#s2e1-2

yes i'm aware it's kinda old and most people don't care but I was watching when doves cry on pluto's degrassi channel last night and I can't help but remark, it's one of the very best. if degrassi had a greatest hits that showcased all the gems this is on the tracklist without a doubt.

as you all know or should know s2 is a strong season and underrated af. as sad and heart breaking the episode(s) are it has aged remarkably well at least the a plot. (side eyes paige attire which dramatically dates the episode)

its almost perfect how Angela is seen to be interested in dinosaurs Craig tells him about the dinosaur (being Albert) that hurts him and then Angela clad in little dinosaur pajamas was able to recall what she had seen. i do like it when degrassi does 'dark' subject matter but this episode is the first episode that really showcases it well.

I've seen this episode so many times and yet I never put 2 and 2 together with the pajamas but it was a nice touch in direction with that attention to detail.

I also had this thought too so Albert found Craig's photo album that had that "perfect family" mash-up picture with Craig, Joey and Angela and inside the book with other pics of Angela and Joey he had taken and I can't help but wonder if Albert lashed out at Craig bc he had hurt feelings regarding his photo book it all came to a head for Albert and that turned to anger and rage as if he shouldn't care about joey and angela bc he is his father not joey and they are associated with his ex who left him whom despite her death he is bitter about.

its important to note craig and alberts rocky relationship was strained long before but the reminders of the past get to Albert. Such as when Craig mentions mom at dinner and he violently throws the plate something in that tells me it's not the first time or would be the last time such a thing would happen. I'm not defending Alberts behavior but even the part where Albert turns and just seeing him look over at Craig when he was on the floor after he beat him in the darkroom as if he felt bad for what he had done after the fact when it's too late and wanted to say something but stopped himself. There's a lot of subtext and the direction really did an excellent job of showing rather than telling you the story.

It's such a well-done episode and if you'd like to show a person who's never seen dtng show them that one. I always struggle with what's a good one to show someone?

With the subplot there's some relief from the dark subject matter but it's one of the top season premieres that gives you chills from the acting the direction camera and more. It has a bittersweet ending with Craig standing up against his dad and ultimately moving in with Joey and freezes on Craig looking back at him as he drives away.

Thanks for asking. I don’t feel any pain. If I pick something up, I can register, pressure, I guess. Or maybe I just register how far apart or close together my fingers are. And I can tell a light object from a heavy one, so I guess I have some sensation. 

But no, I don’t seem to feel pain—which is a blessing and a curse; I could be literally on fire and I don’t think I’d realize it unless I saw the flames (sense of smell seems to be gone, too). But I bet I could take plenty of punches in a barroom brawl and keep coming!

Sort of. Everything feels stiff and heavy, like he’s in some kind of... of jointed body-cast. (He’s never been in a body-cast, jointed or otherwise, but he’s got an imagination.)

He can’t let anyone see him like this; that’s why he’s in this trailer in the woods. At least, as a puppet, he won’t need to eat or drink or breathe, or...

He looks at his face in the grimy mirror in the trailer’s bathroom (one other thing he won’t have to worry about as a puppet) and winces. Yeah, no amount of makeup is going to hide this! It’s bad. And suddenly, he just wants to smash the mirror!

His fist is hard enough and the splintering crack is satisfying. Then he realized that while wood doesn’t break easily, it does scratch. He can’t remember if he has any sandpaper in his backpack; he might have used it up on Mary Margaret Blanchard’s new home security system. But maybe...

His wooden fingers are stiff as they work the leather strap out of the buckle and he rummages through his belongings. His fingers close on something thin, rectangular, and stiff, and he thinks he might have found a piece after all, but when he pulls it out, he realizes his mistake. 

Not sandpaper. A postcard he bought a week ago. And a reminder of a promise made ages before that.

“Selfless, brave, and true,” he whispers to himself. “And ‘true’ means ‘keeping my word’.”

He isn’t sure how well he can write with these new, clumsy digits, but he doesn’t need to cram in a novel. Actually, one word will convey his message quite well.

And when it’s written, he goes outside and, feeling a little foolish, tries a trick he hasn’t since he was a boy in Snow White’s castle. A trick he learned by observing the princess at it and then practicing it himself whenever he had a spare moment.

He’s still pleasantly surprised when the dove alights on his shoulder. He holds up the postcard. “Uh... this is for Neal Cassidy. Or Baelfire. Whatever he’s calling himself.” He realizes he’s being more of a wooden head than he has any right to be. Of course the bird won’t understand him or know how to find Baelfire or...!

But the bird hooks one claw around the postcard, and flaps its wings together, emitting a whistling sound as it takes to the air.

August watches it go and hopes it’s actually going to find its quarry—and not just incorporate the postcard into its nest or something.

Her previous imprisonment was monotonous and irksome, but it was familiar. Maybe it was sedatives. Maybe the whole experience (28 years shut away in the asylum? That long? 28 years? Really????) was a sort of sedative, lulling her into a docile haze.

And then, today? Surprise after surprise and shock after shock. Rumple’s changed. Or he hasn’t—but he has! Or at least, she thinks he wants to. He makes bad choices, but he can at least admit that he loves her. And see that she loves him.

It’s not enough for... for... for the kind of relationship she wants with him. He was right; she’s only just met this newer version of him and as much as he is the same person, there have been changes.

She studies her own hand, the bitten fingernails, the dry skin—she’ll want some cream for that... Her forehead creases as she tries to recall an old remedy from an apothecary guide in the library Rumple created for her.  “Pulverize ginger with twice as much galingale and a half portion of zedoary. Place in a tied cloth in vinegar and then in wine so it doesn’t become too dark.” Zedoary is white turmeric, she recalls, wondering if she can find anything like that in this new world. She’ll have to find out, she imagines. But seeing her own appendage in such a state, feeling still a bit dazed and out of her depth, she suspects that she might have changed as well.

Not much, but then, Rumple hasn’t changed much either. He’s still the man she fell in love with. He’s still the man who sent her away. But he’s also the man who wants her back. And what does she want?

She wants to be with him. She wants to give him a chance. She may only have known this version of Rumple for ‘an hour’ (or slightly longer than that now), but she wants to get to know him better.

And as for the future?

Well, if it’s True Love, then it will find a way.