Live Entertainment: Things To Do That ARE NOT ‘Medieval Times’

Photo of (from left) Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Chris Pine, and Michelle Rodriguez in ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’. Copyright goes to Paramount Pictures and Entertainment One.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I know we don’t usually do posts like this, but this is incredibly important. DO NOT go to ‘Medieval Times’ right now if you life in California. The workers at the Buena Park, California castle of ‘Medieval Times’ are currently on strike due to exceptionally low pay, no appropriate payment for dangerous stunt work, mistreatment of workers, and abuse against horses. Almost the entire cast of the show in California is currently striking including almost all of the regular knights, Queens, announcers and more. Most of the people currently working inside the castle are scabs from other castles that were offered more money to temporarily take the places of the strikers. They just passed their fiftieth day and they don’t deserve the mass amounts of disrespect they are getting from people who decide that going to ‘Medieval Times’ right now is somehow even remotely worth it. If you already bought tickets; still don’t go. Get a refund or accept the loss. There is literally no reason for you to be going anywhere near there right now unless you’re going to picket with the strikers. So because I know that a lot of us fantasy geeks are nostalgic about ‘Medieval Times’, I’ve compiled a list of effective things that you can do without giving that company your money. Feel free to do any of these things if it means that you will support the strikers by boycotting!

Go Picket!:

I don’t live necessarily close to ‘Medieval Times’, but this is something I’ve been highly considering doing myself. The strikers are making the most of a horrible situation by having tons of fun out there! The striking knights have been using wooden swords to do fighting choreography from the show, they’ve been out there playing instruments, they’ve been singing songs; there’s more than enough reason to believe that you would probably have more fun out there with the strikers than wasting your money on scabs playing their roles in the show. They’ve been having costume days every Sunday where they dress in themed costumes. They’ve done gold theming and I believe a few medieval days so far. And you’ll be helping a good cause! Really, the more out there the merrier and the more the company will see that this treatment can’t go on. If you can’t make it out to the picket line, go and sign their petition! You can find all of the information you need about going to picket with them, signing petitions, or donating to their cause on the TikTok accounts of Kate Farrell and Erin Zapcic. Or look up “medieval times strike petition” and click on the link on ‘Action Network’. I’ve already signed the petition and I hope you will too.

Renaissance Faire:

If you’re in the LA area, or honestly in most places, it’s getting to be Renaissance Faire season! There’s a Ren Faire near LA in Irwindale that I’ve been to several times and actually have made a post for on this blog if you want to check it out! A Ren Faire is a perfect way to immerse yourself in that medieval feeling while also supporting more local and very deserving artists and performers. You can dress up in medieval garb, (I know I always do!) and peek into all of the shops as well as watch as many performers as you want all the while really feeling like you’re in a supportive community space. There’s also a joust and sword fighting at the Ren Faire ever year done by a group called ‘The Jousters’! They do several jousting shows throughout the day that all bleed into each other, all leading up to the joust and fight to the death as the final show. That’s where the sword fighting comes in. They also have a female jouster some years! If you’re really into the jousting and sword fighting elements of ‘Medieval Times’, the Ren Faire will be coming soon and you can sit and watch the jousting all day if you want to! All of these jousters are extremely talented and very well trained.

Dungeons & Dragons:

Another more interactive alternative is playing ‘Dungeons & Dragons’. If you haven’t played it before, it is not a cringey or demonic activity by any means. It’s a really fun and immersive way of collaboratively creating a story with your friends complete with improv acting. If you want to watch other people play beforehand in order to get a better feel for the game, you can always watch really any campaign of ‘Critical Role’. If that looks like way too much time and commitment, go ahead and try a shorter campaign like ‘Calamity’ or one of the many other fabulous creators of D&D content such as ‘Dimension 20’. I have personally played around three full campaigns as well as several starts of campaigns and one-shots. It’s amazingly fun and something I highly recommend! It also gives you a reason to have a weekly get together with your friends whether it’s in person or digital. It’s seriously one of my favorite things to do and I think everyone should try it at least once. You’ll probably like it more than you think you will. And there are plenty of two player options if you don’t have that many people as well. I highly recommend checking out Ginny Di’s YouTube channel for ideas. If you like playing the game ‘Mafia’, you’ll probably like this!

‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’:

If you don’t have much of an interest in playing D&D and are more interested in some good old fashioned entertainment without as much immersion; go ahead and go to the movies and watch this medieval fantasy flick! I just watched this one over the weekend and it’s so much fun! While I’m not going to obsess over this movie like I do with the second campaign of ‘Critical Role’, it was still really cute and a good time! The characters are lovable, the comedy is genuinely funny, and the fight scenes are truly badass! Lots of sword fighting if that’s what you’re looking for! Specifically the characters of Xenk and especially Holga have some well-choreographed sword fighting scenes. Hell yeah to more women with swords! Most of the movie was filmed in an actual castle which gives it just a hint of that immersion. No mass CGI everything here! And this definitely has the camaraderie and found family vibe that I was hoping to find in a movie about D&D. It really captures the feeling of playing with friends. It’s absolutely a good time and will give you all of the medieval fantasy that you might be seeking.

‘Merlin’ or Other Nostalgia:

I used to go to ‘Medieval Times’ all the time when I was a kid, so I understand having a certain nostalgia for that show. But going right now is so not worth it that it isn’t even funny, so I usually go for something equally nostalgic when I’m missing it because of my childhood experiences. For me, that’s BBC’s ‘Merlin’. This is a retelling of the Legend of King Arthur completely centered around a young Merlin. It also has plenty of amazing knights, my favorite of which being the incredibly handsome and hilarious Gwaine, and plenty of sword fights. There are even episodes completely about jousting tournaments if that’s what you’re looking for. But if you are also a medieval fantasy nerd, I’m sure you have your own medieval-type fandom that you have nostalgia for. Whether it’s ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Ladyhawke’, or Disney’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’. I highly highly recommend ‘Merlin’ for getting any sort of medieval fix, but I find that the best way to combat nostalgia is always more nostalgia. So go ahead and pick your own medieval brand of nostalgia and have a full binging day! You can even invite friends and make it a full event if you want!

Go to a Theme Park:

If you’re looking for live entertainment, theme parks are always a great way to go. ‘Medieval Times’ has been upping their prices recently because of how much the pandemic hurt them, so go ahead and put that money towards a Universal or Dinseyland ticket. Disneyland is practically built on medieval fantasy entertainment with the Princesses, or if you want knights there’s always Galaxy’s Edge! If you want to go to Universal to check out Super Nintendo World and Princess Peach’s brand new castle, that’s a good way to go too! Personally, I’m looking into going to Disneyland soon for the first time in what has probably been way too long. While this is a little bit more of an expensive option, it’s certainly a viable one if you can swing it. The ones I mentioned above, however, are probably much cheaper options than this one.

It is not difficult to find something else to do or put your money towards that isn’t ‘Medieval Times’ right now. There’s plenty of medieval fantasy types of things to do, even in the area, that aren’t supporting an awful company and walking past lines of strikers who have been out there for fifty plus days. Do NOT cross that picket line! Either go there to help and picket with them or don’t go at all. I know that this hasn’t been getting the air time that it deserves and I hope that this at least reaches some people who may not have known about the strike. Tell all your friends and family! Post about it! ‘Medieval Times’ has been in spring break season and is going to be going into their summer season soon, which is some of the most lucrative times for them. The strikers have been striking too long with no change! Now more than ever, it is so incredibly important to boycott them and stand in support with the knights, squires, Queens, and everyone else currently striking at the Buena Park castle. Once again, you can find all of the information you need about going to picket with them, signing petitions, or donating to their cause on the TikTok accounts of Kate Farrell and Erin Zapcic or by looking up ‘medieval times strike’ and clicking on the link on ‘Action Network’. Please at least sign the petition!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Star Wars: ‘The Bad Batch’ Season 2 Review

Screenshot of Tech in the season two finale of ‘The Bad Batch’ on Disney+. Copyright goes to Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Studios.

Hey! Hallie here!

Before I talk about this at all, I want to acknowledge the huge misstep taken by the Star Wars social media accounts yesterday. As a response to the finale of ‘The Bad Batch’, they interviewed Omega’s voice actor, Michelle Ang, to talk about the shocking events that occurred during the final episode. Except the quote they used to advertise this interview was a major spoiler, and they did not give a spoiler warning before it. So SPOILER WARNING for this post, and if you see a social media post about the Michelle Ang interview from any official Star Wars accounts and have not caught up on this season of ‘The Bad Batch’, do yourself a favor and scroll quickly past it. Going back to this review, I really enjoyed this season. It showcased much better storylines than what we saw in the first season of the show, and it showed that the writers were actually committing to giving full character arcs to the characters, even if only a couple of them got them this season. But I also think the finale made some major missteps. To the point that, once again, I’m not completely sure I’ll be watching season three. I might give it a chance, but unless we get some major reveals towards the beginning of next season, I’m not sure how they can salvage my interest in the show. Yep. That bad. So, once again, do not read any further unless you’re completely caught up or just don’t care about spoilers. Let’s get into this!

