bra and isn’t at this moment comfortable with him?  Is this all fallout from her dream in which she and Daniel slept together/he thought she was a bad person/rejected her only they chose not to explicate this/cut a useful scene/thought I’d get that right away but I’m obtuse?  I don’t think it’s the last one because while I can be horribly obtuse, I don’t think it was coded.  But that’s what the obtuse would say.

- At any rate they don’t pick up on it again, next scene (next ep) they’re back to normal.

- But Daniel does immediately chase after Amanda and let go of her.  Which is payoff for his convo with Betty earlier where she sort of disdainfully asks if he WANTS a more serious relationship with Amanda.  I did sort of wonder if he actually does, but Betty’s judgmentalness is what convinces him he doesn’t.  Usually I’d say Betty understands him so well she knows he doesn’t, but they’re not as close at this point, Betty is living her own life much more, so I dunno.

- But I don’t actually think Daniel was falling for Amanda, or that the show wanted us to think that was ultimately a viable path.  Because of that moment when he’s in a car, calls Amanda, says “I really need to see  you” and she turns him down.  It parallels his text to Betty when Molly died.  One text and Betty came over.  This was an actual distressed voice convo and Amanda doesn’t care enough about him to be there, which is really great development for Amanda even though we don’t see her!  She previously went after Matt when he was in jail, she’s interested in Tyler here, she’s not totally pining for Daniel!

- Daniel of course was using Amanda and their earned if mild emotional intimacy as a crutch, trying to fill the space Betty left.  Also note when Amanda turned him down for sex and he stayed to “hang out,” - this is not supposed to be an analysis of Amanda but I wanna note I like that moment because it felt like she was pleased to think she wasn’t just sex to him, while still being over him romantically. Because she does care about him.

- Or for pete’s...  I have this bad habit of writing notes which I later look at and am like... “huh?”  This is a fic idea, from Daniel’s POV: “Betty had moulded him, often by sheer force of her iron will, into being a man who almost deserved Molly.  And he'd turned right around and become a man who would never deserve Betty.”  And I DON’T REMEMBER WHAT THE SECOND HALF MEANS.  Specifically.

- Wedding dancing.  Happens twice.  Hilda’s wedding, we know what that is.  But at Daniel’s wedding.  I like that he wasn’t 100% Molly focused, ‘cuz, shipper.  And I know why the show had Matt cut in, because gotta keep things moving.  But isn’t it a thing that you don’t cut in on the groom/bride?  It’s their day.  Daniel just sort of nonverbally asks Betty if it’s okay (to leave her with Matt), but can’t help a) thinking he was a bit put out and b) want Molly to see his expression looking at Betty and have some sort of “aha” moment where she - do Molly and Betty have any scenes together?  I don’t remember seeing any and I think I did skim through all the eps, but I need to do that again.

- Ooh, one of the things I forgot en route!  I like that Betty has revolving love interests, because that’s textual argument for Betty never having feelings (romantic) for Daniel.  Which is super, super important in this iteration of the story.  There’s a couple moments - pilot and the first bridge scene - where she arguably has a momentary crush, which quickly settles into a developing platonic relationship.  

- Jump back to Daniel finally seeing Betty as a true equal = romantic feelings.  It’s a thing.  Look my brain is deteriorting and wording is hard!  So there’s two sided imbalance throughout.  Daniel always saw Betty with this veneer of youth, and a great deal of his use for her is helping her “grow into the woman she’ll be.”  And that’s the roadblock in him seeing her as a romantic possibility.  Which was initially quite awesome because he was sleeping with people younger than her, even the “she’s actually 20″ girl was younger than Betty.  And yet always saw her as in many ways more mature and competent than her.  And double-yet he still saw how much further she could, and would, grow.  His belief in her knows no bounds.

- Meanwhile Betty sees him as...  someone who’s also becoming.  Who has great potential.  Bullying him into it if necessary.  And because he’s guided by her, she can’t crush on him, he’s like her pet.  Were she to have a crush, much less fall for him, it would have been horrifying.  She needs to have a moment when she sees him as a true equal, someone who - look, everyone is always still growing so it’s not like he needs to be fully formed, and it’s a little murkier what the moment would look like when she finally sees Daniel “for the first time.”

- ‘cuz as noted, Betty has been there for pretty much every important moment of growth and crossroads in every facet of Daniel’s life.  Whereas Betty consistently had many things and relationships in her life Daniel was not involved in.  She’s always been way more self-reliant (not the word I wanted, is there one that starts with c?)  It’s why they did sort of need to peel away through a chunk of S4, because Daniel needed to learn to cope without Betty propping him up, because it’s like a Miranda-thing:

- “I don’t need Gary.  But I want him.”

- Daniel has to be able to be find without Betty before Betty can see him as a viable romantic partner.  She has to see something she never has before.  Daniel saw that the seedling he’d been protecting was not only strong enough to survive on its own had grown up and bloomed (process begun early in the season when he was being overprotective and she shut that down).  For Betty...  I guess Daniel...  ...  .....  it didn’t happen in the show.  As EM noted, for Daniel, the ending was the beginning.  Because his moment isn’t leaving MODE, that’s just the corresponding moment to Betty shaking him off.  His moment is further down the road when he puts into practice everything he’s learned and ...  something answered in fanfic because it’s spec and I’m tuckered.

[thewriting-corner]

‘Renegades’ trilogy by Marissa Meyer: review

Welcome today to a post I have been waiting to do for months. I never do entire posts for book reviews, but since this was a trilogy (and one of my favorites I read this year) I decided it would deserve a little more.

Note: I will be doing a spoiler-free review first and then I’ll put a warning before talking about each individual book :)

Synopsis: The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone... except the villains they once overthrew.

Trilogy Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I honestly think these are the best books I’ve ever read. The description was fascinating, easy to follow and gave amazing imagery without that heaviness that a lot of fantasy books have (this is more sci-fi/dystipia-ish but still).

The characters felt real and their individual voices were clear from start to finish. I loved every single character, even the ones I hated. 

However, there is one thing that bothered me BUT it does align with their world and that is the lack of accountability certain characters recieve (but I will be talking about that in my Supernova review).

Then the PLOT OH MY GOSH. I mean, it’s superheroes. It’s nearly impossible to be original with a plot that isn’t the same as any Marvel or DC comic/movie/show. And yet Marissa Meyer that such a beautiful job of taking a common conflict (heroes vs villains, villains wanting to take over the world) and turning it into a unique plot with amazing twists. 

I mentioned the world-building before, but I’ll do it again. Third person POV is not my favorite and neither is heavy world building like the one this book needed and had. Still, it was written in such a simple way that I didn’t feel like she was trying to confuse me, it was just a story.

Overall, this series was amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fast paced, mind-blowing world building and compelling characters that will make you feel single to the core even in a relationship.

🚨Spoilers Ahead🚨

Renegades ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“We were all villains in the beginning.”

I went into this book with low expectations because I didn’t think I’d like Marissa Meyer’s style and boy was I wrong.

The first few chapters were a bit confusing but the moment Adrian fixed Nova’s bracelet I KNEW this would steer towards romance and it sold me. And then Nightmare making fun of the Sentinel for his comic book phrases and poses was my favorite thing ever. That would be me as a superhero, no doubt.

I really liked the way the plot progressed “slowly” without feeling dragged on. In fact, despite it’s slower pace of the story, the book still felt quick and that just won a million points with me.

Don’t even get me started on the Anarchists. I LOVED them. I like how they weren’t presented as villains from Nova’s POV, just enemies of a totalitarian state. Not even just in her point of view though. I genuinely didn’t think any of them were bad until Ingrid decided to show up at the library and almost killed Sketch’s crew.

And speaking of Sketch’s crew … the minor characters??? Hello??? Who writes side characters that are SO good?? Oscar is my favorite though. He wins. Danna being the only one to question Nova about Adrian’a feelings for her was hilarious, although it stressed me out that Nova put her to sleep. Counterpoint: it was very cute that the only way she could stop thinking of Adrian liking her was by putting Danna to sleep. Very on point teenage reaction. I would’ve done the same thing if only I wasn’t trying to remain anonymous in the organization that indirectly killed my parents. 

The climax, on the other hand, felt a teensy bit rushed but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy Nodrian in their not-date. It was adorable, especially when they stopped at the kid’s party and then Nova panicking over the mere thought of going on the ferris wheel with Adrian. All the carnival chapters where my favorite thing ever and I really wished they hadn’t ended with Nova killing the woman who raised her. But I did like the irony of it being Ingrid who told her she didn’t have the guts to press the trigger and then she died at the hands of Nova’s gun. 

AND THE ENDING WITH ACE BEING ALIVE. That shook me. I suspected it, of course, but it shook me to my core. 10/10 plot twist there.

Archenemies ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“I guess I figured you deserve to have good dreams every once in a while. Even if you never sleep.”

This one gets six stars because somehow I read it in 11 hours and I’ve never read such a large book in one day. The entire story was just fast-paced action, superhero world building and Nodrian flirting and eventually kissing. Best book ever.

I liked how in this book we got a closer look into other character relationships like Oscar and Ruby and then Danna’s suspicions over Nova. I would’ve liked to see more of Danna’s friendship with the team though, since at times it seemed she was only there to send passive aggressive comments at Nova. And the Sentinel’s “death” was amazing. Pure comic book material right there. 

