#to set the scene: two accidental dimension travellers who think they’re time travellers have an argument.

[blue-eli]

Ink October day fourteen: Repulse

To drive back; repel.

To rebuff or reject with rudeness, coldness, or denial.

To cause repugnance or distaste in.

[mieczyhale]

~TUA Fic Recs~

for the @tuafeedbackfest !!!! there are so many amazing fics bc this fandom really is insanely talented - i wish i had the time to rec all of the ones i’ve bookmarked tbh - BUT as i don’t:: these are some of my favorites (ones i’ve read multiple times, ones that stuck with me, ones that have just a little extra.. Something??)

Amidst the Chaos by crazynadine [explicit. klave. vietnam] Ten months. Klaus spent ten months in Vietnam, fighting a war he didn't belong in, falling in love with a man he didn't deserve.The long and convoluted tale about how a time traveling junkie and a disillusioned solider found love amidst the chaos of war....

Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene by @obliqueoptimism [klave. vietnam] Klaus says so many horrifying things so casually, and it makes Dave worry.

Bolt from the Blue by @ancientst / TheArchaeologist [mature. parent!klaus. five as klaus’s son] When they were sixteen Klaus successfully escaped for the night, and to celebrate went to the disco with a girl he barely knew. He was young, terribly misguided, but overall the night had been amazing.He just didn't expect to have a baby dumped in his arms nine months later.

can i be the only hope for you by @dancinbutterfly [explicit. klave. vietnam] Klaus is so special the pull of him is overwhelming. Dave doesn’t think he’s strong enough to resist his gravity. He’s too powerful. And fuck it, Dave doesn’t really want to. or (How a fairly ordinary soldier falls in love with Klaus Hargeeves, superhero, time traveler, and medium)

Choirs Threaten in Voices I Only Feel by @veteranklaus [teen rating. klave. typical hargreeves family nonsense] The last time Klaus saw his siblings was at Allison and Patrick's wedding. A lot had changed since then; including the not-so-accidental, irreversible loss of his sight.There's no time to tell them that, though. Not with the return of their long-presumed-dead brother and the impending apocalypse. Plus, it doesn't matter. He's got Ben as a good seeing-eye ghost.

Eggs Benedict for Breakfast by warmhandscoldheart [mature. klave. feral!dave. protective hargreeves] In which Klaus hits his head hard enough to get retroactive amnesia, and Luther does what he thinks is best.

Everyone Gets Here Eventually by @hermitreunited [mature. klave. ghost!dave. tw discussions of suicide] In the afterlife, all it takes to be with your loved ones is for both of you to want to be together. But for some reason, Dave hasn’t been able to reunite with Klaus, so he’ll do what it takes to find him. 

i’d rather lose my limb (than let you come to harm) by @bluebacchus​ [explicit. klave. au. chickens] How Klaus and Dave find each other in a corner of a foreign field in Flanders, 1917. (WWI AU) OR, A story of love, war, and chickens.

If Your Life Won’t Wait by queenbaskerville [teen rating. major character death. family emotions] When Klaus dies on the dance floor, God kicks him out of the afterlife. But she only kicks him out halfway.

i wore his jacket for the longest time by sharkhette [not rated. klave. tw temporary death] Klaus just wants to see Dave again, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen, no matter the cost. Includes conversations with Ben, Diego, God, a surly preacher, and gratuitous references to certain MCR songs. 

Neon Groves by Livijoyann [mature. klave. vietnam] Klaus Hargreeves travels back to the Vietnam War and falls in love with Dave... and we've seen almost none of it so far. Enjoy a full following of Klaus's time in 1968 from the first kiss to the first "I love you", and ultimately, to the end (with just about everything in between). 

Orange is the New Leather Skirt by Doctor959 [mature. typical hargreeves family nonsense. post-s1] A Misfits/Umbrella Academy crossover (no need to know either fandom to enjoy). The Hargreeves land by a certain community center and shit gets weird

The Light Behind A Cloud by @theseance1968 [explicit. wip. klave. vietnam] An account of Klaus’ time in Vietnam, on a diverged path where Dave survives his injuries. Flowered with opportunities, Klaus chooses to leave his old life behind and stay in the past with him. But how will his decision effect the timeline he abandoned, where his siblings continue to fight to stop the apocalypse in his absence?

The Shadows You Leave Behind by rarae [mature. brothers being brothers. tw discussions of rape and consent] The Hargreeves have stopped the apocalypse and have just returned to the real world from training Vanya in Five's weird pocket dimension. Klaus decides he needs to get some of his things to bring back to the academy and drags Diego along for the ride. They run into one of Klaus’ old ‘friends’ and shit goes down.

the war is over, we are beginning by @karturtle [teen rating. wip. klave. 2019. good brother five] The Hargreeves are slowly beginning to fix things after averting the apocalypse, but Five notices that something is still broken

Two Truths and a Lie by twosidedcoin [general. typical hargreeves family nonsense] “I want to go next,” Klaus announced, “Okay. My eyes are brown. I can see dead people, and I once offered sex to a drug lord to get out of his trunk.”Luther’s fist balled the paper into a ball as he snapped, “The point- Klaus- is to make the lie hard to guess.”Allison nudged Luther with her toe as she corrected, “His eyes are green.”

War is Hell by sauropod [explicit. klave. fix it-ish] Klaus' hands were still filthy with dried blood and muck as he fumbled at the clasps, the combination lock on the top. Desperate, blind hope had his heart going a mile a minute. The dial still read that seemingly random set of numbers it had the first time he opened it on the bus, what felt like a lifetime ago. 0213-18-02-1967“Please.” Klaus choked. “Please work.” He opened the briefcase.

Watch The Heavens (They’re Falling Down) by smile_it_will_get_better [teen rating. wip. typical hargreeves family nonsense] He reached under his pillow on reflex, and there was something there, something hard and rectangular and Five couldn’t help but pull it out.It was a package, encased in brown paper, a small tag attached to the side. Five thumbed it over, ignoring Luther’s inquiries about what it said.To Mr. Five Hargreeves, watch these if you want to survive the apocalypse.

We Only See Each Other at Arrests and Bails by icestorm238 [teen rating. brothers being brothers] aka the five times Diego picked up Klaus from the police station, and the one time Klaus picked up Diego.

Where’s Dave? by multifandom_damnation [teen rating. klaus centric. family emotions] Klaus has a flashback during family time and his siblings finally learn about all the horrific shit he's gone through, a heart to heart ensues and Diego proves how good a brother he really is. It's not a great revelation to have

Wild Eyed Boy by intheflowers [not rated. klave. slow burn. vietnam] Klaus dropped into Dave's life with a flash of blue light.It was the first time Klaus suprised him, but it was far from the last, and while at first he’d wondered if Klaus was maybe a little mad, it wasn’t long before he was certain that he really, definitely was.Not that it mattered much. Klaus had stolen his heart long before then. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -    ~FIC SERIES RECS~ It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You) by @thefangirlingdead A series of moments between Klaus and Dave, during and post-season one. Definitely a fix-it universe dedicated to giving Klaus the happiness and love he deserves. Hope There’s Someone (Who Will Take Care of Me) by @siriuspiggyback baby that’s just how i am by princex_N He's the only one who tries to get used to it, because what other choice does he have? The others still wait, still ask when he'll be done playing around, still yell at him for being annoying, but no one seems to stop and realize that there's nothing he can do about it.Klaus gets used to it, but he's the only one who does.

