Tag Archives: day 3
28 day bubblegum crisis challenge, day 3: in which I have a least favorite episode …
This, without a doubt, is the easiest challenge day of this month, and I’m not even going to hide it behind the cut: the final episode, “Scoop Chase.”
Like … it’s not necessarily bad. It just doesn’t have as strong a plot as the other episodes do, and it’s a lot of rehashing of previous episodes themes. Plus, Nene is much better as a supporting character in the original version; the writers did a much better job with her in the reboot. Third, the antagonist is just a more unhinged Brian Mason, except somehow with even less personality.
“Scoop Chase” is one that I often skip or forget that exists until I watch it again and am reminded at how disappointed I was that this was supposedly the finale of the series. I say watch it (it’s an 8-ep show, come on) at least once, just to say that you did.
Art Credit: FanPop
cowboy bebop 30 day challenge, day 3: in which I have a least favorite episode …
Okay, this isn’t the worst episode by far, but … you know when you can’t stand something but have difficulty explaining exactly why that is? So “Gateway Shuffle” is that for me. Is it the goofy premise – eco-terrorists turning people into monkeys for reasons – or the over-the-top voice acting, which is usually top notch or the character designs? Or … just what?
But then on my rewatch for this challenge, I think I figured it out: it just doesn’t fit with the rest of the episodes, almost like it’s a filler episode or somebody’s pet project they just had to get aired. It also wraps up too neatly, with the main villain getting her comeuppance, which isn’t usually Bebop‘s style. Like I said, it’s not a completely reprehensible episode; it simply doesn’t match the quality of all the other sessions. I feel more apathetic toward it than anything else and honestly? I usually skip it.
31 day star wars challenge, day 3: in which I have a least favorite movie …
Oh, yay, another easy day for me!
Without a doubt, Attack of the Clones is the one Star Wars movie that I usually just kind of keep in the background when I’m doing a series marathon. I’ll probably start cleaning – including vacuuming – or doing something random, like organizing my makeup or skincare collection, checking every so often to see when Revenge of the Sith is going to start, and that’s saying something.
Runner-Up: The Rise of Skywalker
Art Credit: 99 Designs, Galactic Gallery
28 day xena: warrior princess challenge, day 3: in which I have a favorite season two episode …
Honestly, there’s not much difference, quality-wise, between Season 1 and Season 2. The graphics are still terrible, the sets are obviously sets, but I feel like the stories get so much better, with more mature themes and a deeper friendship (and in my opinion, romance, but I’ll get to that on another day) between Xena and Gabrielle. And while I do love the very obvious dramatic turns – like “Return of Callisto” – that start to elevate this show from pure camp, it’s the episodes that are deceptively light-hearted that really stand out to me.
“Here She Comes … Miss Amphipolis” is not the most complicated in terms of storytelling – it’s a kind of mystery, where Xena has to figure out who’s sabotaging a beauty pageant hilariously called Miss Known World – but there is so much in this episode to like.
- Xena dresses up and channels her inner Princess Diana* as she surreptitiously investigates the above-mentioned sabotage, while Gabrielle adopts a weird accent and constantly belittles the men who are the sponsors of the women competing in MKW.
- Despite the fact all the women are presented as backstabby, cold, and vapid, by the end of the episode, you actually feel like they’re people and not just pretty objects. One is wanting to make sure her people get food, another is trying to escape a bad living situation, and another just wants her lover to care for her.
- The men are portrayed as not necessarily stupid, but preoccupied with proving how great they were, which honestly? Pretty true to life. It was just one big dick-swinging contest for these dipshits.
- Spoiler alert: Lord Clairon, the guy running the pageant, is the one who has been trying to kill the women so another profitable war can start. Although it’s not a motivation that’s been done before in the series, it does have that twist of displaying a similar desperation that the women had, except that he was willing to kill to resolve his country’s issues.
But ultimately, it’s Miss Artiphys who just makes “Here She Comes …” my favorite Season Two episode.
Although they don’t come out and say it – this was 1996, after all – Miss Artiphys is transgender, or at the least a drag queen. And she fucking wins the pageant. To be fair, it’s because the other forerunners dropped out as they discovered other ways to accomplish their goals, but it did not diminish Artiphys’ win in any way – she got what she wanted, too: acceptance and adoration as who she was, not who she was born as. And it goes even deeper than this. Karen Dior, the actor who played Artiphys, was an adult film star who was diagnosed with AIDS a few years prior to filming this episode, and at the time, not a lot was known about transmission vectors. So Lucy Lawless kissing an AIDS-positive person was a major moment, y’all. I could literally spend pages talking about Dior, because he legit was an amazing person: ordained minister, doctor of philosophy, AIDS activist. Seriously … an inspiration.
I just love how subversive this episode is. Xena doubts the seriousness of the sabotage on the pageant, dismissing the contestants as “underdressed, overdeveloped bimbos,” but while it may not be world-shaking, Xena does help prevent a war and help women start respecting themselves. The underrunning commentary on toxic masculinity is great, too – although they say that have other motivations, it’s war that brings the men to the pageant, and they’re constantly ready to bring it when even a slight inconvenience comes up. And the episode itself seems silly, but by presenting itself as pure goofy fluff, it surprises you with impressively deep analysis on what it can feel like to be a woman: underestimated and overlooked, when you really do have so much more to offer than appearances.
Also fun fact! Lucy Lawless was actually a beauty queen herself! She was crowned Miss New Zealand in 1989.
Runners-Up: “Remember Nothing,” “Warrior … Princess … Tramp,” “The Quest,” and “A Day in the Life”
Art Credit: Varese Sarabande, YouTube, Juneboba
* Not the Princess Di of British monarchy fame. We’re talking the princess that Xena impersonated back in Season One. I felt that was an important distinction.
