skeleton me
Here is a random aggregate of media thoughts that have been building up over the past month or so!
I wanted to talk about The Dark Knight Rises some more when i rewatched it after Christmas, and now i don't really care anymore but i already typed it up so...
All the parts that aren't Catwoman are so tedious, and i just wish more and more that they had spent the movie focused on Talia rather than on Bane. They leave all the interesting story to be monologued by Talia in a couple minutes, and it's like WOW WHY DID YOU SPEND THE ENTIRE MOVIE ON BORING SHIT THAT WASN'T THAT???? So dumb. Such a waste.
And godddd as much as i was really into the prospect of Bruce and Rachel sleeping together in the last movie, the stuff with Talia in this was horrible. Like the kissing while drenched from the rain was good, but then the post-coital on the floor by the fireplace was so cringe-inducing. Like, really. You really staged it that way. Gross. Plus it just seems so perfunctory to have some investment in "Miranda" so that when the twist comes it's a ~shocking betrayal that rocks Bruce to his core~ or whatever, but there are SO MANY BETTER WAYS for there to have been a connection between Bruce and Talia, for her presence to actually matter. As it is, it is seriously just a romance scene, her monologue, and her death scene, and the fact that Talia was the mastermind behind the entire movie's events comes out of nowhere and then is brushed aside just as quickly. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's such a bummer that all my favorite Bat/Cat (/Bruce/Selina) stuff is so early in the movie and there isn't nearly enough of it. The masquerade scene is THE GREATEST AND PRETTIEST but also just Selina doing thief stuff and Bruce following her around and then Batman and Catwoman doing rooftop asskicking: THOSE ARE MY FAVORITE THINGS. I WANT THOSE THINGS FOREVER. A big problem i have with the movie is that the entire climax -- and really what seems like a majority of the city-in-peril action -- happens during the daytime and tonally it just feels so WEIRD and offputting to me. Like, i get it, symbolism, but Batman is supposed to be at night! These assholes dressed up in all black animal costumes just look dumb in broad daylight. And all the Batman stuff that makes me happiest is the running around on city rooftops at night. That's why Arkham City is so freaking great!!!!!!!
She's wearing the pearls at the end, ablublublublu. That's also the first time in the entire movie that Selina wears anything other than black! aww
I hadn't noticed before because the goggles are so dark, but when they're up on her head and the light catches them right you can see that the lenses are red. So even though it's not quite the Darwyn Cooke costume, at least there's that!
Ever since the press tour for this was going on and Anne Hathaway had short hair it's always upset me that they didn't give Selina short hair in the movie since that's such a typical Selina look. It's like, Anne Hathaway looks even MORE canonically Selina-like in real life, and of course she looks gorgeous with short hair, and yet they DIDN'T go that direction with TDKR-Selina! It's just... confounding. (obvs i get the real world stuff, blah blah she had the shaved head for Les Mis, but STILL.)
I realized a while ago that while i am a fan of Bale as Batman, i like him much more as Bruce than as Batman, while Keaton is still my favorite Batman (live-action of course. no contest that Kevin Conroy is the all-around best Bruce+Batman). The cowl in the Burton films is just SO MUCH BETTER and Keaton's face is so perfect in it. Bale always seems like a mouthbreather with the mask on, and the cowl goes too far over the jaw and is really oddly proportioned so the mouth area is too small. It just makes his face look weeeeird. And i know Batman is all performative intimidation theatrics, but he seems so stiff and personality-less, not even like a more severe version of Bruce, just like... a robot. I guess a lot of that is the voice.
30 Rock
So aside from the finale i had only watched two other episodes this season. I had been watching Last Resort instead and i haven't cared a lot about 30 Rock in a while (even though i did think last season was a vast improvement over the other later seasons) so i sort of just said i'd catch up on it all once it was over. But then i didn't want to be totally out of the loop and ought to at least watch the series finale as it aired, so i did. I liked it, although it didn't have a big emotional impact on me or anything. I really liked the Liz and Tracy goodbye in the strip club, and of course the Liz and Jack "i love you."
To be honest though the thing that cracked me up the most and which i was most fond of after the fact is Lutz and Blimpies. GODDDDDDD the closeup on his face as he said "Blimpies." and the revolting imagery of "when that sandwich sliiiiiiiides out of you in a week" will not stop cracking me up. Lutz's offputting weirdness is ceaselessly hilarious to me.
