Five Things From: Modern Family 4×4, The Butler’s Escape

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 4 episode 4 of Modern Family, The Butler’s Escape. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Magic

The title “The Butler’s Escape” was referring to a famous escapology trick. Personally, I have heard of and seen variations of the trick but have never heard the “origin story” of the trick that Phil told. The subplot was a good insight into Phil and Luke’s relationship although I felt that the message got a little muddied in the end. Despite being technically good at it, Luke wanted to quit magic as he didn’t enjoy it. Phil disapproved of this and wanted his son to carry on. It seemed as if Phil was trying to live out one of his dreams through his son.

The natural conclusion that looked to be happening was that Phil would allow Luke to quit magic but voiced his worry that the two of them would soon start growing apart. This would have been a suitable end but then they through in the extra plot point of Luke now wanting to quit because kids at school picked on him for it. This would also be a fair enough story to tell but doing them both together just made for a confusing end. Did Luke actually like magic? Did he end up quitting it? It just felt unnecessarily overegged.

2. Teaching

As a teacher myself, I have seen people with the enthusiasm that Cam have disastrously crash and burn. You can introduce the more flamboyant and unique aspects later on but you don’t want to overwhelm the students early on. You need to start by building those genuine relationships with the kids. Get them onside and then you can ramp up your lessons to be extravagant as you want: if your kids trust you, then they will gladly come along for the ride with you. The jumper didn’t help either. You have to build up to wearing that too. That teacher who “accidentally” spilt juice on it did him a favour.

3. Manny

Manny had my favourite quip of the whole episode. While Cam’s debut lesson was spiralling out of control, Manny said to Luke that, “there’s no way he (Cam) ran this past Mitchell”. It was just a fun insight into how they know each other so well as an extended family.

4. Hotels

Speaking of Manny, how unlucky and coincidental was it for Jay that Manny was in that very same hotel? What time of the day even was this? It felt a tad contrived honestly.

5. Jay

Jay was understandably struggling to go to sleep as a result of Gloria’s snoring while being heavily pregnant. Should he have just sucked it up? I can completely get why you could argue he should but also it would be unarguable that the man can’t sleep and is just very tired. Like Gloria said, honesty and separate sleeping areas would have nipped this problem in the bud.

Five Things From: Seven Deadly Sins 3×5, Overwhelming Violence

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 3 episode 5 of the Seven Deadly Sins anime, Overwhelming Violence. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Trees

There was a moment at the start of the episode that for a couple of seconds, really confused me. After the forest had been attacked by the Albion, the fairies began to do what they could to restore the forest. They were able to magically move the top of the enormous tree that got broken and for a second it looked like they were just going to balance it back on top of the trunk! It did then show that the tree could magically fuse back together but for a second I was really questioning the fairies’ logic.😅

2. Corpses

Another question I have about the fairy thought process (it looks like I’m picking  on them but I promise you I’m not!) was how long were they planning on keeping Elaine’s corpse there on that bed of flowers for all to see. Fair enough they have a “laying in state” period but surely it can’t stay there forever. Unless they hope to bring her back to life somehow it is a bit odd. And if it so Ban can bring her back, that only works from a logic standpoint if the fairies are in on Ban’s plan.

3. Merlin

Merlin featured in my favourite part of the episode: as she stood face to face with Galand she spoke very confidently to him. It then cut so we could hear what she was actually thinking and she was definitely panicked, showing how she was just chatting absolute shit to this demon in an attempt to appear confident. It was nice to see Merlin acknowledge that she was struggling for a plan as up to now she has been presented as dangerously overpowered.

4. Stone

Galand put an end to his standoff with Merlin by turning her to stone, claiming it was as a result of her lying to him. What I’d like to know is whether this was a power he has that can detect lies and then activates meaning that you have to tell the truth while in his presence. That would be a very exciting power that could be used to unearth various revelations from our characters. The less interesting option would be that he just has a power to turn people to stone and just said that she was lying as a reasoning for this.

5. What’s the word?

Galand used the word traitorous and I always thought that the word was treacherous. Turns out that traitorous (and traitorously) are words in their own right. You just never normally hear them used.

Five Things From: The Owl House 2×12, Elsewhere and Elsewhen

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 2 episode 12 of The Owl House, Elsewhere and Elsewhen. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Lets take a closer look…

1. Boards

We got a look at a notice board of sorts in Luz’s room which had a selection of various pictures, notes and messages. As well as a thoughtful message from King about remembering to drink water (he put blood first but then crossed it out), we saw that Luz needed to buy Amity a new glove…just one? Can you buy them not in a pair?

