slf

Rewatching this on Netflix and damn, Andrea is fucking annoying. She should have died this season. I can't believe she got to be the first of their group to meet Michonne. The Greenes really should have kicked the group off their land. They had a decent setup going. The barn scene still hits hard. Shane, Andrea, T Dog, Daryl, Glenn, etc., all lined up firing on the Greenes' family and friends like they're at target practice, completely uncaring. Until Sophia stumbles out of the barn, someone they care about. Then they all lower their weapons and their eyes, and can't being themselves to shoot her. Fucking punks. Especially Shane. "Shane was right, tho. Shane was the alpha of that group!!" my ass. Shane punked out like a little bitch.

Something I wish had happened a little more over the course of the show is Kensi and Callen working together. I know they have their own partners but there were several times they paired up and I really liked their dynamic. I remember once when they were at a dock/harbor/something and they decided to act like a drunk couple; it was cute. They have a very different dynamic with each other than they do with the others and it's nice to change it up. Much as I like Kensi and Deeks and Callen and Sam I know how 98% of their scenes and conversations are gonna go.

I don't know which episode I watched the other day but in one scene Brenda, Fritz, and Brenda's parents are all entering a restaurant when Brenda, entering last, sees a suspect. She rushes after the guy and ends up wrapped around his leg as he tries to run. Fritz goes looking for Brenda and seeing her struggle takes a flying leap over her head, tackling the guy to the ground. I love that little moment. Who is this guy Brenda's clinging to like a drowning cat? He doesn't know. But he has her back. Teamwork makes the dream work.

On and off over the past three or so weeks I had been thinking about how Dany always bragged about being of the blood of old Valyria (a massive empire that colonized much of the world and was responsible for spreading slavery) and then I saw a post about Dany buying the Unsullied. Someone had commented that, "It was very telling that Dany only let go of the whip once the slaves were already following her." Which lead to this post, some of which I will quote here: As you said, she drops the whip when she knows all the Unsullied will fight for her. So, as you can see, it's not just about the Unsullied didn't know anything but war to choose to leave. The lack of options is physically manifested by the Harpy and Daenerys holding it in her hand while promising "freedom." But since we're on the subject and I'm a slut for symbolism, let's keep talking about the Harpy whip. When Drogon spreads his wings before killing Kraznys mo Nakloz, it looks eerily similar to the Harpy. I’m pointing this out because the Harpy used to be the symbol of the Old Ghiscari Empire (known for their slaving ways) and is the symbol still used by the cities in Slaver’s Bay. The harpy was adopted as a symbol by all the Slaver Cities and their silver coins are stamped with a harpy. The Good Masters of Astapor, the Wise Masters of Yunkai, and the Great Masters of Meereen have been training slaves for generations, much as their predecessors did, and are experts at it. The harpy is said to have a woman’s torso, the wings of a bat instead of arms, the legs of an eagle, and a scorpion’s curled and venomous tail. The harpy was the symbol of the Old Empire of Ghis and is as synonymous with the Ghiscari as the dragon is with the Valyrian Freehold. From S3 onwards, Daenerys slowly assimilates the Harpy symbol, until S8E6, in which we see her become the Harpy. I have to say, I really like this interpretation. It works better than any other I've seen.

I wonder if this will be a limited series. Even if Hiddleston wants to play the character for years, which I doubt, the aging thing is going to be an issue. The first movie was like ten years ago. There was a report a while back that Disney was considering doing a series for Sif, but I have to wonder if they are actually considering having her on this one. It'd be welcome. I'd like to see them explore Loki outside of his relationship with Thor. Much as I love the brothers together, that relationship has totally dominated Loki's characterization so far.

The very, very pregnant woman who has somehow gone her whole pregnancy without realizing she will have to give birth to the baby herself and starts yelling about how she's just gonna hold it in.

Jon being saved by the women around him annoys some because Jon's accomplishments are used as proof that he should be King, that he's The Real Hero or whatever. I do think in the beginning Jon thought he was better than others, especially at the Wall, and he thought he deserved to be a Ranger because he wanted to be. He grew out of that, tho.

And most adaptations kind of gloss over, or omit, that Jo knew the ice was thin and chose not to warn Amy in retaliation which is beyond awful. I hate that the argument always gets reduced to, "Amy burned her manuscript!" because while she does, yes, she's a young child and Jo did far worse.

When it comes to Beyonce's singing, she's either disliked for being average or defended for being more talented than she's given credit for. But here's my unpopular opinion: she's a good but unimpressive singer and that's part of what makes her so appealing. The vocal talent gap between male and female singers, especially in pop, would be hilarious if it weren't depressing. The majority of female singers can belt meanwhile most male singers...can't come close, to put it politely (YouTube once recommended me a video of a guy on some singing competiton show doing a Whitney Houston song and I almost had a rage stroke from how mediocre it was but everyone was losing their shit even tho he couldn't hit any of the notes). So here's Beyonce, an average singer most of the time, and she's probably one of if not the most popular performer in the world. Good for her!

I have a vague memory of doing Rock the Boat (I'm pretty sure at school) when I was a kid during the mid 90s in Texas so it was a thing here, too.

This perfectly describes my entire experience with this fandom, including regular fellow viewers and journalists who wrote about the show. Criticism about the bigotry in the show was waved off or disparaged by people whose favorite characters directly benefited from the crappy writing. So it was interesting (read: schadenfreude-licious) to see their reactions during the final season when their faves were suddenly the ones getting the shoddy writing treatment.