And then of course there's Kenneth's immortality. I always loved all the random little hints at that, his pleas to Jacob and references to times long past; it's so bizarre in such a great way and i'm really happy it got paid off. I really love peripheral references to totally surreal shit. One of my favorite things they did last season was Leap Day William, largely because of the fact that a seemingly benevolent holiday mascot actually existed and was in reality a terrifying ancient sea monster.
I never really got back to loving this show as much as i did in the first couple seasons, but that's okay. It happens to most shows. Never forget how much i shipped Liz/Floyd. And how much i love Tina Fey.
Of the many, many great quotes in the history of the show, the one i instantly think of as my favorite: "Heavy is the head that eats the crayons." I don't know why i say that to myself as much as i do, but every time i do it makes me laugh.
p.s. speaking of Floyd i just wanna mention how delighted i am by the fact that Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde are engaged. WOW TWO CELEBRITIES I HAVE A CRUSH ON, WWWOOOOOWWWW FLOYD AND QUORRA ARE GONNA GET MARRIED!!!!!
The Office
When the documentary crew reveal happened i was going to make a post that basically amounted to "!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT" because it was AMAAAAZING and it was such a huge moment as an aspect of the show i always cared about and combined with Pam's face and emotions it made me cry. And i was so happy that there was Jim/Pam strife that was completely realistic as a fight a married couple would have arising from the natural tension of their situation rather than from some sort of forced love triangle bullshit.
And then the very next episode turned it all into THE WORST THING. While the first scene was a super great and shocking emotional payoff for years of tiny hints at the documentary crew, somehow they managed to transform it into a stupid annoying plot device in the blink of an eye. It just went overboard so FAST. Now Brian is jumping in to save Pam from an assault! DRAMA!!!!!! Just after the initial reveal happened the internet was making comments about how terrible it was to only bring the documentary crew into it in order to introduce Brian as a love interest obstacle out of nowhere and i was like "whoah whoah whoah hold the phone, who said anything about romance, what?" because i honestly thought there was nothing more to it than friendship, because obviously! They're friends with the documentary crew! They've always been friends with the documentary crew!!!! And then... oh. I see. I gave the show far too much credit. LOVE TRIANGLE BULLSHIT IT IS!
Luckily though they seem to have dropped it? Hopefully? I liked the Valentine's Day scene of Pam wanting to fight, amazingly that almost seemed as romantic as the shippy scenes in the old days. I like the marital problems, i just want those problems contained to Jim and Pam and not involving any third parties. And of course i want them to work it out in the end because apparently i still care about Jim and Pam.
Aside from those hits and misses, i was really enjoying the show after they got rid of Andy. I wish he had stayed away forever because things were actually pleasant without him dragging everything down into his black hole of terrible unfunny undefined character randomness. I've especially been loving Erin and Pete, which is pretty ridiculous considering they're literally, exactly just Jim/Pam 2.0, but i guess that formula still works! The weird thing is i was rooting for Erin and Andy when all that was going on, but it got obnoxious so quickly and the latest incarnation of Andy's character is the absolute worst and i want him to die. Whereas Pete is endearing and attractive Jim 2.0 and Erin has always been adorable and delightful and i like watching them be cute together. IS THAT SO WRONG?
I actually really like both Pete and Clark, it's refreshing to have new characters who are truly funny since this show has been such a wasteland for so long. I'm also really glad this season totally turned Nellie's character around to just be Catherine Tate being wonderful. Too bad about Toby though. Remember when he was just sad and awkward and sympathetic and it really didn't make any sense that Michael hated him so much? And now he is a creepy weirdo. I mean they turned him into a creepy weirdo a while ago, but it's gotten even worse lately. Yeesh.