2. What’s in a name

Two points combined into one here regarding names. First of all, since when had Lilith gone by the nickname Lulu? I genuinely was sat thinking “who is this woman?” before realising that it was actually Lilith. The second part related to an elder witch known as “Flora D’esplora”. Luz said that she had questions about her name and I’m pretty sure it is the same as mine: did she steal that name from Dora the Explorer?

3. Revel Responsibly

While looking through a time pool (a much better name than a time puddle), Luz spotted a Viking group looking to revel so hard with one mentioning revelling themselves to death…whatever that means. However, later in the episode Luz takes a Viking helmet from  a skeleton. Was it the same guy? Did he actually revel himself to death? It that’s true then we all need to be very careful with ourselves!

4. Philip

Luz and Lilith met the explorer (Philip) and after this episode, he surely has to be either the Emperor or linked to the Titan in some way. He couldn’t contain his villainous betrayal though as he had to write about it immediately in his journal. If he would have kept it to himself for just a little bit longer then Luz would have been none the wiser!

5. Plot Twist

I was very surprised that since the show was doing a time travel episode, they didn’t go down the road of having them get seemingly trapped in the past or at least overtly tease it. They didn’t need to and I’m not saying that they should have but it just surprised me that it didn’t happen.

Five Things From: The Owl House 2×6, Hunting Palismen

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 2 episode 6 of The Owl House, Hunting Palismen. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. The Nine Covens

The start of the episode gave us the Emperor addressing the heads of the nine covens. Actually getting to see them makes me think of the untapped potential of characters to mine from. Sure getting too much detail on them all could become convoluted, but they could have introduced at least a few of them beforehand so that we recognised them here. They came across here like underlings of the Emperor which is fine but they threw away what could have been a fun bit of world-building as a result. Also, the extent they are going to continually conceal the Emperor’s face makes you think it must be someone we already know…right? But I genuinely can’t think of a  reveal that they could do…

2. Headteacher

For ages I just thought that the headteacher of the school just chose to wear a mask. I never thought that there was a creature sat on his head that helped him to see! That must feel really strange.

3. Fine

“He’ll be fine”. This is what Luz believed when she blasted the Golden Guard off a moving, flying vessel. I mean, he was fine but there is know way that you could confidently be sure of that. I have no issue with her blasting him off it was just her reassuring herself that he was fine which felt a little odd.

4. Civil War

I always enjoy when there are minor rivalries within a group, especially with the villains so I very much enjoyed Kikimura being clearly jealous of the Golden Guard. It is the classic example of her having to work hard to reach the position she has while she feels that the Golden Guard has been gifted there’s. Her knowing that he had temporarily teamed up with Luz will definitely come into play as she will surely use it question Hunter’s (The Golden Guards apparent true name) loyalty to the Emperor’s coven, warranted or not.

5. Palismen

The Palismen themselves were all very cute. I really liked how they choose you depending on what your goals are and if you don’t speak from the heart, they won’t choose you. Luz struggling to get one makes sense as she isn’t truly sure what she wants to do with her life as she feels that she can’t stay in the Boiling Isles forever. The surprised me though with the twist as I was sure that the red bird was going to become her Palisman. Instead, it went to the Golden Guard to help build what I presume will be some form of redemption arc. One thing I didn’t like was the idea that you could make your own from a magical type of wood. Sounds like a bit of a cop out to me.

Five Things From: Seven Deadly Sins 1×24, The Heroes

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at the season 1 finale of the Seven Deadly Sins anime, The Heroes. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Finale Timings

This episode opted to follow the “finale timings formula” that once you notice, it becomes hard to unsee. The penultimate episode of a season features much of the battle and then the villain is defeated within the first third or half of the final episode. This then allows the writers plentiful time to tie up loose ends and lean into emotional beats rather than just action. This episode managed to share the time out pretty consistently with lots of characters getting their little moment in the spotlight.

2. Maracas

I’ve seen him before and yet I still don’t understand who or what the giant maraca guy is supposed to be. Is it a guy in a really strange costume or is he of a different species? Either way, him declaring “how dare you spit on my sense of justice, you fiend” was very fun and overdramatic.