30 day mass effect challenge, day 3: in which I have a favorite team member …
So because I started playing the Mass Effect series with the second installment, I didn’t get to meet Wrex until I finally just purchased the first game, and once that happened, there was no way in hell I would let him get killed afterward. It wasn’t just because he was a universally beneficial team member – he has warp and throw, and he can equip heavy armor, and he has invincibility and regeneration – but he’s such a complex character. A krogan battlemaster with an almost lackadaisical approach to killing, Wrex can destroy his enemies, but he understands that all the murder and mayhem his species thrives upon – and the only things they have left since the advent of the genophage – will only ultimately destroy them.
The first game presents Wrex as a smarter than your average mercenary who has a complicated relationship with his people. He is proud to be a krogan and doesn’t expect other species to understand them or their culture, but he is also incredibly realistic about them: they are dying out, either due to desperation or apathy, and no one is going to try and fix that, since the krogan had proven themselves dangerous to stability and diplomacy before. When he shows concern for destroying Saren’s genophage “cure” on Virmire, it might seem a bit abrupt, but you just had to make sure you spoke with Wrex on the Normandy and helped him retrieve his ancestral armor on Tuntau (I cannot believe I didn’t even have to look that up) – he hides it well, but Wrex has a huge soft spot for his people, and it’s this moment on Virmire where he starts to realize that, if no one else was going to try to redeem the krogan, by god, he was going to.
In addition to having a rich story arc, Wrex was so fun to play in the first game, and I almost always had him in my party. All of his powers made him a formidable ally, and I never had to use my unity skill to revive him (unlike Garrus – sigh).
I did feel a bit cheated when Wrex was only an NPC in the second and third games, and really, one of the only things that made talking politics with him palatable was that he seemed as annoyed about the situation as I was. He would have rather joined Shepard in the fight against the Collectors, but at that point, he’d fully dedicated himself to improving the lives of his people. Had he abandoned Tuchanka in ME2, the delicate political situation of the krogan home planet would have completely fractured, and in ME3, it didn’t really make sense to have him be a party member. I did enjoy the cut scenes, and catching up with him while he is aboard the Normandy is pretty great, but it still sucked.
And then, Uncle Urdnot came out to play in the Citadel DLC. I swear, I cheered when Wrex dive-bombed that shuttle filled with bad guys and again when I found out he’d joined the party. I was a little disappointed that they took away almost all of his biotic powers (they kept barrier for some reason, but I would have gladly traded the stimulant pack power for, at the least, throw), but he still brings quite a bit of damage to the table. He also has some of the best lines:
- “In the old days, we would have just shot her. Good times.”
- “I’ve always wanted to [have a firefight in the CIC]! And it’s not even my birthday!”
- “Make it a rule to never fight wearing pajamas.”
- “Krogan first! See ya at the party, princesses!”
- “Uncle Urdnot is back in town, and he brought the boom!”
- “Refresh my memory. Didn’t we used to win these things back in the old days?”
- “I’m old and I worry, even though my favorite quarian’s all grown up and killing Reapers.”
- “You know what this is? It’s a man emergency!”
- “Trust me. I’ve been in every position for the past few days.”
And then there’s this interaction, probably my favorite in the entire Mass Effect saga:
GRUNT: Shepard.
SHEPARD: Grunt.
WREX: Shepard!
SHEPARD: Wrex.
GRUNT: Commander Shepard.
WREX: Shepard, Shepard, Shepard.
SHEPARD: Wrex? Grunt?
GRUNT: Shep-errrrrrrd.
WREX: Shepard.
GRUNT: Shepard?
WREX AND GRUNT: SHEPARD!
It was just so nice to have him back, you know? It makes me sad that there are people out there (apparently, 64% of players) who never got to experience him past the first game.
Runners Up: EDI, Mordin
29 day challenge: friends, day 3: in which I have a least favorite main character …
I know that the popular thing now is to hate Ross Geller. And I get it: he’s whiny, possessive, insensitive, and every single one of the negative attributes that have tacked onto him like he’s a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-jackass. But honestly? That’s not the reason he’s my least favorite character on Friends.
Continue reading 29 day challenge: friends, day 3: in which I have a least favorite main character …
31 Day Challenge: Battlestar Galactica, Day 3: Least Favorite Character
My loathing of Lee “Apollo” Adama* is well-known by anyone who talks Battlestar Galactica with me, and I do not apologize for it. He’s one of the most self-righteous, oblivious, childish, back-stabbing characters of the entire series. He spends most of his time trying to figure out a way to not be his dad, which, to be fair, is understandable. When you are eighteen.
For those of you wondering, no; Lee, is not eighteen.
Continue reading 31 Day Challenge: Battlestar Galactica, Day 3: Least Favorite Character
28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 3: Least Favorite Arc
In my last blog, I frequently referred to Sophie’s Choice, and I’m going to invoke it here because dammit, I love all of the arcs. Each has its own shortcomings, of course, except for “The Eleventh Hour,” which is perfect and nothing you can say will change my mind.
Continue reading 28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 3: Least Favorite Arc
30 Day Challenge: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Day 3: Least Favorite Season
I went back and read my initial foray into this question and again found myself disagreeing with the words I wrote. Well, not all of them, because most of my problems with Season Seven (race, consent, misogyny, unresolved plot holes, constant monologues, etc.) are still valid, and trust me when I say I will discuss all of these later on in the challenge.
But here’s the thing: I don’t hate the seventh season like I did five years ago? And if I’m going by the criteria from yesterday’s challenge, well …
Continue reading 30 Day Challenge: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Day 3: Least Favorite Season
a little more juju 