u/Cornbread933

So overall I had a lot of fun watching the series. Id recommend it to others somewhere between my top 7-15.

Overall it had i think one of the better conclusions. The last conversation between Pope and J is spectacular. From the look on Hatosy's face when J said "you all deserve it for what you did to my mom". To J screaming "YOU DESERVED IT". To Popes breakdown when he pulls him out of the water saying "your mother was the strong one I was the weak one". Legit brought tears to my eyes.

However. The series and the finale as a whole is imperfect. Deran is a loose end, hes smart, he knows J, he learned from Smurf, and boy oh boy does he have a good reason for a Vendetta. But hes just. Alive. Gonna raise Nick? Thats all we know? Side note. Raising Nick is a huge development considering this story only plays out the way it does because he too abandoned his sisters kid. In a way a lesson was learned here. It wasnt long ago you could see J visibly angry when he had to tell Deran his nephews name cause he called him "the kid".

But let's start with the revolving door cast. That largely shot the series in the foot. So many story lines that ended up going nowhere because the actor wanted out. This is made obvious by the flashbacks. Which, while it was very useful in the final moments of showing what was done to Julia, most of the flashbacks were pointless. A way to keep smurfs presence alive long after the actress had left. But so much of it was unneeded and so many things were left untouched. Like. We get an ISNANE amount of character development for Manny, a character we literally never met. Yet, they dont introduce us to a young Cath and show us why Andrew felt she belonged with him. As a matter of fact. They dont show us a lot of people who claim to have known the boys since they were 16. Cath, Lucy, Angela. None of them show up in the flashbacks to the period they were allegedly a part of.

Last but not least. I think the series biggest failure is that they did not do enough to show Daren and Craig's culpability for Julia. It makes them seem like innocents caught in the crossfire of a war between J and Pope/Smurf/Baz. But Craig and Daren were both grown ass men hip to Smurfs bullshit and sick of it by the time Julia died. They left her hanging too and the flashbacks dont show that good enough

All and all. While I found the series to be kind of an exciting mesh of Sons of Anarchy meets Fast and Furious/oceans 11. I think id give the series an overall 7-8 out of 10. If they made it like 4 or 5 seasons and went with a faster pace a lot of stuff could be forgotten. But overall its one of the best series ive ever seen still. Top 15 for sure

This has become an extremely popular insult I see online and what not. But like..... what if the reason this has become such a go-to is because we really are all living in our parents basements? That's why its so effective, you dont even have to know if its true you just throw it out as a guess and 9/10 you're probably right and they know it.

And weve been programmed to feel such immense shame about it no one will even admit it. Even me. I chose to post about this anonymously on reddit for a reason.

So what ends up happening is even tho this is basically a scattershot insult that hurts all of our feelings, even often the person saying it, nobody actually says anything. Like "hey what's wrong with living in your parents basement? I do, the economy sucks! Dont we all live there?". Cause even tho everyone would probably relate to it. Nobody wants to be that guy. But its the truth.

Millions of adults live with their parents. And maybe instead of everyone constantly acting like its a failure of the individual. We should pursue it as a failure of society. Do you have any idea how immense the homeless population would be if every parent with an adult child living with them kicked them out?

We pretend like we dont have a major homelessness epidemic but we do. We are managing it by staying with our parents. But one day they will sell their house and use the proceeds to rent a very expensive penthouse in Florida til they die. Then what will we all do? Yea remember all those old movies where parents pass down their homes and estate to their estranged yet struggling adult child? That's not a thing anymore (if it ever was). The boomers dont give a shit about us they are gonna leave us behind with nothing while we sit around criticizing eachother for being in the boat we are all sitting in.

Lasly. Just a disclaimer when I say "all" I dont mean that literally. I understand there will be people that will read this post and not relate, and if you dont. Good for you but I dont really care what you have to say on the matter if thats the case.

Finding good spells that are useful against the night lord is easily the hardest thing to find in the game. Harder than finding any passive or weapon or skill.

And while there are lots of places to find staffs and seals you can open 10 seal boxes and still get pest threads and rejection every time.

Now if theres some method im not aware of to improve the RNG of your spell rolls by all means fill me

But short of that I really think the game needs to do something about this. My buddy's most coveted weapon is a halo scythe and we find like 4 of them per match without even having dormant reapers or a camp with a reaper box to open. Meanwhile I find a frenzied flame burst like once every 20 matches and im lucky as hell if I dont find it on a Grey seal with trash passives or a bad negative effect

Its absurd. They need to add a way to re-roll spells or give more options for starting spells on relics

So my personal favorite moment is from S5 E6 "Everything is Illumenated"

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This will be a bit long but its the full context that makes it funny.