[mingyubabe]

yes need theory please :)

HI OKAY SO thank you sm for asking first of all! this is gonna be extremely rambly and incoherent, but i’ve tried my best to remember all key points in all 3 mvs to get a somewhat coherent storyline in we must love. also this is LONG bc i got 3 seperate theories that are all building on the same premise but kind of different? so buckle up lmao!

Feel free to ask me any questions about this or ask me to re-explain something that sounds off, if you can’t tell i’m really excited about this!

Backstory: ONF lives in a post-apocalypticworld where all or most other humans left the earth in search for a new home amongthe stars (shown in O/F). Onf, or at least some members, were created as robots in a lab before the humansleft and are now left there alone. This leads into Complete where not muchhappens, but it looks like theyre having a good time and exploring the worldthey live in, until the inciting incident of We must Love. 

These theories are all based of the timeline On/Off,Complete and then We Must Love in chronological order.

Theory: Only Laun and Hyojin were createdas androids, the others are regular humans. Because of this they got a specialbond because they understand each other. In WML, Hyojin is shown extremelyagonized over Laun’s disappearance, reminiscing about happy memories with him.Towards the end of the MV we’re shown Hyojin approaching Laun by a trainstation, reaching out for him, but Laun only looks at him before he turns aroundand leaves. However, this is shown in black and white, and we also see aglimpse of Hyojin’s sad expression from Laun’s perspective early in the mv whenLaun finds himself alone and confused in the woods – therefore I think this isan event that happened before Laun’s disappearance and the whole search partybegins. I feel like something happened between Hyojin and Laun that made Launwant to leave – and since he’s an android, perhaps with special powers, he “accidentally”teleported to a different dimension or time period. Or maybe he did it onpurpose to get away – only later realizing he’d made a mistake. 

The search for Launbegins as they realize he’s not in the same dimension anymore – J-us using histechnology to send the others (Wyatt and E-tion specifically) to otherdimensions to look for him. (you can see the two of them “glitching” in theirlocations – as if they don’t belong there. They’re projections of their actualself, which lets them explore and technically “be” in the other dimensions butthey’re not… actually they’re? like holograms) However, Hyojin’s got a devicethat lets him freely travel without the help of J-us it seems like? E-tioncomes across Laun at the train-station, but since they’re technically not inthe same dimension, one side always “slips out” before they can properlyreunite. In E-tions case, he’s projecting into the universe Laun disappeared to.In the case where they find him in the lab, I think they’re in ONF’s original dimensions(since all of them are present?) but Laun is tinkering with thedimension-skipping tool and has already set a new destination when he sees theothers. 

It seems like it’s impossible for ONF and Laun to meet up again – whichis devastating for Hyojin who never got to make up with Laun before he disappeared.

I like this theory, however there are someloose ends: Why is J-us seemingly arrested for searching for Laun? Is itillegal to time travel?? Who the heck is arresting him?? Why and where isHyojin riding the train? My inclination is that he’s riding it after Launrejected him by the train station, but I’m not completely sure. What is MK and Yuto’srole in all of this? What are the doomsday like comets raining down in thebeginning like for real???

Theory variant 1: Laun plugging in the battery ofthe machine in O/F leads to him short-circuiting and accidentally teleportingto the alternative dimension in WML. Everything else is pretty much the same asin Theory 1, except Laun and Hyojin never had a falling out, and the trainstation scene is rather another instant of them meeting across dimensions butthe connection not being strong enough to last/properly let them communicate. Thisalso makes sense but the only thing that bothers me is the fact that Launclearly sees Hyojin at the train station but decides to turn around and leaveanyway. The problem with this theory is it makes Complete falling in between O/F and WML impossible, so Complete must happen after WML, which is possible but not something i can 100% back up.

Theory variant 2: building on the premise oftheory 2, but this time, Laun’s actually from another dimension to begin withand doesn’t actually belong in ONF’s world. He’s the comet that we see crashingto earth in the clips in O/F, and he was brought to the lab for researchpurposes (that’s why he’s kept in a cell). He then of course befriends theother ONF members, until he’s suddenly forced back to his original dimension,perhaps by the initial researchers to do more research? Like he’s reporting backto them or something? This explains why J-us is stopped in his attempt to trackdown Laun, because the researchers want Laun to stay in his own dimension sothey can gather more data. (for this theory to work, we have to disregard my backstory theory about all humans leaving earth LMAO) He’s initially heart broken about being separated fromhis friends, but eventually adapt. This would be kind of sad because it impliesthat the train station scene with Hyojin and Laun means that Laun no longerwants to go back to the ONF dimension – he is satisfied being “home”. (thisalso explains why he looks so damn happy at the train station where E-tionfinds him lol)

Side note: Theory variant 2 COULD explain theapocalyptic meteor rain in the beginning. Perhaps the universe has realizedthat Laun belongs with ONF, and when he’s sent back to his original dimension,the universe gets unbalanced and ONF’s reality gets the consequences of it.Perhaps the comet rain is the universe sending more alternative Launs into morealternative universes so that the balance may be restored??? Omg this isgetting crazy pls ignore

Side note 2: Yuto’s scene might me indicatingtheir time in the lab (so pre-O/F and connects to the backstory). He’s in what seemslike a classroom and we can see “flashbacks” of all 7 of them being there,fooling around and looking happy, before they all fade away and Yuto’s leftalone. I don’t know why they’d all be in a classroom together unless they wereall created androids in the lab and had to be taught stuff about being human or whatever, but it seems pretty apparent to me that only Laun andHyojin are androids. However I don’t understand him setting the timer to 3:14 and then cuttingto E-tions face…. Maybe Yuto’s in on helping J-us project the others intodifferent dimensions and show them how much time they got to search for Laun?

LIKE I SAID this is long but i hope this was somewhat coherent and interesting!! i know i didnt explain everything super detailed so sth might be unclear. as you can see all my theories have some holes and issues but thats whats interesting and im gonna keep looking at it bc what else would i do? school work? socializing? HAH. anyways lol feel free to come with your own theories i would literally LOVE to hear them even if theyre completely unrelated to mine

[authenticparanoidghosts]

here’s a very long d&d story about the time my party used volleyball skills to become a god.  for @komodoclassic, because she asked

this is a story in three parts

part i - a brief introduction of major characters and setting

okay so this was our big sophomore year campaign that lasted from first semester on over into part of second semester

really good campaign, our DM put a lot of work into it and we love him, but we had so many players that we had to split into two groups who both played the same world on the same timeline which was a huge fantastic mess

it ended bc the group I was in got a total party kill fighting a lizard with a magic eyeball (a totally different story - I was playing a hot tree and I might have killed him on my own after the rest of the party died if he hadn’t had that fucking entourage) and the other group killed the interdimensional asshole/refugee guy my party was actually trying to help

anyways, important characters in this story:

our DM, who I will not refer to by name even though I do tag him by name sometimes. I love to be inconsistent 

me, playing my first character for this campaign (who did survive! she had to be retired before the lizard TPK for other nonsense reasons), a dwarf paladin named Taxes