A few weeks ago i was listening to some music on my ipod that i hadn't listened to in a while and i guess i ran across some songs i used to associate with Lost, because my mind wandered to Lost and i started thinking about Kate/Juliet again and how much i miss them (i was also thinking about Kate/Claire, and how even though the show basically ended with them being a real thing, i didn't get as into that, i guess because Claire's characterization was so weird? IDK. i really should have been more into Kate/Claire). With Fringe ending i've been thinking a lot about Olivia/Altlivia too, and this seeming pattern of my fanon femslash ships that i have an overwhelming love for despite their near non-existence in canon. And then i was thinking about how things associated with the Lost island were definitely Fringe events and what if Kate and Juliet met the Olivias??? WHAT IF ALL MY FAVORITE LADYFACES!!!????!!!!! WHAT IF
Anyway a lot of Kate/Juliet and Olivia/Altlivia stuff was popping up on my tumblr dash and it really hit me hard. I LOVE THEM, I MISS THEM, i need to talk to some picspams about my feelings
Elementary
I have a hard time getting into procedurals, in that i... mostly don't do that. Even when i do watch them i'm not really a ~fan~ of them. But i've been watching this since it started because it was such a big deal on tumblr even before it aired, and while, again, procedurals aren't really my thing, they do become a comforting diversion like reality shows and sitcoms, and this has grown on me a lot, beyond being just another procedural. I love the opening credits (EVERY TIME! i'm so into the music! and that it's like the Great Mouse Detective!) and obviously JLM and Lucy Liu are a delight, and oh nooooooo i ship Joan and Sherlock. It's one of those things where hooking them up would probably be a terrible idea, but wanting to see their faces make out is just too strong of a pull. And i love the fragile beginnings of their partnership and Sherlock being humbled by and respectful of Joan and Joan being protective of Sherlock and both of them hesitant to admit how attached they're getting to each other and I LIKE IT. I LIKE WHEN HE HELPS HER PUT HER COAT ON, ugh, man, how can they make going to an AA meeting seem like going on a date???? RUDE
So yeah this latest episode murdered my emotions. THE PROPOSAL SCENE WAS JUST SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD, literally everything about it, it exceeded my expectations for what would happen when Sherlock finally confronted her about not being his sober companion anymore. And then even aside from all that dramatic perfection, his smile at the end when she hit him in the face with the basketball was the greatest thing in the universe. HE LOOOOOVVVEEEESSS HERRRRR
The Walking Dead game
I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS BECAUSE I JUST FINISHED IT AND I'M A SHELL OF A PERSON NOW
When i started playing it i was like, okay, i'm only gonna care about Lee and Clementine and not get invested in anybody else because they're all gonna die. COOL DETACHED GAME-PLAYING, LET'S GO. And then it did an amazing job of making me invested in everybody and subsequently being really upsetting. The first non-Lee-or-Clementine character that i was really attached to was Carley, and i was thinking god it's gonna suck when she dies horribly but i was NOT AT ALL expecting it to go down the way it did or as early as it did. It especially sucked that Lilly did it out of nowhere because i was really sympathetic to Lilly and i liked her AND THEN SHE MURDERED MY BUDDY.
I sided with Kenny a lot in the first episode but then he was just too confrontational about everything and i didn't agree with him about most of the later stuff, but even so, he was the only character besides Clementine that made it through every episode so of course i was attached to him as a part of my group and i ended up being really sad when i lost him. I didn't like Duck much in the beginning because he was so dumb, but his stint as my partner investigating the disappearing supplies was hilarious and adorable. And then he died! Ben pissed me off for consistently fucking everything up, but when i let him fall to his death (HE ASKED FOR IT, i thought i was being merciful!) i felt too guilty because Clementine liked him so i had to rewind and rescue him and THEN he got his confrontation with Kenny that made me like him more. And then he died!
BASICALLY I WAS UPSET WHEN EVERYBODY DIED EVEN THOUGH I TOLD MYSELF I WOULDN'T BE
And it's really interesting because five episodes of this game made me care more about the Walking Dead universe than three seasons of the tv show have. And i guess part of it is that by pulling your decision-making into the plot it forces you to be invested, but i also just think it was really really well-written and all the characters were complex and seemed realistically human. And even though it was upsetting i liked how brutal it was, because it dealt with the harshness of having a constantly changing group in an unsafe world while still maintaining the solace of the core relationship between Lee and Clementine. Like as long as you had those two main unkillable characters everything was okay.
AND NOW EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY AND MY SOUL IS DEAD. I was basically crying about Lee and Clementine from the moment they first met. Lee is the best dude and Clementine is the greatest kid and THEY'RE SO ENDEARING I'M GONNA PUKE. I figured it wouldn't be a happy ending but i was still blindly holding out hope for them to ride off into the sunset together, so when Lee got bitten at the end of episode 4 it honestly knocked the wind out of me. It was basically like he died right there and i started thinking about having to say goodbye to Clementine and IT WAS AWFUL. And then the ending actually happened and IT WAS AWFUL. So much ugly crying at a video game. (i have only ever cried at one other video game! which is probably two too many, but dang, stories.) I thought the cut to black at Lee's death was a really good way to do it, but as the credits were rolling i was disappointed that there wasn't a coda of Clementine finding Christa and Omid-- but then, surprise, a coda after the credits! ...One that's ambiguous and nerve-wracking and JUST MAKES EVERYTHING WORSE, THANKS. I JUST WANT CLEMENTINE TO BE OKAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY. Like at least she got out of the city, and i know she can take care of herself, but GOD IT'S JUST SO UPSETTING. And even if she's in the second season, she won't be with Lee and that's fucking terrible.
Episode 2 blew my mind because the way it escalated to the climax of TOTAL FUCKED-UP-NESS was awesomely creepy. Like the whole time everybody's talking about dinner, so excited for dinner, can't wait for dinner, meanwhile things are steadily getting a little more suspicious and unsettling, and hey where's Mark, and then BAM, WHAT THE FUCK, CANNIBALS. I didn't even like Mark but finding him with his legs chopped off was horrifying. I didn't see it coming at all.
One of my favorite moments was in episode 5 with Lee chopping his way through the zombie horde on his way to rescue Clementine from the hotel. The music and the fact that it was Lee's last stand and the only thing he had left was getting Clementine back and it was just really badass to see him mowing down zombies left and right. LEEEEEEEEEE ;_____; I also really loved when he cut her hair and taught her to shoot a gun, and all the times Clementine saved the day BECAUSE SHE'S AWESOME, and... everything, basically everything is what i loved.
That Of Monsters and Men cover of "Skeletons" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that was going around on tumblr yesterday was timed perfectly to make me apply it to Lee and Clementine and break my heart.
It's weird to watch the show now with the game so fresh in my mind, because i wish i were playing it. Like i would definitely let Tyreese and Sasha into my group, come on! The Woodbury stuff just annoys me and i wish i were more invested in the overall plot like i was with the game. And of the few characters i like, i'm pissed at Daryl for leaving because CAROOOOOOL, goddammit
I wanted to talk about The Dark Knight Rises some more when i rewatched it after Christmas, and now i don't really care anymore but i already typed it up so...
All the parts that aren't Catwoman are so tedious, and i just wish more and more that they had spent the movie focused on Talia rather than on Bane. They leave all the interesting story to be monologued by Talia in a couple minutes, and it's like WOW WHY DID YOU SPEND THE ENTIRE MOVIE ON BORING SHIT THAT WASN'T THAT???? So dumb. Such a waste.
And godddd as much as i was really into the prospect of Bruce and Rachel sleeping together in the last movie, the stuff with Talia in this was horrible. Like the kissing while drenched from the rain was good, but then the post-coital on the floor by the fireplace was so cringe-inducing. Like, really. You really staged it that way. Gross. Plus it just seems so perfunctory to have some investment in "Miranda" so that when the twist comes it's a ~shocking betrayal that rocks Bruce to his core~ or whatever, but there are SO MANY BETTER WAYS for there to have been a connection between Bruce and Talia, for her presence to actually matter. As it is, it is seriously just a romance scene, her monologue, and her death scene, and the fact that Talia was the mastermind behind the entire movie's events comes out of nowhere and then is brushed aside just as quickly. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's such a bummer that all my favorite Bat/Cat (/Bruce/Selina) stuff is so early in the movie and there isn't nearly enough of it. The masquerade scene is THE GREATEST AND PRETTIEST but also just Selina doing thief stuff and Bruce following her around and then Batman and Catwoman doing rooftop asskicking: THOSE ARE MY FAVORITE THINGS. I WANT THOSE THINGS FOREVER. A big problem i have with the movie is that the entire climax -- and really what seems like a majority of the city-in-peril action -- happens during the daytime and tonally it just feels so WEIRD and offputting to me. Like, i get it, symbolism, but Batman is supposed to be at night! These assholes dressed up in all black animal costumes just look dumb in broad daylight. And all the Batman stuff that makes me happiest is the running around on city rooftops at night. That's why Arkham City is so freaking great!!!!!!!