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So in this episode Lumen is spiraling, desperate to catch the men who did this to her. While Dexter is trying to get her to let go and leave Miami while trying to also manage the fallout after Rita's death. So he decides to do a kill to manage his Dark Passenger.

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So this is the setup: As hes wrapping up his vic in the van he starts with a really powerful inner monologue about compartmentalization:

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"Compartmentalization began as an architectural theory, divide buildings into sections which can be closed off to prevent a fire from spreading, life can also be divided into closed off sections, makes everything much simpler"

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At this moment Dexter gets a call from Lumen informing him that not only is she still in Miami, but she shot one of the Barrell guys. Figuring he still has a few hours before the M99 wears off he throws his soon-to-be vic in his trunk still plastic wrapped, and heads towards Lumen to help her. When he arrives he finds out that the guy got away, and that shes not even sure its him, so he helps her find him, and while looking Dexter gets an alert about the very same crime scene hes at. He reveals they have 15 minutes before homicide arrives. During that 15 minutes he Finds the guy. Verifies its him. Then kills him on the spot. And leaves to go get his car to move the body.

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Deb is the first detective on scene, Masuka is with her leading forensics. They dont realize it but they are HOT on Dexters trail while also calling him asking whats taking him so long to get there. Dex gets Lumen a change of clothes and gives him a Key to his and Rita's house and sends her there. At that exact moment. They both hear the sound of a trunk opening.

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They run outside to see Dexters original victim has woken up and is fleeing from the scene naked. Wrapped in plastic wrap. Running full speed straight to an alley intersection where he will be seen by Deb and Masuka and a bunch of cops. As Dexter starts chasing this naked plastic wrapped man in slowmo, most certainly going to be caught, he re-evaluates his compartmentalization monologue:

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"Compartmentalization is a *joke*, fires rip through buildings all the time no matter how closed off parts of them are. Life is the same way, it cannot be contained"

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Dexter manages to catch the guy before hes intercepted, drag him back to the other body and set it up to look like some freaky deaky double homicide.

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Deb and Masuka shows up, Dex leads them there and Masuka is like "i know exactly what happened here". As he starts talking it pivots over to Dexters internal monologue again as we proceed to see Masuka doing the funniest most wildly inappropriate sexual gestures as he describes what happened.

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And honestly the whole scene and episode in general is great not just comically. Its also kind of a thrilling moment as its the closest Dexter ever came to truly being inescapably busted. And I find the whole thing about Compartmentalization to be philosophically stimulating too. Easily was the best part of the season for me and one of the best parts of the show in general.

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Anyway thanks for reading please share something favorite of yours!

So my dad was a drummer. And growing up it seemed like he was never all that impressed by the performances that impressed me.

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I would always come to him with songs like "toxicity" by system of a down or "fall into sleep" by mudvayne or "duality" by slipknot thinking these are some of the most amazing drum performances ever.

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And he was always so unphazed. Hed be like "yea thats pretty cool but check out Neil Peart"

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And idk. I guess im wondering how much this is a matter of personal taste/generational gap versus the concept that its only impressive to a novice like me and experts dont see it as talent.

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Thoughts?

Ok. So from the very first time I heard of Dexter. The serial killer you root for. I immediately recognized there was only 3 possible ways to conclude it

Either he dies, or he gets caught, or he gets away.

The first time around we got the escape conclusion.

New Blood delivered the death conclusion.

Theres only one option left. And I really like the idea of exploring all 3 possibilities it makes it like a choose your own adventure story where you can decide which conclusion you want Dexter to have and then just watch to that point.

Now. While a Dexter in jail arc could be a LOT of fun. Notice I said "he gets caught". I left that intentionally ambiguous. Granted. That could mean many things and you could easily argue hes already been caught multiple times. But I mean in a way that sticks.

But theres an alternate option for getting caught that I have dreamed of since the shows inception.

I have always wondered why, if Harry's main goal was Dexter's survival. Why he wouldnt just train him to do legal killings. A cop or soldier or secret agent or executioner.

And ever since S2 when Doakes escaped from his cage and him and Dex worked together against the drug dealers I have always felt Dexter was missing his true calling of being a CIA agent or something.

And, now thanks to resurrections weve acrually opened this door. As there is a military type, Uma Thurmans character, who knows what he is.