Taxes (real name: Ataxite Tellus) was from a family of swindlers and petty criminals and was forced to leave her life of burglary and scamming when her parents got paid off to have someone take the fall for murdering The Very Important Mayor Of The Big Island Of This Archipelago Country and decided to frame her for it

instead of going to jail like she was supposed to, she was like “fuck this” and fled to a different island where she dyed her hair and put on a bandana like an old west outlaw and spitefully decided to dedicate her life to Not Being A Huge Asshole 

obviously the way to do this is by taking some (k)night classes and becoming a paladin

Taxes is not a very good paladin

her god is Deimos, who does fire and war and justice and out of all the gods we met during the campaign (which was honestly a shocking amount) he was the nicest to us

our DM said he (Deimos) got briefly famous on the d&d reddit - partially because of this story and partially because of the stunts we were pulling immediately before it

anyways it’s important that you know that Taxes is from a family of criminals and just genuinely not very good at her job

one of my roommates, playing an elven wizard/lich whose name was Faenor but went exclusively by Gregg

good things to know about Gregg: she and Taxes had a classic straight man/banana man dynamic where she would try to do terrible ridiculous criminal things and Taxes would loudly protest but do very little to stop her

a friend, playing a dwarf paladin/cleric named Yule Marbles

Yule also followed Deimos and she and Taxes had an elaborate prayer handshake that they’d made up that gave them DM-sanctioned bonuses to religion checks

our party prayed basically exclusively to Deimos and eventually gained new player characters who ALSO followed him so after a point we just kind of paraded around the world as Deimos’ Favorite Idiots

part ii - volleyball

alright those are the people you need to know, let’s set the scene

our party needs to flee Dinosaur Hell Island where we have just solved the mystery we were summoned to help investigate and also accidentally started a war

quick trivia: Taxes (me) got mocked CONSTANTLY through the campaign bc she kept ACCIDENTALLY STARTING WARS

BAD PALADIN BEHAVIOR

but I did get a joke proficiency in starting wars which I later convinced the DM to let me use to benefit the party, so who’s laughing now, motherfucker

(the final count was that at LEAST three (3) legitimate, real-ass wars could be traced directly back to my actions as Taxes, as well as a couple other events that I would prefer to call “skirmishes” or “battles” that happened more indirectly.  I refuse to count Malcolm’s not-so-legal battle for the deed to hell because 1) I did NOT help that guy, I just said I would, and 2) that was his problem and he started it)

we are leaving without telling anyone what we’ve found out

because they’re going to kill us, probably

you know. because of the war. that we started. on their already incredibly politically fraught island

the point is that we solved the goddamn mystery despite being absolutely terrible detectives and we FINALLY get to leave

we’ve been playing this part of the campaign for weeks and we’re all very tired of it

also the player who was intended to take point on the investigation (her hot mentor/maybe boyfriend? was the one who had called us there) had died pretty early on doing a pretty risky stunt involving a shark and an underwater cave, so we were just muddling through it

and we kept “”accidentally”” insulting people by stealing things (dinosaurs) and getting caught trying to break into things (sacred temples) and just generally being rude (Yule REALLY didn’t like the fey and I was briefly cursed by a swamp hag)

and, again, we started that war

we really need to skip town

a very unfortunate ship had crashed on the island a couple days previously and some of the people on it are very powerful sorcerers who we (really just Xenon, the half-orc fighter and everyone’s very best friend) have convinced to teleport us off the island

we just need to hide out on their beach and kill some time until the teleportation circle is ready

“do you want to take a rest?” the DM asks

“we should play beach volleyball,” someone else says, at the exact same time

resting is for suckers who are afraid of the very angry lizard people who want to kill us

we vote unanimously to play beach volleyball

the DM graciously decides that, in the interest of comedy, we have all the materials we need and won’t have to, like, sit down and weave a net

we break into two teams of four. team names are quickly decided to be The Hotdogs vs. The Hamburglars 

after the party split our group retained “hamburglars” as our group chat name because our threshold for what entertains us is embarrassingly low

there are eight of us, so we’re playing four-on-four

the makeup of the teams isn’t important (and I can’t remember them), but know that we’re a half-orc, a tiefling, a middle-school-age human girl, an adult human man, two dwarves, an undead elf, and a fishperson

we spend a decent amount of time coming up with rules necessary to let us play volleyball

it’s mostly dexterity checks and rolling a d4 to see what quadrant of the court the ball lands in

some of our group doesn’t know the rules to actual volleyball and they have to be explained

listen. this is possibly the nerdiest thing I’ve ever done. I’m willing to acknowledge that, you don’t need to tell me.

anyways, ultimately the outcome of the game doesn’t matter (the Hamburglars won) and neither does how good or bad anyone was at rolling for imaginary volleyball (we fucking crushed the Hotdogs)

the point is that we played it and were so charmed by it that we would not forget about our new skills. we would remember them in our hour of need.

part iii - now I am (accidentally) become (NOT ACTUALLY A) god, destroyer of pirates

imagine there’s a timeskip

like, uh, two weeks later in game time at MOST

the group has split in real life, so my group is now Taxes, Yule, Gregg, Roswell (delightful fishperson), and another guy who stopped coming regularly and then was later replaced by another guy who doesn’t really become important until later, when we try to help a dimension-hopping dicklick by killing a lizard and stealing his eyeball

his character’s name was Yashirou and he’s not in this at all but it’s important that you know that by the time he died he had been partially transformed into so many different things that he was achingly close to being classified as an abomination and also was probably going to be fired from his job as a space cop

anyways, it’s a new day and a new session

actually, it’s probably like 11 pm. this will be relevant later

Taxes, Gregg, and Yule are the only player characters present because Roswell was busy or something

we’re on a new continent, hanging out with Taxes’ younger sister, Olivine

Olivine has also split from their parents and now runs an all-female gang of pirates who steal from the two much BIGGER gangs of pirates and also the trading federation and then sells whatever they’ve captured to the anti-government faction of the civil war that’s currently happening on the continent

this civil war is the only war currently going on/about to start where the root causes are NOT my fault in any way because when the thing that caused the circumstances that are creating unrest happened, Taxes had her hands over her ears and was humming loudly bc she knew she’d be morally obligated to do something if someone told her what was going on

right now, both major gangs of pirates and the trading federation are also all currently at war with each other

this is my fault

nobody but Gregg and Yule know it’s my fault, though, so I’m only in danger of being mocked for it

anyways we’re hanging out with my sister

doing crime

well, Gregg is doing crime.  Taxes and Yule are paladins so they’re just protecting their good friend Gregg from people who might try to do her harm.  it’s an airtight excuse, thank you

we’re actually on the continent because we’re traveling to visit Yule’s wife and son

so my sister and her gang (and us) have recently stolen a bunch of supplies from a guy named Scipio who is, we’ve been told, a Huge Asshole