She's wearing the pearls at the end, ablublublublu. That's also the first time in the entire movie that Selina wears anything other than black! aww
I hadn't noticed before because the goggles are so dark, but when they're up on her head and the light catches them right you can see that the lenses are red. So even though it's not quite the Darwyn Cooke costume, at least there's that!
Ever since the press tour for this was going on and Anne Hathaway had short hair it's always upset me that they didn't give Selina short hair in the movie since that's such a typical Selina look. It's like, Anne Hathaway looks even MORE canonically Selina-like in real life, and of course she looks gorgeous with short hair, and yet they DIDN'T go that direction with TDKR-Selina! It's just... confounding. (obvs i get the real world stuff, blah blah she had the shaved head for Les Mis, but STILL.)
I realized a while ago that while i am a fan of Bale as Batman, i like him much more as Bruce than as Batman, while Keaton is still my favorite Batman (live-action of course. no contest that Kevin Conroy is the all-around best Bruce+Batman). The cowl in the Burton films is just SO MUCH BETTER and Keaton's face is so perfect in it. Bale always seems like a mouthbreather with the mask on, and the cowl goes too far over the jaw and is really oddly proportioned so the mouth area is too small. It just makes his face look weeeeird. And i know Batman is all performative intimidation theatrics, but he seems so stiff and personality-less, not even like a more severe version of Bruce, just like... a robot. I guess a lot of that is the voice.
30 Rock
So aside from the finale i had only watched two other episodes this season. I had been watching Last Resort instead and i haven't cared a lot about 30 Rock in a while (even though i did think last season was a vast improvement over the other later seasons) so i sort of just said i'd catch up on it all once it was over. But then i didn't want to be totally out of the loop and ought to at least watch the series finale as it aired, so i did. I liked it, although it didn't have a big emotional impact on me or anything. I really liked the Liz and Tracy goodbye in the strip club, and of course the Liz and Jack "i love you."
To be honest though the thing that cracked me up the most and which i was most fond of after the fact is Lutz and Blimpies. GODDDDDDD the closeup on his face as he said "Blimpies." and the revolting imagery of "when that sandwich sliiiiiiiides out of you in a week" will not stop cracking me up. Lutz's offputting weirdness is ceaselessly hilarious to me.
And then of course there's Kenneth's immortality. I always loved all the random little hints at that, his pleas to Jacob and references to times long past; it's so bizarre in such a great way and i'm really happy it got paid off. I really love peripheral references to totally surreal shit. One of my favorite things they did last season was Leap Day William, largely because of the fact that a seemingly benevolent holiday mascot actually existed and was in reality a terrifying ancient sea monster.
I never really got back to loving this show as much as i did in the first couple seasons, but that's okay. It happens to most shows. Never forget how much i shipped Liz/Floyd. And how much i love Tina Fey.
Of the many, many great quotes in the history of the show, the one i instantly think of as my favorite: "Heavy is the head that eats the crayons." I don't know why i say that to myself as much as i do, but every time i do it makes me laugh.
p.s. speaking of Floyd i just wanna mention how delighted i am by the fact that Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde are engaged. WOW TWO CELEBRITIES I HAVE A CRUSH ON, WWWOOOOOWWWW FLOYD AND QUORRA ARE GONNA GET MARRIED!!!!!
The Office
When the documentary crew reveal happened i was going to make a post that basically amounted to "!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT" because it was AMAAAAZING and it was such a huge moment as an aspect of the show i always cared about and combined with Pam's face and emotions it made me cry. And i was so happy that there was Jim/Pam strife that was completely realistic as a fight a married couple would have arising from the natural tension of their situation rather than from some sort of forced love triangle bullshit.
And then the very next episode turned it all into THE WORST THING. While the first scene was a super great and shocking emotional payoff for years of tiny hints at the documentary crew, somehow they managed to transform it into a stupid annoying plot device in the blink of an eye. It just went overboard so FAST. Now Brian is jumping in to save Pam from an assault! DRAMA!!!!!! Just after the initial reveal happened the internet was making comments about how terrible it was to only bring the documentary crew into it in order to introduce Brian as a love interest obstacle out of nowhere and i was like "whoah whoah whoah hold the phone, who said anything about romance, what?" because i honestly thought there was nothing more to it than friendship, because obviously! They're friends with the documentary crew! They've always been friends with the documentary crew!!!! And then... oh. I see. I gave the show far too much credit. LOVE TRIANGLE BULLSHIT IT IS!