Characters: In my most recent post about ‘The Bad Batch’ I spent a lot of time complimenting this season’s character work. The issue is, that character work is shaky amongst the main cast. Character development was not done at all for Hunter and Wrecker this season. They haven’t really gotten anything aside from the basic characteristics we learned about way back during their introduction in ‘The Clone Wars’. Hunter has changed slightly, taking up a fatherly position for Omega, but I’d argue most of that was established early in season one and hasn’t developed since then. Then we have Echo and Omega, who tend to get more than their peers but honestly didn’t experience that much change this season. Echo left the Batch, but his decision to do so happened mostly off screen. And Omega has shown that she’s grown up, but her rapid change in season one slowed down considerably for season two. Then we have the two stars of the season. Crosshair wasn’t present for the majority of the episodes, as is now common for his character, but the episodes he did get were deep and heavy. He got to meet new clones, see first hand how the Empire was treating them now that they’re trying to replace them, and slowly lost his faith in the Empire altogether. These episodes were extremely effective, but three episodes out of sixteen can’t really carry an entire season. Which means we’re left with one character whose development carried the majority of the season’s episodes. That would be Tech. And if you watched the season finale you know where I’m going with this.

Tech: Even Omega’s voice actor said that Tech became Omega’s most prominent link this season. He took up a teaching role, quizzing Omega on her knowledge of ships and instructing her on how to fly the Marauder. His connection with Omega went beyond just that, though. The two proved themselves to be opposites in most episodes, Omega taking up an emotional stance that could endanger the party while Tech took up a logical stance that could come across as callous to his peers. Through that connection Omega began to teach Tech in return, this time about how to take other people’s emotions into consideration even when he didn’t quite understand them. From there we got excellently written scenes where Tech explained how the way he processes emotions works differently for him, all but confirming Dee Bradley Baker’s claim that he’s on the autism spectrum, as well as scenes where Tech put what he learned to practice and became a better source of support for the Batch. We even got the beginnings of a love story between him and the pirate Phee. His presence this season was so beloved by fans, that some fans were even suggesting he take over the position of leader from Hunter. And then the season finale came around and he enacted “Plan 99”. For those who don’t know what that’s referencing, 99 was a clone who was claimed too defective for duty during the Clone War. He was made to be a janitor, but when Separatist forces invaded Kamino, he took up arms and ultimately sacrificed himself for his brothers. ‘The Bad Batch’ is named Clone Force 99 in his honor, so there’s no mistaking what Tech was referencing when he was dangling precariously off of that rail car. He fully intended to sacrifice himself for his brothers, and apparently, he did.

Except, what do we have left when the only character who got development (and the only Star Wars character who represents the neurodivergent community) is instantaneously pulled away from the show? His death wasn’t bad. His sacrifice made sense for his character. But if our only developed character dies, what do we have left for next season? Is the only reason why he got character development to set up his death at the end of the season? If so, are we to expect that we won’t get full character development for any character unless they’re set to die immediately afterwards? No matter how they wrote Tech’s death, it just isn’t good writing to take away your strongest character while he’s the only character who can be considered strong. That doesn’t make fans want to tune in for next season. Because instead of connecting the fans to a full cast of characters, you connected them to one character and then you took him out of the show. So many fans are upset about this death, and many more are sure Tech isn’t dead. I mean, it would make sense. Falling deaths where we don’t see a body rarely hold any weight in anything let alone Star Wars. And our main villain throwing his broken goggles at Hunter’s feet as proof of his death seems a bit vague. Hemlock could just as easily be keeping him captive, after all his major goal is experimenting on clones, but Tech also fell with a bunch of his equipment and could have slowed his fall any number of ways. But bringing a character back from the dead does tend to lower the stakes. There’s a lot to consider, but I genuinely don’t think this series is at a stable enough place for any character to die, and I don’t think it’s right to take out representation for such an underrepresented community. As much as I did love this season, I think it would be a miraculously bad idea to go on without Tech.

Storylines: The majority of this post has been me going back and forth on why the character writing for the season has been both excellent and lackluster depending on the situation, so I think it’s time to talk about the way the storylines played a part in my love of the season. First off, the clone defection storylines were powerful here. If the first season was made to set up what the lives of clones are like after the Empire takes over, the second season shows how difficult it is for clones to leave the Imperial machine. Crosshair’s episodes dealt with this idea best. His first episode paired him off with Commander Cody, where we see him experiencing the first of the major amount of mistreatment and disregard he gets from the Empire after he recovers from his injuries on Kamino. He’s almost pushed off on Cody, who only got Crosshair an important job by directly requesting him. During said job, Crosshair follows Imperial directions to perfection, even murdering a woman in cold blood, and suddenly sees it all through someone else’s eyes. He sees Cody, who believes what the Empire is doing is right, decide that the Empire is wrong just by watching the way Crosshair reflects their ideals. From there his storyline comes around to Mayday, a clone who’s been ordered out to the middle of nowhere where he’s lost most of his squad. At this point the Empire’s already on thin ice with Crosshair and seeing Mayday’s position doesn’t help. What helps even less is when Crosshair and Mayday are sent out on a suicide run for mysterious equipment, which turns out to be Storm Trooper armor. The armor of their replacements. During the mission Mayday is badly injured but Crosshair manages to save his life. Only for the Imperial officer on duty to deny him care and let him die, resulting in Crosshair shooting the officer and officially defecting. Finally!

This is how we meet Hemlock, our new villain for ‘The Bad Batch’ series. Hemlock is a “doctor” hired by the Empire who specializes in clone experimentation. He’s the one who immediately captures Crosshair after he defects. In fact, he gets any clone the Empire deems suspicious or unworthy to work. This is an especially cool reveal because, earlier in the season, we see that any clone who becomes suspicious of what the Empire is doing to clones who leave either disappear or are immediately killed. Figuring out what happens to them and trying to prevent clones from dying premature deaths is exactly the mission Echo joins Rex on partway through the season. But it isn’t until Crosshair experiences it all firsthand that we actually learn what’s happening. I also loved that his right-hand nurse, who has a suspiciously familiar accent, gets a reveal of her own in the finale. When Omega is captured by Hemlock she almost immediately finds out that this nurse is another clone. I’m so excited that there’s more than one female clone! Don’t get me wrong, I love the clones, but anything involving clones immediately means we’re getting a significantly smaller amount of female characters. I’m glad this show is challenging that. Aside from this excellently unfolded arc we got Cid finally showing her true colors, which was not surprising but still satisfying because I never liked her. We got some fun Wookie lore. We got the return of the Zillo Beast and Tech finally uncovering the Empire’s plans to clone it. That episode was especially amazing for Tech’s adorable “fascinating” as he was face to face with it while it was trying to kill him. This season was a fun ride with an excellent overarching plot. But it certainly wasn’t perfect.

This post was a bit long, but I had a lot of thoughts about the season. I loved it. I really did. But I honestly don’t know where they could go from here and I’m worried that they wrote themselves into a corner. Hemlock has potential as a villain, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t take the time to develop the other characters. Potentially writing out their best written character certainly doesn’t bode well for the series. Especially because Echo’s position in the Bad Batch is precarious at the moment. Him going along to help rescue Crosshair was a temporary arrangement. So is he even a main character anymore? Are we losing two main characters instead of just one? And, once again, I don’t think I’ll be able to forgive them if they truly decide that their only neurodivergent character is dead, especially at the peak of his best writing so far. As of now though, I want to believe they’ll keep me hooked. And damn you Filoni, I will not stop believing that Tech is actually alive.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

ATEEZ: ‘Limitless’

Promotional photo of (from left) Song Mingi, Kang Yeosang, Jeong Yunho, Park Seonghwa, Kim Hongjoong, Choi Jongho, Jung Wooyoung, and Choi San. Copyright goes to ATEEZ and KQ Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’m just going to say from the beginning that this is going to be my new summer song. ATEEZ is just so incredibly good at creating sweeping epic songs that inspire hope. I know that Mingi said that this was probably his favorite of their Japanese releases. For me, it would be really difficult to choose! ‘Dreamers’ and ‘The King’ are also way up there for me! But I have absolutely been listening to this on repeat and I haven’t had my fill of it yet! On top of that, this concept was impeccable. I was excited from the moment that they released promotional photos that featured fencing in them. But I don’t think any of us knew even with those what the scope of this concept was. And let me tell you, they absolutely knew what they were doing. With all of that, I’m just going to get into this new amazing song and the MV that gave Atiny a collective heart attack.

‘Limitless’:

My first reaction when I heard this is that it sounded like an epic anime opening. This makes sense considering ATEEZ has been absolutely obliterating the game when it comes to OSTs lately. So much so that they’ve earned the nickname “the powerhouse of OSTs” specifically in Japan. But this was that and so much more. Firstly, I want to call out Mingi and Hongjoong for writing their raps to be so catchy that they constantly get stuck in my head. The vocals here were also absolutely amazing. San blew me away with the range that he displays in this one. Jongho and Wooyoung did a great job blowing that chorus out of the water too. And overall it feels like all of the vocalists get their time to shine at some point or another. It’s a song that feels set up to lift your spirits and I think part of that is what’s giving me summery vibes here. I could see myself blasting this on the way to the beach. In that way it joins the ranks of songs like ‘Wave’, ‘Stay’, ‘Illusion’, and ‘Sunrise’.

