{"@attributes":{"version":"2.0"},"channel":{"title":"The Lighthouse Social Comm","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/","description":"The Lighthouse Social Comm - LiveJournal.com","lastBuildDate":"Mon, 21 Jun 2021 19:10:52 GMT","generator":"LiveJournal \/ LiveJournal.com","item":[{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/70883.html","pubDate":"Mon, 21 Jun 2021 19:10:52 GMT","title":"Challenge 11: Screencap Hunt","author":"seraphina_snape","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/70883.html","description":"Welcome to the game part of <b><a href=\"https:\/\/lighthouse-the.livejournal.com\/145034.html\" target=\"_blank\">Challenge 11: Screencap Hunt<\/a><\/b>! This is a scavenger hunt\/pass it on challenge, and it's all about food (and drink, I suppose). <br \/><br \/><b>How to play<\/b>: I've posted the first prompt. If you want to play, comment 'claim' in a <b>new comment<\/b>. Now you have 1 hour to find a screencap of someone eating or drinking the prompted food\/drink item.<br \/><br \/>Once you've found a screencap, upload it and edit your 'claim' comment using the text from the box below. Don't forget to add a new prompt for the next person! <br \/><br \/><b>Rules & Requirements: <\/b><br \/>- food\/drink items can be repeated, BUT the screencap response must come from another show\/movie\/etc. So if one prompt is \"beer\" and the screencap response is a cap of Buffy, <i>nobody else<\/i> can use Buffy as a response to the prompt \"beer\" (even if it's in another episode or another character). You <i>can<\/i> use Buffy again for a different food\/drink prompt, but only once per prompt.<br \/>- I will allow any screencaps that feature containers of the food\/drink rather than the actual food item, so a pizza carton or a bottle of wine is acceptable<br \/>- the screencap simply has to feature the food item - nobody has to be actively eating\/drinking it in the screencap <br \/>- prompts can be repeated as needed<br \/>- a person cannot answer their own prompt <br \/>- if a claim has gone unfilled for an hour, someone else may claim the prompt and post a response screencap (this is to keep the game moving). There will be no penalty for failing to post a response cap quickly enough (life happens, we all know it), but when the hour has passed and someone else has claimed the prompt, you won't get points even if you do belatedly post a response. (Any late responses will be screened\/deleted as soon as I'm able. This is to keep it clear which prompt is the current prompt. If your response was late and you notice that someone else has already posted something else, you may screen\/delete your own post.)<br \/>- you will get 5 points for every screencap you post <br \/>- I will keep a list of all the responses under a spoiler cut so there are no accidental duplicates of fandoms for the same food\/drink item, but keep in mind that I have to sleep and go to work, so check the last page or so before posting. The list might not always be up to date.<br \/>- maximum points per person: 50 points (so 10 screencaps)<br \/>- you can keep playing once you've posted 10 screencaps (for example to help a teammate reach their 10), but you won't get extra points<br \/>- submit a list of your responses in the original challenge post <a href=\"https:\/\/lighthouse-the.livejournal.com\/145034.html\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a><br \/><br \/><b>Please don't hesitate to ask if you need me to clarify something.<\/b> If you don't want to ask in the comments, you can PM me.<br \/><br \/><u>Example of how this is supposed to work:<\/u><br \/><br \/>- The prompt is: pizza.<br \/>- Someone claims this by commenting in a new comment with \"claim\"<br \/>- That someone then finds a picture of a scene from some tv show\/movie\/etc. the contain pizza, edits their claim post with this screencap, including the name of the character(s)\/fandom and a new prompt (for example: water)<br \/>- repeat<br \/><br \/>Use this form to post your finds: <br \/><textarea>&lt;b&gt;Fandom \/ Character:&lt;\/b&gt; \n&lt;b&gt;Screencap:&lt;\/b&gt;\n&lt;a href=\"IMGURL\"&gt;&lt;img src=\"IMGURL\" width=\"350\"&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;\n&lt;b&gt;New Prompt:&lt;\/b&gt; <\/textarea><br \/><br \/>There is no need to add your team name \/ sig tag to these comments since I will count points strictly from your submitted links in the main challenge post. If you forget to post your links, you won't get points!<br \/><br \/><b>Have fun!<\/b><br \/><br \/><b>already used:<\/b><br \/>apple: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Zari Tomaz<br \/>apple: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves \/ Snow White<br \/>bacon: The Fosters \/ The Adams-Foster Family<br \/>banana(s):  Despicable Me 2<br \/>banana: Parks and Recreation \/ Ron Swanson<br \/>beer: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Ava Sharpe<br \/>bread: Paddington (2014)<br \/>bubblegum: How I Met Your Mother \/ Ted & Lily<br \/>bubble tea: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend \/ Josh and Rebecca<br \/>cake: How I Met Your Mother \/ Ted & Robin<br \/>carrot(s): Looney Tunes \u2014 The Wacky Wabbit \/ Bugs Bunny<br \/>cereal: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Zari Tomaz and Ray Palmer<br \/>cheese: A Goofy Movie \/ Bobby Zimurusski<br \/>Chinese food: Better Call Saul \/ Jimmy McGill<br \/>chocolate: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Zari Tomaz<br \/>chocolate: Band of Brothers \/ a boy from netherland<br \/>coconut: Cast Away \/ Chuck Noland<br \/>coffee: New Girl \/ Cece Parekh<br \/>coffee: Breakfast at Tiffany's \/ Holly Golightly<br \/>coffee: BtVS \/ Willow & Buffy<br \/>cookie(s): The Breakfast Club \/ Claire and Andrew <br \/>cookies: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Ray Palmer<br \/>corn dog:  Stranger Things \/ Murray <br \/>cotton candy: To All The Boys I Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You \/ Peter and Lara Jean<br \/>cupcake: Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie \/ Snoopy and Charlie Brown<br \/>donut(s): Legends of Tomorrow \/ Zari Tarazi<br \/>eggs: Breaking Bad \/ Walter, Skyler, and Walt Jr.<br \/>flour: Rizzoli & Isles \/ Cailin Martin<br \/>french fries: The Founder<br \/>fried chicken: Rizzoli & Isles \/ Jane Rizzoli<br \/>gingerbread: Home Alone 5 \/ Hughes<br \/>gummy candy: The Simpsons \/ Homer & Marge<br \/>hamburger: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Zari Tarazi, Behrad Tarazi, Nate Heywood and Mick Rory<br \/>hamburger: Parks and Recreation \/ Leslie Knope<br \/>hot dog:  Dirty Harry \/ Harry Callahan<br \/>hot dog: Friendship! \/ Veit & Tom<br \/>ice cream: Wonder Woman \/ Diana<br \/>jello: Jurassic Park \/ Lex<br \/>lollipop: Ocean's Eleven \/ Rusty<br \/>milk: Heidi \/ Heidi<br \/>milkshake: Lolita (1997)<br \/>muffin(s): Friends \/ Chandler Bing<br \/>muffins:  Wonderfalls \/ Marianne<br \/>orange: Paddington 2<br \/>pancakes: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Zari Tomaz<br \/>pasta: Big Night \/ Primo & Secondo<br \/>peanuts: Rizzoli & Isles \/ Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles<br \/>pie: Supernatural \/ Dean Winchester<br \/>pie: Twin Peaks \/ Andy Brennan<br \/>pizza: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Behrad Tarazi and a pizza delivery person (who might also be Behrad Tarazi, who knows, names and nomenclature only hold us back from what unites us, the shared human experience :P)<br \/>pizza: Eat Pray Love \/ Elizabeth Gilbert (Julia Roberts)<br \/>popcorn: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Ava Sharpe & Nate Heywood<br \/>popsicle\/ice pop: Wit \/ Vivian Bearing and Susie Monahan<br \/>potato chips: Community \/ Dean Pelton<br \/>potatoes: Grey's Anatomy\/ Maggie & Jo<br \/>salad: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Mick Rory<br \/>sandwich: Friends \/ Chandler Bing<br \/>sandwich: Glee \/ Finn Hudson<br \/>slurpie\/slushie: Legends of Tomorrow \/ unnamed boy and shopkeeper<br \/>soda: Futurama \/ Fry<br \/>soup: Legends of Tomorrow \/ Nora Darhk<br \/>spaghetti: Lady and the Tramp (Disney)<br \/>spaghetti: Leverage \/ Alec Hardison and Nate Ford<br \/>steak: Battlestar Galactica \/ Leoben<br \/>sushi: Monsters Inc. \/ Mike & Celia<br \/>tacos: Avengers: Endgame \/ Scott Lang & Bruce Banner<br \/>tea: Avatar the Last Airbender \/ Iroh<br \/>toast: The Flash \/ Barry & Iris<br \/>tomato(es): Fried Green Tomatoes \/ Ruth and Idgie<br \/>turkey: Christmas Vacation \/ Griswold Family<br \/>waffles: Gossip Girl \/ Rufus and Dann Humphrey<br \/>wine: Victoria (Lord Melbourne & Victoria)<br \/><br \/>currently searching for: <br \/>cereal<br \/>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/70883.html?view=comments#comments","category":["user: seraphina_snape","cycle 08","challenge 11"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/70639.html","pubDate":"Thu, 22 Apr 2021 15:59:52 GMT","title":"07x13 Spring Flower Bingo - 3x Blackout","author":"jacquelee","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/70639.html","description":"At first I didn't know if I would be able to fit a fic in so few characters, but then I started and couldn't stop, it was so much fun, lol. I made three blackouts, on cards A, C and E. <br \/><br \/>I randomized the characters I currently write for, so this is mainly Legends of Tomorrow (9x) but also The Wilds (4x), Leverage (3x), Star Trek Picard (2x), The 100 (2x), Infinity Train (2x), and The Magicians, Avengers: Endgame, Arrow, Stranger Things and Dark Matter each 1x.<br \/><br \/>Card A<br \/><br \/>1. Stock (beauty everlasting, joyous life, lasting loving bond) \/ Legends of Tomorrow<br \/>No matter how long Laurel hadn't seen Sara, every time she came back they immediately clicked again, talking for hours about her adventures with giant Beebos or Fates controlling the world. It was the one constant she could always count on. (240 characters)<br \/><br \/>2. Freesia (sweetness, innocence, thoughtfulness) \/ Infinity Train<br \/>Listening to Hazel talk about Tuba in that sweet, innocent and yet immensely thoughtful way of hers, having to face the reality that it was her fault that Tuba was dead woke up emotions in Grace she thought had been dead for a long time. (237 characters)<br \/><br \/>3. Lilies (purity, refined beauty, modesty, virginity, passion, pride) \/ The Wilds<br \/>Shelby took the razor to her head and with every bushel of hair that fell, it felt like another doctrine, another shackle that was holding her back was removed. Purity, virginity, modesty, piety all the lies finally fell away. She was free. (240 characters)<br \/><br \/>4. Xerographica Tilandsia (dreamer) \/ Legends of Tomorrow<br \/>Zari had always been too realistic to be a dreamer, having seen too many dreams die. But when her alter ego showed up in the totem and told her her family was still alive, she realized that sometimes, even the wildest dreams can come true. (239 characters)<br \/><br \/>5. Bird of Paradise (joy and paradise) \/ The 100<br \/>Her whole life Hope had thought Skyring was paradise. It had to be, because of the joy it brought her to plant things, to listen to aunt Octavia's stories. But the day came when it all crashed down and she learned her paradise was a prison. (240 characters)<br \/><br \/>6. Anemones (anticipation) \/ Leverage<br \/>One of Sophie's favorite things about a con was the anticipation. Before, having a perfect plan, knowing exactly what would happen, during, when inevitably improvisation was necessary, and after, the mark slowly realizing they were had. (236 characters)<br \/><br \/>7. Hydrangea (gratitude for being understood) \/ Legends of Tomorrow<br \/>Looking at the drawing, at Oliver and Laurel, the two people she had lost but who were still in her heart, Sara genuinely smiled for the first time since Ollie died. \"Thank you\". Behrad just nodded and Sara was thankful he understood. (234 characters)<br \/><br \/>8. Carnation (pride and beauty) \/ Legends of Tomorrow<br \/>There was never an exact way for Charlie to choose her next face. This one, the picture on the tube, she had a beautiful smile but what really drove the decision home was the pride in her eyes. That was something Charlie would always value. (240 characters)<br \/><br \/>9. Heather (good luck, protection, admiration) \/ Legends of Tomorrow<br \/>As a child, Amaya thought that the Anansi Totem meant her family would always have good fortune and protection. She admired the confidence her mother exuded wielding it, being sure nothing bad could ever befall her tribe. How wrong she was. (240 characters)<br \/><br \/>Card C<br \/><br \/>1. Dahlias (dignity, elegance, good taste) \/ Legends of Tomorrow<br \/>Being thrust into a world of fame and fortune but also vultures and backstabbers at a very young age, Zari learned quickly that dignity and elegance were the only ways to be heard, to keep from becoming irrelevant. So she excelled at both. (239 characters)<br \/><br \/>2. Statice (success, sympathy, remembrance) \/ The Wilds<br \/>After Quinn's death, Nora needed something to channel her feelings into, something to do. Making the scrapbook, collecting all the things she loved about Quinn, the ways in which he had been unique, precious, helped clear her thoughts. (235 characters)<br \/><br \/>3. Bouvardia (enthusiasm) \/ Legends of Tomorrow<br \/>Gideon had always liked being with Rip, but she couldn't deny that her enthusiasm was higher with the Legends and Sara as her Captain. Something about them, their simple joy at being here, screwing things up for the better, was infectious. (239 characters)<br \/><br \/>4. Hyacinth (playfulness, sport, associated with Olympics) \/ The Wilds<br \/>For Rachel, water was only ever a means to an end, to fulfill her dream of the Olympics, her one way to get her parents to see her, to be unique. But now, standing here, splashing around, she saw for the first time how much fun it could be.<br \/><br \/>5. Protea (change, transformation, diversity, courage) \/ Star Trek Picard<br \/>Agnes' life had always been a bit boring and part of her had always wanted adventures, wishing she was brave enough to make changes, do more. But now that she had been thrust into all of this, she wished she could slow down, be bored again. (240 characters)<br \/><br \/>6. Lisianthus (gratitude, charm, everlasting bond) \/ Leverage<br \/>Tara knew she owed a debt of gratitude to Sophie, she did, but if it wasn't for their bond of friendship that was one of the strongest she had ever experienced and for Sophie's charm, she would walk away from this job as fast as she could. (239 characters)<br \/><br \/>7. Calla Lilies (marriage, major life transition) \/ Dark Matter<br \/>Waking up on a ship, with strangers staring at her, not remembering anything at all, not even her own name, Five (or so they called her) knew her life had just completely and irrevocably changed. Whether for the good or bad she didn't know. (240 characters)<br \/><br \/>8. Delphinium (lightheartedness, vivacity) \/ Stranger Things<br \/>Robin had never been one to take life too seriously or to sit still and think things through. She'd rather do things, solve puzzles, take whatever life threw at her. Even stuck in a retail job, she always found ways to liven up the place. (238 characters)<br \/><br \/>9. Poinsettia (good cheer, celebration, reassurance) \/ Legends of Tomorrow<br \/>Kuasa wondered why her grandmother seemed surprised that she came to fight with the Legends, but when they had vanquished the evil and were celebrating, her bright smile reassured her that everything was exactly how it was supposed to be. (238 characters)<br \/><br \/>Card E<br \/><br \/>1. Anthurium (hospitality, kindness) \/ Arrow<br \/>Nanda Parbat and Ra's Al Ghul were not known for their hospitality or their kindness. Not at all. But when Nyssa found the girl half dead on the beach of that island, she knew bringing her there would be the only way to safe her life. (234 characters)<br \/><br \/>2. Snapdragons (graciousness) \/ Star Trek Picard<br \/>Raffi had tried to harden herself, harden her heart, but then Picard had to come back and worse, bring others with him who exuded the same innocence and naivety and her resolve crumbled, her inherent kindness and generosity winning out. (237 characters)<br \/><br \/>3. Daisies (new beginnings, innocence) \/ Infinity Train<br \/>Looking at Hazel inspecting everything in the engine, touching things, her eyes sparking with joy and innocence somehow made Ameila feel like maybe, just maybe, she could find joy in her life again too. Maybe she could still start anew. (236 characters)<br \/><br \/>4. Sunflowers (warmth, adoration, dedication) \/ Avengers: Endgame<br \/>Nebula had been cold for so long. Every time a new component was added, the cold got deeper, all encompassing. But when Gamora, a Gamora she barely knew, stretched out her hand towards her, somehow, for the first time, she felt warm. (233 characters)<br \/><br \/>5. Sweet Peas (appreciation, departure) \/ Legends of Tomorrow<br \/>It was always the same pattern. Mick and Ava came at some point, spent some time with Lita and then disappeared again. And Ali appreciated it, she did, but she also was the one to console her daughter after they had left again. Like always. (240 characters)<br \/><br \/>6. Orchids (beauty, glorious femininity, refinement, thoughtfulness, mature charm) \/ The Wilds<br \/>Taking care of her appearance, her outfits, her body, knowing that she looked beautiful meant more for Fatin than just having a lot of admirers knocking on her door. It was the one thing that was truly hers, that she had chosen for herself. (240 characters)<br \/><br \/>7. Lily of the Valley (purity, sweetness, happiness, humility) \/ Leverage<br \/>Parker was always happiest hanging from a rope, knowing she was about to accomplish something impossible, that nobody had done before. The thrill that came with knowing she was the best was the purest, sweetest feeling she could imagine. (237 characters)<br \/><br \/>8. Queen Anne's Lace (sanctuary) \/ The 100<br \/>Not having anyone to fight anymore, finally being at peace, Earth being their sanctuary, took some getting used to for all of them, especially for Indra. But eventually, she relaxed into the knowledge of being safe and being simply happy. (238 characters)<br \/><br \/>9. Hellebores (scandal, witchcraft, hope) \/ The Magicians<br \/>Fen had always seen magic and witchcraft as something useful but pretty superfluous. When she was still a FU Fighter, she had even resented it. But now, standing here, helping to create a new world, she finally saw the true beauty in magic. (240 characters)<a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/70639.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cycle 07","user: jacquelee","challenge 13","fanfic"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/70157.html","pubDate":"Wed, 21 Apr 2021 17:58:05 GMT","title":"Spring Flowers Bingo Cards","author":"seraphina_snape","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/70157.html","description":"3 blackout cards, ficlets are Teen Wolf and The Librarians, with a couple Harry Potter ones in the mix (and one Sherlock one).<br \/><br \/><b><u>SPRING A<\/u><\/b><br \/><br \/><b>Stock:<\/b> As the bond to the library - and to Flynn - settled, Eve took a deep breath and opened her eyes to the gentle glow of the artefacts all around them. She felt the magic of it like a tingle on her skin. She smiled. <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Eve Baird &or\/ Flynn Carson, 43 words, 212 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Freesia:<\/b>  Cassandra smiled as she grabbed another cookie from the jar. Ever since the Santa Thing, cookie randomly appeared in the Annex... and Cass was sure it was Ezekiel baking them. She hadn't found a way to thank him yet, but she would. <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Cassandra Cillian, 42 words, 231 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Lillies:<\/b> James kissed his wife's cheek and then bent down to do the same to her stomach. Then he handed her a bunch of fiery orange lillies he'd hidden behind his back. He grinned. \"They reminded me of you - full of fire.\" <br \/><i>(Harry Potter, James\/Lily Potter, 41 words, 214 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Xerographica Tilandsia:<\/b> As a rule, Ezekiel Jones didn't need people. People were a liability. People made you vulnerable. But as he watched his team - <i>his team!<\/i> a year ago Ezekiel would have run the other way - he couldn't help but be grateful for them. <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Ezekiel Jones, 40 words, 223 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Bird of Paradise:<\/b> People looked down on John Watson - called him lapdog and hanger-on to 'the great Sherlock Holmes' as if he didn't contribute to their cases. But he didn't care. He let it all roll off his back. Since when was loyalty a failing? <br \/><i>(Sherlock BBC, John Watson, 42 words, 228 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Anemones:<\/b> <i> Lydia raised an eyebrow at the gift. It was a pendant in the shape of a flower - a white anemone with a black center, cast in resin and polished to a gleam.<br \/><br \/>\"For protection,\" Stiles said.<br \/><br \/>Lydia smiled and kissed his cheek. \"Thank you.\" <br \/><i>(Teen Wolf, Lydia Martin & Stiles Stilinski, 44 words, 233 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Hydrangeas:<\/b> Lydia leaned back against the seat, rubbing her forehead against the dull ache behind her eyes. \"Take the next left,\" she said, relaxing a little when Stiles did exactly that. \"Thank you,\" she added. \"For believing me about the voices.\" <br \/><i>(Teen Wolf, Lydia Martin, 40 words, 236 characters \u2013 set in season 3a when Lydia's powers wake up)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Carnations:<\/b> Stiles carefully opened his baby album and turned to the third page. It was the first page his mom had written just for him. A pressed pink carnation framed his mom's narration of is birth. \"Miss you, mom,\" he whispered, eyes stinging. <br \/><\/i>(Teen Wolf, Stiles Stilinski, 42 words, 235 characters)&lt;\/i&gt;<br \/><br \/><b>Heather:<\/b> \"What's this?\" Sheriff Stilinski flicked the sprig of small white flowers on Stiles' hat.<br \/><br \/>\"White heather. Soldiers used to wear it for luck and protection in battle.\"<br \/><br \/>The sheriff sighed. \"It's not war, Stiles. Just counseling.\" <br \/><i>(Teen Wolf, Stiles Stilinski & Sheriff Stilinski, 36 words, 226 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><br \/><b><u>SPRING C<\/u><\/b><br \/><br \/><b>Dahlias:<\/b> \"Best friends for life,\" James said. \"Naturally.\"<br \/><br \/>Sirius put his hand out. James put his on top, followed by Remus and then Peter.<br \/><br \/>\"Best friends for life,\" Sirius echoed. He smiled.<br \/><br \/>Remus smiled back. \"Best friends.\"<br \/><br \/>\"For life,\" Peter said. <br \/><i>(Harry Potter, The Marauders ca. 3rd year, 40 words, 236 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Statice:<\/b> Chris stared at the dagger. It had been one of Allison's favorites.<br \/><br \/>He carefully picked it up. Eyes stinging, he slid it into a holster at his belt. Maybe carrying it on his hip would make it easier to carry Allison's memory in his heart.  <br \/><i>(Teen Wolf, Chris Argent,  45 words, 237 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Bouvardia:<\/b> - \"Isn't this just amazing?!\"<br \/><br \/>Eve smiled. \"Sure.\"<br \/><br \/>\"Are you not even excited?\"<br \/><br \/>\"Sure. But... more quietly.\" Eve glanced at Cassandra. \"Don't you ever get tired of being so... bubbly?\"<br \/><br \/>Cassandra scoffed. \"It's magic! What could be more exciting?\" <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Cassandra Cillian & Eve Baird, 38 words, 238 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Hyacinth:<\/b> \"You just sit around playing video games all day!\"<br \/><br \/>Ezekiel didn't bother to reply, he simply smirked. It was exactly what he wanted people to think. His art needed to look effortless and any training he did happened behind closed doors. <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Ezekiel Jones, 41 words, 235 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Protea:<\/b>  Derek let go and found himself on four paws. Eyes closed, he scented the air. He could almost taste his mother's scent on the air currents. Fully shifted, he could pretend she was still at his side, leading him like she had in life. <br \/><i>(Teen Wolf, Derek Hale, 44 words, 232 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Lisianthus:<\/b> Ezekiel waited until Baird and Flynn had left before he put on his most humble expression (which, to be fair, wasn't very humble) and said, \"Guys. Thank you for helping my mum.\"<br \/><br \/>Cassandra smiled.<br \/><br \/>Jenkins nodded.<br \/><br \/>Stone grinned. \"Bet that hurt!\" <br \/><i>( The Librarians, Ezekiel Jones & team, 41 words, 240 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Calla Lilies:<\/b> Cassandra felt like a whole new person. No more brain grape. No more certain, premature death. No more fear.<br \/><br \/>Well, okay, some fear. Still, she laughed, relieved to have a new lease on life. And she wasn't going to waste one second of it. <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Cassandra Cillian post surgery in 308, 44 words, 236 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Delphinium:<\/b> Eve smiled as Cassandra laughed out loud and then dissolved into giggles. She'd been so worried, and seeing Cassandra happy and full of life was a relief. She picked up her drink and went to join her librarians in their celebration.  <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Eve Baird & team, 41 words, 232 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Poinsettia:<\/b> Cassandra hummed as she hung another ornament on the small Christmas tree on the main table in the Annex. Her favorite holiday was fast approaching and she was determined to celebrate it more than ever, now that she was officially healed. <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Cassandra Cillian, 41 words,  238 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><br \/><b><u>SPRING E<\/u><\/b><br \/><br \/><b>Anthrurium:<\/b> \"Stiles, I need a place to stay for the night.\"<br \/><br \/>Stiles raised an eyebrow at Derek. \"On the run from the law again?\"<br \/><br \/>An angry eyebrow furrow was his only response.<br \/><br \/>\"Right.\" Stiles sighed. \"Mi casa es su casa. Just don't bleed on the carpet.\"<br \/><i>(Teen Wolf, Stiles Stilinski & Derek Hale, 45 words, 237 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Snapdragons:<\/b> Stiles raised a finger. \"Ah, what's the magic word?\"<br \/><br \/>\"<i>Now<\/i>,\" Derek growled. \"Or I'll rip your throat out with my teeth.\"<br \/><br \/>Stiles made a disgruntled face. \"Fine, be that way. Why am I expecting manners, he was literally raised by wolves!\" <br \/><i>(Teen Wolf, Stiles Stilinski & Derek Hale, 41 words, 233 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Daisies:<\/b> Ezekiel ignored the others and focused on breathing. The loop had started <i>again<\/i>. He could still feel the burns, the snap of his bones as one of the rage people got in a good hit. He needed a rest. He couldn't- he'd just sit here, breathing. <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Ezekiel Jones, 46 words, 240 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Sunflowers:<\/b> \"She's just so beautiful,\" Stiles said wistfully.<br \/><br \/>\"Uh-huh,\" Scott muttered, frowning at his homework.<br \/><br \/>\"Perfect skin, hair like fire, beautiful blue eyes and her smile!\" Stiles sighed.<br \/><br \/>\"Uh, whatever. Can you explain this to me?\" <br \/><i>(Teen Wolf, Stiles Stilinski & Scott McCall, 35 words, 224 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Sweet Peas:<\/b> Eve took a calming breath and ignored the mess on her desk. Ever since Flynn left, she'd been disgruntled and whatever magic kept her desk organized was on the fritz, reacting to her angry mood. She sighed; she needed to get a handle on it. <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Eve Baird, 45 words, 240 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Orchids:<\/b> \"Look, Allison, I'm not saying your mom isn't, like, super hot and elegant, but you have to admit she's freaking scary!\"<br \/><br \/>Allison rolled her eyes. \"Stiles.\"<br \/><br \/>\"Just saying. Scott is right to be concerned.\" <br \/><i>(Teen Wolf, Allison Argent & Stiles Stilinski, 34 words, 200 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Lily of the Valley:<\/b> \"Do you need help?\"<br \/><br \/>Ezekiel scoffed. \"I'm Ezekiel Jones! I don't need help. Besides, this lock is a disgrace.\"<br \/><br \/>Stone nodded. \"And that's why we're still outside...?\"<br \/><br \/>\"No.\" Ezekiel rolled his eyes and kicked the door open. \"It was stuck.\" <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Ezekiel Jones & Jake Stone, 40 words, 234 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Queen Anne's Lace:<\/b> Cassandra sighed. The real world was scary sometimes, especially late at night when it was dark and windy. Even with everything she knew, she felt scared out there alone. But inside the annex, she felt safe and relaxed. <br \/><i>(The Librarians, Cassandra Cillian, 38 words, 219 characters)<\/i><br \/><br \/><b>Hellebores:<\/b> \"Isn't it a little late to show up to a party?\"<br \/><br \/>Lydia gave him a pitying look. \"Stiles, there used to be a time where the party didn't start until I arrived.\"<br \/><br \/>Before banshees and dead bodies everywhere. Lydia forced a smile. \"It'll be fine.\" <br \/><i>(Teen Wolf, Stiles Stilinski & Lydia Martin, 45 words, 239 characters)<\/i><a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/70157.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cycle 07","user: seraphina_snape","challenge 13","fanfic"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69825.html","pubDate":"Sun, 28 Mar 2021 23:56:21 GMT","title":"Challenge 06 | Horoscopes!","author":"sandy79","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69825.html","description":"10 MCU tumblr graphics under the cut<br \/>(click any for the full-size of 840 x 540)<br \/><br \/>01) Phil Coulson<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/ad\/b2\/L3rES7Aq_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/ad\/b2\/L3rES7Aq_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>02) Maria Hill<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/32\/cd\/QFb58WzE_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/32\/cd\/QFb58WzE_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>03) Peggy Carter<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/44\/f9\/r2YfIeYf_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/44\/f9\/r2YfIeYf_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>04) Steve Rogers<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/2e\/12\/a5TlNVJd_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/2e\/12\/a5TlNVJd_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>05) Bucky Barnes<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/3c\/63\/AJZ4JLHi_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/3c\/63\/AJZ4JLHi_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>06) Tony Stark<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/93\/0f\/FniuZMGc_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/93\/0f\/FniuZMGc_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>07) Daisy Johnson<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/35\/47\/thrzU3jh_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/35\/47\/thrzU3jh_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>08) Jemma Simmons<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/7c\/c4\/241sclg2_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/7c\/c4\/241sclg2_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>09) Leopold Fitz<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/d6\/41\/0ilO1u93_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/d6\/41\/0ilO1u93_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>10) Grant Ward<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/60\/56\/coufLhdP_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/60\/56\/coufLhdP_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><a name='cutid1-end'><\/a><br \/><br \/><br \/><br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/imgbox.com\/saZJAKbb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/98\/a4\/saZJAKbb_o.jpg\" alt=\"image host\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69825.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cycle 07","tumblr","challenge 06","user: sandy79"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69488.html","pubDate":"Sat, 27 Mar 2021 11:46:37 GMT","title":"07x07 My Award Show","author":"jacquelee","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69488.html","description":"As always (lol), I made this harder on myself and made a little mini challenge in the challenge, taking a meme as basis for my award show. So here are the best cinnamon rolls who might or might not murder you. At first I took them all from Legends of Tomorrow but then I read the rules more carefully and realized you have to have at least three fandoms in one category, so I added two more each, which ended up being a lot of fun too, to see who in which other fandom fits these. :D And since those are only four, I also needed another one and since I already made it hard for myself once I went really easy for this one and just chose the best thieves.<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/BfY0B2m.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/BfY0B2m.png\" width=\"400\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><\/a><br \/>Looks like a cinnamon roll and is actually a cinnamon roll<br \/>Mona Wu (Legends of Tomorrow) \u2013 Winner<br \/>Zari Tarazi (Legends of Tomorrow)<br \/>Kendra Saunders (Legends of Tomorrow)<br \/>Sylvia Tilly (Star Trek Discovery)<br \/>Ruby Patterson (Death in Paradise)<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/0HepPbs.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/0HepPbs.png\" width=\"400\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/>Looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you<br \/>Beebo (Legends of Tomorrow) \u2013 Winner<br \/>Tabitha (Legends of Tomorrow) <br \/>Gideon (Legends of Tomorrow)<br \/>Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard (Once Upon a Time)<br \/>Fen (The Magicians)<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/W1Ogflh.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/W1Ogflh.png\" width=\"400\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/>Looks like they could kill you but is actually a cinnamon roll<br \/>Te Ka (Moana) \u2013 Winner <br \/>Ava Sharpe (Legends of Tomorrow) <br \/>Huntara (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)<br \/>Nora Darhk (Legends of Tomorrow)<br \/>Charlie (Legends of Tomorrow)<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/rURTRV3.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/rURTRV3.png\" width=\"400\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/>Looks like they could kill you and would actually kill you<br \/>Sara Lance (Legends of Tomorrow) \u2013 Winner<br \/>Astra Logue (Legends of Tomorrow)<br \/>Freydis Ericsdottir (Legends of Tomorrow)<br \/>Helena HG Wells (Warehouse 13)<br \/>Indra (The 100)<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/yuXqrpa.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/yuXqrpa.png\" width=\"400\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/>Parker (Leverage) \u2013 Winner<br \/>Vala Mal Doran (Stargate SG-1)<br \/>Chiana (Farscape)<br \/>Sarah Manning (Orphan Black)<br \/>Mick Rory (Legends of Tomorrow)<a name='cutid1-end'><\/a><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/imgprx.livejournal.net\/271c8cfc7b8fe9ec4b749c9f685c56be5de7e797372827d1f3d8a665954d25f2\/P2WlxyVijxKgh2to8MxeU0Mdsf-ah7h0z0eOQvxBjt7X-hXT28-gHAV0TxYnSgIg4xMEzWmRcApCWABciRk87ANd23vGP-GV5VVFtxQvOhzrUf4:vRAj_oRLDME7JnpJi8NHww\" loading=\"lazy\">","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69488.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cycle 07","challenge 07","user: jacquelee","graphics"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69351.html","pubDate":"Fri, 26 Mar 2021 19:18:08 GMT","title":"Challenge 06: Horoscopes!","author":"dance_the_dance","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69351.html","description":"12 crack graphics with The Magicians + a tumblr zodiac meme<br \/><br \/>(ETA: I forgot to explain that they're at a restaurant, which makes the entries make far more sense. xD I cut up <a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/002KotZ.