Olivine’s gang is going to pay some local sailors to run the supplies up to the northern part of the continent which is both where the rebels are based and where Yule’s family lives

so ofc we’re on one boat (chock full of magical items we have recently lit a perfectly nice wizard on fire to steal) and two of the girl gang members are on the other (full of, like, food I think) providing security and acting as Olivine’s representatives for the deal they’re trying to make with the rebel camp

things are going well

we’re just sailing, no big deal

except, you know, like the first rule of d&d is Never Get On A Boat

and we are definitely on a boat

undeniably on a boat

on a boat full of MANY stolen goods

so ofc a couple hours into our trip, a bigger, faster ship sails up behind us. a bigger, faster ship with very official looking flags

it’s a gang of pirate enforcers (from one of the big two gangs) and they are presumably here to rob the shit out of us

“oh shit” we say, and look over at the other boat where the only NPCs who can help us also appear to be mouthing oh shit

“well,” someone says (me), “I think we can talk our way out of this”

I like to think I’m optimistic (and sometimes I find combat boring)

I prefer to try to lie my ass off to get us out of bad situations

we let the pirates board

things to know:

previous to this adventure on this continent, Taxes had gained the ability to see the names of everyone she meets, Death Note style

also she has a new helmet

more on the helmet later

Yule, who had been wearing Custom Order Rose Gold Plate Armor with the symbol of Deimos (god of LAW and JUSTICE) inscribed in the front and a cake recipe on the back, had been persuaded to take it off and hide it below decks so she looks less like the paladin/cleric she is

Gregg and Taxes look sketchy as hell all the time so they’re not worried

“hey, uh, what’s the plan?” someone asks, moments before the pirates climb onto our ship

“we are also pirates now,” Taxes says

“what”

“we are specifically the same sort of pirates they are because they’re not going to rob one of their own boats,” Taxes says, because she has the actor feat and is willing to use it

“alright, sounds good,” Gregg says, because she loves deception and can just blast the shit out of anyone with her wizard powers if things go south

so we let the pirates board

guy #1 (the only important pirate in this story) is obviously in charge and probably wearing an outfit that makes him look like a douche

he’s a huge douche which we find out immediately and also again later

you’ll see

he starts in on us, threatening everyone, asking our business and clearly winding up to start demanding that we put our hands on our heads and show him where our gold is

“Harrison,” Taxes says

she can see that his name is Harrison with her magic eyes

“Harrison, please, you’ve got the wrong boat”

Harrison - and everyone with him - about swallows his tongue in surprise that she’s addressing him by name

later we find out from the DM that at work he goes by something incredibly silly like Inflammis or Incindior or Combustus or something

none of the other pirates know his name is really Harrison

“who the fuck are you” the pirates, rather reasonably, want to know

“representatives of Lady Blackwing herself,” Gregg says, because we have a hold full of treasure we’ve literally just stolen from this exact group of pirates the day before and nothing to lose

Gregg is basically impossible to kill and should not be allowed to make decisions for the party, but we never learned

we attempt to convince Harrison that we are, in fact, pirates and that we do, actually, work for his boss (Lady Blackwing)

our story is that we’re secret profiteers who are selling things on the black market to both armies in order to fill Lady Blackwing’s pockets with gold

I’m sure you remember there’s a civil war about to get started

“what the fuck is a secret profiteer?” Harrison wants to know

“well,” we say, “we’d tell you, but how do we know you’re high enough up in the organization to have clearance for that information?” heavily implying that he’s a chump for not recognizing us

oooo, burn

Harrison is, of course, not fooled by this

so we send Yule down to the hold to get something to prove that we have our own cargo (that we definitely didn’t steal from them)

Yule comes back, arms full of Custom Order Rose Gold Plate Armor with the symbol of Deimos (god of LAW and JUSTICE) inscribed in the front and a cake recipe on the back, and we roll JUST barely high enough to convince him that we have our own goods and we might, in fact, be pirates who are on his team and he probably should try not to rob us 

so Harrison, a little dazed and definitely pissed off (we were not very polite to him), goes back to his ship

the pirates who have boarded the other vessel also go back to their ship

we start trying to sail the hell out of there as fast as possible

the other boat we’re traveling with sails up next to us and our NPC friends wave us over

“what the FUCK did you tell them?” hot girl gang member who can, like, literally smite things (she was clearly the muscle of the group) asks us 

“we convinced them we were also pirates,” we say

“oh shit” she says

their boat has convinced the pirates that they’re just merchants

turns out the pirates really are looking for the people who robbed them yesterday

for revenge

that’s us. they want revenge on us.

we decide to sail faster

it’s too late, though, because the pirate ship is sailing after us again and we already know they’re capable of catching us

“should we fire the canons?” someone asks, unsure if our boats even HAVE canons

“you should roll initiative,” the DM says, not at all like it’s a suggestion

we’re in combat

on Harrison’s first turn, he hits us with a level 7 fireball

turns out he’s a wizard and he’s very mad at us

Infernus, his work name was probably Infernus

we’re understandably furious about being on fire

there is some shouting that he probably cannot hear

now we get turns

two of us are paladins who don’t really have ranged attacks, and the other one of us is Gregg

the NPCs can do some cool shit but this has dragged on long enough so I will not mention them

“hm,” Gregg says, and tries to light them on fire back (it doesn’t work)

“oh dear,” Yule says, and attempts to fire a canon at them (turns out we do have them)

“I’d like to use my magic hat,” Taxes says, because she REALLY doesn’t want anymore 7th level spells being thrown around and now seems like a good a time as any to figure out what the hat does

“oh my god,” says the DM

“oh my god, really?” he looks delighted

this is the first inkling we get that Taxes’ magic hat is maybe more powerful than any item we ever should have been given

ABOUT THE HAT

previous to this adventure (after Dinosaur Hell Island), Gregg went house shopping and we ended up stealing a fortress carved into a meteor (located in a plane I think our DM might have made up that was basically space) from a Beholder 

after clearing the Beholder and most of its minions out from our future home, we went through it and found a whole bunch of loot.  most notably a rock with a weird marking on it, a shield, and a helmet

the rock went to Gregg who owned the house and when she picked it up the markings moved to her arm and gave her sort of a sick sleeve tattoo that I think boosted all her necrotic spells or something

goth as FUCK

Xenon, the fighter and our very good friend, got the shield and I honestly don’t think we ever figured out what it did

Taxes got the Helmet of War

she’s a paladin of the god of war (and justice and fire), so why not

it’s just a normal-looking helmet and it gave +1 to armor class and our DM had me roll a d4 to see how many charges it had

the helmet had 4 charges, and we did an arcana check but all we learned was that it would summon “an avatar of war”

cool, I thought, like a spirit or something that can fight with me in battle

well

we didn’t bother to investigate any further

“I’d like to use my magic hat,” Taxes says, thinking that an avatar of war might be able to fly and go attack Harrison from a distance

“oh my god,” says the DM, and from the light in his eyes you’d think one of us had just gotten down on one knee for him

“are you sure,” he asks in the DM Voice, and Taxes just shrugs because even if it doesn’t work, at least they’ll know what the hat does, right?

