when grace sends the beetles back to earth you can see him putting rocky's xenonite figurine of him into one of them. AND HE GIVES IT A LITTLE FIST FINGER BUMP😭
I am utterly obsessed with this scene and what it reveals to us about Olivia's mental state.
From what we see here, there is nothing wrong with Gwen here. Though we later see her with her guts spilling out of her ribcage, it's all but stated that this was a result of Olivia fiddling with her- Olivia caused this. And why? Why perform unnecessary surgery on an android that doesn't need it? Why needlessly rip open her favorite toy?
Maybe because it's familiar.
We don't yet know what's become of Olivia's mother by the time of the opening scene, all we know is that she's not around and Olivia seems rather shaken by something that happened in the past, suggesting that something terrible happened to her. And if that's the case, chances are good that Olivia at some point saw her mother on her sick bed or an operating table, doctors digging around in her insides to "fix" her in vain. And so, when left alone with her favorite toy, she does what children often do when faced with traumatic events and makes it into a game, one where she's the doctor digging around in her mother to fix her...only she's going to do it right.
There are plenty of reasons to be obsessed with Heated Rivalry, but the one I can’t get over is the JOY of finally seeing sex scenes taken seriously as interactions. As a way to convey thoughts, feelings, neuroses, fears and deep fondness between characters. It’s so rare & gorgeous to see on TV.
The way Shane always folds his clothes. The dropping of eyes and minute twitch at the corner of Connor Storrie’s mouth as Ilya notices but chooses not to make fun of him for it. The hypnotic state Shane gets in when he’s close enough to Ilya, the total mask-dropping when Ilya Ice Princess Rozanov is fucking Canada’s Golden Boy, probably-too-good-for-me Shane Hollander. These aren’t just smutty treats for a horny audience to bring in ratings, they’re ALL character moments.
The actors, the director, the whole team on the show just GETS it. Truly a masterpiece.
I cannot stop thinking about Episode 5 of TADC because Ragatha is, however unintentionally, one of the best examples of how isolating and difficult it is to interact with the world as an autistic person I have ever seen. To the point it genuinely makes me sad to think about her. I need to make a post expanding on this at some point but rn just. The way everyone assumes there’s some sinister hidden meaning to everything she does and says but she’s literally just trying to be nice and she doesn’t understand why it’s not working. The way she tries so hard to make connections but it constantly falls flat, she says things that hurt without realising how or why. She follows the rules she’s been taught will make her friends — she’s kind, she’s forgiving, she’s accepting and apologetic when she messes up, but for some reason it’s just not working. She tries to mimic other people, she tries to laugh at past experiences, tries to open up about her past like everyone else is doing, but now everyone’s uncomfortable and looking at her like she’s crazy and she doesn’t get it!! She doesn’t get it!!! Jax is a jerk and he’s mean to everyone but for some reason Pomni likes him and she doesn’t get it, she doesn’t understand! Pomni tells her it’s okay to be a jerk sometimes but Ragatha doesn’t like being mean, she wants to be nice to people, but she does it anyway, she gets mean like Jax and Zooble do but now Pomni’s looking at her like she’s done something wrong but she just did what she asked her to!! She doesn’t get it!! At the end of the episode everyone goes off into their groups and Ragatha is left alone, after having tried so hard to make friends and fit in and make people like her, she’s still alone, and everyone thinks she’s weird and unapproachable and she just has to give up and accept that she is inherently unloveable. Her evil alter ego tells her she’s going to die alone and nobody loves her and the only thing she corrects her on is the fact that they can’t die here. The few that might like her when she’s around don’t miss her when she’s gone, because there’s nothing to miss. Ragatha has spent her whole life systematically stripping away everything that makes her different and unlikeable in order to make herself more palatable to others, and in the process she has made herself a personalitiless blank slate with no unique identity for others to latch onto and appreciate. She has nothing to add to any conversation because she’s too afraid of being disliked to have a memorable personality beyond being generally polite and nice. And just. God. Someone get this girl some noise cancelling headphones and a therapist on speed dial, being this good of a representation of what it’s like to be autistic, especially to be an autistic person with trauma, is not good for the soul. That final shot just destroys me right in the heart. My poor girl.
Ok everyone and their mothers are posting about Caine dying which is absolutely valid but I also really wanted to talk about this scene
I love how this is being handled. Even though he still hasn't opened up about his issues to anyone, Pomni knows enough.
You see the surprise on the others' faces when he's acting so vulnerable and nervous, with the stuttering and all and the clear attempts to get out of the room as soon as possible. It's entirely new to them.
And even though they never talked about Jax's close calls with abstraction... Pomni just knows. She knows he hasn't been doing well and she has the perfect balance of concern and firmness to keep a tight grip on him.
The silent communication here is JUST *chef's kiss* 😭
Jax says he's going to distract Caine. Pomni knows he just wants to be away from them. She starts asking if he's okay but catches herself, knowing he won't take that well, but while she's still trying to rephrase, Jax just looks her dead in the eye and says again, "Fill me in later."
Aka "I NEED to be out of here right now don't try to stop me."
She looks back at him, and says with a firm look, "BE here later." Aka "you can go have your alone time but don't you dare abstract on me."
And Jax, for the first time in the show (although he avoids eye contact), replies sincerely, "I will."
Just... UGH. The way Pomni is STILL sticking around for him is so sweet and how it's slowly but surely WORKING akdnfndmskjfdkdkdjskdkdkdkksksndnsk
Not to meNTION how later in the torture scenes, Pomni is right up there alongside Ribbit and Kaufmo as Jax's closest friends supposedly laughing at him in Caine's personally created nightmare world. 😭😭 Yeah we knew he cared about her but this episode really drove that home 🥹