‘DIAMOND’:

I think a lot of people were expecting a full version of the ‘Diamond’ song by Sparkling from ‘Imitation’ when this was first announced. Which would have been hilarious. The boys have all absolutely embraced the memeing of that song and I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised at them releasing a full version for fun. But that’s not what this is. What this is instead is a simultaneously gorgeous and comforting song. They really pulled out all the reassuring stops with this one, including lyrics that have offers to cuddle. Yes, please! But in all seriousness, I did tear up when I first read these lyrics. ATEEZ is where I go for comfort when I need it and this was them acknowledging that they are a comfort to so many people and embracing it. I know that there’s a burden that comes with that and I’m so grateful to them for just being there for Atiny!

MV:

Again, they absolutely knew what they were doing when they shot this. The MV starts out depicting all of them working out ‘ROCKY’ style in gym attire. They decided to put Mingi in a compression top and a good chunk of the other members go sleeveless. Tell me again how any Atiny survived this MV? Yeosang’s arms are probably as big as my head at this point. This isn’t even fair! I also loved how they divided up who did what in the last part of the MV. We have Mingi and Seonghwa (who looks almost vampiric) face off in fencing as well as San and Wooyoung. On the other had we had the four who trained in archery for the Idol Olympics take on archery once again. I absolutely loved seeing Yunho take up archery again, especially knowing that he probably took it so seriously. I also loved that all of them got a victory moment, even if they were pitted against each other in fencing. Though we know that the majority of ATEEZ is absolutely amazing at anything athletic. They did place really high in the Idol Olympics after all! And I thought all of them in all black was just as attractive as all of them in gym gear. Just in general, this MV was made to completely wipe out Atiny and I’d say they succeeded.

‘Tower of Truth’:

They’ve been advertising for this interview all week and it just came out today. It was the first thing that I watched this morning because I couldn’t wait to see it! I think this has to be one of my absolute favorite ATEEZ interviews that I’ve ever seen. Not only are ATEEZ way too good at games in general, but the editors here really seemed to embrace and understand ATEEZ’s sense of humor. In one segment, Mingi was asked which of them would survive the longest in a zombie apocalypse. Mingi said himself, which the other members immediately began protesting against. In order to prove himself he was tasked to go against Yunho, who immediately began acting like a zombie complete with the editors giving him a horror movie vibe. Mingi instead threw Yeosang at Yunho who faked biting him; poor Yeosang! There was also a moment where Yeosang went after Wooyoung which included a panicked Mom Seonghwa yelling at him not to hit Wooyoung with the giant jenga pieces. But they were way too good at that game. They could have kept going forever. Though to be fair, there was a moment when the tower fell and all of them somehow caught it and righted it again. I love seeing ATEEZ participate in interviews like this because it just seems to fit them all so well! They always look like they’re having the best time. I also want to point out how advanced all of their English was here. It was insane! They’re all so amazing at it and Hongjoong is fluent at this point! Just go watch this interview if you haven’t already. It legitimately made my day!

‘Idol Radio’:

If you haven’t seen it yet, Yunho and Hongjoong came back to ‘Idol Radio’ with an episode entitled ‘Old Friends’. The entire episode this time was about the friendships between Hongjoong and Seonghwa, and Yunho and Mingi respectively. The four seemed to have a great time reminiscing on days as trainees while they played games designed to test the true strength of their friendships. My favorite of these games was probably the ‘I Love You’ game where the two pairs went one at a time to stand on the opposite end of an amount of space with their eyes closed and said “I love you” while they took a step towards the other. The space wasn’t that big so they inevitably bumped into each other and started blushing and laughing. It’s the most wholesome episode since the episode where just Yunho and Hongjoong interviewed each other and did their own reminiscing. I loved how Hongjoong and Seonghwa acted a little more like an old married couple, where Yunho and Mingi were a lot more giggly and prone to blushing. Though let’s be honest, Seonghwa has been known to successfully embarrass Hongjoong in the past. I also loved how when Mingi expressed that he didn’t think he was the best in the group at anything, Yunho had the audience yell out things to Mingi that he absolutely is amazing at. Mingi deserves the biggest hug!

Atiny have been spoiled lately with the amount of ATEEZ content we’ve been getting. Between the interviews and the new releases, there’s been plenty almost every single day! I hope that they get all the rest they need to recover from the tour and I absolutely hope that they have so much fun at their last show! I know Hongjoong has been campaigning to allow the fans more recording freedom during the last concert, so I’m sure we’ll have so many good quality videos. Let’s all look forward to it!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Sci-Fi: ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Huge Season 3 Reveals

Promotional image of Brent Spiner for ‘Star Trek: Picard’ season 3 on Paramount+. Copyright goes to CBS Television Studios, Roddenberry Entertainment, and Secret Hideout.

Hey! Hallie here!

Up until this point I’ve done reviews pretty frequently for ‘Picard’, but ‘Picard’ has given me so many major things to chew on, and so many mixed feelings about them, that I really needed time to think about them and dedicate an entire post to them. So this is going to have MAJOR SPOILERS for the last few episodes of ‘Picard’. If you haven’t stayed up to date with the season, don’t read this post. In any case, ‘Picard’ has been giving us some major plot twists in pretty much every episode, and I’m not sure whether they’re bold or too predictable. Between new character introductions and old characters returning we’ve seen a lot of interesting developments, but interesting doesn’t necessarily mean good. As you can probably tell I have a lot of strong and confused feelings about this season of ‘Picard’. So let’s get into the major plot points that seem to be effecting this show most at the moment, and the ways they both succeed and fail.

Jack is Picard’s Son: This reveal was the first big reveal of the series. This twist was good in that it brought Crusher and Picard together in a way fans had wanted to see for many, many years. It was the first time we got full confirmation of some sort of romantic relationship between the two, and the deep conversation they had regarding their son was one of the best moments of the series so far. Picard’s grief over not being able to raise his son and Beverly’s fear over how Picard’s reputation could have endangered Jack while he was growing up, made for a very interesting dynamic between the two. But there’s also various cons. One is that, though Jack has proven a fast talker and capable in a fight, he hasn’t really endeared himself to the audience yet. His immediate coldness to Picard and his tendency to act overly cocky don’t make him an instant favorite, and the plot focuses more on the mystery surrounding him than it does on his character development. And then there’s the problem with Picard and Beverly’s fight. While you can see where both characters are coming from when they’re discussing why Picard was left out of Jack’s life, it’s undeniable that Beverly was wrong to not even tell him he had a son. Every Starfleet officer risks endangering themself and the people close to them. Beverly know that better than anyone having lost her husband on a mission and having Westley serve on the same ship she served on. So why is she suddenly holding this against Picard, who has no control over it? Picard having a son is a plot point I feel needs extra care, and while I don’t dislike this reveal, I’m not seeing that care so far.

Changelings: The next big reveal was that our main villains of this season are Changelings. As a huge ‘Deep Space Nine’ fan, I was immediately on board for the return of the Changelings. Not only are the Changelings one of the most terrifying ‘Star Trek’ villains because of their ability to replace any character without anyone knowing, their return also means references to Odo! I love the idea of Changelings slowly taking over Starfleet. It isn’t the first time a hostile group of aliens has tried to take over Starfleet, but if anyone has the greatest chance at actually succeeding with this plan, it’s the Changelings. I also love the tense moments where the characters, particularly Seven, have had to hunt down disguised Changelings. The show does a really good job of making you feel like no one can be trusted. But then there’s the strange changes they’ve made from the ‘Deep Space Nine’ days. On the one hand, a major plot point has become that Changelings have adapted to be able to mimic not just the outer appearances of humans, but the inner appearances of humans. No X-Rays can catch them because they appear to have human organs, and no blood tests can catch them because they can make it look like they bleed just as easily as any human. But, for some reason, now Changelings are really bad at playing the part of the people they replace. They only know really basic information about the people they’re portraying, so one personal question can easily reveal them. Meanwhile, a main character in ‘Deep Space Nine’ was replaced by a Changeling for several episodes and no one, not even the audience, knew because of how much information the Changeling knew about said character. I personally think Changelings being able to quickly learn personal information like that is more frightening than Changelings being able to replicate human innards.

Ro Laren and Section 31: Worf was technically the first of the Section 31 reveals. Raffi began the series with not knowing who her Section 31 handler was, and only a few episodes in we learned that her handler was actually Worf. But Worf was answering to someone himself, and though he knew who that person was, we didn’t get to figure that out until last week. Turns out he was answering to Ro Laren. I was ecstatic to see Ro return. She’s definitely one of my favorite ‘Star Trek’ side characters, mostly because of her badassery and her refusal to let anyone walk all over her. The episode of her return did a good job of adding mystery to the character we know and love. For most of the episode we’re right there with Picard, understanding the betrayal he feels towards Ro because she joined the Marquis during the Dominion War, and feeling his suspicion towards her fueled both by the betrayal and the fact that she could be a Changeling. But when they finally come to an understanding about why Ro left Picard’s crew to join the Marquis, not only is it clear Ro couldn’t be a Changeling, but you feel the respect and love they have for each other almost better than any of the other character connections in the show so far. But then they kill Ro. And look, I understand that if there was any way for her to go, it would be sacrificing herself for Picard like the heroic badass she always was. But killing off such an influential female character after only one episode of screen time? Really? It felt like they put her in the show out of obligation to the fans but didn’t want to spend extra time writing a character arc for her. There was something so cheap about it.