3. Elizabeth

When discussing the previous episode, I did declare Elizabeth to be somewhat of a ghost in the machine; a very convenient revelation that seemed to save the day. I take that back a little bit as she actually just restored some of the Sins’ power, rather than magically being able to defeat this seemingly unstoppable demon. Having Meliodas and the Sins be the ones to claim victory felt like a much better end to the season anyway.

4. Hawk

He’s alive! I can’t cope with the rollercoaster of emotions that this damn pig has taken me on! How did he survive? Why is he small now? Is it even the same pig? I don’t even care, I’ll just take that there won’t be a pig shaped hole in my life as we move into the next season.

5. The Future

They set a lot up for next season:

*We have temporarily swapped Ban for Merlin.

*The Sins and Elizabeth are on the hunt for the final Sin.

*Gowther and Guila are seemingly now a couple.

*The Knights are continuing to investigate Demons and the Sins.

I am excited to see how all of this plays out, hopefully they can keep things streamlined as confusing things with too many characters has been the main thing that has held this show back from reaching the higher levels that it could do. I am still however very much excited to see what comes next.

Five Things From: The Owl House 1×19, Young Blood Old Souls

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at the season 1 finale of The Owl House, Young Blood Old Souls. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Repetition

The opening sequence where King recapped the origins of the Emperor taking over the isles and the laws he implemented felt rather repetitious as it didn’t really cover any new ground or provide any new information. It was treated like an important story full of revelations being told but we already knew it all: most of it we were told in just the previous episode!

2. Betrayal

We all knew that the Emperor was going to go back on his word to Lilith so I’m glad that they didn’t drag it out. As soon as she realised that he wasn’t going to help her, she stopped following his orders. Even before that, it was framed clearly that Lilith did not want to hurt her sister and she felt bad for what had happened. The flashbacks and seeing exactly why the curse happened was interesting and helped us to understand the guilt that Lilith was feeling.

3. She got me!

When Luz handed over the portal device to the Emperor, I was trying to excuse her decision by saying that at least the Emperor told her that he didn’t want to invade and destroy the human world. You couldn’t trust him but they at least gave you something. Brilliantly, it was all revealed to be a ruse on Luz’s part and she booby trapped the device with glyphs and she burnt it as soon as the emperor did what she needed him to. Smart girl!

4. Kikimora

Kikimora was a wonderful side-villain who never failed to rile me up. Following everything the emperor does to a tee, she was the perfect frustration to keep throwing in our heroes way. The voice acting was wonderful and it shows how even the more minor characters get a lot of thought put into them.

5. The Future

Similar to Gravity Falls (the show I covered in this slot before The Owl House), we end a season on a cliffhanger with someone trying to construct a giant portal. You do have to wonder how long a story arc this will be. He could be stopped in the first few episodes of the new season or this construction could take all the way until the next finale. My question is, is the emperor wanting to use the portal to go to the human world or to alter it to go somewhere else…or to bring something or someone to the Boiling Isles? I guess I’ll just have to keep watching to find out…

Five Things From: Seven Deadly Sins 1×19, The Fairy King Waits in Vain

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Five Things From. This time we are looking back at season 1 episode 19 of Seven Deadly Sins, The Fairy King Waits in Vain. Which five things stood out and for what reasons? Let’s take a closer look…

1. Diane

This episode gave us some backstory to how King and Diane got to know each other. It really helped to develop their relationship and see how the bond they have has been built over many, many years. A question I have though; did King keep making new versions of the exact same  outfit as Diane continued to grow or is the one he made for her while she was still a child just extremely stretchy?

2. Pigs

Diane just cooked two pigs completely whole with the eyes, skin and everything all still on there. She ate it like a giant chicken nugget! I was with King though in being unsure to try it. It still had all the skin on! Can you eat pig skin? You probably can but do people?

3. Timings

It was interesting to hear that fairies actually feel time differently to humans. This is the first time I have seen this type of time logic used in a show. So often you get examples of species having timespans much longer than humans but having them actually think that only days have passed to them while humans have actually experienced decades makes your head hurt. They exist in the same physical space so it isn’t like the follow of time is moving slower…why am I even trying to explain it? I liked it anyway.

4. Differences

King highlighted something that everyone can learn from in their own lives. Liking someone and trusting someone are two very different things. I know people that I can trust but don’t like and vice versa.

5. Flowers

I don’t with what velocity King through that flower but it acted as a bullet to go straight through Helbram who turned out not to be the original Helbram. I may have missed how he came back to life after that because they made it very much look like it killed him. He then died again a few minutes later…I think. Who knows at this point.