Dexter can do wet work for the CIA or something and thats where we conclude his story. As him finally achieving legitimacy of some kind.

Thanks for reading!

I have heard many declare LOST has one of the worst endings of all time. A statement i always personally disagree with. But youll notice they'll "prove it" by comparing it to some of the greatest endings ever. And youll realize some people have no concept of spectrum of quality. Its either the greatest or the worst.

But very few shows actually contend with LOST for a better ending. At best somebody can name 5 endings they consider better and thats generous. And if you've only seen 6 shows. I can understand how "6th best" seems like the worst.

But I have seen countless shows with mediocre endings. In the past year alone 2 of the biggest shows of the 2020s just ended. The Boys and Stranger Things. And both of them had extremely safe and predictable finales that leave you with a sense of emptiness discarded from the human spirit that made the shows initially great to begin with.

And with each safe ending I see it makes me appreciate the massive risk LOST took with going for such an abstract ending. Knowing some viewers would never really be invested enough to really fully understand it. It was artistically free in a way all these cookie cutter endings we get now arent. And admittedly. Maybe LOST is somewhat at fault for that. They took a really big swing and the network execs couldnt appreciate the art through their lower profits. So they make the artists draw within their structurally safe lines now. But it takes the soul out of all of it. We are never gonna get truly great or truly terrible endings again because that requires a volatile risk they dont wanna take. Safer to just give us a mediocre acceptable ending that they know audiences wont be too critical of.

But in all honesty. I prefer the artistic risk. I prefer the niche endings that require a studious super-fan to understand over whats palatable to general audiences neatly wrapped up in a bow. And for that I will always say LOST as one of the greatest.

Like. Even with all the games glitches and cheats and microtransactions. I still enjoy the gameplay quite a bit. But the way people treat their own teammates in this game genuinely kills my whole mood. No other game has the unique ability for me to be on 10 game win streak and genuinely be unhappy. You can make the right play 9 times in a row and nobody will say a word but make a mistake on that 10th play and the whole team is on your ass.

And im not even like a selfish player. I will never complain about me not getting shots unless im getting left wide open while my defender goes to double. And even my criticisms are pretty milquetoast ill just be like "you had me in the corner btw"

I love basketball and I love 2k I just cant get behind all the hostility in this game. And I get that I could go play a game mode without teammates like myteam or play now instead of rec but I enjoy the 5v5. I just dont want the bickery bs that comes with it.

And its not even just a dislike of mean energy or bad juju it genuinely is not practically effective. Nobody plays better with people tearing them apart. It is counterproductive to the goal of getting better play from your teammates.

Where's the people at who are both good/competitive AND chill energy wise?

The ultimate form of alienation Marx did not consider. Alienation in Marxism. I do not have any other Marxists in my life. My friends and family all come from a very suburban middle class capitalism supporting background. Im not even sure who knows that I am. I havent told anyone directly but Ive dropped some hints here and there just to kinda measure if were on the same page. Such as a criticism of a certain upcoming trillionaire just to hear them say "well he deserves it". And thats when I know we arent on the same page and that I should watch my words. Ill debate a bit but I really think id be disowned by a lot of people if they knew. So im careful. Maybe some put it together. But as far as I know. They dont know and cant know. Because if im thrown out im homeless.

Which ironically enough is one of the things I despise most about capitalism. Realizing How someone else owning the roof I need to survive under basically means they own me to the extent I cannot even speak my mind freely. And even if I had the financial freedom to say whatever I want. Id still probably stop getting invited to things.

And for the record. My views are actually super mild and could probably be more closely compared to syndacalism. Im just a theorist. But it really doesnt matter what my views are cause when people hear "Marxist" they make all kinds of assumptions

Anywho I digress, its just incredibly lonely. Its not exactly easy to connect with other Marxists irl. And, even tho I used to carry this silly notion that if I just presented people a perfectly logical argument, they'd see things my way. Ive come to understand that, for people who the system has worked for, there is no reason to analyze or audit the system. It worked for them so if it didnt work for you its easier to just say you arent trying and praise the system that blessed them. I even know some people the system isnt working for at all that I thought would get it for sure but nope. Too scary to feel like they aren't in control of their own destiny. Even if it means they have to think less of themselves. And idk. At this point I've kinda lost hope in opening someone's eyes to class consciousness. Maybe you guys can tell me some experience with that cause I have none. I was class conscious before I even had words to describe how I felt. And who knows. Maybe I can even make a Marxist friend. Thanks for reading