please send fluff pronto

[callioope]

This week has just been plain rough for me, starting with some bad real life stuff at the beginning and then just a long stretch of sad fiction: on Wednesday, I watched The Clone Wars episode "The Lawless" (huge spoilers, do not click if you haven't seen or don't already know); Thursday my husband put on The West Wing episode "Gaza" (so like, YEAH); last night I watched The Good Place "Pandemonium;" and because none of that was enough, apparently, I just watched "The Wrong Jedi."

So. I'd say my emotions have been in pandemonium all freaking week!

GOSH, that movie Michael made was absolutely heart wrenching, and I definitely cried. However... I think maybe this might be better? The way things ended with Simone really bothered me; neither of them really had a choice in the end of that relationship, it was just forced upon them when Chidi discovered the truth about the Good Place/Bad Place. So when Chidi said he loved Eleanor, it didn't quite feel earned to me. Not sure that's the right way to put it; I guess it just felt a little rushed and out of nowhere. We saw a good build up for Eleanor's feelings on Chidi, but I wasn't satisfied with the lead up on Chidi's end.

Plus, I'm worried this might devolve into another "Chidi can't choose" love triangle, and we already did that in season one. On the other hand, I do love Simone, and she and Chidi were great together. What if Eleanor sees that, and is happy for him? And moves on? Idk. She did set them up in the first place, to begin with. (Well, she facilitated them finally getting together.)

Also, what do you think the odds are about the identities of the other two participants? As soon as I heard that Shawn would get to pick them, I was suspicious he'd pick people they already knew, since no rule against it was explicitly stated. (I thought it'd be Simone, Eleanor's mom, Pillboi or Donkey Doug, and Kamilah.) But maybe he knew he could only get away with that once?

The other thing is that there's no way Shawn properly calibrated his choices the precise way that Michael did, and I think that's going to be a huge flaw in this experiment. Michael chose people specifically calibrated to torture each other best. Look how that turned out: Chidi and Eleanor fell in love! Over and over again! And while Tahani and Jason don't love each other romantically, they do keep ending up together in different ways, too. They all end up loving each other, instead! And I think that's very important in their motivations for all the choices they end up making that helped them get this far.

There's no way that Shawn used the same calibrations that Michael did (even if he was sincerely following the 'people who will torture each other' direction rather than the 'people who will torture the Soul Squad'). It seems like a serious oversight to me that Gen didn't insist on approval before the experiment started (like how choosing a jury works or something).

ALSO ALSO, part of the Point of the Soul Squad's experience was that at least two of them knew they should not be in the Good Place. I know Chidi and Tahani legit thought they belonged there, but they also had what were presented as valid explanations for them winding up in the Bad Place. (In retrospect, knowing how the system is messed up, how do like seriously seriously good people react to winding up in the Bad Place?) So what exactly is Simone going to think about where she is whenever the "THIS is the bad place!" moment happens for them? Or will that not happen? Does that need to happen? Simone seemed legit good to me. Also, that first guy totally seems to think he belongs in the Good Place, so I also don't see him as being the Eleanor & Jason types that are trying to cover their whole "we don't belong here" issues. There needs to be someone who knows they don't belong so that they seek Chidi out in the first place.

It also feels different if the new four have the old four as guidance. The Soul Squad had to navigate things themselves, plus Janet. The desire to be better came innately from within them (particularly Eleanor who seems to always bring them all together). In the second situation, it's going to be about the Soul Squad trying to help them be better, and that's vastly different from the innate desire the Soul Squad demonstrated.

Anyways the point is, I'm very skeptical this experiment is going to go at all how anyone wants. Michael won't be able to prove his point, and Shawn won't get his way either because he's clearly not sincerely done his due diligence in recreating precise parameters of Michael's first attempts AND has actively attempted to sabotage it. Gen acknowledged what he did was pretty shady.

Now... on to THE CLONE WARS

First of all, what the heck is up with season five man? (Reminder to self: it's the Clone Wars! It ends with The Revenge of the Sith! And Anakin falling to the Dark Side! It was always going to end bad!) Even the "light" arc this season, the one with the droids, still gave me feels because it ended with the explosion above Carida that I believe (based on allatariel 's reasoning) resulted in the death of Cassian's father. (So I suppose those feels are my own headcanon's fault, but still.)

