Video Games: The Problem with Kaidan

Screenshot of Kaidan Alenko from ‘Mass Effect’. Copyright goes to EA and Bioware.

Hey! Hallie here!

Back before ‘Mass Effect: Legendary Edition’ was released, I made a post to celebrate the game. The post detailed my thoughts on the four main romance options that are men. That is, I ranked Jacob, Garrus, Thane, and Kaidan. I, unsurprisingly, ranked Kaidan low on that list. (He would have been last if not for Jacob and his…umm…commitment issues.) But in that post I didn’t quite hit on what exactly frustrated me about Kaidan. So now that the legendary edition has been out for a while, let’s discuss where Kaidan goes wrong.

Mass Effect 1:

This game really suffers from the issue of characters info dumping on you rather than getting you involved in their stories. Because of this, most of your interactions with Kaidan will just be him talking about his backstory. Kaidan’s backstory starts with his mother’s tragic death and his own development of biotics. He glosses over this, though, and speaks mostly about his time in “Brain Camp”, a facility where he learned to use his biotics. Kaidan was taken to the camp at a young age and considers it somewhat miraculous that he survived it due to its brutality. Kaidan was also instantly disliked by the commander sent to teach them, a Turian named Vyrnnus. However, Kaidan also describes a girl named Rahna who he considers the only positive part of his experience there. Kaidan’s main recollection of his time at “Brain Camp” is traumatizing. Rhana attempted to reach for a glass of water without her biotics and, as punishment, had her arm broken by Vyrnnus. Kaidan attempted to protect her but Vyrnnus took the opportunity to punish Kaidan as well. When Vyrnnus took out a knife, Kaidan instinctively defended himself with his abilities and killed Vyrnnus in the process. The act got him removed from the program and Rahna remained too afraid of him to keep in contact. It’s an interesting story and one that makes you sympathetic towards the character. Except you’re half asleep listening to it because he drones on about it for far too long. And with no emotion on top of it. He doesn’t even seem mildly upset that he accidentally killed a guy. Actually, none of his trauma affects him at all. There are very few occasions where he mentions his past again in the following games, and when he does he only uses it to thank Shepard for being there for him. As for this game, what time he doesn’t spend talking about his backstory is spent either advertising the Alliance or talking about what little family he has left in Canada. Which doesn’t give him a lot. At least he isn’t space racist (Looking at you, Ashley).

Mass Effect 2:

This is where most people REALLY start disliking Kaidan. Kaidan isn’t in a lot of this game. Because of his extreme loyalty to the Alliance, he sticks with them even after Shepard is assumed dead. When Shepard finds him on an Alliance mission to a planet being attacked by the horrifying Collectors, he’s initially happy to see Shepard. Until he discovers that Shepard is working for Cerberus. Cerberus is one of the established villains in the first game, so, naturally, Kaidan is suspicious of you. Except he goes off on you for “betraying” him and refuses to listen to any sort of explanation you may have. He even says “you changed” like he spent any sort of time talking to you instead of screaming at you the minute he figured out Cerberus was involved. I’ve seen some people argue that this is actually good characterization because it shows Kaidan won’t always side with Shepard. But it doesn’t make any sense. Kaidan wasn’t the type to jump straight to anger in the first game. And though he is loyal to the Alliance, he is also loyal to Shepard. He would at least show more care for Shepard after finding out they’re alive after years of believing them dead. But this out-of-character interaction makes more sense when you consider that Ashley gets the exact same scene if she survives. Some of Kaidan’s actions align much more nicely to Ashley’s short temper and natural suspicion. Plus, she never doted on Shepard as much as Kaidan did, even if you romanced her. The fact that these completely different characters share most, if not all, of their dialogue in this scene makes for an out-of-character interaction with both of them. But at least Ashley’s attitude in the first game makes it make more sense for her.

Mass Effect 3:

This is where Kaidan completely returns as a major side character. And it’s rough. Kaidan comes back early on in the game and starts off your whole relationship with continuing to be suspicious of your connections to Cerberus. Even though Shepard cut all ties to the group immediately after the events of the second game. After he makes you explain yourself, he apologizes for all of it and claims that he trusted you the entire time. But then he sees a husk, basically a space zombie horrifically stripped of its humanity, and asks if you have become something similar. What the hell, Kaidan? He spends the entire game going between majorly insulting you for joining Cerberus several years ago, and apologizing or swearing his undying loyalty to you. Another good example of this is when he gets himself severely injured for a good chunk of the game. When he wakes up, he talks to you about how much he cares about you. If you’re romancing him, this is where he mentions that he wants to continue your relationship. But afterwards, when you discover that Udina is a traitor, Kaidan threatens to shoot you for going after Udina. Even after the other Councilors, who have a historically terrible track record of trusting Shepard, step aside and admit that Shepard might be right about Udina. Kaidan’s entire story revolves around Shepard. Any character growth for him tends to come from yet another occasion where he returns to Shepard after doubting them. But none of it is ever consistent. When Kaidan’s on your side he’s like a needy puppy. He would follow you everywhere if he could and he can’t stop talking about how amazing you are. But then he turns around and compares you to a space zombie. It would be tiring if he was throwing himself over you for the entirety of all the games, but I’d consider his constant insults flying at you out of nowhere to be even more frustrating.

In theory, Kaidan could have been an amazing character. He has an interesting backstory. He’s a nice guy with a personality you can gravitate to. He’s loyal to the main character, but he goes off to make his own decisions. In most media, the moments where he stands against the hero might even be the most interesting parts of his character. But Kaidan fails with all of it. His backstory has no bearing on his character and takes up all of his dialogue in the first game. In the next games he spends way too much time praising or criticizing you, never sharing his own interests. When he turns against you he does it irrationally and without warning. Some of this definitely has to do with the fact that he shares a storyline, and some dialogue, with Ashley. Their opposite personalities make for some poor characterization for the two of them as individuals. But all of it is inconsistent no matter which way you look at it.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Imitation Episode 8

Promotional photo of (from left) Lim Nayoung, Kim Minseo, and Jung Jiso. Copyright goes to KBS and Kakao Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Another Friday has passed which means another episode of ‘Imitation’ came out. Yes, I am surprisingly still watching them. I feel like each episode has one moment where it actually tries to focus on the reality of being an idol, but for the most part it all remains the same. As usual, there are always some developments. But they always move at the speed of slow. Anyways, if you’re still here wondering what happens in this idol drama, I am here to deliver the SPOILERS. So, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!!

The Good:

Hyunji- Somehow, Hyunji managed to rise from the absolute rubble that her character development has been in and carve some form of a plot for herself. Even more surprisingly, she had agency in this episode! I know, insane right? In this episode the members of Tea Party find out that they are being sued by their original company for breach of contract which seriously threatens their careers. Hyunji immediately steps up to comfort the other members of her group and put on a brave face. It was actually a really good depiction of the contradiction of feeling horrible but not showing it for the benefit of others. But her struggles were only made worse when Yujin calls her later in this episode to briefly give her sympathy and then ask only about Maha’s well being and not ask about Hyunji or Riah. Even though they were just as much affected by everything. With what we’ve gotten from Hyunji so far, I was absolutely certain that she was going to politely tell him how Maha was and then sulk afterwards. Imagine my surprise when she actually went off on Yujin for calling her and then only asking about Maha. She even interrupted him mid-sentence and then basically told him not to call her anymore. It was well deserved and such a powerful character moment for her. When she cried afterwards it didn’t feel weak, it felt understandable. I mean, how would you feel if someone who was your crush and your friend only seemed to care about you because you were a device to give information about another friend of yours? Seeing Hyunji be brave in this episode in so many ways was amazing. I only hope they can actually keep this character development going.