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">this existing meme<\/a>.)<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2ljAtK5.png\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/wBuwpl3.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/qjPfzZX.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/lcBuJ6s.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2qDHPPD.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/htZcKjx.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/bAOVUzJ.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/yfH8OEe.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/8xpiUXj.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2S2GZcj.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/CwFzmoV.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/H5l5f9F.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>[ <a href=\"https:\/\/face--the--strange.tumblr.com\/post\/646746738551619584\/the-magicians-as-zodiacs-at-a-restaurant-made\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">the same post on tumblr<\/a> (the graphics are combined because you can only have 10 pictures per post) ]<a name='cutid1-end'><\/a><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/pile.randimg.net\/2\/99\/149955\/lighthousethe.png\" loading=\"lazy\">","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69351.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cycle 07","user: dance_the_dance","challenge 06","graphics"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69104.html","pubDate":"Tue, 16 Mar 2021 21:10:34 GMT","title":"tumblr graphics for challenge 06: horoscopes","author":"seraphina_snape","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69104.html","description":"<b>10 Harry Potter tumblr graphics:<\/b><br \/><br \/>click any for the 540x540 version<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/juE2YVO.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/juE2YVO.png\" width=\"300\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><\/a><br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/LqduSvF.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/LqduSvF.png\" width=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/1bj1cqr.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/1bj1cqr.png\" width=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/l5wNWhm.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/l5wNWhm.png\" width=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/SGhjEJZ.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/SGhjEJZ.png\" width=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/AyscsGu.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/AyscsGu.png\" width=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/gh6MPZu.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/gh6MPZu.png\" width=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/MYbsmJg.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/MYbsmJg.png\" width=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/gI8tBsq.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/gI8tBsq.png\" width=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/ybkSomC.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/ybkSomC.png\" width=\"300\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><a name='cutid1-end'><\/a><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/082C3jm.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\">","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/69104.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cycle 07","user: seraphina_snape","tumblr","challenge 06"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/68756.html","pubDate":"Mon, 15 Mar 2021 06:42:56 GMT","title":"Challenge 07: Character Award Show","author":"blue_sunflowers","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/68756.html","description":"<a href=\"http:\/\/innovativeliteracy.com\/character-archetypes-joseph-campbell\/#:~:text=In%20The%20Hero%20of%20a,shapeshifter%2C%20guardian%2C%20and%20shadow.\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Joseph Campbell - Power of Myth - Character Archetype Awards<\/a> - Popular Young Adult Books<br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1116726\/1116726_800.png\" title=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/><br \/><u>Journey<\/u>:<br \/>Lord of the Rings Trilogy<br \/>The Underland Chronicles&nbsp;\ud83c\udfc6<br \/>Harry Potter<br \/>Percy Jackson and the Olympians<br \/>Hunger Games Trilogy<br \/><br \/><u>Hero<\/u>:<br \/>Frodo Baggins<br \/>Gregor the Overlander&nbsp;\ud83c\udfc6<br \/>Harry Potter<br \/>Percy Jackson<br \/>Katniss Everdeen<br \/><br \/><u>Mentor<\/u>:<br \/>Gandalf<br \/>Ripred<br \/>Dumbledore<br \/>Greek Gods<br \/>Haymitch Abernathy&nbsp;\ud83c\udfc6<br \/><br \/><u>Ally<\/u>:<br \/>Samwise Gamgee&nbsp;\ud83c\udfc6<br \/>Queen Luxa<br \/>Hermione Granger<br \/>Annabeth Chase<br \/>Peeta Mellark<br \/><br \/><u>Herald<\/u>:<br \/>The One Ring to Rule Them All<br \/>Queen Nerissa<br \/>Hagrid<br \/>The Oracle<br \/>Effie Trinket&nbsp;\ud83c\udfc6<br \/><br \/><u>Trickster<\/u>:<br \/>Gollum<br \/>Boots (Margaret)<br \/>Dobby<br \/>Tyson<br \/>Katniss&#39; Prep Team&nbsp;\ud83c\udfc6<br \/><br \/><u>Shapeshifter<\/u>:<br \/>Saruman<br \/>Prince Henry<br \/>Severus Snape&nbsp;\ud83c\udfc6<br \/>Hera<br \/>Plutarch Heavensbee<br \/><br \/><u>Guardian<\/u>:<br \/>Faramir<br \/>Solovet<br \/>Dolores Umbridge<br \/>Greek Myths&nbsp;\ud83c\udfc6<br \/>Hunger Games Tournament<br \/><br \/><u>Shadow<\/u>:<br \/>Sauron<br \/>Pearlpelt<br \/>Voldemort<br \/>Kronos&nbsp;\ud83c\udfc6<br \/>President Snow<br \/><a name='cutid1-end'><\/a><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1117100\/1117100_300.png\" title=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/68756.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cycle 07","challenge 07","user: blue_sunflowers","graphics"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/68077.html","pubDate":"Sat, 27 Feb 2021 19:18:27 GMT","title":"Challenge 7 - Character Award Show","author":"caitieness","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/68077.html","description":"<br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/f3ccc14cb551db00c03133bb268a4b98\/ac674cecbd1701c4-52\/s540x810\/e0c3701308499996f2b879f086260bfdc67fc22d.png\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><br \/>It is killing me that I typo'd Sharon Valerii and didn't save the PSD<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/f1f20ff58ecb6bfc8ebcee8e433c41de\/e2ba99d4939232df-48\/s540x810\/8a8876c78436d39f7dbe1e4087875762b949be44.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><a name='cutid1-end'><\/a><br \/><br \/>2 graphics x 30 + sigtag = 61 points<br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/images2.imgbox.com\/37\/f6\/TBAPQWEp_o.png\" loading=\"lazy\">","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/68077.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cycle 07","challenge 07","user: caitieness","graphics"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/66817.html","pubDate":"Fri, 22 Jan 2021 07:45:51 GMT","title":"0621 hopes and dreams for 2021","author":"devon380black","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/66817.html","description":"Hopes and Dreams for 2021<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.postimg.cc\/LXNGKHV4\/aliensamba-lh0621a.png\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/><br \/><br \/>01. Sleep - to sleep like a baby and wake up refreshed<br \/>02. bathroom - I wish that our bathroom will be fixed soon.<br \/>03. massage - I miss having a massage.<br \/>04. stethoscope - good health for everyone<br \/>05. money - financial stability and security<br \/>06. woman with raised arms - to exercise and be fit<br \/>07. mall - to walk around the mall and not be afraid<br \/>08. food with people - to eat with a crowd<br \/>09. woman in the airport - to travel again<br \/>10. words (relaxation, stability, security) - These 3 words sum up my hopes and dreams for 2021.<br \/><br \/><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.postimg.cc\/Vv47XC8m\/Mo4PXGe.png\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/66817.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cycle 06","user: devon380black","moodboard","challenge 21"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/65947.html","pubDate":"Tue, 19 Jan 2021 07:25:09 GMT","title":"Challenge 02: The Mentalist recap","author":"blue_sunflowers","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/65947.html","description":"<div>For my recap, I did S6E22 &quot;Blue Bird&quot; of the show, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Mentalist\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Mentalist<\/a>. I needed to gush about a ship. Nearly 6800 words of it, apparently.<br \/><br \/>Without giving too much away about the show, Patrick Jane is a former &quot;psychic&quot; who angered a serial killer who then murdered his wife and 5 year old daughter. For years, he worked with the CBI (California Bureau of Investigations) to find him. This story arc finally culminated half-way through Season 6. The second half of Season 6 was Jane returning from exile after being blackmailed to work for the FBI (who he promptly blackmailed back). Yes, the show has established the FBI would want him, as he has a 100% closure rate on the cases he consulted on, plus took down a national crime syndicate that reached the highest levels of law enforcement, justices, and government officials.<br \/><br \/>Lisbon was a condition of his return, so she&#39;s around, as is Cho who went to work for the FBI. Rigsby and Van Pelt are basically non characters now, replaced by Fischer and Wiley at the FBI.<br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSHDelPP_PSvuZSzSwacK1IXqDsEn84VCeh2w&amp;usqp=CAU\" width=\"300\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/><\/div><div><br \/><u>Previously on The Mentalist<\/u>: Patrick Jane is an idiot. After blackmailing the FBI to get Lisbon back, he then proceeds to throw it all out the window by watching her date Oberon from Game of Thrones without saying a damn word about it. This plan goes as well as you&#39;d expect.<br \/><br \/>Opening scene: Student Housing University of South Central Texas<br \/><br \/>Cho and Jane drive up to the exterior of what I&#39;m assuming they&#39;re going to try to pass off as campus housing. It&#39;s not, by the way. It&#39;s far too nice. Jane is whistling and Cho comments on it. &quot;You&#39;re far too chipper today.&quot; Jane: &quot;Why not?&quot; Cho: &quot;I&#39;d thought you&#39;d be sad about Lisbon leaving for DC.&quot; Jane&#39;s all pshaw, Lisbon&#39;s not leaving. She&#39;s all talk. He&#39;s very sure of himself. That is, until Cho tells him outright she&#39;s already put in her transfer papers and is leaving Austin in a week. In a multitude of good acting decisions by Baker in this episode, Jane&#39;s expression falters. Most notably, the smile he&#39;d held a second ago no longer reaches his eyes.<br \/><br \/>Gotta say, when I first watched this opening sequence, I struggled with this either being bad writing or out of character Jane. Wanted to go with bad writing at first, since there is no way Jane would have missed Lisbon making a final decision on leaving, and he definitely would have noticed a change in her after she&#39;s turned in her transfer papers. Granted, Lisbon has shown in the past that she *can* hide some things from him, but this is a life-altering decision. He&#39;d easily be able to read it off her. He&#39;d already nearly lost it when he realized she was sleeping with Oberon - and that info came from just watching her get out of a cab.<br \/><br \/>After rewatch (and yeah, I&#39;ve probably now binge-watched the whole series three times in the last month alone), I realized it actually *is* in character at this point for Jane not to notice. In previous episodes, he&#39;s been so wrapped up in his grief about watching Lisbon happy with someone other than himself, it&#39;s entirely within reason that while he&#39;s noticed she&#39;s pulling away, he&#39;s also completely missed the fact that she&#39;s moving on.<br \/><br \/>Anyway, the crime scene they&#39;re at is dumb. Victim&#39;s dead in a kiddie pool. It&#39;s only service is to provide a comedic backdrop as Jane keeps quizzing Cho on Lisbon. Cho says he&#39;s heard it from Abbott. Jane: &quot;I&#39;ll believe it when I hear it from her.&quot; That Lisbon hasn&#39;t told Jane the news is another clue that put me on the bad writing vs out of character initial idea. In normal times, Jane would notice, and Lisbon would tell. But eh, rewatch points out pretty vividly these aren&#39;t normal times for our Duo.<br \/><br \/>Despite being clearly distracted, Jane solves the crime in thirty seconds, leaving this as the quickest case they&#39;ve ever solved on this show. It literally takes him longer to explain it to Cho than it did for the camera to pan around to all the clues Jane looked at in order to figure the whole thing out. Spoiler alert: everyone did it. With that, Jane is dragging Cho off so they can go. &quot;I&#39;ve got stuff to do,&quot; he says. I&#39;ll leave you to imagine what it might be about.<br \/><br \/>Credits.<br \/><br \/>FBI Texas HQ - &quot;Several Days Later&quot;<br \/><br \/>Wiley is giving Lisbon a good-bye gift and hug as Jane walks by. Jane oh so innocently snarks &quot;What&#39;s with all the hugging, are you leaving today?&quot; Lisbon reminds him she&#39;s leaving tomorrow and then asks if he is still mad at her. Jane at first plays dumb, then admits it hurt he was the last to know. He&#39;s happy for her, but sad for himself that she&#39;s leaving.<br \/><br \/>Okay, making second comment about Baker&#39;s acting choices here. This Lisbon\/Jane scene has a crap ton of lines that I know fans have been waiting for (including - finally - the &quot;so stay, don&#39;t go&quot; line), but Baker&#39;s playing everything so casually and superficially here that not even Lisbon takes him seriously and smiles all his lines off. Jane is a man who does not share himself, even in moments where it looks like he&#39;s sharing himself. Never has that been more clear than in this scene. He tells Lisbon she deserves to be happy, and she deserves a man like Oberon, whom he calls &quot;a good man&quot;. The undercurrent in this conversation is that of course, Jane is not a good man.<br \/><br \/>Abbott then gathers everyone and tells them about a letter that arrived in the mail an hour ago. I will say, the writers of this episode did go to great lengths to try and make everything plausible. The letter is from the &quot;killer&quot; of Greta DeJorio, a socialite murdered in Florida five years ago. The head of the agency in Florida is now in Texas, hence why the letter was sent to Texas, and is now in the hands of Abbott&#39;s FBI team. DeJorio&#39;s murder caused a lot of bad press for the FBI back then, so it&#39;s getting big attention from the brass now. Ergo, all vacays and moves are canceled (re: Lisbon) and the team is now headed to Miami.<br \/><br \/>Letter reads: &quot;Remember Greta De Jorio? That was me. To honor Greta&#39;s memory, I will start killing again very soon and very publicly. And you FBI simpletons still won&#39;t catch me. Ask yourselves, do you understand 752 598 H IS M Key o.&quot;<br \/><br \/>And if you aren&#39;t aware Jane is behind all this, congrats on being as dumb as me on first viewing. Because honestly, this episode has so many red flags in it, it should have been titled &quot;Red Flags&quot; (FYI, for those who don&#39;t know, all episodes prior to Red John&#39;s end have some type of red colors in the titles, and afterwards have been non red colors). First red flag: Lisbon&#39;s leave is canceled. Jane must have really had to research to find this case, considering how he uses it for all the components of his con. Second red flag: Jane loves emitting his &quot;this will be our last case so let&#39;s have fun&quot; attitude waaaaaaaaaaaay too much. Third red flag: he immediately says no when Abbott asks if he&#39;s got any read on the letter. Lisbon falls for Jane&#39;s infectious enthusiasm and gets ready to leave.<br \/><br \/>Abbott&#39;s office. Abbott is the first to wave the red flag. &quot;You&#39;re acting cool about stuff that I know you can&#39;t be cool with.&quot; Jane does his innocent I-have-no-idea-what-you&#39;re-talking-about-and-everything-is-fine that everyone knows means he knows exactly what Abbott&#39;s talking about, and everything is not fine, but Abbott for some idiotic reason takes Jane at his word and lets him go.<br \/><br \/>Cue Miami montage, and Cho and Fischer getting in an SUV at the car rental, while Lisbon shakes her head at Jane exasperatedly as he practically dances with glee over the convertible Cadillac he&#39;s managed to procure for them.<br \/><br \/>Lisbon and Jane arrive at the house of DeJorio&#39;s husband. While waiting, Jane makes a comment about not being able to enjoy sailboats, pelicans, and spectacular views in a DC office, which Lisbon calls him out on. She&#39;ll be just fine without. Slimy Husband, Lawyer Man, and New Third Wife enter the room. They tell them about the letter, which Jane promptly tells them he doesn&#39;t believe the killer wrote, much to Lisbon&#39;s surprise. Good Daughter now joins them. Jane then proceeds to basically detail his entire plan, and in a way that still doesn&#39;t raise massive red flags to Lisbon that Jane is behind said plan. He tells them all the letter was written by someone who suspects who the killer is, and the letter and the code on it is meant to smoke out the real killer. Hmm. I wonder who wrote the letter now....<br \/><br \/>Slimy Dad insists the killer was Wes Baxter. Good Daughter though insists he&#39;s wrong. New Third Wife tells Good Daughter to stop backtalking, and Good Daughter calls New Third Wife a witch. Lisbon and Jane leave to the tune of Dysfunctional Family all yelling at each other. Going out the door, Jane actually has the audacity to make a not-so-nice-insinuation about married life, which I&#39;m all dude, you were very happily married, so this really is not a track you should go down. It&#39;s just another poke at Lisbon&#39;s relationship with Oberon, since as Jane rightly points out, Lisbon moving to DC to live with him does basically mean they will be getting married. Jane even takes a pot shot at how little they&#39;ve known each other (Jane: &quot;Weeks and weeks&quot; Lisbon: &quot;Months&quot;; Jane: &quot;A month&quot;) Again, though, Lisbon sees right through him.<br \/><br \/>Red flag #4: Jane now tries to distract Lisbon with the code on the letter. 752 598 H IS M Key O. Lisbon flat out tells him if he can&#39;t decipher it, then no way will she be able to. She mulls it over anyway as they leave the DeJorio house.<br \/><br \/>...which segues into Cho and Fischer at a different house, also trying to decode the message. Their guesses are even worse than Lisbon&#39;s. They are interviewing Greta DeJorio&#39;s business partner, who is doing yoga with her (I&#39;m guessing) girlfriend. Business Partner lets it be known Greta was having an affair, but it ended shortly before her death.<br \/><br \/>Back to Jane and Lisbon in the Cadillac. I honestly don&#39;t know how Lisbon hasn&#39;t killed Jane yet, considering his current choice of music. It&#39;s like super loud mamba, with tin drums and everything. You can almost imagine the car rocking to the beat. Lisbon&#39;s yelling into her cell, trying to hear Cho as he tells her about Greta&#39;s affair. Again, Jane takes the opportunity to knock relationships (ignoring again, his own perfect marriage) and yet again, Lisbon ignores him. She tells him to stop trying to get her to leave, and he keeps teasing back. It&#39;s all very light-hearted. No wonder Lisbon hasn&#39;t clued in yet.<br \/><br \/>They interview Wes Baxter. He was a prime suspect because he &quot;stalked&quot; Greta. His life was ruined by the charges. Jane clues in it was really Good Daughter Wes was interested in. Due to age differences (him 18, her 15 at the time), Wes never did anything about it. They tell him Good Daughter never believed he was guilty, which makes him feel better. They ask Wes if he knows anything about the code on the letter and Wes says no. In another good writing decision, it&#39;s made clear Jane is leaving a copy of the letter with all the suspects. This sets up what happens later in the episode. Getting back in the car, Jane convinces Lisbon to go take a walk on the beach. She&#39;s all &quot;we&#39;re working&quot; but he&#39;s definitely pulling out the smooth voice and puppy eyes. &quot;Live a little&quot; he gently prods her, and she gives him a look that shows she&#39;s suspicious but tells Jane she&#39;s in.<br \/><br \/>Cut to them walking along the beach. The show has more than made it clear in the past that this is one of Jane&#39;s favorite things to do. Jane wants to live in the moment, but Lisbon wants to work. Jane pulls the letter out of his pocket and says &quot;Let&#39;s solve that code then, shall we?&quot; He reads out the &quot;Ask yourself, do you understand&quot; and immediately points out the phrasing is odd. In a technique we&#39;ve seen him employ dozens of times, he then repeats &quot;do we understand&quot; as a trigger phrase until Lisbon finally gets it as Dewey - aka the Dewey Decimal system. Lisbon is oblivious to this trick, and gets excited looking up the numbers on her phone. Google or Bing tells her the numbers have to do with colors and birds, although they don&#39;t point to specific ones. Jane pulls out of his Memory Palace (aka &quot;his ass&quot;) that &quot;H&quot; is the radio call sign for hotel, and Lisbon discovers there is a Bluebird Lodge on the Islamorada in the Keys (IS M Key). Jane also pulls out of nowhere that O means the date of the next full moon, which for some odd reason Lisbon automatically knows is tomorrow. She&#39;s ecstatic she figured the clue out (red flag #5) and Jane is all &quot;you did it!&quot; (red flag #6).<br \/><br \/>Jane then tests his plan for the first time in order to see if it&#39;s working. He tells Lisbon that Abbott would probably let her leave to go to DC now that they&#39;ve decoded the message. Lisbon unknowingly rewards Jane with an excited &quot;Are you kidding me? I wouldn&#39;t miss this for the world! I&#39;m gonna be on the Islamorada tomorrow night!&quot; Jane: 1, Oberon: 0. Jane can&#39;t stop smiling.<br \/><br \/>Cue Islamorada montage. Receptionist is telling Jane and Lisbon they have adjoining waterside suites &quot;Just as you requested, Mr. Jane&quot; (red flag #7). Lisbon notes it must be expensive, but Jane dissuades her with another &quot;could be our last case so let&#39;s splurge&quot; attitude that he started back in Texas. He then tells the receptionist that if anyone calls for Greta DeJorio, give them Jane&#39;s room number but not his name. Seriously, this should have been RED FLAG IN BIG BOLD LETTERS NUMBER ONE to Lisbon, but as it stands, it&#39;s only really lower case red flag #8. Receptionist then confirms their dinner reservation, and reminds them it&#39;s evening attire preferred (red flag #9). At this point, I&#39;m really curious as to how Jane knows about this place. We find out later he made the reservations before they cracked the code. Lisbon at first states she&#39;ll just take a sandwich in her room, but once again Jane brushes that off saying they&#39;ll figure it out.<br \/><br \/>&quot;Figuring it out&quot; apparently means Jane secretly went shopping beforehand and managed to surprise Lisbon with three gorgeous dress choices (white, pink, and dark green) lying on her bed when she enters her room (red flag #10). Lisbon&#39;s thrilled at the room and the dresses.<br \/><br \/>...and here comes IMO one of the saddest scenes in the entire episode. If you don&#39;t know by now that this is not going to end well for Jane, then you obviously have never watched any romantic arc on any TV show in the history of TV. But this scene? Jane is sitting patiently still at the end of his bed. You can even see he&#39;s wearing the socks Lisbon gave him. He has the phone next to him, an air of expectation surrounds him, and he&#39;s gently smiling to himself. It&#39;s not big or anything, but he&#39;s clearly in a mood of peaceful hope - not an emotion you&#39;d usually associate with him, unless you&#39;re also pairing it with some sort of underlying emotional pain or guilt.<br \/><br \/>The phone rings and he looks at it, his happiness growing. Yes, it&#39;s Lisbon, thanking him for the dresses and telling him it&#39;s too much. His voice is soft as he tells her that this might be their last case and nothing is too nice for her. Baker&#39;s subtle choices make Jane look nothing short of a man in desperate love as he talks to the woman he&#39;s in love with, dancing around the words that he loves her. This fall is going to hurt. The phone rings again, and Jane answers, expecting it to be Lisbon again. His reaction though, says it&#39;s not. He looks all confused, then all very wtf?<br \/><br \/>Cut to downstairs, where Cho and Abbott are waiting for him. This is clearly not part of his plan. Cho: &quot;Our unsub has good taste.&quot; Damn, Cho. That should have been YOUR red flag #1. Jane: &quot;What are you doing here? Lisbon and I can handle this.&quot; Abbott: &quot;This is a big case with a whole lot of downside potential. DC wants to put senior agents on the scene.&quot; Heh, in other words, your choice of case bit you in the ass, Jane. You calculated the need for importance in order to get Lisbon&#39;s transfer delayed, but failed to consider how it might affect actually catching the criminal. Cho announces he&#39;s starving, and asks about the food. Jane tries to hide his peeved annoyance by admitting &quot;Apparently, it&#39;s good.&quot;<br \/><br \/>And it&#39;s kinda at this point that I&#39;m wondering what Jane&#39;s end goal is here, because clearly he&#39;s copying what he&#39;s been watching Lisbon enjoy with Oberon: nice restaurants with &quot;cloth napkins&quot;, dressing up, etc. He even nearly admits this at the dinner table with Abbott and Cho (who&#39;s miffed there are no burgers), when Abbott comments how he wishes his wife was there, cuz &quot;Women really love this kind of stuff&quot; and Jane agrees &quot;Yes, they do.&quot;<br \/><br \/>But while I can see Jane trying to wine and dine Lisbon (despite his S1 protests to the contrary), I can&#39;t see him trying to bed her. This entire episode - hell, this entire series - expounds on the fact that Jane is so damaged he can&#39;t handle anything out of his control. He manipulates his entire world so that he never has to actually be vulnerable. He cannot walk off that cliff into the unknown that a relationship requires. His entire existence is wrapped up in hiding his true self, and his inner-most feelings. He is a showman, and the times he&#39;s given in and shared himself - ie became a part of something instead of a loner - have never ended well. He holds so tight to the superficial fa&ccedil;ade he presents to the world, it&#39;s a testament to the show&#39;s writing and Baker&#39;s acting that you know there&#39;s much, *much* more to the character.<br \/><br \/>Quite frankly, if Oberon stayed in Texas with Lisbon, I think Jane would have continued his silent self-punishing acceptance of their relationship, as long as he got to spend any amount of time with her - even if that time was only through work. Remember, Jane knows he is anything but a good man, and he certainly doesn&#39;t believe he deserves good things to happen to him. So if Oberon keeps Lisbon happy, then Oberon is the one who is going to end up with Lisbon, because Jane won&#39;t compete with that. Jane&#39;s got quite the long history of not making Lisbon happy and he knows it. So again, I wonder what his end goal is here. Because otherwise, it just looks like he&#39;s selfishly trying to get her to stay, without providing any real reward for Lisbon should she decide to stay.<br \/><br \/>And as I just typed that last sentence, suddenly a certain speech from Lisbon that will take place soon enough now makes a lot more sense to me....<br \/><br \/>Back to the dining table with Jane, Cho, and Abbott. Jane looks up and sees Lisbon come down the stairs in the pink dress, and suddenly you know what Simon Baker looked like when his wife entered the chapel in her wedding gown when they got married. I swear, you can practically imagine the halo of light surrounding Lisbon, given how Jane is looking at her like she&#39;s an angel gracing the Earth with her presence. She smiles at him while she walks down the stairs and he smiles beatifically back like he&#39;s just been graced with everything he&#39;s ever dared to dream of. Definitely the definition of &quot;taking his breath away&quot;.<br \/><br \/>Before she joins the boys though, Lisbon heads over to the receptionist. Because it&#39;s now time to pop this plot balloon, she asks how she can buy a bathrobe for Oberon. Receptionist tells her it comes free with the &quot;package Mr. Jane booked a week ago&quot;.<br \/><br \/>A week ago. Days before the letter from the killer arrived at the FBI, and long before they even cracked the code on the beach.<br \/><br \/>Lisbon wastes no time in putting 2+2 together and goes to confront Jane in front of Abbott and Cho. Jane&#39;s beautiful smile disappears as he watches her approach. To his credit, he doesn&#39;t try and lie his way out of it, but does try and rationalize it (in regards to catching the killer). Lisbon rationalizes him by picking up a glass of water and throwing it in his face, calling him a &quot;son of a bitch&quot;, then storming off back to her room.<br \/><br \/>In a scene that could have been awkward as all hell with dialogue, I am delighted that they chose to keep it nearly dialogue free. After Abbott and Cho watch Jane silently wipe the water off his face, Jane quietly says &quot;Maybe I should go talk to her&quot; and then tells the guys to order without them.<br \/><br \/>Cut to Lisbon. She&#39;s in her room and already changed out of her dress. She&#39;s angry, and calling a taxi to take her to the airport. Jane approaches outside her door much like a man who suddenly has the weight of a thousand worlds on his shoulders. He hesitates, then knocks.<br \/><br \/>&quot;Lisbon?&quot;<br \/><br \/>&quot;Go away.&quot;<br \/><br \/>&quot;Please open the door,&quot; he&#39;s slightly begging at this point.<br \/><br \/>&quot;Go. Away.&quot; Door stays closed throughout this entire conversation.<br \/><br \/>&quot;You know, I&#39;m -- I&#39;m sorry that I tricked you. I just...I just, uh...&quot; Jane falters here, because you can tell he&#39;s at least attempting to be honest.<br \/><br \/>Lisbon&#39;s not having it. Furiously, she walks to her side of the door. &quot;You just what? Jane, what were you doing?&quot;<br \/><br \/>Jane&#39;s struggling to hold back tears because he knows it&#39;s too late - the damage at this point is too deep - but he finally admits, &quot;I just don&#39;t want you to leave.&quot;<br \/><br \/>...and now we get the speech I warned you about earlier. Lisbon leaves no screw unturned in her angry and hurtful diatribe against him. &quot;You don&#39;t give a damn about what I want or need! I am just a convenience for you. You used me. It&#39;s all about you. You used a-a woman&#39;s murder, Jane! You basically dug her corpse up for this crap! You are so twisted up in your own dishonesty, you have no idea how to act like a decent human being. No idea!&quot;<br \/><br \/>Jane&#39;s voice audibly breaks here. &quot;I&#39;m sorry, okay? I&#39;m sorry.&quot;<br \/><br \/>&quot;All right, well, if you&#39;re really sorry, why don&#39;t you just leave me alone? Go away!&quot;<br \/><br \/>Jane just stands there at the door, the intensity of his shame pouring off in rivers of waves. How he&#39;s not crying I&#39;ll never know. He says nothing, but Lisbon is not fooled. &quot;I know you&#39;re there. I can hear you breathing. Just leave me alone!&quot; Jane finally gives her what she wants. He walks down to his room, opens his door, walks in, then shuts it. I am rather curious if he managed to make it to a piece of furniture before collapsing from the memories of the last time he lost everything due to his screw ups.<br \/><br \/>Cut to Lisbon getting into a taxi. She calls Oberon and tells him if his offer still stands, her answer is yes. She will marry him. He&#39;s thrilled and she tells him she&#39;s on her way to DC now. As the taxi leaves, we see the phone fall as she stops listening to him blather on and looks back at the hotel. She&#39;s clearly in pain, and looks a little shell-shocked to be honest. Like she&#39;s just lost everything too.<br \/><br \/>We now return to the Abbott and Cho comedy hour. For some reason, Abbott is shocked Jane managed to lie to him back at the FBI. Abbott is very stupid if he hasn&#39;t by now realized Jane&#39;s default mode screams I LIE. Cho: &quot;Don&#39;t feel bad, Jane can sell cats to mice.&quot; Very true. Cho: &quot;I hope he&#39;s fixed things with Lisbon.&quot; Cho then has the best lines of the entire night, if not the entire series: &quot;It&#39;s weird how mad she got. I mean, he&#39;s pulled way worse stunts than this. He buried a man alive once. She wasn&#39;t nearly as angry as this.&quot; HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!! Abbott just looks at him with a wtf face that and goes &quot;Really? You don&#39;t know why?&quot; HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAAHAHA times 2!!!!!!!<br \/><br \/>Airport. They&#39;ll begin boarding Lisbon&#39;s flight in 45 minutes. &quot;Sorry about the delay.&quot; My dad used to work for an airlines. They&#39;re not sorry in the slightest.<br \/><br \/>Jane&#39;s room. He&#39;s sitting mostly in the dark, watching a TV tuned to a video of the ocean. Immensely sad considering he could just be sitting out on his hotel deck, watching it for real. Here technically is the only real bad writing I can find unequivocally, but in the end it&#39;s still justified. Lisbon has made it to the airport and checked in, and we see that in all that time Jane has only managed to down one drink from the mini-bar. Uh, hell no. He&#39;d be tanked by now. But he&#39;s gotta drive later, so I&#39;m going to forgive this mistake.<br \/><br \/>Jane tosses the empty container across the room, managing to make it into the waste basket. He gives a sad little &quot;rahh&quot; like a crowd cheering an NBA player that just made a 3 pointer. He absently grabs the next bottle and starts to open it. Suddenly his door bangs open and Lawyer Man barges in waving a gun. Jane and Lawyer Man both look at each other with wtf faces. Lawyer Man recognizes Jane, and Jane is all confused. &quot;You killed Greta DeJorio?&quot; Lawyer Man is all &quot;No!&quot; and Jane figures out he was the one having the secret affair with Greta. Lawyer Man: &quot;I solved the clue in the letter and came here to kill the bastard that killed Greta.&quot; Jane must be at least a little buzzed because his face goes all scrunchy &quot;Awwww, that&#39;s so romantic!&quot; HA!<br \/><br \/>Jane tells Lawyer Man to put the gun down, that the real killer is on the way. Lawyer Man does so and Jane gets up to offer him a drink. He gets one out of the minibar and tosses it to Lawyer Man just as Wes Baxter enters from the other side of the room and exclaims &quot;Hands up!&quot; while waving his gun around too. This would have been funnier if the bottle had hit Lawyer Man as he raised his hands, but as is, the bottle just sailed past him and landed on the floor. Jane welcomes Wes, who has solved the clue too and is also looking for Greta&#39;s killer. Jane is all, neither of you are the killers and put the guns down already. He whines he shouldn&#39;t have made the clues so easy that everyone figured them out. Uhm, sure Jane. He then offers Wes a drink and they all sit down to commiserate.<br \/><br \/>Lawyer Man: &quot;Greta and I were deeply in love. She was going to divorce Don and marry me. I called it off. I ended the affair.&quot; Camera pans to Jane, listening intently. Lawyer Man continues: &quot;I was afraid of the scandal and the damage it would do to my business. I was a coward. Blind, stupid coward.&quot; Jane is clearly internalizing these words. &quot;I was so filled with fear and self-hatred that I destroyed the best thing that ever happened to me.&quot; Jane&#39;s breathing hitches and he looks like he might start to cry again. &quot;By the time I realized my mistake...it was too late. She was gone.&quot;<br \/><br \/>Cue the redemption music as Jane changes from hopelessly-failed to omg-i-need-to-leave. You can literally see the moment the change occurs on Baker&#39;s face. He jumps out of his chair and urgently announces, &quot;I have to go to the airport.&quot; He rushes out the door, only to return exasperated &quot;You&#39;ve got to be kidding me!