“yeah,” Taxes says, “I activate my magic hat”

“oh my god,” the DM says, and starts furiously writing something down

we wait with interest because we’re starting to get the feeling that the hat does something cool

who’d have thought

“okay,” he says, after a minute

“Taxes starts to glow and she steps off the ship,” he says

“what,” I say, because I’m wearing plate armor and don’t trust myself to roll high enough not to drown because of it

“a giant, 50 foot tall, glowing Taxes forms around her”

“what,” I say

“you’re standing on top of the water, piloting this giant spectral form from the inside”

“what,” I say

“your strength and dex are both 30 and you have 100 additional health,” he says.  “it’ll last for 10 minutes or until the 100 health are depleted”

“what,” we all say

“what would you like to do, avatar of war?” he asks

oh, I’M the avatar of war

THAT’S what the hat does

Taxes raises her arm and points at the pirate ship

HARRISON, she yells, in a voice that’s 50 feet tall and also glowing

the intimidation roll is a nat 20

Gregg does a perception check and the DM assures us that Harrison has peed himself

we all feel very smug

“I want that ship,” I say to the DM

“you- what?” he asks

“I want to have that ship. I’m going to pick up it up,” I say

“oh my god,” he says

“roll strength for it,” he says

Taxes rolls a nat 20 to pick up the ship

the second nat 20 in a row

all four of us are literally shaking with excitement

she scoops up the ship with one huge, glowing hand, and heaves it up to eye level

down on our boat, Gregg and Yule are going absolutely ape

Gregg is screaming encouragement, Yule is on the verge of ecstatic tears

this is also exactly how we feel in real life

“what do you want to do with the boat?” the DM says

“uhh,” I say, because I hadn’t thought that far ahead

we all contemplate the situation

“you could dropkick it,” someone says

“oh my god,” I say

we look at the DM

“roll something,” he says, because no one wants to see what’s about to happen more than he does

natural 20

the third one

in a row

this will probably never happen to me again, ever, in my life

all four of us are shouting at once, we’re on the verge of hysteria

I’m in tears

it’s nearly 1 am and we’re acting like we’ve won the superbowl 

this is the best possible outcome the magic hat could have had

“how do you want to do this?” the DM asks, which is his special ‘I’m going to give you gays everything you want’ phrase that usually means we get to decide the finishing blow for an enemy

“actually,” I say, “can I jump serve it?”

“oh my god,” someone says

that’s right.  beach volleyball, motherfuckers

“yes,” he says

50 foot Taxes tosses the boat into the air

takes a beautiful run-up

and spikes a boat full of pirates so hard that it soars over the coastline and crashes well inland

“wow,” the DM says.  “I’m gonna need some time to figure out how much experience this get you”

later, once he’s got it figured out, it will be enough to give Taxes two levels instantaneously as well as giving Gregg and Yule one each

Taxes goes back to the boats she’s been traveling with

EVERYONE on board is losing their goddamn minds

Yule and Taxes decide to ride the high and take a moment to make an extra big prayer to their god to thank him for the magic hat because it’s so incredibly baller

the roll is not a nat 20, but a holy fire descends upon Mega Taxes and the symbol of Deimos appears over her huge, spectral breastplate

Attack of the Fifty Foot Taxes decides to just pick up the ships she’s traveling with and carry them as far as her remaining 9 minutes of avatar time will get her

“what day is it,” I ask the DM as we’re doing this, because we’re tracking exactly what day it is in-game and it’s fun to know

“june 21st,” he says, after flipping through his notes

“huh,” someone says, “that’s the summer solstice”

“oh my god,” he says

you’ll never guess which patron deity’s major holiday is celebrated on the summer solstice

that’s a lie, you get one guess

it’s Deimos, god of fire and justice and war and being AWESOME as HELL

so

a giant, glowing figure of a dwarf in battered armor with the symbol of Deimos blazing on their chest was seen walking across the ocean just offshore of a major continent that is currently on the cusp of all-out civil war on the morning of Demios’ holy day

it’s just Taxes, who really only does these things on accident or on impulse in the heat of the moment

but the people of the continent don’t know that 

soon, after reaching our destination and starting off on foot towards the village where Yule’s wife lives, we start hearing rumors about the return of Deimos, the Real Ass God

this is what makes the third war my fault

the rumors are never disproven and people continue to believe that Deimos Really Did That until the day we called it quits

“oh my god,” Taxes, a very grudging paladin, says in horror, adjusting her bandana more firmly over her face

“oh my god,” says Gregg, who knows exactly how she’s going to be introducing her friend to the next person they meet

[cwalshuk]

Doctor Who review - Spyfall Part Two

Spoilers! Obviously.

If you haven’t watched the second episode of the 2020 series, then go watch it now. Seriously.

Spyfall Part Two sees The Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham attempt to survive the rather tricky situations they were left in at the end of part one.

You can catch up on it on BBC iPlayer in the UK, check local listings for your own country.

Spyfall Part Two begins with a ‘Previously on’ - it's been a little while since we needed one of those! And, armed with the knowledge from the cliffhanger, we can see C’s murder in a new light. He tries to tell Thirteen and fam that he suspects O! Lovely stuff.

Post-titles, we’re back in that somewhere weird place, temporarily home to Yaz, currently to The Doctor. As she's alone, the Timelord is consoling herself by thinking out loud. And what would she say to Yaz, Ryan and Graham, currently on Daniel Barton’s crashing plane? Don't Panic.

I’m tempted to see that choice as a reference to Douglas Adams, not least because there are a number of references to the work of other writers from past eras of Doctor Who, but ‘Don’t panic’ is pretty good advice anyway, right? Particularly as there really isn't any need to, when you’re friends with someone with a time machine.

Y’see, The Doctor (eventually) uses her Tardis to go back in time and install in the plane exactly what Ryan, Yaz and Graham need to land safely. It's a great funny action sequence, and, whilst this sort of solution will be familiar to a big chunk of the audience, new fans need to know that Doctor Who can do this with it's sort of time travel, and does it with panache. I particularly like the reference to Blink, Yaz calmly realising how Ryan's new app can help, and Graham just being Graham.

Meanwhile, The Doctor is exploring the somewhere weird place, theorising that she’s inside something, noting the electrical pulses snaking about, and hoping she isn't in someone's liver. Not because that’d be eurrghhh, but because people tend to take offence! I love that sort of joke, where we end up wondering what happened all the other times she was in someone’s liver.

But then she hears a voice! Thirteen finds a slightly creepy lady called Ada and deduces with her help that their only way out is via a Kasaavin, the light-up alien spies. Introducing pre-marriage Ada Lovelace this way, but not her full name, was cool, and intriguing, keeping my attention through the next scene with the fam - all exposition, the plane will land itself wherever Barton was intending to go.

The Master’s Tardis is in the vortex! Fantastic! He’s in there, congratulating himself with a less than impressed Daniel Barton, when his console and Barton’s phone clue them in to Thirteen’s escape.

Having The Doctor wake up tasting the time period like a fine wine is a lovely touch. She’s back in Ada’s time, at a 19th Century inventors convention, with Charles Babbage! Who wonders how Miss Gordon and The Doctor appeared in their midst. A magic trick, decides Thirteen, so she can carry on without further interruption. Babbage is still unconvinced, not least because The Doc has to ask him what year they’re in. Confirmation of her exact plight brings Thirteen’s thoughts back to the fam.

Ryan, Yaz and Graham have kept out of sight as Daniel Barton discovers from an airport employee that his plane landed autonomously, but empty. We’re back in Blighty, luckily, and Essex too, as Barton has a speech in London that evening. Graham’s joy at being back in his manor is tempered by Yaz’s fears for The Doc’s safety. And Barton is sending some goons after the fam!

Inquisitive Ada gets brought into the loop by Thirteen (with Babbage eavesdropping), but the trio are interrupted by The Master, who must've dropped Barton in the present before raiding his own Tardis wardrobe for his big entrance. Timelord showdown!

Sacha Dhawan is chilling and funny - ‘Hands on heads!’ - as his Master shrinks random convention goers and orders Thirteen to kneel - ‘Call me by my name!’ He does let slip that he isn't in control of the Kasaavin though, but can't divulge ‘news from home’ because Ada’s commandeered a number of prototype weapons from the convention to turn on him, despite her being ‘a lady’. Ada gets The Doc’s grudging approval with her violence, in a way that brings to mind the Seventh Doctor and Ace. The Master gets to disappear in a cloud of smoke, like a panto villain, though he is wounded.

Ryan, Yaz and Graham don’t get far from the airport before Daniel Barton is turning the full force of his tech empire on them. Yaz gets to call her mum before the three of them smash their phones and scarper.

Back in 1834, The Doctor realises she’s in the company of Babbage and Lovelace and is a little star struck. She gets Charles talking about his Difference Engine, an early ancestor of the modern computer, and decides her presence there is a clue. Also catching her eye is the Silver Lady, a gift to Babbage from The Master. It moves and makes apparitions, says Charles. Piecing together everything she knows so far, she concludes that the Kasaavin have been studying Ada by transporting her to their dimension. And they’ve had the Master’s help stabilising themselves in our dimension, readying themselves for an attack in the present day. Thirteen sonics the Silver Lady to bring out a Kasaavin, explaining to Lovelace and Babbage her hope that she can get it to return her to the present day. But Ada doesn't like the risk The Doc’s taking, so grabs her hand. Thirteen shouts ‘No!’ as they both disappear. Charles, now alone, downs his drink.

And that's the last we see of Mr Babbage, brought wonderfully to life by Mark Dexter, who you might remember as the Dad of the little girl in Stephen Moffat’s River Song introducing two-parter Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead.

Graham, Ryan and Yaz meanwhile have hidden out at a building site. They realise how little they know about The Doctor, and Graham states his intention to ask for more, sure that he’ll get the opportunity. Yaz channels Thirteen and both Ryan and Graham admit to keeping hold of some of C’s spy tech, just as the Kasaavin appear outside!

Back to The Doctor, who is surprised to find herself and Ada transported to Paris 1943, where a young woman rushes them inside, out of sight of an approaching Nazi patrol. The music swells, the patrol halts, and out of the car steps The Master, still angry, but this time in full Nazi uniform, Doctor-detecting gizmo to hand.

Fleeing the Kasaavin, Yaz, Graham and Ryan risk using the Laser shoes Graham had borrowed from Q, which holds off the aliens.

Meanwhile, Daniel Barton argues with his mother, who he has tied up. She isn't proud enough of his achievements, apparently. That’s enough for him to set the Kasaavin on her, the first victim on this ‘last day’. Pretty ruthless for the fake-out villain, right?

Back in 1943, the Nazi patrol raid the young lady’s home, with The Master hobbling in behind them. ‘You’re new.’ she notes of the injured Timelord. Beneath the floorboards, The Doctor spies radio equipment, and Ada. The Master orders the Nazis to shoot the floor, with just a tap of his cane, but hearing no screams, and getting nothing from the young lady by staring her down, he leaves with the Nazis. As the young lady frees Thirteen and Ada from their hiding place, the Timelord puts two names to the face. ‘Code name: Madeleine, real name: Noor Inayat Khan. First female wireless operator to be dropped behind enemy lines.’ The Doctor’s a fan! And she has a theory about how they ended up in World War II when she was aiming for the 21st century - Ada grabbing her hand knocked them off course.

Noor and Ada are confused, so after The Doctor explains the time travel stuff, Noor tells Ada of the horrors Paris has suffered through. Ada, shocked to learn that the devastation outside the window has happened twice, is consoled by the Timelord that ‘the darkness never sustains’. After assessing Noor’s skills and resources, Thirteen comes up with a plan.

I’m a big fan of The Doctor meeting real people from history, particularly when they can inspire the younger side of the audience, as Noor and Ada surely can. I seem to recall one or both ladies being suggested as new faces for British currency, an honour both merit, though neither succeeded this time around.

Yaz, Ryan and Graham get the better of Daniel Barton’s goons by revealing their location, accidentally on purpose, and then steal their car with the aid of Graham’s laser shoes.

Back in wartime Paris, The Doctor is tapping out a four beat pattern on Noor’s radio equipment. ‘The rhythm of two hearts’. The Master cannot resist responding, allowing Thirteen to make telepathic contact with her old friend. ‘Old-school’ he notes. ‘You’re not the only one who can do classic.’ she replies. They agree to meet at the obvious place - the Eiffel Tower - though it's less of a date, more like a trap.

I love that Chris Chibnall’s script acknowledges how much influence he’s drawn from past Master encounters. The return of Tissue Compression Eliminator, which the Master uses to shrink people to death, suggests that this incarnation has reverted to a personality last seen in the classic era of the show, but elements of Sacha Dhawan’s performance bring to mind more recent ones. I don’t think we’ve seen The Master’s Tardis onscreen for a while either, but that doesn't narrow it down as much as you might think.

Thirteen and The Master use their Eiffel Tower rendezvous to reminisce, which gives us a subtle reference to Logopolis, and The Doctor a chance to pin down exactly which crimes The Masters committed so far in this story. Intriguingly, he also reveals that the Kasaavin were already a looming threat to Earth before he got started meddling, comparing them to modern day Russia, and teasing that he merely improved upon the aliens’ plans.

Yaz, Graham and Ryan, arriving too late to save Daniel Barton’s mum, but just in time for him to gloat before his big speech, learn that the tech CEO allowed the Kasaavin to experiment on 7% of his DNA, and that he has designs on the entire human race. They gather around the Silver Lady.

Noor, at her base, messages London, but doubts she should be trusting The Doctor. Ada reassures her, though neither understands the device the Timelord left with them - a flip-phone! They search Paris by night, discovering ‘something anomalous’, and alert The Doctor.

Hiding the message from The Master, the pair, still high above Paris, interrogate each other. Thirteen reckons she and Yaz survived their encounters with the Kasaavin due to the artron energy they’re covered with, as time travellers. She gets The Master to gloat about his manipulations of Daniel Barton and the Kasaavin. ‘Win, win, win!’ he reckons. She doesn't understand why The Master doesn't stop his games, after all these years, and although he claims its for chaos’ sake, he also concedes that he wanted The Doctor’s attention. He says he visited Gallifrey, their home planet, and found it in ruins, but Thirteen thinks it's another trick. Before he can continue, some Nazis arrive to confront him. The Master, not best pleased, grabs The Doctor by the throat, pushing her to the edge of the viewing platform. Now it's her turn to gloat! She’d got Noor to send a message back to London describing The Master as a double agent, ensuring it could be intercepted by the Nazis. Now they’ve got him at gunpoint - How’s he going to get out of that one!

Daniel Barton walks onstage for his speech, whilst, in 1943, The Doctor catches up to Noor and Ada, who, thanks to Noor’s local knowledge, have discovered the Master’s Tardis. He hadn't even bothered to change it from its Australian outback home appearance! Breaking in, she uses the console to find out another part of The Master’s plan. He’d helped the Kasaavin to spy on people key to the rise of the modern computer age, so that they and Daniel Barton could collect enough data for something they are working on. Something that is connected to human DNA - experiments of some kind!

Barton delivers his speech. His time to gloat. Humanity has allowed itself to be spied upon through our addiction to tech, and it has left us vulnerable. To being reformatted as hard drives. Barton and a few others will be spared, of course, but the rest of us are finished. The Silver Lady spins and glows ominously as humanity begins to be rewritten. Stolen spy tech can't stop it and now The Master arrives (via the slow path) to gloat some more. But then it stops spinning. So Barton flees and humanity is saved.

In strolls The Doctor with Noor and Ada! Thirteen explains that they traced the Silver Lady from its first owner Babbage right through to Barton, and that she hacked it, to ensure it would shutdown if ever loaded up with a massive amount of Kasaavin energy. Angry at the foiling of their plan, the Kasaavin arrive, but before they are exiled by The Doctor, they turn on The Master when she plays them a recording of him gloating earlier on the Eiffel Tower, of his plan to double cross them. He ends up in their somewhere weird place screaming after The Doctor.

Yaz notes that the Doc has more explaining to do, with Graham worried that Noor and Ada are replacing them, and Ryan asking how the Timelord saved them from the crashing plane. Turns out she hasn't, yet! Quick montage to prepare the plane in advance, then back to her own Tardis - hope she keeps The Master’s one somewhere safe!

Before she comes back for the fam Thirteen stops in 1943 to drop Noor back. After reassuring her that the fascists never win, so long as there's people like her, the Timelord wipes Noor’s mind of their whole adventure, to preserve history. She does the same to Ada in 1834, despite the young lady’s protests, assuring the now unconscious Ada that she doesn't need a preview of future tech, since her own imagination helps dream up those advances.

These mind wipes are presented as necessary evils, but leave a bitter taste nevertheless. Couldn't both brilliant women have been slipped the names of fellow Tardis travellers from their respective eras? Perhaps that would be a little too much referencing to previous stories.

The Doctor decides to visit Gallifrey, hoping not to witness the ruins The Master claims, but is disappointed. Devastated, she discovers a device deposited discreetly in her coat. A message from The Master. He destroyed Gallifrey in revenge at his own species for covering up ‘the lie of the Timeless Child’. His words stir a fragment of memory in The Doctor’s mind, but he won’t reveal more out of spite, she Thirteen can only hurl The Master’s device across her console room in rage.

She stews in this mood for days, ‘five planets’ according to Graham, before she gives in to the fam’s questions. She finally tells them - her home planet, it's constellation, her species and that they can regenerate their bodies. She tells them she ran away in a stolen Tardis, and that The Master was one of her oldest friends, but takes a very different path. That’s enough for Graham right now, but Yaz has one more thing to ask. ‘Can we visit your home?’. So innocent, too perceptive. ‘Another time.’ replies Thirteen before rushing to the edge of the console room, back to her fam, to conceal her sadness, her fear. The camera lingers for a second.

Credits roll.

Looks like next week is a lot less heavy, if James Buckley’s appearance in the Next Time trailer is anything to go by. I think we need it after that!

A momentous conclusion to the story (for now), Spyfall Part Two is a triumph.

Chris Chibnall has succeeded in opening the series with a bang, and kicks off what is presumably a series arc by picking up the remnants of one dropped in series 11.

Let's see what Ed Hime brings us on Sunday!

[theconservativebrief]

Every week, we pick a new episode of the week. It could be good. It could be bad. It will always be interesting. You can read the archives here. The episode of the week for August 19 through 25 is “The Queen,” the seventh episode of Hulu’s Castle Rock.

“It could have been just a spectacular fucking disaster,” says Sam Shaw, as we discuss the seventh episode of Castle Rock. “It wouldn’t have just been a ‘gentleman’s B.’ This could have been a catastrophe.”

Even the most cursory look at the episode makes it clear what Shaw, who co-created the series with Dustin Thomason, is talking about. “The Queen,” which Shaw also wrote, is the keystone of the entire season: It provides further context for what’s happened in the six episodes preceding it, as well as laying out a groundwork for what’s to come. And, in what seems like the ultimate gamble, it’s presented through the eyes of Ruth Deaver (Sissy Spacek), whose struggle with dementia sends the story flitting between the past and the present.

But the operative phrase here is “could have been.” In the days since the episode’s airing, it’s been hailed as the series’ best episode, as well as one of the best hours of television this year, with Spacek’s performance drawing praise as a “tour de force.”

And rightly so. “The Queen,” beautifully directed by Greg Yaitanes, is a wonderful, devastating hour of TV, and impressive on every level. That it holds a certain personal significance for Shaw only adds to the weight that it carries.

Ruth with her grandson, Wendell (Chosen Jacobs). Maura Connolly Longueil/Hulu

Thus far, we’ve been witnesses to the effects of Ruth’s dementia; “The Queen” makes us active participants. The moments earlier in the season in which she’d lost focus become moments of clarity as they’re revisited through memories, with Ruth’s perspective on scenes that we’ve already seen pulling back the curtain on the Deaver family past.

It’s a feat of what Shaw calls “advance planning and strategy, and then serendipity, instinct, and luck.” A Deaver-centric episode was always in the cards, given the way Henry (Andre Holland), Ruth’s son, is positioned as the show’s point of entry into the world of Stephen King, but the exact nature of it developed as the family was fleshed out.

“This is a story about a protagonist who is missing time from his childhood, whose own memories are somewhat problematic, who’s kind of estranged from his own story, and has had a story imposed on him by this town,” Shaw explains. “To put a character who is losing her bearings and losing her memory at the center of that story in the form of Ruth, and tell a story about a character who actually, ironically, becomes the important custodian of a whole lot of backstory and a whole lot of the dramatic information that pushes the story forward — to have that person be someone who is losing her memories felt like an interesting irony to write about.”

To keep that in everyone’s heads, a notecard labeled “Ruth, dementia” kept moving about the writers’ room as the show took shape. In Shaw’s words, the writers set the table, making sure that the reckonings to be addressed in Ruth’s episode had all been set up before diving in.

“At a really practical level, there were some things that the episode just had to accomplish,” Shaw says. “There were two stories it had to tell.”