Data: And here’s possibly the biggest and the craziest reveal we’ve gotten so far. During promotional content for season three of ‘Picard’ we learned Brent Spiner would be coming back as Lore. But then, when Worf, Raffi, and Riker all set out to get to the weapon they know the Changelings have been trying to get their hands on, it’s clear there’s more to Spiner’s role than meets the eye. First the trio see a raven, and anyone who’s familiar with Data knows that his visions of ravens were a major part of him unlocking his more human programming. Then they run into Moriarty, the hologram made to challenge Data. While I loved seeing the return of Moriarty, I do think it was kind of odd to advertise him so much if they were only going to use him as a clue to the true role Spiner is playing in the season. Then Riker puts together that the song they’re hearing play as they’re getting closer to the weapon is “Pop Goes the Weasel”, the song he attempted to help Data whistle when he first met him. I’m not going to lie, Riker’s slow discovery that Data is the weapon they’re searching for as the show flashes back to the first ever appearance of Data in ‘Next Generation’ actually made me cry. And then, of course, seeing Brent Spiner embody Data again made me emotional. But I still have problems with this. One is something all the characters couldn’t seem to stop bringing up. At this point, Data has died twice. Though you can argue that his return this time is different now that there’s a bit of Lore or a bit of Lal mixed in there, it still feels like the show doesn’t know how to let Data go. Then there’s the half-assed excuse for why Data now appears as an old man. I know they needed some excuse, but Soong wanting Data to appear wise is a bit too loose of an explanation for me. But considering Data just returned, it’s still a bit too early to completely judge this twist.

All of these plot twists are really fascinating things to pull into the third season of ‘Star Trek: Picard’, but I honestly don’t know how to feel about them. There are things I really like about all of them, and simultaneously major writing issues I see in all of them. And really, that’s my opinion of ‘Picard’ as a whole. Season three has been no different than any of the other seasons for me. While season three is tugging at my heartstrings more with its use of nostalgia, it still seems to balance every excellent moment with incredibly shaky writing. I really want to just have fun with this show, but at this point I’m kind of tired of loose explanations for why something in ‘Star Trek’ lore is suddenly different, or no explanations at all for why some of the character relationships have changed since last season. I want a more cohesive story from this series, not one that feels like the writers are throwing anything and everything they think fans will like at a wall and seeing what sticks. I can see that ‘Star Trek’ magic I know and love in this series, but so far, it hasn’t been enough to make ‘Picard’ rewatchable for me. We’ll have to see if the last few episodes of this series pull everything together or leave the series just as confused as it was when it began.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

ATEEZ: Happy Birthday Yunho!

Promotional photo of Jeong Yunho. Copyright goes to ATEEZ and KQ Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

It is officially Yunho week! And also the week that marks the release of “Limitless”. Overall, just a great week for Atiny. But, more importantly, it gives me the absolute best excuse to gush about my ult bias, the man who stole my heart from the get-go, Jeong Yunho. The bear retriever of ATEEZ and the dance captain of a group that’s so dance heavy that it makes the title just that much more impressive. Yunho has to be one of the sweetest people to have ever walked the Earth; I mean, they call him the bear retriever for a reason. He’s part teddy bear, part golden retriever. I have never in my life seen a man this simultaneously huggable and boyfriend material and I doubt anyone else has either. Just watching him smile brightens up my day so much because it’s so contagious. So in honor of the birthday of my ult bias, I’m going to go through some of my absolute favorite things about Jeong Yunho!

Main Dancer:

I’ve gushed about this before, but I’ll never get tired of it. Yunho is about 6’2” to 6’3” depending on who you ask. Either way, it is notoriously more difficult for taller, and especially more lanky, dancers to move with the same concise skill level as smaller dancers. Especially if you are in a group and everyone has to be perfectly in sync. What’s funny about ATEEZ is that two of their major dancers from the beginning have been the Tower Twins. If you’re not as familiar with the ATEEZ fandom, the Tower Twins is a term that has come to describe the two members who are over six foot; Yunho and Mingi. Yunho, however, is the person in charge of most dance practices. He learns choreography uncommonly quickly. To the point where someone showed Yunho a complicated TikTok dance and by the second time he watched it, he could perform it perfectly. His dance moves are incredibly clean and all of the members have said that if they have an issue with the choreography, they go to Yunho. If you watch behind the scenes dance practices you might hear Yunho speaking, as he usually leads the practices as well as monitors his own and the others choreography during shootings. Hongjoong has personally thanked him on camera several times for his contributions when it comes to choreography prep; whether it’s for an MV or a concert. Yunho has been cited many times to be a very patient teacher and an integral part of ATEEZ’s complicated, choreography-heavy, performances.

Mood Maker:

Yunho has also been called one of the mood makers of ATEEZ by other members on multiple occasions. He’s well known for usually sporting a smile and often is one of the first members to crack a joke or do something completely meme based, like wear a plastic horse head on his head during a fansign. He also is very cuddly. He’ll cuddle with members in front of the camera, has said before that he doesn’t mind snuggling with members while sleeping, and will even carry other members to and from bed. He once bridal style carried San out of bed because San didn’t want to get up. And his kindness is so apparent on multiple levels. Semi-recently, Jongho posted a video of Yunho attempting not to fall asleep as Jongho was attempting to keep him up long enough to see one of his performances on television. This also continues in his constant attempts to calm down the members who need it, break up fights, and otherwise just take care of everyone. Mingi has said that Yunho is integral in keeping him calm and helping him through tougher times. This man truly cares for everyone in his circle. This is even more piercing to me because of how Yunho has been saying lately that he struggles telling the other members how he’s been feeling. Being that much of a mood maker takes an incredible amount of strength! I hope that he feels more free in reaching out to his members in the future!

Closeness:

Yunho has very unique and very close relationships with each of the members of ATEEZ. Lately, he and Hongjoong have been very close. They always shared a room whenever they went on tour and have always had a close relationship. They were the first two trainees in KQ after all. But after doing Idol Radio, they have been inseparable while on tour and even more frequently participate in the Painted Man campaign together. A campaign where they paint one of their nails in order to raise awareness to the violence committed against women and children. Seonghwa and Yunho have a very compassionate and helpful relationship with each other where they look out for the other, except when Yunho steals one of Seonghwa’s legos. Yunho and Yeosang are extremely chill when they’re together and are either super sweet or extremely deadly with their dances. Yunho and San are the adorable roommates who quite frequently cuddle together and are hilariously sweet; such as when Yunho buys San more plushies or when San agrees to play games with Yunho when he’s pouting. Yunho and Mingi have known each other forever and rely on each other, they even have their own adorable head twist thing. They’ve been inseparable since their school days. (That is, when Yunho is not betraying Mingi’s moral loyalty.) Yunho and Wooyoung frequently poke fun at each other, including their laughs and dance styles, and have a very playful relationship. And Yunho babies his adorable maknae and makes Jongho do Ho brothers content for Atiny. Just general wholesomeness all around!

Serious Yunho:

I’ve already talked about this a little, but Yunho has an uncanny ability for peace-keeping within the group. Atiny have started making compilations of Yunho stepping in and trying to aid Hongjoong when the rest of the group starts getting a bit too loud or difficult to handle. This even included a time where he hilariously screamed during an ATEEZ debate that involved Captain Hongjoong himself. Yunho is also a sore loser, something that San has said before. Atiny have barely ever seen Yunho get frustrated, but when he has it almost always was because of his competitive nature. San could be seen trying to get him to breathe and calm down at the Idol Olympics when archery wasn’t quite going Yunho’s way. Yunho is good at almost everything and is incredibly good at playing basketball, video games, Twister, and even at guessing in strategy based games. Yunho’s serious side isn’t seen too often and it is a glorious thing to behold when it is. He’s also the absolute best at playing horror games. In the most recent zombie game they all played, Yunho was very serious and strategic the entire time, including protecting San who is incredibly afraid of horror while Yunho isn’t really afraid of anything. I made an entire post about this once before but, as someone who also can’t stand any level of horror, I think Yunho might be one of the only people on the planet I would ever consider going into a haunted house with.

My Yunho Story:

Because he’s my ult bias and it’s almost his birthday, I figure I might as well share my own personal story with Yunho. I won’t say that Yunho was the first person that I noticed in ATEEZ. That was probably a generous mix of San, Hongjoong, and Mingi. When I was originally going about the very difficult task of choosing a bias, I really had no idea where to start. As soon as I got into ATEEZ, I familiarized myself with all of them and then had almost an impossible time trying to choose a bias because I loved all of them so much. I went back and forth between pretty much all of them and didn’t really settle on any until I watched more of their videos that showed more of their personality. And only after Hallie said that Yunho was my type did it hit me full in the face just how much that was true. I honestly don’t know how I didn’t choose him earlier because I’m never able to tear my eyes off of him. And I have no idea why he isn’t the bias of more people. Once Yunho became my bias I was absolutely floored and knew that I wasn’t going anywhere. And pretty quickly Yunho became my ult bias. He was my one of my ult biases even before ATEEZ became my ult group and pretty much everyone knew it. It’s really difficult for me to stop talking about Yunho, as you can probably tell. His vocals on “Still Here” drew me to the song and I connected to it so hard that I absolutely cried when I saw him perform it live. I am so incredibly happy to have this man in my life in the way that he is! Even if that might mean I never meet him. He’s already made such a huge impact on my life! I honestly couldn’t imagine anyone else ever being my ult bias. Yunho just…fits. He’s the comfort that I need on a bad day or the reason I find myself uncontrollably smiling at my phone when just moments ago I was completely overwhelmed by anxiety. I hope that he has the absolute best day and I hope that he gets back just some of that love that he gives to all of us.