&quot; a moment later as now Business Partner and her Maybe Girlfriend march in behind him with guns of their own.<br \/><br \/>Turns out Business Partner was the real killer. Jane is all &quot;I&#39;m in hurry here!&quot; They demand to know who he is. Jane tells them he&#39;s FBI, and in a hilarious turn of events, tries to convince them to leave before his colleagues get there so he can escape and go after Lisbon. They don&#39;t buy it. Jane goes to show them his badge but &quot;drops&quot; it. This is the distraction he needs to pull out his cell and text Cho and Abbott behind his back where the girls can&#39;t see.<br \/><br \/>Cho and Abbott. An in-joke as Cho goes &quot;I don&#39;t see it, they&#39;re like brother and sister.&quot; I guess over the years the actors and other crew have described the Lisbon\/Jane relationship as brother\/sister in order to sidestep romance questions. Abbott&#39;s cell phone beeps. &quot;Speak of the devil, a text from Jane,&quot; he drawls. It says SOZ. It takes Cho a second to realize it&#39;s SOS and the two men immediately start hustling their butts up to Jane&#39;s room.<br \/><br \/>Jane is still trying to convince the ladies to leave. &quot;No one&#39;s calling you killers!&quot; Lawyer Man helpfully pipes up: &quot;I am!&quot; Jane basically tells him to shut it. The girls are, &quot;We can just walk away?&quot; Jane&#39;s basically: &quot;Yes! Go now!&quot; I swear if he had a broom he&#39;d be sweeping them right out the door. The girls start to leave but then Wes pulls his gun and yells at them to stay. A frustrated Jane goes &quot;DUDE!&quot; He was SO CLOSE. Lawyer Man brings his gun back up, and now it&#39;s a stand off and Jane&#39;s expression is dammit why is this happening to me.<br \/><br \/>Hallway. Cho and Abbott walk down it when suddenly gunshots ring out. They grab their guns and catch Business Partner as she tries to escape out of the room. Inside the room Jane is whining really loudly that the guns were really loud and his ears! Wes and Maybe Girlfriend are sporting shiny new bullet nicks but Jane sees his escape. He runs like a chicken with his head cut off to both of them. &quot;You&#39;re fine!!!! And you&#39;re fine!!!!! It&#39;s just a flesh wound! I have to go but help will be here momentarily!!!&quot; I swear, it&#39;s like suddenly he&#39;s on a sugar high from a million Pixie sticks.<br \/><br \/>Abbott busts in and Jane practically pounces on him, &quot;You have a car with a siren, right? I need your car keys!!! I&#39;ve gotta get to the airport, it&#39;s an emergency!!!&quot; Abbott can&#39;t ignore the sudden tornado that is Jane in front of him and demands &quot;Where is Lisbon?&quot; In quite frankly, one of the more hilarious acting choices I&#39;ve seen in awhile, Baker just blankly repeats &quot;At the airport!!&quot; like he&#39;s just told Abbott the answer to life, the universe, and everything and <i>why aren&#39;t you listening to me???<\/i><br \/><br \/>Abbott tosses his keys to Jane, and Jane starts to take off. &quot;Hey, wanna give us some insight?&quot; Abbott yells. Jane rushes back in, quickly points to Maybe Girlfriend and Business Partner: &quot;Those two are the bad guys,&quot; then points to Wes and Lawyer Man: &quot;Those two are the good guys.&quot; He starts running back out the door yelling &quot;[Business Partner] is an embezzler, I suspect!&quot; Abbott wishes him good luck and Cho stands there confused. &quot;Where&#39;s he going?&quot; Abbott just looks at Cho, then the room at large, then sighs.<br \/><br \/>Cut to burgeoning hopeful music as Jane speeds down the freeway, sirens blaring. He tries calling Lisbon, but she&#39;s of course not answering. Still, he begs her to call him back when she gets his message. Lisbon is now boarding her flight. Pan to a painting of &quot;Conch Republic&quot; - another in-joke that alludes to the shell Jane sent Lisbon while he was in exile. Jane pulls up outside the airport and rushes in. He finds her flight information and runs to the gate.<br \/><br \/>Ugh, okay. They&#39;re boarding this plane outside on the tarmac. It&#39;s not a small plane, either. I mentioned earlier my dad worked for an airline, right? REALLY hard for me to suspend my belief over this. I barely managed. Lisbon starts walking up the stairs, looking behind her (as if looking for someone) before she goes.<br \/><br \/>Jane rushes up to the ticket agent &quot;FBI! FBI! Let me through!&quot; Agent asks for ID and Jane immediately realizes he doesn&#39;t have it (remember he &quot;dropped&quot; it back at the hotel). He tries to talk his way through by claiming it&#39;s back in his car, but for once in his life he&#39;s not confident (he&#39;s actually a bit frantic), so he&#39;s not even close to being able to sell the lie. He realizes this and turns away to find another way to get to Lisbon.<br \/><br \/>Lisbon is now on the plane. She&#39;s put her luggage away and is sitting down in her center seat. The music is really wisely chosen here. Amplifies the emotions of the scenes perfectly.<br \/><br \/>Outside, Jane runs up to the fence next to the plane. Uhm, I also know how impossible that is, from my dad. Security is a bitch at airports. Ignoring, ignoring. Jane looks around for a second, then jumps and climbs the fence. It&#39;s rather high and he lands, twisting his right foot. Rumor has it Baker actually did hurt himself doing this stunt. Still, despite the pain, Jane limps himself to Lisbon&#39;s plane. He&#39;s screaming WAIT WAIT as he climbs the steps and pounds on the door. HELLOO HELLLOOOO LET ME IN PLEASE.<br \/><br \/>Yes, that&#39;s right. You guessed, it. A flight attendant actually opens the door for Crazy Man. He thanks her in his crazy way saying, &quot;FBI, I won&#39;t be long.&quot; Surprisingly, it&#39;s this statement that finally scares the flight attendant. &quot;FBI? What&#39;s wrong?&quot; Jane realizes his mistake and tells her not to worry, this is just a routine check. Yeah, don&#39;t think she&#39;s really buying that, Jane.<br \/><br \/>Jane doesn&#39;t care as he makes his way down the aisle searching for Lisbon. At this point, his clothes are a mess. When I mentioned earlier that he was acting like a tornado, well now he looks like he hit a tornado. Everything about him screams disarray. The mask is gone, and dare I say it? Yes, he looks <u>vulnerable<\/u>.<br \/><br \/>He finds Lisbon and she is shocked to see him. &quot;What are you doing here?&quot;<br \/><br \/>&quot;There&#39;s something I need to say.&quot;<br \/><br \/>Lisbon promptly shuts him down. &quot;I don&#39;t want to see you. Go away.&quot;<br \/><br \/>Jane ignores her. He&#39;s downright distraught. &quot;You&#39;re right. You&#39;re right. I-I have forgotten how to act like a normal human being. And I play games, and I lie, and I trick people to avoid the truth of how I feel.&quot; His voice is breaking up again, and Lisbon is staring at him in pain, but she&#39;s listening. &quot;And the idea of letting anyone close to me is-is terrifying, for obvious reasons. But the truth, Teresa, is that I can&#39;t [huge inflection on the word &quot;can&#39;t&quot; here, you can hear the tears in his voice] imagine waking up knowing that I won&#39;t see you.&quot; Lisbon is starting to cry now, as is Jane. &quot;The truth is...I love you.&quot; Jane says this last part quietly, but emphatically. He looks like he&#39;s taken his leap off that cliff now and is in freefall. No calculations or manipulations anymore.<br \/><br \/>Lisbon is definitely crying now. Jane finally looks like the weight of those thousands of planets are off his shoulders now. &quot;Whew! You can&#39;t imagine how good that feels to say out loud,&quot; he&#39;s definitely crying now, &quot;but it scares me and it is the truth. It is the *truth* of what I feel.&quot;<br \/><br \/>...and here&#39;s the beauty of this wonderfully written scene. The real pain isn&#39;t in Lisbon&#39;s line, &quot;It&#39;s too late. Jane, it&#39;s too late.&quot; It&#39;s in Jane&#39;s line: &quot;Maybe, maybe, and I understand.&quot;<br \/><br \/>Jane&#39;s not fighting. He&#39;s not begging, he&#39;s not pleading, he&#39;s not doing a damn thing other than letting her go. I think this is why I love this duo so much (and possibly Pacey and Joey from Dawson&#39;s Creek - she didn&#39;t ask him to stay either). They&#39;ve taken this trite and formulaic concept of lovers possibly separated forever finding themselves at the last moment when someone finally wises up, and flipped it on its head. Lisbon doesn&#39;t suddenly melt into his arms, Jane doesn&#39;t go down on his knees. Nothing.<br \/><br \/>Jane continues as police march down the aisle telling him to put his hands up, which he does immediately. &quot;That&#39;s okay. I needed to get to this and you deserve to hear it.&quot; The part that gets me is that Jane is still not asking for her to stay or choose him instead of Oberon. &quot;I love you, Teresa. And it makes me happy to be able to say that to you.&quot; He&#39;s shouting this as they drag him away.<br \/><br \/>As he&#39;s pushed down the aisle, he&#39;s randomly yelling, &quot;I love her! That woman in 12B - I love her! You take care of her!&quot; He&#39;s no longer facing Lisbon BTW, so these words aren&#39;t directed at her. God. He finally begs and it&#39;s not to Lisbon. It&#39;s to everyone around her to make sure she&#39;s all right. Now tears are streaming down *my* face. Ugh the heartache and feels.<br \/><br \/>Lisbon is openly sobbing and apologizing to her seatmates. Lady next to her: &quot;Oh shush, honey. Every woman on this plane is green with envy.&quot; Even the guy sitting next to her nods his head in agreement.<br \/><br \/>Morning now, and Fischer and Abbott are leaving. I&#39;d forgotten she was still around. Her character was definitely the worst addition the show made after the post Red John story arc. I&#39;m gonna skip the case stuff since it&#39;s just wasted lines. Abbott tells her he has to go the airport to try and persuade TSA to let Jane go. &quot;They do not like people messing with their airplanes. Don&#39;t like it at all.&quot; I can verify that.<br \/><br \/>Final scene. We&#39;re at the TSA holding room. An officer is filling out a form while Jane sits quietly across the table. His right foot is elevated on a chair and bandaged, and his posture indicates utter defeat. I liked how one fanfic noted he&#39;s probably replaying in his mind the fact that the last memory he&#39;ll have of Lisbon is making her unhappy again. The officer leaves, but we hear the door open again. The music gives the surprise away though, as the camera focuses on Jane while an unknown and out of focus person walks past him and sits down on the other side of the table.<br \/><br \/>It&#39;s Lisbon. &quot;Hey,&quot; she says softly.<br \/><br \/>Jane looks at her like he just woke up and can&#39;t really believe his eyes. &quot;Hi,&quot; he returns just as softly. I do like the acting choices by Tunney and Baker in this scene. In a moment that should be fraught with emotion, they both go for the quiet understatement. There&#39;s not a lot of energy here, just two people finally being honest with each other. A rare time where dialogue does its job without needing a lot of acting.<br \/><br \/>Lisbon gives a small smile. &quot;This is another fine pickle you&#39;ve gotten yourself in, huh?&quot;<br \/><br \/>He shrugs. &quot;Eh, I&#39;ve seen worse. Pickle-wise.&quot; (heh - talk about understatement!)<br \/><br \/>&quot;Yes, you have,&quot; she agrees. &quot;How&#39;s the ankle?&quot;<br \/><br \/>&quot;Oh, it&#39;s fine.&quot; He can&#39;t take his eyes off her and proceeds to state the obvious, probably because he still can&#39;t believe it. &quot;You didn&#39;t go to DC.&quot;<br \/><br \/>&quot;No,&quot; she replies, because obvious question needs obvious answer. She hesitates, then asks, &quot;Did you mean what you said?&quot;<br \/><br \/>Jane doesn&#39;t hesitate in the slightest. &quot;Yes, I did.&quot; This direct eye contact between the two actors is amazing.<br \/><br \/>Lisbon smiles a little brighter this time. &quot;Good.&quot;<br \/><br \/>Jane can&#39;t just automatically stop being Jane though. &quot;Just to be clear, we&#39;re talking about pickles, right?&quot;<br \/><br \/>&quot;No,&quot; Lisbon slightly laughs. After all, she does love the smart ass. &quot;No. The other thing.&quot;<br \/><br \/>&quot;Oh, that.&quot;<br \/><br \/>Lisbon tells him &quot;this is no joking matter&quot; with an expression that clearly shows she thinks he&#39;s being endearing as all hell anyway.<br \/><br \/>Jane drops all pretenses at this point. &quot;Yes. I meant what I said, every word of it.&quot; Again, the eye contact between these two. I don&#39;t think they&#39;ve looked away from each other once yet. There is absolutely no avoidance in this scene at all.<br \/><br \/>&quot;Good.&quot; Lisbon then finally lets all her barriers fall down as she tells him, &quot;Because I feel the same way.&quot;<br \/><br \/>&quot;Well, that&#39;s lucky,&quot; Jane says in a tone that clearly shows he can&#39;t believe his luck. &quot;What about [Oberon]?&quot;<br \/><br \/>She&#39;s quiet as she responds, &quot;He&#39;ll understand.&quot; She gives another small smile and tells him &quot;Say it again.&quot;<br \/><br \/>He&#39;s staring at her so intensely, yet plays a bit dumb. &quot;Say what again?&quot; Lisbon merely raises her eyebrows. The intensity of Jane&#39;s gaze is so insane I&#39;m surprised Lisbon hasn&#39;t gone up in flames yet. Instead of answering, he gets up (bad leg and all), leans over the table, and kisses her passionately while the guard on the other side of the window bangs &quot;stop that!&quot;<br \/><br \/>End scene. Nicely done, show. Blue Sunflower approved!<br \/><br \/>Thus ended Season 6, and at the time, the series. It hadn&#39;t been renewed for Season 7 yet. I&#39;m glad they did, because it was a lot of fun watching Jane work on being a real person in a relationship. Vulnerable Jane is a fun Jane to watch. :D<br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1086163\/1086163_300.jpg\" title=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/div><a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/65947.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 02","user: blue_sunflowers","cycle 06","meta"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/65326.html","pubDate":"Mon, 11 Jan 2021 19:05:23 GMT","title":"Challenge 2 - Previously on\u2026 Leverage 1x8 - The Mile High Job","author":"jacquelee","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/65326.html","description":"I started watching Leverage five days ago (originally this said yesterday, I've had to backdate it, lol) because I needed something new to watch after stalling on Misfits because I'm still wallowing that Nathan left after the second season, lol. And I've really enjoyed Leverage so far, clearly, since I'm already on episode 8 (this was written four days ago, currently I'm on episode 3x13, so, yeah, enjoying it a lot). :D<br \/><br \/>I've contemplated recapping episode 1x3, which had been so far my favorite, but then this one came along and oh, wow, I loved it so much. It had so many funny moments and I've always had a thing for media set on planes (no idea why, I just really like that setting). <br \/><br \/>So, here we go\u2026<br \/><br \/>We start with an already familiar set up, a couple has lost their kid because a corporation has been negligent with dangerous fertilizer in the water supply and said corporation (Genogrow) is now stone walling them even though there's a lawsuit going, the CEO having laughed them out of their office when they wanted someone to acknowledge what actually happened. Nate says the corporation is hiding something and that there's a smoking gun they're going to find (I'm mentioning this because it'll come back in an unexpected way later).<br \/><br \/>Which of course means that the team takes the job and we cut to Genogrow Headquarters at 4am in the night. Sophie enters the lobby in a club outfit all smiles and speaking French, telling the security officers that she's trying to find a rave party and that her GPS isn't working. But those nice, smart lads, they're gonna help her, right? :D I love Sophie and her little acts so much, she's amazing, I always laugh so much when she does her numbers, it's definitely one of the biggest appeals of this show. :D<br \/><br \/>As those smart boys are leaving their desk to help \"Michelle\", we see on their monitors that there's an uninvited guest coming in through the ceiling, Parker of course, who lets in Nate and Eliot. Nate does some exposition about Haldeman, the CEO guy responsible for everything, who's office is on the 30th floor. <br \/><br \/>So that means elevators, but the elevators are key card locked and this is where Hardison would come in if he were available, which he clearly isn't. I was very confused about this for a little bit, since he's just not there and Nate just says he doesn't want his name to be said out loud and I thought I missed something. But of course, this mystery is revealed later. <br \/><br \/>Since Hardison is not there, they have no way of using the elevators, so, stairs it is, yikes. And this is the point where I would just give up, cause 30 floors? Definitely not, no thanks, never gonna happen. I get ready to pass out after four, lol. But of course, they are well trained thieves, so, they brave the stairs and find\u2026 another locked door only accessible via key card. Ooops. They all want to kill Hardison, which, understandable, and Parker breaks out the C4.<br \/><br \/>We cut from the bomb to a microwave in the Leverage Headquarters, where Hardison makes himself a meal and I was even more confused at this point, because I was like, if he's right there, why is he not on the computer helping them? But yeah, again, it'll be revealed later (though I find it a little flimsy that he would game an entire night and then at 4am come to HQ to make himself a hot pocket. But then again, it's Hardison, so, I buy it. :P). <br \/><br \/>Parker picks the lock to Haldeman's office and they are searching said office for any kind of incriminating evidence against him, while Hardison is watering a plant in HQ. I feel like that should be significant somehow but it's not? Or at least not as far as I can see, lol. <br \/><br \/>At the same time as Parker tries to boot up Haldeman's computer, Hardison turns on the computers in HQ and finally realizes what is going on, putting an earpiece in and telling the others a story about his electricity going out, lmao, okay, his excuses take some work. :P<br \/><br \/>But at least he's here now and can help them, but unfortunately, Haldeman also chooses that moment to arrive, cause apparently everybody is just casually awake at 4 in the night in this show, yeah, sure. <br \/><br \/>Hardison is hacking into their security system and there's a tense moment where everyone needs to skedaddle and of course Parker is left standing in the middle of the office but also of course she's not there when Haldeman comes in, cause it's Parker. :D Haldeman talks on the phone to someone about assets on a flight to the Cayman's that leaves in an hour. <br \/><br \/>Nate surmises that Haldeman is gonna bankrupt the division responsible for the kid's death, making it impossible to prove anything ever, so he says they need to be on that flight, even when it leaving in an hour makes that seem pretty impossible. But of course, nothing is impossible for the team, so they get going, Parker already waiting for Nate and Eliot in front of the office. <br \/><br \/>Eliot: \"How does she do that?\"<br \/>Nate: \"I don't even ask anymore.\"<br \/><br \/>It's Parker! That's the answer, lol. Have I mentioned I love her too? Cause I do. <br \/><br \/>Hardison gets the team an elevator down and they all still look grumpy that they had to take the stairs up (very understandable). In the lobby, Sophie, sorry, Michelle, is still entertaining the security guards and what follows is one of my favorite scenes which gotta be one of the funniest moments of the entire show so far when the others just run out of the elevator into the lobby, screaming \"It's right behind us, it's creepy, it's chasing us!\" giving the security guards the shock of their lives and themselves the opportunity to just run out of the building without any questions asked, leaving those poor boys behind with their guns drawn, eternally confused. :P<br \/><br \/>That was so funny, omg, I loved it. :D And Sophie just going with it, running out with the others, cause of course she does.  <br \/><br \/>Now they're at the airport, with Hardison getting tickets for the plane, two in first class, and of course both Nate and Sophie have several ID's on them, two of them with matching surnames (Tom and Sarah Jane Baker, in a very obvious nod to Doctor Who after Nate already had the ID's of Peter Davidson and Sylvester McCoy. I love these kind of homages, they're hilarious. :P). And again, of course Sophie has wedding bands on her. You know, just in case. Like any good grifter and thief. <br \/><br \/>Eliot says he doesn't need a ticket, he got an Air Marshal badge, so, great for him. Parker gets to be a flight attendant after one of the flight's attendants gets a phone call from Hardison telling her that her kitty, Fidget, has been picked up by animal control and that she needs to come immediately to claim him. She is very distraught, immediately leaving (after a little unnoticed swap and grab of her carry on bag, of course) and I love her already, poor bb, she's adorable, I hope she doesn't get into trouble for bailing on her job and not notifying anyone (or maybe she did notify them and Hardison intercepted the call? Whichever it is, I hope she'll be fine). <br \/><br \/>Parker changes into the flight attendant's uniform from kitty lover's bag and Sophie asks how she knew there would be one in there (which, hmmm, feels like she should know that over the boys, it's kinda hard to believe she never impersonated a flight attendant. But then again, maybe she just always had a uniform with her or stole it from somewhere else). Either way, the guys' answer to how they know it is hilarious:<br \/><br \/>*in unison*<br \/>Nate: \"Worked airport security.\"<br \/>Eliot: \"Slept with a flight attendant.\"<br \/><br \/>At the security checkpoint, Nate and Sophie's bag gets checked and there are some 'interesting' items in there, which Sophie claims is due to having grabbed the bags from lost and found and having been too much in a hurry to check them, lol. <br \/><br \/>Meanwhile, Hardison is in Nate's office checking his online game habit (poker, chess, sudoku, just what's expected, lol). Nate tells him to go back to Genogrow and find the smoking gun because they're going to take that company down. <br \/><br \/>On the plane, everyone gets seated and Parker tells the other flight attendant that Becky (ah, that's kitty-lovers name) got promoted, lol. Again, hope she'll be fine after this and not get into any trouble, but I guess they can brush it off as a prank or some official investigation thing? I have no idea, lol.<br \/><br \/>Nate and Sophie try to get their cover stories straight and squabble over their own background because Nate says they met 8 years ago while Sophie says 10. Well\u2026 Then Parker goes on the intercom to say some not so helpful things about the plane crashing and being on fire, which, honestly, should have clued me in to what exactly would happen in this episode, lol. <br \/><br \/>Who in the world had the bright idea to let Parker do the security instructions anyways? I knew from the first word that this was not gonna end well. :P Eliot agrees with me, facepalming throughout her speech. :D<br \/><br \/>The plane lifts off when Nate outlines their plan of finding out what the assets are and stealing them without anyone noticing in the 5 and a half hours of the flight. Everyone gets comfortable (more or less in Eliot's case with a sleeping passenger on his shoulder, lol) and we get introduced to our other player, a lady asking Parker for ginger ale for her nervous stomach (I only realized she was a major player here when she asked the second time, shame on me, lol), with Parker refusing and telling her to hurl into the paper bag if she has to, cause she's got a system and she's not gonna change that. Okay, so I love Parker but that was a little rude. <br \/><br \/>Hardison tells them over the comms that the comms still work (lol) and that he's about to head into Genogrow, kicking off one of the funniest side stories in this episode, his brief stint as a Genogrow employee, though at first, he comes in as a maintenance worker to gain quick access, changing in the elevator, majorly confusing Steve (yes, I remember his name cause he gets mentioned a lot later). :P<br \/><br \/>On the plane they're now checking all the carry on bags for everything that could qualify as assets, with a bored Parker literally throwing snack packs at passengers in between, lmao. Worst flight attendant ever. :P Though she also talks to ginger ale lady (I do not remember her name) and basically tells her that everyone could die at any second, flights are not that special in that regard (the funniest thing for me about this is that of all the ways to die that she mentions here, car crash, house fire, electrocution, drowning, autoerotic asphyxiation, guess which one is the only one someone I personally knew actually died from? Hint, it's the one that's only there for comedic effect, but yeah, that does happen, and no, that shouldn't be funny but, well, there you are). Which, I mean, she has a point but depending on the level of anxiety this poor woman has, I'd say she might make it even worse. Though, after this, I'm guessing she'll either be totally over her fear of flying or never ever fly again anyways, lol.<br \/><br \/>Sophie stumbles into another passenger so that Nate can check his bag and this prompts another discussion between them about Nate forgetting details. Yep, that's a thing now. Lol<br \/><br \/>Hardison talks to another Genogrow employee, Cheryl, or more like, she does the talking about how much of an asshole Steve is, getting the conversation into World of Warcraft, which is how Nate learns that Hardison bailed on the job to play the new expansion pack. I never got into WoW, but I do get bailing on something for a game, yup. :D Hardison now fakes a meeting to get Haldeman out of his office and actually does a great job of it, claiming a tummy ache in the middle so that he can bail and leave Steve in charge to keep Haldeman busy. It works and he gets into his office undisturbed. <br \/><br \/>Parker tells the others that she found a hatbox full of Euros, uncut diamonds and a stolen Stradivarius, which she is clearly itching to steal for herself, lol. Turns out, all the thieves go to the Cayman's to stash their merchandise, cause of course they do. Hardison tells them that there are two Genogrow employees on the flight, one Marissa, accountant, in coach and one Dan, head of security, in first class, with Marissa obviously being ginger ale lady, which Parker realizes with a really cute pout, like seriously, adorable. :D<br \/><br \/>She gives Marissa a cushion and asks her why she flies in the first place if she hates it so much, which, yeah, that's a good in right there. Of course, Marissa says it's not by choice, it's a business trip and tells her freely she works for Genogrow and when Parker says someone else on the flight mentioned they work there, Marissa clearly has no idea but says she's not surprised cause nobody ever tells her anything. I really like her, she's cute, I'm glad she's not the bad guy here which for a second I thought she might be. <br \/><br \/>Nate and Sophie stage a fight in front of Dan, so that Sophie can engross herself to him, talking over a shared glass of wine. Meanwhile, Nate learns from Hardison that Dan called Haldeman right before the flight, so they think he's likely in charge of the assets, though Hardison says he's standing outside Marissa's office and there's people there packing up everything, so he assumes she's the target here, making her the asset Haldeman wants liquidated. Oooops, that's not good.<br \/><br \/>Sophie thinks they should tell Marissa that she's in danger but Parker says she's already not okay, so that's a bad idea. Sophie is the one to say that she's the smoking gun they were looking for (see? I said that would come back, lol, I love it) and Nate says to tell her, but thinks Eliot should do the talking since he has a badge. <br \/><br \/>Eliot leads Marissa through the plane to a secluded space in first class, using his badge to get her to come with him and for the flight attendant to let him through. He first talks to her about Genogrow and she tells him that she found irregularities directly linked to the kids' death (she doesn't know about that though). She talked to Haldeman about this, which explains how she's the smoking gun and why he wants to get rid of her. He sent her on this trip to 'correct' the 'error', or, more like, to kill her, whoops. <br \/><br \/>Before Eliot can break the news of this to her delicately, Parker swoops in with a can of ginger ale and tells Marissa that the guy in 1D wants to kill her. Okay, well, that's not how you do that but it was funny. :D Sophie takes over to calm Marissa down and Nate tells Eliot that he needs to introduce himself to Dan. <br \/><br \/>Hardison meanwhile is quite bored listening to Cheryl and Steve fight about carrot on the cob (lol) and when Nate tells him he needs Haldeman's hard drive he gets the bright idea to pretend it's his birthday to get Haldeman out of his office for the birthday party. I mean, it is a pretty good idea and does get him what he needs.<br \/><br \/>Sophie and Marissa drink some wine at the first class bar, in full view of Dan, who obviously follows them when they leave to 'stretch their legs' as Sophie says, giving Eliot the opportunity to intercept Dan and beat him up in the toilet, with Parker slapping an 'out of order' sign on it afterwards, lol. This was about the moment when I thought this was a bit too easy and that maybe Dan was the good guy here and Marissa the bad guy but Dan had a ceramic knife on him, so that wasn't very likely.<br \/><br \/>I wasn't totally wrong though, since it gets revealed (through something Hardison found that I honestly didn't really understand, but okay) that the actual goal was not to just kill Marissa but to kill both of them and Eliot says the easiest way to do that would be by killing them in transfer. <br \/><br \/>Sophie: \"You mean bring down the plane they're on? You mean bring down the plane we're on?\"<br \/><br \/>Dun-Dun-Dun! And there it is! Big whoopsie. <br \/><br \/>Now everyone is understandably very stressed as they need to find a bomb that's probably either in Dan's bag or Marissa's luggage. Parker is already on it before Nate can even tell her to go into the cargo hold to check and Nate and Eliot go to talk to Dan, unsuccessfully though, since as Eliot says, if he knocks people out they tend to stay knocked out. Yeah\u2026 But they find his luggage tags, so, all is not lost.<br \/><br \/>Parker tells the other flight attendant that her crawling into the cargo hold is due to a medical emergency. I love how that flight attendant only ever communicates in eyerolls and exasperated stares, lol. In the cargo hold, Parker doesn't find anything in either Marissa's or Dan's luggage, but then Hardison gets the idea to have her check the electrical system and ta-da, there's some kind of device there, right under the cockpit. <br \/><br \/>Hardison: \"This device you found, is it anywhere near an orange box?\"<br \/>Parker: \"Yeah.\"<br \/>Hardison: \"Oh god, they tapped into the black box.\"<br \/>Parker: \"No, no, it's not black, it's orange.\"<br \/><br \/>Lol. I mean, she has a point, but I also did know that the black box of a plane is orange due to it being easier to find in case of, you know, boom, crash, debris (I watch a lot of those kind of shows). Right when Parker realizes that the boom, crash and debris applies to her, right now, the device starts sending a virus into the planes electronic system. Not good. <br \/><br \/>Nate and Eliot go into the cockpit, with Eliot saying he's an Air marshal and Nate's an engineer a second before everything goes horribly wrong and the plane goes into a nosedive. We get the obligatory shots of passengers screaming, with Marissa and Sophie being the most prominent ones, of course. <br \/><br \/>Hardison has a little crisis of faith whether he can help them or not but Nate talks him through it and he gets himself together and tells Parker to sever the wires between the device and the black box. <br \/><br \/>A few tense minutes follow in which Parker severs the wires and the pilots count down how high in the air they still are. When the device is finally disconnected, the system can be restarted, which Hardison's code does. They're only 5000 feet in the air, so flying further is out of the question, they need to land somewhere. Nate points to a highway in the middle of water and then joins the screaming passengers with Eliot to strap in for the landing. <br \/><br \/>The pilots frantically prepare for what's definitely not going to be a smooth landing and there's a little moment between Nate and Sophie where she asks him if he's gonna remember this one and he just answers \"oh, yeah\". I mean, that's kind of a given. <br \/><br \/>There are cars shown on the highway, but when they actually set down there are none, so I elect to believe they saw the plane coming and stopped without there being huge accidents. Hopefully. I wonder if a water landing would have been safer under the circumstances, but that's probably just opening a whole other can of worms. Like the plane sinking and all that not so great stuff. <br \/><br \/>Hardison does a little dance when he sees on the TV that the plane set down safely and it's adorable. \"I was so scared. I wanna cry, call my mama.\" He's such a sweetheart, I love him. Nate tells him he needs to get out of Genogrow since Haldeman is about to find out his smoking gun isn't dead and Hardison stages a scene of getting fired right in front of the door where all the other employees are stills celebrating his birthday.<br \/><br \/>Cheryl: \"He was always so thoughtful.\"<br \/>Steve: \"I never liked that guy.\"<br \/><br \/>And thus concludes Hardison's brief stint as an office worker, lmao, it was memorable to say the least. :D <br \/><br \/>Back in HQ, they're all watching Haldeman get arrested, yay, thus concludes another successful case. Hardison is still in the doghouse though, even when he tries to sway them all by saying he saved their lives from 3000 miles away. Which, to be fair, he did. <br \/><br \/>Nate and Sophie have a little chat about how they were both right because they saw each other for the first time 10 years ago but only met each other properly 8 years ago. I mean, that's an important distinction to make if one wants to do that. <br \/><br \/>And that's it, that's the episode. I really enjoyed it a lot, it was so much fun and the case was engaging and had its interesting twists and turns. Everyone had their little important moments, especially Hardison and of course, there was a plane involved, so, there really isn't anything I could want more. :D<a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/65326.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 02","user: jacquelee","writing","cycle 06","meta"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/65219.html","pubDate":"Sun, 10 Jan 2021 20:24:24 GMT","author":"seraphina_snape","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/65219.html","description":"Challenge 21: Hopes and Dreams for 2021<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/J6dydKf.png\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><br \/><br \/><b>Explanations:<\/b> <br \/><br \/>1. the zoo: when this pandemic is over and everything is open again, I want to visit a few more zoos. I only managed one in 2020. <br \/><br \/>2. the Asclepius staff: I hope for health, not just for me but for the world<br \/><br \/>3. my car: it broke down on Jan 2nd and while it's fixed now, I really need it to keep working for the rest of the year because repairs are so freaking expensive!<br \/><br \/>4. books: I love reading, but I read mainly fanfic these days, so this is my dream of finally moving to reduce the \"still need to read\" pile of books that I own<br \/><br \/>5. money: let's be real, we all hope to win the lottery one day<br \/><br \/>6. Grandma: (featuring my actual grandma) covid has been awful for us in terms of being able to visit grandma, so I hope things let up this year and we'll get to see her more<br \/><br \/>7. sofa: a new sofa is on the list of Things To Buy This Year, so let's hope I'll find a good deal somewhere<br \/><br \/>8. Food: this represents new recipes. I love cooking but generally I fall back on the same recipes because they're old faves\/really easy and quick to make\/I can't be bothered to make anything else. But I've been trying to try out new stuff whenever I can and I hope to continue that in 2021.