Fans- The real moment that I was talking about at the beginning of this post actually came from a scene depicting fans of Ryok and Shax. At the beginning of this episode a couple of actors are involved in a scandal that reveals that the two are dating. The show takes the time to show fans of Shax reacting to the news, which is simply them stating that they don’t care. Of course, neither of these actors are involved with Shax so they all repeat the sentiment that it doesn’t matter who these actors are dating. And then when one of them asks what might happen if Ryok was the one in those pictures, they all freak out and agree that Ryok dating would be an exception to that rule. Sadly, there are plenty of fans like this. People who say that they don’t mind who celebrities date, but when it comes to their idols they don’t want to see them dating ever if they aren’t dating them. This act of jealousy and selfishness is awful. They don’t realize that they aren’t allowing these human beings to be human. I was very glad that this show addressed how ridiculous fans like that are.

The Acting- Everyone is great and it only gets better by the episode.

Ji Hak- The manager of Tea Party actually got some pretty good character moments in this episode. Mainly to do with advising the members of several groups and fighting for Tea Party. Some of his plot I do feel takes away from time that should go to more central characters, but I thought this episode knew perfectly well how to utilize this character. His face off with giant corporate conglomerates was punctuated by some pretty cheesy dramatic music, but the point came across well in the end.

The Bad:

Yujin- I love Yunho so much and seeing him play this character is starting to cause me pain. I am at least glad that this episode acknowledges that Yujin is being cruel because of his near obsession with Maha. But none of this is earned. When Yujin is introduced to the audience we see him as a great friend and an over-all kind guy. The way that this show has continued his character development is not that at all. Yujin only seems to be kind to Maha and no one else. I honestly can’t think of one other character that Yujin has shown true kindness to unless it was for the benefit of Maha. And more often than not, he’ll actually be unkind to a character for the supposed benefit of Maha. I don’t know if he’s starting to seem like a cruel character or a character that suffers from being a puppet for Maha, or both. Probably both. Has he even gotten any character development beyond Maha? Not really and not enough. I guess that answers that question. Yujin has fallen so far on my favorites list and it hurts. I’m only hoping that we see true kindness from this character again. Preferably towards someone who isn’t Maha. I don’t mind a flawed character, but so far his only asset has become his only flaw and that does not make for a well rounded character.

Sparkling- They’re here again. Did they do anything in this episode? Nope. Moving on.

Shax- Unfortunately, we barely got anything from anyone in this group that isn’t Ryok. Not even Hyuk. He was only in about two scenes and he got maybe one line per scene. Considering Hyuk is my favorite character now, this definitely put a damper on my watch of this episode.

The Romance- I seriously just can’t get behind it at all. And this episode made everything even more confusing. The way they were acting in this episode, it seemed like they’ve been a couple for months now even though they just got together. And then there were a couple of scenes where Maha would be too shy to kiss Ryok and then you would kind of see that they had just stared dating. But it went back and forth so much that the signals were completely mixed. Ryok, who is an actor, also had a moment this episode where he got jealous of a kiss scene that Maha had to do. That also didn’t make any sense. Their romance feels unearned and they spend so little time in this episode actually together that there’s really no development of it either. By the end of the episode Maha and Ryok find out that pictures have been taken of them that could be leaked and Ryok proposes that the best course of action might be for them to break up. This was supposed to be an emotional moment, but I didn’t feel it because their entire relationship lacks so much development.

The Fans- As much as I love this show for calling out toxic fan behavior, I wish it would do something to highlight the masses of fans who are actually supportive and don’t engage in toxic behavior. Most fandoms actually have pretty close communities involving their idols, and many of these communities are overwhelmingly positive. It would be nice if they took at least one scene in any one of these episodes to highlight non-toxic fans.

Riah- She has no personality anymore other than vaguely angry.

La Lima- She appeared briefly in this episode to support Maha for some reason. Not only was this confusing, but it still didn’t add any reason for her to be in the show.

The Villain- I wish we didn’t have a face for the corporate conglomerates, because let’s be honest, most of the time we don’t in reality. The mustache twirling is really trope-y and feels unrealistic. There are other ways to show fighting against bigger companies without having to resort to a cardboard cutout character.

Reality- The show promised to tackle realistic idol problems, but it’s not doing that well. We maybe get one realistic scene per episode and then the show defaults back to the slow moving romance. I wish the show would emphasize this more. I have a feeling they are having trouble trying to balance the lightheartedness with the realistic views and keep defaulting on lighthearted because it feels safer.

Every episode of this show has at least one moment where you feel like there’s a little bit of hope buried under everything else. But ‘Imitation’ has so much trouble finding its footing that it never has been able to really get going. Really my favorite part of this episode was when Yunho posted the picture of him dancing as a cute little kid before the release of the episode on Twitter. Maybe if they can start focusing on the development they did with Hyunji they can at least save the sub-plot romance. It’s a small thing. I’m definitely trying to lower my expectations at this point. I feel like I’m too far in to give up. I know that there are more idol based dramas coming soon that hopefully will handle this concept a little bit better, including one that’s set to star Hyungwon of Monsta X. We’ll see what I end up watching! But the failings of this show have nothing to do with the acting or ATEEZ or anyone else involved in that way. They’re all great! It’s entirely the writing that’s bad, unfortunately.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Star Wars: ‘The Bad Batch’ Episode 8 and 9 Review

Screenshot of Omega and Cad Bane from episode nine of ‘The Bad Batch’ on Disney+. Copyright goes to the Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

I’m back to review another two episodes! I’m going to start out this review by saying that I’m not going to hold back on this series any longer. I’ve tried to hold off judgement purely because streaming services have made my expectations for show quality higher. I tried to say that I might be less harsh if this was airing on TV like ‘Star Wars Rebels’ had, where slower parts of the plot happen because of the length of the series and occasional filler episodes. But none of these things are good excuses for the mediocre things I’ve seen from this show so far. I don’t hate this series. But already at episode nine I can say I expected more from it. I can’t say much more without spoiling these two episodes, so SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Good:

Omega: I realized after I finished this week’s episode that, had Omega been the only main character, this series would make a lot more sense. Omega is the only main character with any sort of full arc. She is constantly growing and maturing. She is by far the most capable character as well as the show’s emotional center. Meanwhile, the members of the Bad Batch have remained hollow. Omega wasn’t the main focus of episode eight, though I’d argue none of the members were, but she remained a focus. She spent the first part of it attempting to learn how to diffuse a bomb with Wrecker, she had a moment where she asked Tech about the war, and then she was taken by Cad Bane at the end of the episode. Episode nine was where she really shone as a main focus. The entire episode followed her escaping Cad Bane with her own abilities and intelligence. She outsmarted his droid, Todo, and managed to power him off so she could reach her comm. She then attempted to give the Batch information on her location, though this only resulted in the group coming to pick her up at the very end of the episode. Afterwards, she successfully managed to escape both Fennec Shand and Cad Bane in order to leave in an escape pod. And then it was revealed that she is the same type of pure clone of Jengo Fett that Boba Fett is. Episode nine isn’t the first time she’s been the show’s main focus. From proving herself worthy to join the Bad Batch, to saving the members from slavers, to being the target of Wrecker’s rampage, she always gets more than the other characters. So why is this series ‘The Bad Batch’? She’s clearly more important to the plot than them.