There is this thing though that I mentioned in the general review that bothered me and it’s when they reveal Agent N. This weapon they created using Max’s blood is a great example of how the Renegades had obtained way too much power. It’s when we start to see that maybe Nova and the Anarchists are right. The Renegades are slowly becoming a dictatorship and it’s bothersome that nobody except Nova and Adrian notice. Especially when it was so obvious with things like them using Agent N “against every prodigy who didn’t follow the Renegades code”. Sure, they were criminals, but that wasn’t about arresting them. It was about changing the DNA of people who made one mistake and were immediately deemed enemies of the state.

Back to the good stuff, Nodrian flirting was the highlight of this book. They’re both so awkward and adorable, especially when Nova’s teaching Adrian how to shoot and then when they’re in his room later on. The whole “you want me to ignore everything?” and “you’re not allowed to have girls in your room?” quotes KILLED me. Those were peak flirting moments and I’m immensely surprised by the way that Marissa Meyer manages to write teenagers realistically as an adult and not even having teenage kids of her own. Also, Nova opening up to Adrian was just. No. It killed me. My ghost is writing this btw.

The ending, once again, amazing. I loved it. Not only did it once again show Frostbite’s true colors, show us how much hate Adrian actually held against Nightmare and the way Nova had softened by the Renegades’ influence. And Ace Anarchy’s capture goes into the good things pile.

Supernova ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“To be honest, I’m not sure there are such things as villains anymore. Maybe there never really were.”

Is it a bad review if I just insert the word “AH” for the next ten lines? Yes? Damn it. I admit that I was expecting something much different, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I have never cursed and squealed so much by reading and had I not bought the hardcover with my own money, I would’ve thrown that book against the wall. It stressed me out. First of all, getting Nova and Adrian kissing in the tunnels a few chapters before Adrian arrests her for being Nightmare was another level of messed up. Clearly, she did everything in her power to save him from her house’s explosion and he threw it out the window in blind anger. And then the whole execution thing??? That was horrifying and it’s when the Renegades’ incompetence really showed its true colors. They couldn’t bring the people back to their side - because they failed - so they sentenced a broken, dying man and an underage girl who acted under the manipulation of her entire family, to death. If Hugh had ever even attempted to find out what happened to both Artino girls, none of that mess would’ve happened, but instead Lady Indomitable died and he went “WELL, can’t do anything about her last task, can we?” I get he was preoccupied by her orphaned son and the Ace of Anarchy, but it was as simple as going back into the house and searching. In fact, this entire book was just showing how their society was crumbling and in the end they went “we were all heroes”. I’m surprised Nova forgave the entire Renegades organization for what they did because even if it was Ace who sent a hit after her and her family, the Renegades were still willing to overuse their power. 

And once again back to the good stuff before I end up bashing the Renegades even more, I never thought I would be on board with Adrian and Nova’s relationship at the end of the book. I try not to ship toxic relationships in YA because they happen a lot and I wouldn’t like younger readers to think that it’s okay, but I loved how both Nova and Adrian were willing to make a change for their relationship to work. They compromised because they loved each other so much it didn’t matter who had tried to kill the other person and their dad or who hadn’t advocated against the other’s execution, you know, the ups and downs of every relationship. While I do wish we had seen them talking about everything, I get a book can only have a certain amount of words and I was glad just the same with how it ended. Also, Leroy’s threat to Adrian is iconic, just like Oscar proclaiming his undying love for Ruby at the arena were they almost witnessed multiple murders.

The epilogue. Just. Wow. I knew it before because I’m smart and I spoiled it but I NEED another Renegades book. You can’t just end the series saying Evie Artino was Magpie and her being as angry as Nova once was. Like, no. You just can’t. That was a crime against humanity, tbh, but overall the series was amazing and I have never been more grateful to spend almost $80 in books. 

[livlepretre]

I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on Feyre's behavior, should you ever want to expand on them. You write interesting meta!

I’m not sure this is going to qualify all the way as meta, but I suppose I find there to be a dramatic shift in the way Feyre is writing in ACOTAR/ACOMAF vs. ACOWAR... and one of the obvious ways this shift occurs is in the lens in how Feyre views Tamlin. I think in ACOMAF, her view of Tamlin was significantly more nuanced-- even after she left him, she recognized that he was also suffering from trauma-- that they had both been broken from the events Under the Mountain, and that while they had loved each other and really worked before hand, they were so changed by those events that afterwards they could no longer fit together in any way other than a poisonous one that destroyed them both little by little. I liked this quite a bit-- Tamlin does things which are abusive afterwards, and Feyre is right to leave, but I don’t think he’s an abuser by nature-- it illustrated the complexities of trauma and how it can rot a person struggling with it without making Tamlin a villain. It was very sad, tragic really, and it lent the ACOMAF and ultimately, in ACOTAR, some real emotional weight and meaning. Yes, there are moments of brilliant realization that Feyre reaches in reflection-- like the fact that Tamlin didn’t try to free her from Under the Mountain and instead tried to hook up with her... but again, that was flawed, not villainous. I really loved Feyre as a character who was so empathetic she would give her jewelry to a water wraith... and I loved her story of healing and finding herself as she clawed her way up from the abyss, and the way that the novel took the complicated route with the characterizations and the relationships. 

What really bothers me in ACOWAR is the way the characters are treated much more flatly, and without any empathy from Feyre. Especially with how Feyre treats him Tamlin so viciously, as though he’s truly a villain... like, yes, the events in Hybern are awful, but it never ever occurs to her that Tamlin is dealing false with Hybern, or that things didn’t go the way they were supposed to... which Lucien flat out says at one point, and she just... skates over it. I find it bizarre that Feyre, who used to have a great deal of empathy, supposedly loved Tamlin, supposedly understood him, and could meanwhile so easily forget what he told her with so much heart-felt honesty in the first book: that he would fight against oppression, wherever he found it (there’s some irony in the way he oppresses her in ACOMAF through his desire to shelter and protect... and that’s part of the tragedy in Tamlin’s arc). I remember reading ACOWAR the first time and feeling like none of it made sense-- until the reveal that he had been allied as a double agent all along. It’s very hard to stomach the beginning of ACOWAR on this my 2nd read through, because Feyre never questions what she thinks she knows-- she is just so ready to see Tamlin as the villain, much more so than when the wounds from their relationship were fresh, and she is also so ready to assume the very worst of him in a way that makes me see the worst in her. And what does that mean? That with time and healing, the people who hurt us turn out to be evil monsters? Sometimes they are, but more often, isn’t the answer that they are simply supremely flawed human beings? (or, well, faeries?) and there’s pathos in that? 

Also: she is a vicious wolf to the people in the Spring Court-- she doesn’t merely spy, she takes bloodthirsty revenge. (It’s also bizarre because she spent basically a year with Tamlin and Lucien, and like 3 or 4 months with the Court of Dreams... and she just wrecks them. Like, she transfers her loyalty so quickly. Could she do it again to the Court of Dreams? I don’t know!) And yes, she does take Lucien with her, but at what price? She goes out of her way to destroy his most important friendship-- the one he values most-- his brotherhood with Tamlin. She intentionally triggers Tamlin over and over again to drive him to madness and violence... when it’s clear at the beginning of the novel that he had genuinely been... trying (which she mocks). I suppose this is a very long-winded way of saying that a lot of what she does isn’t so much about disrupting the Hybern alliance or spying to help with the war effort as it is about taking cruel and bloodthirsty revenge on Tamlin, and Lucien, and everyone else there. And of course, it turns out that if she had actually done her job and spied, and used her emotional bonds with these people (as withered as they were), used her history with them, her knowledge of them, and yes, her shriveled up empathy, she probably could have figured out what was going on. It’s not that hard to figure out. Lucien all but tells her. She was just so deadset on personal revenge, so deadset on believing that Tamlin was a monster who would do anything to get her back (narcissistic much?), that she pretty much set her side of the war back... and of course... everyone in the Court of Dreams applauds. 

This all feeds into one of the things that I find very frustrating about SJ Maas’s books, which is how often the characters are just awful to each other or are bloodthirsty in ways I don’t understand. Is it just for drama? To stir the pot? Like, I STILL don’t get that scene in Empire of Storms where Aedion goes off on Gavriel. But also... I can’t figure out what SJM wants to do with Tamlin-- the fact that he’s a much better man and much more complex and kind is all there in the narrative, but the story also revels so much in Feyre being just horrid that I’m not sure what to make of it. Honestly the further into this series I go the more and more I am #Team Tamlin. 

[theuniversitychallengereview]

UC 50.33 - Durham vs Imperial

I’m going to start this post of with a shout-out. Usually I save the advertisement and self-promotion for the end, and the start is like hotel bedisde tables used to be before the ubiquity of the one-charge-a-day smartphone - completely free of plugs (I’m workshopping a stand-up routine about this. *Michael McIntyre voice* “D’you remember when hotel rooms had no sockets for charging your phone. You’d be checking Twitter while falling asleep but you’d be dangling face-first out the bed like a deranged sloth. Very difficult to get to sleep at a 45 degree angle in the wrong direction”).

But this plug is something a little bit different, and as such it gets top billing. I have mentioned the game #UniversityChallenge Klaxon on here before, along with the sister podcast ‘Enjoyably Futile’. Well, reader, you’ve got yourselves a crossover episode.

Andy Keegan, host of both the game and podcast, was nice enough to have me on last week and we discussed the past few episodes of The Challenge, along with my historic forays into the world of TV quizzing. If you have a strange sense of what I sound like and don’t want that spoiled then probably avoid, but otherwise, give it a listen! I had a blast recording it and hopefully at least some of that transfers itself into the audio experience. 

Here’s a link to the episode and you can follow Andy @andykeegan or @enjoyablyfutile over on Twitter. 