<br \/><br \/>9. Tea: so a few years ago there was this \"chocolate cake tea\" that was <i>really delicious<\/i>, but the company discontinued the flavour. I've resigned myself to never drinking a cup of chocolate cake tea ever again, but I'm still clinging to the hope that they'll bring it back at some point. <br \/><br \/>10: Writing: I used to write a lot more fanfic than I do these days. I also have a ton of unfinished works that I really need to finish. So my dream for 2021 is to finish a few of them.<a name='cutid1-end'><\/a><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/gJYDcMO.png\" loading=\"lazy\">","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/65219.html?view=comments#comments","category":["user: seraphina_snape","cycle 06","challenge 21"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64961.html","pubDate":"Sat, 09 Jan 2021 01:33:02 GMT","title":"Challenge 2 \u2013 Previously on\u2026 Legends of Tomorrow 5x12","author":"jacquelee","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64961.html","description":"For my second recap I chose one of my favorite episodes of season 5 of Legends. When I started writing this, I hadn't decided yet which other episodes \/ shows to recap (I'm very glad about the wiggle room the extension gave me after I worked on my first recap for nearly two months, lol), but this one popped into my head right when I thought about it, so, here we are, Freaks and Greeks, aka the one with aunt Ava in a moose costume, Astra trying to murder people with forks and Molotov cocktails and Sara winning at a version of beer pong I've been assured no American has ever played, lmao.<br \/><br \/>We start with a really nice clean shot of the Waverider from the front, seriously, look at it, that's one pretty shot, wow (I'm gonna sprinkle in some pictures into this recap since I have all the screencaps of Legends anyways, so it's easy). <br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/5CpMt47.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/5CpMt47.jpg\" width=\"500\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Then we pan to the parlour where everyone is clearly researching but also clearly not finding anything, as Nate closes a book a little to forceful, saying \"nothing\" in a frustrated tone of voice. I'm loving that Charlie still has the same hair from last episode it's truly epic (I know it won't last long cause she'll go all proper sorority girl soon, but still, for now I'm enjoying it). <br \/><br \/>There's some exposition now about how they need three weavers as powerful as gods to use the loom and Charlie is all happy to do it but she needs two others. Astra is all \"I'm not trusting you idiots\" (Zari and Ava's faces at that are priceless, talk about offended, lol), so that's one and Sara just throws out there that she's a blind, time-travelling paragon who can see the future, so why not add wannabe god to the list? <br \/><br \/>Zari asks her to use her 'Sara-vision' (lmao) to tell her what's in the book she's holding and Sara does and tells her nothing useful is in there, but that she could just read it but she's like \"nah, this is faster\", lol. I agree with her there tbh. <br \/><br \/>Gary comes in with sunglasses on and a giant pile of books from John's manor. The sunglasses are for Sara, who is not all that amused when Gary tries to put them on her, which, yeah, that's very understandable. More exposition follows with Charlie saying the Philosopher's stone is as real as Santa (is that a dig at Harry Potter? Lol, no idea but funny either way) but then John finds something that might be more promising, the chalice of Dionysus, which turns everyone who drinks from it immortal, though Charlie interjects and says it's only for a day since Olympians feed on devotion and once they lost their followers, their objects lost their power too. But still, immortality for a day, nice! <br \/><br \/>Obviously, since we need to find the chalice, Nate very handily is all like \"I've seen that\" and recounts his university days where he tried to steal a certain \"chug cup\" from a different fraternity. Zari cheekily comments that his degree is finally paying off, which, well, I mean, he does do a lot of history exposition, so, I don't agree completely with that, but okay. <br \/><br \/>Gideon agrees with Nate that Dionysus' chalice is at Hudson university with the frat boys and after Astra gets out another dig, Sara does her fun send off, \"Better get your togas dry cleaned cause we are going Greek\", complete with utilizing the sunglasses as prop, because of course she does :D<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/4xPBAC8.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/4xPBAC8.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Now, I need to interject that I'm not American and for all the US media I consume, I haven't heard of the term \"Greek week\" before. Sure, I know fraternities and sororities and I know they all have Greek letters as names, but I didn't know there's an actual pledge week going on. Huh, learned something new.<br \/><br \/>We got the intro and then Ava and Sara are alone on the bridge, doing some more exposition about the cup being given to the winner of the \"Chug Challenge\". Then Sara says she'd sit this one out cause of her being not sure she could navigate an unknown campus already (I mean, she's literally been blind for one episode now so she has a point) and hands Ava the baton, all like \"team loves you, you got this\", and Ava being adorably insecure about college kids (honestly, I hear you there). <br \/><br \/>Cue Lita (and Mick) walking in and this is now a literal split second scene that I (and the entire fandom) freaked out about when I watched it first and which still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and happy inside, cause she casually says \"Hi aunt Ava\". AUNT AVA! Aunt! Ava! *melts from the cuteness* The entire fandom had been saying this ever since they showed how Ava was always there with Mick when Lita grew up but to have it confirmed on screen! Aunt Ava! YES! So good! <br \/><br \/>Ava obviously comes on a bit strong being all like \"what do kids like, how do I make them think I'm cool?\" and Sara explains that their mission is at Hudson U, which prompts Lita to say she was told to apply there but can't afford it. Mick tells her he'd make it happen if she wants to do it and Ava says they should definitely take the tour since they're here already. <br \/><br \/>Before she leaves, Lita tells Ava if she wants to be cool she shouldn't wear her usual pant suit since the kids will think she's a narc. *snort* And Ava's face, lol, she's so confused. :P<br \/> <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/E2QVs8w.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/E2QVs8w.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Now we cut to the university and the team makes their grand entrance all in their outfits and guess what Ava's wearing? That's right, a moose costume! Yep, an honest to god moose costume, I can't with her, seriously, who goes from \"no pantsuit\" directly to \"moose\"? lmao She definitely is the cutest moose ever though, so I'm very glad she did. <br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/kO19yxw.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/kO19yxw.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Astra on the other hand went the route of least effort and was just like \"if I have to, toss me the sports shirt, whatever\". :P Nate is all happy to be back and Ava takes her (moose-)head off to understand things, having all adorably messy hair that Zari immediately goes to fix (of course she does) and Ava lets her (of course she does). :D Then she gives some directions to the team, Nate is with Zari and Astra storms off before Ava can even finish saying she's with Charlie. <br \/><br \/>Charlie goes after her and says she won't let her use the loom if she can't work in a team and Astra goes off all like \"we should take the stupid cup by force and btw, I'm done working for a fate\". Yep, definitely some work to be done here still, but she'll come around, they all do in the end. :D<br \/><br \/>We're now with the college tour and are meeting one of those super arrogant \"I'm an alumni here and my son obviously will follow in my footsteps\" fathers complete with also stuck up son and wife. Mick is already mortally annoyed (\"I'd like to wring your neck with that scarf\" levels of annoyed lmao) and after talking about the fire resistance of the building (lol) tells them he studied in Iron Heights (the prison), Lita interjects that it's a very prestigious art school and tells Mick to just go with it. He rolls his eyes out of his head but does, cause he's a good dad. Awww, Mick. :)<br \/><br \/>Nate and Zari are casing the joint and Nate is all excited, saying they used to call him shotgun Nate. One of the college kids overhears and asks Nate (or, rather, 'pops') if that's true, tossing him a can of beer. Nate is offended by the pops and opens the beer with his keys (?? I think), chugging the whole thing at once and tossing the empty can into a nearby trash can. The college kids are very impressed but Zari is less so, all like \"yep, okay, let's go grandpa\". :P <br \/><br \/>A loud siren blares and the Sigma Psi Phi's (the fraternity that has the chalice) make their grand entrance. Nate calls Ava and the team reconvenes to confront the Sigmas, Zari not missing the opportunity to tell everyone how the entrance of the head honcho (carried by six guys on a sort of patio recliner) was just like hers to the 2044 VMA's. :D I have no idea what that even is, but respect. :D <br \/><br \/>The head honcho gets everyone's attention and produces the Chug Cup, saying the pregames will begin. Astra is all gung ho just wanting to grab the chalice but Nate's holding her back, first having to talk about head honcho, who's name is Dion and who was already the head of the Sigmas when Nate was in school. <br \/><br \/>Nate: \"He hasn't aged a day.\" *chuckles* \"we have so much in common!\"<br \/>Everyone else: *eye roll* <br \/><br \/>Charlie is grinning widely, telling Nate that 'his' (hehe) Dion is actually Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry. I mean, makes sense he'd be a frat boy, lol. Charlie is all happy to see him, while the others are just awkwardly standing around. Really though, how cute is Ava with her moose head in her hands, all confused and trying to make sense of those college kids' rituals. :D So cute! <br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/XbPMsia.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/XbPMsia.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/bTeAyp4.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/bTeAyp4.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Charlie says to leave it to her and goes to greet Dion, telling him who she is, which apparently, to Dion is 'the Loombreaker', which he clearly holds in highest regard, chanting her name and being all happy she's there. He also put the chalice down to hug her and when he gets introduced to Charlie's \"squad\" with Nate being all flustered (lol again) Astra sees her opportunity and goes to grab it, just to fail and have Dion be all disappointed in Charlie and still smug, since he has power over the chalice and only those he deems worthy, who are in a fraternity, sorority or frorority (my new favourite word, lol) and won the Chug Challenge, can use it. Well, that's a snag that especially Astra is not particularly happy about. Ooops. <br \/><br \/>Ava needs to think and everyone goes \"nooo\" when Astra says she has an idea, lmao, well, yeah, her idea right now wasn't all that great, so, understandable. Zari drives the point home by saying \"something that does not involve maiming\" :P. Yeah, I think she's fresh out of those, lol. <br \/><br \/>Charlie does come up with something useful when she sees some sorority girls walk past though, and back on the ship they're bringing Sara (and Gary) up to speed about how their plan is to join a sorority. Astra is not amused but Zari sees this as a challenge right up her alley. But since we're team bonding, Ava tells Charlie and Astra to pledge Theta Lambda Ro. After they left, Ava's expression is priceless and Zari is all like \"she's exhausting!\", lol, well, you did invite her into your team after she tried to kill you a bunch of times, so\u2026 :P<br \/> <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/KVGXKgy.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/KVGXKgy.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/MZ3PY1u.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/MZ3PY1u.png\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Back with the college tour, the son (I have no idea what his name is, lol) is now bragging about his extracurriculars and telling Lita she wants to build out her application because she won't get into this place just with just having been in band for a while and having a part time job. He himself is pretty confident he'll get in since there's a building named after his grandfather (of course there is). This clearly gives Mick an idea and when Nate stumbles in, all like, no, I'm not a prospective student (snort), I'm actually a doctor, Mick tells the arrogant family that Nate is Lita's dad and when both are really confused he just echoes Lita's earlier \"just go with it\" and leaves. Lita is clearly disappointed by this, since she was hoping to spend time with her dad, poor bb. <br \/><br \/>At the sorority pledge picnic, or whatever it's called, we are introduced to our young guest stars for this episode, a really excited girl who already loves everyone and is all happy they could be sisters soon, an unamused goth girl who only pledges as a performance art piece (\"my empty teacup is a commentary on the emptiness of this charade\", okay, girl, chill :P) and Zari's tiny clone, wannabe influencer girl who wants them all in a group chat immediately. I already love all of them, of course. :D<br \/><br \/>Head girl is speaking now and oh, it's a luncheon, right. She's all happy about new members, but you do have to make the cut, of course. Astra is already very bored and brings out a flask, which Charlie immediately grabs, telling her to try and fit in, which prompts her to very loudly talk about how her tea is weak and needs to be replaced. Charlie facepalms but head girl is impressed with Astra's fire and gives her the house paddle, their most sacred object (yeah, I already knew this was going to go waaayyy south :D). <br \/><br \/>Astra takes the paddle and answers the quite innocuous (you'd think, right?) question of \"what did you do before college?\" with a complete retelling of her growing up in hell, which Charlie is again unamused by but which further impresses head girl. Charlie goes now, saying she travelled around the world with a bunch of friends. Astra can't stop herself from interjecting \"more like a bunch of rejects\" which head girl is still amused by. <br \/><br \/>But then it gets much more intense, Charlie and Astra getting into a full blown fight about Charlie's sisters which ends with Astra throwing the table over and both of them fighting for the paddle. Head girl tries to intervene, but only makes it worse and the paddle breaks in half (surprise! Not :P). She's visibly heart broken and exiles the entire table. Which I think is a bit of an overkill, the three other girls didn't do anything, but okay. <br \/><br \/>Back on the ship, in the galley, they meet all the others and Charlie says she needs a drink (Sara: \"Ah, the refreshing sound of failure\", yep, she knows her team :P) and she and Astra continue their argument, which leads to Sara holding Astra back from physically attacking Charlie and Ava saying nobody is killing anybody, but Sara has seen something and tells Zari to hide her fork since Astra was definitely gonna go for it. Lol, that's one way to use your vision. <br \/><br \/>Zari hides the fork in her cleavage (ouch? That really doesn't seem that practical to me, lol) and they say they're screwed without a sorority, which gives Zari the idea to start their own. Sara thinks she's joking and Ava isn't much more on board.<br \/><br \/>Ava: \"starting a sorority by tonight? I mean the paperwork alone\u2026\" <br \/>Zari: *looks at her expectantly, waiting for the penny to drop*<br \/>Ava: *actually thinks about what she just said and suddenly freezes when she realizes that there's paperwork! For her! To do! Of course she's in!* Let's do it!<br \/><br \/>The others are kinda fine with it, though Astra is not amused and says she should have killed them all when she had the chance, lol. Nope, bb, you're a Legend now, this is how it goes, deal with it. :D<br \/><br \/>Zari: \"Go, sisters!\"<br \/>Everybody: *blank stares*<br \/>Zari: \"We'll get there\"<br \/><br \/>Aww, I love her, she's soo cute.<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/MkWPcAV.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/MkWPcAV.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Meanwhile, Nate and Lita are strolling down Greek row, with Lita worrying about her dad a bit but Nate reassuring her that he's fine. Then they pass by the Sigmas and Lita is unimpressed, while Nate gets all flustered when Dion (shirtless, because of course he is) invites him to the party. Lita asks if he has a mancrush and he says it's unrequited (aaawww). Dion comes to talk to them directly and Nate says he can't party right now because \"responsibilities\" (very not covertly pointing to Lita who's unamused, lol). Dion leaves them and Nate wants to go on but Lita says since these are the guys who have the chalice, they could go in and he could party and she could do some scouting, find out where they are keeping it. She's quite inventive and eager, that one, I love her (obviously). Nate agrees (again, obviously, lol).<br \/><br \/>Back at the ship, Ava is all happy with a folder in her hands, calling to order the sisterhood of Legends. First step, a house. Astra's idea to steal the Theta's place by smoking them out is immediately vetoed (wonder why, lol) and they instead take over a horrible house on Greek row, doing some trickery by opening a portal in the doorway into Constantine's manor. Talking about behind the scenes reasoning for a second, I first thought that was just a gimmick that let's them save budget on sets, but the fact that they are technically now in England inside of this house is going to play a major role in the next episode, so that was quite a clever way to achieve that. <br \/><br \/>But back to this episode. They now need three more sisters and the choice is obvious, the three they got kicked out of Theta. First up, excited girl, aka Inez Martin, voted out of pep squad for being too enthusiastic, lol, I obviously love her already. <br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/CYjoihf.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/CYjoihf.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Ava pretends to bump into her and then turns around and asks her if she wants to, not being able to finish that sentence because Inez already is like \"yes, yes, I'm in, I don't care what it is.\" :D Yep, love her.<br \/><br \/>Next up, Lisa Lindhome, the wannabe Zari girl, who went viral with a video where she snarted (prompting Astra asking what a 'snart' is \u2013 something I also didn't know but I can guess, lol and Sara stopping Zari from explaining, cause you know, let's ease Astra back into life on Earth slowly, lol). Zari obviously is the one to go after Lisa in a really adorable way, having a text message conversation nearly entirely in memes (one of them a gif of Beebo, which like, yep, I see what you did there, show :D). So cute. <br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/tPSJAZe.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/tPSJAZe.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Last one is goth girl, or Silvia Hines, who created her own major in performance art. Astra and Charlie go to recruit her and they're not starting well with Silvia saying they were the ones who tried to kill each other at the luncheon. And then, when they bring up their sorority, she's very reluctant but then Astra wins her over:<br \/><br \/>Silvia: \"What is the point of partying with a bunch of brain-dead wasteoids?\"<br \/>Astra: \"I get it. Seems impossible to feel any kind of power in a cruel, dying world, right? But have you considered that winning the masses over with the illusion of fun might be the perfect way to ply them to do your bidding?\"<br \/>Silvia: \"I'm in!\"<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/yStL905.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/yStL905.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Like, yeah, sure, why the hell not. :D Charlie is all, okay, great. And we cut to Constantine's manor, where Sara does the introductory speech of \"now you're Legends\". Inez is all gung ho, but Silvia interjects that they need a motto and Ava comes up with \"We might not have it all together, but together, we have it all\" which they settle on. I mean, it fits very nicely. <br \/><br \/>Nate gets the Sigma's house paddle broken over his steel bum (yes, this is an actual scene that actually happens, like, wow, okay, they went there :P) while Lita is looking around and finds the chalice in a store room, but gets a text and leaves before she can try to take it (which wouldn't work anyways, so). Dion gets Nate his 'special stash' of beer and of course Nate drinks it right from the keg, predictably getting under the god's spell and spilling all of their plans to him as he turns into 'shotgun Nate', a frat boy whose only goal is to party and who's very loyal to Dion. Yeah\u2026 Funny enough, this version of Nate isn't that bad, he's just a cute, na\u00efve party boy who wants to have fun. Though it doesn't bode well for the others that Dion now knows about them and is not happy about their plans to put the loom back together, cause he thinks it would mean the end of his party.<br \/><br \/>Now we go into a commercial reel for the new sorority, which is such a fun spoof of the show itself, it's hilarious. \"We've assembled an elite team of women to save this campus from the cliques and cruelty of the common Greek house.\" Interspersed with the girls learning to throw knives (at posters saying 'hazing' among other things), all of them dancing and generally goofing off. At the end, they all pose with the sorority's initials, which spell 'AXE' because of course they do. :P<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/QrtFlob.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/QrtFlob.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Zari enters them into the Chug Challenge and everyone goes for a snack party. Silvia talks to Astra about how nice it is to actually have friends, and Astra is clearly considering that for herself too, begrudgingly admitting that their plan, though stupid, seems to be working. <br \/><br \/>Which of course is the cue for Dion (and shotgun Nate) to enter and disqualify them from the Chug Challenge, which prompts Astra to go off on the team about how she should have done this her way from the start. They argue and the three college girls are all like \"Being a grown up is weird\", swipe the plate of tacos and leave. Yep, that's about the best you can do in this situation, lol. I'm loving that these three already have a friendship going, as different as they might be. I said it right after the episode but I'd love a spin off with those three and Lita in college, figuring out life and the sorority and everything. It would be amazing. <br \/><br \/>Astra is done trying to fit in, to change who she is for the others, even when they try to assure her that she doesn't need to. She storms out, wanting to make Dion pay for what he did. <br \/><br \/>Meanwhile, Lita meets Mick under a building that now sports the name 'Rory Hall'. He went back in time to donate and get Lita in, but she says she didn't need a building, she needed him to be there for her. He counters that he thought she was embarrassed to be seen with him, but she says it wasn't about him, it was about her. He says she's much better than all those leeches and she says so is he. They make up and go piss off some rich kids. Awww, such a nice father daughter bonding time. They're really shaping up to be one of my favourite parts of the show.<br \/><br \/>At the Sigmas rager, Astra takes a bottle of booze (wodka?) from a girl, takes a drink and stuffs a cloth in it, clearly intent on lighting it on fire and throwing it into the house. Okay, sweetie, we're gonna have to talk about your anger issues. Which is why Charlie followed her and they have a very cute heart to heart with Charlie saying she doesn't have to change to be a Legend, she can stay herself but she doesn't have to hurt people in the process anymore. Astra already sort of agrees to try do it the Legends way when Nate interrupts them and tells them that as long as Dion has followers, he has the power to grant people that cup. Which, of course, is the clue to this whole thing, so, good on you Nate. Pardon, shotgun Nate. :D<br \/><br \/>Charlie figures out that this means they have to take Dion's followers away and they go back to the manor with the plan to out-party Dionysus. But obviously, just making signs and getting the house ready for a party doesn't actually get people there, so everyone is just sitting around moping until Charlie asks Astra for her opinion on what she would do. She lights up (so cute) and says they also need to destroy Dion's party for everyone to come to theirs. <br \/><br \/>So they set out to do that. First, Charlie turns into Nate to get Dion out of the house, asking him to get a fresh keg. Then Zari hacks the party playlist and instead plays some yodelling. They take out Dion's booze, with Charlie changing back into herself while Dion is in the shed where it's kept, running out and Mick lighting the whole thing on fire with Lita standing there next to him, very proud. Hehe, like father, like daughter.<br \/><br \/>Final phase is Charlie and Astra telling everyone that there is a great party over at the Delta's house. Of course, they all come, and the party is a raging success. But Mick and Lita, who are on chalice duty, still don't have any success lifting it and it's immediately clear why when Dion comes in with his squad of still very much loyal goons (including shotgun Nate), who chant \"bros are bros for life\" at his command. <br \/><br \/>Sara interrupts this by challenging Dion to beer pong, from up on the balustrade in proper 'I challenge you to a duel' style. <br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/6cxfEFi.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/6cxfEFi.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Dion is very amused, since he's the undefeated champion but humors her anyways. Ava is a little concerned, since, you know, blindness and all, but Sara says she got this, since she's got her power. I mean, seeing the future will give you an edge, for sure.<br \/><br \/>Now we get to the part that was quite interesting for me, having seen it in bts footage and promos before the episode aired: the beer pong. I've read many fics in which this game is played, but not being American (as I said), or particularly keen on college parties for that matter, I've never seen it played. I guess there probably are some TV shows or movies that show it, but I've never seen any, so, I was looking forward to finally have some visuals as to how exactly it works.<br \/><br \/>Except, everyone in the fandom who is actually American was very confused by this, because apparently, this is absolutely not how you play it. They're using paddles here and a net, actually playing ping pong into cups and from what I've been told, the way you usually play is just throwing the balls into the cups, that's it. But the set up still helps with the visualizing, so, I'll take it. :D<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/ChegClM.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/ChegClM.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Charlie is the referee and what follows is a very intense game in which Sara utterly destroys Dion. Obviously. :D All the bros leave him, including Nate, who joins the sisters in a group hug in which even Astra participates. It's super cute. <br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/UaVhPDg.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/UaVhPDg.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>The moment is interrupted when Mick breaks down the door to show them that he got the cup. Everyone is cheering and Lita and Mick have a very cute moment with her saying \"best father-daughter weekend ever\", clearly proud of her dad and him putting an arm around her as a clumsy (but heartfelt) show of affection.<br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/V8ySgyB.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/V8ySgyB.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/UwewU5I.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/UwewU5I.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>In the kitchen, the sisters do the clean up and the girls say they're gonna keep Delta house going. Again, where's my spin off? I want it so much! They wave the kids off and Ava is the first one to put her head on the table and say she needs a nap. Lol. The only thing missing is her saying she's too old for this. :P<br \/><br \/>Dion brings the chalice to Delta house (or rather Constantine's manor) and all the Legends (including John, Mick and Nate) gather around to drink from it. Charlie is the first to take the cup and after she realizes that this is a lot of responsibility, Sara has the idea that they can all drink from it, after all, nobody said it has to be only three fates. They all agree and with the exception of Zari (as we already established, she doesn't drink alcohol), everyone drinks. Then they all glow golden, which apparently means they're immortal now (for a day). Nice! <br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/7uYdrWj.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/7uYdrWj.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><br \/><br \/>Dion leaves with his chalice after being promised that they're not gonna loom anything to ruin his party. I wonder how he takes the developments in the finale, seeing that he's a god, so he probably retains his memories but I'm assuming since the fates change everything and all there is is television and mush, they probably did mess with his party? Or maybe not, since college is probably still a thing and maybe Charlie managed to keep his party running under the radar? Hmmm, interesting question. <br \/><br \/>Nate and Dion say an emotional goodbye (lol) and then Silvia comes out of the backroom where she apparently still staid, oops. At least she didn't see the glow show, lol. Astra offers to walk her out and then, right when everything seems to have gone great and they're about to use the loom, obviously Lachesis turns up to ruin everything. Cause that's what she does. She tells Astra she's there to collect her debt and Astra has no choice but to comply. And cut! Yikes! <br \/><br \/>The ending notwithstanding, this was a really fun and light episode, focused on character development (mostly Astra and Charlie but Lita and Mick got their moments too) and team building. Aka, all the things I love the most, so, yep, one of my favourites for a good reason.<a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64961.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 02","user: jacquelee","writing","cycle 06","meta"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64739.html","pubDate":"Fri, 08 Jan 2021 00:29:10 GMT","title":"Ch.14: Advent Calendar 202","author":"mark_pierre","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64739.html","description":"<b><\/b><br \/><br \/>Day 1: <u>Activity:<\/u> Try and touch your ceiling without any help.<br \/>You mean, without human help? Okay, I used a broom. ;)<br \/><br \/>Day 2: <br \/><u>Activity:<\/u> Get outside.<br \/>Been to work, so... done. :)<br \/><br \/><u>Food\/Drink:<\/u> Eat some vegetables!<br \/>My favourite cabbage with carrot salad (without dill).<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.aniagotuje.com\/pictures\/articles\/2019\/05\/582914-v-720x940.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aniagotuje.com\/pictures\/articles\/2019\/05\/582914-v-720x940.jpg\" width=\"200\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>Day 3: <u>Activity:<\/u> Dance silly to a song.<br \/>I danced to a silly song. :)<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KaXx3FRfHtg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Dolly Song<\/a><br \/><br \/>Day 5: <u>Self-Care:<\/u> Ten mins of breathing\/meditation.<br \/>Done while listening to Vivaldi's \"Winter\".<br \/><br \/>Day 6: <u>Activity:<\/u> Take a walk around and look at holiday lights.<br \/>I love Christmas light decorations in my city. :)<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.galleries.smcloud.net\/t\/galleries\/gf-fgzo-NdR3-TTeS_koronakryzys-dopadl-krakow-miasto-wyda-miliony-zlotych-na-swiateczne-lampki-664x442-nocrop.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn.galleries.smcloud.net\/t\/galleries\/gf-fgzo-NdR3-TTeS_koronakryzys-dopadl-krakow-miasto-wyda-miliony-zlotych-na-swiateczne-lampki-664x442-nocrop.jpg\" width=\"200\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>Day 7: <u>Self-Care:<\/u> Watch <a target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aLQC1f89syk' rel='nofollow'>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aLQC1f89syk<\/a><br \/>LOL, I love watching this kind of videos, because cats are awesome! :D<br \/><br \/>Day 9: <u>Food\/Drink:<\/u> Movie recipe <a target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.marthastewart.com\/274821\/edible-movie-scenes' rel='nofollow'>https:\/\/www.marthastewart.com\/274821\/edible-movie-scenes<\/a><br \/>Made my favourite version of pizza: with mushrooms!<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/tYvG6vC.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/tYvG6vC.png\" width=\"400\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>Day 10: <u>Self-Care:<\/u> Color <a target='_blank' href='https:\/\/homemade-gifts-made-easy.imfast.io\/christmas-coloring-pages\/christmas-coloring-pages-merry-christmas-cute-cats-border.pdf' rel='nofollow'>https:\/\/homemade-gifts-made-easy.imfast.io\/christmas-coloring-pages\/christmas-coloring-pages-merry-christmas-cute-cats-border.pdf<\/a><br \/>Used my phone app for coloring... a different page. Hope it's okay.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/qqpMAxn.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/qqpMAxn.jpg\" width=\"200\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>Day 11: <u>Activity:<\/u> Get up early and take a 20 min walk.<br \/>Took a walk to the next bus stop.<br \/><br \/>Day 13: <u>Activity:<\/u> \"Savage Love\" Dance Challenge <a target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sQR2-Q-k_9Y' rel='nofollow'>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sQR2-Q-k_9Y<\/a><br \/>Only death can stop me from dancing, so done! Except squating, that is.<br \/><br \/>Day 18: <u>Self-Care:<\/u> Watch <a target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kNw8V_Fkw28' rel='nofollow'>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kNw8V_Fkw28<\/a><br \/>I think I've seen this video before... Anyway, it's cute.<br \/><br \/>Day 20: <u>Self-Care:<\/u> Listen to soft music.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2OEL4P1Rz04\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Here<\/a><br \/>Basically laying in bed and napping to music.<br \/><br \/>Day 22: <u>Food\/Drink:<\/u> Healthy breakfast.<br \/>Boiled eggs. That's healthy, right?<br \/><br \/>Day 23: <u>Craft:<\/u> Color: <a target='_blank' href='https:\/\/homemade-gifts-made-easy.imfast.io\/christmas-coloring-pages\/christmas-coloring-pages-detailed-santa-face-for-adults.pdf' rel='nofollow'>https:\/\/homemade-gifts-made-easy.imfast.io\/christmas-coloring-pages\/christmas-coloring-pages-detailed-santa-face-for-adults.pdf<\/a><br \/>Couldn't do this, so instead I did that:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/uf8X3sq.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/uf8X3sq.png\" width=\"200\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>Day 24: <u>Food\/Drink:<\/u> Cheeeeeessssseeeeecake<br \/>This was supposed to be on 12th, but I always make cheesecake on Christmas' Eve (even as sick I was this year - took me the whole day), so I transferred it here.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Pnb3DFx.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Pnb3DFx.png\" width=\"400\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>Day 25: <u> Food\/Drink:<\/u> Share your favorite appetizer or snack at keepers_log<br \/>Apple\/banana chips!