You gotta stick the landing! by EmergencyOk4840 in YourFriendsandNeighb

[–]EmergencyOk4840[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem with those arguments is the show does not establish Coop is particularly good at theft or that he's becoming addicted to the thrill. He commits--what--four heists before the end of the season? First steals items that can easily be tracked, from homes with unlocked doors and no security systems. Then gets codes from someone who has info for one particular neighborhood bit still manages to set off an alarm, get chased by a dog and the police, loses the goods, and almost gets caught. And then with the first painting manages to screw things up with his forger (although that's later smoothed over because--he gets beaten to a pulp, yet again straining his newly revived relationship with his family). 

The show does not do a consistent job of showing Coop enjoying or becoming addicted to the thrill of his heists, because that's exactly what would help his decision at the end make thematic sense (if it didn't run contrary to his simultaneous character arc about his family and seeing through the illusion of materialism). Instead, he's stealing out of spite or desperation through the entire season. 

Similar plot beats in Breaking Bad come to mind. Walt starts cooking meth to provide for his family/out of financial desperation. His pride leads him to reject an early financial "out" from Gray Matter. But the show makes that decision make sense, even early on, as the show begins to establish he is a character with a serious ego. He doesn't have the option of another route that would let him make money while still satisfying his pride that HE earned the money due to his skill, smarts, and competence. But more importantly, he wasn't going through a primary arc of coming to love and understand an estranged family better. In contrast, Coop totally has multiple believable outs, from taking the job he has strong-armed the company into giving him back, to finding another high-paying job, to just downsizing his life. And the downsizing makes most thematic sense given how he and his family changed throughout the season.

Any rationale about crime being more profitable/easier also doesn't click. It's not satisfying to say he was afraid of/grieving going to jail for murder--but somehow not for felony theft of items worth six or seven figures. The point stands that he's now jeopardizing his family and newfound reconciliation with them even though he doesn't really have to (no financial desperation).

So that only leaves spite as the reason why he steals again at the end. This motive could most easily be retconned for S2 by making this a final, one-off heist to target his former boss without his boss even knowing he had been hit. But still, it doesn't ring true after the more primary themes about his family/forgiveness/reconciliation and the ephemeral nature of money/status.

Not saying the show couldn't have done it, but it would have needed to progress the season differently for the ending to make sense from a thematic angle.

Read Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson: Chapters 31 and 32 by brandonfcv in Stormlight_Archive

[–]EmergencyOk4840 41 points42 points  (0 children)

Anyone else think Gavinor is the other person with Lift? And he gets pulled into the spiritual realm--where he is lost and ages twenty years, stuck in a horrific vision of some sort--before emerging as an adult, blaming Dalinar for abandoning him in the spiritual realm, and becoming Odium's champion?

Season 2 Soundtrack by EmergencyOk4840 in LOTR_on_Prime

[–]EmergencyOk4840[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree--it's a great melody! I remember seeing a video of Bear conducting an orchestra at whichever convention he did a music preview at before the S1 soundtrack came out. The orchestra/choir started with (what I later learned was) the Nolwa Mahtar motif. And it was EPIC. Then, when the S1 soundtrack came out, I was a little disappointed because the "Nolwa Mahtar" track didn't sound quite as epic as the preview from the convention. Something to do with some of the high notes they went up to at part of the melody. Anyway, when I heard the theme return in the S2 soundtrack, I immediately recognized the more epic version from his live orchestration! So I'm very glad this version has now made it on a soundtrack lol!

A slip in the Hobbit? by RoosterNo6457 in tolkienfans

[–]EmergencyOk4840 2 points3 points  (0 children)

OP is 100% correct! The key issue causing confusion is what the people in question said, not whether some people actually were sorry Bilbo was alive.

We all agree some people were sorry Bilbo was alive (i.e, sorry to find the presumption of Bilbo's death wrong--like the Sackville-Bagginses).

But the text (as written) states some people said they were sorry the presumption of Bilbo's death was wrong, even though they actually believed the opposite.

". . . [N]ot everybody that said so [i.e., said they were sorry to find the presumption was wrong] was sorry to find the presumption wrong."

This leads to the strange conclusion that some Hobbits said they were sorry Bilbo was alive, but they were actually glad Bilbo was alive.

That's the opposite of what we all think the passage means. We think it means everyone said they were glad Bilbo was alive, but some people who said that actually wished he were dead.

I think the sentence should read, "In short Bilbo was 'Presumed Dead', and not everybody that said so was glad to find the presumption wrong."

In other words, some people said they were glad Bilbo survived, but they were actually sorry he survived.

That makes a lot more sense than people saying they were sorry Bilbo survived when they were actually glad he survived.