I Can’t With These Reviews:

i hope you were charmed by my tendency to fall into long silences

“They only used AI for like, two minutes in The Brutalist 🙄”

I DON’T FUCKING CARE THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE USED IT AT ALL

AI is never necessary, ESPECIALLY not in creative spaces, and what you lot aren’t getting is that this sets a precedent, if The Brutalist can get away with it, what’s to stop other films using it and in larger ways

What’s to stop films from using AI for writing and reciting lines, for generating background characters, for creating music and animation

Stop defending AI, I don’t care if they used it for two seconds or two hours, I don’t want it in media at all

That's not an ad, that's a threat, and a scary one by the way

Guys, I figured it out. The subtitles are so bad because they let the demons type them.

You know what, fuck everyone who hates AI "art" but still uses c.ai and other fuckeries. Would it be that hard to look up a fanfiction or a fanart? I have zero respect towards you. Even you could create what you can't find, but instead decide to chat 24/7 with a fucking bot and then not quit moaning about how short it's memory is. HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF JUST CREATNG SOMETHING YOURSELF? No, it won't look as goo as it does in your head, but my god, at least you didn't waste as much water in the meantime! Also, pls stop using chatgpt for every little inconvenience and homework, it really says more about you than the difficulty of the task in question. Aredhel out.

I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why “Every Breath You Take” is on Crowley’s playlist. Other than it provides the “E” to spell out ‘tempting’. But there’s plenty of other songs they could’ve chosen. So why pick the stalker song?

Then it occurred to me that it’s not about Aziraphale. It’s how Crowley feels Heaven and Hell watch him.

On Aziraphale and Crowley in the Final Scene

Season Two Spoilers Below

Alright, I’m gonna go on the defensive for Aziraphale.

Crowley is 100% justified to feel the way he does. He put himself in a vulnerable position, and was rejected. He wanted to be Aziraphale’s first choice for once, and yet again was denied it. More than that, Aziraphale wanted him to change (even though I think Aziraphale thinks he’s saving Crowley) so that they could be together.

But I don’t think Crowley realizes just how deep a hold Heaven has on Aziraphale. He knows and straight up says that both sides are toxic, but he doesn’t seem to get how hard it can be to leave a toxic relationship. I also don’t think he understands how Aziraphale’s faith in the righteousness of God is a part of his character.

Plus, Aziraphale finally feels validated in the eyes of Heaven, something he’s always wanted.

I cried so hard when Aziraphale got into that elevator because I was thinking of all the times I stayed with a toxic friend group, or with my abusive ex.

It hurts so badly to watch a character I love make a mistake that I’ve made.

I was thinking about Midge and Lenny while working on a new chapter of “Very Blue Lives” (it’s on ao3, please go read and review. I need validation like Lenny and Midge need each other).

Anyways, I was thinking about Midge and Lenny in Miami and why Midge turned Lenny down.

Sure the bs Vegas train wreck just happened, and Carol kind of freaked her out, but those answers are boring.

First of all, he’s weirdly reluctant to talk about her career. In Miami, whether she knows it or not, Lenny’s avoidance to discuss her career is part of the reason she walks away. Flash forward to the blue room, he’s making it clear that he listens to her and promises to take her seriously, and that’s when she decides “yes, okay. Let’s see what’s between us.”

She needs him to take her seriously as a comic, and once she realizes that he does, she’s willing to be vulnerable with him as a woman.

And that’s a great step for Midge, who isn’t taken seriously personally or professionally, especially by people she loves.

uh...yeah cause it's stealing from real actual humans who are good at it

Absolutely (Not) the Same Man

Regeneration and Identity

I really l like way Christmas Invasion presents regeneration and how Rose and Ten in-universe seem to understand.

Harriet Jones says that Ten is “absolutely the same man”. Rose does not agree despite being in the scene.

She agrees that 10 is the Doctor, but…not the same. She still loves him and sees the fundamental values being retained but she sees them as different.

She unequivocally says “you’re so different”. She’s beaming when she says it, clearly not missing Nine but rather mystified by Ten. It’s so subtle, (and a lot comes from Billie’s delivery) but even after accepting it, there is something alien about the process lingering.

It’s why I don’t fault her for being upset by the potential regeneration in Journey’s End, it’s the same reason we all are sad to see a Doctor go.

Because the fundamental character traits that we love will be there (you know…hopefully) but everything else will change. Their personalities and the ways they interact with the universe and the way they see themselves all changes. All the quirks and eccentricities that make up the characterization specific to one incarnation of the Doctor as a character, which are what we latch onto change.

We may like who gets tagged, whoever is now ‘it’. But there’s still a friend we’ll miss.

This Doctor wears pinstripes and trainers, instead of leather and combat boots. He willingly wears a paper crown.

He is domestic in a way Nine would never be. He doesn’t tempt Rose from a family dinner, he joins her at one of his own volition, then relishes in it while wearing a paper crown.

I do think this works particularly well here, because it feels like a character arc. It helps Ten feel like an actual extension of Nine. I think this why that it works for them to have the same TARDIS and first companion. It makes the change easier.

Nine was reminded of the beauty of living through Rose and humanity, and reminded ordinary humans that there was no such thing. I love the moment he has with the couple in Father’s Day for this reason.

Ten, in concept and practice, takes this love for humanity and runs with it. (Sometimes way too far depending on the writer. But that’s another meta). He’s more open with his feelings while still being deeply, deeply repressed.

Arguably, I think there’s a moment he tries to learn from his mistakes with Rose. He tries to relay the happy memory of Christmas dinner to Donna before it becomes something else he’s lost. All of her other attempts at connection are shut down.

Later, he’s able to find some respite with Donna in series 4. He’s able to live with his grief and heal for a bit. And he gives Donna a chance to realize that there’s no such thing as an ordinary human.

Then he has to take it all away. All of the edges Donna had softened out, the self-confidence she built up so she didn’t need to scream at the world to feel heard. Gone.

His best friend, just like the love of his life. Gone. And this time it’s like never happened at all.

It’s the last important arc before Time Lord Victorious for a reason.

(it’s honestly more thematically satisfying to go straight to Waters of Mars after series 4)

It’s why he comes to see regeneration as dying.

It’s how we get from “All I did was change” in Born Again, to “It’s like dying.” in the of End of Time

He just watched the identity of his best friend be ripped from her. Plus he feels emotions with more humanity than any incarnation. He feels the fear of identity loss like a human fears mortality.

(This was also before the Doctor had been given more regenerations, and post-war he was burning through them, and was over half through them, so there’s an added layer there)

I never for a second felt he was “throwing a tantrum” in Journey’s End.

I hate when people, including the in universe 11th doctor, say that Ten is vain.

I mean he is. Sometimes it’s done for laughs, but he is arrogant too. Usually it’s well-meaning. He does have more knowledge than anyone and wants to use that to help.

He might be a genius, but he doesn’t understand every intricate detail of human experience. And to be fair, 11 is talking about the metacrisis, but even before Donna’s fate, Ten has begun to project the human fear of death he’s adopted along with all the other emotions onto regeneration.

Journey’s End is the end of a vanity trip. He is stripped down and deeply, deeply scared. And he is allowed to be. And he can react in an intense, emotional way.

There is no hesitation between the knocks and the resignation falling across his face.

There is no doubt what he’s going to sacrifice for Wilf no matter how afraid he is.

Because as intensely as Ten feels fear, it is nothing to how much he loves.