<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/mk0theonebox2e4osj9s.kinstacdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/dried-apples-1000x563.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/mk0theonebox2e4osj9s.kinstacdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/dried-apples-1000x563.jpg\" width=\"200\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calconut.com\/imagenes\/noticias\/zoom-fotonoticia-290.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.calconut.com\/imagenes\/noticias\/zoom-fotonoticia-290.jpg\" width=\"200\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>Day 26: <u>Self-Care:<\/u> Watch <a target='_blank' href='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CehPixdKUuE' rel='nofollow'>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CehPixdKUuE<\/a><br \/>How To Train Your Dragon: Homecoming.<br \/>I had no idea there's was another dragon movie about Toothless! Now I have to find it!!!<br \/><br \/>Day 27: <u>Food\/Drink:<\/u> Read at least 2 at <a target='_blank' href='https:\/\/foodhero.org\/monthly' rel='nofollow'>https:\/\/foodhero.org\/monthly<\/a>.<br \/>Read about things I love to eat: mushrooms, blueberries, cabbage.<br \/>I must say I really like that site. :)<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/W8FKmm9.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/W8FKmm9.png\" width=\"200\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a> <br \/><br \/><u>Self-Care:<\/u> 20 mins of reading.<br \/>Mistborn: The Hero of Ages by Bradon Sanderson. Boy, this guy really like to spread-write a lot.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn-lubimyczytac.pl\/upload\/books\/259000\/259728\/756768-352x500.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn-lubimyczytac.pl\/upload\/books\/259000\/259728\/756768-352x500.jpg\" width=\"200\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/>Day 29: <u>Self-Care:<\/u> Drink 2L of water.<br \/>My fever came and go, so I drank even more for over 10 days.<br \/><br \/><center><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/H5aatUz.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/H5aatUz.png\" width=\"700\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><br \/><br \/><a name='cutid1-end'><\/a><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/mark_pierre\/14993937\/2228046\/2228046_original.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/center>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64739.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 14","user: mark_pierre","cycle 06"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64376.html","pubDate":"Mon, 04 Jan 2021 22:26:20 GMT","title":"Challenge 02: Previously On... Death In Paradise 9x05","author":"seraphina_snape","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64376.html","description":"This review contains images and spoilers for the episode in question. Be warned! <br \/><br \/><b>905: Switcharoo<\/b><br \/><br \/>The first case of DI Neville Parker... <br \/><br \/>We open with a party where a bunch of rich people (I assume) are launching another timeshare luxury apartment. The head honcho is a guy who's there with his wife, adult daughter and son in law. I'm guessing the daughter or son-in-law die because they're the ones with speaking roles so far and they've both been a little shady. Neither of them look really happy to be there. The daughter heads up to the hotel room along, claiming jetlag. The husband stays because he's the head of sales and needs to work the crowd and sell stuff. They don't really seem like they're not getting along, but if she dies, he's still the main suspect.<br \/><br \/>In the hotel room, the woman closes the curtains. A bit later, back in the conference room, the father says that their table is ready so the husband goes upstairs to get his wife for dinner and - dun dun dun! Guess who's dead in the bathtub?<br \/><br \/>So, we have a classic locked room mystery. The door to the hotel room is locked with a chain and the bathroom door has a bolt on it (locked, of course). Obvious answer: the woman killed herself. But this is <i>Death in Paradise<\/i>, so she was clearly murdered. But how?<br \/><br \/>Aaaaaand theme song.<br \/><br \/>Cut to the team standing around at the airport, waiting for the new guy: DI Neville Parker. His first few minutes are quite funny: he walks out of the airport and into the brilliant sunshine and does a great vampire impression by rearing back out of the Caribbean sun and into the shade. The team laugh and they immediately know: yes, this is the new one fresh from gloomy Britain. (Look. I'm from Northern Germany. Our weather is pretty much the same, so I emphasise. I, too, would be a little uncomfortable in a Caribbean climate.)<br \/><br \/>Anyway, here's your first look at the new guy:<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/wB73TjJ.jpg\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><br \/><br \/>Anyway, Parker pulls out sunscreen and ... wow, he really makes sure he gets every single nook and cranny, doesn't he?<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/9ElAVnx.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Ruby: Well, he seems thorough.<br \/><br \/>First meeting seems a bit awkward, but okay so far. <br \/><br \/>Cut to the crime scene from the night before. So straight away it appears that Parker's gimmick is going to be his dictaphone. He literally starts the case by recording the pertinent details: such as, Commissioner Patterson concluded it was a suicide. Parker's only really there to confirm this and release the body to be transported back to Manchester. <br \/><br \/>The team is a little sceptical of him so far: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Wa0r9Zv.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>He looks over the room. He finds the broken lock on the hotel room door, a packet of pills on the nightstand and, in the bathroom, the broken lock on that door. He checks the bathroom in total and concludes that it looks like the woman must have killed herself. <br \/><br \/>Everyone: Good, yes. Case closed, let's go for a beer.<br \/>Parker (turns around): Except...<br \/><br \/>Parker picks up the mouth guard from the bathroom counter and opens it. It's empty. <br \/><br \/>Everyone: Yes. And?<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/sDx2Z7e.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Parker: Why put in a mouth guard when you're planning on killing yourself?<br \/><br \/>So, Parker says he can't confirm it's a suicide. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/TSVw3uZ.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>He also can't really say how it happened, but hey, \"this is now a case for your murder squad. Good luck.\"<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/8mlncem.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/aIwZRCk.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/U53300Q.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>After a few seconds of everyone going \"wtf is that supposed to mean?\" Madeleine runs after Parker because the Commissioner wants to talk to him. He doesn't even let her get a full sentence out because he really, <i>really<\/i> needs to go back to the airport and oh look, that's his taxi now.<br \/><br \/>He gets in ... and it's the Commissioner's car. He informs Parker that he talked to Parker's supervisor who agrees that if Parker thinks it's murder, he should do the investigation. Parker (shaking his head):<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/XyzENol.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Commissioner: She said you were quite brilliant... if a little annoying. <br \/>Parker: ...<br \/>Commissioner: I look forward to seeing the brilliant side.<br \/><br \/>He agrees to stay until they've got the killer. (That's what they all say, Parker. And then they stay for years...)<br \/><br \/>Parker and Madeleine interview the people of interest: the parents, the husband and the room service guy who was there when the husband broke down the doors only to find his wife dead. (Parker records the interviews, too, so that's definitely his thing.)<br \/><br \/>Back at the station. <br \/><br \/>Parker: Can we get the air-con on?<br \/>JP: It's broken, sir.<br \/>Ruby: We've got windows!<br \/>Madeleine: The fans help. A little. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/436FL9a.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>I feel like Parker is going to be Poole levels of \"I hate this heat\". <br \/><br \/>He does a quick debrief and assigns Ruby and JP to talk to the staff that was at the launch. And then asks where he's sleeping. JP takes him to the beach house and... <br \/><br \/>Parker: It's a shed! With a tree in it! <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Spjzkiz.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>JP (trying to save what he can): Just wait till you see the view, sir.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/6VaXWV3.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Parker is impressed with the view... for two seconds. \"But it's right at the beach! Sand gets everywhere!\" JP looks scandalised that someone wouldn't want to stay at the beach. Parker does not look happy to be there:<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/940iK21.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>He spends the night hunting mosquitoes and developing a rash. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/jeTGpuM.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>He calls JP. At 2:30 in the morning. He complains about the mosquitoes and the rash. JP does NOT want to see the rash.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/RmDNbRx.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Anyway, Parker makes JP drive him to a hotel. <br \/><br \/>Concierge: it's 200 for the night.<br \/>Parker: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/34dsFxO.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Anyway, the next morning Parker comes out of his room and finds JP and Ruby doing interviews just like he requested (turns out he's at the same hotel the victim was staying at). Ruby tells a story about she and the receptionist are old friends who unknowingly dated the same guy and it came out when the girls decided to have a double date boat tour and only three people showed up... (How do these things just happen to Ruby?) Anyway, the receptionist says the victim booked a taxi for morning before she died, going to the town hall. <br \/><br \/>At the station, Parker is putting cream on his mosquito bites. <br \/><br \/>Parker: Numbing cream. Works like a charm for mosquito bites even though it's actually for piles!<br \/>Madeleine: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/oMvOmv5.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>\"Lovely.\"<br \/><br \/>Madeleine has been investigating the family. The victim and her husband married a few years ago; the mother was just the step mother. Parker had the victim's house in Manchester searched and got a report from the house sitter that the victim only flew out a few days before on a last minute flight. She also mentioned something about the victim being worried about her dad, something about \"corruption\". <br \/><br \/>So... the victim came to St. Marie to talk to her dad about corruption in his time share business and ended up dead a couple of days later? Definitely points to murder. They go talk to the dad.<br \/><br \/>Turns out he fired his daughter a while ago because he was restructuring the company and she didn't like that the company was losing the family touch, the tradition. But he denies any corruption or that the business was failing. <br \/><br \/>They meet up with JP and Ruby who tell them that the victim went to Town Hall to find out about the properties\/houses the dad's company bought (where they want to develop these timeshare apartments). She seemed to be interested in one house in particular, so they go to talk to the (previous) owner who, according to Ruby is a Grumpy Old Man who has to be at least 150 by now. <br \/><br \/>Parker finally finds out Ruby is the Commissioner's niece. <br \/><br \/>Parker: Does that cause any problems?<br \/>Madeleine: Only for her.<br \/><br \/>Madeleine in the same jumpsuit from 902, btw: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/tpZ2Ne8.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>(I'm so glad she got to wear the same outfit twice. I hate it when tv shows make people wear a new outfit every episode, as if real people don't wear clothes more than once.)<br \/><br \/>At the Grumpy Old Man's. <br \/><br \/>JP: Ruby, you're not still scared of this guy, are you?<br \/>Ruby (very unconvincing): No.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/RD3mhk1.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Also Ruby: I mean, yes. A bit. He was a scary man! <br \/><br \/>Cut to a grassy field where a lot of press and people in suits are. Catherine is there as well and she tells them it's a ceremony to officially start the time share development. Anyway, Catherine is all \"glad to have a new detective\" and Parker is very quick to say he's just here for this case, all very temporary. (Let's see how long that last. :p) Catherine tells them that the dad's wife is the one making all the important decisions, and it was her who decided to do the press event despite the daughter's death.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/bRLxJla.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Back at the station, Parker keeps scratching himself.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/yugpTrW.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Madeleine meanwhile gets copies from the lawyers about the acquisition of the properties, including the contract Grumpy Old Man signed to sell his house. JP and Ruby add that according to neighbours and others around town, Grumpy Old Man was not happy with the project and refused to sell his house. <br \/><br \/>Then the Commissioner shows up and wants a word. He does not look happy... but when does he ever?<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/EXZzgMC.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/venFJ6a.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Ruby confirms that's his angry face. <br \/><br \/>And he is angry... about the hotel room Parker took. <br \/><br \/>Commissioner: You can pack your things and move back into the designated police accomodation.<br \/>Parker: You mean the shed on the beach?<br \/>Commissioner: It's a bungalow! <br \/>Parker: It's got a tree in it! <br \/><br \/>Anyway, Parker whines about allergies and the Commissioner says he's got one more night and then he has to move out. \"So I suggest you solve the case.\" :D<br \/><br \/>Back at the hotel that night, Parker convinces the assistant manager to let him into the laundry room. Not to do laundry, but to run his clothes through to rinse them because new clothes, see, they have this residue and his skin just reacts to it? Yeah, the assistant manager was not too pleased but agreed. <br \/><br \/>Anyway, while waiting for his laundry, Parker discovers something and heads up to knock on the husband's hotel door. Look at his smirky face as he tells the husband that for someone who works in sales, he's a terrible liar.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/bkTWmw5.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The clue, apparently, is the Blakestone Arms Hotel in Manchester. It's on phone records and the husband had a pen with the name on it. Not quite a rich people place though, so why did the husband stay there for three months a while ago. <br \/><br \/>The husband says his wife threw him out after an argument. Parker counters that he talked to the manager there who says that the wife kicked him out for cheating. Turns out the husband met someone else on a business trip and had an affair. The wife only took him back on the promise that it would never happen again. <br \/><br \/>Parker: So you wouldn't mind then if we talked to this woman?<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/hxxx3yW.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"> <br \/><br \/>The next morning: Parker updates Madeleine on the affair and that the woman said it ended the year before. Parker has another rash:<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/xYW8yXE.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>JP and Ruby arrive with the confirmation that the victim had ingested a too large amount of sleeping pills and a warrant to search Grumpy Old Man's house. Well, JP has the warrant. Ruby has the crowbar. *g*<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/fB98FYp.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>As they approach the house, they notice a truck parked outside. The doors are ajar. Parker sends Ruby and JP around the back while he and Madeleine try the front. Parker nearly has a heart attack when Ruby is suddenly behind him.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/vnsbQh8.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>This is the face of a man waiting for the earth to swallow him up.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/xGtusxK.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>In the kitchen, Madeleine has discovered a giant puddle of water and a recently defrosted freezer (still with food inside). They look around and find a freezer chest on the back porch. Inside... is the Grumpy Old Man, frozen solid. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/SDlo3Jm.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Parker assumes that's why the original victim was killed: she found out that Grumpy Old Man was dead. Then the truck out front starts up. JP manages to stop the truck from leaving:<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/I7Cc1Sy.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Behind the wheel is... the room service guy from the beginning who was there when the husband discovered the dead wife. What a coincidence. Anyway, the guy is threatening to run JP over if he doesn't move out of the way. And then Parker is at the (open) driver's side window and is all, \"hi!\" And when the guy looks at him, he gets a faceful of anti-bug spray. Ouch.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Bu822E0.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>At the station, Room Service Guy says Grumpy Old Man's death was an accident. He was there to put the pressure on, to get Grumpy Old Man to sign the contract. He finally got the old man to sign, but then he started struggling to breathe and keeled over and died of a heart attack. <br \/><br \/>Room Service Guy was promised a large chunk of cash if the old man signed, but he's reluctant to say who. Eventually, he tells them.<br \/><br \/>Cut to the hotel. Madeleine and Parker walk up to the dad, his wife and their solicitor. The wife reads a short statement that basically says they've heard what happened and that they employed Room Service Guy to act as a local agent to collect signatures of everyone owning properties they wanted to develop. Anything he did was his own decision and they deny any knowledge or responsibility. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/uEocPjK.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Parker has to let them go since he can't charge them (well, the wife). He tries to appeal to the father since, you know, his daughter was murdered. Doesn't he care? But it looks like he's not allowed to talk to the police, going by the way his wife just looked at him.<br \/><br \/>Back at the station, they're all a bit angry. It's the parents word against that of Room Service Guy, who's gonna believe the room service guy over a couple of rich people, right?<br \/><br \/>JP brings up a good point: even if the cases are linked, <i>how<\/i> did someone murder the original victim in her locked room?<br \/><br \/>In his hotel room that night, Parker sits on the bed surrounded by crime scene pictures and case files. He's listening to his dictaphone recordings. I have a feeling he's close to figuring it out.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/M3qhUSR.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Wait, nope, he's not. <br \/><br \/>Now it's the next morning and... wait, <i>now<\/i> he's got it. By staring at the art hung up in his room. He calls JP and oops. It's only four in the morning. JP is gonna hate him if this keeps up.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/IEYXXIJ.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>They all meet up at the original crime scene and he heads into the bathroom with a magnifying glass, talking about <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Locard%27s_exchange_principle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Locard's Exchange Principle<\/a>. He finds something and that's his final clue. He's solved it.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/ddMciwA.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>He wants to confirm one last detail with Room Service Guy and then needs someone to inform the Commissioner that he's solved it. And: <br \/><br \/>\"No offence, you're all amazing, but I'd like a seat on the next flight out of here.\"<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/4nOZPcz.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Cut to outside the hotel where Parker and the Commissioner are talking. Parker doesn't understand he can't just leave <i>right now<\/i>. <br \/><br \/>Commissioner: Believe me, no one is looking forward to you leaving this island more than me. <br \/><br \/>But until the arrests are made and the paperwork is complete, he can't leave. <br \/><br \/>Parker looks around. \"Why is everyone here?\"<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Khw1M1e.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Commissioner: Because you need to tell them what happened, who did it.<br \/><br \/>Anyway, Parker does the showdown thing. He reveals that the killer is... the husband! But he had help. Parker pulls out his phone to call \"her\" right now - I'm predicting it's the assistant manager. It's the only other speaking role that appeared throughout the episode.<br \/><br \/>And I was right. It's the assistant manager, Emma. \"Or is it Samantha?\" Parker asks. <br \/><br \/>Of course she happens to be within sight of the showdown location so Parker waves her over.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/VnrAgJA.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The father: Who the hell is Samantha?<br \/><br \/>So Parker explains: Samantha is the husband's affair - but not really. Because her name is Emma, and they didn't meet in Spain on a business trip but in St. Marie while he was preparing that time share business deal.<br \/><br \/>Parker continues his elaborations: if the father found out the husband was cheating on his daughter, he'd be out of the company as well as the marriage. And he couldn't afford that, could he? So the wife had to go. <br \/><br \/>Parker then nearly collapses because of the heat before going on with his explanation.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/BbvxjOF.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The husband slipped a few sleeping pills into his wife's champagne at the launch party to make sure she would retire early. Meanwhile the girlfriend went into the room next door to the wife's and turned off the electricity. She filled the bathtub, plugged in the hair dryer and dropped it in the bathtub. The scene was staged. <br \/><br \/>The she went next door where the wife was knocked out with the sleeping pills. She filled the bathtub here as well and plugged the hair dryer in. <br \/><br \/>Meanwhile downstairs, the husband excused himself to check on his wife. He met his girlfriend in the room and they carried the sleeping wife into the bath before dropping the hair dryer into the water. <br \/><br \/>Then Emma went back to the room next door and put on a hotel bathrobe just like the victim was wearing and a brown wig (like the victim's hair). That's what Parker found in the bathtub, btw, a synthetic hair from the wig. Anyway, the girlfriend locked the doors and got in the tub. Since the electricity was out, she was in no danger. <br \/><br \/>At the actual crime scene, the husband meanwhile locked the doors and then forced the doors open to make it look like they were broken down to get inside. Then he went back into the hallway to start his show.<br \/><br \/>Room Service Guy confirms that the assistant manager sent him up to that floor - to provide the husband with a convenient witness. They broke down the doors and then the husband sent Room Service Guy out of the room to get help. In the short time he was gone, the husband moved one room down the hallway to wait for Room Service Guy to come back, making it look like they'd broken into this room and not the one next door. <br \/><br \/>JP and Ruby arrest them and Parker turns to the Commissioner because he really want to get on that flight. And then he collapses. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/WgbmF9T.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/zPTOrRB.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Cut to the beach house where the Commissioner is wheeling Parker inside in a wheelchair. \"He needs complete rest and recuperation!\"<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Y5RwrWy.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Ruby asks what he has. \"Deep vein thrombosis.\" Well, he's not getting on any flights then.<br \/><br \/>\"For a few weeks!\" <br \/><br \/>Commissioner: \"Luckily you have this wonderful bungalow to stay in.\" <br \/><br \/>Parker does not look like he feels lucky.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/NjdU0Dq.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Commissioner: Call if you need anything. I believe you have Officer Hooper's number.<br \/><br \/>Ha! If he calls JP between midnight and 6 am <i>again<\/i>, deep vein thrombosis is going to be the least of his problems. :p<br \/><br \/>Everyone else leaves and Parker is left on the porch, looking at the ocean. Then Harry approaches.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/3nQWDFY.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2KvwTRT.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Parker screams. The team: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/IsTVtaN.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Ruby: Looks like he met Harry. :D<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Hdlon6P.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>And that's Neville Parker's first episode as the new DI. Not sure how they'll convince him to stay, but he's not the first who only wanted to be there for one case and ended up staying longer. So far I don't dislike him, but I don't instantly like him either.<br \/><a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64376.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 02","user: seraphina_snape","cycle 06"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64201.html","pubDate":"Mon, 04 Jan 2021 22:25:23 GMT","title":"Challenge 02: Previously On... Death In Paradise 9x04","author":"seraphina_snape","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64201.html","description":"This review contains images and spoilers for the episode in question. Be warned! <br \/><br \/>Secondary warning: domestic abuse and suicide are discussed in the episode.<br \/><br \/><b>904: Pirates of the Murder Scene<\/b><br \/><br \/>The 4th episode picks up where the last one left off. Mooney is sitting on a log on the beach thinking about his options. The scene is intercut with a church service - so I'm guessing someone at that church is going to die. And it's either the young woman or her boyfriend\/husband (who also appears to be the pastor's son). Okay, it's the husband, apparently. The pastor knocks on their door at midnight and when the wife (Alesha) opens, he says he got a \"help me\" text from his son Christopher.<br \/><br \/>Cut to Christopher, lying dead in a boat floating on the ocean, his broken phone next to him. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/YiBt56c.png\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><br \/><br \/>Aaaand: theme music. I still love the contrast between the murders and then boom! Everything is colourful and happy.<br \/><br \/>Cut to the next morning. The boat is at the harbour and the team are investigating. Madeleine is wearing a colourful jumpsuit again! <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/7Is0znX.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>JP doesn't have much info: just he vic's name and that he's dead. His phone needs recharging before they can try and get some info from it, and the boat has no identifying markings. <br \/><br \/>Madeleine and Mooney talk to the family\/main suspects. The pastor says Christopher left early; everyone else stayed to clean up. The wife (Alesha) says he had an office in town and she assumed he went there because his car wasn't in the drive when she got home. The other two (Shonelle and Clarence Delpont) are friends who don't really contribute much at this point. The pastor shows the text message from his son which Mooney finds a little strange. Meanwhile Madeleine went to take a call and calls Mooney over. They found Christopher's car in the jungle.<br \/><br \/>Jumpsuit from the front: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/T87Uj2l.png\" loading=\"lazy\"> <br \/><br \/>Back at the station, Mooney is looking at a map of the island when Ruby and JP come in. Ruby found no prints on the boat and JP couldn't really find out where the vic went after the church barbecue. <br \/><br \/>After work, Mooney meets up with Anna and his daughter Siobhan who's visiting. Siobhan and Anna get along great. Siobhan loves the idea of Mooney joining Anna on her trip. Anna, meanwhile, doesn't expect Mooney to just drop everything and get on a plane, but maybe by the end of the months he'll have things sorted to join her in San Francisco. I'm really glad they made Siobhan and Anna get along. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/OInQ2XQ.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Siobhan talks about her new job and Mooney is visibly proud of her, which is also very sweet. But he's also very pensive. I hope he's not going to do something rash because I really like Anna. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Pn6dYt8.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The next day, JP investigates the vic's office while Ruby tries to trace the boat. JP finds a security camera while Ruby finds... a paint blob. At the station, Mooney receives a fax: the autopsy report says that Christopher died after a fall from a significant height... which doesn't fit at all with the whole boat thing. So how did he end up there? Clearly someone pushed him from somewhere, put him in the boat and pushed it out to sea. <br \/><br \/>He and Madeleine go over the murder board. The vic was born on St. Marie, his father is the pastor. The others (Alesha, Shonelle and Clarence) became friends with Christopher at the church's Sunday school when they were kids. Christopher and Alesha started dating as teenagers and then married after school.<br \/><br \/>Alesha had a hard childhood - she was abandoned as a baby. Clarence is the church's musical director - something about him makes Mooney suspicious. There is next to nothing on Shonelle. <br \/><br \/>Then Ruby comes in in a very good mood. She proudly tells them she found... a splodge. It really isn't much, but I like how Mooney and Madeleine are still encouraging Ruby. Then JP calls and says he found nothing, except the security camera. It shows the vic arriving at the office after the barbecue... and something else. <br \/><br \/>Mooney checks his email for the file and it's Schonelle, entering Christopher's office. Guess who was lying about that to the police?<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/rAQy9HM.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Shonelle is acting very weird and suspicious when Mooney and Madeleine go to talk to her. But she categorically denies there being an affair between them. She still doesn't want to talk about it, but Mooney threatens to arrest her for obstruction. So she tells him that Christopher was a player. He constantly cheated on his wife. He supposedly stopped, but Shonelle caught him with another woman and tried to talk to him about it. She told him to stop sinning like that and that she wouldn't tell his wife if he just stopped. <br \/><br \/>Cut to Mooney and Madeleine interviewing Alesha. She tells them she knew about it. Which of course is a great motive. But she also says she has, in fact, been planning to leave Christopher. She pulls out a bunch of paperwork (rental agreements and so on) to prove it. So why would she kill him for cheating if she was already planning on leaving him?  (She noticeably has trouble bending over to reach the paperwork, so remember this as A Clue.)<br \/><br \/>Back at the station, Mooney sets Madeleine on finding the other woman to check her alibi. Inside, they find JP reading a file and Ruby... napping with her feet in a tub of water.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Xd0vPkU.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>She apologises, but she's been all over the island to find info on the boat, but no luck. Mooney is ready to admit defeat, but Ruby is not giving up yet: she called the Big Guns. <br \/><br \/>Cue the Commissioner walking in. <br \/><br \/>Ruby asked him to put a photo of the boat in the local paper to ask for help from the people of St. Marie. While the Commissioner is there, Mooney asks to talk to him. <br \/><br \/>Before he leaves, the Commissioner talks to JP about the sergeant's exam. He says it's particularly challenging this year, since he set it himself.<br \/><br \/>JP's face:<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/CTfQtc1.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The Commissioner's face:<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/by5fFbZ.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Back in his house, Mooney goes through some personal paperwork. He finds the title to his house in London and a picture of his wife and daughter. The Commissioner arrives and they settle down with a bottle of whiskey(?) - something alcoholic.  They talk a bit and Mooney mentions he might leave to go travelling. (Yay!) The Commissioner has some very good advice, which is basically \"stop worrying about what other people think\/want and do what you need to do for yourself.\"<br \/><br \/>The next morning, Ruby's in the paper. No calls yet, but it's early. Madeleine found the vic's affair, but she's been off the island visiting family. The only thing JP found on the vic's office computer was that he accessed his wife's email and social media accounts, and that he's been doing it for ages. Mooney supposes he might have been insecure about his marriage, but Madeleine counters that he was the one having affairs. <br \/><br \/>Mooney and Madeleine head to the church to talk to the pastor to get some info on Shonelle and Clarence. He reveals that Clarence used to have a crush on Alesha before she married Christopher and he married Shonelle. The day before his wedding, he had doubts, but he talked himself into the marriage anyway. <br \/><br \/>At the station, Ruby waits for the phone to ring.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/r7dzZG1.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>It finally does and it is indeed someone who saw the article and recognised the boat. Cut to a little lighthouse:<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/i0sstX4.png\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<br \/><br \/>The boat belonged to the lighthouse keeper who left it there when the lighthouse was automated ten years before. So the lighthouse is where the murderer got the boat - might also be the scene of crime. Evidence of a break-in seems to point to it. And the vic fell to his death - the lighthouse is definitely tall enough. <br \/><br \/>Mooney and Madeleine climb up to the lighthouse - Mooney is obviously not fond of heights. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/eCgbmZW.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>He finds a small plastic ballerina, like from a music box. They also find signs of a struggle.  <br \/><br \/>Back at the station, JP has found a fingerprint match: Clarence's fingerprint is on the tarpaulin the boat was stored under...<br \/><br \/>They collect Clarence for questioning and confront him with the evidence but he denies it. He admits he was at the lighthouse, but he didn't kill him. He refuses to say anything else. <br \/><br \/>Cut to the music box sans ballerina... and Shonelle. <br \/><br \/>Madeleine delves deeper into the vic's computer and finds out that he was very controlling. He cancelled nights out he didn't want his wife to go on and so on. And if he was controlling and jealous, maybe he and Clarence did fight, considering Clarence is in love with Alesha.<br \/><br \/>Mooney fiddles with his tie and says he has to go and do something. From the way this is filmed, it looks like he reached a decision, and that decision is not staying on St. Marie. <br \/><br \/>Mooney meets up with Anna and tells her... he's not actually joining her on the trip. She's ... not surprised. She tells Mooney that he's running away from his unhappiness and his grief and he tells her she's doing the same. But Anna isn't - she was unhappy at home, stuck in a marriage she didn't want anymore. Travelling is her way of being herself, of finding herself again. Mooney? He's just running. But Mooney counters that he's not. He's doing the same thing - by going home. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/JaqwvOi.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>He says that travelling with Anna would be amazing, but it would also be him running away again. So he's doing the opposite. He's going home to confront his old life - the life he lost.  <br \/><br \/>Mooney: How cross are you on a scale of one to ten?<br \/>Anna: Ten... and a half.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/MtfF7V7.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>But then she kisses him! Says she'll be away until next January (and it can't be later than late January\/early February here) but that she'll make London her last stop. And he's going to wait for her. Awww. I'm kind of sad that they're not going to be together now, but at least there's hope? <br \/><br \/>Back at the station, Ruby found an article about the lighthouse about a baby being abandoned there - a baby that happens to be Alesha. Mooney has the beginning of an idea and talks to Clarence who says his wife has the music box. Shonelle tells Mooney she found it in Clarence's truck. She'd known something was up when Clarence came home late that night, sweaty and upset. But he denied everything. <br \/><br \/>Mooney opens the music box and boom. He's got it figured out. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/REIpmk9.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Cut to Alesha's house. Mooney knocks with the music box in his hands. Alesha opens and sees it. \"You know?\" Mooney nods. <br \/><br \/>Mooney follows her into the house while the others stay outside. They talk while Mooney is gluing the ballerina back in place. <br \/><br \/>The music box belonged to Alesha's mother. It was the only thing she had of her mother's. Alesha was at the lighthouse that night to kill herself. Christopher was controlling and abusive. He found out she'd been planning to leave him and Alesha saw no other way out. But Christopher found her note and went to Clarence for help to figure out where she went. Clarence, of course, didn't want her to die and he didn't know about the abuse, so he figured out she was at the lighthouse. They went there and Chistopher went up to Alesha. They fought. He fell over the railing in the struggle. Clarence sent Alesha home and put Christopher into the boat. He waited until Alesha was home to send a text to the pastor with Christopher's phone to give Alesha an alibi and then he went home himself. <br \/><br \/>Mooney is very careful in the interview - he keeps his voice soft and makes it clear that Christopher was wrong to abuse Alesha. He's very understanding. <br \/><br \/>I liked that they did it differently this time. No big reveal, no rehashing things with everyone there. Just Alesha and Mooney. It would have been awful for her to have to do this in front of everyone, I imagine. <br \/><br \/>Mooney is clearly touched by the case.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/xcIbXct.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Back at the station, he tells the Commissioner his decision: he's not going travelling, but he is leaving the island. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/jSEJgP4.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The Commissioner says they're gonna miss him. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/jK848lX.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Mooney is a little teary:<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/VNxDKAm.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Back at his house, he's packing his bags. Siobhan is giving the view one last look before she grabs a bag. Mooney says they'll be back to visit (I wish). He says goodbye to Harry (\"look after the next one for me\"). And cut to some lovely scenery shots as they drive to the airport.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Ayt1RuJ.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/rzGLVrr.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>After a stop to say goodbye to Catherine, they're at the airport and say goodbye to the team. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/oohLFyA.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/bOJz9kh.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Hang on, boys, you can do better than that! <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/hZq4oIm.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/9CygMU4.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/gkeHrJE.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>It's bittersweet, seeing Mooney leave the show. But at least he's leaving on a somewhat hopeful and happy note.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/oNbwSIu.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/wwSWTIF.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>And because crime never sleeps on this island, the last scene is the team (sans Mooney but with the Commissioner) at the station. The Commissioner wanted to drop by to see how they're coping. Just as he's saying he hasn't found a replacement yet but that he hopes there won't be any serious crime until then, the phone rings. They have: a suspicious death.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/O6rNciL.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The episode ends with the team getting ready to go to the scene. JP stops in the door and turns back to Mooney's empty desk before following everyone else.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/de2GcSa.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The music is spot on in the last few minutes. First someone sings that home is where the heart is when Mooney is saying his goodbyes, and then in the end scene it's \"my heart is gone\" or something along those lines. <br \/><br \/>Now we just have to hope that the new guy, whoever he may be, is up to the challenge. <a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/64201.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 02","user: seraphina_snape","cycle 06"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63875.html","pubDate":"Mon, 04 Jan 2021 22:24:10 GMT","title":"Challenge 02: Previously On... Death In Paradise 9x03","author":"seraphina_snape","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63875.html","description":"This review contains images and spoilers for the episode in question. Be warned! <br \/><br \/><b>903: Tour de Murder<\/b><br \/><br \/>I don't really have time to go on an in-depth review here and I also felt like this case was very, very predictable. The episode starts with one of the three members of a bicycle racing team dying on the day of a big race. His GPS signal cuts out at the most difficult part of the track and when his coach and team nurse or whatever she is go there to see if he had an accident, they find him down a ravine, dead. <br \/><br \/>The team, when they arrive, first think it's accidental - it happens. But then Mooney finds a scrap of fabric torn from a team shirt. Except it's not the victim's, and nobody else's. So where is it from, and how did it get to the crime scene. <br \/><br \/>As soon as one of the team members mentioned that he and the vic did a training run before the race I knew he was involved. Obviously the vic died before the race, the guy changed shirts and simply carried the vic's GPS signal with him until they got to the ravine where he tossed it and there. Perfect alibi. <br \/><br \/>And the guy's girlfriend who also happened to be the team nurse and a former cyclist? Yeah, there's your accomplice. She showed up late to the race wearing one of the vic's shirts, wore sunglasses and, of course, a bike helmet. Nobody really looked at them, all focused on the start of the race, so nobody noticed the vic wasn't actually the vic. And then, shortly after the start, she separated from the pack, biked back to the start point and changed back. <br \/><br \/>They did try to misdirect with some doping pills and a secret about the vic's sister and the other teammate being the coach's son, but it really was very obvious from the start. <br \/><br \/>Still, we did get more Anna\/Mooney and again it was super sweet.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/9l3sNMt.png\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><br \/><br \/>And of course their date gets interrupted by police business again. *sigh*<br \/><br \/>Ruby and JP are still having that funny sibling rivalry going on. I honestly don't see how people say they're flirting. I mean, JP is married. He mentioned his wife in the last episode and Ruby is constantly flirting with other guys. Case in point, she's pretty keen to interview all these bicycle athletes... :p<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/mHG2jgW.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>At the end of the day, Mooney has another date with Anna and she tells them that the St. Marie team came in second so if they do well in the next bit of the race, they might win. Everyone is excited for that because, according to JP, they've never even been in the top three so far. <br \/><br \/>JP has a side story in this episode where he discovered the torn team shirt on a young boy selling knockoff stuff to tourists. The boy escapes but JP manages to get his bag of stuff. JP then proceeds to have a little crisis of faith because he should log the stuff as evidence... but Catherine told him the boy lives with his grandfather and they have very little money. Ultimately, JP finds the boy and talks to him, and then lets him go. Which makes JP worry that Mooney is going to reprimand him - but of course Mooney has a heart and tells JP he's proud. And that JP should go for the sergeant's exam. It's very heartwarming. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/FZOIGWM.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/3XqDMgv.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Meanwhile on the Anna\/Mooney front, Anna's departure is looming. Mooney asks her to consider postponing her trip. She's not too keen on it - this is her way of doing HER thing, free from her ex-husband. She doesn't want to change her plans for any guy, not even one as nice as Mooney. They continue to be super awkward. <br \/><br \/>This episode's \"got it\" face: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/kWdhyzt.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Madeleine didn't actually wear a jumpsuit this time. :( <br \/><br \/>On the Anna\/Mooney front, Anna asks Mooney if he would consider going to her next stop (Cuba) with her.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/mGMuZOp.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/VKBRHJz.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/1vc70fS.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Cut to Mooney thinking about it on his porch, talks to Harry (the lizard) about it... <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/7uZqC4w.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>I think he might actually do it, and I think it would be a great end to Mooney's time on St. Marie. No death, no heartbreak, but a new beginning. <a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63875.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 02","user: seraphina_snape","cycle 06"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63580.html","pubDate":"Mon, 04 Jan 2021 22:22:55 GMT","title":"Challenge 02: Previously On... Death In Paradise 9x02","author":"seraphina_snape","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63580.html","description":"This review contains images and spoilers for the episode in question. Be warned! <br \/><br \/><b>902: A Portrait in Murder<\/b><br \/><br \/>The next episode opens on a beach road with a blonde woman in a cabriolet and cheery reggae music playing. The woman buys an energy drink (Boom Ting) and makes a call to a young man. \"Get the studio ready!\" He's still speaking when she hangs up on him. He's in an art studio. <br \/><br \/>Cut to an outside dining table. A young woman is on the phone arguing with a client(?) while the young man from earlier and another young man arrive at the table. Guy 2 is carrying a tablet of food. She ends her call and Cabriolet Woman - obviously an artist - arrives. Everyone seems to be stressed. The woman kisses Guy 2 while the other two roll their eyes a little. There is some bitching from all sides. Anyway, artist woman (I'm guessing she's our victim, or the prime suspect - alongside the other three) takes her energy drink and heads to the studio (which is a shed set up as an art studio) to start painting. She turns on loud music and paints while the others have lunch. Clips showing the artist start to get wobbly as the artist apparently gets wobbly, so I'm guessing she's the victim. And yup, she collapses! <br \/><br \/>Theme song time. I'm dancing in my chair a little. <br \/><br \/>Mooney arrives at the scene where JP and Ruby brief him: Donna, artist from London, prepared for a live show where her paintings would be sold for charity. The artist's name is vaguely familiar to Mooney and Madeleine; apparently she was a big deal in the 90s. <br \/><br \/>Mooney immediately suspects poison as he can smell bitter almonds and the vic's skin is red and blotchy. He sets JP to bag and food or drinks. He also asks them to open a window because the paint fumes are making him lightheaded. <br \/><br \/>Then Ruby cuts in: \"Sir, we've got another body!\"<br \/><br \/>It's... a mouse. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/8bhLtZC.png\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><br \/><br \/>Meanwhile Madeleine sniffs at the vic's energy drink and smells *drum roll* bitter almonds. <br \/><br \/>Outside, an older woman arrives and is all \"what the hell is going on?\" She is Patty, the victim's art dealer. <br \/><br \/>Mooney takes her to the other persons of interest and tells them he suspects poisoning. He notices Guy 2 (the boyfriend) has a bandage on his hand. He asks them to tell him what happened. <br \/><br \/>Guy 1 (the vic's assistant) is apparently also an artist. He set up the studio for Donna. He doesn't know where she went before she was murdered. Guy 2 butts in and says she was meeting a friend, but he doesn't know who and he adds that she hardly knew anyone on the island. Guy 1 adds that she called him on the way back from Jimmy's kiosk where she always got cigarettes and a can of Boom Ting. <br \/><br \/>Nobody touched the can of Boom Ting and it wasn't opened while she was outside with the others. Mooney keeps looking at Guy 2 like he's suspect #1. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/VIYVkm9.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>They all say that they didn't see anyone go in the studio and that they were all outside... except Patty of course. But she was in a taxi at the time. <br \/><br \/>The first time someone went into the studio was after lunch when the young woman and Guy 1 went to see if he needed anything. They found her unconscious\/dead and called an ambulance.<br \/><br \/>As they leave, Madeleine and Mooney comment on the mystery: how did the poison get in the can of Boom Ting when nobody but the victim handled it?<br \/><br \/>Back in the studio, Ruby throws the dead mouse in the trash. JP is a little weird about it, but whatever. Mooney sends them to talk to the kiosk owner. He and Madeleine look at the painting the vic was working on before she died and then go to search the house. In the vic's office, Mooney finds a box of books: copies of her memoirs. Madeleine is all \"maybe we should do some work now...?\" So they do. Mooney finds a mirror with some fist-shaped damage to it and Madeleine finds a plane ticket (one way, to New York). <br \/><br \/>So they go talk to Guy 2 AKA the Boyfriend. <br \/><br \/>But the boyfriend admits to arguing with the vic. Apparently she mentioned him as her drug dealer in her memoirs, something he wasn't too happy about. Apparently, that's how they met. <br \/><br \/>Mooney: And they say romance is dead. <br \/><br \/>They ask why he didn't leave and he says he loved her. Mooney is not convinced. <br \/><br \/>As they are leaving, Mooney and Madeleine stumble over a bouquet of flowers someone put down in front of the door. They check the card and then Patty comes along and takes the flowers. They leave and Patty goes straight out the back door and dumps the flowers in the trash. I smell a clue! <br \/><br \/>At the station, Mooney is reading the vic's memoirs when JP and Ruby get back. Nobody else has been admitted to hospital for cyanide poisoning, so it probably wasn't a random thing. Still, they confiscated the rest of the Boom Ting stock at the kiosk and sent it to the lab. Madeleine is meanwhile setting up the murder board. Mooney sends everyone to do background checks and to find out where the vic was that morning. <br \/><br \/>The next morning JP has the autopsy report back saying it was definitely cyanide. There were traces of it in the can of Boom Ting and it was also the only thing she consumed in the hours before her death. Fingerprints were only the victim's. <br \/><br \/>They go over their suspects: <br \/><br \/>Guy 1: Anthony, the vic's assistant. Has minors for vandalism (graffiti) but no real motive so far.<br \/><br \/>Guy 2: Max, the Boyfriend. Drug history, met the vic 10 years ago. Did some modeling, has a rich family background. No real motive either.<br \/><br \/>The young woman: Sandrine: art centre manager. Apparently engaged to Anthony. Definitely no motive. <br \/><br \/>Patty: the art dealer. Met the vic back in the 90s, but has financial trouble. Can't have been happy with a charity auction\/sale because there's no money in it. <br \/><br \/>Madeleine has meanwhile found out who sent the flowers to the victim - it was Charlotte Ormsby-Dawlish who is also an art dealer. She and the vic where about to sign a contract, dumping Patty as an art dealer. Which gives her so much motive... but it can't be her because it's barely ten minutes in. *g*<br \/><br \/>Meanwhile there is a call from the art centre. Patty has hired some guys to reclaim the painting for the charity showing and Sandrine is keeping them at bay with a fire extinguisher. She and Patty are arguing about the painting: Patty wants to take them, claiming they're essentially hers, but Sandrine wants to go ahead with the showing, claiming the vic gave them to her for this charity sale. <br \/><br \/>Madeleine takes the fire extinguisher. <br \/><br \/>This is the second episode where she's wearing a jumpsuit. <br \/><br \/>This is 901: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/4h2zzUu.png\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>And now this one:<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/7bJjb9w.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>I wonder if this is a new trend. <br \/><br \/>Mooney confronts Patty, but she keeps her cool. The vic hasn't signed the new contract, so what does it matter? Besides, she has an alibi! <br \/><br \/>Back at the station, JP and Ruby are sighting the evidence. He mentions that the mouse, Rothko, was the vic's pet and reveals that he used to have a pet mouse as a kid: Cecil. Ruby finds it hilarious, but JP distracts her with evidence: apparently the vic stopped at a gas station. He finds out she also asked for directions while there, so Mooney and Madeleine go there. <br \/><br \/>Turns out the vic visited a guy named Minto: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/raymfrK.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>He's just some rich guy \"investing\" his money in art, so he bought one of her paintings. Apparently the guy called her to thank her for the painting and then the day she was murdered, she just showed up at his place and wanted to see the painting \"in situ\". Then she left. Minto says he didn't know her. He approached her by email and she first said no but then did it anyway and he paid 60k cash for it. Although, he says, he might get rid of it, especially now she's dead. <br \/><br \/>The guy is weird, but not really a suspect. Mooney asks if he paid the vic personally and he says no, he gave it to the assistant. Mooney and Madeleine talk to him. <br \/><br \/>Anthony is painting when they find him (and he's not bad). He says the vic was going to take him to London. He admits he was the in-between for the sale to Terry. He shows them that he hid the money in a wrapped painting frame. He didn't take it to the bank or anywhere official because the vic didn't want Patty (her art dealer) to find out she'd sold a painting on her own. He's a little bit affronted to hear that Minto is thinking of selling the painting. <br \/><br \/>Back at the station, JP confirms Patty's alibi. She can't have done it. Ruby checked the vic's financials and found nothing unusual. But she did find that the vic went to a therapist for rich people, so Madeleine plans to speak to her in the morning. Currently the only one with a motive is the boyfriend. <br \/><br \/>Mooney invites everyone to a beer at Catherine's bar when Anna calls - apparently they're going on a date the next day. :D At Catherine's, he talks to Catherine about the whole dating situation. She reveals that she wondered, for a bit, if she and Mooney might ever get together which sends them both giggling when Mooney says \"you would have eaten me alive\". She gives Mooney some advice though: if Anna is only there for a holiday before she leaves, he might as well give it a try. Have a summer\/holiday romance. Not too serious. Just the right thing to get back in the game, as it were. <br \/><br \/>At the table, Ruby is still teasing JP about Cecil the mouse. JP shares some more of Cecil who just disappeared one day. They end up toasting Rothko and Cecil, two dead mice. JP finds it ridiculous. <br \/><br \/>The next morning, Mooney is already at the office when JP and Ruby arrive. He's pondering something and asks about the painting of the boyfriend that the vic was working on. Something bothers him about the painting Minto bought (which also features the boyfriend) and he's trying to figure out what. <br \/><br \/>He sends the two to take a pic of the artist's other work and while there Ruby notices that the dead mouse is gone from the trash. \"What is it with you? First Cecil disappears and now Rothko? You're like a Bermuda Triangle for mice!\"<br \/><br \/>JP just rolls his eyes, figuring something ate the dead mouse. <br \/><br \/>Madeleine comes back from speaking to the therapist where the vic was seeking help with her self-destructive habits. Apparently, the chaos helps her paint, but it's hell on relationships. The therapist also says the vic had a fling with her assistant Anthony. And she also told Sandrine about it - who, if you remember, is engaged to Anthony. Ooh. Sandrine did NOT like it. <br \/><br \/>Mooney finds it a bit suspicious that Sandrine and Anthony didn't mention it at all. They go to talk to Sandrine. She isn't happy they found out, but points out that she'd have to be an idiot to kill the woman promoting her art centre and sponsoring her fianc\u00e9. The vic was literally their cash cow - so what if she had an affair with the fianc\u00e9? <br \/><br \/>Mooney asks if the vic's boyfriend knew about the affair. Sandrine doesn't know, but thinks there was something wrong with their relationship. <br \/><br \/>Mooney and Madeleine talk to the boyfriend Max again who says they had an open relationship and he didn't care who she slept with. Mooney, having read the memoirs, remembers that Max was definitely the jealous type in the book. He once got in a fight with the vic that got him a pretty nasty scar on his stomach (the guy is constantly bare-chested or in open shirts so everyone has seen the scar.) His motive is getting better and better. <br \/><br \/>Mooney is not happy about it when Max points out he had no chance to poison her and takes off. Then Madeleine reminds Mooney of his date with Anna (he's already late and a little nervous). Anna is waiting at the harbour and they continue as they left off: awkward and adorable. They are doing an island tour on the water, talk about their first ever dates and are generally adorable. I know I keep saying it, but they <i>are<\/i>.<br \/><br \/>Back at the station, Ruby and JP compare the pic of Minto's painting to the one they got from the vic's studio. They can't see anything strange, but Madeleine notices that the scar on the boyfriend's stomach is turning the wrong way in one of the paintings. They all wonder why the vic would make that mistake. (The obvious answer is, of course, that she didn't.)<br \/><br \/>Cut to Minto's house where someone breaks in and steals the painting. Minto, by chance, comes back just afterwards and chases the thief through the backyard to the beach where the thief heads off in a little boat. <br \/><br \/>Cut to Mooney's awkward date. Anna notices that obviously Mooney is not quite happy to be there. He confesses to her that this is a big deal for him - it's his first date since his wife died. Anna is understanding - it's a big deal for her, too. Neither of them really know if they're quite ready yet but Anna really would like to try. Mooney is just about to answer when his phone rings. <br \/><br \/>It's Minto on the phone, telling Mooney that he was robbed. Mooney kind of commandeers the boat they're on and they chase towards the fleeing thief. Except the thief just keeps going while the boat Mooney is on breaks down and that's that boat chase over with... <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/3Ws6Vcu.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Back in the harbour, Mooney apologises about the date but Anna waves him off. Literally the most exciting date she's ever been on.  :D Mooney says he'll call her but she says she'll understand if he doesn't. (I want him to call her! They're so sweet together!)<br \/><br \/>Madeleine updates Mooney on the whole scar issue. And who do they know who was involved in the painting deal with Minto, who is also an artist and who handled the money of the secret sale? Right - they go talk to Anthony who admits he faked the painting. But apparently the vic figured it out - that's why she went to Minto that day, to see the painting. Which gives Anthony a very obvious motive.<br \/><br \/>(Although: Mooney talks about the scar and how it's bending the wrong way in the fake Anthony painted because he \"didn't have the luxury to see Max' scar every day\" - bullshit. So far the guy has been shirtless\/with an open shirt every time except once. Anthony must have seen the scar so many times! Plus, he usually set up the vic's studio where a giant painting of the guy and his scar was set up. Total plothole there - unless Anthony was just super unobservant.)<br \/><br \/>Anthony denies the murder though. <br \/><br \/>The team assembles in the studio. Mooney recounts events to figure out how the poison got in the drink. Nobody has any idea how, but in the silence they can hear... a mouse. It's Rothko the... not dead mouse. Everyone is very confused. (Also note Madeleine's jumpsuit!)<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/HynngO7.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>While trying to figure out how the mouse survived, Mooney has a brilliant idea. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/F826ciq.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>We get the usual flashback as he's putting things together and then it's time for the big showdown after Ruby and JP get the paint brushes to the lab. <br \/><br \/>At the lunch table outside, everyone is gathered. Mooney sums up the crime and says the killer used misdirection. He puts a can of Boom Ting on the table and says it's thanks to the mouse that he figured out the impossible murder. <br \/><br \/>He looks around and is like, \"Sandrine did it.\"<br \/><br \/>Everyone is shocked and surprised. <br \/><br \/>Madeleine explains that nobody went near the can of Boom Ting... before the murder. But afterwards, Sandrine was the first to the crime scene and the body. She sent Anthony to phone for an ambulance, used a little vial of poison to kill the (by then only unconscious vic) and poured the rest of the poison in the Boom Ting can to make it look like that was the source of the poison. She engineered the whole thing by exchanging the paint thinners with something more potent that caused the vic to fall unconscious (and put the mouse in a coma) and then poisoned the seemingly already dead victim. <br \/><br \/>Her motive was the fact that the victim wanted to take Anthony to London - she was afraid she'd be left by her fianc\u00e9 and prot\u00e9g\u00e9 artist. <br \/><br \/>Cut to Mooney's beach house where he's recounting his day to his dead wife's picture frame. It's a little heartbreaking - the thing about Mooney is that he hides his pain behind this happy facade and it only shines through occasionally, but deep down he's still mourning. But he also wants to try and move on, but he struggles to \"replace\" his dead wife. Still, he picks up his phone to call Anna. <br \/><br \/>Cut to Anna, sitting in Catherine's bar, waiting for Mooney. He comes to the table with their drinks and Anna says she's very surprised he called - but glad that he did. Look at them: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/7mHTmjy.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>So sweet!<br \/><br \/>A few tables over, Madeleine, JP and Catherine are watching and happy for Mooney. Ruby shows up with a small cage that she puts down in front of JP. I'm guessing that's Cecil 2.0 in there. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/o4z1gBK.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Actually, it's Rothko. Ruby: It's fate! After all these years a little mouse turns up homeless and here you are... mouse-less. <br \/><br \/>:D<br \/><br \/>And that's the end of 902. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/wKmMvHf.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63580.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 02","user: seraphina_snape","cycle 06"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63280.html","pubDate":"Mon, 04 Jan 2021 22:21:48 GMT","title":"Challenge 02: Previously On... Death In Paradise 9x01","author":"seraphina_snape","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63280.html","description":"This review contains images and spoilers for the episode in question. Be warned! <br \/><br \/>I recently bought series 9 of <i>Death in Paradise<\/i> on DVD to continue one of my favourite shows, and it did not disappoint. I was a big fan of Richard Poole and I was devastated when he was killed, but I quickly grew to like Humphrey Goodman. And when Humphrey left, I was willing to like the new guy (Jack Mooney) based mostly on his name - a guy named Mooney? My Harry Potter loving heart skipped a beat. Add in Mooney hiding his brilliance a lot, having a genuinely nice nature, a lot of social engagement and an Irish accent - yeah, I loved Mooney from the start. <br \/><br \/>Finding out that series 9 would be his last made me incredibly sad, so I decided to review his last episodes on <i>Death in Paradise<\/i> (and the new guy's first episode). Let's hope they're everything I could wish for.<br \/><br \/><b>901: La Murder Le Diabl\u00e9 <\/b><br \/><br \/>The new series opens on New Year's Eve 2019 (haha, if only they knew what 2020 would bring) - JP and Ruby are working, which Ruby isn't too happy about. As a Northern European, it's incredibly strange to see people organizing New Year's party stuff in shorts and t-shirts, in the sunshine, <i>outside<\/i>. (It's New Year's Day today and last night, it was -2. Nobody was wearing shorts.)<br \/><br \/>In the episode, Ruby gets hit on by a guy we later find out if named Raymond. I think a lot of people don't see Ruby as a grown woman because she's goofy and accident prone and generally in such a happy mood that it seems incongruous that she's an actual adult dealing with adult problems.<br \/><br \/>Cut to another luxurious villa (they seem to be abundant on St. Marie) rented\/owned by some rich Brit. Rich Brit and Rich Brit's wife are getting ready for a party, but of course the wife is barely dressed while he's ready to leave. I'm predicting that one of them will be killed within the next five minutes. <br \/><br \/>The husband leaves to go to his party (literally his; he's \"the boss\", so he's organized a New Year's party for his company) while the wife stays to get ready. At the beach, the party is already going strong. The boss arrives shaking hands and heads straight to the bar to order a drink. A female employee asks about his wife and he says she's still getting ready. Cut to the wife, now dressed, touching up  her lipstick in the kitchen. She notices that one of the doors to the terrace is open and goes to investigate. <br \/><br \/>She looks out but doesn't see anyone - of course not. Horror Film Logic says that the murderer is already inside and she's trapping herself with him by closing the door. Aaaand that's correct - you can see a guy in a devil's mask reflected in the glass once the door is closed. Guess who gets stabbed? <br \/><br \/>The killer grabs the wife's lipstick and writes a message on the floor next to her: <i>la vengeance...<\/i> [Quick aside: I guess now I guess why the episode title references the devil. Still not sure what the accent over the e in diabl\u00e9 is supposed to do because that's definitely not real French. Maybe it's not supposed to <i>be<\/i> French if it can instead <i>look<\/i> like French? idk.]<br \/><br \/>Cut to the opening credits. I'm not gonna lie, hearing the <i>Death in Paradise<\/i> theme song always puts me in a good mood. It's catchy, it's cheery, it's fun - it makes you think you're on holiday in the Caribbean. Which I guess is the point. <br \/><br \/>Cut to a different New Year's Party. Madeleine Dumas is enjoying some champagne while DI Mooney is trying to learn how to dance by dancing with a young man. Or is it the other way around? Either way, it's not going too well. Ruby and JP show up just as Mooney manages to walk backwards into a table and throw everything to the floor. He replaces the drinks and heads towards the others, blaming his backside for the event: \"got a mind of its own\". Turns out Mooney is thinking of learning Calypso - as a resolution for the new year. The others look (rightfully, I imagine) sceptical. He mentions wanting a dance partner and Madeleine immediately finds something to look at in the exact opposite direction of Mooney. No luck, though, because he asks her but luckily gets interrupted by the Commissioner calling before Madeleine has to make up some excuse as to why she'd rather keep her feet unbroken. :D<br \/><br \/>But of course the Commissioner calling on New Year's Eve can't be good news, so off they are to the murder scene. The victim's name is Vanessa McCormack, and her husband Aaron McCormack apparently got worried when his wife hadn't show up to his party after a while and went home to fetch her, finding her stabbed in the kitchen. The Commissioner explains what the viewer already knew: McCormack is indeed a rich Brit involved in Big Business on St. Marie. <br \/><br \/>Mooney notices the security cameras outside the property, but doesn't comment. They inspect the murder scene and Madeleine notices that the lipstick used to write the message is the same colour the victim is wearing. Ruby butts in with a quick analysis of lip stick colours and skin tones which honestly had me making the same face as Madeleine, but of course the Commissioner was impressed. (For those not in the know: Commissioner Patterson is Ruby's uncle. I know it stinks of nepotism but I think by now Ruby has proved herself to be a good officer, no matter who she's related to. Still, especially JP sometimes struggles with having his boss' niece as his co-worker.)<br \/><br \/>Mooney is looking around the crime scene and he is bothered by the three little dots in <i>la vengeance...<\/i> since obviously it implies the message is incomplete. Meaning... more murder?<br \/><br \/>The team then interview the husband who says he left for the party at half eight [On a personal note: In almost every other language I know the phrase \"half eight\" would mean 7:30. But of course Britain has got to be different so it means 8:30. I still remember being so confused by this when I was younger and the internet wasn't there to give you instant answers to questions like this.] and didn't realize until ten that his wife surely should have been there by now. He plays the grieving widower pretty well, but going by past experience, he's definitely involved in this somehow. He reluctantly (really? I guess we'll see!) brings up his brother as a potential suspect. <br \/><br \/>Madeleine cuts in from where she's sighting the security footage that shows the man in the devil mask entering the house at nine. The Commissioner recognises the mask as that of Le Diabl\u00e9 (I guess, since that's how they spell it in the title), a character from St. Marie folklore. Mooney very unnecessarily asks who \"le Diabl\u00e9\" is (the devil) which tbh I think even people who don't speak French would have figured from the, you know, devil's mask. But whatever.<br \/><br \/>Back in the villa's living room, McCormick brings in an old photo album and says he and his brother haven't spoken in fifteen years because their dad, a successful rum distillery owner, left the distillery to the older brother Donald after his death and the brother didn't want McCormick involved. Cue a big fight between the brothers who \"never really got along\". <br \/><br \/>In the background, fireworks go off. Happy New Year! McCormick grumbles and downs his drink. <br \/><br \/>Mooney is a little confused by the brother would be a suspect when they haven't talked in fifteen years. McCormick reveals that Donald came to his office shortly before to ask for help\/money and then got mad and threatening when McCormick refused. <br \/><br \/>Cut to the brother, Donald McCormick, walking home drunk while being followed by some other guy. Other Guy wants to talk, but Donald is drunk and whining about his brother refusing to help. He unlocks his front gate and leaves his friend standing outside of it as he heads into his house. Inside, he turns on the light and sees a message written in red lipstick on the hallway mirror: <i>... est compl\u00e8te.<\/i><br \/><br \/>He looks at it and then the camera turns a bit to catch the hallway behind Donald in the reflection where - of course - the murderer in the devil's mask is approaching. Donald sees him.<br \/><br \/>Cut to outside where Donald's friend is walking away. He hears Donald call for help, turns and sees the struggle through the window.  Cut to inside where Donald is holding the attacker's wrist. Outside, Donald's friend (named Charlie, unless Donald's calls for help are for random people we haven't seen yet) runs back and bursts into the house. The murderer, now facing two people, jerks back and runs, but not before slashing the knife across Donald's stomach. <br \/><br \/>Donald falls to the ground, bleeding, and his friend Charlie who until then had only stood in the corner being terrified, calls an ambulance. <br \/><br \/>The next morning (judging by the daylight, but the previous scene might have been very late at night\/early in the morning) the team is in Donald's front hallway, investigating. Mooney comes in and updates them on what Donald said (not much, but the attacker was a man wearing jeans, a grey hoodie and a devil's mask). That seems like proof that this is the same guy who attacked Mrs. McCormick earlier in the night. <br \/><br \/>This is followed by probably the funniest scene in this entire episode: Mooney says that it does make sense of the sentence found at both crime scenes: <i>la vengeance ... est compl\u00e8te.<\/i> He very helpfully translates this French sentence... to an actual French woman and two people who grew up on an island were English and French are the official languages. Madeleine's face is <b>perfect<\/b> in this scene: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Nw2sHw6.png\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><br \/><br \/>Now <i>that<\/i> is the face of a woman who just had her own mother tongue translated to her by a guy who doesn't actually speak said language. <br \/><br \/>JP gives him the side eye too:<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/INDI4o7.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Anyway, Mooney correctly concludes that they have two questions to answer: why did someone want to kill Mrs. McCormick and Donald, and who is the guy in the mask?<br \/><br \/>Cue ominous music and a cut to: the grey hoodie (with a few drops of blood on it) and the devil's mask, with the camera slowly panning up to show a sink in a grubby little house. A hand holding a bloody knife comes into view as the killer washes the blood off the knife. He looks... like you would expect your killer to look. kinda gruff and shabby, with an unkempt ten-day-beard and a cigarette dangling from a corner of his mouth. He impassively cleans up the blood.<br \/><br \/>Cut back to a more cheery, Caribbean scene: JP and Ruby are investigating the crime scenes. JP is dusting for finger prints while Ruby is handling a camera for photographs when Ruby's phone dings. (I call bullshit, btw. I don't know a single person under the age of 40 whose phone isn't set to vibrate or entirely silent.) <br \/><br \/>JP is annoyed: they're supposed to be working, not texting. But Ruby can't help it. It's Raymond, and Raymond is cute. JP is confused: they barely spoke, so how did Raymond even get Ruby's number? Ruby considers Raymond to be \"quite the catch\" since he's actually interested in her and not just talking about himself. <br \/><br \/>Meanwhile Mooney and Madeleine visit the brother's rum distillery. It looks run down and in desperate need of some money. One of the signs in front of the property is \"decorated\" with graffiti saying \"scum\" and \"traitor\" - as Madeleine says, Donald does not seem very popular. <br \/><br \/>For the first time this episode, the team is at the St. Marie police station, setting up their murder board. On top of the board is an image from the McCormick security cameras showing the man in the mask. <br \/><br \/>Ruby's phone dings again and they all look at it, but Mooney continues his briefing. He pins a picture of Mrs. McCormick to the board and JP gives a short overview of her. Ruby's phone dings again. Mooney is all \"is that your phone, Ruby?\" and she smiles, saying it's only Raymond, but she hoped he'd go away if she ignored it. The phone, of course, dings again. Ruby goes to silence it and Mooney is all, \"who is Raymond anyway?\" <br \/><br \/>JP heads him off and they continue the briefing with McCormick who thought the killer to be his brother Donald. Their pictures both go on the board. (It's a small detail, but I like the fact that the picture of McCormick looks like JP printed it out off the man's business website. Donald's pic look like a candid shot he gave them or that they found at his house and Mrs. McCormick's is a crime scene photo. They could have just used headshots of all of them (like they mostly did in the earlier series), but this feels a lot more organic. Like this is how you would do it IRL. You don't just have a bunch of headshots of the Important People lying around.)<br \/><br \/>The last person going on the board is Charles Crabtree, Donald's friend, who can testify that Donald can't be the guy in the mask because he was attacked by the guy himself. Charlie is, apparently, Donald's accountant and financial advisor. They all stare at the board for a moment, thinking. Mooney fiddles with his tie as he often does when he's thinking. <br \/><br \/>JP says that all the data and samples from the crime scenes are on the computer and that they have no matches to anyone with a record. There are no further leads, so all they have is the message which clearly links the two crimes.  <br \/><br \/>Mooney decides they need to talk to Donald which they do in the man's house. He's out of the hospital already with a bad but not life-threatening cut. Donald can't really explain the attack of what connection there is between him and his brother's wife. They married after the brothers had their falling out and Donald never actually met the woman. There seems to be nothing to link them. <br \/><br \/>Mooney asks about the graffiti at the distillery and Donald explains that he's not exactly popular since he had to let a lot of workers go due to financial problems. I'm not sure what it is about this guy, but I don't like him. He whines a lot for someone who doesn't seem to be going all that bad. <br \/><br \/>Madeleine requests a list of everyone Donald fired. He asks why anyone he fired would want to kill his brother's wife as well. Mooney says he doesn't know, but his face says \"but I'm definitely gonna find out\". <br \/><br \/>JP and Ruby arrive at Charlie Crabtree's house to take his fingerprints to exclude them from the ones found at the second crime scene. Charlie is every bit the posh asshole - he's got \"people coming over for his New Year's bruncheon\". Ruby spots a mug by the sink with a lipstick impression on it in the exact shade Mrs. McCormick was wearing... Charlie waves it off as a coincidence, saying Mrs. McCormick hasn't been to his house. He says no about six times which isn't suspicious at all. Right.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/nali7aK.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Outside, Ruby and JP have called Mooney and Madeleine because Charlie was acting so fishy. They talked to the neighbours and found out that a woman looking very much like the first victim visited Charlie the day before, and that they argued. Guess who just got elevated to top suspect?<br \/><br \/>Cut to Mooney and Madeleine talking to Charlie. He was supposed to invest some money for Mrs. McCromick - she gave him 50.000 Pounds to invest... but he used to money to pay off some debts (club memberships and his Italian tailor and did I mention he was kind of a posh asshole?). Mooney points out that committing fraud gives Charlie a pretty good motive for murder. <br \/><br \/>Except. Charlie can't have been the killer since he was right there when the guy attacked Donald. <br \/><br \/>Mooney and Madeleine are not happy about it, but Charlie is right. <br \/><br \/>Back at the station, they're going over the details again - everyone has either no motive or an alibi. They're going back to the basics: Madeleine is going to check out the husband's alibi. Maybe he wasn't at the party after all?<br \/><br \/>Mooney sets JP to get a \"list of enemies\" from McCormick as well as Donald so that they can go through them to look for possible suspects. <br \/><br \/>Then the Commissioner comes in, looking displeased. We quickly learn why: the evening news have come up with a serial killer theory. Mooney is surprised. Ruby, in the background, looks a little \"uh-oh\". <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/XaTltqd.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The news are claiming a source \"close to the police\". They're all wondering about it and as if on cue, Ruby's phone dings. <br \/><br \/>Everyone starts closing in on Ruby, remembering that Raymond was very interested in Ruby and her life. And Ruby admits that maybe the talk of serial killers was brought up between them (by Raymond!) but she never thought he'd talk to the press! (She really does look contrite.) Everyone looks like they're expecting the Commissioner to start shouting, but he's all \"well luckily I called a press conference to set the record straight; they're setting up outside right now so come on, Mooney!\" <br \/><br \/>Cut to the press conference playing on a TV in a bar. Mooney looks super uncomfortable while explaining that yes, there were two victims but they were specifically targeted and there is no serial killer loose on St. Marie. As the camera pans back, we see our killer sitting at the bar, getting drunk. He looks a little alarmed when the Commissioner says they're hoping to bring this case to a \"swift conclusion\", but orders another drink anyway. (In French, btw.)<br \/><br \/>Our killer: <br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/FTUzdYv.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/>Or is he????<br \/><br \/>Cut to the end of the day. Ruby is closing up the station, on the phone to Raymond. She is angry and not-yelling at him \"what? No, of course we're not still going on a date!\" She's gearing up for a longer rant when a woman approaches Ruby. She saw the press conference and wants to speak to DI Mooney. <br \/><br \/>The lady is a witness: she saw the guy in the devil's mask. She's reminds me of Mooney: kinda awkward but sweet. Ruby is all \"hop in\" and so she and the witness are pulling up to Mooney's dance classes in the motorbike and sidecar. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/BjTeMgK.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Cut to the inside where Mooney is \"dancing\" with Madeleine - well, he's moving on the dance floor, bumping into people and things and probably stepping on Madeleine's toes a whole lot. <br \/><br \/>\"It's his backside,\" Ruby explains. The witness is amused since Mooney's backside takes that as a cue to bump into another couple. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/xRojiwu.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Ruby fetches Mooney and the witness takes Mooney to a spot near the beach where she was having a little picnic on her own to watch the fireworks. Mooney thanks her for making the effort to tell them and they get to talking. I smell a love interest in the air. <br \/><br \/>Mooney, by virtue of having had a recently dead wife at the start of his time on St. Marie, hasn't really had a love interest yet. I wonder if they're going to have him fall for this woman and then movie back to Britain with her... <br \/><br \/>Oh, the woman is recently divorced and apparently working to get things off her bucket list. Definitely a love interest. <br \/><br \/>Yup, he's asking her out. Well. I'm not sure he actually meant to ask her out as such, but he did ask her to come to the Calypso lessons to be his partner instead of Madeleine. She agrees, sort of! She is kinda cute and I feel like she and Mooney would fit together well. But I guess we'll see. <br \/><br \/>Meanwhile Madeleine is at McCormick's office to talk to people about his alibi. <br \/><br \/>Back at the station, Mooney sends Ruby to the part of the beach where the witness (Anna) saw the man in the mask to canvass the area and ask around if anyone else saw him. <br \/><br \/>Then Mooney gets a call from Madeleine - she found McCormick's assistant very suspicious. The woman immediately offered up an alibi for McCormick and was generally weird. She also pulled up in an expensive sports car and seems to live in a villa a bit above her pay grade. According to Madeleine, the woman has student debts and not much income, so how? They go an ask.<br \/><br \/>They're being kinda mean but also hilarious. They ask all sorts of \"innocent\" questions about the house and the car and then when the woman gets uncomfortable, they have a \"whispered\" conversation. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/u03EBEM.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Madeleine (leans in): This is what she was like earlier.<br \/>Mooney: When you thought she was acting suspicious?<br \/>Madeleine: Yes! (looks at her) She got red in the face now.<br \/>Mooney: Now, that's a deep burgundy.<br \/><br \/>Surprise, surprise! Guess who's having an affair with the boss? <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/E3HGiYD.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>But no! They're <i>in luuuurve<\/i>. That's why she's got the nice house and the car (and the continued employment I think). <br \/><br \/>McCormick arrives and is all \"I know this doesn't look good.\" Which, yeah, it really doesn't. Mooney asks if he was going to divorce his wife and the girlfriend answers \"of course he was\". From his face, I'm not so sure...<br \/><br \/>Mooney points out that having an affair was not going to help him in a divorce. It would, in fact, make sure that his wife would get a huge settlement and surely that wasn't in his favour. McCormick again points out that he has an alibi. \"Ask anyone!\" <br \/><br \/>Mooney certainly plans to - except it turns out tons of people saw the guy at the party so he really does have an alibi. Mooney is not happy. Mooney found out that McCormick hadn't talked to his solicitor about divorcing his wife (big surprise there) but apparently Mrs. McCormick had! She apparently knew her husband had an affair and wanted to know her chances in a divorce. It also explains why she wanted to invest 50 thousand of her own money - as security in case the divorce didn't pan out the way she wanted to. Which explains why she talked to Charlie Crabtree. But it still doesn't explain her murder. <br \/><br \/>All of their suspects are ruled out: McCormick has an alibi; Charlie had motive and opportunity to kill Mrs. McCormick, but can't have attacked Donald; and Donald can't have attacked himself and McCormick's affair Tabitha is a) a woman and b) has an alibi. <br \/><br \/>So who is it?<br \/><br \/>Cue JP with a lead: a disgruntled ex-employee who worked for both brothers and was fired by both of them recently: a man called Oscar Samuel. He's apparently someone who ends up in a cell every now and then because he gets violent when he drinks too much. JP calls up his record and it is our man with the bloody knife! <br \/><br \/>Cut to Ruby who's still making the rounds. She knocks on a door and Mr. Oscar Samuel opens. <br \/><br \/>Dun Dun Dun.<br \/><br \/>Ruby enters his house and he checks if anyone else is around before following her to the kitchen. But before we can get stuck in our fear for Ruby's life, the show cuts to the distillery where Mooney, Madeleine and JP are talking to Donald about Oscar who did not take it too great to be fired. According to Donald he was a good worker, but he'd show up late and sometimes still drunk. He was angry at Donald for being fired. <br \/><br \/>A car pulls up: it's McCormick. <br \/><br \/>Donald: What the hell is <i>he<\/i> doing here? <br \/><br \/>Mooney seems to take some pleasure inputting these two brothers who can't stand each other into the same space. Heh. <br \/><br \/>McCormick says he fired Oscar after finding him napping during work hours, reeking of booze. <br \/><br \/>Then JP approaches with Oscar's current address: it's right where Ruby is canvassing the area looking for witnesses. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/owxHZGL.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Sd2TwLv.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Cut to Ruby who's still talking to Oscar. She admits that they don't really have a suspect yet and it makes you think that maybe she's going to get out of there intact. <br \/><br \/>Her phone rings and she turns away from Oscar to answer it. It's Mooney who obviously tells her she's chatting with the main suspect. In the background, Oscar realizes they're talking about him and that it's probably not good news for him, so he stands up and approaches. Uh-oh.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/SSCOfgw.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The music is very horror movie-ish and it's all very scary. Oscar is more than a head taller than Ruby and when she turns around in fear, he grabs her by the neck and pushes her down. She screams.<br \/><br \/>Cut.<br \/><br \/>Oscar is outside pulling away on a moped (no kidding). Ruby comes running out of the house yelling for him to stop. She chases after him on foot. She gives Mooney (still on the phone and racing towards that side of town) directions. <br \/><br \/>Obviously any horror elements are over and done with because the next bit is hilarious. This is slapstick humour at its best. Ruby runs into an alley, doesn't see anything.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/5pJBj7a.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>She runs off to the side.<br \/><br \/>A second later, Oscar passes the other side of the alley on his moped.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/7xVqORW.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>(Seriously. A moped.)<br \/><br \/>Ruby arrives back at her bike and sees Oscar down the road. He's heading straight to the others in the Jeep. Mooney blocks the road.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/VBO6prW.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Oscar sees that and turns straight back around (and back towards Ruby). Ruby, clever as she is, looks around and sees a guy with a coconut (are they coconuts? fresh coconuts? I think) stand. She grabs his machete and stands in the middle of the road. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/xtITzd7.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Before Oscar reaches her, Ruby swings the machete... at the truck loaded with more coconuts. The tailgate falls open and a truckload of coconuts spills out on the road straight towards Oscar. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/H8kTV6m.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Sg8rxnQ.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/fXIZ0r4.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Oscar is brought down and falls straight into a convenient stream. Ruby is right there to arrest him.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/hhm8Pc9.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>The others arrive and are impressed. Well, Madeleine is anyways. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/bZv9to2.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>They're all relieved Ruby is okay though. <br \/><br \/>In Oscar's house, Mooney has found the potential murder weapon. They bag it and a bunch of other stuff, but Mooney doesn't seem convinced that they have their guy. By past experience, this means that Oscar is not, in fact, their guy. He sends Madeleine ahead to interview Oscar while he keeps looking around. He particularly notices a cassette collection of books on tape and nods to himself in Oscar's dirty mirror. Then he gets one of his brilliant thoughts, looks around again and says \"scooter license\" which he then searches for. He finds it in a bottom drawer, looks at it and says \"Oscar didn't do it.\"<br \/><br \/> <img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/3AX5zVh.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Cut to Oscar's cell. Mooney enters it while the rest of the team stands outside. He questions Oscar. Oscar says he started drinking early on New Year's Eve (\"half a bottle of rum\") and barely remembers anything. He blacked out and woke up with the bloody knife on his bedside table and a fuzzy head. He knows he gets violent when he drinks so he guesses he killed that woman. *shrugs* <br \/><br \/>Mooney shows him photos of the sentence left at the crime scene. Oscar looks at them blankly and shrugs. Mooney asks him to tell him what they say, but Oscar says he can't. Mooney lists his evidence - Oscar can't read or write. His license is signed with an X. <br \/><br \/>Oscar takes it as an attack and tries to justify it (\"we were poor, I helped my dad with his work instead of going to school\") and Mooney is all \"no, no\" because that actually saves him from jail. How could he be the killer and leave that sentence for the police when he can't write?<br \/><br \/>Madeleine points out that it was still Oscar's clothes and mask that the killer wore. Obviously to frame him. JP points out that this puts them back to square one: it could be anyone. <br \/><br \/>Mooney has another brilliant idea. \"If it was anyone, that would mean it couldn't be just someone.\" <br \/><br \/>The others: huh???<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/gximaZM.png\" loading=\"lazy\"> <br \/><br \/>We see a series of flashbacks for the episode as Mooney mentally reviews the case because it can only mean \"one thing\". He asks Oscar if the bottle of rum he had was a gift. <br \/><br \/>Oscar: Yes. How did you guess?<br \/>Mooney: Oscar Samuel, I could kiss you!<br \/><br \/>He sends Ruby and JP to get Oscar's blood tested and Madeleine to gather the suspects. And then he realises he needs one of them to come back and open the cell. \/o\\<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/loZrXR4.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Brilliant, yes, but not very organised, our DI Mooney.<br \/><br \/>They all end up at the distillery for the big reveal at the end. I have to say, I love that they all kept this feature that Poole started. It feels very Agatha Christie-ish and I love it. (I love that when Humphrey had his first case and Fidel got everyone together Humphrey was all \"uh, what is this?\" but then just went with it when Fidel explained that this is how Poole used to do it. And Mooney didn't even question it.)<br \/><br \/>Mooney and Madeleine sum up the case. <br \/><br \/>Madeleine. ...leaving across both crime scenes a message. <i>La vengeance est compl\u00e8te.<\/i> <br \/>Mooney: The revenge is complete. One single message in two parts written with the same lipstick by the same person. (Pause) Except it wasn't.<br \/><br \/>Everyone squirms as Mooney explains how the murder happened. Think of a variant of <i>Strangers on a Train<\/i> - two brothers, estranged and by all appearances hating each other's guts, plan a murder together. Donald killed his brother's wife (hey, divorce is expensive!) in return for financial aid with the distillery. Then McCormick \"attacked\" Donald so no suspicious could fall on him and to give the police an easy suspect: a man who they both fired. <br \/><br \/>Everyone is confused. The brothers hate each other, don't they? <br \/><br \/>Mooney isn't saying they don't - but they managed to work together. Both to save their father's distillery business and to get rid of Aaron's wife in return for the money. They staged a public argument about the financial support and after Donald stabbed his sister-in-law, he stashed the clothes, mask and knife nearby for his brother to find and take to commit the second part of the crime. Donald was hurt, yes, but very superficially. It threw suspicious off both of them and pointed the finger at Oscar. <br \/><br \/>Oscar says that Donald brought him a bottle of rum as an apology for firing him. Except the rum was laced with a sedative to keep Oscar down for the night. Donald stole the clothes, mask and knife from Oscar's place, went to his brother's house and stabbed his sister-in-law. He hid the mask, clothes and knife nearby and went to meet up with Charlie for drinks who was then a convenient witness when McCormick, after the police left his place for the night, put on the killer disguise and attacked Donald. Afterwards, he put everything back in Oscar's house. The message would guarantee that the police would link the crimes and make them search for one killer. <br \/><br \/>Then Mooney reveals that Oscar can't read or write and McCormick and his brother definitely give themselves away. <br \/><br \/>Donald then attacks his brother, well, he tries, and then breaks down crying... but honestly, he should have thought of that before committing murder.  Still, it's kinda sad. <br \/><br \/>Cut to the station, later that day. Madeleine reminds Mooney of his dance class which brings up the topic of his new dance partner. Ruby: \"ooh, so you're going on a date?!\"<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/IoIFg4k.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Mooney denies it's a date - it's just dancing, with a woman - but none of the others seem convinced. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/LdVVRmg.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/7s1gurj.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Mooney invites the others to join the class. Ruby agrees (she loves Calypso), JP is in if Ruby is in and Madeleine agrees as long as she doesn't have to dance with Mooney... :p<br \/><br \/>Then Ruby's phone dings again, but it's not Raymond. It's the Commissioner, wanting a word about the \"coconut incident\" (ah, so they were coconuts! I only know the brown hairy version you find in supermarkets). So while the others go on ahead, Ruby stays to talk to her uncle. Who... is actually pretty proud of her. This is actually one of the cutes scenes in this episode. He reminds her not to make stupid mistakes (like Raymond) but also to show initiative and do her job (the coconut incident). <br \/><br \/>Commissioner: You're a police officer now. And as the old Caribbean saying goes: With great power comes--<br \/>Ruby (grinning): --great responsibility!<br \/>Commissioner: *nods gravely*<br \/><br \/>*snorts* Those nerds! <br \/><br \/>Just as the Commissioner is about to leave, Ruby invites him to Calypso class with her.<br \/><br \/>Cut to the Calypso class where the Commissioner (in civilian clothes - like, <i>really<\/i> civilian) is dancing with Madeleine. Also on the dance floor are Ruby and JP and Mooney and Anna. Mooney managed to run into every single person on the dance floor. Commissioner included: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/74KaZvp.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Mooney and Anna seem to be having a good time (well, they all do). Afterwards Anna and Mooney are outside saying goodbye and they flirt a little awkwardly and then Anna leans in and kisses Mooney. Awww. He's not really... uh. Participating? He just kind of stares because he really thought that wasn't a date. As Anna says, \"awkward!\" She says goodbye, but asks to text Mooney - because that how people do dating these days, apparently. Going away, Mooney is all \"huh, that might have been a date after all!\"<br \/><br \/>Good to see he's finally getting there. But it's honestly adorable. I really hope those two work out. <br \/><br \/>And thus ends the first episode of series 9. With an unusual and clever murder, a love interest and a lot of fun.<a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63280.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 02","user: seraphina_snape","cycle 06"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63129.html","pubDate":"Sun, 03 Jan 2021 23:06:57 GMT","title":"Challenge 2: Previously on... Death in Paradise 8x2","author":"jacquelee","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63129.html","description":"For my first recap, I've decided on Death in Paradise season 8 episode 2 Murder Most Animal.<br \/><br \/>I've been binging Death in Paradise ever since <span  class=\"ljuser  i-ljuser  i-ljuser-type-P     \"  data-ljuser=\"seraphina_snape\" lj:user=\"seraphina_snape\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/seraphina-snape.livejournal.com\/profile\/\"  target=\"_self\"  class=\"i-ljuser-profile\" ><img  class=\"i-ljuser-userhead\"  src=\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/userinfo_v8.png?v=17080&v=915\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/seraphina-snape.livejournal.com\/\" class=\"i-ljuser-username\"   target=\"_self\"   ><b>seraphina_snape<\/b><\/a><\/span> mentioned it here. I was looking for a light hearted, fun and engaging but not too dark show to just be able to watch while eating and this show definitely fits the bill perfectly. I love how while it's a police procedural there is very little violence (no rape! At all! In nine seasons! That's such a relief to me tbh, it's great), the police aren't even wearing guns and the focus is on how someone was murdered in always very complicated and weird ways that are super fun to try to puzzle out for me (despite the, you know, someone is dead part).<br \/><br \/>I've already finished and I first planned to recap the first episode of season 3, but then Ruby Patterson came along and I knew her first episode was the one I had to do. <br \/><br \/>Because Ruby! I love her so much! I have very specific requirements for favorite characters and she ticks every single box. She's absolutely amazing and I've enjoyed this show so so much more ever since she came (and I already was enjoying it, so, that's saying something). But, like, wow, I think I laughed in this episode more than in all the others combined, so she definitely upped the humor factor by a lot, which is great. <br \/><br \/>So I decided to recap season 8 episode 2 aka Ruby Patterson's glorious introduction while watching it again the second time, so there will be mentions of what happens later in the episode, who's the murderer etc. <br \/><br \/>Let's begin, shall we?<br \/><br \/>We open with some cute shots of animals and get introduced to smiley man in a pink shirt who goes on about how his father opened the zoo and how it's not just a business, it's his family's home, complete with waving at his brother and sister further out in the zoo who are waving back and fake smiling like it's their job (I mean it is I guess). I am very much reminded of the Stepford Wives and assume immediately that there's some deep dark secret lurking here. That gets corroborated when smiley man gets a text on his phone and his fa\u00e7ade fails for a second, making him seem far less sympathetic, but the mask goes up again immediately as he makes up an excuse and leaves. <br \/><br \/>I already assumed at this point that he's the one who'll get murdered and that he probably had it coming, like most people in this show (I don't endorse murder at all. Or violence for that matter. But spoiler alert, I was right, he's an abusive asshole). And in the next scene (after a few more shots of cute yawny animals), he's acting suspicious, closing himself in his office, having a secretive phone call with an unknown party. Yep, definitely a shady dude.<br \/><br \/>Now we're with two other zoo workers talking about a monkey who may or may not have anxiety (aaawww, the animals really are too cute). Smiley man comes to interrupt them telling one of them (his wife as it turns out) that she shouldn't do things since she's eight months pregnant. Yeah, I don't like this guy at all. And after a few weird glances to the worker his wife was with (who turned out to be his brother), we pan over to the snake house to the sister talking to a snake (aaawww again) and then putting something suspiciously shaped in her bag before leaving.<br \/><br \/>I love how I always try to pay attention to these little clues when I'm watching for the first time because they're always there, but most times I still miss them and go \"OH!\" when they all get put together, lol. Watching again is really interesting (haven't done that before).<br \/><br \/>Now the zookeeper (the only one not related to everyone else) clicks a counter as all the guests are leaving and closes up for the day. All the employees meet up with smiley man and are expectant of him to come with them for drinks, but he says he'll stick the daily earnings in the safe and then come. The workers all leave together in the opposite direction. <br \/><br \/>In the break room they're talking about the poor anxious monkey (who's called Audrey, awww). They're wondering about where smiley man is and find him with a tranquilizer dart sticking out of his back, clearly dead. Everyone is suitably shocked, as always and we go into the intro. <br \/><br \/>After that, we're in the police station, where everyone is cleaning thoroughly for the anticipated arrival of the Commissioner's niece. I am with them, I am very very much looking forward to Ruby! Also, another clue I missed the first time around, there's a call where Mrs. Michelin talks about a boat called Samantha, allegedly used for smuggling, which becomes important later even though now it's ignored.<br \/><br \/>And heeeere's Ruby! Wow, I love her so much, seriously, just her smile, her hair, her huge sparkly handbag, she's so awesome. JP is not that impressed by her shaking his hand like it's some kind of rubber snake though. :P And calling the Commissioner uncle Selly, lol. She is so enthusiastic, bless her. She brought Salsa sauce and a plant, \"which will most certainly be dead at the end of next week, trust me, I kill everything\". The sing song voice at the end, omg, I'm dead. Why is this me so much? :D Amazing!<br \/><br \/>\"There's been a murder at the zoo.\" \"Oh no, not one of the animals.\" I can't with her, lmao, she's hilarious. And also me. Again. (this will be a recurring theme in this recap, lol)<br \/><br \/>As opposed to me, JP is still unimpressed by Ruby and everyone packs up to go to the zoo. Once there, we're recapping what happened, smiley man (whom I refuse to call Xander, lol) was found dead by his wife, sister, brother and an employee (whom we henceforth will call the zookeeper), all of them suspects. Well, that's a nice family right there. Ruby is inspecting the body, completely unfiltered giving her opinion about how gross it is, lol, and really proud that she called that it was poison. You go, bb. :D<br \/><br \/>There's some threatening letters that were in the safe, but neither the wife nor the brother or the sister know anything about them. The zookeeper says smiley man didn't have any enemies (yeah, right, lol) and the sister looks away a bit, cause of course that's not true at all. We establish that smiley man was worried cause the zoo was losing money (at least, that's what his wife says) and that none of the visitors could have stayed behind. <br \/><br \/>As the body is taken away, the brother talks to Florence about his childhood and mentions something happening in 1990 (another important clue!) and then invites her to a 'private' tour *wink wink*. That's some game you got there, dude. :P Florence is understandably taken aback but just says she would bear it in mind, lol, of course she will.<br \/><br \/>There is a hole in the fence and the gun is found right next to it, so Ruby is like \"yep, open and shut case, someone came in, shot smiley man and went away again\" but Jack obviously isn't having that (cause nothing is ever easy, lesson one) and explains how the wires are cut from the inside, not the outside, so this was staged. Ruby is super impressed with Jack and is like 'wow, you're so much better than my uncle said'. Everyone's facial expressions following that are gold. :D<br \/><br \/>Ooooh, now there's an unknown man outside the zoo in a car talking about shady dealings. Fits right in with the previous red herring, hehe. I'm getting quite good at knowing which of these things are truly pertaining to the killer and which are just deterrents, making this a very clear deterrent.<br \/><br \/>Back at the station, we're doing the usual 'who are the people we are dealing with' exposition, learning that smiley man had been sent to boarding school in 1990 (a-ha!) and only came back 5 years ago, meeting his wife on the island. She's an animal psychologist, the brother is a primatologist, which explains their conversation about the anxious monkey. <br \/><br \/>Sister is a snake specialist, which prompts Ruby to talk about a story her brother told her when she was younger that a kid was bitten by a snake in that zoo and died (again, a-ha! Very clear important snippet here, I knew this would be directly involved in solving the case even when I first watched it), causing her to be very scared of snakes. We learn that the sister is wearing an expensive watch and has lots of credit cards all maxed out.<br \/><br \/>The zoo keeper is next, born on St. Marie, in 1982, moved to the British Virgin Islands (BVI's) when he was eight, one brother, spent most of his life in and out of jail. All of this is vitally important and this I didn't catch on the first watch, but now I do. Basically, this is were an attentive watcher could already have solved the whole case (something that I only managed twice I think, and that's in the whole show of  9 seasons, hehe). <br \/><br \/>We learn that smiley man was found with a wallet but without a mobile and then we see the wife chucking said mobile off of a bridge in the zoo. Again, very clear red herring, I knew that, it's far too obvious and convenient, too early to show the actual killer doing suspicious things. <br \/><br \/>One of smiley man's receipts says he was having an expensive lunch the day before at a hotel and Ruby is all \"let's go undercover, it'll be so much fun\" but JP isn't amused and is just like \"this is work, okay, we're police officers\" and then the Commissioner comes in to pick up (and check up on) Ruby and everyone gets a bit nervous but before anyone can say anything, Catherine enters too, all happy and excited, telling Jack there's reporters waiting outside to interview him for his courageous attempt of doing the St. Marie big swim, which he clearly has absolutely no idea about but is promptly roped into, posing outside. Poor bb is so uncomfortable, lol.<br \/><br \/>Patrice is picking Florence up from the station and they're all talking about how Jack got roped into doing the big swim, which was apparently just a conversation in a bar, something that very much fits with his character. He's distraught, seeing that he has already sponsors and everything apparently but knows very well that he can barely swim \"a length of the bath\". Yep, that's bound to be something. :P<br \/><br \/>At the shack, Florence says Patrice could give Jack some pointers, but Jack is basically just resigned that this will be a disaster and they talk some more about the case, with the wife being implicated now because she has some restraining orders, having been an animal rights activist, so they're thinking she's linked to the letters (again, clear red herring there). <br \/><br \/>Ruby and JP go to the hotel were smiley man had his expensive lunch and Ruby continues being iconic saying \"helmet hair is no joke, the struggle is real\" and then immediately proceeds to find Sandrine, an old friend and scream excitedly, jumping up and down and hugging her friend (who is clearly used to her exuberance and is fine with this) repeatedly, being all proud of being a police officer and twirling around, jumping and screaming some more. Have I mentioned how much I love her? Cause I do, so much. <br \/><br \/>JP is not that amused and just goes into the hotel by himself. <br \/><br \/>We cut to Jack and Florence searching smiley-man's room and the wife says he didn't have a mobile (well\u2026) because they didn't believe in them. You know, like a liar. Then they talk about her radical past and the letters, which she brushes off to promptly direct them onto a different suspect, the zookeeper, who was stealing from the zoo. Now, this is interesting, because of course, having watched it, I know he was actually the one who did it, but that this is the wrong motive, meaning he is able to deter Jack and Florence when they come to question him. <br \/><br \/>But he does give away a lot of his actual motive when talking about how he moved to the BVI's as a kid (surprise, surprise, when he was eight, so around 1990 and after that he went off the rails, cause something happened at that point, oooh, the plot thickens \u2013 which again, I missed the first time I watched it but now I see it very plainly). <br \/><br \/>And back to Ruby again, who is just saying goodbye to Sandrine when JP is coming back and lecturing her gently (I give it to him, he is still very gentle) about not getting distracted during a murder investigation, but Ruby is able to one-up him when he says he didn't learn anything from the manager while she learned a whole heap of things from Sandrine. And that's why having inside contacts helps the most. :D <br \/><br \/>I totally called that Ruby would replace Dwayne's role of being like \"oh, I know a guy\" when it's needed and I'm so happy I was right. She's doing a great job at it. <br \/><br \/>Jack and Florence are talking about smiley man's phone, which, surprise, surprise, he obviously did have, so *gasp*, the wife lied. They're speculating whether she also lied about the letters but come to the conclusion that she probably didn't (which of course is right, as I said, classic red herring).<br \/><br \/>Ruby and JP come back to the zoo and Ruby tells Jack and Florence that smiley man's meeting was with some big wig investor and that he wanted to sell the zoo but then the brother came in, starting a big argument. And also, Sandrine's grandfather worked at the zoo and talked about a big cover up where someone got away with murder and Ruby deducted that it might have to do with the story her brother told her, which she asked him about and he says he heard it from the older kids. <br \/><br \/>Jack says to talk to Archie Maddox, the ambulance driver, who's been driving forever and knows everything about everything and might know about what happened in the zoo in 1990 and then he and Florence go to interview monkey man, the brother, with Jack hoping he won't proposition Florence again and Florence just rolling her eyes, lol.<br \/><br \/>Monkey man says he just went off the handle when he saw his brother with the investor but that it didn't mean anything. They ask about why smiley man was sent to England but the brother says he doesn't know and that his brother getting the reigns over the zoo despite only coming back five years ago didn't bother him because he's still his brother. Mooney doesn't believe him, for obvious reasons.<br \/><br \/>After they come back to the station, Florence says the zookeeper saw a psychiatrist in the BVI's but doesn't have a history of violence and Jack says things are driving him nuts because he can't understand how this crime was committed when everyone was in the staff room. <br \/><br \/>Now Florence gets an E-mail about smiley man's last phone call being to a private investigator and JP and Ruby come back with news from Archie, who says he wasn't there then, but it was true that there had been something going on in the zoo in the 1990's, which leads Jack to realize that this has to be connected to smiley man getting sent to England. <br \/><br \/>Florence suggests to go on a quasi date with monkey man and the others find some old gear to listen in on them, which they are using to hear monkey man talk about monkeys and then about Florence's marital status, lol. Ruby brings Jack and JP snacks and I love her even more for that, of course. :P<br \/><br \/>Monkey man now talks about how awesome it was to grow up in a zoo and when Florence gets stung by a mosquito he says the place is full of them and they don't even notice them anymore (that'll be very important later). Florence leads the conversation to the snake incident and monkey man says it was a dare that went wrong, that it had been his brother's fault and he himself was the one who was bitten which then was why smiley man was sent back to England. He gets fidgety after that and sends Florence away, smiley man's wife watching them from the distance.<br \/><br \/>JP thinks the snake bite story is a dead end but Jack doesn't believe monkey man told the truth and Ruby says she had plenty worse dates than that, lol.<br \/><br \/>They're in Catherine's bar now and JP says to Jack he knows Ruby is trying her best but she's just so extra and I mean, yeah, he has a point, she is, that's why I love her so much, lol, and that he doesn't want to talk to her for fear that she will tell it all to her uncle immediately. <br \/><br \/>Patrice talks about Jack doing the big swim and Jack wants to opt out but then Catherine says a lot of sponsors have already donated, so he doesn't want to disappoint her. <br \/><br \/>Back at the station Jack and JP are still confused about how anyone could have shot smiley man and Florence talks on the phone to the PI that smiley man called before his death, who says he was hired to get evidence which he'll sent through to them momentarily. Ruby takes a call from Mrs. Mitchell about the smuggling ring and thinks they should check it out and while JP wants to dismiss it, Jack says Ruby should pop down there and see what is going on in a clear attempt to busy her with something meaningless, which, hmmmm, Jack, I like you, but that's kinda mean.<br \/><br \/>The evidence from the PI comes through and it's monkey man and smiley man's wife kissing, uh-oh! The wife says smiley man became horrible very soon after they got married, controlling, awful and his brother was a way out. But she also says she would never have killed him and just wanted to go home to England. I 100% believe her and love her and not just because I know the actress from Terra Nova, lol. <br \/><br \/>Ruby is at the harbor and talks about how this is very boring but then, when she's on the phone with JP she sees the boat Mrs. Mitchell talked about and JP tells her to wait for him before going in. When he arrives, they both check the boat and talk to the very fidgety owner and they find a tranquilizer gun which JP gives to Ruby and then JP sees movement in a bag and opens it and there is a snake, which prompts Ruby to jump back with the gun still in her hand and when JP struggles to detain the boat owner slash suspect, she accidentally shoots JP in the butt, poor baby. Also an incredibly funny scene that I laughed so hard about but yeah, oops. :P<br \/><br \/>At the station, JP is getting medical attention and says to Jack he just felt a little sting and then everything went black. Ruby clearly feels guilty but Jack just congratulates her on her first arrest. Florence and Jack interrogate the suspect (who is btw the suspicious red herring who was loitering outside the zoo earlier, of course :D) and he confesses to smuggling snakes but says he definitely didn't shoot smiley man, that smiley man's sister gave him the tranquilizer gun to hide it.<br \/><br \/>Florence and Jack interrogate the sister and she confesses to smuggling snakes to support her expensive lifestyle and that smiley man was onto her but that the gun was for a last job she was going to do, smuggling out a monkey but that she never got there and that the gun was always in her bag until she gave it to her accomplice.<br \/><br \/>Jack is confused by everything but then Florence gets a text from Patrice asking where Jack is and why he's not at the beach, so we cut to the beach, where the others watch him come out with a neoprene suit, trying really hard to pump himself up but feeling clearly out of his depth. <br \/><br \/>JP tries to talk to Ruby but she's short with him and when he enquires as to why, she repeats back to him the not so nice things he said while being delirious from being shot with a tranquilizer. He says he was delirious but Ruby says it's fine and now at least she knows how he really feels about him. :( Poor bb, I want to hug her. <br \/><br \/>When the gun is fired to start the race, Jack gets his \"I figured it out\" face and instead of running into the water with everyone else, he stays rooted to the spot, the usual flashbacks start and he tells the others that he solved the case. Jack asks for help getting out of the suit and while everyone else steps back, Ruby is like \"sure\" and just goes up to him, starting to unzip the back, cause of course she does. :D If I didn't love her already. :D<br \/><br \/>Everyone gets assembled in the zoo and Jack asks them to reenact how they all walked away from smiley man towards the staff room before he was killed. He notices that the zookeeper is the one going last and says he needs to make a phone call. After that, everyone gets assembled again in the staff room and Jack retells the crime, going through all the suspects as usual and then coming to the how. <br \/><br \/>Which is quite funny to me, because the fact is that nobody actually fired a gun. Someone stuck the dart directly into smiley man without a gun and because he was so used to mosquitoes, he didn't notice the sting or the dart stuck in his back until he went to the safe, put the money in and halfway walked back, when the poison took effect and he died.<br \/><br \/>And this is where they lost me, because due to being very sensitive, I would never even slightly be able to walk with a giant dart sticking out of my back without trying to swat it away or doing something about it. I know not everyone is sensitive and most people would just think it's a bite and carry on, but, yeah, no, doesn't work for me at all, lol. But okay, I'll let it slide. <br \/><br \/>Now we come to the why, which at this point is obvious. The zookeeper's brother is the one who was killed by that snake bite in 1990 and that's why his family relocated to the BVI's, being paid off by the father who was running the zoo and felt it best to send his son away to England after he killed someone. But the zookeeper never got over his brother's death, led a life of petty crimes and now finally, came back to avenge his brother and kill the person responsible.<br \/><br \/>As I said, I didn't figure it out before but it is quite obvious when you watch it all again and put everything together. That's why I like this show so much, it's always possible to find all the little crumbs of information along the way and figure it out. <br \/><br \/>Ruby claps excitedly after Jack has finished his monologue and again, if I didn't love her already I'd definitely do now. :D She's too cute. <br \/><br \/>The zookeeper is arrested, the case closed and Ruby is putting all her things away, intent on quitting, saying that she shot a fellow officer on her first day and that means she's clearly not cut out for this but JP tells her all the things she did right, that her talking about the snake bite story was basically what solved the case. When the Commissioner comes in, Ruby says she loved every second of her first week and that JP and her will make a dream team, which JP agrees with. I knew he'd come around! All aboard the \"we love Ruby!\" train. :D<br \/><br \/>The last scene is Jack back at the beach, making up for the missed race and then all the others come too, saying they're a team, with Ruby trying to butt out but Florence says she's one of the team now and they all run into the water. It's a really cute ending, I love the team bonding so much and Ruby already fits in so perfectly. <br \/><br \/>That concludes the episode, which remains one of my favorites. A very interesting case, team bonding, really funny scenes and of course, Ruby! What more could I want? :D<a name='cutid1-end'><\/a><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/imgprx.livejournal.net\/271c8cfc7b8fe9ec4b749c9f685c56be5de7e797372827d1f3d8a665954d25f2\/P2WlxyVijxKgh2to8MxeU0Mdsf-ah7h0z0eOQvxBjt7X-hXT28-gHAV0TxYnSgIg4xMEzWmRcApCWABciRk87ANd23vGP-GV5VVFtxQvOhzrUf4:vRAj_oRLDME7JnpJi8NHww\" fetchpriority=\"high\">","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/63129.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 02","user: jacquelee","writing","cycle 06","meta"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/62836.html","pubDate":"Sun, 03 Jan 2021 17:08:12 GMT","title":"My Advent Calendar","author":"seraphina_snape","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/62836.html","description":"<a href=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Ycgslri.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/Ycgslri.png\" width=\"800\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><\/a><br \/>(click for the large version)<br \/><br \/><b>December 1:<\/b><br \/>a. I touched the ceiling of my bedroom. It wasn't especially hard since my bedroom is under the roof. Basically, I can touch the touch the ceiling with my head because it's that low. *g*<br \/><br \/>b. I also watched the peace out video. I liked the whole \"imagine it's summer\" thing. It's freezing outside, so this was nice. But it was very obviously geared towards children - it was both amusing and a little off-putting to be talked to like I'm five.<br \/><br \/><b>December 2:<\/b><br \/>I watched the 5-Minute-Crafts video and decided to do the little paper envelope for money. Here are some pics: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/kvebOHU.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/HPFC5PD.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><b>December 3:<\/b><br \/>Didn't do anything. :(<br \/><br \/>I wanted to do the clothepin wreath but didn't have the materials.<br \/><br \/><b>December 4:<\/b><br \/>I made the coffee body scrub. I picked a version with coconut oil and sugar. I smelled okay even though it looked kinda gross: <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/IMOa07y.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>To be honest, I tossed the rest of it out. It was far too rough - my skin was bright red for the rest of the evening and didn't feel noticably smoother or anything.<br \/><br \/><b>December 5:<\/b><br \/>I baked cookies! Thumbprint cookies and white chocolate + macadamia nut cookies. I love them both and I didn't feel like making traditional Christmas cookies.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/GUFGgi4.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/ZEfaPSV.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><b>December 6:<\/b><br \/>I didn't have access to a massage chair, but I do have a shiatsu massage thingy that you can plug in and use on your shoulders or other areas where you're tense. I spent 30 minutes on the sofa with that thing on my shoulders and it was <i>great<\/i>. <br \/><br \/><b>December 7:<\/b><br \/>I watched the video. I'm always up for a funny cat video. :D<br \/><br \/><b>December 8:<\/b><br \/>I rearranged some of the living room furniture in preparation for the Christmas tree. We like putting it by the window, but that required a bench to be moved as well as a lot of dog stuff and a small table. <br \/><br \/><b>December 9:<\/b><br \/>I made a recipe from the movie recipe website: spaghetti and meatballs. It was easy and quick and tasty.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/caZOXTb.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/QjCVyWO.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/xjF7d1h.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><b>December 10:<\/b><br \/>Another day where I did none of the things. <br \/><br \/><b>December 11:<\/b><br \/>a. I got up early and went on a quick walk with the dogs. It was a bad idea because it started raining and we all got soaked. *sigh*<br \/><br \/>b. I also ate chocolate. I mean, getting exercise clearly didn't work out too great today, so why not?<br \/><br \/><b>December 12:<\/b><br \/>I picked up some birdseed during my weekly shopping trip and scattered it on the lawn. Honestly, it hadn't really been cold enough that the birds need it, but why not. (I then had to lock the dogs away because they kept barking at the gathering birds...)<br \/><br \/><b>December 13:<\/b><br \/>I had a healthy snack: an apple. <br \/><br \/><b>December 14:<\/b><br \/>I tried a new recipe called Summer Vegetable Rice Bake. It was pretty tasty. You basically take a bunch of (summer) vegetables (I used zucchini, tomato and bell peppers) and fry them until they've softened up a little. Meanwhile you cook the rice. Then you pour some cream and tomato paste in with the vegetables, let it come to a boil and then pour it into a baking dish. Cover with the rice, spread some cheese on top and bake for ten to fifteen minutes until the cheese has melted. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/hIR6bBh.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/8UDQXBg.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><b>December 15:<\/b><br \/>I did the ten minute meditation. And realized I'm not really the meditating kind. Pretty much the whole time I was like, \"how much longer is this going to take? I have <i>stuff<\/i> to do. Oh, wow this is boring.\" (Ten minutes are super long when you're not doing anything!)<br \/><br \/><b>December 16:<\/b><br \/>I played with a pet, specifically the two dogs. Nala especially likes to play tug-of-war. One of her favourite toys is a (by now pretty frayed and icky) twisted rope. Zoya usually only joins in when she's feeling left out. <br \/><br \/><b>December 17:<\/b><br \/>I watched the Lion's Breath video. I did feel a little silly doing it, but there wasn't anyone around to see. Yoga - not really my thing.<br \/><br \/><b>December 18:<\/b><br \/>I again watched the video. I remember watching this last year and it was still awesome. When I watched it the first time I thought the mom was dead but this time I knew she wasn't which made it less sad and more heart-warming. <br \/><br \/><b>December 19:<\/b><br \/>a. Did some meal prep - I like to buy vegetables and meat in bulk, then spend an evening cutting everything up and freezing it. That way you always have a pre-cut onion or whatever you need. Same with meat - some of it I slice up and marinate, some I use to make schnitzel, some I form into burger patties. It saves a lot of time during the week when you have to cook after you get home from work.<br \/><br \/>b. I also told a silly joke to my sister-in-law (who was sick). I told it <a href=\"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/61389.html?thread=319693#t319693\" target=\"_blank\">here in this comment<\/a> - but it's in German. <br \/><br \/><b>December 20:<\/b><br \/>I listened to some soft music. I was finishing some gifts for the Land of Art Secret Santa and put on an easy listening playlist on YouTube.<br \/><br \/><b>December 21:<\/b><br \/>I took a nap with the dogs when I got home from work. <br \/><br \/><b>December 22:<\/b><br \/>I watched the sunset with a cup of tea in my hand. I was going for the sunrise, but it was cloudy and rainy so that didn't work out. I did clear up by four o'clock so I could watch the sunset from my window at work. <br \/><br \/><b>December 23:<\/b><br \/>I taught the dogs a \"trick\" - I taught them to hold still while I put silly headbands on them. :D<br \/><br \/>(I don't know why they rotated on upload. Just... tilt your head.)<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/rtTTzYO.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/lh0Hve0.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>Nala does hold still, but she doesn't move at all and just sits there with a hangdog expression.<br \/><br \/>Zoya holds still for like 0.5 seconds before shaking it off. The above is the only pic that didn't come out blurry. <br \/><br \/><b>December 24:<\/b><br \/>Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner is potato salad, and because it's Christmas I used fresh parsley. <br \/><br \/><b>December 25:<\/b><br \/>a. I complimented my Grandmother on her outfit - she hasn't been able to go out except to the doctor all year, so she took the chance to dress up for our visit.<br \/><br \/>b. My mother has a foot bath that I borrowed. It has an extra massage function, so that was nice. <br \/><br \/><b>December 26:<\/b><br \/>I watched the video. The best scene was toothless sketching Hiccup in the sand. But the whole thing was hilarious. Kinda makes me sad I can't actually see the whole movie.<br \/><br \/><b>December 27:<\/b><br \/>I did the 20 minutes of reading. Fanfic, but still. (I read a lovely Pride & Prejudice fanfic told from Mrs. Reynolds' POV (<a href=\"https:\/\/archiveofourown.org\/works\/23204185?view_full_work=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">link<\/a> - it took more than 20 minutes, I don't think that's a bad thing.)<br \/><br \/><b>December 28:<\/b><br \/>Nothing again. <br \/><br \/><b>December 29:<\/b><br \/>I made a string snowball. Well. It didn't go quite as planned. <br \/><br \/>First off, I only found one single balloon, so I only had one chance. I also located my tacky glue and a disposable cup and some white cotton yarn. I blew up the balloon, covered it in the yarn and then brushed a water + glue mix all over it to get it to hold together. Then I let it dry. It wasn't dry by evening, so I had to let it sit over night.<br \/><br \/>It was dry the next morning, but trying to get the balloon out was... not working. Basically, I had made several mistakes: I blew the balloon up too large so I couldn't really reach inside to pry the balloon loose from the yarn before popping it. I also used way too much yarn. And when I finally got impatient and just popped the balloon, half the yarn pulled into the middle with it. \/o\\ But the outer layer kept its shape so I carefully pried the balloon loose, cut some of the inner yarn away and voila: snowball.<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/PNVTH0m.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/4S8sYGd.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/ymfVOkl.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/>It looks so blue, even though I used a multicolour string of lights. <br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/r1c9Rf9.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/geAZdtg.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"><br \/><br \/><b>December 30:<\/b><br \/>I did a chore without being asked. It's kind of cheating because nobody asks me to do chores - if I want the dishes to be clean, I have to clean them. But still, I did chores. Without being asked. Sometimes you gotta take the easy win.<br \/><br \/><b>December 31:<\/b><br \/>I did the easy exercises. They were easy, but the video wasn't really my thing because it made me feel like I'm five. Which I'm not. <a name='cutid1-end'><\/a><br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/9RX2Q6G.png\" loading=\"lazy\">","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/62836.html?view=comments#comments","category":["user: seraphina_snape","challenge 14","cycle 06"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/62464.html","pubDate":"Wed, 16 Dec 2020 15:47:40 GMT","title":"Challenge 10: NYT Minus Context","author":"dance_the_dance","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/62464.html","description":"My post is on tumblr, it's 100% The Magicians, 10 graphics, this one is just a preview. :D<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/zkWcrMG.png\" alt=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/><br \/><br \/>See the rest <a href=\"https:\/\/face--the--strange.tumblr.com\/post\/637673333193883648\/the-magicians-nyt-minus-context-part-7-made\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">HERE<\/a>. :D<br \/><br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/pile.randimg.net\/2\/99\/149955\/lighthousethe.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/62464.html?view=comments#comments","category":["cycle 06","user: dance_the_dance","graphics","challenge 10"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/61982.html","pubDate":"Sat, 12 Dec 2020 06:16:52 GMT","title":"Challenge 10: NYT Minus Context (\"The Boys\"","author":"blue_sunflowers","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/61982.html","description":"<img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1073049\/1073049_original.jpg\" width=\"500\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/><br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1073402\/1073402_original.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1073441\/1073441_original.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1073746\/1073746_original.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1074074\/1074074_original.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1074398\/1074398_original.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1074576\/1074576_original.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1074752\/1074752_original.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1075185\/1075185_original.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><br \/><br \/><img alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ic.pics.livejournal.com\/blue_sunflowers\/10702237\/1075342\/1075342_original.jpg\" width=\"500\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><a name='cutid1-end'><\/a>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/61982.html?view=comments#comments","category":["user: blue_sunflowers","cycle 06","challenge 10"]},{"guid":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/61834.html","pubDate":"Mon, 07 Dec 2020 23:14:41 GMT","title":"Challenge 7 - Team Story - Crew Land ","author":"sgafirenity","link":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/61834.html","description":"<b>Team:<\/b> Crew Land<br \/><b>Word count:<\/b> 168<br \/><b>List of participants:<\/b><br \/><span  class=\"ljuser  i-ljuser  i-ljuser-type-P     \"  data-ljuser=\"sgafirenity\" lj:user=\"sgafirenity\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/sgafirenity.livejournal.com\/profile\/\"  target=\"_self\"  class=\"i-ljuser-profile\" ><img  class=\"i-ljuser-userhead\"  src=\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/userinfo_v8.png?v=17080&v=915\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sgafirenity.livejournal.com\/\" class=\"i-ljuser-username\"   target=\"_self\"   ><b>sgafirenity<\/b><\/a><\/span><br \/><span  class=\"ljuser  i-ljuser  i-ljuser-type-P     \"  data-ljuser=\"neaptidea\" lj:user=\"neaptidea\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/neaptidea.livejournal.com\/profile\/\"  target=\"_self\"  class=\"i-ljuser-profile\" ><img  class=\"i-ljuser-userhead\"  src=\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/userinfo_v8.png?v=17080&v=915\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/neaptidea.livejournal.com\/\" class=\"i-ljuser-username\"   target=\"_self\"   ><b>neaptidea<\/b><\/a><\/span><br \/><span  class=\"ljuser  i-ljuser  i-ljuser-type-P     \"  data-ljuser=\"blue_sunflowers\" lj:user=\"blue_sunflowers\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com\/profile\/\"  target=\"_self\"  class=\"i-ljuser-profile\" ><img  class=\"i-ljuser-userhead\"  src=\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/userinfo_v8.png?v=17080&v=915\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blue-sunflowers.livejournal.com\/\" class=\"i-ljuser-username\"   target=\"_self\"   ><b>blue_sunflowers<\/b><\/a><\/span><br \/><span  class=\"ljuser  i-ljuser  i-ljuser-type-P     \"  data-ljuser=\"catko\" lj:user=\"catko\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/catko.livejournal.com\/profile\/\"  target=\"_self\"  class=\"i-ljuser-profile\" ><img  class=\"i-ljuser-userhead\"  src=\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/userinfo_v8.png?v=17080&v=915\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/catko.livejournal.com\/\" class=\"i-ljuser-username\"   target=\"_self\"   ><b>catko<\/b><\/a><\/span><br \/><span  class=\"ljuser  i-ljuser  i-ljuser-type-P     \"  data-ljuser=\"lab_brat\" lj:user=\"lab_brat\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/lab-brat.livejournal.com\/profile\/\"  target=\"_self\"  class=\"i-ljuser-profile\" ><img  class=\"i-ljuser-userhead\"  src=\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/userinfo_v8.png?v=17080&v=915\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/lab-brat.livejournal.com\/\" class=\"i-ljuser-username\"   target=\"_self\"   ><b>lab_brat<\/b><\/a><\/span><br \/><span  class=\"ljuser  i-ljuser  i-ljuser-type-P     \"  data-ljuser=\"mark_pierre\" lj:user=\"mark_pierre\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/mark-pierre.livejournal.com\/profile\/\"  target=\"_self\"  class=\"i-ljuser-profile\" ><img  class=\"i-ljuser-userhead\"  src=\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/userinfo_v8.png?v=17080&v=915\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/mark-pierre.livejournal.com\/\" class=\"i-ljuser-username\"   target=\"_self\"   ><b>mark_pierre<\/b><\/a><\/span><br \/><span  class=\"ljuser  i-ljuser  i-ljuser-type-P     \"  data-ljuser=\"ciuciuvaraworld\" lj:user=\"ciuciuvaraworld\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/ciuciuvaraworld.livejournal.com\/profile\/\"  target=\"_self\"  class=\"i-ljuser-profile\" ><img  class=\"i-ljuser-userhead\"  src=\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/userinfo_v8.png?v=17080&v=915\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/ciuciuvaraworld.livejournal.com\/\" class=\"i-ljuser-username\"   target=\"_self\"   ><b>ciuciuvaraworld<\/b><\/a><\/span><br \/><span  class=\"ljuser  i-ljuser  i-ljuser-type-P     \"  data-ljuser=\"devon380black\" lj:user=\"devon380black\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/devon380black.livejournal.com\/profile\/\"  target=\"_self\"  class=\"i-ljuser-profile\" ><img  class=\"i-ljuser-userhead\"  src=\"https:\/\/l-stat.livejournal.net\/img\/userinfo_v8.png?v=17080&v=915\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/devon380black.livejournal.com\/\" class=\"i-ljuser-username\"   target=\"_self\"   ><b>devon380black<\/b><\/a><\/span><br \/><br \/><center><u>A Woman, A Butterfly and a Farmer<\/u><\/center><br \/>In a lighthouse, there once was a curious woman who couldn\u2019t read. She had always wanted to learn, but because of her incurable blindness she had difficulty understanding the basics of fairytales. Therefore when the local farmer visited her with a book she had to wave her magic spoon to unlock the treasure chest in her parlour. <br \/><br \/>The farmer raised her eyebrows, \u201cWhat is this magic before me? I don\u2019t understand what inspired you to do such a thing. Perhaps you should reconsider your priorities. Why not open this book all about spoons.\u201d <br \/><br \/>The curious woman opened the book. Suddenly, a butterfly appeared. It fluttered for a moment and landed on a silver teaspoon. <br \/><br \/>Surprised, the farmer quickly reached for her camera and took a picture, while the woman turned to the butterfly, and said \u201cWhat are you?\u201d <br \/><br \/>The butterfly fluttered and started to lift into flight watching her every move. <br \/><br \/>She did laugh a little wondering if she could make her new friend speak. And she did.   <br \/><br \/><b>THE END<\/b>","comments":"https:\/\/keepers-log.livejournal.com\/61834.html?view=comments#comments","category":["challenge 07","writing","cycle 06","team challenge"]}]}}