Happy Birthday Yunho! I know he’ll never read this, but I am so incredibly happy to have discovered ATEEZ and to have discovered him. He once said that he wants Atiny to lean on him during rough times and that’s exactly what I’ve been able to do. He’s always there for me when I need him most. Yunho is an underrated member who deserves the absolute world and I hope his birthday is the best and most wholesome day for him!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Star Wars: Coming Back to ‘The Bad Batch’ Season 2

Screenshot of Echo, Omega, Wrecker, Hunter, and Tech in ‘The Bad Batch’ on Disney+. Copyright goes to Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm.

Hey! Hallie here!

For those who followed my reviews of season one of ‘The Bad Batch’, you might not be all that surprised that I’m so late to start talking about season two. I didn’t dislike season one, it had plenty of good ideas and I absolutely adore Omega as a character, but I also didn’t like that first season very much. I felt the characters were lacking. So lacking, in fact, that I wasn’t sure I would be back to watch season two despite my love for Omega. But ultimately, the more I heard about this season the more I was convinced to pick it up again. Once again the writing seems to refuse to shy away from the darker and more interesting parts of Star Wars lore, and some of the characters in this season are actually getting the development I wanted in season one. Granted, it still struggles with many of the flaws I saw in that first season, but I do want to talk about what I’ve been liking from this season so far. This is a SPOILER warning and also a warning that I’m not completely caught up on the series. This is more a midway point review and I will likely do another review once the season finale airs.

The Characters: This was my main complaint in season one so let’s talk about how season two compares. First off, Omega is as great as always. Though her character could definitely stagnate now that she’s essentially come into her own, she doesn’t at all. Now we’re focusing on her struggle to keep the family she’s built together as each character grows and changes, meanwhile harboring guilt over her essentially being the cause for the Bad Batch having to go out on their own in the first place. And can I just say, I’m so glad we’re done with the storylines where Omega has to constantly prove herself to the Batch each episode. Now she’s accepted as a fully capable member of the mercenary group, and is even depended on to hold her own in battle. I really like this, both because Omega deserves it and because it makes the other members of the Batch interestingly conflicted. On the one hand, she’s growing up and they have to acknowledge that there are things she can take care of on her own. But on the other, she’s still a kid and they wish they could give her a proper childhood.

Speaking of the Batch, let’s talk about Tech. Tech has been getting SO MUCH this season, and as someone who pretty instantly knew Tech was my favorite member of the Bad Batch, I’m ecstatic. Tech got a few cool moments in season one, but he was mostly just “the smart one” who provided most of the show’s sarcasm. This season he has plenty of cool scenes, now actively taking part in every firefight, and his character development is excellent. We’re seeing him get paired off with Omega a lot, and the comparisons being drawn between himself and Omega are interesting. They’re essentially foils for each other, with Omega being passionate and emotional, and Tech being level-headed and calculating. This has led to plenty of cute moments where the two surprise each other with their supportiveness as well as discuss their differences. There’s even a scene where Tech talks with Omega about how he processes things differently from other people, confirming the statement made by clone voice actor Dee Bradley Baker that Tech is on the autism spectrum. Hell yeah! The other characters still don’t seem to have as much development as I would like, though I do appreciate that Echo taking his leave to join the Rebels was very in character. Still, they’ve been doing more character work this season than I expected and I’m loving it.

The Storylines: One thing ‘The Bad Batch’ has never been bad at is storylines. Some storylines can come across as too silly or over the top, but for the most part, they really dig their heels into developing Star Wars lore and giving it depth. The episode that stood out the most for me in this regard was episode three of the season. This episode doesn’t feature any of our main characters, so it almost comes as a surprise how immediately it hooks the audience. In it we catch up with Crosshair, who still isn’t getting as much time as I would like after all of the dramatic moments in season one’s finale. He’s apparently had to go through an extensive healing process after waiting days on the destroyed remnants of Kamino to be rescued by the Empire. Though we don’t really see signs of the headaches he was suffering from in season one, we know he’s still struggling with his position in the Empire because he hasn’t been sleeping well. And what better way to explore Crosshair’s inner dilemma than by pairing him off with the ultimate clone betrayer, Commander Cody?

I was so conflicted to see Cody return. We haven’t seen any story about him surrounding Order 66, which left his likable personality in Clone Wars feeling like a bit of a lie knowing how quickly he turned on Obi-Wan. Here he’s still on the “good soldiers follow orders” kick, but just like Crosshair, he’s questioning himself. The two fall into the mission given by the Empire easily, especially because they’re mostly fighting against Separatist droids. But when Cody tries to convince their target that they can talk everything out and achieve the peace he feels the Empire wants to achieve, he’s given a rude awakening when Crosshair immediately shoots her instead. By the end of the episode Cody’s defected from the Empire and Crosshair is even more conflicted than he was at the beginning. It’s such a brilliant episode and perfectly pairs together two of the clones fans have most held grudges against. Along with this storyline we’ve seen Captain Rex come back, the return of Gungi, the Wookiee Jedi, and we even got to explore the spiritual connection between Wookiee tribes and the nature on Kashyyk. They really haven’t disappointed me with an episode of the season so far.

The Animation: Star Wars animation has come so insanely far since the first season of ‘Clone Wars’. Everything in this season looks so realistic, from the sand on the desert planets, to the water on ocean planets, to the lighting on character’s faces. I am absolutely amazed by the way the series has managed to keep the stylistic look of the characters, including the blocky structure of their faces and the solid shape of their hair, all while still looking like they could walk out of the screen. The landscape shots in this show are so gorgeous that I’ve actually gasped while watching them. I can’t get over how amazing this looks, and how much improvement there is even compared to the first season of ‘The Bad Batch’, which already looked incredible. It’s getting to the point where I would recommend this show for how gorgeous it looks alone.

And those are my thoughts on what I’ve seen so far! I didn’t have a place to talk about this in any of my categories, so I also want to quickly give a shout out to Hector Elizondo for being an iconic actor and having an amazing voice for voice acting. I love Hector Elizondo, mostly from my days obsessing over ‘Princess Diaries’, and his voice is so recognizable that the minute I heard him at the beginning of the season I nearly started crying. But even with my bias for Elizondo aside, this season has already done some major work at winning me over. I can’t wait to see what else ‘The Bad Batch’ has up its sleeve. While I wait to see where the end of season two puts the crew, for now I’ll be spending all my time catching up on the episodes I missed.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

Video Games: Mario Bros. Lore

Screenshot of Princess Peach from the new ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’. Copyright goes to Universal Pictures and Nintendo.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I think everyone is more than aware by now that there’s a brand new ‘Mario Bros.’ movie coming out and a lot of people have a lot of opinions on the casting. I know I do! But even though this may or may not be one of the best ‘Super Mario Bros.’ related things to come out in the way of content, it will certainly give us more plot than we’re used to seeing when it comes to the Nintendo characters. For the most part, Mario games aren’t well known for being big on plot. And they don’t have to be! The games focus a little more on traditional storylines, the obvious draw of the iconic characters, and fun mini games that large groups of people can play. In fact, the mini game approach has gotten them so popular that it’s what Nintendo has been banking off of when it comes to the Mario characters for years now. I’m not sure any Nintendo game is as popular as ‘Mario Kart’. But this lack of general storytelling doesn’t mean that Nintendo has never done any with these characters. And it certainly doesn’t mean that fans haven’t included their own ideas of what a more fleshed out Mario Bros. world would look like. So I’m going to get into some of my favorite canonical additions, some history, and some of my favorite fan additions that have really fleshed out this world for me.

Original Content:

Everyone knows what happens plot wise in most of the original games as well as a lot of the recent games. Princess Peach, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, is kidnapped by Bowser, a dinosaur looking creature, and taken to his giant castle filled with fire. For some odd reason, the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom employ the help of a plumber, Mario, who goes on a quest to save the Princess. A very classic damsel-in-distress storyline. Most games have gone after a storyline where Bowser is depicted as being pretty obsessed with the Princess and sometimes even attempts to force her into marrying him on top of the general kidnapping. If you’ve ever seen pictures of Princess Peach in a wedding gown or gotten a wedding Peach as a racer in ‘Mario Kart’, it’s likely a design from when Bowser tried to force her to marry him. It has absolutely nothing to do with her marrying Mario. Besides this, we don’t get much information at all. We don’t know how Mario suddenly comes into the picture as he is not a citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom. We don’t know why Bowser is intent on only Princess Peach. And, most importantly, we never learn what Princess Peach thinks about all of this. I mean, she’s the one getting kidnapped!