Amy earned that trip to Europe with Aunt March in Little Women.

Eh, I clicked out when she criticized Sansa for killing Ramsay. He deserved to be eaten by his own dogs.

When Sophia asks if Dorothy really had sex with a total stranger and Dorothy says, "No, but it was an incredible simulation."

I'm talking about the '94 adaptation because it's the only one I like, but I like child Amy? (Adult Amy is pretty boring, owed at least in part to the actress' incredibly, uh, subdued performance.) For starters she's hilarious; when Jo reveals she's cut and sold her hair, Amy laments, "Oh Jo, how could you? Your one beauty!" Lol. What a brat, I love her. Or when Jo scandalizes her by suggesting they allow Laurie to join their club, "We bare our souls and tell the most appalling secrets!" But she was also insightful, at times moreso than her older sisters. "You don't need scores of suitors. You only need one, if he's the right one." Or, after hilariously declaring she wants to be "disgustingly rich" when she grows up, "We all have to grow up someday, Meg, we might as well know what we want." But she's also refreshingly and to a degree relatably childish, like wanting the limes because all the other kids had them. Even when she burned Jo's manuscript (and her paralyzing fear when Jo comes home and Amy's brain catches up to her actions and she knows an ass-whooping is imminent), which is easily the worst thing she did. That's such a classic way kids lash out at a sibling: destroy something they care about, like a favorite toy. She's a very well-written, flawed, character played perfectly by Kirsten Dunst.

Yeah, I don't like the look of this one at all. Aesthetically, the '94 adaptation is the best with its rich colors and textures. Casting-wise, I'm not thrilled that so few of the cast members are Americans, to start. And while I enjoy many of the actors they cast I think they're all wrong for their roles. The only one who seems semi okay to me is Pugh as Amy but even then Ronan seems like she would've been a better fit for that role. Watson is too modern and, for me at least, perpetually Hermione-ish.

You can be attracted to someone and still be annoyed by/frustrated with/scared of them. I mean, Eve isn't a psychopath like Villanelle is but she clearly has deep psychological issues. Expecting her to experience attraction and romantic interest in a more traditional way is pointless. So, while I agree that her relationship with Villanelle is serving a deeper need for her I think it's simplistic to suggest that's all it is. Eve has encountered other killers and hasn't responded to any of them they way she responds to Villanelle- unless we're talking about the fear she exhibited during their first few encounters. Her attraction to Villanelle was something that grew over time, not some immediate, "This serial killer is into me: hot!" response. Eve felt betrayed by Villanelle when she realized she had been manipulated because of her attraction, both emotionally and sexually to Villanelle. That her attraction to Villanelle is not just because of what Villanelle does and how she does it is why she was able to walk away.

I always thought it would end with no one on the Iron Throne and all of the kingdoms independent. Possibly with one or two kingdoms merging.

Love that Sansa marched into King's Landing with an army to get her brother back. That's what she always wished would happen for her.

Naivete has nothing to do with it. Cersei didn't believe that "outsiders" were not to be trusted. She believed that anyone who wasn't an immediate member of her family - which she defined as: herself, Jaime, Tywin, Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen - could not be trusted. And even then, she was shown to not really trust even them. Sansa may disagree with her siblings but she does trust them. She also trusts Brienne, various other Northerners, Rivermen, and people from the Vale. She was shown to have trusted Margaery and Olenna and the coronation dress suggests that she has no regrets on that front. Cersei ruled like a mob boss; find a few people you think won't snitch and have them handle everything. Sansa is nothing like that. As for the hypothetical, it seems to me that it heavily relies on how things were in the earlier seasons not on what we saw of the North, and Sansa, toward the end. Because Sansa is Queen. Sansa is not a man; she is the eldest daughter of the last Lord Paramount and the eldest sister of the last two Kings in the North. She is not the eldest male who can legally claim the throne and yet she's ruling and the Northerners are happy to have her. Sansa makes the laws. The Sansa who supported her bastard brother becoming King. Who took council from a 12 year old child. One of the people she trusted most was a woman warrior who went on to become the first woman to be knighted. Sansa is not a conventional leader so I have no doubt that Sansa would not force that girl to marry against her will.

I believe that Eve is very attracted to Villanelle. Her description of Villanelle to the sketch artist is one of the moments from season one that I remember best. There was nothing heterosexual about that scene.

I think for both Ned and Robb part of the problem was trying to live up to their morals and ideals while at war against people who had none. Sansa and Jon are similar to Robb and Ned in that respect but are ultimately better able to adapt.

They are both women who at one point had long hair and that's where the similarities between Cersei and Sansa end, imo.

One thing the show did in the final season that I liked, tho it predictably annoyed some, was evoke Sansa's meeting with Lyanna during her meeting with Daenerys. Sansa had tried flattery with Lyanna - that's what she learned worked in King's Landing - only to be rebuffed. The North is different. Sansa adapted, reflected her surroundings as she always did, and so when Daenerys came calling and tried the same thing Sansa responded coldly. But where Sansa adapted, Daenerys didn't.

I had a crush on Rutger Hauer as a child after seeing him in Ladyhawke and then Blade Runner. He was such a good actor, very enigmatic, and with beautiful blue eyes! I was always happy to see him onscreen. RIP.