alchemicink

This week: Baku blows up the dream moon; the cadets have a Dealing with Trauma episode; and Cassian makes a daring escape which was very fun to watch.

Title quote comes from Zeztz this time because it's the perfect Kamen Rider quote.

Spoilers, as always, below:

Kamen Rider Zeztz (episode 23)

This episode feels like a turning point for Baku, but not in a good way. In his anger, he kills Nox. Then he destroys the dream world. And then he decides to "throw away" his life and become Seven. It's heartbreaking to watch Baku go through all this, especially when he still has Minami, Fujimi, and Nasuka that he could have relied on for support instead.

I must admit, I am struggling a bit to keep up with what's happening with The Lady and her nefarious plans. Especially after listening to her conversation with Minami. (Sidenote: girl, get away from her!!) It seems like we will probably get some answers in the next episode, but I definitely think I'm gonna need to go through and rewatch from the beginning again to wrap my head around everything. (This is the problem when your plot hinges on blurring dreams and reality 😂)

Lastly, I hate Three so much! Man, what have you even been doing this entire time?

Starfleet Academy (episode 8)

So... I keep waffling back and forth on whether or not I liked this episode. On one hand, I like the attempt to address the trauma from what happened in episode 6 and also explore why the Doctor's been so cagey all season long. On the other hand though, the trauma stuff didn't resonate well with me. I liked the focus on Tarima's trauma (because what happened to her was the worst of all), but I felt like everyone else's trauma was undercooked. Maybe if they'd shown more of the students wrestling with it in the last episode, it would have made more sense to me here.

I did enjoy the stuff with the Doctor and Sam though. Having watched Voyager, I remember the episodes referenced and it does make sense for the Doctor to have dealt with his long long life by closing himself off from loving people and making those kinds of connections again. I do wish his time with Sam on Kasq, however, was more than just a montage. But also, I'm so curious to see how things change for the two of them now that they're back with a whole new lifetime (okay, just 17 years worth) of memories.

I think maybe I'd enjoy this episode better on a rewatch.

Andor (season 1, episode 2)

I know it picks up, but the pacing here at the beginning of this series is so slow. I found myself mostly bored with this episode. It's still just more set up with the characters, though it was nice to be introduced to Maarva (Fiona Shaw!) and Stellan Skarsgaard's character (whose name escapes me at the moment).

The best part of the episode to me was how it set up the Republic guys as villains. There's a scene when Karn talks with the Sergeant about the mission to go arrest Cassian. Just listening to the Sergeant talk about how excited he is about the mission is all you need to know on how these guys think. Also, side note: he says something to the effect of "the best way to sharpen a knife is to use it" which is INCORRECT 😂 I can't tell if that was intentional or just a mistake on the part of the writers, but it was so memorable to me regardless.

Andor (season 1, episode 3)

Now here's where things get rolling! I really enjoyed this episode, and I may have to admit that the action was more enjoyable thanks to the slow build in the first two episodes.

The Republic soldiers are coming for Cassian just as he's meeting with Stellan Skarsgaard's character (I still don't remember his name), and their escape was a lot of fun. It was satisfying to see the Republic get their asses handed to them. And you just know this loss is gonna affect Karn in the worst way going forward.

I also really enjoyed how the townspeople reacted to the whole thing. Watching them spring into action as soon as the first person started sounding the alarm was so cool, and really conveyed a sense of community here. It was even great to see a few people at Maarva's door telling the soldiers to leave her alone.

The flashbacks here also continue to intrigue me. I was not expecting Maarva to have kidnapped young Cassian, even if she felt like she was saving his life. (Very "white savior" of her, said my friend who I'm watching this show with. And I have to agree. But I'm interested to see if the show will address that at all going forward.) We are getting some interesting details about Kenari, and I'm ready to see what else is revealed as we go.