Secondary Content:

Besides the main storylines we’ve gotten, there has been an expansion on other characters. It’s called ‘Super Mario Bros.’ for a reason; there’s more than one brother. This allowed for two players to team up to save Princess Peach, but it also gave us the character of Luigi. Not only is Luigi adorable, but he’s unleashed a whole other host of characters as well as story. While Luigi’s games don’t focus on storyline that much either, Luigi frequently is pitted against King Boo in his games. A very scared Luigi reluctantly goes against the King ghost haunting him. But we don’t really know who these ghosts used to be or how Luigi frequently finds himself in company with them when he’s just a small, scared, adorable, man who doesn’t really want to fight anyone. On top of Luigi, we also have Princess Daisy who has a more complicated storyline. Princess Daisy is actually in charge of several Kingdoms, so she’s technically an Empress. Her original game saw her as yet another damsel-in-distress to be saved by Mario, just slightly more tomboyish than Peach. The comics went so far as to include her in evil schemes in order to try and persuade Peach to like someone other than Mario so that she could have Mario to herself. One such scheme was aiding in the creation of Wario and Waluigi. But these comics are not considered canonical and it’s questionable whether they ever were. Despite no plot relevant interactions within any games, Nintendo semi-recently declared that Daisy is the official love interest of Luigi. The only romantic links we’ve seen between them have been hinting in mini-game related Mario games, but despite this it seems that this is a move that’s been coming on for a very long time.

Rosalina:

Rosalina was a popular character introduced in ‘Super Mario Galaxy’ and despite her absence in earlier Mario games, she’s arguably one of the most important characters in this franchise when it comes to plot. The original plot of the game was set to depict a new Princess of the galaxy Mario would be exploring on his way to save Peach. She was set to have a slightly deeper plot than we had seen before, but nothing too fleshed out. This was until Yoshiaki Koizumi wrote a completely fleshed out plot for the character late at night and requested that it be completely added into the game. He acknowledged in later interviews that to him it had felt like writing plot for Mario games was forbidden and deeply wanted to change this standard. Thus, the deep background for Rosalina was born. Though her storyline is optional in the game, you can visit Rosalina several times throughout the game and learn her entire backstory through a virtual storybook. The story is actually quite sad and really makes you feel for the character of Rosalina. At a young age a star creature called a Luma finds her having lost its mother; crying and begging for help. Together they search the galaxy for the mother of the Luma on their own planet and through their travels find even more Lumas who have lost mothers. Rosalina makes the planet habitable for them all, declaring herself the mother of the Lumas. Which is when we find out that Rosalina has also lost her mother and there is no hope of ever finding her again (It is strongly implied that she died shortly before the story began). Though this inclusion was optional, it still proves to be one of the most heartfelt pieces of plot ever written for a Mario game and continues to make the character of Rosalina stand out despite her being a more recent inclusion.

Fan Theories:

To fill in a lot of the gaps from the original games, many fans have tried their hand at inventing plot lines and deeper backstories for the original and iconic characters. This mainly seems to have focused on Princess Peach and Bowser. After all, the two seem to have past history as enemies even before the Mushroom Kingdom asks Mario for help in retrieving their Princess. A lot of people even wonder if perhaps Peach and Bowser had a history that wasn’t always antagonistic. My absolute favorite fan-created plot for the Nintendo games comes from the creators ‘lovebunnycosplay’ and ‘dinograveyard’ who post their Mario Lore videos primarily on both TikTok and Instagram. Their version of the story is actually still going and I’m always on edge to see what they’re going to do next with the characters. There will be SPOILERS for this going forward; I highly highly recommend going through all of their videos! Their version of the story has Princess Peach from a noble family that abused her and was losing money, so they sent her to a ball in the hopes that she might woo King Boo, who is still alive in the story. Instead she ends up wooing his brother, Prince Bowser, and though he is not her first choice, she marries him in order to get herself out of her situation and to give her family the money that they need. She still holds the hope of becoming the Queen, so she has an affair with Boo and we know from early videos that this may or may not lead Bowser to murder his brother, which leaves Princess Peach the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. But it’s starting to seem like Peach was the one who killed Boo this entire time. Like I said, it’s not finished and it’s so intriguing! I feel so sorry for Bowser; he’s so sweet in their version! The cosplay is also top notch here! I seriously can’t recommend this series enough; I binge watched it like it was a Netflix show.

Obviously there’s a lot of Mario content to explore, but it seems like there’s significantly less when it comes to trying to find plot in the Nintendo games. And while they work perfectly well without plot, I am personally a very plot oriented show watcher and game player. I’m hoping that this new movie will give us some of the plot that these iconic characters deserve, but we’ll see. If all else fails we’ll still have top notch fan theories and fan series to watch! But I do hope that Nintendo sees the increasing want for canonical Mario lore and gives us something more to chew on, especially when it comes to the characters. There’s just so much that they could do!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Studio Ghibli: The 5 Most Comforting Ghibli Movies

Screenshot of Mei, Satsuki, and Totoro from ‘My Neighbor Totoro’. Copyright goes to Studio Ghibli.

Hey! Hallie here!

I have recently been obsessed with cozy entertainment and I think most Studio Ghibli films fall under that category. Other than ‘Grave of the Fireflies’, every Ghibli movie I’ve watched has given off some sort of comforting, whimsical vibe that cheers me up after a bad day. That said, the more I’ve explored cozy content, the more I’ve realized that while any movie can be comforting, some movies hit certain criteria that truly make it feel like you’re being wrapped in a warm blanket. The movies on this list are the Ghibli movies I feel give off this comfort the most. To make it onto this list, I specifically looked at movies that held the whimsy I liked in films as a child, but with low stakes that feel focused on personal growth rather than a situation that could be dire for any of the characters. Let’s get into my personal list of the most comforting Ghibli films!

5. ‘The Cat Returns’. ‘The Cat Returns’, more than any other Ghibli film, feels like a movie I would have watched over and over as a small child. It follows a high schooler named Haru, who goes out of her way to rescue a cat who’s almost hit by a truck. After she saves the cat, he stands up on two legs and speaks to thank her. If that wasn’t weird enough, she’s later faced with a royal procession of cats led by the Cat King who wish to give her gifts. But things quickly turn sinister when the Cat King insists she’s now obligated to marry his son, the cat she saved from the truck. She’s forced to seek help from the Cat Bureau, led by a cat named the Baron, all while she slowly turns into a cat herself. It’s really lighthearted, with villains that are more silly than evil and the stakes lying in the main character trying to stop herself from fully becoming a cat. The film is also short, sitting at only an hour and fifteen minutes, making it perfect for those days where my attention span is causing me stress. And the best part? In the English dub The Baron is voiced by Cary Elwes! While this movie doesn’t have a smaller scale cozy feel, the fantastical land of the Cat Kingdom brings its own comfort, particularly because of the gorgeous animation. It’s hard not to want to join the Baron for tea in the beautiful Cat Bureau base or dance in the Cat King’s ballroom in the towering palace. This one’s highly recommended for those days where you just want something fun without a complicated plot.

4. ‘When Marnie Was There’. This one is somber in tone at first, but I feel this one turns wholesome very fast and manages to keep that warm feeling even while the dramatic mystery of the movie unfolds. This one follows a young girl named Anna who’s sent to live with her aunt and uncle to help her with a mix of asthma and depression. While there she stumbles across an abandoned mansion where she meets a girl named Marnie. Strangely, Marnie appears to live in the mansion that, at night, is suddenly full of people rather than abandoned. But in the morning the mansion appears abandoned again and no one knows who Marnie is. While Anna begins to open up thanks to her friendship with Marnie, she tries to unravel the mystery of who Marnie really is. This one is particularly comforting to me because it deals pretty seriously with mental health. While I wouldn’t say there’s anything triggering for anyone dealing with anxiety or depression, the main character struggles with both of those things in a way that’s relatable. And this movie goes through her healing process as she learns how to open up to new people, depend on her family, and love herself even during her bad days. It’s cathartic, and at times definitely emotional. But for the most part, the way that Anna is supported by the people around her, particularly Marnie, is so comforting. I especially love that the movie really romanticizes the every day experience of getting to know new people with the fantasy backdrop of the strange mystery around Marnie. Definitely watch this one if you want a comforting watch that feels personal.

3. ‘Ponyo’. ‘Ponyo’ is the perfect mix of fantasy and everyday coziness with characters that are way too cute not to love. ‘Ponyo’ follows a fish girl who lives in the ocean. Curious about the surface world, she swims to shore and meets a little boy named Sosuke who gives her the name Ponyo. Sosuke decides to care for her on land and through her own magic, Ponyo begins to turn more and more into a human. But Ponyo’s father feels she’ll be safer in the ocean and his desire to bring her home causes problems for Sosuke’s seaside town. Most of the comfort from this one comes from the innocent love between Ponyo and Sosuke. Both are extremely young children who like each other regardless of flaws and want to spend as much time together as possible. While the movie sets up their relationship to be possibly romantic at some point in the future, it really doesn’t mean their relationship has to be viewed as romantic at all to find it touching. Just the fact they can be so different and care for each other so much is enough. Plus, this movie is full of so many calm, lovely scenes. Including an entire montage where Sosuke and Ponyo sail in a small boat across the town while the town is partially underwater, and a scene where Ponyo first experiences eating a ramen bowl with egg on top. Seriously, those ramen bowls will never not look delicious. Though some parts of the movie are more intense, for the most part this movie is simply about kids moving through everyday life in a port town and all the more dramatic moments occur between family members who care deeply for each other. Plus, the port town in this movie is beautiful and so easy to get lost in.

2. ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’. We’re getting to the two Ghibli movies best known for their comforting feel now. ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ is an excellent example of introducing fantastical elements into a world that’s otherwise just like ours. It follows Kiki, a young witch who must go out to make a way for herself on her thirteenth birthday. With her cat Jiji, she finds a seaside town with enough of a bustling population that she feels she can find success as a local witch. But with no other skills aside from flying, she decides to create a delivery service. She fortunately meets a kind woman named Osono who helps her get her business running, but running a business is harder than she thinks and her lack of self confidence quickly begins to get in her way. This movie is the perfect watch on a day where you just want to feel cozy. The port town is not just pretty, the cottage-like buildings and friendly population make it feel warm and welcoming. This movie also has plenty of baking, which myself and many other people feel adds an extra level of coziness to comfort media. Though admittedly one of the things baked in this movie is a herring pie, it somehow looks kind of appetizing. And Kiki spends lots of time in a bakery surrounded by delicious looking bread because baking is Osono’s profession. There’s also a huge message in this movie about being confident in your abilities and not beating yourself up when you begin to lose inspiration. As an artist, the in depth discussion of artists block, or blank page syndrome, always brings me a lot of relief. This one is definitely the movie that helps me most after a stressful day.

1.’My Neighbor Totoro’. There isn’t any other Ghibli movie that I could put at the top of this list. ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ will always appeal the most to my childhood love of fantasy and my current need to seek out lighthearted comfort. ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ begins with sisters Satsuki and Mei moving out to the countryside with their father. It’s revealed that they’re doing this so their sickly mother can live in a place that’s better for her condition once she gets back from the hospital. The two girls are very high spirited though, quickly deciding to wander around the foresty area that surrounds their new house. One day, Mei finds a mysterious tunnel within the trees and stumbles upon Totoro, a giant, fluffy, forest spirit who quickly joins in with the girls on their adventures. ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ is just adorable. You can’t really beat a movie that stars an irresistibly cute furry creature who freely gives out hugs. And unlike ‘Princess Mononoke’, all of the forest spirits in this one are cute. From small bunny-like fantasy creatures to the giant Catbus, there isn’t one character in this movie I wouldn’t want to be real. There’s also the lead characters to discuss. Mei and Satsuki are such realistic sisters and really comforting in their own ways. Mei, the youngest, is absurdly cute and acts so much like an actual child that she’s amusing to watch. Satsuki is older, and though she still enjoys playing around, there’s a wisdom to her that makes her instantly respectable. Even their father is a wholesome character you can’t help but want to know in real life. And even though the mother in this movie is sickly, there are no sad twists you have to worry about here. This movie is just so wholesome and captures the joy of being a child better than any movie I’ve ever seen.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

International Dramas: Unpopular K-Drama Opinions

Screenshot of Lee Minho in ‘Boys Over Flowers’. Copyright goes to Group 8, KBS, and Netflix.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’ve talked a lot about my favorite K-Dramas and my very honest opinions of them, and over time I’ve found that I have a lot of unpopular K-Drama opinions. And I feel as though as time passes, my opinions seem to fall more and more on the unpopular end of the spectrum. Until I started looking up other people’s opinions on these, I don’t think that I quite understood how different some of my opinions on some of these plot points and characters are. I find that a lot of strong opinions come up when it comes to K-Dramas that especially focus on romance, like the ones that I mostly watch. With everything else you’re also adding the fact that there’s usually a love triangle involved and a very charming second lead. But some of these opinions have nothing to do with that; so I’m just going to go into my unpopular opinions from some of my favorite K-Dramas. There will be MASSIVE SPOILERS ahead for quite a few K-Dramas, so be aware of that! Here we go!

Jandi is just as bad of a partner as Junpyo:

I don’t think that it’s an unpopular opinion in ‘Boys Over Flowers’ that Junpyo, in general, is a pretty terrible boyfriend. He has a massive amount of red flags and extremely toxic behaviors including rage issues that he doesn’t really seem to address at any point throughout the drama. Jandi is our heroine of the story, and she definitely has spunk and strength to her that’s admirable. But that in no way makes her a good girlfriend either. While Junpyo might as well be waving a giant red flag with a full marching band playing behind him; Jandi is an extremely bad girlfriend and demonstrates this several times throughout the series. Junpyo at least is committed to Jandi, though I absolutely completely judge him for not taking no for an answer several times throughout the building of their relationship. But even when Jandi is dating her initial crush, Jihoo, she’s constantly thinking about dating Junpyo instead. And when she decides she wants Junpyo instead, she’s suddenly interested in Jihoo again. She kind of pulls each of them along without being willing to let either one go. And she’s quick to pretend she doesn’t know Junpyo in public or decide that she hates him for the day. Both of them are completely awful at relationships and never seem to get all that much better throughout the series. This kind of goes into another popular opinion from the show that I disagree with; which is that Jandi should have ended up with Jihoo. Jihoo deserves so much better than Jandi! I disagree with that opinion purely because I want Jihoo to find someone who never views him as second best.

I like Yiseo with Saeroyi:

When I first watched ‘Itaewon Class’, the romantic ending to the show was considered very controversial. And the more I see this brought up, the more controversial this decision becomes. Throughout the drama Saeroyi is head over heels in love with Sooah, who develops feelings for him as well. But Yiseo is in it for Saeroyi from day one. She gambled with her entire future in order to help him with his business. And despite the fact that she doesn’t trust easily; she puts all of her trust in him. She even puts herself in danger for him on occasion. A lot of people thought that the relationship between the two felt more like a brother/sister dynamic. And I at least agree that there is a point in time where their relationship does feel a little like that. Especially when it’s unrequited. But by the end of the show I feel that their relationship has really progressed beyond that to a relationship where they both trust and take care of each other equally. And Sooah has a selfishness for her feelings towards Saeroyi while Yiseo doesn’t. Their relationship is pure on both sides and built off of years of trust. I think it’s a perfect beginning for the two of them after everything they’ve been through together and I personally find it so adorable!

Yujin Shouldn’t Have Been Forgiven:

This pains me a little to say when talking about ‘Imitation’ because this character is played by Jeong Yunho. Who is my bias in my ult group ATEEZ. I can’t even put into words how much I love that man, how amazing of an actor he is, and how excited I was to see him in a K-Drama! But Yujin (who I do absolutely love and would have chosen over Ryok in a heartbeat), was forgiven far too easily by Hyunji for what he did to her. Yujin calling her, not because he wanted to actually call her but because he wanted her to give him updates on Maha, is a huge breach of trust. And Yujin basically says a very brief sorry and then the two of them are suddenly completely back to normal. Yujin should have done a lot more to get her trust back after essentially using her in this situation. A simple apology shouldn’t have done it. And either way, I wish that Hyunji would have figured out that her crush on Yujin probably wasn’t the most healthy. Just like Yujin found out that his crush on Maha wasn’t healthy. Hyunji got angry at Maha a few times purely because she had a crush on Yujin and viewed Yujin more like a celebrity than a person. I think those two needed a lot more work before they got together in the end; especially Yujin. I also wanted more Yujin time and giving him more of a redemption would have given Yunho more to work with!

Habaek is the worst K-Drama love interest:

I know a lot of people give this crown to Junpyo, but I firmly believe that Habaek from ‘Bride of Habaek’ is the worst K-Drama boyfriend I’ve ever seen. Firstly, we’ve been talking more and more about how the boss/employee dynamic can be really unbalanced even though it is really popular in K-Dramas. I think a god/servant dynamic is even worse. Not only because that’s an absolutely insane dynamic itself, but also because Habaek takes full advantage of it. Including forcing Soah to do his bidding and then becoming extremely possessive of her once they start dating. Which culminates in a scene where he treats her like a housewife in front of the much better second lead (who refers to her as his goddess in comparison to Habaek referring to her as his servant) and barks orders at her the entire time. Habaek also constantly complains about her and, in one scene, lists off all of her perceived flaws to the second lead in the hopes that he’ll decide that she isn’t worth it anymore. He’s the epitome of a toxic boyfriend with an unhealthy power dynamic thrown into the mix. I have no idea why she didn’t end up with the second lead.

Rini and Kyeongjun Shouldn’t Get Back Together:

‘Lovestruck in the City’ is one of my favorite K-Dramas and such a touching story about reconnecting with the one that got away. At least, that’s the story of the main couple. This is a secondary couple that we are introduced to at the beginning as a very stable and loving couple that is currently in a functional long term relationship. Or at least, we think it’s functional. As we see more of the relationship we learn that Kyeongjun has been dancing around issues with Rini for a while now. And every time he tries to bring them up in an effort to communicate with her; she has a major freak out and they end up fighting. But on the other hand, he’s been lying about her to his family members because he’s ashamed of her job and this is one thing he hasn’t even been trying to communicate with her. After all of these issues come to a head at the very end of the drama, the two break up. This caused a lot of backlash as most people were, understandably, uncomfortable with the romance show ending with the long term couple having broken up. Most people asking for a second season were asking for one in the hopes that these two would get back together. But I personally don’t think that these two worked as a couple. Rini is self sufficient but she also refuses to let her boyfriend care for her in any way and dismisses his concerns immediately. And he lies about her because he’s ashamed of her. They feel too fundamentally different for them to work and their goals are wildly different. I think it was nice to show a relatable ending to a relationship amongst all the beautiful beginnings.