Luckily though they seem to have dropped it? Hopefully? I liked the Valentine's Day scene of Pam wanting to fight, amazingly that almost seemed as romantic as the shippy scenes in the old days. I like the marital problems, i just want those problems contained to Jim and Pam and not involving any third parties. And of course i want them to work it out in the end because apparently i still care about Jim and Pam.
Aside from those hits and misses, i was really enjoying the show after they got rid of Andy. I wish he had stayed away forever because things were actually pleasant without him dragging everything down into his black hole of terrible unfunny undefined character randomness. I've especially been loving Erin and Pete, which is pretty ridiculous considering they're literally, exactly just Jim/Pam 2.0, but i guess that formula still works! The weird thing is i was rooting for Erin and Andy when all that was going on, but it got obnoxious so quickly and the latest incarnation of Andy's character is the absolute worst and i want him to die. Whereas Pete is endearing and attractive Jim 2.0 and Erin has always been adorable and delightful and i like watching them be cute together. IS THAT SO WRONG?
I actually really like both Pete and Clark, it's refreshing to have new characters who are truly funny since this show has been such a wasteland for so long. I'm also really glad this season totally turned Nellie's character around to just be Catherine Tate being wonderful. Too bad about Toby though. Remember when he was just sad and awkward and sympathetic and it really didn't make any sense that Michael hated him so much? And now he is a creepy weirdo. I mean they turned him into a creepy weirdo a while ago, but it's gotten even worse lately. Yeesh.
A few weeks ago i was listening to some music on my ipod that i hadn't listened to in a while and i guess i ran across some songs i used to associate with Lost, because my mind wandered to Lost and i started thinking about Kate/Juliet again and how much i miss them (i was also thinking about Kate/Claire, and how even though the show basically ended with them being a real thing, i didn't get as into that, i guess because Claire's characterization was so weird? IDK. i really should have been more into Kate/Claire). With Fringe ending i've been thinking a lot about Olivia/Altlivia too, and this seeming pattern of my fanon femslash ships that i have an overwhelming love for despite their near non-existence in canon. And then i was thinking about how things associated with the Lost island were definitely Fringe events and what if Kate and Juliet met the Olivias??? WHAT IF ALL MY FAVORITE LADYFACES!!!????!!!!! WHAT IF
Anyway a lot of Kate/Juliet and Olivia/Altlivia stuff was popping up on my tumblr dash and it really hit me hard. I LOVE THEM, I MISS THEM, i need to talk to some picspams about my feelings
Elementary
I have a hard time getting into procedurals, in that i... mostly don't do that. Even when i do watch them i'm not really a ~fan~ of them. But i've been watching this since it started because it was such a big deal on tumblr even before it aired, and while, again, procedurals aren't really my thing, they do become a comforting diversion like reality shows and sitcoms, and this has grown on me a lot, beyond being just another procedural. I love the opening credits (EVERY TIME! i'm so into the music! and that it's like the Great Mouse Detective!) and obviously JLM and Lucy Liu are a delight, and oh nooooooo i ship Joan and Sherlock. It's one of those things where hooking them up would probably be a terrible idea, but wanting to see their faces make out is just too strong of a pull. And i love the fragile beginnings of their partnership and Sherlock being humbled by and respectful of Joan and Joan being protective of Sherlock and both of them hesitant to admit how attached they're getting to each other and I LIKE IT. I LIKE WHEN HE HELPS HER PUT HER COAT ON, ugh, man, how can they make going to an AA meeting seem like going on a date???? RUDE
So yeah this latest episode murdered my emotions. THE PROPOSAL SCENE WAS JUST SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD, literally everything about it, it exceeded my expectations for what would happen when Sherlock finally confronted her about not being his sober companion anymore. And then even aside from all that dramatic perfection, his smile at the end when she hit him in the face with the basketball was the greatest thing in the universe. HE LOOOOOVVVEEEESSS HERRRRR
The Walking Dead game
I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS BECAUSE I JUST FINISHED IT AND I'M A SHELL OF A PERSON NOW
When i started playing it i was like, okay, i'm only gonna care about Lee and Clementine and not get invested in anybody else because they're all gonna die. COOL DETACHED GAME-PLAYING, LET'S GO. And then it did an amazing job of making me invested in everybody and subsequently being really upsetting. The first non-Lee-or-Clementine character that i was really attached to was Carley, and i was thinking god it's gonna suck when she dies horribly but i was NOT AT ALL expecting it to go down the way it did or as early as it did. It especially sucked that Lilly did it out of nowhere because i was really sympathetic to Lilly and i liked her AND THEN SHE MURDERED MY BUDDY.
I sided with Kenny a lot in the first episode but then he was just too confrontational about everything and i didn't agree with him about most of the later stuff, but even so, he was the only character besides Clementine that made it through every episode so of course i was attached to him as a part of my group and i ended up being really sad when i lost him. I didn't like Duck much in the beginning because he was so dumb, but his stint as my partner investigating the disappearing supplies was hilarious and adorable. And then he died! Ben pissed me off for consistently fucking everything up, but when i let him fall to his death (HE ASKED FOR IT, i thought i was being merciful!) i felt too guilty because Clementine liked him so i had to rewind and rescue him and THEN he got his confrontation with Kenny that made me like him more. And then he died!
BASICALLY I WAS UPSET WHEN EVERYBODY DIED EVEN THOUGH I TOLD MYSELF I WOULDN'T BE
And it's really interesting because five episodes of this game made me care more about the Walking Dead universe than three seasons of the tv show have. And i guess part of it is that by pulling your decision-making into the plot it forces you to be invested, but i also just think it was really really well-written and all the characters were complex and seemed realistically human. And even though it was upsetting i liked how brutal it was, because it dealt with the harshness of having a constantly changing group in an unsafe world while still maintaining the solace of the core relationship between Lee and Clementine. Like as long as you had those two main unkillable characters everything was okay.
AND NOW EVERYTHING IS NOT OKAY AND MY SOUL IS DEAD. I was basically crying about Lee and Clementine from the moment they first met. Lee is the best dude and Clementine is the greatest kid and THEY'RE SO ENDEARING I'M GONNA PUKE. I figured it wouldn't be a happy ending but i was still blindly holding out hope for them to ride off into the sunset together, so when Lee got bitten at the end of episode 4 it honestly knocked the wind out of me. It was basically like he died right there and i started thinking about having to say goodbye to Clementine and IT WAS AWFUL. And then the ending actually happened and IT WAS AWFUL. So much ugly crying at a video game. (i have only ever cried at one other video game! which is probably two too many, but dang, stories.) I thought the cut to black at Lee's death was a really good way to do it, but as the credits were rolling i was disappointed that there wasn't a coda of Clementine finding Christa and Omid-- but then, surprise, a coda after the credits! ...One that's ambiguous and nerve-wracking and JUST MAKES EVERYTHING WORSE, THANKS. I JUST WANT CLEMENTINE TO BE OKAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY. Like at least she got out of the city, and i know she can take care of herself, but GOD IT'S JUST SO UPSETTING. And even if she's in the second season, she won't be with Lee and that's fucking terrible.
Episode 2 blew my mind because the way it escalated to the climax of TOTAL FUCKED-UP-NESS was awesomely creepy. Like the whole time everybody's talking about dinner, so excited for dinner, can't wait for dinner, meanwhile things are steadily getting a little more suspicious and unsettling, and hey where's Mark, and then BAM, WHAT THE FUCK, CANNIBALS. I didn't even like Mark but finding him with his legs chopped off was horrifying. I didn't see it coming at all.
One of my favorite moments was in episode 5 with Lee chopping his way through the zombie horde on his way to rescue Clementine from the hotel. The music and the fact that it was Lee's last stand and the only thing he had left was getting Clementine back and it was just really badass to see him mowing down zombies left and right. LEEEEEEEEEE ;_____; I also really loved when he cut her hair and taught her to shoot a gun, and all the times Clementine saved the day BECAUSE SHE'S AWESOME, and... everything, basically everything is what i loved.
That Of Monsters and Men cover of "Skeletons" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that was going around on tumblr yesterday was timed perfectly to make me apply it to Lee and Clementine and break my heart.
It's weird to watch the show now with the game so fresh in my mind, because i wish i were playing it. Like i would definitely let Tyreese and Sasha into my group, come on! The Woodbury stuff just annoys me and i wish i were more invested in the overall plot like i was with the game. And of the few characters i like, i'm pissed at Daryl for leaving because CAROOOOOOL, goddammit