I did know the result of everything (who the real culprit was, that Ahsoka would end up leaving, etc.), so it wasn't really shocking but it was absolutely devastating and heartbreaking. With one exception, this legit inspired an "oh shit" for me:

Anakin: I understand wanting to walk away from the order.
Ahsoka: I know

She knows! Is that intentionally implying that she knows about Padme? Or was it just supposed to mean that she senses the conflict within him? I like to headcanon the former, but regardless! So painful! Because Anakin really should leave the Order, and I think it kills him that she can but he feels like he can't. Gahhh such pain.

I do think this choice is right for Ahsoka (I mean... fuck the council, man), and I thought it was particularly interesting the way that the final sequence was lit and scored: (a) the soft, kind of glowy light, the way there are clouds shadowing the sky BUT they are backlit, light shining through, the silver lining, and (b) when Anakin runs after Ahsoka, we hear a variation of Binary Sunset that I associated with Luke and with hope. It's like this is the hope, Ahsoka is their hope. It's like the Force is singing with the rightness of this decision. This whole ordeal has highlighted just how screwed up the Order and the Council is. I'm really interested to know what Ahsoka goes on to do next, and I really can't wait to see her in Rebels.

One slight addition to that: in "Sabotage," which starts off this arc, Ahsoka saves Anakin's life and this exchange happens:

Ahsoka: Fighter crashed, I saved the day, you're welcome.
Anakin: Huh. Okay. *proud smirk*

THAT PROUD SMIRK!! He is just so proud of her. She has grown up so much; she so competent. This just seems to underscore that leaving the Order was an important final step in this chapter of her life.

ALSO. I'm really glad they didn't kill her off. Ahsoka doesn't appear in Revenge of the Sith, so they really need a good reason for her to be out of the picture by then. They easily could have killed her off (like they did with certain other characters to explain why they weren't in films, but i digress and I'm really not super angry with that because Disney would have butchered the rest of their stories ANYWAYS), and the plot almost did--had she been found guilty, and I think she would have been, the penalty was death. But they gave her SO MUCH BETTER of an "ending"/write-off. Like. She's free, man. She's free of that screwed up place. She's able to explore the Force outside of the tainted temple halls (because apparently there's some Sith shrine buried beneath the temple, a separate topic).

Some additional other thoughts:
- Of course it's freaking Tarkin that prosecutes Ahsoka. Of course it is. And that certainly must make Anakin/Vader and Tarkin's complicated relationship all the moreso.
- Freaking. Palpatine. Just acting judge over this. How much do you think he really looked forward to killing Ahsoka, knowing the effect it would have on Anakin? And you know what, he still probably gets his wish with how things played out because her leaving--her choosing to leave--probably is even worse for Anakin. Gosh I freaking hate Palpatine so so much.
- I really liked Barriss in her previous episodes, this was kind of a sucky plot for her. I mean, CLEARLY she's on to something about the Jedi, but really off the mark in how she goes about expressing that. That's a shame cuz I might have even been considering shipping Barriss/Ahsoka.

OKAY WELL I'M WIPED SOMEONE PLEASE SEND ME SILLY FLUFF PLEASE AND THANK YOU

PS: I AM lucky in that my friend took me out to Cheesecake Factory & Build a Bear today as a late bday present, and I got myself a new stuffed animal! Rey Skyhopper was most appreciated during my watch of the TCW. :)

Comments

[musesfool]

Yeah, I feel like we needed just a little more time with Barriss for that final turn to work. Though I wish, as with Krell, that disagreeing with the Jedi didn't automatically mean they'd fallen to the dark side. Like, Krell could have just been super bigoted against clones! And Barriss wasn't actually wrong; it was just her methods that were bad. I get why they went that route, but I kind of wish they hadn't.

[callioope]

Absolutely agreed! Barriss hadn't made an appearance in awhile, it would have been better if they had an episode or two that could show how she came to her conclusion. also, UGH, Krell. Yeah, it's dumb that disagreeing with the Jedi somehow means Sith. Barriss' storyline also could have avoided that, but for some reason they had to add a line of her saying she liked using Ventress' lightsabers. Like, they didn't need to include that line.

Speaking of Ventress, though, I have enjoyed her character development over the last season.

[musesfool]

Ventress is so great! I love that she walks away. I feel like even as she and Ahsoka are foils for Anakin in the choices they make, they also get really good development on their own.

[elperian]

So when Chidi said he loved Eleanor, it didn't quite feel earned to me. Not sure that's the right way to put it; I guess it just felt a little rushed and out of nowhere. We saw a good build up for Eleanor's feelings on Chidi, but I wasn't satisfied with the lead up on Chidi's end.

I think a lot of us are feeling the same way on this!

There needs to be someone who knows they don't belong so that they seek Chidi out in the first place.

Yeeeeep!

But yeah, The Wrong Jedi arc is just PAIN PAIN PAIN everywhere but also pretty well done. It makes you fed up with the Jedi (the last straw, if you weren't already); it adds nuance to Anakin in ROTS, and I do think Ahsoka knows/has guessed about Padme. It's all there, but also THAT SHOT OF HER LEAVING THE JEDI TEMPLE OH MY HEART.

I mean, CLEARLY she's on to something about the Jedi, but really off the mark in how she goes about expressing that.

It's also really fucked up how the show used a Muslim-coded character for a terrorism plot out of the blue as well.

[callioope]

But yeah, The Wrong Jedi arc is just PAIN PAIN PAIN everywhere but also pretty well done. It makes you fed up with the Jedi (the last straw, if you weren't already); it adds nuance to Anakin in ROTS, and I do think Ahsoka knows/has guessed about Padme. It's all there, but also THAT SHOT OF HER LEAVING THE JEDI TEMPLE OH MY HEART.
They really don't pull any punches once you hit season 5. It's got Saw & Steela right out of the gates, then Satine's story, then Ahsoka's. And I just watched the first four episodes of The Lost Missions yesterday and damn! So many clone feels. It's just a gauntlet. Which makes sense as they're leading up to ROTS, but it makes it harder to watch. But I'm so glad about how they treated Ahsoka's final moments, the art and music and everything, it really is so well done! And yeah, THAT FINAL SHOT. MAN!!!

Also that's one of the things I love about TCW the most, the development of Anakin's character. I think The Clone Wars is the story everyone was expecting from the prequels.

It's also really fucked up how the show used a Muslim-coded character for a terrorism plot out of the blue as well.

YES, omg yes. Unfortunately, TCW has a bit of a recurring issue with how it codes characters (usually alien races).

[foreverinasmile]

I skipped over The Clone Wars stuff cause I haven't seen that yet, but MAN, the Good Place is just downright GOOD!

I totally agree with you that Chidi's falling in love with Eleanor didn't quite feel earned in the same way, and that made it feel a little rushed to me? I don't know. I remember thinking during the episode before this one that they got together really fast and thought I had maybe missed something. I also really like Simone and while I feel like Eleanor and Chidi are truly soul mates, I love that the show explores other possibilities without making me cringe. Simone becomes important to all of them, and I hope that they avoid the Love Triangle, too.

The best thing that I've love about the Good Place is that no matter how many iterations the four of them go through, they always find a way to each other because in the end, these are four people who want to love and be loved in return, and life didn't really give them that, so death seems to be making up for it. Just my two cents, anyway!

And as someone who got a couple of Real Life gut punches last week as well, I certainly hope that things on that front improve!

[callioope]

Yeah! When Chidi confessed his love I remember thinking "did I miss something?" too! It seemed more like a plot device to calm Eleanor down rather than something natural. Almost like he was forced into it.

I feel like Eleanor accepted Chidi's decision to erase his memory pretty maturely. So that makes me hope that if Chidi does fall for Simone instead, she'll (eventually?) be okay about it. And I think she legitimately does like Simone a lot, too.

The best thing that I've love about the Good Place is that no matter how many iterations the four of them go through, they always find a way to each other because in the end, these are four people who want to love and be loved in return, and life didn't really give them that, so death seems to be making up for it.
Yes!!! That is beautiful! And I never really thought about that before, that death is making up for the love they missed out on. Cool point!!!

Thanks for your well wishes on Real Life stuff! Hope your stuff is improving, too!