Goo Hae Ryung and Yi Rim are perfect together:

After ‘Rookie Historian: Goo Hae Ryung’ blew up, a huge chunk of people thought that Yi Rim was too childish for our heroine and that she should have ended up with Officer Min instead. I completely disagree with that! Yi Rim was such an adorable pure soul and he was the lighthearted foil to the constant drama and seriousness that Goo Hae Ryung had to deal with. Not only that, he absolutely refused to play games with her even when he was told to do so. With all of the lying, backstabbing, and manipulation that Goo Hae Ryung had to deal with within the palace; it was nice to have someone who was so communicative and honest for her to be able to fall back on. The two of them are so adorable together for so many reasons and I never saw Officer Min as a potential love interest for her. He was her mentor; I never sensed anything more romantic there. I think the romance in this one was absolutely perfect!

I know I’ve talked a little about most of these opinions before, but I don’t think I quite noticed how unpopular some of these were. And most of these are about couples that I actually like together or think shouldn’t have gotten together. Which is such a huge part of K-Dramas as a whole in general! I’m constantly looking for new ones to watch, so hopefully I’ll get obsessed with yet another one soon and develop even more unpopular opinions. But I think, for now, this is a pretty good compilation of my most unpopular K-Drama opinions.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Sci-Fi: ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Episode 2 and 3 Review

Screenshot of Sir Patrick Stewart as Picard and Jonathan Frakes as Riker in episode 2 of ‘Star Trek:Picard’ on Paramount+. Copyright goes to CBS Television Studios, Roddenberry Entertainment, and Secret Hideout.

Hey! Hallie here!

Now that I’m taking Fridays all to myself on this blog, I can promise a whole lot more episode reviews. Between ‘Picard’, ‘The Mandalorian‘, and the last few episodes of ‘The Last of Us’, I have plenty of shows to talk about in the next few weeks. For now I’m going to stick with the most recent episodes of ‘Picard’ because things have really started moving. I’m not sure this series has completely sold me yet, but in the very least yesterday’s episode grabbed my attention. At this point I’m beginning to let go of hoping for anything close to perfection and instead settling for perfectly satisfying, which I feel like this season could definitely achieve if it keeps the interesting use of ‘Next Generation’ characters coming. There are plenty of pros and cons to talk about within the last few episodes and all will be spoilery so this is your SPOILER WARNING. Let’s go!

What I Liked:

Riker: There’s something about Jonathan Frakes performance as Riker that makes me instantly like him. He has such a good sense of humor and also such a low tolerance for anyone acting stupid around him that you can’t help but admire him. His incredulousness over Picard continuing to deny that Jack’s his son was so relatable that it was actually hilarious. I especially liked him in episode three. Here is where we got into the really heavy hitting stuff surrounding the loss of his son. We heard he and Deanna lost their son back in season one, but the way it was expanded on here was brilliant. Against Picard dealing with the emotional rollercoaster of figuring out he has a son he didn’t know about, Riker is being constantly reminded of all the regrets he has for not being more present in his son’s life when he was alive. That comes out in two very interesting ways. One is the kind but firm pushing he does to try to get Jack and Picard to communicate. Literally no one in that family is actually attempting to get them to talk, so it leaves Riker to take up the much needed position as the voice of wisdom. Then there’s the way it effects Riker as a captain. I was so thrilled to see Riker take up the captain’s chair and I admittedly almost squealed when Picard suggested Riker call him Number One. But once Riker gets in the chair after reflecting on the death of his son so much, he becomes entirely unwilling to let anyone on the ship die. And, to be perfectly honest, I agree with him. I was completely on his side when he demanded Picard get off the bridge for planning a risky and not at all effective attack on the enemy. But we’ll have to see how this new protective Riker plays a part in the rift forming between himself and Picard.

Worf: I love Worf so much and I was thrilled to see his return in this series. His fight scene in episode two was epic. I loved seeing Worf kick ass after so many years of missing it. I wasn’t sure what was happening when I saw that Ferengi get beheaded, but the unmasking of Worf was the highlight of episode two. I was also very grateful to see him for the purpose of making Raffi’s plot worth watching. Her plot was the weakest part of the season before Worf showed up. The Section 31 reveal as well as the reveal that Worf has been Raffi’s handler was the exact boost the plot needed. I even began to enjoy the back and forth between Worf and Raffi, which is admittedly better when a robotic voice isn’t covering Worf’s deadpan sarcasm. Worf might be my favorite part of the show so far. Michael Dorn looks as amazing as ever in the role. Seriously, has he aged? And the way they’re bringing in plot points from ‘Deep Space Nine’ is really endearing me to the show as a whole. Although, I’m admittedly on board when anyone mentions ‘Deep Space Nine’ ever. Either way, Worf is reminding me why his intimidating presence and surprising humor made him a staple of ‘The Next Generation’. I almost can’t believe we got through two seasons without him.

Seven: I’ve always loved Seven of Nine, but I’m genuinely surprised by how much she’s completely stealing scenes from giant characters like Picard. From disobeying orders from her captain so she can help Picard, to running to repair the ship while being surrounded by dangerous gas, it feels like Seven has the most to lose of all the main characters. She definitely receives the most threats to her career after Captain Shaw takes her off duty and confines her to quarters. But since she has the most to lose, it makes sense that she comes across as the most badass. She sticks to her beliefs and is often the person to save the day even when she’s exasperated with both Shaw and Picard. She’s really making the most of her limited amount of screen time, and if anyone can, it’s Seven.

Changelings: Changelings were always terrifying villains in ‘Deep Space Nine’ because they could literally be anywhere and the main characters would never know. They had to come up with several blood tests to be able to out Changelings, and even then, the blood tests weren’t always full proof. I will never forget the episode where they revealed that Doctor Julian Bashir, one of my favorite characters in ‘Star Trek’ ever, had been replaced by a Changeling for a huge chunk of a season and was actually being held in a prison camp. I am ecstatic to see that the ‘Star Trek’ writers are acknowledging the truly terrifying parts of these characters by bringing them back. We even get to see them with new CGI effects! ‘Picard’ also gets points from me for indirectly name dropping Odo when Worf mentions who warned him about the rogue group of Changelings. I’m pretty sure it’s the closest we’re going to get to a ‘Deep Space Nine’ exclusive character playing a role in the series, but I appreciate it anyways.

What I Disliked:

Picard/Beverly/Jack Storyline: I don’t hate this storyline so far, but I can’t help but feel that it isn’t hitting the emotional beats it should. And that’s for several different reasons. One is the argument between Picard and Beverly. Picard is appalled that Beverly never told him he had a child, and is unsure how to feel about Jack because Jack clearly wants nothing to do with him. But Beverly argues that Picard has such a huge target on his back because of his reputation, that including Picard in his son’s life would have put Jack at risk. She also notes that later in life she told Jack where he could find Picard, but Jack refused to search for him. Which apparently washes her hands of responsibility for Jack’s apathy towards Picard. I get the feeling we’re supposed to see both sides in this argument and that that’s where a lot of the heartbreak is supposed to come from. But Beverly is clearly in the wrong. First off, Star Fleet comes with occupational hazards. Beverly knows that better than anyone given the fact that her husband died on a mission. That is not the fault of the Star Fleet officer, not even Picard whose only sin is apparently that he’s too well known of a Star Fleet officer. Beverly acting like it’s a major fault of Picard’s is really damn weird, and using it as an excuse to keep him from knowing about his child is even worse. Second, Jack’s apathy towards Picard comes mostly from Beverly painting Picard as an absentee father by refusing to let him into their lives. Jack is clearly bitter about having never had a father, and that’s Beverly’s fault. Moving past Beverly’s horrible decision making, Jack’s just not a character I care about at this point. I don’t know if we’re supposed to be delighted by his “roguish” behavior, but he comes across as more of a used car salesman. And the reason for why he has a British accent is just silly. This whole dynamic just isn’t working for me and I hope it gets fixed soon.

Shaw: I am very confused about how I’m supposed to feel about this character. When we were introduced to Shaw he treated Seven horribly, forced her to go by the name she no longer identifies with to make himself more comfortable, and took a long nap in the middle of major events happening on the ship. But in the last few episodes whenever he stood up against Riker and Picard, and even outright offended them, it was because they were putting his crew in danger. At this point he’s even relented in helping Picard and Riker, conducting himself with dignity and showing genuine care for his crew. Soooo, what’s going on here? Is he an ass or isn’t he? Because I feel like this show is giving a different impression of the captain by the episode and I can’t seem to figure out how it all connects.

Vadic: So far, I can’t see what’s interesting about this villain. It’s a typical ‘Star Trek’ villain. Vaguely threatening, a little insane, and occupying a ship that outguns our hero’s ship. There’s nothing about the appearance or performance of this character that’s drawn me in at all. We’ve gotten to the point where I’m already antsy to see Lore or Moriarty because I can at least count on them to liven up the show.

And those are my thoughts on the last two episodes of ‘Picard’! I’m slowly warming to this season, but as you can tell, it hasn’t completely won me over. I think it’s still having a lot of writing troubles and I’m waiting to see ‘The Next Generation’ cast be utilized to their full potential. But there are so many things about this season that I’m excited for as well. I think it has the potential to round off ‘Picard’ in exactly the way a legacy show like this deserves, but I think it needs to pick up the pace before we can get there. In the meantime, I’m at least thrilled that I get to watch more of Worf.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie