Just a Sci-Fi Kid Like Me

 This discussion is going to include spoilers for Netflix's adaptation of The Witcher as well as Sapkowski's novels. Read at your own risk.

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(such as it was)

I've meant to write this all week, but I've been tired/ busy. So it's not a full meta.

I think I'm one of the few people who was okay with the ending. (NB That said I don't think that's the ending we'll get in the books, assuming we ever do get said books.) I admire the literary symmetry of it, and the homage to The Scouring of the Shire.

It didn't match up with my headcanons, which I consider superior, but I would, because I am a fangirl, but that's another thing. And also what fic is for. 

And now to be overly honest, and kind of a dick:

The best part of GoT being over is all the people who have never read a goddamn bit of genre in their lives will go. the fuck. away. and stop giving their hot takes on genre elevation/transcendence/whatever. Is GRRM a good writer? Yes. Do I enjoy his books? Sometimes more than others (the problematic sex needs to fucking stop, jesus). Is GoT/ASoIaF superior to all other fantasy novels? NOPE NOPE NOPE. Does gritty make genre better? Not necessarily.

So fuckin' tired of those arguments from the past 8 years, jfc. /rant

 Spoiler free:

A part of me always thought it would end something like this--it explains everything including how DIS is not itself a retcon.

I also like the symmetry of how the season ends as it began, without a white dude on the bridge. Also I really, REALLY like how the women are the ones fixing problems, being heroic, being hilarious, and getting the job done.

Also also: Spock without a beard is....not hot.

Anyway, it will be a long year til the next season. Woof.

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 It took two months to get through 13 episodes. A lot of the writing is repetitive and sloppy, like they knew they didn't have enough actual plot and so decided to make up for it with lots of characters repeating conversations to other characters, or having flashbacks to scenes we already knew about. That said, the final two episodes did a lot of work and were well done, esp. in terms of what they did for various characters. Some cinematographic shots were straight up fucking incredible.

What particularly struck me as the season wore on though is how I became much more invested in minor characters. The relationship between Shades and Comanche was really interesting and had a lot of reverberations throughout the season. (I'm tempted to go look for fic.) D.W. spends an inordinate amount of time being comic relief and then speaks literal truth to power at the end. 

I'm more frustrated in what we didn't get with Luke though. Like, every character is bent on telling him who he is--or isn't--and by the time he "decides" in the final minutes it isn't altogether convincing. The scenes that felt most like development doubled as appreciation for the NYC skyline; in ep 8 (?) Iron Fist visits and takes him by Columbia to see the city from above to see the bigger picture, so Luke starts periodically going back there to think. It's pretty but it didn't quite work with the rest of the writing.

...That said, Luke's real superpower is making me not want to punch Danny Rand on sight. This is no mean feat.

Anyways, they left things in a really interesting place, and I hope S3 pays off on that. 

I am sulking. It's extra frustrating because the second half of this season has been SO GOOD.

And apparently there's 2 eps they filmed for S3 but put aside for S4...I wonder if they'll air those.

SIGH.

Made more annoying because there's basically only a tiny handful of American tv programs I watch anymore and that was one. (Others being Supernatural and Legends of Tomorrow for weeklies, and then the irregular shows like Into the Badlands, Outlander, and the Netflix Marvel series.) Like, WELP, this is why I watch Korean and Chinese tv, I guess.

 Spoilers for the whole show; discussion under the cut.

TL:DR It is messy and interesting.

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This show made me cry TWICE tonight. I just love it so much and am so sad there's only one episode left.

Also actual dialogue from tonight, at the scene in the mess hall:
Me: *tears*
Scott: "OH MY GOD This is why Starfleet will never win!!!!!"

Also also, is it terrible that I'm starting to get the same feeling about Black Panther criticism as I am about Discovery criticism? Like, "you say you hate x, but I'm pretty sure it's really about the racism." *wants to be wrong* *honestly doubts it though, sadly*

Anyway, was texting beforehand with a friend who loves the show as much as I do, when I came to the conclusion that in a couple years I NEED to do an edited collection of academic essays on the show, because I Am That Kind of Nerd. I just need to finish, like, a ton of other things first...

1) I'd actually heard That Plot Twist was a theory about Lorca and had dismissed it as crazy talk. WOW.

2) Paul/Hugh - my heart hurts even more now.

3) Emperor Phillipa is so bamf.

Annnnnnnd we only have three episodes left. *flail* I have no idea how they are going to resolve all this. Wow.

Mirrorverse, yo.

A bunch of thoughts and observations, not least that Scott thinks the whole second half of the series might be in the Mirrorverse. Which, whoa.

Okay, in no particular order:

1) I genuinely think, and after actually watching After Trek am convinced, that they are gonna end up finding Mirror!Culber and bringing him aboard.

1a) But holy crap with That Scene though.

2) I love Capt. "Killey."

3) I also love the sensible Mirrorverse armor for both sexes. The midriff-baring sexdoll outfits for the women throughout the franchise annoyed the hell out of me.

4) Pretty sure Tyler-is-Voq and that the only reason they don't talk about it on After Trek is because it's accurate (Good job, internet).

5) I love the drop-in of the USS Defiant from the primary 'verse as that's a callback to the ENT "Through a Mirror, Darkly" eps.

6) Lorca's "engineer" accent is MVP.

*flail* Is it next week yet??