#ic meta

i think its pretty good what they did with the ending. just really dropping the show to hammer home the message about how the entire societal expectation towards asian americans and immigrants in general is fucked. im german and white, i lack the experience to really get it, but i still know enough to just agree. i hope that it helps raise awareness and make people in the us a little more aware of the situation. especially now.

in terms of the show itself, the "is this all a tv show" plot is sort of resolved by saying "yeah it is and the viewers and studios control it but we can upgrade ourselves to a new format". the logistics and implications arent really adressed, but like i said after episode 1, not the point. im just nitpicky because i actually have ocd.

because i am a gigantic daisy johnson stan i will always wish chloe bennet plays a bigger role in anything she is in, and that that thing is agents of sword, but thats just me still grieving the loss of agents of shield.

this show is great, it really has some existential horror aspects to it (even if they just serve as a vehicle, not really the main gimmick), and the social commentary at least to me cuts through everything and is the way more important part. and thats what mattered to the cast too, going off all the interviews they gave.

its also really funny, although they dial up the drama a lot in the last few episodes.

(I’m going to assume everyone knows what I’m talking about when I refer to that scene.)

Ok as we all probably know by now, I love Arya as a character. She’s complicated and messy and flawed— and I recognize that. She has her faults! She has some really serious faults—but she’s also independent and confident and good in so many ways, and I often find myself overlooking her faults in favor of her virtues.

…That being said, I’ve never been able to reconcile her ongoing conflict with the dwarven priests. I’ve struggled with it for a lot of reasons, but mainly because it’s over their religion and she is supposed to be a fucking diplomat for her people. It just has never felt quite right to me.

So ever since I last reread the books I’ve been searching for a explanation for Arya’s behavior.

And that’s when it hit me!

This is going to be very rambly and disjointed because I’m not entirely sure how to word this… but stick with me for a bit.

Arya has dedicated most of her adult life to the Varden’s cause as well as her egg-ferrying duties. She has spent 75+ years almost entirely among the humans and dwarves. Only her childhood formative years and young adulthood (up until her 20s, I think?) were spent with the elves.

This is really important IMO, especially when you look at this through a developmental lens. Because even though she’s spent the majority of her life around humans and dwarves, she was raised, at least initially, only knowing the Elf-Way of talking in circles and using roundabout expressions that rarely make sense and often raise more questions than they answer. It had to have taken a toll, yeah?

So… it stands to reason that there was a period of time where she was just really shit at speaking in a way that was comprehensible to anyone other than an elf. Obviously she adapted—and she may have even adapted quickly!— but I think it’s completely plausible that for a short period of time, she just could not figure out human/dwarven directness and social cues.

Therefore after months of absolute confusion on her part, and many senseless metaphors and expressions that did not translate at all into human/dwarf culture, she eventually realized that she needed to be more direct. The Elven way of communicating almost entirely through subtext clearly was not working in this new context, so she ended up swinging wildly to the other end of the spectrum as a solution.

Here’s my hot take:

What if her first attempts at integrating into human/dwarf society are what started the feud? she runs into the dwarven priests for the first time, and rather than providing a long-winded, convoluted response as she normally would, they give her their religion spiel, and she responds in what she perceives to be the socially correct way. Keeping the message short and sweet (and painfully blunt), because she thinks that’s what she’s supposed to do, she says something like: “your religion is stupid and preys upon the less fortunate. Fuck you!”

okay so this wasnt exactly what i had in mind but good for willis i guess, moving up in the world

im not convinced this is the full story with jonathan, thats too easy after all this. theyve got some wandavision level bullshit going on here.

anyone else getting some real agents of shield vibes from this show suddenly? like maybe its just because its now a lot closer to an actual cop show, which aos does share some elements with, but still.

also when they chased the owner of the bar down the pier i kind of expected lana to quake herself into the air and land in front of him, aos has trained me well i guess

uncle wong really doesnt have the best grasp on how to appear non-threatening

happy willis is finally realizing the cost of what hes doing, maybe hell stop walking over everyone else.

omg this world is shattering apart at the seams and im here for it

also glad that lana is apparently finding her people. shes apparently been pretty alone for a really long time. wholesome found family!

one thing i really like is that despite when theres drama, willis and her keep investigating and working together, there is none of this artificial drama where the entire mission gets put at risk because of the main characters getting mad at each other.

OH MY GAWWWWDD

okay so many many things. im so happy for fatty and audrey, ive shipped them from the beginning. lana and willis have just fully switched places now (even if its strategic for lana)

the casual racism and sexism from uncle wong and the chief is just fucking awful, but not surprising (in general, but especially if its set in the 80s/90s)

starting to love sarah.

pretty sure the mad bomber will turn out to be jonathan.