Anyway, thus ends the plug, and we can move onto tonight’s episode. Here’s your first starter for ten...

Both of these teams have won and lost a quarter-final match already, so the victors of this contest will make it through to the semis to join Warwick and Balliol. Durham are looking to make it to that stage for the third time in a row while Imperial are hoping that they can do what no one has done since 2013 and retain the title that their erstwhile colleagues won so impressively last year. 

The Imperial captain has arguably been the best player of the restarted series, coming back after lockdown had delayed the second round of recordings with greatly improved knowledge and buzzer speed. Four impressive performances culminated in him running riot against King’s last time out.

Cryptically, he posted a tweet before the match saying that ‘people who think that I'm carrying the Imperial team are either going to look very smart or very dumb next week...’. This echoes a tweet made by Brandon last year before the final, in which his teammates had crushed it on their way to victory. One thinks it would be a dick-move to copy this tweet if he means the opposite to his fellow Imperialites.

Durham, meanwhile, have blown a bit hot and cold in the quarter finals, with a solid win over Strathclyde followed by a limp loss to Balliol. However, last week I said I thought Strathclyde had no chance against Birkbeck and look how that turned out, so I don’t think I’m going to try and call this one either way. There have been plenty of tight matches this series, that could have gone either way, and I think this might be one of them

Off we go, and both sides miss Iris Murdoch’s definition of Love. Kohn, wearing an excellent wasitcoat, gets us back on track with the second starter, and Imperial grab a couple of bonuses to open up a twenty point lead. This is quickly halved as Wilkening gets Durham into the game. A fun bonus set on the monarchs who were reigning in the years of various ratios from the field of sub-atomic physics. 

A neg from Kohn then allowed Wilkening in to pick up his second, and now Durham had the lead. A guess of Kant from Regan extended this next time around, but they could only manage a single bonus again.

Wong stopped the mini-rot for Imperial with the first picture starter, and Rahman grins as he pronounces Uranus on the next ten-pointer, having beaten Kohn to the buzzer. They struggle on the bonuses, and at this point have answered the same number of starters as they have bonus questions correctly. This changes quickly, as they grabbed a full set off the back of another Wong buzz. They have the lead now.

Marrow takes her first of the evening, meaning that all of Imperial’s four players have answered at least one starter question correctly. Kohn’s prophecy is coming true. Marrow beams her face off (like Rey when she realises she’s on the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo in The Force Awakens. A very specific reference I know, but there are definite Daisy Ridley vibes) when she gives her answer, starch, which is delightful to watch. I dont know if she’s so happy simply because she got the answer right, or if she’s laughing at the irony of her, Marrow, a non-starchy vegetable, giving starch as an answer. Based on the smile she has when giving Buttercup correctly later on, I think its the former.

The music round goes the way Imperial as well, and they appear to be taking control of the game. Kohn gives Faure for one of the bonuses so quickly that Paxman just stops and admires his gumption for a few seconds, grinning. He jumps the gun on the second picture starter though, buzzing in before, it seems, he’s decided on an answer. The one he gives is wrong, and Durham pick it up. They manage to close the gap to 40 points.

A physics starter is then left dangling for quite a while. Marrow, Rahman and Parkinson all study the subject, and it is Rahman who manages to dredge the required knowledge up the quickest. Had Parkinson managed to get this, Durham may have had a chance, but Imperial run away with it once again.

Kohn starts firing out the answers to the bonus questions so rapidly that the show almost becomes the opposite of that Two Ronnies Mastermind sketch where they answer the previous question, and when the gong comes they have managed to double their opponents’ score.

Final Score: Durham 100 - 200 Imperial

A close match at the start, which threatened to be so again towards the end, but a blitz from Imperial resulted in their second dominant win in a row.

Commiserations to Durham, who certainly played their part today. And Kohn was right, his teammates did help him out, but my jove he didn’t half help them too.

Now for the end-of-blog plugs. If you liked reading this then I have a Patreon where you can get Retro Reviews of the 2015/16 series. I’ve actually got the next post locked and loaded for release this week, along with a review of a book written by our very own Jeremy Paxman. You can sign up for as little as £1/month.

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16447756&fan_landing=true

And while we’re at it, I may as well plug my appearance on the Enjoyably Futile Podcast a second time. You can listen to that here. 

Phew, its like an extension cable with too small an amperage in here - overloaded with plugs...

Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next time.

[thesummerstorms]

Rev Recaps Hard Contact (Chapter 20)

Final chapter at last!

CW: Violence & blood. Decapitation. 

TL;DR Recap: Darman and Etain make it back to the gunship with the injured Atin and Uthan in tow, but Etain refuses to let Zey leave without Omega. Niner lures Hokan into a trap and Hokan is decapitated. Zey offers Etain a choice, but 12 years later the framework still makes no sense.

Beginning Kal Count: 39 Ending Kal Count: 42

This post includes my favorite scene in the book, and has probably double the expected word count because of that. Long-Ass Post.

We open with a Kal Quote. I am ignoring Kal Quotes this far into the game because I am already very informed on Traviss’s opinions, but that does raise the Kal Count to 40 already.

Instead, we focus on Darman writing poetry to a gunship.

:’) Dar has similes and metaphors down at least. Some unnamed clone troopers (white-armored) and a medic come running out and dismiss Darman when he tries to tell them everything that happened to Atin because he’s already adequately marked Atin’s armor. They’ve also taken Uthan, so with, finally, nothing left for Darman to do, he turns around to watch Zey and Etain.

So Etain doesn’t ask who Zey is at all anywhere in this scene, which even with the Force telling her he’s a Jedi and logical clues telling her she’s outranked, you would think that she’d want his name. She also uses his name in her narration later without being told it on screen at any point. So that makes me think they’ve met before this, at least briefly. 

On the other hand their greeting is “formal”/ “etiquette” , not Etain being relieved that fucking finally, here is an adultier-adult whom she knows and trusts, so I don’t think they know one another well.

I’m sure the formal greeting vs “scene from a nightmare” thing is meant to be pointed, but whatever, we’re moving on. Well, except, I do have to point out:

The ARC, who I am calling Maze until I have evidence he’s not, takes off his helmet, doesn’t say shit to Darman, just stares at him. I don’t know why that makes me laugh.

Valaquil departs off the gunship, Darman praises Jinart, and Dar hopes the Republic will keep their word to the gurlanin because “they deserve it”, but we’ve long passed the point where I gave a shit about the gurlanin.

Zey’s priority --> mostly tactical, get this shit show of a mission over, but does try to reassure Etain

Etain --> where are my people???

I love how Dar expects Etain to “soften” because he knows that she longs to be confirmed as having worth and value, has learned this even after a very short mission, but Etain is also deeply loyal and her priorities have shifted.

Um, Maze, buddy? You want to chill?

OH OUCH MY HEART. 

We as readers know that their helmets were shut down by the EMP, but here’s Darman, assuming that he’s just lost another half a squad and that just like Geonosis, he’ll never know for certain what happened to them. The flashback is heartbreaking.

Etain’s ability to use Force-sense is so weirdly inconsistent and plot-selective in this book, but I love her already being able to tell from a distance that Omega squad is okay, even to tell where they are. This is the precursor to her being able to feel Darman “across star systems”, but on some level she’s formed some version of this bond with all of them.

And you know, no one in this book ever explains why the Republic wants Uthan so bad, but knowing from Order 66 that Palps wanted to use her for his personal goals always pisses me off.

Darman has become familiar enough with Etain and her expressions that this expression immediately sets off his “oh shit” radar, and it’s not even the first time. 

The one boot on the gunship and one on the soil is actually a nice tiny bit of symbolism- caught between what the Jedi expect of her and what she’s learned under fire from Omega- if you chose to interpret it that way. And I can actually sympathize with Zey’s annoyance here because Etain, tactically, is being pretty stupid here. If Uthan dies before they can get her proper care, if they can’t get off the planet, then it’s all for nothing. 

But. I wouldn’t want her to react any other way. This is exactly my favorite moment of hers. (Which is why I have the entire damn thing highlighted before anyone calls me out for that lmao.)

Listen, Zey, you know ilu, but bringing up her dead Master in a less than complimentary way was supposed to... do what exactly for your argument? He also completely ignores Darman’s attempt to keep the peace, but we just upped our Kal Count to 41 with the talk of Etain’s loyalty being a mirror.

Again, tactically pretty dumb I’m sure but oh holy hell do I love it. Especially that underlined bit in red. “Darman thought she had changed her mind, but that wasn’t Etain at all.”

Darman desperately not wanting Etain to be targeted by whatever Jedi mind powers he thinks Zey is about to use on her. Darman thinking about how Zey doesn’t know Etain at all, that Zey is taking 100% the wrong approach, but if Darman was just allowed to talk to her-

That bit in red? That and the response Zey’s about to give are two of my favorite lines in the entire book.

Zey gives in. Darman tries to get Etain to stay anyway, I think because he’s worried about the fallout of this moment landing on her, although it’s kind of too little too late for that. But Zey, as tactically expensive as this could be, as annoyed as he has been, is still proud of Etain.

It’s just one little tiny moment that says so much about Dar and about Etain and even about Zey. That little moment of pride lets me think they were better suited to Master and Padawan that maybe either of them recognized or would later accept.

Unfortunately, we now have to leave my favorite scene ever and return to Hokan’s POV. Hokan is injured and doesn’t know where Fi has gotten to, but as expected, Niner’s screaming has caught his attention.

Hokan has this weird double consciousness, this deeply rooted aversion to mercy or anything he sees as weakness or softness. It’s still a really... delicate little moment?

Listen, I know that Niner’s not wounded and this still is upsetting. 

Kal Count 42.

Hokan still is vacillating between thinking of Niner as an it more than a person, and “abomination” and thinking of him as a Mandalorian man who’s been unfairly used. Again, it’s this weird moment of double think, but it works in Niner’s favor, because nobody wants to know what would have happened if Hokan hadn’t taken the time to talk to him, or had decided to use the lightsaber.

The sheer irony of Hokan avoiding the lightsaber because it was too much like what happened to Jango on Geonosis... and then Etain decapitates him... with a lightsaber.

Niner says he doesn’t like to complain, but. Also, still very fair. And a much needed laugh after that last moment.

“Probably okay” Fi. 

Also This raises SO MANY questions because Mando armor is supposed to hold off Jedi if it’s beskar, but this isn’t, which means Fi spends the rest of the series hoarding and or wearing armor that isn’t beskar.

Etain is trembling, we’ll find out from her POV, because she’s still reacting to hearing Niner scream like that, and it rattles her deeply. Which again, I sympathize with, because it makes me upset.

But I mean, even if Traviss forgets it... there has to be a lot of emotion to being handed Kast Fulier’s lightsaber. He was the only one who was kind to her in the Order, at least from her point of view, she failed him, he was tortured to death with that lightsaber, and now it’s being returned to her. This is the closest she’ll ever get to closure, because as with Omega’s original brothers, there are no bodies left for burial. KT completely ignores the weight of that... but I think about it a lot.

Darman being gentle with her and praying that Fi doesn’t open his mouth makes me feel soft, though. And Niner gives her a tiny bit of the acknowledgement/respect she's wanted.

We go to her POV next:

Same, Etain. Same. Again, as she points out... Niner’s heard that before. And none of the rest of the squad who was there for it even really seems fazed?

She’s also guilty  about not being Jedi enough of course, but that’s nothing new at this point. And I’m sure Fi and Niner can appreciate her not-Jedi instincts. (Or does Zey’s tacit approval mean actually her stunt with the gunship is rooted in some Jedi ideals, even if it’s tactically stupid? idk.)

Maze & Zey take turns doing the pacing, confirmed. It’s just funny because earlier Zey was annoying the shit out of Niner by pacing and breaking up the holos at the briefing.

ZEY BACKSTORY! ZEY BACKSTORY! IDGAF ABOUT KAL; WHERE’S MY ZEY BACK STORY.

Ahem.

Anyway, the conversation turns to what actually happens to Etain now. She is, after all, an orphaned Padawan in the middle of war time.

“Etain could think of nothing worse than staying on Qiilura, with its terrible memories and uncertain future... She was alone again and scared.”

Okay, so we can debate what Etain’s duty is in this scenario. As Zey says, she knows better than anyone what Qiilura is like, and that’s info Zey can’t attempt to replicate, even if he reads Omega’s reports. It wouldn’t be the same as having Etain’s first hand experience.

But that... still leaves Etain “alone”, “scared”, stuck on a planet that is “full of terrible memories” and is associated deeply with at least three months of trauma. And she’s going to accept that, because she’s being guilted with the Jedi values of non-attachment and duty to the Republic. But I don’t know that this is the healthiest way for her to finish out her training. Like. Do the Jedi not have counselors or something, Zey?

It’s just... really sad to me.

a) Note to self about the body language here again. “dug her nails into her palms”, tried to compose herself.

b) oh shut up about what’s expected of soldiers; not everything has to be comparative 

c) I had a conversation with  samwichwilson about this scene that’s probably still in the tags somewhere.

But the framework of this choice makes absolutely ZERO sense to me.

Like, my kingdom for the AU where Etain chooses to go with Omega squad and spends the next nine months learning to blow shit up with them. I have no idea how that would work since she’s a Padawan and still technically needs a Master’s supervision, but I would enjoy it. She would definitely be happier than she’s gonna be on Qiilura.

But... while the narrative is presenting this as serious-ish options... like, there’s no way Zey would have actually go through with that last one, right? Point about working undercover aside, if he’s offering to let one clone stay, he might as well offer all 4, and he specifically narrows it down to one of the squad, not all of Omega.

So while Etain typically seems to believe an even lower opinion of her than KT actually writes (to match her low self-esteem) I have to assume that she’s right and she’s being tested here? But Zey, what the hell were you going to do if she said yes and asked to go with Omega? Much less if, when she accidentally caves here in a moment, Darman had said yes and agreed to stay with her.

She would have failed the test, and you can’t really let them start dating under your supervision... so what are you gonna do about that?

Anyway, it doesn’t matter. As unfair as it is, the choice is not really a choice, and Etain has been guilted into remaining in this place she hates. She’ll probably even end up working with Jinart again. Bleh.

Etain seems to be taking these options as if they’re really, truly serious here, but as a reader, it’s incredibly hard to see them that way. Because again. What’s Zey gonna do if she fails the attachment test.

(Unless you want to argue that the predilection with Jedi non-attachment and rules breaking is 100% in Etain’s head here and her guilt and mental conditioning just won’t let her see that Zey is 100% truthful and kindly letting Etain go off with these people she’s become so desperate to attach herself to. But that doesn’t fit like... any canon about the Jedi Order. Or ANY of Traviss’s writing tbh.)

I mean, at least Etain knows herself pretty well here. Her brain is going “abort abort, abort” but can’t actually stop her from doing the stupid thing.  She’s also trying to communicate to Dar that this isn’t her abandoning him, this is her still caring.

Listen, you can point out Dar’s lack of experience and still miss all the “child” bullshit. And honestly, his response to her saying that she’ll miss him comes off... almost a little cold. “You’ll miss me. I’m going to die in ten years, but don’t worry about me because I’m going the closest I have to home.” Maybe he’s trying to reassure her / also not to admit to someone who is now an Officer again that he’ll miss her too. It just sounds weird, even if we get the line that he was “considering it seriously.”

Or I guess what really annoys me is that in this moment that should be really personal and painful for these two characters, this just sounds... weirdly preachy?

Also...like... again Etain had to know that it wasn’t an actual option, even if the rest of the series will pretend that it was, including when she looks back at it in Triple Zero. But I’m choosing to read it more as a mark of her desperation- being so desperate and lonely, and, yes, a little trapped that her emotion overrides what she knows to be true.

💔💔💔

There’s some lines about how she’s a better Jedi Forever now because of “a soldier faith in her” but I have mixed feelings about those because they’re followed up with a bunch of bullshit about how she should learn from him because he had accepted his fate and had no self pity, and I don’t have time for ANY of that. You are allowed to feel bad when bad things happen to you, even if you are a woman or a Jedi.. Fuck off, Traviss.

Sweetheart.

Listen, you know and I know that she’ll see them again, she and Darman will fall in love, she isn’t trapped on Qiilura, a place of her nightmares, forever.

But it still feels like a real fucking downer of an ending.

Still, we have now officially made it to the end of Hard Contact. I haven’t decided if I’ll make posts for Triple Zero or if they’ll follow this format if they do. (Your thoughts/comments/feedback are welcome, as always.)

Final Kal Count was 42, which is actually impressive for a 20 chapter novel in which he DOES NOT APPEAR.

[calamity-bean]

the angry prince of goofs

I’ve been thinking about Ziggy Sobotka, which was probably my first mistake, and especially about one little detail that’s demonstrated repeatedly but not really explored in depth: Ziggy is good with technology. 

Better than most of the characters in his orbit, at any rate; he understands computers, understands the internet, has to explain digital cameras and search engines to Nick, who still seems confused. And while, even for 2003, I wouldn’t claim he’s a technical genius, this detail stands out to me partly because it’s one area in which he’s expressly shown to be more capable than his cousin — typically the far more competent of the pair — and partly because he tends to get written off, both in-universe and out, as, well... an idiot. A stupid guy who does stupid things simply because he’s stupid, with no greater character depth or complexity than that.

And that... kinda irks me! Look, I get why Ziggy’s not exactly a fan favorite. He’s not cool. He’s not a badass. He’s immature and abrasive and makes a lot of frustrating decisions, and I get why so many viewers find that annoying, I really do. But although he can certainly be a dumbass, I’m honestly not convinced that he’s dumb, and I think it does a disservice to the writing of the season and to James Ransone’s performance (easily among his best work, imo, out of the roles I’ve seen him in) to boil Zig down to just a clueless annoyance with no regard for why he acts the way he does or his value to the overall narrative.

So I’ve been thinking about Ziggy Sobotka, and types of intelligence, and finding one’s place in the world, and how Ziggy’s character arc relates to The Wire’s overarching theme of a changing city at the dawn of the new millennium.

Twice, over the course of the season, Ziggy’s mentioned in connection with college.

The first time is in 2.06, as Frank chews him out about literally burning money at the bar — definitely one of those moments that baffles and enrages viewers, cause oh my GOD, Zig, Nick goes to all that trouble for you, and then you burn a hundred dollar bill? What the heck, man. But I love this scene with Frank. It’s Ziggy at his most subdued and collected; it’s one of maybe two substantial conversations between father and son all season; and it reveals that Ziggy is capable of being far more observant than he often seems. Frank, frustrated with the lack of employment available for Ziggy, vents, “Maybe if I’d have listened to your mother, cause she’s the one always talking about you should do the community college, like your brother.” Why would Frank let one son continue his education, but not the other? Well, I have to read between the lines here, but I don’t think it’s outlandish to guess that it’s because Ziggy is — or was supposed to be — Frank’s heir. We know he’s Frank’s firstborn, and we know that for Frank, working on the docks is more than an occupation; it’s a cherished family legacy going back generations and a huge point of pride. Ziggy was probably always earmarked to follow in his father’s footsteps, and he probably always knew it. “You wanna know what I remember?” he says, and describes the education he did receive: a life spent paying careful attention to his father’s world. “Everything. Everything.” College just was not a necessary part of the life planned for him.

But there’s absolutely no future on the docks for Ziggy, and by this point, father and son both know it. It’s a rapidly dying profession with scarce shifts available for L-series juniors, so maybe it’s no surprise Zig puts a lot more effort into being a thief and drug dealer than he does into being a checker. Unfortunately, despite seeming fairly adept in logical-mathematical intelligence (technical knowledge, facts/figures, coming up with plans), Ziggy fumbles in all these pursuits because of one type of intelligence that he definitely does lack: interpersonal/social skills — i.e., the ability to read a room and to play well with others. He constantly annoys people, never realizes he’s being tricked until it’s too late, and lets emotion get the better of him, leading him to be irresponsible and impulsive and seek instant gratification. This is, again, in contrast to Nick, who is much less tech savvy than Zig but far more personable and reliable. People like Nick. They trust Nick. Even Frank seems to have a closer relationship with his nephew than with his own son.

And this feeds into a critical difference between Nick and Ziggy. Nick, with Aimee and Ashley to support, is primarily motivated by a need for money; Ziggy, on the other hand, cares less and less about money as the season progresses and is primarily motivated by a desire for something Nick already has: respect. More broadly, Zig craves the validation of others, whether that validation comes to him as respect or approval or even just attention. This, more than immaturity and definitely more than a simple lack of intelligence, is what drives his behavior, including his most reckless or seemingly inexplicable acts. In some circumstances, it inspires him to act like a tough guy; in others, it manifests in childish clownery like whipping out Pretty Boy or waltzing around with a seeing-eye duck, as though he were a comedian playing to a crowd. It’s why he wastes his money on showy status symbols, like Princess and a $2,000 coat, or on buying rounds for the bar. And of course, it manifests in trying to show up his father, who seems to have plenty of time and money for all the other stevedores and yet, by his own admission, pays scant attention to his own son except when Zig screws up... which, needless to say, Zig has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about.

The irony, of course, is that the harder Ziggy tries to impress people, the less it works. His attempts to act tough get him trounced. The other stevedores are happy to let him buy drinks and play class clown, but they are very much laughing at him rather than with him, and the same guys who egg him on and flatter him always turn right around and scoff at what a fool he is after it blows up in his face. His biggest attempt to prove himself is the car heist... which actually goes off without a hitch! Like I said, Zig’s not bad at logistical planning; he comes up with a clever scheme and carries it out successfully. It should’ve been a triumph for him — proving that he could handle himself, that he didn’t need Nick or Frank looking out for him and deserved to be treated like a valid player in the game. But Glekas, like everyone else, saw Ziggy as easy to take advantage of and too weak to effectively retaliate. If it were earlier in the season, he’d have been right, just like every other time Zig wound up tricked and humiliated. Unfortunately for everyone involved, though, by that point, Ziggy — impulsive, hotblooded Ziggy — was “tired of being the punchline to every joke.”

The Wire: Truth Be Told (which I haven’t gotten to read beyond previews) calls Ziggy the “angry prince of goofs.” I think that, more than anything, Ziggy is someone who keeps trying on different costumes and never finds one that fits. He was supposed to carry on the Sobotka stevedore legacy, but the profession is dying, and even if it weren’t, Nick is far more an heir apparent to Frank than Ziggy is. So he tries to be a tough guy, but isn’t; tries to be the sort of cool, funny guy people like and admire, but can’t; tries to prove himself as a player, but makes mistake after mistake until he screws up so horribly that there’s no coming back from it. When Frank tells him that what he did to Glekas and the store clerk isn’t him, Ziggy replies incredulously, “It ain’t?” — because it is him, he did that! But he’s not suited to being a killer, either; he immediately falls apart with horror and remorse. So what is he? Who is he? Was there anything he could have succeeded at, any way he could’ve made better choices than he did?

In 2.10, shortly after Ziggy’s arrest, we meet Priscilla Katlow — the same girl listed on the fake paternity papers Zig gets pranked with in 2.07. In the earlier episode, Nick implies that Prissy is, to be crass, kind of the neighborhood bicycle, making it sound like she was nothing more to Zig than a one-night stand. I have a lot of feelings about the fact that it turns out she’s actually a childhood friend who’s visibly in tears over Ziggy’s situation when she finds Nick grieving on the playground of their old school. They’re maybe the only two characters we see who seem to not only care about Ziggy but genuinely like him, and they reminisce about a time, years ago, when he was supposed to buy them all some SoCo and Pikesville Rye. Instead, he bought Boone’s Farm — because, he claimed, “that’s what the college kids drank.” Then, while drinking it on that same playground, he shouted, “College kids ain’t shit!” And I know I’m really galaxy-braining here, really reading a lot into just a few lines, but I can’t help but wonder, like… This seems to have taken place toward the end of high school, since Prissy was driving her mom’s car and Ziggy could pull off a fake ID. Ziggy probably already knew that he was bound for the docks right after graduation, if he wasn’t working there already; Frank wasn’t even entertaining Zig’s mother’s wish that they send him to college instead. And I wonder if, to some extent, Zig resented that? Or resented not having a choice? Because this anecdote implies a mixture of wanting to emulate those college kids (drinking what he thinks they drink) while simultaneously deriding them — perhaps because he knew that he couldn’t be one, no matter whether or not he wanted to, and therefore had to act like the entire concept was beneath him.

I don’t know whether Zig would’ve done better in college anyway. I think that, contrary to popular opinion, he did have his own areas of intelligence and competence, but despite being in some ways the more “book smart” of the Sobotka cousins (Ziggy’s technical knowledge vs. Nick’s common sense), maybe he’d have been too immature to put in the work for school, too lazy or too proud to try. But I just wonder if he might’ve had a better chance at life that way, both in terms of staying out of trouble and of possibly finding a field that would’ve better rewarded his skill-set. Insofar as The Wire in general is about the changing face of Baltimore and how the shifting infrastructure of the city impacts the individuals within it (particularly the economically marginalized), and insofar as season 2 specifically is about the death of American industry and of the traditional blue-collar working class, Ziggy is an exploration of someone who fell through the cracks of that shift and, in that respect, was sort of doomed to failure from the beginning. James Ransone has described him as “very castrated” in terms of his power and potential for social mobility, the game being rigged against working-class people like him even with the advantages of being a white male. Ziggy’s brother, armed with a college education, might fare better in the 21st-century workforce... But even if Zig hadn’t ended up in prison, he probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer in the family business anyway. Johnny Fifty, a more senior checker, is homeless by season 5, and unemployment is the implied fate of nearly all longshoremen in the near future.

And honestly? Although I really like Ziggy, I appreciate that he’s a failure. I think one of the reasons I do feel so deeply for him is that the narrative never rewards his errors or glorifies his misdeeds. If it did, he’d risk coming off as one of those edgy, disenfranchised white guy antihero types, and I doubt I’d have found that nearly as sympathetic or interesting. By the standards of The Wire, Zig’s relatively small-time in terms of how much damage he causes and pretty notable for how extremely he regrets what harm he does do, but that still doesn’t excuse his actions, and the narrative doesn’t pretend that it should. Nor does it pretend that he’s not also worthy of our interest and pathos anyway.

Ziggy Sobotka is not cool. He’s not a badass. He’s not any of the things he tried to be during the season, and he’ll probably never get a chance, now, to be anything other than a murderer locked up for life. And I know he wasn’t entitled to any fate other than the one he earned for himself, but I wish he’d been able to find a better path.

[thenightling]

Why you may not actually want to ship Lyta Hall and Eve

@sorry-for-the-chocolate​ has alerted me to the fact that there is someone here on Tumblr who ships Lyta Hall and Eve (from Neil Gaiiman’s The Sandman) together.

Usually I don’t judge anyone’s ship.  Ship and let ship is what I usually think but this same person, ironically, decided to accuse me of paedophilia for emotionally / intellectually shipping Daniel Hall and Morpheus together.  The irony?  Daniel and Morpheus literally ARE the same being. They are both aspects (meaning living embodiment of a part of, or incarnation of) Dream of The Endless.   That’s not up for “interpretation.”  That’s established canon fact. 

The person convinced complete strangers and non-Sandman fans that I was shipping a three-year-old and “some old dude” and convinced others that Morpheus is Daniel’s father and named him even though both of these statements are quite incorrect.  Morpheus knew Daniel’s name, he did not name him.  If anything Daniel named himself.   Also we are literally told in issue 12 of The Sandman that Lyta had been pregnant with Daniel for years- meaning he was conceived while Morpheus was in captivity.  Morpheus is not his father,    

And finally, Daniel has not been three-years-old since 1994.   Daniel is a character from Vertigo comics and time moves in Vertigo as it does in the real world.  Yes, when he was revealed as being an aspect of Dream he abruptly aged in 1995 but over twenty-five-years have passed since then and as an aspect of Dream, Daniel has over ten-thousand-years worth of memories.  This isn’t a matter of “interpretation.”  Everything I said has been repeatedly confirmed by the author and can be found in the Q and A in the back of The Sandman: Overture Deluxe edition.     

 Now, what’s all this about the shipping of Lyta and Eve?  

It’s just a typical F/F ship, right?   Well...

First we need to go back a bit.  Back in the mid-1980s DC had an event called Crisis on Infinite Earths, very similar to the recent TV event of the same name.  It merged messy continuities and changed events.  It was the first major comic book soft-reboot.   Lyta Hall is a remnant of the pre-Crisis DC Universe.  In her original continuity she was the daughter of Wonder Woman.  That’s why she’s named Lyta. It’s short for Hippolyta,  That’s the name of Wonder Woman’s mother.   

When the dust settled after the Crisis on Infinite Earths event some characters were left displaced and with broken / old continuities.  Lyta was one of them.    

Now we come to the Hecatae or The three-in-one.  These are The Kindly Ones AKA The Furies from Greek mythology, Wonder Woman’s bloodline...  They are also the fates.  The three-in-one.  As you can see, they acknowledge that Lyta is of their blood despite The Crisis on Infinite Earths event.  The maiden aspect refers to Lyta as “Granddaughter.” 

  When The Kindly Ones attack The Dreaming in The Sandman: The Kindly Ones story arc they opt to leave Eve alone because she is another aspect (another personification) of the three-in-one.  Essentially meaning she is the same as they are.  A living representation of the three-in-one.  It’s sort of like Odin of Iceland vs. Mr. Wednesday in American Gods in that they are both versions of Odin even if they are mostly autonomous to each other.  And it’s also like how both aspects of Dream (Daniel and Morpheus) are the brother of the other Endless because they are both aspects of the same being (like facets of a jewel as Morpheus describes it.).   This isn’t Headcanon.  This is just how Neil Gaiman’s lore works.   He can confirm it on his own Tumblr blog if you ask him.

The Kindly Ones literally say Eve is “an aspect of ourselves.”   This isn’t just metaphor (though much of The Sandman is metaphor).  That means that like The Kindly Ones themselves, Eve would count as literal blood relation to Lyta Hall. 

You’ve got to love the irony that someone who accused me of an incest ship because they misinterpreted the lore accidentally promoted an actual incest ship...

This is especially ironic because simply mentioning the Daniel’s canonical relationship with Ivy (who technically is his own great niece) lead the weird assumption that I am pro-incest (even though I don’t even like that relationship) and yet that same person is now perfectly all right shipping Lyta Hall and Eve.  

TL;DR?:

Lyta Hall is Eve’s Granddaughter because Eve is an aspect of The Three-in-one, same as The Kindly Ones.   One of you just shipped a woman with her grandmother...

 @sorry-for-the-chocolate​ Feel free to share and tag whomever needs this.

[fallingin-like]

november 14

14. sleeping with ghosts by @boybeaulieu​ [requested by @fuzzballsheltiepants]

see which other fics i’m reviewing this month! / my review request post!

this fic is a super cool band!au that has andrew and gang playing placebo songs and neil as a solo singer. there has great use of a non-linear timeline. be prepared to feel all of the feelings

this fic is such an emotional rollercoaster, especially with the jumps between when andrew and neil are together and broken up. the juxtaposition of happy vs bad times made everything that much more impactful. i was reading so quickly just wanting to know what was going to happen next.

parts i enjoyed:

”being back to numbness is not exactly a revelation, more of a failure” oh oof i feel this. that feeling of ‘i had hoped this would not happen but i am not surprised, just disappointed/resigned’

”he can’t stop writing songs even in his own thoughts” woah i actually relate to this a bit. a couple years ago i was writing letters to someone and i found myself constantly drafting letters in my head, narrating my thoughts to them even though they weren’t around

”smiles andrew, sharp, all teeth and no joy whatsoever” oh nO andrew ;-;

”there is no way he is going anywhere neil josten might even breathe the same air he’s breathing. no way. no, nein, njet. fifteen minutes later, he’s signing a new contract” LOL i’m interested, is this due to pressure from the rest of the band or… maybe a little bit of andrew hoping to see neil?

”the anxiety that should come with that realisation is missing, this is a moment he will remember […] maybe what he means to say is that this is a moment he will want to remember” oh this is so soft. i’m so happy, but worried because i know this all goes wrong

hhhh andrew writing about neil!! very cute. also cute is “this is the first time andrew actively asks him about his album and it shows in a way neil looks taken aback, but hopeful”

honestly reading about andrew when he’s crazy high and numb is so hard

aaron going after that technician is a great moment. even though the twins have such a rocky relationship, at the end of the day, aaron will protect andrew and andrew will protect aaron and i love seeing that.

the conversation between andrew and renee is so interesting. they have such a complicated, yet simple relationship, always knowing how to communicate without saying things, when to push and when to back down. seeing andrew feel comfortable enough to finally talk about neil is a good example of how much he trusts her

PICTURES OF RIKO KISSING NEIL EXCUSE ME WHAT IS GOING ON (i secretly love this because i love angst)

this first meeting between andrew and neil is really interesting to read. it’s basically a one-sided conversation but we learn so much because even though he’s not speaking, we get to see andrew’s thoughts and how he reacts to everything  and oo i love seeing both their tempers coming out, they clash in a way that works so well because it almost balances each other out

and with that, he turns around and makes to leave. andrew… andrew is a bit star struck.” oh the irony here

soooo does neil watch andrew leave and follow him to the roof? or does he just happen to be there (because i really want to believe neil followed him, but also wanted to give him some space)

”his monsters (nobody should ever know he calls them his, in his mind)” cute! and also i was not surprised at all because this is very in character. andrew is so possessive and, in his own way, caring 

”for once, andrew wants to be selfish, he wants to think about himself and finally, finally let go of song to say goodbye. it will either kill him or free him. he hopes it’s the latter, he used to hope it’d be the first” oh this is so sad, andrew’s longing to do something for himself for once and the reminder of when he was suicidal

”this feels like discovering aaron’s addiction and locking him in that bathroom, like watching him go in and never come back out. like breaking the door open and blowing air into his lungs and hearing nicky frantically dialling 911” wait a second. so what happens in this universe?

”the reply said: i’m sorry, one day you’ll understand” oh my goodness there has to be something more going on. what is riko threatening/blackmailing neil with?

the way that you write the relationship between andrew and aaron is really interesting, there’s so much unresolved tension. love seeing aaron finally stand up for himself and share the song he wrote

interesting the timeline you’ve gone with, having betsy and andrew not that close to each other during aaron’s trial. the trial itself… it’s very painful and i hate to think that andrew has to share such a vulnerable part of himself to save his brother

”sometimes i think about how it would be if you were the one tilda chose, wish it, even.” woah this is something that would be cool to explore. how each twin would have turned out differently if faced with the opposite situation, because although they’re twins, they’re still so different. how would it affect everything that happens in the books? i wonder if andrew would have joined exy

”exit wounds, though, is a trump card. just like neil. it will either set him free or kill him, andrew has the uncanny suspicion it’ll be the last one” hhhhh how dare you do this to me

oH DANG WHAT DID YOU DO TO NEIL? i really like that you have this from andrew’s perspective, keeps everything so suspenseful. what the heck this scene is so intense.

hmm seth’s death is interesting. to have everyone present and seeing their reactions, especially aaron’s, makes it that much more impactful

”as all over the place and exuberant as nicky is, he’s also quite observant. if he weren’t his cousin, andrew would have to eliminate him” haha this is exactly something that andrew would think, with his odd sense of affection.

”andrew realises more and more with each word that if he were to sign this, he’d be stepping from a cell into a cage” love the way that you described this

i like that you had andrew meet with bee, it’s comforting to think that through this rough time andrew still has someone around that he trusts to share with. who won’t judge him and just wants the best for him

ahh seeing the events leading up to neil’s tour gives a lot more understanding of the thought process of neil’s decision and why andrew is reacting the way he is

i actually can’t believe kevin. first of all, it’s actually pretty impressive that he has been able to hide riko contacting him for so long (although i suppose that andrew hasn’t been as observant as usually since the call). to think that he knew for so long about who neil was but didn’t say anything?? 

andrew and neil’s march 2018 fight is a big oof.

”he is done being carved open like this, with no knife or pain or malice. with interest and intrigue and plain, simple curiosity. it should feel like being carved open, it’s more like being gently torn apart” woah the wording you used for this is so amazing, i love these lines

”if you could see yourself the way i see you on that stage, you wouldn’t even think about that. it’s a risk, but one that’s worth taking, i should know about that” oh neil, you always know where to hit and how to hit the hardest

”it’s been a very long time since andrew has felt fear outside his nightmares, this unease settling in his stomach is certainly not welcomed. it also isn’t anything new” ahHHHHHHHH

neil’s performance was great, i liked that he left stage immediately and just ran straight to andrew. how did neil free himself of riko? was it since nathan was killed?

this was a really interesting fic, the changes you made from canon made it unpredictable in a good way and kept me wanting to know more. i think i probably would have found it even better, had i been familiar with the songs that you reference throughout. either way, i think the ones that you chose fit well into the story that you were trying to tell because the lyrics that you included were great. i liked the way that you used different time jumps for each section to build suspense and also reflect and show how certain events were influenced. thanks for writing this!!

[sea-changed]

vermiculated replied to your post: vermiculated replied to your post...

I can't believe I missed this until now! wow! Here I am, here you are, there are books and words between us. wonderful. thank you.

<3 <3 <3

I have to tell you that I read Olivia Waite's new ff and it has exactly this problem. It is as though both heroines are mealy-mouthed and forgettable so that the reader won't be offended by reading a book about women. Their only flaws are caring too much, wanting appropriate twenty-first century style recognition (ahistoricism doesn't bother me but as I was reading it, I thought, @sea-changed​ is going to be livid) and accidentally misunderstanding one another...

also attempted financial abuse. which I mention separately because it added a note of the glass armonica to the music of the spheres. how is ff so inadequate to our desires?

Oh no, this is terribly disappointing to hear; I’d been holding out some amount of hope for this one, though that was probably folly on my part. Why, in a subgenre written by and wholly about women, can the seemingly fairly standard “women are people” concept continually fail to gain ground? I’ll still read this, as it’s waiting for me on my phone and the upcoming semester promises to require mindless stress-reading, but I’ll be extremely irate about it. (I always think I can be magnanimous about ahistoricism in romance novels, which is obviously a lie, but it is good to be known like this.)

re: re: 34, I love the sweeping romantic sentiment because they manage to meet in the middle only when they both understand themselves to be ludicrously devoted. It didn't quite feel like a romance novel, you are correct -- there's a bit of neither fish nor fowl here? I personally feel that the natural second-half plot ought to have been shoring up how Richard and David love one another despite their respective troubled backstories rather than ...

...advancing the political thriller from "A Seditious Affair" and developing a coherent moral world. Which is what novels are oriented toward: why do people do what they do, despite everything? In romance, they do it because they love one another (or they're supposed to) whereas I think more complicated motives such as you discuss are much rarer.

oh, novels!, I say, like I live inside Tony Trollope's vision. I think the book tries to have it both ways and ends up being slightly frustrating for all readers. just write two books, Kimberly! Kimberly is what I call her when I am trying to hector her from afar. dear Kimberly, please have Susan stab Templeton. xo.

“Just write two books” is honestly what it comes down to: it feels like two books, and while I get that the political thriller part allowed David to be David to to requisite degree, after how gracefully it was cleaved to the romance plot in Seditious Affair it felt a bit tacked-on here. And while I’m certainly not opposed to moral ambiguity in my ships, the genre formula seems to require that said ambiguity, if there is any to begin with, be neatly swept under the rug; it’s really the sweeping I have the problem with rather than the ambiguity itself. (Because like, should Richard be fucking his valet? No! That’s a pretty open-and-shut one. Which certainly doesn’t mean I’m opposed to watching it happen, but I’d like fewer bows on my endings, I guess. Did you know Gentleman’s Position was the first book of the series I read, because I thought it had the most interesting-sounding summary? In hindsight this amuses to no end.)

(The accusation that there are similar moral issues and rug-sweeping in Seditious Affair, and that I am simply too starry-eyed over it to complain about them, is potentially quite valid, though because of said stars in said eyes I’m not the one to judge.)

(dear Kimberly, please have Susan stab Templeton --The only way I can see this going down with zero hair torn out of my head, quite honestly.)

re: re: 39, @mysharkwillgoon​ made the unkind (but accurate) observation that this series is always available at our county library because no one likes it. I recognize that I am utterly alone in how much I enjoy this, and am really pleased that you picked it up and felt the requisite feelings. I know you're not a Victorianist by practice or nature, so it's impressive that you returned to this weird book.

HA, I’ve made this same observation (likely about the same library!), which I’ll admit is satisfying to the part of me that thinks everyone should have my taste, though dissatisfying to the equally clamorous part of me that wants to read Seditious Affair for the sixteenth time and has to wait for it on hold. Weird romance seems to be my favorite kind, so I too am glad I returned to it. Not a Victorianist by practice or nature may have to go on my office wall.

A general query: can literary fiction be experimental enough to reach the logical end-point of the genre or are we still pretending that felicity in art is enough? Why must there be meaning in the world? Perhaps I judge the Booker too harshly: it is only a literary competition, it is not an immurement by orange sticker -- yet every book I have wanted to love from the longlist has given me the same depth of emotion that I feel on regarding ...

...a tray of wrapped zucchini at the grocery store: why are we engaging in such resource-intensive craft! (this is not strictly true. I delighted in A Little Life, it was nothing like plastic on vegetables at all.) To continue, is the worst thing that happened to literary fiction the application of irony? I am no supporter of the genuine, the real, the unmanufactured, yet ironic distance can hardly support so much.

It's not a prerequisite. and it looks like smugness more often than it comes off as wit. I read someone recently saying that the problem in Jude the Obscure is "done because we are too menny" which struck me -- a biased Hardy fan -- as missing the point about art: the place where it happens is an artificial one, but it has greater force for that. it's not a bug, it's a feature!

"somewhat poisonous nostalgia" sick burn, I like it.

Speaking of sick burns, “the same depth of emotion that I feel on regarding a tray of wrapped zucchini at the grocery store” has the devastating combination of being both pithy and accurate. I do find myself regularly mystified about what criteria are used to long-list books in general (the Booker being, I think, a particularly frequent and egregious example): it leaves me to wonder whether a) people who judge these things find being left cold and unmoved a virtue in fiction or b) they are led to feel things about writing I find cold and unmoving. (I tend toward the first, though the fact that people have seemingly genuine emotions about Madeline Miller novels would argue strongly for the second.)

The pitting of irony and emotion against one another is, I agree, one of the central failings of the literary genre: Both! Both are good! As you say, being in a constructed hothouse universe is not to be derided (though certainly poked at), and it does not (or at least should not) lessen the emotional validity of the created world. Have faith in your own creations, you dimwits.

I have been thinking all morning about your observation that none of these books are experimental enough: I thought the French were meant to be good at this. Do you think it has to do with our late uneasiness around teenage sexuality, and that writing a sufficently-complicated teenager such that he is entitled to his own sexual preference means that authors no longer sound unique, ...

... but rather like a series of psychology textbooks. Which can be a pleasure (what's UP, Megan Abbott) yet tends to make these books extremely ... putdownable. Thank you for this, there's really nothing better than having a person with exquisite taste on whom one can rely to read books first.

I do think that there is an essential trouble with alienation in YA novels: so many read as false and/or patronizing, because they’re being written to teenagers rather than about teenagers. (Sometimes this is rectified when adult lit writes about teenagers, but mostly it is not, and certainly not in this case. Here again is a case of irony vs. emotion; if you’re not going to give me emotion, you’ve got to be a whole lot better at irony--or in this case more specifically narrative commentary--than this.)

(On the subject of complicated teenagers having sex convincingly, I was recently a fan of Patrick Ness’s Release, which the author describes it as a cross between Mrs. Dalloway and Judy Blume’s Forever; a comment I’ll let stand on its own sizable feet.)

And there is truly nothing better than having someone to dump your own particular long-winded exegeses on, so thank you for that in return.

ps I read Astray and it was so frail! "disappointingly pedestrian" indeed. If I could write like Emma Donoghue, I guess I would labor under the curse that afflicts her plotting.

For being a book that contained so much that I love--an entire collection of extremely specific and well-researched historical settings!--it was so flat. I know Donoghue can write better sentences, I’m at a loss why she chose to not put any in this collection.

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 4X09 - Fall

Today, our heroes attempt to stop Ingrid’s curse, but find themselves a bit...FALL-ty at it!

...It was a stretch, but it worked!!!!

Anyways, there’s a review under the cut!

Main Takeaways

Past

There’s really not a lot to say about the past segment this time. It’s really good -- filled to the brim with Kristoff, Anna, Blackbeard, and Hans snarking at each other every step of the way and smart and pragmatic moves by all of the characters -- but it’s very much an exposition dump in that same vein. Seeing as it wasn’t especially long and because it was entertaining and cohesive, I don’t really have a problem with that.

Present

Believe it or not, once again, Rumple is the stand-out character in this episode. He gets so many character-rich moments and pieces of dialogue here. From ”You’re usually so confrontational” “I prefer reasonable” showing Rumple’s twisted take on how he views himself and his deals to “If I have to choose between everyone else and me, “me” wins everytime” showing his sense of priorities, he gets just really good lines.

Regina’s speech in the library is fucking perfect and my favorite scene of the episode. For as much as “the third way” that constantly gets spouted out in later seasons is nice to think about, in a situation like this, as leaders, they have to make the difficult choices and because of the ticking clock of the situation, a third way isn’t viable. Someone has to suffer and it’s up to them to choose who. And I LOVE how most everyone is in agreement with this sentiment and that the only person who disagrees, Elsa, disagrees only for personal reasons. This is an outstanding conflict that is perfectly framed. We get what amounts to a real life trolley problem and these conflicts tend to be so good because they let you know who these characters are. Regina looks at this problem like a leader and convinces everyone else to look at it in the same way very easily. And even though a third way is eventually found, the consequences of this decision still take place and are only not further dwelled on because of the he same ticking clock propelling the story forward.

And in that same vein, I like how when Elsa does screw them over, Emma does pragmatically change gears and goes to help Elsa, seeing as how it’s their only chance at this point. It’s also not only pragmatic, but shows how Emma’s growing more hopeful and how she cares for the friend that literally just saved Emma from herself and her fear.

Finally, I like how most everyone works together in this episode. Like in the first half of Season 2 and in moments like the present segment of “That Still Small Voice,” you really get a sense of how Storybrooke is a community. Everyone’s playing a part in keeping the town safe, the fairies converted Granny’s into a lab and are aided by Belle, Leroy’s giving mining advice, Regina and Henry are working with Robin and the Merry Men, Emma and Elsa are searching for Anna, etc. Episodes and moments like this make Storybrooke feel like more than just a town and expose the real magic beyond the Chernabogs, wands, and daggers.

Stream of Consciousness

-”You’re usually so confrontational.” “I prefer reasonable.” This is just Rumple’s entire character in less than ten words! XD

-”You and your ‘sisters’ Elsa and Emma doing who knows what.” What DOES Ingrid hope to do with them?! Are they just gonna chase kites and play with magic all day? ...Damn, Ingrid is so fucking disturbed. Anyone ever see the episode “Baby Doll” from Batman: The Animated Series? Because is so much like the villain from that!

-I like the clever plan of our heroes trying something as pragmatic as just going over the wall.. It’s a solution that Ingrid might not have necessarily thought of due to her powers as well as her disdain for those without them.

-I also like the decision for Henry to go with Regina. The scene shows that Emma and Regina are practicing co-parenting and are still sorting out the kinks, and ultimately, Regina makes a good point: If Emma’s part of Ingrid’s plan and she only wants them alive, then Henry could easily be taken as a short-term hostage if he’s traveling with the people Ingrid’s focused the most on. Meanwhile, being with Regina is just a matter of time management in order to make sure he’s safe.

-In accordance with what I said in “Family Business,” for the gravitas of the secret that Belle his about Anna, Elsa really has no reaction to it. I’m stuck between being find that we don’t have to deal with another conflict and just kind of annoyed because a bulk of that episode’s weight is gone because of the importance of Belle’s resolve to hide that secret.

-Kristoff, I guess you could say that Anna’s...GRASPING AT STRAWS!! XD

-”And I SANG with you.” I love the implication that at the very least, that song was diegetic!

-Oh my Lanta! Kristoff used his ice pick right on that guy’s butt cheek! XD 10/10, best episode ever!!!

-”If I have to choose between everyone else and me, “me” wins everytime.” And here’s Rumple’s character in fifteen words or less! XD

-How did WILL get put in charge of the camp? He’s been a Merry Man again (Although, was he recruited again) for all of a day, maybe, and Robin now has him as a second-in-command? I get that they wanted to use the character, but that was a weird choice. Why not direct Little John to clear the camp and have Will sass off about something? It would make more character sense and remind Robin that he has a best friend who didn’t betray him and only show up in his life again by pure happenstance.

-”The only people who believe in me in this town are Henry and you.” ...You and Snow just had the biggest heart-to-heart! The hell?

-Interesting thing! The True Love spell that helped Snow and David find each other is a potion and it’s very likely that a similar potion was what enchanted what becomes Henry and Ella’s locket.

-”Pirates are better than wizards.” ...I feel like this is the OUAT equivalent of the more mainstream Pirates vs. Ninjas debate! Who’s better? YOU decide!

-BLACKBEARD!!!

-I love that bit of banter Snow and Regina have at the library. “A good mayor checks that these things are kept up to code.” “Yeah, well, if the mayor only has to worry about one villain and it’s herself, that frees up a lot of time for infrastructure.” Not only is it hilarious, but we get to see that backbone and wit of Snow’s on full display!

-I love Belle’s outfit at the diner! The vest and the button-down are cute together!

-...You know, dramatic irony be damned, I would LOVE to see an episode where Blue and Rumple are forced to work together and are on somewhat equal footing-knowledge wise. Their bickering, bantering, and exploration of the differences between light and dark magic would be just a cool thing to witness! I feel like it could go to better lengths to better contextualize these characters’ moralities and issues with each other and while they might not resolve anything, per se, they could have an interesting impact on the story and/or plot in some way.

-CHECK THE BAG! XD But in all seriousness, I do think the storytelling does a good job of illustrating why she doesn’t look in the bag. Emotionally, Elsa is being told she can’t go after Anna and that stings. Showing distrust would just crush Elsa.

-”I should know better than to trust blondes by now.” ...Was that line really necessary? Not only does it call back to a shitty episode, BUT hello! Tinker Bell?”

-”This trunk will make sure you dies without FINterference!” XD ...The arc of puns is BEST ARC!

-”She’s so talky.” You’re just realizing this now?

-I really do feel for Killian. Just look at his face. He was hoping that Rumple wouldn’t be able to get Belle out of there and he wouldn’t have to trap the fairies.

-Ooh! I LOVE how the camera got that mirror shot of Killian walking. Creepy and unsettling as hell!

-I also love the crazy magic stuff Blue’s doing!

-Honestly, the hat scene is shot soooo well. It’s like a horror movie in the way that the shots frame Blue as she hides along the counters of Granny’s.

-And then at the end of it, Killian’s regret and self-hatred is really thick too.

-”I may be immune to the spell, but you can still hurt me.” ...What the hell would you expect Belle to do to you?! XD Throw books at you? Claw at you with her nails? Granted, she’s a scholar so maybe she can fuck with your potions and do something screwy to you! XD

-”I don’t have to choose, thank you. I can and will have both.” I like this line because it heavily implies that while Rumple does love Belle, when pushed into a corner of choosing between the two, he will choose power.

-”Enjoy your last day in this or any land.” Yeahh…..about that…. XD

-”We won’t be able to hurt anyone from in there.” ...Those bars are not narrow enough to ensure that. Like, you and Snow can punch each other pretty easily from there! XD

-Emma saying goodbye to everyone just fucking wrecked me. “Elsa, can you hold my brother.” Just the way that line is said means so much to me! I don’t know what it is, but there’s so much love in the word “brother” and I just tear up when I hear it.

-”It’s [Your magic] what’s going to allow you to take on the Snow Queen and win.” ...I really wish it was that way, at least in some part (But we’ll address that next time!!!)

-I love the pan over of all the characters the moment before the spell hits. That is just gorgeously done and the music is so freakin’ epic. And then the quiet shakiness once the spell hits. Holy crap, is that unsettling!

Favorite Dynamic

Rumple and Killian. Killian and Rumple get a few scenes scattered throughout the episode and all of them work on two levels. First, I LOVE Rumple being a Magnificent Bastard. Robert Carlyle’s charisma for his villainy is so en pointe as it walks the line between dastardliness and likability. Second, it works for Killian as you really do feel sorry for his situation. While Killian definitely did dig his own grave, knowing the lengths that he went to in order to try and right his wrong, it feels undeserved and is appropriately framed so. Killian clearly hates everything Rumple’s making him do as well as his scheme as a whole and with his limited freedom, he lets Rumple know it, giving the sense that Jane really understood his character as she wrote him this time around, something that tends to be a little hit-or-miss for some writers. Hell, he even tries to convince help Rumple understand that his scheme isn’t worth risking Belle for and that he can still walk out of here with her love! Additionally, as I said before, Rumple gets a lot of standout moments in this episode and practically all of them are done with Killian.

Writer

Jane Espenson is our sole writer today and she does a fantastic job here! There’s a lot of plot progression in this episode, but it’s thankfully balanced by really good character work. Regina, Rumple, Elsa, Anna, and Emma are definitely among the highlights, but Snow, Killian, Belle, and Blue really rock in their supporting roles. Not only that, but this episode’s sense of time allows for a continuous feeling of urgency that kept the pace of the episode exciting!

Rating

Golden Apple. This was a fun episode to watch. It’s funny, exciting, actually makes some nuanced points about the difficulties of leadership, and really shows the bulk of the town coming together to stop this curse. Things feel very pragmatic in this episode and everyone has a better idea of the people who they’re dealing with. It makes an episode that’s so focused about plot and exposition exciting to watch, even as it has a pretty foregone conclusion.

Dark Side of the Ship

I don’t like using this segment of my reviews, so much so that the last time I did use it was the seventh episode of the series and here we are somewhere sixty-ish episodes later. And this one isn’t even a ship I think is bad, per se, but just one I find doesn’t live up to its potential and I wanted to explain myself as to why I thought so. So, it gets a little anti-OQ here just as a warning if you want to avoid it. I certainly wouldn’t blame you in the slightest, especially if you’re a fan of it.

Not gonna lie, for all the gravitas put on Regina and Robin’s scenes together in both the forest and the mayor’s office, I really wish they actually had a scene together in the next episode. Not only would it have been payoff for that scene, but a fair amount of this half season as well as the last season and their relationship has been a matter of Regina saying “you don’t know the bad things I’m capable of” and Robin saying that’s not the case while only hearing of what she’s done. I’m not saying that Robin can’t love her and choose to be with her despite knowing about these things (I’d be a major hypocrite if I did considering my own ship preferences). But I also can’t help but feel like this is where the real intrigue of their relationship comes from -- they both love each other despite being through things the other couldn’t possibly understand or easily relate to. And I wouldn’t say this if this wasn’t basically the setup for the entire season with a past consequence of someone who justifiably hasn’t forgiven Regina and matters a lot to Robin showing up and again, given the two conversations in this episode filled with importance over Robin possibly seeing Regina as her worst self. The fact that nothing is ever done with that concept in a meaningful way is why I don’t love this ship. If Outlaw Queen was just a fluff ship in the background like it basically was in Season 3, I wouldn’t be complaining, but I’m giving this ship’s development attention because the show is giving it so much attention.

-----

Woohoo!!! Another great episode!!!! Thank you for reading as well as to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales and the awesome @daensarah! Also, let me know if you want to be tagged in these reviews! See you next time!!!

Season 4 Total (79/230)

Writer Scores: Adam and Eddy: (16/60) Jane Espenson: (20/40) David Goodman and Jerome Schwartz: (30/50) Andrew Chambliss: (14/50) Dana Horgan: (6/30) Kalinda Vazquez: (14/40) Scott Nimerfro: (6/30)

*Links to the rest of my rewatch will no longer be provided. They take posts with links outside of searches and I spend way too much time on these reviews to not give them that kind of exposure. Sorry for the inconvenience, but they still can be found on my page under Operation Rewatch.