Fennec Shand: Fennec Shand showed up in episode nine to further attempt to convince Omega that she is trying to help her. Omega understandably refused to believe her. She also slipped out of Shand’s fingers while she was busy fighting Cad Bane. That said, Fennec Shand is still part of the reason why Omega was able to escape. Fennec Shand is working for Nala Se, who’s main interest is to keep Omega safe. The fact that Lama Su is hiring Bounty Hunters to collect Omega dead or alive doesn’t sit well with her. Which means Shand is essentially getting paid to ensure Omega’s protection and possibly nab her should Nala Se find that the Bad Batch are no longer the safest place for her. And Fennec Shand does an excellent job of kicking ass to make sure Omega stays safe. She makes Cad Bane look like an idiot with the amount of times he tries, and fails, to face her in one-on-one combat. Fennec Shand is just an awesome character and I can’t wait to see more of her when Boba Fett gets his own show. (She also kills the random Kaminoan who showed Obi Wan around during ‘Attack of the Clones’, which is hilarious.)

The Bad (Batch):

The Omega Reveal: The big mystery around Omega was revealed in this episode. I mentioned it a little bit earlier, but I’ll dive deeper into it here. Omega is a pure clone of Jengo Fett, just like Boba Fett is. This makes her DNA nearly identical to Boba Fett’s and the closest anyone is going to get to Jengo Fett’s. The reason why the Kaminoans are after her is because they need her DNA to make more clones. While this is a nice explanation, I don’t see how it changes anything at all. We knew she was a clone. We knew she was important enough that the Kaminoans needed to keep watch of her at all times. If you had told me this information in episode one, I wouldn’t have gasped or screamed in shock. I would have nodded my head and moved on. This doesn’t change anything about the way I perceive Omega. It doesn’t even explain why she’s the only girl amongst the clones. And if they’re using her DNA, why wouldn’t there be more women amongst the clone troopers? I hope they have something else up their sleeve with this one, because this reveal was underwhelming and sloppy.

Hunter: In episode eight Hunter made the unwise decision to attempt a stand off with Cad Bane. It didn’t end well. He was shot long before he was able to raise his blaster and he ended up knocked out on the pavement. Omega even thought he was dead. Except, he was actually only very mildly hurt. Somehow. This made me kind of angry. Cad Bane’s re-entrance to the Star Wars universe was clearly meant to make him intimidating. Within only a few minutes he had killed Hunter. But Hunter was only slightly out of breath by the end of the episode. Cut to episode nine and Hunter’s completely ok. The only sign anything happened were some bandages wrapped around his torso. I’m not saying I wanted Hunter to die. I am saying that this show has avoided so many weighty, character-changing moments with such ease that the stakes of this show have almost disappeared. And Hunter really needed that character development, too.

Cad Bane: Cad Bane was intimidating in the first five seconds he was on screen. Then the show tells us his aim is bad because Hunter’s doing pretty alright after being shot in the chest, all things considered. After that Omega outsmarts him multiple times. Then Fennec Shand kicks his ass so hard he ends up face down on the floor for half the episode. What’s the point of bringing in Cad Bane if you’re not going to use the sense of danger his presence brings?

Crosshair: Was his reappearance in episode eight supposed to be emotional? Because it wasn’t. The show hasn’t made me care. I knew nothing about Crosshair before he was fully taken over by his chip. I knew he was a bit of an asshole based on what I saw from his appearances in ‘The Clone Wars’. But that’s it. The fact that he got his face partially burned in episode eight was mildly interesting. Bringing in some Anakin imagery to show how far he’s fallen is nice, if a bit strange. Especially because Crosshair isn’t actually in control of his actions while Anakin very much was. Either way, it doesn’t make me suddenly care about this character.

I could go more into my frustrations with the lack of character development Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Echo are getting, but I’ve gone into that so many times at this point that I’d only be repeating myself. This show just doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere. Omega is moving forward. But everything else is staying still. The Batch feel no closer to choosing a direction than they were when they first left Kamino. The Stormtrooper program hasn’t been brought back up since it was first introduced. Crosshair and various bounty hunters are still failing so miserably at catching the Bad Batch that they no longer feel like a threat. Anytime something mildly interesting happens, like the appearance of Cad Bane, it takes the show only a few minutes to completely undo it all. I want to feel like there’s a purpose to this show. But I’m not seeing it right now.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Monsta X

Promotional image of (from left) Yoon Kihyun, Lee Hojoon (Joohoney), Chae Hyungwon, Im Changkyun (I.M), Lee Minhyuk, and Sohn Hyunwoo (Shownu). Copyright goes to Monsta X’s social media and Starship Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

This one feels like a long time coming and I almost feel guilty for not mentioning these amazing men sooner on this blog. My main friend group (the F4) contains fans of mainly BTS and Monsta X. And though it took me a while, I am slowly but surely being dragged into becoming a Monbebe. At my most recent get together with my small group of friends, we literally spent hours going back and forth between BTS and Monsta X videos. To be honest, I hadn’t seen much of Monsta X before we did this. Of course, I knew they were out there and I knew that one of my friends in particular really liked them. I had listened to a couple of their songs, but it took me a couple listens to really get into it and I honestly didn’t even know where to start. Especially because my life has been so overtaken by BTS lately. So I’m going to go through some of the stuff that made me really like this group as well as my regular small introductions to the members. If you are a Monbebe, please understand that I’m a newbie and I still have so much more research to do. Anyways, let’s just get started!

The Members:

Shownu- The leader and over-all dad of the group. Also the current bias of my main Monbebe friend. Shownu is known for his intimidating stage presence, but that’s definitely not the vibes he gives off when he’s off stage. Probably the opposite actually. Shownu is generally pretty quiet, very sweet, and adorably awkward. He is one of the major vocalists of the group.

Minhyuk- When you first look at him, you would not know that he’s the second oldest. He’s very high energy and very cute, relying on a much brighter aesthetic than most of the other members have. He’s known as the mood maker of the group and also has one of the most blatant senses of humor. He made a song about soup. He’s a sub vocalist and visual.

Kihyun- He’s also one of the main vocalists of the group and is well known for his range and high notes in songs. Kihyun is the caring mom of the group with a lot of anxiety, but he’s also known for his insane levels of confidence. Kihyun is never one to sell himself short, and it’s actually so inspiring to see. He’s released some songs on his own too for soundtracks and I can’t get over his voice.

Hyungwon- Woah, I didn’t realize he had this many roles. He’s a vocalist, he sometimes raps, he’s the lead dancer, he’s a visual, and he’s the center. He’s also one of the major members of the group recently that contributes to writing and composing songs. (I definitely appreciate that this group also has a heavy hand in what they put out.) He’s sweet but also blunt and is known for basically being a giant walking meme.

Joohoney- If you’ve seen any music videos of Monsta X before, I would not be surprised if the member that left the biggest first impression on you was Joohoney. Especially if you started out with ‘Love Killa’. He’s adorable but he’s also a super intimidating rapper. One of the major two rappers of this group, and they’re both absolutely amazing. Especially as a team. He’s another one of my friend’s biases and he totally wrecks everyone else. He’s also one of the main writers for the group. He’s my sister’s bias.

I.M- He’s the other main rapper and writer of the group. Just like Joohoney, he also leaves one of the biggest impressions. I feel like he and Shownu are the most intimidating on stage. But I.M. is also probably the most intimidating off stage too. He’s blunt, and it’s amazing to see. He’s the main English speaker of the group and he’s called out English interviewers for preferring songs in English before. I mean somebody has to do it. He’s my bias.

Wonho- Did you think I wasn’t going to mention Wonho? Wonho is probably my Monbebe friend’s ult bias. Wonho is one of the biggest sweethearts and a great vocalist. He’s most known for how frequently he takes off his shirt. He is no longer a part of Monsta X, mainly because he was falsely accused of a drug related issue. That’s absolutely awful! But, thankfully, his solo career is doing well and he’s still brothers with everyone else in the group. I just wish people would be more supportive of him in general. He used to both write and produce for the group.

Monsta X MVs:

I was enjoying listening to Monsta X with my friends, but I don’t think I was completely sold until my friend pulled up the MV for ‘Alligator’ on the television. Literally everything about the video captured my attention. From the singing, to the individual focuses, to the choreography. There’s something weirdly addictive about the choreography for ‘Alligator’ in particular. The other MV that also left a huge impression on me is ‘Love Killa’. “I’m sorry, did I make you anxious?” is probably one of the best intros that I’ve ever seen or heard for a song. It sets a super high bar for the rest of the song that it somehow definitely meets. I also liked the individual focus here. I prefer groups that focus on the individuals in the group while also pulling together as a unit. I like the opportunity to see the individuality there, and I haven’t seen a group do it this well other than BTS.

Cute Videos:

Monsta X has one of the most intimidating presences and reputations in K-Pop currently. They are one of the only groups that have songs about sex (which is not a common thing for K-Pop) and their concept is more bad boy-ish. But they also have released some of the funniest and most wholesome content outside of that. I’ve only watched a couple episodes of ‘Monsta X Ray’, a variety show that they did for a while. One of these episodes saw them helping out at a daycare and specifically helping take care of one and three year old children. This episode is known for a kid kissing Shownu later in the episode when Shownu’s appearance had scared the same kid at the very beginning, Wonho being beaten up by a bunch of three year olds, and Hyungwon and his koala (a one year old who refused to let go of Hyungwon and cried if anyone else tried to hold him). The show also had an episode where they hilariously parodied K-Dramas and all their plot twists. I.M portrayed the main female character who was torn between Wonho and Shownu. Joohoney played I.M’s best female friend who eventually falls for Kihyun, Minhyuk portrayed the new girl in town who also went between Wonho and Shownu, and Hyungwon portrayed various oddly hilarious characters. I laughed so hard I cried.

I still have to listen to all of their albums, which is probably what I’m going to devote my day tomorrow to doing. I already have a few songs downloaded that I’ve been playing on repeat. But, seriously, I highly recommend them. And if you’ve already given them a chance, at least give them another one. It’s totally ok if they aren’t really your thing, but it took me a while to warm to them and now I’m so glad I did. This is what friends are for. Dragging you kicking and screaming into fandoms.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: ‘Loki’ Episode 3 Review

Screenshot of Tom Hiddleston in ‘Loki’. Copyright goes to Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

Episode 3 gave us something a little bit different than what we’ve seen in ‘Loki’ so far. Instead of spending most of our time in the TVA, this episode used distance from the TVA to expand on the characters and the mystery we’re seeing unfold. Once again, we saw a lot in this episode. And a lot of it was character development. With so much to cover, let’s jump into this review! SPOILERS ahead! You’ve been warned!

What I Liked:

Loki: I’m going to start this off with the most exciting thing to come out of this episode. Loki was confirmed as bisexual! When Sylvie asks him if he’s had any princesses or princes in his life, he answers that he’s had a bit of both. The series creator, who is bisexual herself, confirmed that this line was a very purposeful reveal of his sexuality. She also noted that his sexuality is, and will remain, an incredibly important part of his character. This makes Loki the very first queer character in the MCU. It’s taken way too long for this to happen in the MCU, but I’m still incredibly happy they finally embraced this part of Loki. On an unrelated note, Loki gets a bit tipsy and starts singing in this episode. I didn’t know I wanted to hear Loki sing before this episode, but it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the entire thing. Tom Hiddleston has a very good voice. While it was fun to see Loki letting loose and reveling in the attention he was getting, which is very Loki, there was a specific part of the performance where he seemed to be sizing up Sylvie. At parts of this episode I started to wonder whether or not he was testing her in some way to see if she was really a version of him. Strangely, Loki ended up being the most level-headed between himself and Sylvie. While a major cause of his level-headedness could be that he still wants Sylvie on his side to take down the timekeepers, he was still the first one to attempt to end an argument, suggest a truce, or provoke a friendly conversation. And some of these conversations seemed to be sly ways of getting information. Such as speaking about his adoption and his mother to her so she would feel compelled to give him some information as well. He even managed to get information out of her about the way her magic works. While I do think Loki is starting to trust and enjoy the company of Sylvie, I wouldn’t doubt he has another plan in mind while he’s concocting hilarious schemes to annoy her.

Sylvie: I didn’t like Sylvie at all by the end of the last episode. Her maliciousness didn’t match up to the sly mischievousness Loki usually displays. Not only that, but her complete dismissal of Loki made their altercation a bit less interesting than I initially anticipated. This episode shows a completely new side to Sylvie. She has a shorter temper than Loki, but her wit matches Loki’s completely. So much so that their banter was one of the most enjoyable things about the episode. Sylvie is also impressive. She taught herself her own magic, having grown up without the influence of Frigga. And rather than being distracted by pleasurable detours, which often catch Loki’s attention, she’s been stubbornly persistent in a plan lasting several years to take down the TVA. She loathes the TVA for reasons unknown. She even refuses to be called Loki. Which makes a kind of sense. Viewing the TVA as a completely tyrannical organization, it’s only fitting that she takes on another identity that doesn’t align with the Loki of the main timeline. If she is Loki, that is. But Loki or not, her slowly developing friendship with Loki is endearing. She went from hating his guts to trusting him enough to help her get through the destruction of an entire moon. I can’t wait to see her open up more.

The New Information: In this episode Sylvie revealed that all of those working for the TVA are regular variants from various timelines. While Sylvie may not have proved herself completely trustworthy yet, there isn’t really arguing with this statement. We saw her meddle with the memories of one of the TVA agents, and these memories could have only come from a past beyond the TVA. Which means Mobius’ belief that he was created by the timekeepers is a mix of propaganda and brain washing. Even Loki seems concerned by this news. To top it all off, Miss Minutes tweeted a few very positive tweets after the airing of this episode assuring viewers that the workers in the TVA enjoy their work and the jobs they were created for. There’s something very wrong with the TVA.

What I Have Questions About:

Is Sylvie Really Lady Loki?: It isn’t unrealistic to assume that Marvel simply merged the characters of Sylvie and Lady Loki from the comics. While I want to see Loki embrace his gender fluidity and turn into Lady Loki, I can see why making Lady Loki into an alternate version of Loki named Sylvie might be desirable to differentiate the characters. But I’m still not completely sold on the idea that Sylvie is a Loki variant. She might be. But Loki still seems suspicious and she hasn’t proven herself enough for my guard to be completely down. And I don’t think the possibility that she may be Enchantress is completely off the table yet, either. So who is she?

What is the TVA Hiding?: The TVA is outright brainwashing the people who work for them and basically holding them captive for hundreds of years to do what they want. Why do they need this much labor? Why are they obsessed with keeping only one main timeline? Who are the timekeepers and what are their real goals? Or, as Loki suspects, are the timekeepers fictional? There’s something very dark going on in the TVA and there’s only three episodes left to unravel it all.

Where’s Mobius?: I didn’t realize just how much I loved Mobius until he was absent from this entire episode. He’s precious. He’s the best disgruntled dad. He works so well with Loki. I miss him. And with Miss Minutes tweeting about potential consequences Mobius may face for losing Loki, I’m kind of worried about him. If he’s not in the next episode I’ll be very upset.

This was probably the most sci-fi this series has gotten so far and it was satisfying. Between the alien train, the abandoned town that was very reminiscent of ‘Borderlands’, and the entire city being affected by the destruction of a moon, this episode felt like a love letter to all of the sci-fi entertainment I’ve enjoyed. I can’t wait to see what other planets and timelines Loki will get to explore once he gets off of the planet he stranded himself and Sylvie on. Maybe Mobius will rescue them!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

BTS: Run BTS Episode 143

Screenshot from ‘Run BTS’ episode 143 of Min Yoongi (Suga). Copyright goes to HYBE Entertainment and BTS.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I feel like every time I’m all set up to post some wholesome BTS content, there’s some fan war happening on Twitter. So I’ll address that briefly because I’d rather get back to the wholesomeness. Yes, there were some Blinks who said some absolutely awful things on Twitter. But you should never blame a celebrity or group for the behavior of some of their fans. I am personally not a Blink, but that’s just because I don’t vibe with their music as much. Just report the accounts that were saying this awful stuff, absolutely call out solo stan behavior, and then move on. It’s ok to be angry, but there’s no reason to blame the entire group for this behavior. Let’s just support our boys and keep going! With that aside, this is the second week of ‘Run BTS’ being back everyone! The first episode was absolutely cute, but it was also a fairly regular cooking episode. This one was so cute and so funny! And with all the cute stuff that happened in this episode in particular, I couldn’t not talk about it! This episode saw the boys making up children’s stories; their process was hilarious and the result was cute. They were separated into two groups that turned into three (or maybe four), so I’ll talk about each group singularly. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Jimin and Namjoon:

This group initially consisted of Jimin, Namjoon, and Taehyung; but eventually Taehyung went off on his own because of artistic differences. Jimin and Namjoon together came up with the story of a cloud protector that villagers take for granted. While the cloud attempts to protect people in the world from the unforgiving rays of the sun, the villagers in the world view him as a villain when they notice that he is covering up the sun. After they tell him to leave they experience an extreme lack of water and the heat burns their skin, causing them to plead with the cloud to come back and protect them. The cloud, who felt very sad before, is happy to go back to his former position as the protector of the earth. The story was very cute and Jimin’s drawings were adorable, though Jimin did say that he planned on making more but his hand became too numb to draw any more. They spent most of the time either creating the story or chipping in to help other people, as it didn’t take them long to figure out their plot.

Jin and Jungkook:

This group originally consisted of Jin, Jungkook, and Hobi. But after Hobi noticed that Tae needed help with his singular story, he left to help Tae instead. Jin was the main brain behind the story and originally pitched two different ideas. One of them being the story of a hot dog that creates a diary as he is being digested and then eventually becomes the fertilizer for a hot dog tree. (Which Jimin pointed out would be litter not fertilizer.) But everyone, including the members not in the group, felt that it would not be a great book for children. So they went with his original idea of a boy who only has one strand of hair and travels around in search of more hair only to realize that his hair is precious the way it is. This story accompanied by the illustrations of Jungkook ended up being something that actually looked very publishable. Jungkook’s illustrations were nothing short of adorable and hilarious, especially when he drew tears welling up in the main character’s eyes. The best part of this was watching Hobi try to water down some of Jin’s weirder ideas while Jungkook looked between them, beaming.

Taehyung and Hoseok:

Tae was originally in Jimin and Namjoon’s group. But while Jimin and Namjoon were listening to other members’ ideas and trying to find a story amongst themselves, Tae was writing out an entire plot. But by the time Tae shared his plot, Namjoon was already, understandably, pretty set on what he and Jimin came up with. Jimin wanted to be supportive, so he encouraged Tae to use his own idea despite that. Tae was originally supposed to be in a group by himself, but he was still having troubles with the story and was especially finding it difficult drawing anything. That’s when Hobi felt sorry for him and decided to join Tae’s group because he didn’t feel like he could do much in his own group with Jin in charge of the story and Jungkook drawing. They weren’t able to draw anything with what they put together last minute, but Hobi was happy to act out the story and do all the sound effects and voices. Tae created a story about a fairy who had no friends so decided to create some of her own, but eventually realizes that she needs heart for her friendships to succeed so gives a little bit of heart to her friends. I’m not sure if Hobi drew the pictures we see by the end of the episode, but he was listed as illustrator. And Jungkook did draw a picture for them of a fairy with a chiseled jaw after they all found it funny to have Hobi use a deep voice for the fairy character.

Yoongi:

Towards the end of the episode the members decided that they were going to try to get Yoongi in on the activities with either assigning him book reports or having him read their stories aloud later. The staff asked whether or not they thought they could get Yoongi to do this, to which Jimin responded that he would call Yoongi because he said he specialized in getting Yoongi to do things. I just about died of cuteness. They ended up calling up Yoongi on camera who actually immediately agreed to it all without having to be convinced. We then got footage of him much later in his new Genius Lab in the brand new HYBE building where he read all of the stories aloud. Not only did we get a really good look at his space (including his really high quality drum set that confirms that Yoongi plays piano, guitar, and drums which basically makes him the shy artistic second lead from a K-drama which absolutely kills me), but his reading of the stories was definitely not taken lightly. He did voices for every character and he did it so well it made me want to cry. The cuteness level here was off the charts!

This episode also included hilarious and cute moments like Hobi being confused that they were separating evenly into two groups because he forgot Yoongi wasn’t there. And, of course, Jin not knowing what to say when he was asked to name three children’s stories with wolves in them so naming ‘Twilight’ as one. I know I keep saying this, but it is seriously one of the cutest ‘Run BTS’ episodes to come out. I just know I’m going to return to Yoongi reading those stories. And if there was any day for them to come out with one of the most wholesome episodes of this show, it’s definitely today! We all need the comfort and togetherness.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

BTS: The Best ‘Butter’ Performances We’ve Seen So Far

Screenshot of Kim Namjoon from the ‘Butter’ music video. Copyright goes to BTS and the HYBE Corporation.

Hey! Hallie here!

BTS’s single ‘Butter’ has stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four consecutive weeks! This is the longest they’ve stayed at the top, and if they stay there for another week, they’ll beat a record previously set by Aerosmith. In celebration of this amazing news, I’m looking back at all of the ‘Butter’ performances we’ve seen so far! All of them have been pretty great (Mostly, I’ll get into that later), but there have definitely been a few that stand out more than the others. The title of this post may be referencing performances, but I’m counting everything for this list minus the original music video. So here’s my list of the best ‘Butter’ performances I’ve seen!

‘Butter (Hotter Remix)’:

Let’s start with the first alternative we got for the music video, the ‘Hotter Remix’. This remix’s video consisted of a bunch of footage shot during the shooting of the original music video. Because of this, there aren’t really new looks we can talk about here. It’s all original ‘Butter’ looks. But the absolute silliness of this video gives us enough to focus on by itself. For this performance we saw Jimin fall out of his chair, alerting everyone to the crash including the currently-singing Tae, some of Yoongi’s signature dance moves, and Jin, Jimin, and Jungkook practically yelling their verses with strange head movements as emphasis. To top it all off we also received a sweet moment between Hoseok and Namjoon where Hoseok’s hype-man skills ended in an adorably genuine smile from our president. I can’t say that this remix is my favorite remix that I’ve heard. I’m not a huge fan of some of the voice effects used in it. Despite that, It doesn’t ever dissuade me from watching this performance. I could watch it on loop just for the chaotic energy.

Billboard Music Awards:

Here’s an actual classic performance. This one specifically gets a shout out because of continuity. The performance starts out with Jungkook in his jean ‘Dynamite’ outfit. He walks away from the camera and comes back in dressed in a black suit. The more dramatic look signifies the entrance of a new era. All of the other members are dressed in various black ensembles as well, each with some sort of detailing that gives them a silvery shine or sparkle. I think my favorite piece here is Taehyung’s suit jacket, which has a silver sparkle effect filling nearly half of both his sleeves. Their voices are incredible here, as is the dancing. This was also the first time I saw the full choreography so Hoseok’s dance break in particular blew me away. I loved that this dance break was performed with a spotlight, leaving the back members in shadow. It added an interesting layer to the choreography. They came out swinging for this one and it really set the tone for their other ‘Butter’ performances.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:

This performance was prefaced with an already hilarious skit where BTS demonstrated some new hand gestures. This skit showed us Jimin using his fingers to demonstrate walking, running, riding a pogo stick, and running after someone who stole your pogo stick, as well as Taehyung’s adorable statement, “fear the double bunny”. When it comes to the performance itself, if you liked the Billboard performance, you’ll like this one too. The looks in this performance are another set of dark suits, but these are more classic. The stand out for this look was Hobi, who had his hair pushed back and a few less buttons done on his shirt. The setting for this performance was also gorgeous. The mansion background included plush antique couches, artwork lining the walls, and ornate, golden chandeliers. This performance also used the spotlight effect for the dance break, except some extra light coming from behind the pillars in the back, and the gorgeous blue and white detailed flooring, made the ambiance just a bit more breathtaking here. At the end of this performance they also fill out the dancing with some back up dancers which is satisfying. And, of course, who doesn’t like the gold confetti to finish it off?

‘Butter’ Karaoke:

This variation of ‘Butter’ was released today and it didn’t disappoint. This video has all of the members singing the song with karaoke mics and crazy hats, wigs, and props. In some shots you can see the members all together, but they do separate into different groups. These groups are Taehyung with Hoseok, Jin and Jimin with Yoongi, and Namjoon with Jungkook. The outfits here are the track suits from the original music video, but the accessories hilariously change the way they look. Tae and Hoseok add some antennas and a bow respectively to add to their outfits. There’s a large portion of time where nearly all the members are wearing BT21 hats depicting the characters they created. Jimin switches from a headband with light up glasses to a chick hat with light up glasses. I will say my favorite crazy accessories were Namjoon’s and Jungkook’s, who decided to wear matching pink wigs and sunglasses. Jungkook and Namjoon enjoyed singing the song at one another while Jimin kneeled on the floor and held up whatever microphones he had available to Jin and Yoongi. And, of course, Tae and Hobi busted out the chaotic dance moves. If any performance of ‘Butter’ describes BTS, it’s this one.

Dishonorable Mention: Good Morning America

For some frustrating reason, Good Morning America decided to frequently cut away from BTS during their performance. Mid-verse the camera would cut away from the members to some buildings in the city area. Because that’s exactly what I came to see when I heard BTS was going to perform ‘Butter’ on the show. This even happened during the dance break. When, you know, it’s kind of important to watch what the members are doing. I don’t know who decided on the cut aways, but they shouldn’t be trusted with something like this again.

So those are the ‘Butter’ performances I’ve loved so far! Congratulations to BTS and to all the US Armys who have been working their asses off to keep them at number one. Let’s keep going so we can break that record! Stream ‘Butter’!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: F4

Promotional image of (from left) Kim Joon, Kim Bum, Lee Minho, and Kim Hyunjoong from ‘Boys Over Flowers’. Copyright goes to KBS and Group 8.

Hi! It’s Annie!

My opinion of ‘Boys Over Flowers’ has changed exponentially since I watched it the first time. When I first watched it, it was much more difficult for me to get through it. The campiness was jarring for me at first and it took me such a long time to get used to the main characters specifically. And now this has to be one of my favorite shows of all time. I think it took my second watch of the entire series for me to fully appreciate it. One of my favorite things about this show is how lighthearted and fun it is. And it’s really hard to find another show with relationships between the characters like this. It’s shows like this that really make you want to be friends with all the characters and go to all the places that they’re going to as well. But, of course, there’s no better friend group in this show than the F4. This is the quintessential friend group in the show and one of the most notable friend groups on television in general. They are part of the intrigue of the show, and one of the major functions within it that keeps everything afloat. I would definitely argue that F4 is the best part of BOF. So, I figured I would make an entire post about why they are all so great.

JunPyo:

The leader of the group and also the most prone to dramatics. It took me by far the longest to get used to him and even longer to like him. And though I still can’t stand him towards the beginning of the show, he has won me over over time. Though not as much as some of the other characters. The good thing about him is how much character development he got throughout the series. Watching him at the very beginning of the show is worlds different than watching him at the very end. Though I do have to say, on my third rewatch that I’m currently doing he does try to forcibly kiss Jandi more than I remembered he did. And though it is difficult to overlook all of that, he does become a much better person. JunPyo is shown actively working on himself to become more responsible. By the end of the show, he’s almost an entirely different person. He’s also super fun to watch and can be really cute sometimes. Over-all, he’s not as bad as I thought he was.

JiHoo:

One of my favorite characters in the series and one of the characters that marked the beginning of my second lead syndrome. JiHoo is by all accounts the nice guy to the bad boy of JunPyo. But the best part is neither fall very well into these tropes at all. JunPyo is more of an insecure brat who has to learn to be more courteous than a typical “bad boy” character. JiHoo, in the same vein, isn’t always nice in the way you would think. JiHoo is consistently sarcastic and very introverted. While the typical “nice guy” is generally seen as very sweet and extroverted, most would argue that JiHoo is definitely more introverted than JunPyo. He spends much of his days sleeping and often likes to be alone. Though he is, admittedly, very kind and sweet. JiHoo also gets his own character development in the form of backstory about his family and a specific friend from his past. Through this he learns to come out of his shell and be more confident in himself. And he’s definitely the most trustworthy and supportive character in the entire show.

WooBin:

The often forgotten member of the F4 for absolutely no reason because he’s absolutely amazing. I’ve seen people say that the F4 would function the same without him, but I really can’t agree with that. WooBin serves some very important purposes within the group and he has some of the most surprising character development in the entire show. WooBin is probably JunPyo’s biggest sounding board of the F4. When JunPyo is having a rough time, a lot of the time it’s WooBin who’s there helping him. He’s also part of a duo with Yi Jung which would not be half as funny without him in it. On top of all of that, we find out that WooBin’s family is actually involved in what is essentially mafia practices. And this includes a vast knowledge of martial arts. Much of the time when a character needs saving, it’s WooBin that kicks the most ass. He’s one of the most nonchalant members of the F4 and he takes no shit. This group would not be even close to the same without him.

YiJung:

He is one of my favorite characters in the entire show, and I have already talked at length about him. I love his backstory and his romance with GaEul. While JunPyo goes through the most obvious change of everyone in the show, YiJung almost changes just as much. Or maybe he doesn’t at all and he just learns to be more honest with himself. Either way, YiJung starts out as the most womanizing character in the show and then realizes his actions are him trying to rebel against his father. It takes him a long time to learn to trust himself, never mind other people. His arc also includes one of the best character arcs I’ve ever seen for explaining depression. Still, he’s generally the member who’s the most willing to pull the group back together after fights and is probably also the most laid back. His sweetness is more understated than the others, but still undeniably there.

F4:

Not many friend groups are named and even less are that immediately recognizable. The F4 have a reputation, but they aren’t held together by it. It’s important to note that they’ve been friends for almost their entire lives and still remain close. Even when they do argue. JiHoo even backs off of JanDi because he knows JunPyo has a crush on her and they view each other like brothers. Even though JunPyo does not extend him the same courtesy. The four members of the group are equally close to each other and are very aware of each other’s change of moods and attitudes. In a way, they are one of the healthiest friend groups I’ve seen portrayed in media. At least, besides all the fighting over JanDi.

My main friend group actually consists of four people and we have now taken to jokingly calling ourselves the F4 after we noticed the similarities. I feel like this is one of the biggest successes of the F4 and even ‘Boys Over Flowers’ in general. The F4 have transcended the show because of how fun they are within the world of the show. It makes you want to have a friendship like that of your own. And all of the characters have something to relate to. My friend group talking about the F4 in conjunction with our own friend group is one of my favorite things to come out of watching ‘Boys Over Flowers’. The connections this show has allowed me to make within my own life is why it’s one of my favorite shows of all time now. And most of that is thanks to the F4.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Disney: ‘Luca’ Review

Screenshot from ‘Luca’ (2021). Copyright goes to The Walt Disney Company and Pixar.

Hey! Hallie here!

Pixar’s newest film just came out and it isn’t behind a pay wall! While that might not feel the greatest for Pixar, who’s movie ‘Soul’ also came out without a pay wall despite the fact that ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ had one, it means it’s more accessible for a lot more people! I’m seeing somewhat mixed reviews for this film. While the general consensus seems positive, I see a lot of people quickly watering down their positive comments with the caveat that it doesn’t quite live up to expectations. And with Studio Ghibli as a major inspiration for ‘Luca’ (The name of the town is Portorosso after ‘Porco Rosso’), it does have a lot to live up to. So is it worth an immediate watch or is it a movie you could pass up without much thought? SPOILERS ahead!

The Good:

The Main Characters: This movie has an incredibly likable cast. Luca is our main character and he’s a joy to follow throughout the story. He starts out as a self proclaimed “good kid”. He’s cautious and unwilling to step outside his comfort zone. Unlike Ariel, he isn’t obsessed with the world above. He believes all of the horrible stories his parents tell him about the human world, or at least he’s unwilling to disobey them to figure out if they’re true. Until he meets Alberto. Alberto steals trinkets from human boats. The items lure Luca out onto land and then we get to see just how enthusiastically curious Luca is. He believes everything Alberto says about the world, even when his ideas are flawed, and he wants to learn more. The first full day he spends with Alberto he helps him build a complete Vespa replica simply because of how wondrous Alberto makes them seem. Alberto, for his part, is a bit conceited in his confidence. But he has a big heart and he’s happy to encourage Luca to become more confident as well. When Luca is nearly sent away by his parents, Alberto is quick to take him in and take Luca to the nearby town to hide out. This is where they meet our third main character, Guilia. Guilia is the most reasonable and resilient of the kids. Within her town she’s treated like she doesn’t belong because she only spends summers in Portorosso while living with her father. But she still enters in the major race that occurs in the town every summer and she’s determined to win it. The three kids bounce off of each other very well. I think my favorite thing about all of them is how realistic of kids they are. They speak like kids. Their excitement for things like riding bikes and reading books comes with an innocence that reflects kids very well. And they’re all flawed in ways that kids are. Luca wants so badly to feel accepted that he throws Alberto under the bus. Alberto gets in a fight with Ercole simply because he isn’t willing to walk away when his pride is in question. Guilia is so high energy that she has to apologize multiple times for being too fast to keep up with. I loved all of the characters, especially because of their flaws.

The Main Friendship: While Guilia is a main character, the main friendship is between Luca and Alberto. It’s actually a very complex relationship too. Luca becomes friends with Alberto because Alberto shows him how to leave his comfort zone and embrace his courage. And Luca likes that. In fact, he relies on it for the entire movie. Meanwhile, Alberto needs someone to hold him in place. He partly likes Luca because Luca isn’t the type of person to move on quickly. His dependence on Alberto means he can’t run off on his own. And Alberto needs that because his father abandoned him. While these aren’t the only reasons why they like each other, they display clear needs each of them seek in their friendship. The movie also displays that these needs can’t be completely fulfilled by people who have their own needs and wants. Alberto and Luca help each other find the places they feel they truly belong, but by the end of the movie it means they have to separate. Luca’s desire to continue pushing past his boundaries sees him going to school with Giulia. Meanwhile, Alberto’s anchor comes in the form of Guilia’s father, Massimo. The fact that they go their separate ways at the end of the movie is heartbreaking, but it’s so perfect for their friendship and their characters that I couldn’t help but feel satisfied when I saw it.

The Art: This isn’t your regular Pixar art. Not only is this movie intensely colorful, but it has a bit of a Studio Ghibli feel. Everything in the movie feels like it’s a sketch come to life. The detail in the natural scenery, and especially in the scaled look of the sea monsters, draws you in. There’s just something about this movie that makes it obvious the artists behind it had an amazing time creating it, and I see that most often in Studio Ghibli films.

Massimo: Just a big shoutout to this amazing father. He hunts sea monsters, but the instant he figures out that Luca and Alberto are sea monsters he stands behind them and starts eyeballing everyone with a harpoon. Why? Because they’re practically his kids and he cares for them. When Alberto goes missing he becomes so concerned that he goes out looking for him after dark. He starts eating pasta with his hands because that’s what Luca and Alberto do. And with his own daughter, he shows up to the race with a huge hand-made sign with her name on the front. Also, I have to point out how amazing it is to see this man born with one arm being shown as the most badass and capable person in the movie. We don’t see that enough.

The Bad:

The Possible LGBTQ+ Representation: Before this movie came out there was a lot of speculation that Luca and Alberto would wind up being queer, or at least queer coded. This was spread so much that the movie earned the fan-made title, ‘Pixar Call Me By Your Name’. I hesitate to say that the lack of any LGBTQ+ content is a major issue with this movie. The lack of LGBTQ+ content is a major issue with the entirety of Disney and this movie doesn’t cover romantic relationships at all. But I also can’t say it isn’t disappointing to see another movie go by without any LGBTQ+ representation. Especially because this movie’s sea monster issue resembles the hardships of the LGBTQ+ community so well. ‘Luca’s message is about embracing who you are and finding those who will accept you for your differences. And the hostile way the town of Portorosso treats sea monsters absolutely looks like the hostility directed at queer individuals. Even the scene where Alberto is revealed as a sea monster and Luca pretends to be disgusted by him out of fear feels painfully real. There was a good set up here but it was passed over. Again. And maybe this movie never intended to address LGBTQ+ issues, but it’s frustrating to see another opportunity passed by.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. And there’s no caveats here. Maybe it doesn’t live up to Studio Ghibli’s best, but that’s an incredibly high standard to hold a movie to. Maybe I wouldn’t say this is my favorite Pixar movie, but it’s up there. It doesn’t feel like a mediocre Pixar offering in the least. I’d even say it’s my favorite Pixar movie since ‘Coco’. I’d absolutely recommend watching this!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Imitation Episode 7

Promotional image of (from left) Park Yu-ri as Do-Jin, Choi Jongho as Hyuk, Lee Jun-young as Ryok, Hwiyoung as Lee-hyun, and Ahn Jeong-hun as Jae-woo. Copyright goes to KBS and Kakao Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

We are to the more than halfway mark in the show and this episode seemed to pick up. But the way it picked up only left me more confused. Every week I try to be positive about what happened in this week’s episode, and I’m not saying everything is awful. But I probably will say some similar things to what I have been saying. I was honestly worried that there would be nothing new to write about this week, but there were a few things. And this episode was better than some of the others. So let’s just get into it! As always, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The Good:

Hyuk and Dojin- I’ve said it before and I will say it again; these two are by far the best part of this show. I enjoy every moment that they’re on screen. Wherever Hyuk goes, Dojin is generally also there. They are the cutest comedy duo I have ever seen in a K-Drama and they both also have a lot of depth. Especially Hyuk. While Dojin is generally a little clueless, Hyuk has a lot of playful wisdom to him. And Jongho plays him absolutely perfectly. There was even a shot in this episode of Jongho leaning against a pole with wind blowing through his hair and it was the most beautiful thing in the entire episode. Jongho’s amazing abilities and general cuteness are making me rethink my entire ATEEZ bias list now. Again. Thanks a lot, Jongho. I would seriously watch a spin-off drama that was purely about Hyuk and Dojin.

The Acting- It gets better by the episode. I always have to give them all props, especially when some of them don’t act regularly and are just venturing into this for the first time.

The Emotion- I think this episode is the most that we’ve actually stopped in with the main characters. We see Maha get upset when Ryok is hospitalized. We see her go through every single emotion of that, from the sadness and doubt to the relief to the gratefulness she feels at him being alive. We also actually get to see how she feels towards Ryok. Throughout the entire episode they’re texting, which could have been boring and could have brought the story completely to a stand-still. Surprisingly, they were able to do the texting part of this episode really well. They used it entirely to single out both Maha and Ryok individually and give the audience a glimpse of how they’re feeling towards each other. We see how Maha is barely able to put her phone down but is worried about them being seen together. We also see how desperate Ryok is to have her in his life. More and more we see that Ryok has very little else to hold onto. This was a great first step in their relationship. I’ll get back to that later.

The Jun-Pyo Scene- I officially call all of these scenes the Jun-Pyo scene because that’s probably what popularized the use of scenes like this. On the off chance that you haven’t seen ‘Boys Over Flowers’, there’s a scene where Jun Pyo, the main male lead, pretends to be in a coma so that Jan Di, the main female lead, will profess her love for him. The prank works and everyone laughs at her afterwards. While Ryok was not exactly faking his injury here by any means; he does pretend to be asleep when Maha comes in and ends up hearing Maha profess her love for him and then reveals that he is, in fact, awake. However, the circumstances of the scene were very different in ways that I absolutely loved. For one, Ryok pretended to be asleep not to get Maha’s love confession, but because he had been practicing what to say to her and when she came in he was caught so off guard that he didn’t know what else to do. There are a couple times where we see Ryok struggle as he wonders what the right time to reveal to her that he’s awake is, and he looks very apologetic when he eventually has to reveal himself. It was a super cute and a bit less manipulative take on the trope. (No offense to ‘Boys Over Flowers’ which has become one of my favorite shows of all time.)

Sub-Plot Romance Development- It wasn’t with the romance that I though it would be, but I’ll take literally any plot development in this show. In two short scenes they’ve been able to set up the potential romance between Riah and Leehyun better than the potential romance between Yujin and Hyunji. Riah is not my favorite right now, which is unfortunate, but I love how much more we’re seeing of Leehyun. And I feel like there’s potentially hope here. I loved the way Leehyun was being teased about her too!

Shax- I always love seeing the bond between the members of Shax. There was a particularly funny scene in this episode where Ryok and Leehyun were attempting to awkwardly compare romantic stories. It was brief but amazing!

The Bad:

Sparkling- I am no longer sure what exactly the purpose of Sparkling as a group is. At this point Yujin could just be a solo artist and the story wouldn’t change at all. Even Hyunoh did nothing this episode. And from the trailer we got of next episode we’re probably barely going to see any of them again. We also barely got any Yujin this episode in general. His character has not moved forward at all and neither has Sparkling as a group.

Riah- I said in my review of the last episode that Riah had been mostly reduced to the status of the trope-y protective friend. In this episode she gets angry at the mere mention of Shax for reasons that I apparently missed. Riah just suddenly started hating Shax out of the blue, and it seems like the catalyst for this is the fact that Maha likes Ryok. But now she even seems to hate all the other members in the group too. I’m so confused. Riah used to be one of my favorite characters, but she’s been nothing but angry for the last three episodes and I can’t seem to enjoy her presence on screen much anymore. I hope that giving her more screen time as a part of the sub-plot romance might help with that. But it should never take a romance plot line for a character to be good.

Hyunji- She is absolutely suffering from her sub-plot romance and I can’t stand her anymore. She has no agency, she makes no decisions of her own, and she’s had no character development. And to add salt to the wound, the writers have decided that she wants to start acting more like Maha so that Yujin will like her. While this could lead to a teaching moment if done well, this show does not have a track record of doing this super well. And I’m also kind of tired of the ‘changing for your man’ storylines even if they are done to teach. Not only that, but we don’t even know who she is as a person yet because the show has focused so little on her. Her acting like Maha is only going to make that situation worse.

Dramatic Jealousy Scene- This was hilarious. My sister was actually watching this episode with me and we were both so absolutely baffled by the scene that we were almost speechless. Ryok confronts Yujin finally because apparently he just recognized who he was on set, for some reason, and questions him about the nature of his relationship with Maha. Yujin is respectful of Maha’s choices and tells Ryok that he used to like Maha (which isn’t entirely true) and that they’re only friends. He tells Ryok to watch his back, but still clarifies that he’s a friend. Throughout this scene there’s super dramatic music playing and Ryok looks close to tears. They also make a point of Ryok looking super angry after Yujin walks away. It was so ridiculous and so much more dramatic then it had to be for the subject matter. You would think that Yujin was telling Ryok that he was planning on killing Maha. It was that dramatic. This might be one of the most ridiculous scenes I’ve seen in a K-Drama.

The Romance- It’s moving much too fast. I feel like we should have gotten this texting thing a couple episodes ago to lead up to the kiss in this one. I’m not saying that episode seven was too soon for the kiss, because it’s definitely not. I’m saying that they dragged their feet forever to set up this relationship and then jumped in way too fast without much build up. Build up that they could have been doing before.

The Plot- It’s still all over the place and it still makes my head hurt thinking about it. If you’re expecting anything plot related with the K-Pop storyline in this, just don’t. The romance, for better or for worse, is now the only consistent thing about the entire show plot-wise. Everything else has come to a screeching halt and I’m not sure they’ll do anything with it anymore. It almost makes you wonder if there will be a season two because they are so far off from wrapping up any storylines. It feels like they haven’t even begun any of them. But then you look at how quickly the romance is moving and it doesn’t feel like they’re setting up for another season. Either way, I don’t think I’d watch a season two.

La Lima (Rima?)- Definitely a useless character. I have no idea what she’s doing here, but it feels like the show would be better off without her. She serves no purpose and is barely in the show. I still can’t wrap my head around the presence of this character.

Once again I will say, if you haven’t started watching this series I wouldn’t recommend it. If you want to give up on this series, I’m considering doing the same. Jongho is probably the only thing keeping me going at this point. There’s always something cute and enjoyable about each episode, but in the end I can’t help feeling like it’s a waste of time. At this rate, I’m not sure I care how it ends. I’m just getting my weekly dose of ATEEZ.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie