UPDATING OCCASIONALLY (FOR NOW)

9 thoughts on “558 – Cotton Clad Calamity”

  1. Raznaak

    Yup, he’s a bastard XD

  2. Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)

    Are those pajamas available in XXXL in the gift shop?

  3. Otaku

    It’s been a while, so let me ask: Did we get a reason for him to WANT Susie dead? Not to backseat, but if we didn’t, I’m worried were about to move into “Stupid Evil” territory. Now, stupid happens, don’t get me wrong. It’s not bad storytelling for that to be the case here.

    You’ve just done a good job NOT having that be a driving factor, so the “Kill off the stars of my successful reality TV show.” seems shortsighted, otherwise. Oh, I guess I could be mistaken about the in-story reality TV show’s success. Like, if the company behind them is losing money, or they think a change in management at the ranch would make the whole thing more popular/profitable, then I can see the above scenario happening as well.

    I REALLY think I’m just forgetting something important, but that I don’t have time to deep dive to remind me of, hence the comment. >_<

    1. Deoxy

      It certainly has been stretched out over quite a while, but there have definitely been hints from quite near the beginning that whoever is running the reality TV show definitely wants her dead.

      But I certainly don’t recall any reason why.

      1. Clint

        Yeah it’s fair to not remember since it’s been a hot minute (many, many minutes) but if you feel like a refresher the most relevant bits would be the beginning of Episode 8 and the end of Episode 15. We haven’t explicitly spelled out exactly what The Exec means by his “side hustle” or who was on the other end of that phone call, though.

        I’m hoping that when the whole thing is eventually available it will make sense, or at least enough sense to have hung this narrative on.

        1. Otaku

          Thanks for the replies, Deoxy and Clint. Yeah, I’d totally forgotten about those things. Good to know!

  4. Evervigilant

    Seems about time for the two people who aren’t there to make a surprise entrance as the ace Susie didn’t even know she had.

  5. Scarsdale

    There’s still 3-5 people on her side that might be planning something. This guy is a megalomaniac with a god complex, so letting him think he’s the sharpest tool in the shed sets him up for a fall. Everything depends on those cameras, and I suspect their little stop over by the charging coffins had something to do with her actual plan, not the one the a-hole thinks it is.

  6. lyra

    Really enjoyed the opening of Zombie Ranch. I like the combination of the western setting with the zombie concept, it gives the story a really distinctive atmosphere. I’m a freelance illustrator and animator, and I’d be interested in seeing how some of these scenes could translate into motion, especially as a short animated teaser or character scene.

    If you’re ever interested in something like that, you can reach me here:

    IG: eve_verse_
    Email: [contact.lilaclines@gmail.com](mailto:contact.lilaclines@gmail.com)
    Discord: Lyralilac_

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558 – Cotton Clad Calamity
Posted on August 26, 2026 by Dawn

What would you call this? Armchair assassination? Merk-from-home?

Well, Suzie ain't dead (or undead) quite yet, so we'll just have to see if his gloating is justifiable.

You Wanda what happened?

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Clint

I’ve been holding off writing about Marvel’s Wandvision because for once I wanted to wait until the series was done before giving any thoughts. A novel concept for me with my long history of early impressions here in this blog, some of which bore out nicely and some of which, well, did not. But nine episodes? I could wait nine episodes, even if that meant nine weeks.

And honestly it still hasn’t been a week since the finale but the spoiler tags are largely ripped away and the interviews have begun. Of particular interest to me are two which were given by director Matt Shakman and head writer Jac Shaeffer concerning the development and execution of what became a very ambitious project. Of course don’t click these links or even read this blog further if you still haven’t watched and want to go in blind:

Matt Shakman talks cut story bits

Jac Shaeffer on Wandavision development

There are people who love the Wandavision finale, people who are satisfied, and people who hated it, at least one of my acquaintance who stated it retroactively ruined the entire show for him. He did not explain why, but man does that ever bring up one of the greatest terrors there is for a creative: endings. Especially for a popular property that has speculations running rampant and people gnashing for answers, and in some cases all the gods there may be help you if you don’t end up giving them the answers they wanted. Collider’s tongue-in-cheek piece is a useful reality check. As for myself, I won’t argue there was flawless execution, and perhaps the writers knowingly toyed with our expectations, but on the other hand it’s interesting to note the implication or even outright confirmation that there were things even they wished they could have done but circumstances dictated they were not to be. I liked what I was given a lot. It was emotional, it was thematic, and it was true to the title characters. To me it’s perhaps a miracle (“and there is nothing more horrifying than a miracle”) that the finale hung together as well as it did what with a global pandemic coming along and derailing post-production and most any thought of reshoots.

And if the path there ended up being strewn with red herrings (both intentional and ones that were merely a result of overactive theorizing), I still found it quite an enjoyable journey full of attention to detail and creative use of media to tell the story, and some fine acting as well. If anything I am pleased to note that the creators are mortal men and women after all because for awhile there I was caught up in a bit of my own grief that they were using some of the same elements I’ve been using in a far more coherent and and effective way. You get these little splits when you’re a writer experiencing good stuff. The bad stuff you just laugh or groan at, the good stuff you enjoy but also groan in a different way because part of you is convinced you’ll never do anything even half as decent. Then, thankfully, sometimes you get peeks behind the curtain and realize that it’s not nearly as effortless as it can seem and the creators have wrestled with their own doubts and disappointments along the way, and in the end just have done the best they could to tell the story they wanted to tell.

It’s a magic act. Did you see the wires? Did you see the (wo)man behind the curtain? And if so, did you care?

Flourish.