The first was filling in the blanks regarding Matthew Deaver (Adam Rothenberg), Ruth’s late husband, revealing the darker, abusive side of the preacher as well as establishing that Ruth had once had the option of taking Henry and running away with the lovelorn Alan Pangborn (played as a young man by Jeffrey Pierce, and by Scott Glenn in the present day). The second was the back-and-forth between Ruth and the Kid (Bill Skarsgård) — for which Shaw cites the 1967 thriller Wait Until Dark as inspiration — culminating in Pangborn’s accidental death by Ruth’s hand.

Though those aspects of the story were worked out in the writers’ room, the task of actually committing the episode to writing fell to Shaw.

“I think we were in the writers’ room one day and [writer] Tom Spezialy just casually said, ‘Let’s just skip to the next one,’ because I had sort of decided that I would write this episode, and Tom just had this instinct that, given the nature of the episode, and given the year I’d had and some personal stuff that had gone on for me, and my own interest in the subject matter of the episode, I think he felt like it lent itself better to a kind of solo mission.”

“The Queen” sees Ruth square off against the Kid (Bill Skarsgård). Dana Starbard/Hulu

Though loss and heartbreak figure prominently in “The Queen,” the episode ends on a note of tenderness. Battling through memories of Matthew as the Kid stalks her through her own house, Ruth finally finds the bullets for her late husband’s gun. When a figure appears in the doorway, she shoots, not realizing that it’s Alan until it’s too late. In the morning, after she’s washed off all the blood, there’s a knock on the door. Standing on the other side is Alan, in a memory that we’ve only heard Alan relate.

Old and exhausted, he begins to make excuses for what’s brought him back to town after all these years before finally confessing that he’s returned because he loves her. The episode ends as they hold each other on the porch, as Ruth tells him, “Don’t leave.” Behind them are the chess pieces that indicate it is indeed just a memory and that Alan is truly dead, but it doesn’t diminish the moment. If anything, it’s what makes the episode so wrenching, capturing both heartbreak and joy in a single moment in a way that feels distinctly true to life.

The desire to frame Ruth’s journey with some measure of truth — and kindness, in conjunction — stemmed from the episode’s extenuating circumstances. The day before “The Queen” aired, Shaw tweeted out a short thread, calling the episode likely the most personal thing he’d ever worked on, and dedicating it to his mother, who passed away shortly before the writing on Castle Rock began.

As such, it became all the more important to figure out just how to address and portray Ruth’s dementia. It became a collaborative effort between Shaw and Spacek, as they talked through personal experiences with people with dementia, as well as reading the same books and watching the same documentaries on the subject.

“There’s this documentary that Sissy loves that I’d never seen called Confessions of a Dutiful Daughter,” Shaw recalls. “It’s this really poignant, kind of miraculous picture of a relationship between a mother who has dementia and her daughter, and part of what’s incredible is that there’s lightness, and there’s spontaneity, and there’s laughter. It is a much more specific picture of what dementia looks like than the picture that we usually see represented on-screen.”

Bringing all of that to life visually also sprang from that desire to portray dementia in a more considered way, as the idea of making the Deaver house into a literal memory palace — in the episode, Ruth leaves one room in 2018 and enters another in 1991 — appealed to Shaw, not least because it struck him as atypical.

“We think about dementia as this process of subtraction. Memories are taken away, and as the memories go, so do parts of the identity of the person who suffers from dementia,” he explains. “But there was something that was really interesting to me about the idea that, actually, the experience that Ruth is having over the course of this season might look a little different from the experience that you might imagine when you think about dementia and about Alzheimer’s, that the past might be very present to her.”

The emotional core of the episode, meanwhile, became clear in Spacek’s insistence that Ruth’s story not be presented in a strictly black and white matrix. According to Shaw, she didn’t want Ruth to be just a figure of tragedy, or somebody essentially haunting her own story — and Shaw didn’t want that, either.

It was this realization that helped ground the episode in the love story between Ruth and Alan, bringing warmth and light to a storyline that could easily have slipped into something less nuanced.

“In a way, the mission became telling a love story for Sissy and Scott,” Shaw says, adding that that approach also opened up the story to further explore the bond between Ruth and Henry, not just in terms of the mother-son dynamic, but in terms of Ruth’s old doubts and regrets.

That “The Queen” is so heartbreaking comes down to that focus on love; the Lewis chessmen that Ruth uses to remind herself that she’s in the present, while also a narrative solution to keep viewers oriented, lend an extra dimension to the story as a gift from Alan. They serve as repositories for Ruth’s memories. In his explanation, Shaw cites a piece in the New Yorker on the cognitive scientist Andy Clark and the idea that the way that objects can hold memories helps to constitute a person’s identity.

“It dawned on me that it might be really interesting if there were some objects that have a kind of almost talisman-like or magical set of properties for her character,” Shaw adds. “Genre stories are most interesting when they live in a place of ambiguity. It can either be a story about dementia or about something like time travel — that really appealed to me.”

As such, the relatively commonplace use of chess as a means of trying to stave off the effects of dementia gave birth to the idea that these objects would become magical wards, keeping the “monster of dementia” at a distance.

“You sort of have those little moments where you feel like the universe is telling you, ‘Keep writing,’” says Shaw. Dana Starbard/Hulu

The amount of work that went into “The Queen” is obvious, but just as the episode mixes the realities of dementia with the undefinable feeling of love, the creation of the show similarly lends itself to a few supernatural touches.

“You get kind of superstitious at times, as a writer — or I do, at least — and there are little moments or breadcrumbs or discoveries that suggest, to me, that I’m writing in the right direction,” Shaw says, “and there were a lot of those kind of spooky moments for me in the course of making this episode.”

The biggest revelation was the Lewis chessmen. Though never explicitly stated in the show, Ruth was envisioned as having studied Icelandic literature, and the Lewis chessmen were what came up when Shaw went looking for Viking chess sets.

“There was this theory that they had been carved by this woman who was the wife of a priest, and of course Sissy’s character is the widow of the minister,” Shaw explains. What also struck him were the expressions on the queen’s faces — both looked stricken, with a hand held up as if in shock. It was supposed that they looked that way because, at that point, queens were considered the weakest character on the chess board, whereas now they’re the exact opposite.

That turn helped inform the way that the episode centered on Ruth, who, like the queen, had largely been relegated to the sidelines and dismissed up until this point in the season. To Shaw, it seemed like a sign, and one that’s only become more profound now that he’s on the other side of it.

“When I set out to write this episode, I think if you’d asked me [if it was a personal experience], I would have said that I was just writing an episode of TV,” he says. “But I also think, by the end of it, that I was really metabolizing something over the course of working on it and making the episode. It sounds a little crazy to say that you had this personal experience writing an episode of a JJ Abrams-Stephen King horror thriller, but in hindsight, I think it was. In the end, I think, whether the episode worked or didn’t work, it worked for me.”

Castle Rock is streaming on Hulu. New episodes are released every Wednesday.

Original Source -> Castle Rock showrunner Sam Shaw explains the series’ best episode yet

via The Conservative Brief